SVANTE ARRHENIUS WALKER 735 



to acquire the niceties of a language, and was of opinion that there 

 should be a universal language — he suggested a simplified English. 

 Any shortcomings of accent or idiom in his own English were amply 

 compensated by a Shakespearean richness of vocabulary, which gave 

 extraordinary pith to many of his sayings. 



He paid little regard to literature or art, but keenly appreciated 

 natural beauty, especially the gladdening phenomena of spring. 

 His life-long interest in the lovely northern dancers and in comets 

 that " brandish their crystal tresses in the sky " had most likely an 

 aesthetic as well as a scientific basis. 



Sweden can boast of many eminent names in science, of which 

 two are by common consent of the first magnitude — Linnaeus and 

 Berzelius. Since the death of Berzelius she has had no name to 

 rank with these save the name we commemorate to-day — Arrhenius. 

 Yet withal Svante Arrhenius was so simple, so genuine, so human 

 a personality that those who had the privilege of his intimacy always 

 forgot the great scientific master in the genial companion and the 

 kindly, lovable friend. 



