irr.] ORIGIN OF TASTE FOR SCIENCE. 157
(19) [The following is an extract from biographical notes kindly communicated to me of the late Archibald Smith.] "Yachting would
give an interest to all nautical matters, and the intimacy of his father with . . . . gave a bias towards magnetism. In a letter to one of his sisters (no date, ? about 1838), he says:
told 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 partly to help him, I wrote 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 )
(20) " My interest in mathematics began at
. [university], and was mainly due to the
energy and encouragement of my tutor. . . . ;
but Professor . . . . first inspired me with the
sense of the magnificence of mathematics." (,q)
