Part 1 (2/2)

Towards the close of my school life, my brother worked hard at chemistry, and made a fair laboratory with proper apparatus in the tool-house in the garden, and I was allowed to aid hiases and reat care several books on chemistry, such as Henry and Parkes' 'Chereatly, and we often used to go on working till rather late at night This was the best part of my education at school, for it showedof experiot known at school, and as it was an unprecedented fact, I was nicknamed ”Gas” I was also once publicly rebuked by the head- my time on such useless subjects; and he called me very unjustly a ”poco curante,” and as I did not understand what he meant, it seeood at school, e than usual, and sent h University with my brother, where I stayed for two years or sessions My brother was coh I do not believe he ever really intended to practise, and I was sent there to commence them But soon after this period I became convinced from various small circuh to subsist on with soined that I should be so rich a man as I am; but my belief was sufficient to check any strenuous efforts to learn ether by lectures, and these were intolerably dull, with the exception of those on chees andDr Duncan's lectures on Materia Medica at 8 o'clock on a winter'sfearful to remember Dr---- made his lectures on huusted reatest evils in ed to practise dissection, for I should soon have got over ust; and the practice would have been invaluable for all my future work This has been an irremediable evil, as well as ularly the clinical wards in the hospital Soood deal, and I still have vivid pictures before me of some of them; but I was not so foolish as to allow this to lessen my attendance I cannot understand why this part of ree; for during the su some of the poor people, chiefly children and women in Shrewsbury: I wrote down as full an account as I could of the case with all the syested further inquiries and advised ive, which I made up myself At one time I had at least a dozen patients, and I felt a keen interest in the work My father, as by far the best judge of character whom I ever knew, declared that I should et many patients Heconfidence; but what he saw in me which convinced him that I should create confidence I know not I also attended on two occasions the operating theatre in the hospital at Edinburgh, and sao very bad operations, one on a child, but I rushed away before they were coain, for hardly any induceh tobefore the blessed days of chlorofor year

My brother stayed only one year at the University, so that during the second year I was left to e, for I beca men fond of natural science One of these was Ainsworth, who afterwards published his travels in assyria; he was a Wernerian geologist, and knew a little aboutious, and ical articles A third young ood botanist, but died early in India Lastly, Dr Grant, my senior by several years, but how I became acquainted with hiical papers, but after coe, he did nothing more in science, a fact which has always been inexplicable to me I knew him well; he was dry and formal in manner, with much enthusias together, burst forth in high admiration of Lamarck and his views on evolution I listened in silent astonishe without any effect on randfather, in which si any effect onrather early in life such viewsthein of Species' At this ti it a second time after an interval of ten or fifteen years, I was e to the facts given

Drs Grant and Coldstreay, and I often accompanied the former to collect animals in the tidal pools, which I dissected as well as I could I also became friends with some of the Newhaven fishermen, and sometiot ular practice in dissection, and fro only a wretched microscope, my atte little discovery, and read, about the beginning of the year 1826, a short paper on the subject before the Plinian Society This was that the so-called ova of Flustra had the power of independent movement by means of cilia, and were in fact larvae In another short paper I showed that the little globular bodies which had been supposed to be the young state of Fucus loreus were the egg-cases of the wormlike Pontobdella ed and, I believe, founded by Professor Jaround roo papers on natural science and discussing theood effect on enial acquaintances One evening a poor young th of tiot out the words, ”Mr President, I have forgotten what I was going to say” The poor fellow looked quite overwhelmed, and all the members were so surprised that no one could think of a word to say to cover his confusion The papers which were read to our little society were not printed, so that I had not the satisfaction of seeing my paper in print; but I believe Dr Grant noticed my small discovery in his excellent memoir on Flustra

I was also a ularly; but as the subjects were exclusively medical, I did not much care about theood speakers, of whom the best was the present Sir J Kay-Shuttleworth Dr

Grant took s of the Wernerian Society, where various papers on natural history were read, discussed, and afterwards published in the 'Transactions' I heard Audubon deliver there so discourses on the habits of N A soro lived in Edinburgh, who had travelled with Waterton, and gained his livelihood by stuffing birds, which he did excellently: he gave me lessons for payment, and I used often to sit with hientof the Royal Society of Edinburgh, where I saw Sir Walter Scott in the chair as President, and he apologised to thefitted for such a position I looked at him and at the whole scene with so to this visit duringattended the Royal Medical Society, that I felt the honour of being elected a few years ago an honorary member of both these Societies, more than any other similar honour If I had been told at that time that I should one day have been thus honoured, I declare that I should have thought it as ridiculous and i of England

During h I attended ----'s lectures on Geology and Zoology, but they were incredibly dull The sole effect they produced onas I lived to read a book on Geology, or in any way to study the science Yet I feel sure that I was prepared for a philosophical treatment of the subject; for an old Mr Cotton in Shropshi+re, who knew a good deal about rocks, had pointed out to e erratic boulder in the town of Shrewsbury, called the ”bell-stone”; he told me that there was no rock of the same kind nearer than cumberland or Scotland, and he solemnly assured me that the world would come to an end before any one would be able to explain how this stone came where it now lay This produced a deep impression on me, and I meditated over this wonderful stone So that I felt the keenest delight when I first read of the action of icebergs in transporting boulders, and I gloried in the progress of Geology Equally striking is the fact that I, though now only sixty-seven years old, heard the Professor, in a field lecture at Salisbury Craigs, discoursing on a trapdyke, with ains and the strata indurated on each side, with volcanic rocks all around us, say that it was a fissure filled with sedi with a sneer that there were men who maintained that it had been injected from beneath in a molten condition When I think of this lecture, I do not wonder that I deter ----'s lectures, I becaillivray, who afterwards published a large and excellent book on the birds of Scotland I hadnatural-history talk with hiave me some rare shells, for I at that tireat zeal

