192 



MY LIFE 



[Chap. 



observe the moon and Jupiter's satellites, and some of the 

 larger star-clusters ; but, of course, very imperfectly. Yet it 

 served to increase my interest in astronomy, and to induce 

 me to study with some care the various methods of construc- 

 tion of the more important astronomical instruments ; and 

 it also led me throughout my life to be deeply interested 

 in the grand onward march of astronomical discovery. 



But what occupied me chiefly and became more and 

 more the solace and delight of my lonely rambles among the 

 moors and mountains, was my first introduction to the 

 variety, the beauty, and the mystery of nature as manifested 

 in the vegetable kingdom. 



I have already mentioned the chance remark which gave 

 me the wish to know something about wild flowers, but 

 nothing came of it till 1841, when I heard of and obtained a 

 shilling paper-covered book published by the Society for the 

 Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, the title of which I forget, 

 but which contained an outline of the structure of plants and 

 a short description of their various parts and organs ; and 

 also a good description of about a dozen of the most common 

 of the natural orders of British plants. Among these were 

 the Cruciferae, Caryophylleae, Leguminosae, Rosaceae, Umbel- 

 liferae, Compositae, Scrophularineae, Labiatae, Orchideae, and 

 Glumaceae. This little book was a revelation to me, and for 

 a year was my constant companion. On Sundays I would 

 stroll in the fields and woods, learning the various parts and 

 organs of any flowers I could gather, and then trying how 

 many of them belonged to any of the orders described in my 

 book. Great was my delight when I found that I could 

 identify a Crucifer, an Umbellifer, and a Labiate ; and as one 

 after another the different orders were recognized, I began to 

 realize for the first time the order that underlay all the 

 variety of nature. When my brother was away and there 

 was no work to do, I would spend the greater part of the day 

 wandering over the hills or by the streams gathering flowers, 

 and either determining their position from my book, or 

 coming to the conclusion that they belonged to other orders 

 of which I knew nothing, and as time went on I found that 



