IN MEMORIAM: ELLIOTT COUES. XXXlx 



in the kindest way of the author of the work or act he had so criticised or con- 

 demned, apparently entirely unconscious that it could possibly affect any friendly 

 relations or be the means of any estrangement. It was the sentiment advanced, 

 or the conclusion reached, that was the object of his attack, not the individual who 

 was the author. In all his critical reviews there is no thought of self, but only 

 desire to do justice to his subject and to its author, and if anything could be 

 charged against him on this point, it was an evident inclination always to find 

 something to praise. 



In his scientific writings he was always extremely lucid and conservative in his 

 methods, and he had but little sympathy for tiie hair-splitting and microscopic 

 variations in the appearance of animals that is the joy and delight of some nat- 

 uralists in these later days. He was a scholar and knew his Greek and Latin ; and 

 with a scholar's instinct and abhorrence of incorrect phraseology, he strove with all 

 his might to inculcate not only in his own scientific writings but in those of others 

 the true principles of etymology and philology ; and both by tongue and pen, in 

 the keen analytical style of which he was an undisputed master, he strove with all 

 the force of his energetic personality against the unfortunate and mistaken doctrine 

 that the perpetuation of errors can ever be permissible, much less commendable. 

 He possessed a command of language gained by few, and the beauty of his style 

 and his felicity of expression has created numerous pen pictures of the habits and 

 appearances of our wild creatures that have never been excelled by any writer, if 

 indeed they have been equalled. 



While a keen and just critic himself, he was very sensitive regarding the opinion 

 of others towards his own productions, and sought the approbation of those who 

 were bound closely to him either by earthly ties or an intimate friendship, or whose 

 knowledge of the subject under consideration caused their opinion to be of special 

 value. This extreme sensitiveness is best illustrated by an act committed in his 

 youthful days, when after having labored for several years upon a work on Ari- 

 zona, on reading his manuscript to one who, if not competent to judge of the 

 importance of his labors, he had the right to expect would exhibit sympathy for 

 his efforts, and who must at least have been impressed with its thoroughness and 

 beauty of diction, yet was only able to consider its value as a commercial asset, 

 and therefore commented upon it so unfavorably, and with such strength of 

 expression, that, utterly disheartened at the want of appreciation for that which 

 had been so long a labor of love and of which he was so proud of his ability to 

 produce, on the impulse of the moment he cast the "copy" into the fire, where it 

 was consumed, and then suffered a severe attack of illness in consequence of his 

 loss by his hasty act. 



Of a most affectionate disposition, he sought and enjoyed the society of his 

 friends and those with sympathetic tastes ; and although he possessed strong con- 

 victions and firm opinions, yet no one more readily yielded to the views of another 

 whose opportunities to reach a correct decision had been greater than his own, and 

 this was always effected with a courtesy that caused his friendly opponent to regret 

 he could not himself yield and reverse their positions. He loved science and scien- 

 tific work, and scorned to employ his talents and his knowledge merely for financial 



