05 - English Men of Science- Their Nature and Nurture by Sir Francis Galton

Dive into the findings of Galtons intriguing survey that sought to uncover the distinctions and similarities among the eminent men of his era. This podcast features a wealth of biographical details, biometric data, and thought-provoking quotations from these distinguished individuals. Summarized by Niobium.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Chapter three, Part one of the English Men of Science
by Francis Galton. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox
recordings are in the public domain. For more information or
to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Read by Leon Harvey,
Chapter three, Origin of Taste for Science, preliminary extracts at

(00:21):
length analysis, innate tastes, fortunate accidents, indirect motives or opportunities,
professional duties, encouragement at home, influence and encouragement of friends,
influence and encouragement of tutors, travel and distant parts, unclassed residium, summary,
partial failures. What were the motives at first induced the

(00:43):
men or my list to occupy themselves of science? A
question such as this may seem hard to answer, except
in very general terms. Those who are but little versed
in statistics may be daunted by reflecting on the infinite
diversity of characters and antecedents, while those who are will
be less easily discouraged. Reiterated experience will have shown them

(01:05):
how surely, in every case with which they have dealt,
the great majority of causes or what might be better
named pre efficients, omitted of being analyzed and grouped into
natural orders, leaving a minority of unclassed influences, which themselves
form a class of their own, and which can be
reduced indefinitely in proportion to the minuteness with which the

(01:25):
statistican cares to pursue his analysis. The statistics of railway
accidents will serve as an example. When Captain Douglas Galton
was Secretary of the Railway Department of the Board of Trade,
he succeeded in sorting their causes into the groups in
which we have since been accustomed to say them printed
year after year. So long as the general system of

(01:45):
management of a railway is little changed, the same statistical
ratio is maintained among them. A given proportion of accidents
being due to this cause and another to that. We
may therefore estimate with some certainty the saving of life
and limb, or of material of various descriptions that will
be affected when any one of these causes shall be

(02:05):
wholly or in part removed. Similarly, my aim is to
group the influences which first urged the men of my
list to pursue what, otherwords, became their favorite occupation. We
shall learn the relative importance of these influences and be
enabled to estimate with greater precision than before the value
of proposed methods for making the pursuit of science more
common than at present. The returns I am about to

(02:29):
quote are replies to the following questions, Can you trace
the origin of your interest in science in general and
in your particular branch of it? How far do your
scientific tastes appear to have been innate? The answers were
of unequal length and minuteness. From the long ones, I've
extracted what it was essential, and in these and in
the rest, I have taken a very few editorial liberties,

(02:52):
as already mentioned. At this stage of the inquiry, it
became advisable to separate the replies according to the branch
of science pursued by those who made them. I have
not kept geography separate, because there are not many geographers
of my list, and those who were omitted of being
sorted under other titles. With this exception, the divisions I

(03:14):
have adopted are much the same as those of the
various sections and subsections of the British Association. Some doubt
may be felt as to how far the replies may
be trusted. For my own part, I believe they are
substantially correct, judging principally from internal evidence and partially from
having questioned different members of several families and finding their

(03:35):
opinions corroborative. The greatest difficulty I have had in my
inquiries generally is due to participants on the part of
the writers, who say nothing when much was to be said.
But even this does not affect relatives results. Again, many
men are conceited. Still, the forms in which conceit shows
itself do not much affect those results. Thus, a too

(03:58):
emphatic narration of early achievements does not distort their mutual proportions.
If men are too proud to acknowledge their indeptness to
natural gifts, the relative value may ascribe to motives remains unchanged.
I am astonished at the unconscious vanity which I have
elsewhere met with when making inquiries in hereditary shown by

(04:19):
men who, owing enormously to natural gifts, wish to recredit
their own free will with being the real causes of
their success. One phase of this former vanity is prominently
illustrated by the late John Stuart Mill in his Strange
and Sad Autobiography, who declares page thirty that it was
rather below pirate quickness, memory, and energy, and that any

(04:41):
boy or girl of average capacity and healthy physical constitution
who was properly taught could make a rapid progress in
learning as you did himself. As regards as scientific men,
I find as I had expected, vanity to be at
a minimum, and their returns to bear all the marks
of a cool and careful self analysis. Bias has always
been a favor of men of science, believing them to

(05:03):
be especially manly, honest, and truthful, and the results of
this inquiry has confirmed that bias the influences and motives
which urge the men on my list to occupy themselves
with signs fall under their heads given below. I have
distinguished each head by a letter, and added to each
reply the letters that seemed appropriate to its contents. Their
reppliers have subsequently analyzed according to these letters. Signification of

(05:28):
the letters A fifty nine instances innate tastes, m Not
necessarily hereditary, B eleven instances fortunate accidents. It will be
noted that these generally testify to the existence of an
innate taste. C. Nineteen instances indirect opportunities and direct motives. D.

