iii.]   ORIGIN OF TASTE FOR SCIENCE.   205

Mechanics.-(2) The science of    which I had learnt accidentally, became serviceable to me when employed as an engineer. (3) My profession fell in with my natural tastes. (4) Pressure of circumstances.

E. ENCOURAGEMENT AT HOME.

Nearly one-third of the scientific men have expressed themselves indebted to encouragement at home. They received it in various ways ; sometimes the influence of the parent was strong and direct, as " their origin was due beyond all doubt to my father's influence ; " sometimes it was strong but general, as " I was in a general atmosphere of scientific thinking and discussion ; " sometimes it went no further than

indulgence, as " permission to carry on little experiments at home in a room set apart for the purpose." Under each and all of these

shapes it was truly welcome, and its effectiveness may be in some measure estimated by the vastly smaller number of cases in which success