182 ENGLISH MEN OF SCIENCE. [CHAP.
inquiries by my father's acute observations in all such topics." (e)
(6) " 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 never gave a thought to physic as a subject of study until I was 27 years old." (d)
(7) "Accidentally [directed] to medicine by associating with a medical friend in a superficial study of botany." (c, d)
STATISTICS.
(1) Certainly my scientific tastes appear to me to have been, so to say, innate." (a)
(2) "My interest in science was due to my having been officially employed in the early part of [my career, in a very important statistical inquiry]." (d)
(3) " Innate, I think, I inherit many mental peculiarities and talents from my paternal grandfather, amongst which is a love of figures and