(05:53):
Twenty four instances professional influences to exertion E thirty four
instances Encouragement at home of scientific inclinations F twenty instances,
Influence and encouragement of private friends and acquaintances. G thirteen
instances Influence and encouragement of teachers. H eight instances, Travel

(06:17):
and distant regions. I three instances residual influences. Unclassed extracts
at length Physics. One. My tastes are entirely innate. They
date from childhood. A two as far aback as I
can remember, I loved nature and desire to learn her secrets.

(06:39):
My whole life in searching for them. While a schoolboy,
I taught myself botany, chemistry, et cetera, under great difficulties.
I had no tator except a kind apothecary, whose knowledge
was limited. A three. From a youth, I always preferred
the man of marked ability to the man of action
alone throne. For so many years of my professional life

(07:00):
among men, chiefly of the latter class, and my sympathies
being more drawn towards those in the decided minority, my
tastes were I conceived, not a quiet but innate. In
the early days of my professional career, I gained the
friendship of Blank, of the highest professional standing, whose acquired
general knowledge and love of science and observation were far
beyond those of the ordinary Blank of his time. I

(07:23):
was both his young friend and favorite assistant for three years.
He imbued me with his respect for science and formed
my character of earnestness and accuracy. To some extent, my
tastes were determined by events after manhood, because in Blank,
extending over ten years, I held positions of great responsibility
in different parts of the world. But I consider my

(07:45):
scientific tastes were formed in youth, that is, from sixten
to twenty one years of age a f H four.
From an early age I was addicted to mechanical pursuits.
In the last few years of my school days, I
talk to chemistry. Entered Blank College expecting after two or
three years there to join a relative's business as caligo printer,

(08:08):
and gave a special attention to chemistry. On that account,
I have never attended specially to physics until appointed professor
of Natural Philosophy. This and subsequent similar advancement determined me
to devote myself thenceforward definitely to physics, and not to
try for a chemical appointment a D five naturally fond

(08:31):
of mechanics and of physical science, in which all my
study has taken the direction of those departments bearing on Blank,
owing to my feeling that through the possession of special
instruments for investigations in it, I could work to greater advantage,
not from any natural preference for Blank over at the
other departments of physical science. AC six. My tastes were

(08:54):
partially natural, partially encouraged by an eminent friend Blank, who
had been honored himself by the friendship of most of
the leading men of science in the early part of
this century. A F seven. Yes, I remember incidents which
proved an innate taste, quoted at length before I could write.
But I believe the origin of my pursuit of physical

(09:15):
science was when I attended the natural philosophy class at Blank.
I was intended for business. By conceiving a distaste for it,
I left it and attached myself to science. A G eight.
I cannot say except that I had an innate wish
for miscellaneous information by interest in science arose from the
chance circumstance of my choosing civil engineering as a profession,

(09:39):
and having spared time when studying at Blank, which I
devoted to Blank. My scientific tastes were subsequently determined by
my not having any profession except civil engineering, which I
never followed. C. Nine Ocean voyaging in beginning of life
solitary observing for years in an observ vatory placed in

(10:01):
a country verging on a desert, but under southern skies
rich in stars, unknown to the ancients and not appreciated
by the moderns d. H. Ten. The origin of my
interest in science is mainly due to my father's knowledge
of geology, navigation, and engineering. My scientific tastes were confined
by lectures by Blank and Blank and Blank, and especially

(10:26):
by the encouragement of the latter e. G. Eleven, primarily
derived both by inheritance and education from my father a. E. Twelve.
My first start was reading a child's story called The Ghost,
where a philosophical elder brother cures his younger brother of
superstition by showing him experiments with phosphorus electricity, et cetera.

