ii6 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



whole, both larger and handsomer than the fauna of colder cli- 

 mates. But in the general aspect of tropical nature an occasional 

 bright flower or brilliant parrot counts for very little among the 

 mass of lush green which surrounds and conceals it. On the other 

 hand, in our museums and conservatories we sedulously pick out 

 the rarest and most beautiful of these rare and beautiful species, 

 and we isolate them completely from their natural surroundings. 

 The consequence is that the untraveled mind regards the tropics 

 mentally as a sort of perpetual replica of the hot-houses at Kew, 

 superimposed on the best of Mr. Bull's orchid shows. As a mat- 

 ter of fact, people who know the hot world well can tell you that 

 the average tropical woodland is much more like the dark shade 

 of Box Hill or the deepest glades of the Black Forest. For really 

 fine floral display in the mass, all at once, you must go, not to 

 Ceylon, Sumatra, Jamaica, but to the far north of Canada, the 

 Bernese Oberland, the moors of Inverness-shire, the North Cape 

 of Norway. Flowers are loveliest where the climate is coldest ; 

 forests are greenest, most luxuriant, least blossoming, where the 

 conditions of life are richest, warmest, fiercest. In one word. 

 High Life is always poor but beautiful. — Cornhill Magazine. 



SKETCH OF JAMES CURTIS BOOTH. 



THE life of Prof. Booth is divided by Mr. Patterson Dubois, 

 in his memorial address, into three periods : that of his pre- 

 paratory student life, or the formative period, which closed in 

 1835-'36 ; the creative period, so named " because it called into 

 being a method of technical education which has, probably more 

 than anything else, resulted in establishing chemistry as a factor 

 in commerce, and in gaining for the chemist a recognized place 

 in the economy of the world's work," 1836 to 1849 ; and the period 

 of his official life as melter and refiner at the United States Mint 

 in Philadelphia. 



James Curtis Booth was born in Philadelphia, July 28, 1810, 

 the son of George Booth, of New Castle, Del., and Ann Balton, 

 of Chestertown, Md. ; and died in Philadelphia, March 21, 1888. 

 He was taught in Philadelphia, at the seminary in Hartsville, 

 Pa., and at the University of Pennsylvania, whence he was 

 graduated in 1829. He then spent a year at the Rensselaer Poly- 

 technic Institute at Troy, N. Y. He had a decided preference for 

 the study of chemistry, of which he very early realized the capa- 

 bilities and the practical value. Seeking opportunities and facili- 

 ties for the performance of laboratory work in connection with 

 his studies which America could not afford, he went to Europe 



