4 oo THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



borders, and they need not then afflict other countries by their 

 immigration. The losses that accrue to them through this false 

 theory are both positive and negative. It occasions an enormous 

 outlay upon profitless offerings that must be bought with money 

 earned by hard labor; and it prevents their use of the wealth 

 stored in their lands. Affecting daily the welfare of hundreds of 

 millions of persons, it well illustrates the practical evil of false 

 doctrine, and, by contrast, shows the great economic value of 

 truth. 



SKETCH OF ALEXANDER WILSON. 



A PECULIAR interest attaches to the lives and labors of pio- 

 neers. The circumstances which led to the discovery of a new 

 continent, the first application of one of the forces of nature to 

 the service of man, the making of the first instrument for viewing 

 the stars, and the first description of the animals, plants, or physi- 

 cal features of a country, always have eager readers. Then, too, 

 the personality of a man who has the courage and originality to 

 set forth into an untrodden field is generally picturesque and 

 inspiring. All these claims to attention are possessed by the pio- 

 neer American ornithologist. 



Alexander Wilson was born on the 6th of July, 1766, at 

 Paisley, in Renfrewshire, which lies just south of the river Clyde. 

 His father, Alexander Wilson, was a weaver, and reached the age 

 of eighty-eight years, dying in 1816. During the latter part of 

 his life, at any rate, the father was rated as a most exemplary citi- 

 zen, but there is a glamour of "moonshine" about his early man- 

 hood, in the sense that, when not occupied with tending the loom, 

 he operated a " wee still," from which trickled good Scotch whisky 

 that was consumed without paying tribute to the tax-collector. 

 This has naturally been denied, but not with entire success. His 

 wife was a Mary McNab, of a strictly pious character, and with 

 the beauty that frequently accompanies a tendency to consump- 

 tion. Of this disease she died when young Alexander, who was 

 one of three children, was ten years old. 



Like many devout Scottish folk, the parents of " Alic," espe- 

 cially his mother, cherished the ambition that their boy should 

 " wag his head i' the puppit yet," but his genius did not lie in the 

 direction of the ministerial office. He attended the Grammar 

 School of Paisley, but his schooling must have been interrupted 

 and of no great amount, for much of his boyhood was otherwise 

 occupied, and his deficiencies in grammar, spelling, etc., clung to 

 him till manhood. He is known to have struggled with his back- 

 wardness in arithmetic after emigrating to America. His hand- 