(10:49):
This set me on making an electrical machine with an
apothecary's file, et cetera. When I was about twelve years old.
My grandfather had scientific tastes to some degree, my grandmother's brother,
Blank was a good amateur chemist and astronomer. He was
a well known leader of musical and to some extent,
of scientific society at Blank a thirteen. A mathematical tendency,

(11:15):
I think led me first towards blank inquiry, to which
I have been faithful ever since. Professional duties and civil
engineering kept up a disposition to appreciate the material constituents
of the world, and led through surveying in the direction
of physical geography. The distinct origin of my desire to
place myself among scientific students was a wonderful impression produced

(11:37):
on me by the aspect of nature as seen in
the Blank, combined with what I may call the accent
of my having been allowed to explore a part of
it in an official capacity. Having thus made rather large
botanical and geological collections, I came to England with them, and,
while employed in arranging and distributing them, picked up a certain,
rather irregular and unsystematic scientific education in the company of

(12:01):
Blank and others. Forstberg into professional life, special scientific inquiry
has not been possible, but I have had opportunities of
aiding the progress of science, which I have endeavored to
make The best of ad FH. Fourteen, largely determined by
my service in north polar and equatorial expeditions d H. Fifteen.

(12:25):
I am not aware of any innate taste for science.
I can only remember in boyhood the influence of the
philosophical Society of Blank, and of a juvenile philosophical society
in which I took interest. My interest in astronomy especially
was very small. Indeed, until I was appointed to the
directorship of an observatory d Mathematical Subsection sixteen. I always

(12:49):
regarded mathematics as the method of attaining the best shapes
and dimensions of things, and this meant not only the
most useful and economical, but chiefly the most harmonious and
the most beautiful. I was taken to see Blank, and so,
with the help of Brewster's optics and a glazier's diamond,
I worked at polarization of light, cutting crystals, tempering glass,

(13:11):
et cetera. I should naturally have become an advocate by
profession with scientific proclivities, but the existence of exclusively scientific men,
and in particular of Blank, convinced my father and myself
that a profession was not necessary to a useful life.
A E. F. Seventeen. My taste for mathematics appears innate.

(13:33):
As a boy I delighted in sums. I trace the
origin of my interest in general science to my acquaintance
with Blank, which dates from the time when I was
about fifteen years of age. I taught myself in mathematics
and chemistry during my apprenticeship to a civil engineer and
land surveyor, as subsequently studied Blank abroad. My scientific tastes

(13:53):
were likely developed through my first going to the continent
with Blank a. F. Eighteen. An early taste for arithmetic,
and in particular for long division sums a. Nineteen. The
following is an extract from biographical notes kindly communicated to
me of the late Archibald Smith yachting would give an

(14:15):
interest to all nautical matters, and the intimacy of his
father with Blank gave a bias towards magnetism. In a
letter to one of his sisters no date about eighteen
thirty eight, he says Blank taught me he was going
to write directions for ships finding and allowing for the
error caused by the local attraction of ships. So for
my own amusement and partially to help him, I wrote

(14:37):
a set of instructions and gave them to him. His
mind was thus turned to the subject. I think it
was natural to him to inquire into the reason of
things fond of figures when a boy a b c
F twenty. My interest in mathematics began at Blank University
and was mainly due to the energy and encouragement of
my tutor Blank, but professor first inspired me with the

(15:02):
sense of the magnificence of mathematics. Ge chemistry one thoroughly innate.
My first taste for chemistry dates from the possession of
a chemical box when I was a little boy. Whenever
I had a chance of turning from other studies to
natural science, I always turned. I like to play better

(15:22):
than all other work, and chemistry better than play a
B two perhaps wholly innate. My first notions of chemistry
were picked up from books, and I got the nickname
of experimentalizer at school. My taste for zoology arose through
friendship with Blank. My tastes were largely determined by three

(15:42):
years voluntary work at chemistry under doctor Blank A F. Three.
I was always observing and inquiring, and this disposition was
never checked nor ridiculed in my childhood My taste for
chemistry dates from the lectures I attended as a boy,
and to the permission to carry on little experiments at
home in a room set apart of the purpose. I

(16:06):
was encouraged in my tastes at home subsequent determining events
when my residing abroad and my mother making a home
for me there a b e four. They date from
of the period, and there was little to produce them
in my early surroundings. As a small boy, I was
fond of reading books bearing on natural science. I was

