In his later years he became
somewhat deaf, but not to the extent of serious personal
inconvenience.
The ruling feature of his character was undoubtedly Order. From the
time that he went up to Cambridge to the end of his life his system of
order was strictly maintained. He wrote his autobiography up to date
soon after he had taken his degree, and made his first will as soon as
he had any money to leave. His accounts were perfectly kept by double
entry throughout his life, and he valued extremely the order of
book-keeping: this facility of keeping accounts was very useful to
him. He seems not to have destroyed a document of any kind whatever:
counterfoils of old cheque-books, notes for tradesmen, circulars,
bills, and correspondence of all sorts were carefully preserved in the
most complete order from the time that he went to Cambridge; and a
huge mass they formed. To a high appreciation of order he attributed
in a great degree his command of mathematics, and sometimes spoke of
mathematics as nothing more than a system of order carried to a
considerable extent. In everything he was methodical and orderly, and
he had the greatest dread of disorder creeping into the routine work
of the Observatory, even in the smallest matters.
Pages:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25