204 A Century of Science 



ful experience formed a safe foundation for all his 

 future work. From that time forth he was fitted 

 to absorb the records and memorials of the early 

 explorers, and to make their strange experiences 

 his own. 



The next step was to gather these early records 

 from government archives, and from libraries pub 

 lic and private, on both sides of the Atlantic, a 

 task, as Parkman himself called it, &quot; abundantly 

 irksome and laborious.&quot; It extended over many 

 years and involved several visits to Europe. It 

 was performed with a thoroughness approaching 

 finality. Already in the preface to the &quot; Pioneers &quot; 

 the author was able to say that he had gained ac 

 cess to all the published materials in existence. 

 Of his research among manuscript sources a nota 

 ble monument exists in a cabinet now standing 

 in the library of the Massachusetts Historical 

 Society, containing nearly two hundred folio vol 

 umes of documents copied from the originals by 

 expert copyists. Ability to incur heavy expense 

 is, of course, a prerequisite for all undertakings of 

 this sort, and herein our historian was favoured 

 by fortune. Against this chiefest among advan 

 tages were to be offset the hardships entailed 

 by delicate health and inability to use the eyes 

 for reading and writing. Parkman always die- 