My suiven up to ah I always had so the su tour with two friends with knapsacks on our backs through North wales We walked thirtyone day the ascent of Snowdon I also ithtour in North Wales, a servant with saddle-bags carrying our clothes The autu chiefly at Mr Owen's, at Woodhouse, and at wood, the son of the founder of the Etruria Works) at Maer My zeal was so great that I used to place -boots open by my bed-side when I went to bed, so as not to lose half a ; and on one occasion I reached a distant part of the Maer estate, on the 20th of August for black-gaa Scotch firs

I kept an exact record of every bird which I shot throughout the whole season One day when shooting at Woodhouse with Captain Owen, the eldest son, and Major Hill, his cousin, afterwards Lord Berwick, both of whoht myself shaht that I had killed a bird, one of the two acted as if loading his gun, and cried out, ”You must not count that bird, for I fired at the sa the joke, backed them up After some hours they told e number of birds, but did not kno many, and could not add the a knot in a piece of string tied to a button-hole This my wicked friends had perceived

How I did enjoy shooting! But I think that I must have been half-consciously asha was almost an intellectual ee where to find s well

One ofthere Sir J Mackintosh, as the best converser I ever listened to I heard afterwards with a glow of pride that he had said, ”There is so man that intereststhat I listened with norant as a pig about his subjects of history, politics, and moral philosophy To hear of praise froh no doubt apt or certain to excite vanity, is, I think, good for a young ht course

My visits to Maer during these two or three succeeding years were quite delightful, independently of the autu Life there was perfectly free; the country was very pleasant for walking or riding; and in the evening there was enerally is in large faether with music In the summer the whole family used often to sit on the steps of the old portico, with the flower-garden in front, and with the steep wooded bank opposite the house reflected in the lake, with here and there a fish rising or a water-bird paddling about Nothing has left a s at Maer I was also attached to and greatly revered my Uncle Jos; he was silent and reserved, so as to be a rather awful man; but he sometiht ment I do not believe that any power on earth could have ht course I used to apply to hiotten by me, in which the words ”nec vultus tyranni, etc,” come in

(Justum et tenacem propositi virum Non civium ardor prava jubentium Non vultus instantis tyranni Mente quatit solida)

CAMBRIDGE 1828-1831

After having spent two sessions in Edinburgh, my father perceived, or he heard fro a physician, so he proposed that I should becoainstman, which then seemed my probable destination I asked for soht on the subject I had scruples about declaring h otherwise I liked the thought of being a country clergyly I read with care 'Pearson on the Creed,' and a few other books on divinity; and as I did not then in the least doubt the strict and literal truth of every word in the Bible, I soon persuaded myself that our Creedhow fiercely I have been attacked by the orthodox, it seeyman Nor was this intention and iven up, but died a natural death when, on leaving Caists are to be trusted, I ell fitted in one respect to be a clergyical society asked raph of s of one of the s, in which it seemed that the shape of my head had been the subject of a public discussion, and one of the speakers declared that I had the buh for ten priests

As it was decided that I should be a clergylish universities and take a degree; but as I had never opened a classical book since leaving school, I found toyears I had actually forgotten, incredible as itwhich I had learnt, even to some few of the Greek letters I did not therefore proceed to Cae at the usual time in October, but worked with a private tutor in Shrewsbury, and went to Cae after the Christmas vacation, early in 1828 I soon recovered e, and could translate easy Greek books, such as Homer and the Greek Testa the three years which I spent at Cae my time asted, as far as the acadeh and at school I atte the summer of 1828 with a private tutor (a very dull nant toin the early steps in algebra This impatience was very foolish, and in after years I have deeply regretted that I did not proceed far enough at least to understand so principles of mathematics, for men thus endowed seem to have an extra sense But I do not believe that I should ever have succeeded beyond a very low grade With respect to Classics I did nothing except attend a few coe lectures, and the attendance was almost nominal In my second year I had to work for a ain, in ree of BA, and brushed up ebra and Euclid, which latter gave me much pleasure, as it did at school In order to pass the BA exaet up Paley's 'Evidences of Christianity,' and his 'Moral Philosophy' This was done in a thorough manner, and I am convinced that I could have written out the whole of the 'Evidences' with perfect correctness, but not of course in the clear language of Paley The logic of this book and, as I ht as did Euclid

The careful study of these works, without atte to learn any part by rote, was the only part of the academical course which, as I then felt and as I still believe, was of the least use to me in the education of my mind I did not at that ti these on trust, I was charu well the exa Euclid well, and by not failingthe oi polloi or crowd of h, I cannot reh I stood, and my memory fluctuates between the fifth, tenth, or twelfth, name on the list (Tenth in the list of January 1831)

Public lectures on several branches were given in the University, attendance being quite voluntary; but I was so sickened with lectures at Edinburgh that I did not even attend Sedgwick's eloquent and interesting lectures Had I done so I should probably have becoist earlier than I did I attended, however, Henslow's lectures on Botany, and liked them much for their extreme clearness, and the admirable illustrations; but I did not study botany Henslow used to take his pupils, including several of the older members of the University, field excursions, on foot or in coaches, to distant places, or in a barge down the river, and lectured on the rarer plants and anihtful

Although, as we shall presently see, there were soe, my time was sadly wasted there, and worse than wasted Fro, and, when this failed, for riding across country, I got into a sporting set, including soether in the evening, though these dinners often included her sta and playing at cards afterwards I know that I ought to feel ashas thus spent, but as some of hest spirits, I cannot help looking back to these times with much pleasure