(16:27):
taught at home with my brothers and was partially self taught. Also,
we had always the example of industry and were encouraged
to think for ourselves. I first studied chemistry at Blank
College a E five. From an early age I had
an innate taste for all branches of natural science. As
a boy, I made large collections of dried plants, minerals, beetles, butterflies, softbirds,

(16:51):
et cetera. At Blank, I studied without regard to future
profession for two years, only took up chemistry as a
special study of my third use resident there AC six.
I cannot trace the origin I began to study chemistry
estimating eighteen, and pursued it at such times as my
duties in Blank gave me leisure, and without any instructor,

(17:15):
the obtaining of correct and accurate results in chemical analysis
gave me great satisfaction. Ce seven. Scarcely in eight I
ascribed the origin of my scientific interests chiefly to being
sent as a pupil to an eminent man of science,
Professor Blank. Subsequently, I was a good deal abstracted from
scientific pursuits by an early and lasting friendship with Blank,

(17:38):
who directed my thoughts to public work. G Eight. I
watched at school the building of a steam engine at
a factory, and completely got up the whole engine. This
gave my mind a start. Blank. My father gave me
Henry's chemistry. That and afterwards Turner's chemistry were more interesting
to me than any books of fiction. I believe at

(18:01):
one time I read little else but Turner's chemistry and
books of poetry, and whatever holiday I had. Blank. I
owe to my mother a child's curiosity, and afterwards a
man's reverence for scientific truth. I cannot tell if my
scientific tastes were innate. The university, inviting me to fill
the Blank chair gave my work its bent d E nine.

(18:25):
I can trace my interest in chemistry to reading by
accident a book upon it B ten. I did nothing
even quasi scientific, till left leaving college, nothing serious to
estimate twenty three. My pursuit of chemistry is entirely due
to circumstances occurring after manhood and in direct opposition to
family influences Z eleven. To the opportunity of fortive study

(18:51):
of science at Blank, my taste received no encouragement whatever
from relations my mother accepted e z. Geology one decidedly
innate as regards coins and fossils. My father and an
art collected coins and geological specimens, and I have both

(19:11):
coins and specimens, which have been in my possessions since
I was nine years old. Subsequently, my pursuits were influenced
to some extent by the discoveries in Blank, but at
the time I had already a considerable collection ac E two.
A natural taste for observing and generalizing developed by noticing

(19:32):
the fossiliferous rocks which happened to occur in the neighborhood
of the school where I was. Afterwards, the surgeon to
whom I was articled, who had an observant mind fostered
my tastes a b F three a natural taste. My
interest in science began very early, originating in a love
of experiment, at first in chemistry. The ultimate direction of

(19:53):
my scientific taste dates after the completion of my regular
education AC four. I believe, I may say, innate to
a very considerable extent, not remembering that any definite steps
were taken to inculcate science. I was indebted in a
high degree to collections made by my father and mother
in Blank, and to an early familiarity with charts of

(20:15):
those seas and conversations on matters pertaining thereto. Afterwards, to
going to Germany and finding in the mining officers a
body of men receiving a regular scientific education. Lastly, to
a great extent, by going for a winter or two
Blank in Germany, and by conversations with Blank and Blank

(20:36):
a E F five. I was always fond of natural history,
collecting plants in sex and birds at school, and fossils
at college, where Blank lectures attreated me to geology, and subsequently,
by the aquatus of Professor Blank, to the particular branch
of it which I have pursued. A F. G. Six,

(20:59):
as well as as I can recollect, they were an innate.
I remember, as a boy of six seeing a spring
in Lavender Hill, not being satisfied at explanation, and determined
to work it out for myself. I believed that I
should have devoted myself to chemistry and physics, but that
I was started as a youth of nineteen to travel
ten months out of the twelve on business. As I
continued for twenty years. This led to my visiting all

(21:21):
Great Britain and to great opportunities for geologizing, and determined
me to that study. I worked hard at business all day,
a very anxious business, that at evening and night would
work hard at chemistry and geology. I found a wonderful
relief in science ac seven. I believed the desire for
information habits of observation to be in a great measure innate.

(21:44):
They were first developed by a little elementary teaching in
physics and chemistry at school estimated seven to thirteen. I
worked alone at science at home from the age of
eleven years, when I was encouraged by the example of
an elder brother. Subsequently, my pursuits were much influenced by
being thrown at an early age estimate nineteen on my
own judgment and resources, I founded a mining colony in

(22:08):
the backwards of Blank and had it to carry out
with several thousand people quite alone a e H eight.
I was always apt to observe stones closely with regard
to their qualities, but the scientific taste for geology was
not developed till after manhood. Z Biology zoological subsection one.

