4 MEMOIR OF DR. HARVEY 



Cryptogamia. I think I hear thee say, Tut-tut ! But no matter. 

 To be useless, various, and abstruse, is a sufficient recommenda- 

 tion of a science to make it pleasing to me. I don't know how 

 I shall ever find out the different genera of mosses. Lichens I 

 think will be easy, but fungi I shall not attempt ; not at all 

 from their difficulty, but only because they are not easily pre- 

 served. But do not say that the study of Cryptogamia is use- 

 less. Remember that it was from the genus Fucus that iodine 

 was discovered.' 



" In the prospect of soon going home for the holidays, he 

 writes from school : — 



" ' I have thought of remaining here by myself during 

 the vacation, that my collection of butterflies may be more 

 perfect' " 



In a letter written from home Mr Suliot is requested, when 

 in London, to go to some bookseller's shop, and ask for Cuvier's 

 " Animal Kingdom," and look whether the class Vermes has 

 specific descriptions or only generic ones. He adds, " I want to 

 know this particularly." 



William delighted at this time in Moore's works, and was 

 especially charmed witli Lalla liookh, on which he descants at 

 considerable length in this letter. 



Writing in 1829, he is surprised that his friend should be so 

 blind as not to discover that he is " proud, ambitious, and selfish." 

 " Selfishness," he says, " has not yet broken out in any very 

 alarming degree, but the seeds are there. They have thrown 

 up their Clastic cotyledons and their now slender but voracious 

 plumula." 



As chemistry had some place in the general scientific interests 

 of the young student, his parents entertained thoughts of 

 placing him with an eminent chemist in London. A better idea 

 of the mind of the schoolboy at this time cannot be given than 

 that drawn by himself in the following letter to an intimate 

 cousin. 



Ballitore, March, 1827. 

 My days of happiness are over. I am to be a school- 

 boy but for a few weeks. In short, I am going to bury myself 

 amidst the smoke of dingy London, there to drag on a tedious 

 existence, perhaps never more to return to poor Ireland ; but no 

 matter, I cannot help it. As we seem fated not to meet for a 



