MEMOIR. XXXV11 



The steady growth of Dr. Harris's reputation is not due 

 alone to his position as pioneer in American science during 

 its barest period. It has grown because he proves to have 

 united qualities that are rare in any period. He combined 

 a fidelity that never shrank from the most laborious details 

 with an intellectual activity that always looked beyond de- 

 tails to principles. No series of observations made by him 

 ever needed revision or verification by another; and yet his 

 mind always looked instinctively towards classification and 

 generalization. He had also those scientific qualities which 

 are moral qualities as well; he had the modesty and unsel- 

 fishness of science, and he had what may be called its chiv- 

 alry. He would give whole golden days of his scanty sum- 

 mer vacations to arranging and labelling the collections of 

 younger entomologists. And it roused all the wrath of which 

 his soul was capable when even a rival was wronged, as 

 when Dejean ignored Say's descriptions, because he had not 

 learned English enough to read them. 



I remember his once holding up to us, as the true type 

 of a scientific reputation, that of Robert Brown, supreme 

 among botanists, unknown even by name to all the world 

 beside. More fortunate than Robert Brown, Dr. Harris 

 combined with this high aristocracy of science a peculiar 

 capacity of practical application, and has left a rare exam- 

 ple of the scientific and the popular spirit in one. 



