BOYHOOD. 7 



though I should have but little time to myself, yet I should 

 enjoy that little the more. Elizabeth Fry gave me a very 

 kind invitation to her house when I go. 



To the Same. 



Limerick, July 26, 1827. 

 I am a very fickle animal, so much so indeed, that my 

 nickname is Butterfly; yet in spite of this I have had a 

 constant taste for natural history, so far as it is regulated by 

 an acknowledged system. Since my attention was turned to 

 chemistry, I have also been steady in liking it as a science, 

 though not caring much to dive into theories which are so 

 continually varying, that when I am grown-up, Davy, like his 

 predecessors, may be out of fashion, and instead of being looked 

 upon as a great experimental philosopher, may be branded with 

 the epithet of a blindfolded theorist. His discoveries are by no 

 means placed beyond doubt, for it is just as easy to understand 

 his celebrated theory of chlorine in a totally different manner 

 from that in which he explains it. 



Ballitore is extremely rich in all the branches of animal and 

 vegetable nature. I had just finished the conchology and 

 begun the flora, when I was obliged to leave it. I do nut care 

 whether you have handsome shells at New York or not, but I 

 should be delighted to get them, handsome or ugly, particularly 

 the genus Chiton (which Dr. Michell can show thee), as foreign 

 ones differ vastly from ours, and besides, as they are very ugly, 

 they are seldom brought over, consequently are not often to be 

 met with. Get me all your land and fresh-water shells, if pos- 

 sible. Some from the lakes will be highly prized. I should be 

 delighted to get stuffed birds, snakes, or other reptiles ; in fact, 

 specimens of all kinds of natural history. Try and send some 

 seeds, with the botanical names of their plants, if you can. 

 Your mosses must be very different from ours, and it is no 

 trouble at all to pack them, for no matter how withered they 

 may be on the voyage, by steeping them in water they will 

 revive, so please send some with the shells. 



His future occupation in life was now a subject of much 

 thought to his parents. His dislike to the prospect ol residing 



