338 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Oct. 



Its interest as a narrative and as a study of Imman nature is 

 also great. Mixed with some pardonable egotisms, it brings 

 before us a vivid picture of the genuine old New England puritan 

 character, in its energy, its stubborn endurance, its rigid honesty 

 and integrity, its horror of debt and dependence, and its quiet 

 enthusiasm, — qualities which, it is to be feared, have somewhat 

 died out in more recent times, and which certainly require cul- 

 ture among the young men of Canada. 



We purpose, in the present notice, to give a few extracts illus- 

 trative of the early life and character of Dr. Hitchcock, and of his 

 efforts in behalf of natural history, and especially of the museum 

 of Amherst College. 



The following extracts refer to the difficulties of his early life : 



" One of these circumstances was the comparative poverty of 

 my early condition. It was not absolute poverty, for my father 

 moved among the most respectable of the people of Deerfield, where 

 I was born, and was honored among them especially by being- 

 chosen deacon of the Orthodox church, of which he was long one of 

 the strongest pillars. But he had to struggle hard with a trade 

 not very lucrative, to feed, clothe, and educate a large family. 

 He bad commenced his family career during the Revolutionary 

 War, in which he had been twice engaged as a soldier, as was his 

 father, who fell a sacrifice to the diseases of the camp. The debts 

 which he contracted when Continental Notes were almost the only 

 money, hung like an incubus upon him nearly all his life, and he 

 was relieved only when his sons were old enough to aid him. But 

 lie was highly intellectual in his habits, and studied theology 

 especially, with much success." [Towards the close of his life, as but 

 few sympathized with him in his religious views, the church with 

 which he was connected having passed into other hands, he com- 

 mitted many of his thoughts to writing, and some of the essays and 

 sermons which he left " would do no discredit to educated 

 clergymen."] 



" It cannot be doubted that such a father would do all he could 

 for the education of his children. We were first carried thoroughly 

 through the primary school, and then had the advantages of a 

 good academy, as much as we could find time and means to 

 improve. But he could go no farther with any of us — he had 

 three sons. And nothing was before me but a life of manual 

 labor. But as I had a great aversion to being apprenticed to a 

 tradesman, he did not attempt even to teach me his own trade, 



