MEMOIR. XXVU 



thing insignificant and uninspiring compared witli the search 

 for that plain Kttle orchid. This was the true spirit of the 

 observer, — appreciation of the unspeakable value of a fact. 



Still the certainty remains that for all productive purposes 

 of Natural History the last fifteen years of his life yielded 

 constantly less and less. Genius works many miracles, but 

 it cannot secure leisure for science to a man who has twelve 

 children, no private means, and the public library of a Uni- 

 versity to administer. As the library grew larger, his op- 

 portunities grew less, and it is pathetic to read in his cor- 

 respondence the gradual waning of his hopes of release. 



He wrote (Nov. 10, 1837) to Dr. Charles Zimraermann, 

 of Columbia, S. C. (the italics being his own) : 



" I look forward to all your future seudings with much hope, and beg 

 that you will favor me with such insects as you can conveniently part with, 

 as soon as possible. At present I may not have it in my power to make 

 full and adequate returns : but the time may come when I shall no longer be 

 so closely confined to one spot, and so much absorbed with other duties; 

 and when that time does come, I mean to go forth into the neglected parts 

 of this and the neighboring States, and collect largely of the insect treas- 

 ures contained in them. Then you shall share fully and freely of my 



These eager visions faded, and he wrote five years after 

 (Nov. 3, 1842), to Mr. E. C. Herrick, librarian of Yale 

 College, this final abandonment of the hopeless attempt to be 

 librarian and naturalist at the same time : 



"The business of the public library of the University takes up nearly 

 all my time, and unless something more favorable turns up, I shall not be 



