WORK IN EUROPE 
19 
must be done, would act as an efficient check upon many useless 
publications. 
An historical account of a branch of science is not complete 
without some characterization of the workers who have been active 
in it. I have therefore attempted to introduce into my account 
characterizations of entomologists in regard to their qualification 
for scientific work — in the measure, of course, of my capacity. 
Drawing portraits means introducing the psychological element 
into history. Talent is a gift of nature, and does not, for that reason, 
constitute in itself a merit; the merit lies in the character which 
makes talent fruitful. The duty of a fair critic is to sum up the 
scientific progress resulting from the action of a given character 
upon a given talent. 
The beginnings of a worker in science are often symptomatic of 
his future work. The celebrated contemporary Dutch painter 
Joseph Israels is reported to have said about beginners in art: “ The 
born artist places his ideal so high, that he never imagines he has 
reached it. A beginner who is satisfied with his work arrives at 
nothing.” 1 The same is true of science, and there are many in¬ 
stances of entomologists who, with a decided talent, have been led 
astray by conceit and ambition. This “ Rule of Beginnings ,” as I 
would .call it, is in most cases infallible. 
What is needed in entomology, as well as in every other branch 
of science, is co-operation among honest workers ; and an effective 
co-operation is impossible without a mutual recognition and appre¬ 
ciation of character. “ As we are, so we associate. The good, 
by affinity, seek the good; the vile, by affinity, seek the vile ” 
(Emerson, Divinity College Address, 1838). 
It will be noticed that in exercising the duties of criticism I 
have been particularly careful to render justice to meritorious 
authors who have been misunderstood and decried through the 
malevolence, 2 or neglected through the carelessness, of their con¬ 
temporaries and successors. As such, I would especially mention 
1 This passage is borrowed from an article about the painter Israels in the 
Frankfurter Zeitung, February 11, 1897. 
2 “Expressions malveillantes.” Rob.-Desvoidy, Ann. Soc. Ent. France, 1840, 
p. 351. 
