"I first learnt to read when the masons were at work in your house. I approached them one day, and observed that the architect used a rule and compass, and that he made calculations. I inquired what might be the meaning and use of these things, and I was informed that there was a science called Arithmetic. I purchased a book of arithmetic, and I learned it. I was told there was another science called Geometry; I bought the necessary books, and I learned Geometry. By reading, I found there were good books in these two sciences in Latin; I bought a dictionary, and I learned Latin. I understood, also, that there were good books of the same kind in French; I bought a dictionary, and I learned French. It seems to me that one does not need to know anything more than the twenty-four letters to learn everything else that one wishes."--Edmund Stone to the Duke of Argyll. ('Pursuit of Knowledge under Difficulties.') "The British Census proper reckons twenty-seven and a half million in the home countries. What makes this census important is the quality of the units that compose it. They are free forcible men, in a country where life is safe, and has reached the greatest value. They give the bias to the current age; and that not by chance or by mass, but by their character, and by the number of individuals among them of personal ability."--Emerson: English Traits. From Belfast to the Highlands of Scotland is an easy route by steamers and railways. While at Birnam, near Dunkeld, I was reminded of some remarkable characters in the neighbourhood. After the publication of the 'Scotch Naturalist' and 'Robert Dick,' I received numerous letters informing me of many self-taught botanists and students of nature, quite as interesting as the subjects of my memoirs. Among others, there was John Duncan, the botanist weaver of Aberdeen, whose interesting life has since been done justice to by Mr. Jolly; and John Sim of Perth, first a shepherd boy, then a soldier, and towards the close of his life a poet and a botanist, whose life, I was told, was "as interesting as a romance." There was also Alexander Croall, Custodian of the Smith Institute at Stirling, an admirable naturalist and botanist. He was originally a hard-working parish schoolmaster, near Montrose. During his holiday wanderings he collected plants for his extensive herbarium. His accomplishments having come under the notice of the late Sir William Hooker, he was selected by that gentleman to prepare sets of the Plants of Braemar for the Queen and Prince Albert, which he did to their entire satisfaction. He gave up his school-mastership for an ill-paid but more congenial occupation, that of Librarian to the Derby Museum and Herbarium. Some years ago, he was appointed to his present position of Custodian to the Smith Institute--perhaps the best provincial museum and art gallery in Scotland.