“ My father was a posthumous child, horn after his patrimony had been distri- 
buted. He was educated by his mother, who had only a small annuity. He 
was exceedingly industrious, but suffered from a disease of the lungs from 
shortly after my birth to the end of his life. I am the result of necessity and 
perseverance. I was a weakly and ailing child, confined to my chair eight 
months of the year, and never eating animal food. My mother taught me my 
letters and how to write them. My father employed me to make extracts for 
him. My chief occupation T#as reading, on my knees, the ‘Encyclopaedia 
Britannica,’ and making card models of the machinery, &c. At twelve I began 
the world to provide for myself and help my family. It has been a very kind 
and benevolent world to me ; and I only suffered sufficient opposition to induce 
me to persevere. I have been invited to join more than one commercial firm, 
and also offered by the Grovernment a more important and lucrative appoint- 
ment ; but I have kept firmly to my early plan, to form the largest and most 
complete Zoological Collection known, which I hope I have done .”— Extract cf 
a Letter to a Friend . 