(22:30):
Yes inherited from my father's family, who have generally been
attached to natural history, especially botany. Most remarkable examples are given.
My scientific tastes were largely determined by being appointed a
d E two certainly in eight, strongly confirmed and directed
by the voyage in the Blank a H three love

(22:56):
of observation and natural history in eight. I had them
as early as I can remin my grandfather was very
fond of natural history, and a more distant relative, as
written an Excellent Fauna of Blank. The help of mister
has aided me immensely, but not I think altered my
tendency a e F four homology innate and derived from

(23:19):
my mother. I trace the origin of my interest in
signs decidedly to my mother's observations in our childhood rambles
on the plants and animals we saw. She told me
that crabs were sea spiders, and Periwinkle's litterans sea snails.
I feel sure she had never read De Malet a. E. Five.

(23:39):
I believe I inherited my general taste for scientific pursuits
from my grandmother, but my choosing Blank for special investigation
resulted from a positive fascination which the very obscurity of
the subject exerted upon my mind. It was perhaps a
mere desire to unravel the marvelous. My scientific tastes were
largely promoted by the attractive teaching of BLANKI is professors

(24:01):
ac e. G. Six thoroughly in eight I had no
regular instruction, and can think of no event which has
specially helped to develop it. Bones and shells were attractive
to me before I could consider them with any apparent
prophet and books of natural history were my delight. I
had a fair zoological collection by the time I was fifteen.
My father had no scientific knowledge. Nevertheless, he encouraged me

(24:25):
in all my tastes, giving me money freely for books
and specimens, against the advice of friends. But it was
indulgent generally, and not in the scientific direction only a
E seven innate as far as a love of nature
and of the observation of natural phenomena, I trace the
origin of my interest in science to the love of

(24:46):
truth and of mental cultivation of my father and his
encouragement of this love in his children. I do not
think it was largely determined by events after manhood a
E eight. I should say, innate, I caught all my
scraps of lessons for self improvement. My soon developed enthusiasm
must have been derived from my mother's family. As to

(25:06):
whether they were largely developed by events occurring after manhood,
I think not. All I can say is that neither
professional marriage nor sickness has been able to affect them.
A E nine. I cannot recollect the time when I
was not fond of animals. Out of knowing all I
could learn about them. Living in the country, I had

(25:26):
abundant opportunities for indulging my taste, though of course I
was not allowed to keep half the number of pets
I should have liked the example of my father and
elder brothers, who were all pretty firmed. Field sports was
also followed by me, and from field sports to field
natural history is by a step I obtained, by a
piece of sheer good luck, the traveling fellowship of Blank.

(25:48):
It was tenable for nine years, and its income was
sufficient to keep me during that time without being obliged
to enter any profession. Those circumstances subsequently interfered with my
using this assistance to the most advantage in gratifying my
taste for natural history. It was enormously further to thereby
a b. C. E. Ten. My partiality for the natural

(26:11):
history sciences was initiated partially by my selection of medicine
as profession, and perhaps even more that during the period
of my apprenticeship I was much under the influence of
a remarkable man Blank, a most accomplished naturalist and of
singularly independent judgment. Blank. For three years I spent every
Sunday morning with him. During this time he was constantly

(26:32):
stimulating me a willing follower to work in his department
of natural sciences, and at the same time ever inculcating
a spirit of scientific skepticism d f. Eleven to love
of birds, their study, their dissection. I remember trying to
find out in the structure of the oviduct the cause

(26:52):
of color and markings in the different eggs. I discovered
hairs sticking in the cuckoo's stomach, arranged in a spiral manner,
before I knew that John Hunter had described the same.
Then I talked to drawing skulls and skeletons, and my
fate were sealed. That I inherited a strong love of
nature is certain from my father, who was devoted to
horticult and very fond of birds and of landscape scenery.

(27:14):
But I cannot trace any direct tendencies or work on
the part of any member of my family except my brother.
I feel that I must have had a taste of
science independently of external circumstances. At the age of seventeen
or eighteen, I had dissected every new kind of bird
that I met with. Later opportunities were entirely made by myself,
or perhaps rather taken advantage of by myself a e. Twelve.

