MEMOIR OF H. C. WATSON, ESQ. 
267 
mental picture being some confused notions touching the elements of science, 
acquired from his masters library; and some practical knowledge of rural matters, 
such as floriculture, Pig-killing, and weather-foretelling, given to him by the 
old gardener at Congleton. 
It was the wish of his father that Mr. HeWett Watson should embrace the 
legal profession; but he was held to be of too reserved disposition, and too little 
gifted with oratorical ability, for the duties of the Bar; and he had, moreover, 
conceived a particular distaste at the idea of being sent to learn more Latin and 
Greek at Oxford. He was in consequence articled to Messrs. Jackson, of 
Manchester, solicitors. In two years he tired of the town or of the Law, and 
transferred himself to Liverpool, where he remained about eighteen months. 
It was whilst in Liverpool that he became acquainted with Dr. Cameron, who 
had acquired some knowledge of Phrenology in Edinburgh. At the Doctors 
advice Mr. Watson read the works on Phrenology, and the perusal of these gave 
him a strong wish to attain some knowledge of the medical sciences. This wish, 
and the desire of forming an acquaintance with the Combes, induced him to drop 
all thoughts of the Law,"and to become a student of Medicine in the University of 
Edinburgh, where he passed four Sessions, 1828—1832; but not keeping the 
terms so exactly as to have entitled him to a medical degree, had he been disposed 
to present himself for the usual examination. He was not long in discovering that 
a knowledge of the medical sciences was a very different matter from the practice 
of the medical art, and that the latter would be discordant to his tastes and habits. 
During the preceding years his fondness for plants had continued; gradually 
changing from floriculture to the study of botanical science. He had also given 
some attention to Zoology, more particularly in the departments of Ornithology 
and Entomology. These studies would doubtless have been more fully persevered 
in, had not an increasing preference for phrenological pursuits drawn his attention 
from the others. Of course these different branches of science, together with his 
medical studies, occupied his time fully, and interfered with each other so far as 
to prevent the acquirement of great skill in any one of them. His election to the 
Senior President’s Chair, in the Boyal Medical Society of Edinburgh, in the Session 
of 1831—2, showed that he was still following up the study of Medicine, whilst 
his having received the first botanical prize, the gold medal of the Professor of 
Botany, in the preceding Spring, proved that he was still attending to Botany. 
The subject of the essay was “On the Geographical Distribution of Plants,” and 
Mr. Watson intimates that he was induced to become a competitor for the 
medal in consequence of a sneering taunt against the ability of phrenologists, 
uttered in his presence by a gentleman whom he believed to be also a competitor 
for the same prize. The preparation of this essay was probably instrumental in 
confirming Mr. Watson’s taste for that particular department of Botany. 
VOL. iv.— no. xxix. 2 N 
