good violinist, took me under his tuition. He made me practice
on the violin about an hour and a half a day. I continued this

for a long time. But the result was failure. I hated the
violin, and would never play unless compelled to do so. I

suppose the secret was that I had no 'ear.'
"It was different with subjects more to my mind. Looking over my

father's books one day, I came upon Gregory's 'Handbook of
Inorganic Chemistry,' and began reading it. I was fascinated

with the book, and studied it morning, noon, and night--in fact,
every time when I could snatch a few minutes. I really believe

that at one time I could have repeated the whole of the book from
memory. Now I found the value of arithmetic, and set to work in

earnest on proportion, vulgar and decimal fractions, and, in
fact, everything in school work that I could turn to account in

the science of chemistry. The result of this sudden application
was that I was seized with an illness. For some months I had

incessant headache; my hair became dried up, then turned grey,
and finally came off. Weighing myself shortly after my recovery,

at the age of fifteen, I found that I just balanced fifty-six
pounds. I took up mensuration, then astronomy, working at them

slowly, but giving the bulk of my spare time to chemistry.
"In the year 1869, when I was sixteen years old, I came across

Cuthbert Bede's book, entitled 'Photographic Pleasures.' It is an
amusing book, giving an account of the rise and progress of

photography, and at the same time having a good-natured laugh at
it. I read the book carefully, and took up photography as an

amusement, using some apparatus which belonged to my father, who
had at one time dabbled in the art. I was soon able to take fair

photographs. I then decided to try photography as a business. I
was apprenticed to a photographer, and spent four years with

him--one year at Northallerton, and three at Darlington. When my
employer removed to Darlington, I joined the School of Art there.

"Having read an account of the experiments of M. E. Becquerel, a
French savant, on photographing in the colours of nature, my

curiosity was awakened. I carefully repeated his experiments,
and convinced myself that he was correct. I continued my

experiments in heliochromy for a period of about two years,
during which time I made many photographs in colours, and

discovered a method of developing the coloured image, which
enabled me to shorten the exposure to one-fortieth of the

previously-required time. During these experiments, I came upon
some curious results, which, I think, might puzzle our scientific

men to account for. For instance, I proved the existence of
black light, or rays of such a nature as to turn the

rose-coloured surface of the sensitive-plate black--that is, rays
reflected from the black paint of drapery, produced black in the

picture, and not the effect of darkness. I was, like Becquerel,
unable to fix the coloured image without destroying the colours;

though the plates would keep a long while in the dark, and could
be examined in a subdued, though not in a strong light. The

coloured image was faint, but the colours came out with great
truth and delicacy.

"I began to attend the School of Art at Darlington on the 6th of
March, 1872. I found, on attempting to draw, that I had

naturally a correct eye and hand; and I made such progress, that
when the students' drawings were examined, previously to sending

them up to South Kensington, all my work was approved. I was
then set to draw from the cast in chalk, although I had only been

at the school for a month. I tried for all the four subjects at
the May examination, and was fortunate enough to pass three of

them, and obtained as a prize Packett's 'Sciography.' I worked
hard during the next year, and sent up seventeen works; for one

of these, the 'Venus de Milo,' I gained a studentship.
"I then commenced the study of human anatomy, and began

water-colour painting, reading all the works upon art on which I
could lay my hand. At the May examination of 1873, I completed

my second-grade certificate, and at the end of the year of my
studentship, I accepted the office of teacher in the School of

Art. This art-training created in me a sort of disgust for
photography, as I saw that the science of photography had really

very little genuine art in it, and was more allied to a
mechanical pursuit than to an artistic one. Now, when I look

back on my past ideas, I clearly see that a great deal of this
disgust was due to my ignorance and self-conceit.

"In 1874, I commenced painting in tempora, and then in oil,
copying the pictures lent to the school from the South Kensington

Art Library. I worked also from still life, and began sketching
from nature in oil and water-colours, sometimes selling my work

to help me to buy materials for art-work and scientific
experiments. I was, however, able to do very little in the

following year, as I was at home suffering from sciatica. For
nine months I could not stand erect, but had to hobble about with

a stick. This illness caused me to give up my teachership.
"Early in 1876 I returned to Darlington. I went on with my art

studies and the science of chemistry; though I went no further in
heliochromy. I pushed forward with anatomy. I sent about

fifteen works to South Kensington, and gained as my third-grade
prize in list A the 'Dictionary of Terms used in Art' by Thomas

Fairholt, which I found a very useful work. Towards the end of
the year, my father, whose health was declining, sent for me home

to assist him in the school. I now commenced the study of
Algebra and Euclid in good earnest, but found it tough work. My

father, though a fair mathematician, was unable to give me any
instruction; for he had been seized with paralysis, from which he

never recovered. Before he died, he recommended me to try for a
schoolmaster's certificate; and I promised him that I would. I

obtained a situation as master of a small village school, not
under Government inspection; and I studied during the year, and

obtained a second class certificate at the Durham Diocesan
College at Christmas, 1877. Early in the following year, the

school was placed under Government inspection, and became a
little more remunerative.

"I now went on with chemicalanalysis, making my own apparatus.
Requiring an intense heat on a small scale, I invented a furnace

that burnt petroleum oil. It was blown by compressed air. After
many failures, I eventually succeeded in bringing it to such

perfection that in 7 1/2 minutes it would bring four ounces of
steel into a perfectly liquefied state. I next commenced the

study of electricity and magnetism; and then acoustics, light,
and heat. I constructed all my apparatus myself, and acquired

the art of glass-blowing, in order to make my own chemical
apparatus, and thus save expense.

"I then went on with Algebra and Euclid, and took up plane
trigonometry; but I devoted most of my time to electricity and

magnetism. I constructed various scientificapparatus--a syren,
telephones, microphones, an Edison's megaphone, as well as an

electrometer, and a machine for covering electric wire with
cotton or silk. A friend having lent me a work on artificial

memory, I began to study it; but the work led me into nothing but
confusion, and I soon found that if I did not give it up, I

should be left with no memory at all. I still went an sketching
from Nature, not so much as a study, but as a means of recruiting

my health, which was far from being good. At the beginning of
1881 I obtained my present situation as assistant master at the

Yorebridge Grammar School, of which the Rev. W. Balderston, M.A.,
is principal.

"Soon after I became settled here, I spent some of my leisure
time in reading Emerson's 'Optics,' a work I bought at an old

bookstall. I was not very successful with it, owing to my
deficient mathematical knowledge. On the May Science

Examinations of 1881 taking place at Newcastle-on-Tyne, applied
for permission to sit, and obtained four tickets for the

following subjects:-- Mathematics, Electricity and Magnetism,
Acoustics, Light and Heat, and Physiography. During the