LITERARY NOTICES. 



129 



niture. He lived, sick and feeble and old, 

 from hand to mouth, often unable to go 

 abroad for food, and as badly off for helping 

 himself indoors. It were bad to have any 

 human being so utterly abandoned, and so 

 suffering. Here and there, at wide inter- 

 vals, there was a man or woman who would 

 have done much to modify this misery, but 

 it ought never to have been left to those 

 who could scarcely afford to curtail their 

 own allowance of plain clothes and victuals 

 for another. 



His arduous literary labors were per- 

 formed without any compensation whatever. 

 (It may be said in this connection that he 

 has recently been paid to his satisfaction for 

 several essays over his name in " The Popu- 

 lar Science Monthly." A most pathetic in- 

 cident of the last one is that, the very day 

 before his death, he sat upon his bed and 

 corrected the proofs, which ought to have 

 been done for him, but which he would nev- 

 er ask any one to do, and which, if it did 

 not cost him his life, without doubt short- 

 ened his few remaining hours.) 



Mr. Corry indignantly adds : " There 

 can be no doubt that the city has in- 

 curred a deep and lasting reproach by 

 permitting such a treasure to be de- 

 stroyed prematurely by disease and ac- 

 tual want, and that she should be told 

 of it, and should suffer the conse- 

 quences." 



There is, however, this palliation for 

 the conduct of the Cincinnatians. Pro- 

 fessor Vaughan was modest, shrinking, 

 and unobtrusive, and kept his miseries 

 to himself. "He would not give his 

 address to his friends, nor permit them 

 to ferret him out and ascertain with 

 their own eyes his actual condition. 

 Nor would he make any explanation, 

 much less ask or accept any pecuniary 

 assistance." That is, he did not choose 

 to submit to the mortification of becom- 

 ing an object of charity. No doubt 

 there were plenty of people who would 

 have given alms, if it had been solicited, 

 but the man's self-respect would not 

 permit the degradation. It is said he 

 neglected himself, and his townsmen 

 merely imitated his example ; but this 

 is rather a cold-blooded apology for 

 leaving a man of genius to penury, rags, 

 and starvation. Read over the list of 

 vol. xv. 9 



subjects upon which he thought and 

 wrote, and read the first paper in this 

 " Monthly," which shows the quality of 

 his work, and then say how much vigor 

 a man would have left to fight his Cin- 

 cinnati neighbors in the competitions 

 of money-making. He was incompe- 

 tent to make money by his very voca- 

 tion, and this must have been perfectly 

 well known. Why was not a proper 

 place made for Professor Vaughan, in 

 which he could have given his services 

 to the public, and been so fairly paid 

 for it that he could have lived in a way 

 to favor his best work? The answer is, 

 that there was not sufficient apprecia- 

 tion of science among the people ; and 

 very likely, if by special exertion he had 

 been put into a comfortable place, some 

 miserable mountebank who knew bet- 

 ter how to manage the public would 

 have got the position away from him. 



LITERARY NOTICES. 



Cooley's Cyclopedia of Practical Re- 

 ceipts and Collateral Information in 

 the Arts, Manufactures, Professions, 

 and Trades, including Medicine, Phar- 

 macy, and Domestic Economy : Designed 

 as a Comprehensive Supplement to the 

 Pharmacopoeia and General Book of 

 Reference for the Manufacturer, Trades- 

 man, Amateur, and Heads of Families. 

 Sixth edition, revised and partly rewrit- 

 ten by Richard V. Tuson, F. C. S., 

 Professor of Chemistry and Toxicology 

 in the Royal Veterinary College. Vol. 

 I. New York : D. Appleton &^Co. Pp. 

 896. Price, $4.50. 



The rapid development of the practical 

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