(27:40):
My love of natural history, so common in boys, showed
itself in collecting insects, shells, and birds eggs, and delighting
in reading such books as Stanley on Birds, Whites, Selborne,
watertourn et cetera. At a very early age eight years
or before, and being rather encouraged than checked continued to
grow to let the developed into a fondness for anatomical

(28:02):
pursuits generally, which was never abandoned. My taste for science
was entirely innate. No other member of the family, nor
elly friend or acquaintance, had any special taste for any
of the natural history sciences. Two brothers of nearly the
same age and with precisely the same surmoundings, though joining
occasionally in some of the above mentioned boyish pursuits, never

(28:22):
pursued them with real interest, and sued entirely gave them.
Up AE thirteen, as a boy, I had no taste
for natural history, but a passion for mechanical contrivances, physics
and chemistry. I earnestly desired to be an engineer. By
the fact that I had a blank near relative, a
medical man, led to my being apprentice to him, and

(28:44):
I took to physiology anatomy as the engineering side of
my profession. The inclinations above mentioned were altogether innate, and
so far as I know, not hereditary. Neither of my
parents nor any of the families showing any trace of
the like tendencies. My appointment to this ship blank bade
me a comparative anatomist by affording opportunities for the investigation

(29:05):
of the structure of the lower animals. My appointments to
Blank forced me to palaeontology ac d h fourteen. My
school nickname was Archimedes. I was always fond of construction.
If I had followed my own invent I should probably
have been successful as an engineer. My turn for scientific

(29:26):
inquiry led me in early life to systema lize and
knowledge of others. Latterly I have felt more interest in
original investigations AAC fifteen. I was in a general atmosphere
of scientific thinking and discipline. My tasteful biology began with
keeping insects for chemistry and physics. By being led to
try experiments largely inherited from my father, I have made

(29:50):
my circumstances more than they have made me ac e. Sixteen.
My father's example influenced me so early that I have
no means means of judging, but I doubt much their
innate character. Their origin was due primarily beyond all probability
of doubt, to my father's influence and example. They were
not influenced by subsequent events, but the tastes, once planted

(30:13):
rather determined the events my medical profession caused me to
suspend my scientific pursuits for some years. By the accidental
pursual of Blank brought me back again to the study
of the Blank, and all the rest followed in due
time b. E. Seventeen. They appeared to have been inherited.
My interest in science arose from the example of my

(30:35):
father and the fact on my being for a year
the assistant and close companion of Professor Blank. Of Blank,
at whose side I visited the poor in the lanes
of Blank day and night, first began to work and
concentrate energies to one branch estimated twenty one when appointed
a d. E g. Eighteen. They have been, I believe,

(30:57):
nearly in an equal degree, the mixed result of annatural
bias and education, and were determined by a professional study.
When a love of scientific knowledge for its own sake
first took possession of my mind a. D. Nineteen, How
far innate and how far acquired and developed from my
early youth, I cannot say. My love for animals of

(31:18):
all kinds was very strong, and to gratify it I
overcame every obstacle put in my way at home when
I was a boy. I traced the origin of my
interest in science to the earliest impressions of my childhood,
all of which, as far as I recollect them, are
connected with my father and the various animals he brought
me as pets. They were not largely determined by events
after manhood. I should have been an observer of animal

(31:41):
life under any conditions under which I might have lived
a e twenty, I cannot trace the origin of my
interest in geology. I believed to have been innate. I
began collecting birds and studying them before I went to school,
and without any inducement, I was always told by my
relations them my scientific pursuits would stand in my way,

(32:02):
but adhered to them. Notwithstanding they were not at all
determined by events occurring after I reached manhood. They simply
increased as I grew older. A twenty one, I perceived
no evidence of their being innate hereditary, unless I derived
any tendency from my mother, who was at the time
much with her great uncle Blank, the founder of one

(32:23):
of our great industries, and greatly interested in his pursuits.
She worked a good deal at chemistry, and was well
acquainted with many of the processes in pottery, I belonged
to an industrious family and saw everyone working. The attraction
I have for chemistry which is a strong one, only
my profession has never allowed me to follow it very
closely arose from being sent to work Estimate. Fifteen in

(32:45):
a chemical laboratory e. Twenty two. I do not consider
them innate, but induced by the following circumstances. When I
was at school estimated thirteen to fifteen, a lady, an
old friend of mine, gave me a few British shells
with their names and a copy of Turton's Controological Dictionary.

