56 ABERDEEN UNIVERSITY LIFE [ch. ii. 
remained with him to the end of life. That 
marvellous walk to London was symbolical of all 
his after life. He quietly persisted and overcame 
in everything he undertook, and of that we shall 
find evidence in abundance as this narrative 
proceeds. His fine imagination, his warm poetical 
temperament, his reverence in the presence of 
Nature and of the Supreme Power which he always 
felt to be in and beyond Nature, became more 
mature as life advanced, and gave an elevation of 
tone to his scientific thought and work, while it 
added not a little to the attractiveness of his 
person and his teaching. 
The two journals, in revealing with such 
fullness what the famous naturalist was at the 
time they were written, make us feel how much 
has been lost through the accidental burning of all 
the other volumes of his journal which he had kept 
with such regularity. Had they been still in exist¬ 
ence, we would have had the means of knowing 
the man as he thought and worked from day to 
day, and from year to year, always quietly 
struggling on towards the best of which he was 
capable, always fitting himself into his position 
and duties for the time and making the most of 
them, often in circumstances of difficulty and 
discouragement, but never failing in persistent 
progress in his scientific pursuits, with correspond¬ 
ing ripening of the best qualities of his nature. 
We have no information as to how he occupied 
his time on his return from London to Aberdeen— 
