1898.1 lOI 



AI.EXANDER GOODMAN MORE. 



Life and Letters of Alexander Goodman iviore, F.R.S.E., 

 FiLiS.y IVI.R.I.A., with selections from his zoological and 

 botanical writings. Edited by C. B. MoFFAT, b.a., with a 

 preface by Frances M. More. 12 + 642 pages. Dublin, Hodges, 

 Figgis & Co. (Ivtd.), 1898. 



It had been known for some time back that Miss More had projected 

 a memoir of her brother, the late A. G. More, but the portly and hand- 

 some volume that made its appearance early in March came as a surprise 

 to many even of Mr. More's own friends. One's first thought on look- 

 ing at the bulkiness of the book, was that it had been over-loaded with 

 matter of but trivial or transient interest, such as marred a similar 

 botanical biography which we noticed recently. But this fear is dispelled 

 on an examination of the matter. Indeed, in all its 650 pages, the only 

 portion which, as it appears to us, might have been omitted without 

 prejudice to the interest of the volume is the two sheafs of testimonials, 

 received when More was a candidate for the Chair of Botany in the 

 Royal College of Science for Ireland in 1869, and for the Curatorship of 

 the Natural History Museum in Dublin in 1881. It needs no reprinted 

 testimonials to show in what esteem More was held by the foremost 

 British botanists and zoologists of the day. 



The book consists of two parts — the "Life and Letters," edited by 

 C. B. Moffat, B.A., occupying 398 pages, and the "Appendix," consisting 

 of reprints of the more important of Mr. More's scientific papers, and 

 short notes contributed to various Journals. The portrait which 

 appeared in the Irish Naturalist for May, 1895, is used as a frontispiece. 

 A short preface is contributed by Miss More, and we fancy we detect her 

 loving hand also in many of the reminiscences of her brother which fill 

 the volume. 



We must congratulate Mr. Moffat on the way he has done his work. 

 The letters, of which many are printed, are judiciously selected from the 

 large number available, and the narrative matter with which the letters, 

 and extracts from More's Journals, are strung together, is well written, 

 and in keeping with his subject. The story of More's life is simple 

 enough. The foremost naturalist of Ireland of recent years had not a 

 drop of Irish blood in his veins. On the father's side his extraction was 

 exclusively Scottish, on the mother's purely English ; he was born in 

 Loudon, and spent his early years in Switzerland. From childhood he 

 kept a Journal, which, from the'very commencement, shows the strong 

 taste for natural history that was the distinguishing feature of his life. 

 He was nearly eleven when his sojourn in Switzerland ended, and he 

 paid a round of visits to his Scottish relations. Here we find an 

 amusing entry of his first introduction to his native Gorse : — "Madame 

 Spottiswood nous mena un jour voir un convert de renards, qui etait 

 convert de bruyere et d'une plante piquante trfes commune en Ecosse" ! 