(33:06):
I thenceforth diligently collected British shells, and afterwards extended my
researches b. Twenty three to my father's example in science,
to the profession of medicine, in physiology, anatomy, and Blank.
It was my interest in my profession to work at
scientific subjects while young and while waiting for practice. The

(33:26):
example of many men whom I knew when young proved
a great stimulus and incentive e. D f twenty four,
not at all. In eight, I can trace it directly
to my intercourse with certain professors Blank, subsequently to my
desire to investigate certain scientific questions bearing on medicine, and

(33:46):
later to my intercourse with Blank and Blank C D
F G Biology Botanical Subsection one. My scientific tastes were
inborn and strongly hy A two. As far as the
word applies to any case, I should say innate, accepting

(34:07):
such influences as a little encouragement at home. I am
unable to trace any external stimulus. At estimating six, I
was given Joyce's Scientific Dialogs, which I soon mastered, then
other books. Before estimating eight, I commenced making star maps.
Estimating twelve or thirteen, I made some geological resections with
tolerable correctness, and so on. It then seemed as if

(34:30):
by accident and the love of new vistas were enough
to lead me from one branch of science to another.
A three always fond of plants. A four was always
fond of objective and experimental knowledge. I date my first
efforts of any consequence from an early intimacy with Professor Blank,
whose pupil and assistant I was. I had a fondness

(34:52):
for size before, but the necessity for accurate and rigid
observation then first dawned upon me. Subsequent events were going
to Blank and appointments in Blank, a foreign country where
I was much detained indoors that compelled me to take
to the microscope and study of the lower orders of
plants animals, many of which I could grow my own room. ACG. Five.

(35:15):
As a youth, I followed of my own free will mineralogy, chemistry, anatomy,
and mechanics, but chiefly chemistry. My taste was certainly not hereditary.
They were directed to botany purely through accidental circumstances, which
led to a prolonged presence in an imperfectly civilized country.
I examined its plants, then wholly unknown to Europeans, but
was at that time wholly ignorant of very elements of botany.

(35:38):
Were subsequently encouraged by Blank. Eminent botanists of the day
went to and from England and made extensive collections. My
wife actively assisted me in my botanical and other scientific pursuits,
and to wear advice and assistance I owe much of
my success in life. A f H. Six. The love
for botany was instilled into me in very early youth

(36:00):
by my father. We lived in the house of Blank,
a very eminent geologist in the vicinity of Blank, and
I often took walks to those hills and collected plants,
who also cultivated plants in our garden. A taste for
natural science, especially botany, seems to have been innate. The
companionship of Blank incited me to prosecute botany with vigor.

(36:20):
I was one of his best pupils, and traveled over
a great part of Blank with him e g. Seven
a posthumous account. He appears to have been attached to
natural history all his life through but never took up
botany to an extent till the professorship was vacant. There
is some conflict of testimony here. I think his scientific

(36:40):
tastes were innate. I have excellent drawings of insects made
by him as a schoolboy. Also, he made a model
of a caterpillar, tried a little chemistry, made lace with
bobbins of his own contriving. It was said, nothing escapes
that boy's eyes a. D. Eight. To my father's encouragement
of a natural inc the nation a E. Nine. I

(37:03):
cannot trace the origin of my interest in any particular
branch of science further than that, as far as regards
Blank Botany, I was thrown into the society of a
gentleman who took much interest in it. My scientific tastes originated,
as a matter of fact, after leaving Blank the University
F ten not innate. I trace the origin of my

(37:24):
botanical taste to leisure, to the accidental receipt of Decandall's
flore francaise whilst resident in that country, and to encouragement
from my mother. They were determined afterwards by independence, considering
my absence of ambition to rise in the world, and
by friendship and encouragement from Blank the four greatest British
moodernists of the day b e f. Biology Medical subsection

(37:51):
one in ate in a great degree. I trace the
origin of my interest in science one to my mother's
mental activity and love of collecting and arranging, and my
father constant encouragement of my pursuit. Two to a friendship
of three eminent botanists, by whom I was chiefly induced
to study botany. Three to my profession, the choice of
which was in some measure determined by my taste for

