money has been devoted to obtain a bronze statue, copied from Chantrey's marble one. This has been considerably enlarged, so as to suit its position at the right hand of the centre of the Infirmary, the widest public space in Manchester, and beside the statues of other distinguished persons.

Thus although in Manchester pure science is, from peculiar circumstances, allowed only a humble station beside the practical, and very few young men are allowed to study it thoroughly, sufficient energy and enthusiasm have been found to obtain for Dalton a memorial which connects his name as well with the ornament of the city, as with the hopes of all those youths whose aspirations lead them to seek eminence or usefulness in the study of the natural sciences.

THE question of greatest interest and importance connected with Dalton's personality relates to the character of his mind, not in a social point of view, for there we find that although the qualities were of the best material, they were not made prominent portions of his life, but intellectually in the faculty which caused him to place himself in history and connect his name with the knowledge of nature. Sir H. Davy has given him the highest character, when he said that "he was one of the most original philosophers of his time, and one of the most ingenious," and when he says that he "had none of the manners or ways of the world," and " was a very disinterested man." But in his sketch we do not see that respect with which a man having such a character ought to be treated. It is said for example, that "he had no ambition beyond that of being thought a great philosopher." Now this is a sneering expression, but, after all, is it not expressive of the whole aim of Davy's life? Still, at his noble ambition no one has ventured to sneer. Davy called it "glory," and united to his scientific discoveries fine poetic diction, but his love of nature was not so single as Dalton's, and although his sight was more delicate it was not so penetrating. There are few great men who have not had their peculiarities; when these arise from simplicity of character they have generally been considered to exalt their possessors. Davy's speculations on Dalton's course of thought are given at random. For example, he supposes him to have seen the works of the Higginses, but not Richter's,

whereas the contrary was the case, the works of the former not having been heard of, but some of the latter. We are not justified in making such speculations without some foundation. This "character" referred to, written by Davy, and to be seen in Dr. Henry's life of Dalton, might probably have been modified before he gave it to the public, had he lived to do so. He certainly had a right to jot down his own speculations in private.

Dalton has been called a coarse experimenter. He taught himself and never advanced with the times, but there are many varieties of gifts, and we have not always found that the finest experimenter has been the greatest discoverer. The mind in reality makes the experiment first. Experiments are not made on things distant from our knowledge, but on those which approach nearest to it; a theory is therefore formed, arising from previous knowledge, or a question is asked without a theory, exactly at the turning point where a finger post is for a moment wanted. The mind always travels the road or by-road of theory, although wavering at the meeting of new roads. Now Dalton when he saw that the road must be in a certain direction, did not care to keep by it at every step, and so surveyed a great extent of territory. It was done with the quick decision and instinct of the hunter over wild ground. One only laments that on the first sight of new lands there was not the poet to burst out into song. It is this want of poetry, this constant plodding workmanship of the intellect, that has obtained so few admirers for Dalton, and has allowed men, whose fame might readily be got from a very few of his memoirs, to take a position in science and society, which ought to have been far inferior. Even scientific men have yielded to the feeling, and, like the world of fashion, have admired the gayest. But, after all, how few are the scientific men whose diction gives life to their discoveries. Life is scarcely apparent till after much nursing.

The mind never ceases to be strange to us, and if our pictures of men are incorrect, it often arises from our desire to comprehend thoroughly the whole. This is always difficult, probably impossible, still more so in the case of one so little demonstrative. But it is not here desired to describe that substratum of mind common to all men, but those striking features which stood above the average man, and are the true source of our interest.

The first thing that we observe in Dalton is clearness of conception; he knows what he thinks, and can define it. This is very clear through all his course, every thought is squared and finished. To this more than anything else I attribute his first idea of atoms. He was obliged to conceive of gas, and how could he do it without giving shapes to the parts? Gases could not be without parts, they expanded and contracted, and so the parts became essential to them.

The next thing to observe is directness. He went to his point rapidly. His experiments are simple, and, although rude, are exceedingly appropriate. It must, however, be remembered that although simplicity is at times beautiful, it cannot be attained in experiment so easily now as then. He prepared the way for more complex methods. Great clearness of conception often leads the mind to put down its results in form and figure, giving a mathematical character to them. It loses the poetical distance by working at the foreground, but does not forget that the foreground has a beauty and truth of its own.

The third characteristic is tenacity. His conceptions once formed seemed never to fade, or were with difficulty eradicated. This is natural to a mind with strong conceptions. Its own thoughts become its material, much more than anything said or done by others, and it prefers to reason from its own data, being those best known to it. This was remarkably seen in Dalton.

Fourthly. I would add rapidity of conclusion. This may arise in various ways. In a mind with weak conceptions or pictures of things, rapidity may be great, but can be of no value. In a tenacious mind like Dalton's, rapidity of conception is a combination of true ideas, so rapidly made that the steps are not seen clearly by the mind itself, and hence that inexplicable result which seems at least one of the ways in which genius is produced.

To understand the truth of these remarks the memoirs must be read and compared with the times, for Dalton, although he died but lately, flourished at the birth of true chemistry, and his work was done when Berzelius was only commencing.

By him laws were more easily treated than facts, and thought was easier than observation. His mind was one of those which especially sought laws, desiring to form the link between the mental and material. He seldom observed without reasoning, and he had no surplus observation: this made him of an absent disposition. He seldom reasoned without observing: this made him an experimenter. But in the movements of his mind, as of his body, there was a certain rigidity, which he himself seems to have felt, and for which others have endeavoured to find causes. One quality Dalton had to a degree almost unparalleled: the constancy with which he clung to his occupation of observing and generalizing.

His mind seems to stand before us as an intellectual tool, constantly planing, drilling, and boring with never ceasing activity, without any violent fits of haste, and without any seasons of absolute rest. As far as I know I have indicated what were the peculiar characteristics of that tool, but there is no doubt that other circumstances might have brought into activity a far different set of faculties. We see prominently in him how one portion of the mind was willing to devote itself to obscurity for the advancement of the others, how the faculty which reasoned on the "Mind its ideas and affections,"