EDWARD TUCKERMAN. 495 
lished at Amherst in the year 1872; second, the “ Synopsis 
of the North American Lichens,” Part I, comprising the 
Parmeliacei, Cladoniei, and Cenogoniei, published in Bos- 
ton in 1882. It is hoped, but it is not yet certain, that some 
portions of the remainder, relating to the less conspicuous 
but more difficult tribes, may have been substantially made 
ready for the printer. The loss, we fear, is irreparable ; for 
the work cannot be completed by other hands upon quite 
the same lines, nor in our day with the same knowledge and 
insight ; and Professor Tuckerman’s mode of exposition is 
inimitable. 
That which Professor Tuckerman did accomplish, however, 
suffices to show the wide reach and remarkable precision of 
his knowledge, his patience and thoroughness in investigation, 
his sagacity in detecting affinities, and his philosophical and 
rather peculiar turn of mind. He wrote in a style which — 
though perhaps founded on that of his botanical model, Fries, 
for succinctness, and that of his favorite German philosoph- 
ical masters for involution — was yet all his own, and which 
was the more pronounced in advancing years, when, owing to 
increasing deafness and delicate health, he led a more secluded 
life. In disquisition, the long and comprehensive sentences 
which he so carefully constructs are unmistakably clear to 
those who will patiently plod their way through them, and 
his choice even of unusual words is generally felicitous ; but 
sometimes the statements are so hedged about and interpene- 
trated by qualifications or reservations, and so pregnant with 
subsidiary although relevant considerations, that they are far 
from easy reading. Like nests of pill-boxes, they are packed 
into least bulk; but for practical use they need to be taken 
apart. 
That Professor Tuckerman could write idiomatic and clear- 
flowing English upon occasion, the delightful introduction to 
his edition of Josselyn’s ““ New England’s Rarities’ demon- 
strates; and in the framing of botanical descriptive phrases, 
Latin or English, in which clearness and brevity with just 
order and proportion are desiderata, he had hardly a superior. 
As has been said, his botanical model was Elias Fries. He 