(38:14):
collecting and studying a d e F. Two. I selected
the medical profession because it was that of my father.
This choice led me to scientific pursuits for which I
had no previous predilection, as I had no opportunities that way.
I conclude the tastes runate, as they certainly show themselves

(38:34):
the moment the opportunity for developing them occurred, namely at
the commencement of my professional studies estimates seventeen a D
three not at all especially innate. I could have taken
to any other subject quite as well. So far as
I know, I trace the origin of my interest in
science to the knowledge that I must do my best

(38:55):
in it to earn a livelihood and to please my parents.
I did not follow my own branch from any special liking.
Indeed I disliked it, but I was necessary to follow
some branch. The connection with the hospital and medical school
in blank have been inducements to continue work, and all
my life I have worked pretty steadily. D four. I

(39:16):
cannot perceive that they were an eight. Possibly my taste
were due to her retentives of memory as to objects
and facts, and a strong impression that good surgery is
a great fact. Subsequently, by the approval of teachers when
between estimated eighteen twenty, having been selected chief resistant to
the most popular teacher of Anatomye's day, and also to

(39:36):
a professor of surgery c. G five had an interest
excited and philosophical inquiries by my father's acute observations in
all such topics. E six, I cannot say that I
had naturally a turn for any pursuit. In particular, my
addiction to medicine was purely the result of accident. I

(39:57):
never gave a thought to physics as a subject of
study until I was twenty seven years old D seven
accidentally directed to medicine by associating with a medical friend
in a superficial study of botany c D. Statistics One. Certainly,
my scientific tastes appeared to me to have been so

(40:18):
to say Nate. A two. My interest in science was
due to my having been officially employed in an early
part of my career in a very important statistical inquiry
D three Innate. I think I inherited many mental peculiarities
in talents for my paternal grandfather, amongst which is a
love of figures in tabulation. None from my father. I

(40:40):
cannot otherwise trace the origin of my interest in science,
nor were my tastes slightly determined by events after manhood.
A four. I should be much inclined to think there
was an innate tendency, but that the tastes were developed
by a good and for the most part, suitable education.
When at my first school, estimating tenant a half to twelve welf,
the head master gave very clear occasional lessons in moral

(41:04):
and economical subjects. I can remember vividly to the present day,
the impression which those lessons made upon me, As I
am not aware that the other boys in the class
were equally impressed. I think I must have had an
innate interest in those subjects, but the lessons probably increased
the interest very much. Ab G. Five. I cannot distinguish

(41:27):
between what I may have derived from nature and what
I may have acquired from intercourse with my father and
certain of his friends. When I was eleven years old,
my father gave a series of lectures on electricity, mechanics, astronomy,
and pumatics, to all of which, but especially to the last,
I paid delightful attention. I presently began to construct apparais

(41:47):
for myself. Subsequently, practice in teaching led me to seek
for knowledge. Intercourse with men of higher attainers became a
great spur. My turn for blank was favored by my
opportunities as an early man member of the Blank Society
A E F six. Professor Blank's lecturers on geology were

(42:08):
the origin of my interest in that science. The work
of his Blank Statistical Society and educational inquiries influenced my
taste for statistical science. Frequent attendis and meetings of the
British Association encouraged my scientific tastes. D G mechanical science one.
If any taste b in eight mine were they date

(42:30):
from beyond my recollection. They were not determined by events
after manhood. But I think the reverse, They were discouraged
in every way A two decidedly innate. The science of
Blank was well taught at the University of Blank, where
I studied Estimate sixteen eighteen, and accidentally this became serviceable

(42:51):
to me when employed as an engineer by Blank. The
friendship of Blank materially affected my career. My tastes were
not largely developed by events occurring after manhood a B
D F three family tradition derived through my mother's side.
My profession fell in with my natural tastes, such as

(43:11):
sketching c D E four in eight. I think as
regards certain qualities of mind which led me, under the
pressure of circumstances, to direct my attention to certain things
in a certain way, namely one, independence of judgment, two
earnestness of purpose. Three a practical, clear headed, common sense,

(43:32):
logical way of viewing things c. D. Five. I cannot
say whether they were in eight. I was always brought
up in a half scientific, half literary atmosphere, and was
a fair mathematician as a boy, as well as a fair
classic and linguist. My tastes were not determined by after events,
but my avocations were rather determined by my scientific habits. E.

(43:57):
End of Chapter three, Part one