450 LEADING AMERICAN MEN OF SCIENCE 



expressed his thoughts in such appropriate language, that every 

 student with a spark of interest in the subject was delighted; it 

 was a treat to hear him lecture." 



His methods were always extremely simple and direct, and he 

 believed in doing himself what he wanted to have done well. In 

 the laboratory he laboriously cut endless sections, sharpening his 

 own microtome knife, and made so little use of others' aid that his 

 chief researches are peculiarly his own in all their execution. 

 Electric bells and speaking-tubes were not often used, and his res- 

 onant enheartening voice as he summoned the janitor seems still 

 to pervade his work place. 



In reading technical works and in preparing lectures he often 

 wrote abstracts with pen copies of illustrations in cheap note-books, 

 5Jx8J inches, folding lengthwise and convenient to carry in the 

 pocket. Often these were written only on one side of the page, 

 but later reversed and used again for some different topic. Rarely 

 were dates given to MSS. and drawings, for time was of lesser 

 moment to him than the ideas with which he grouped his materials 

 in his own mind. He made no lists of his own works and no at- 

 tempts to use clerical aid. 



But it should not be inferred that he was too wedded to old-time 

 simplicity. He soon learned to write his manuscripts on the type- 

 writer, with characteristic deliberateness and continuousness. 

 And though long preferring the direct and simple styles of micro- 

 scope adjustment he used for his later Salpa work Zeiss's most 

 refined apparatus and was proud to prepare series of sections of 

 extreme fineness. 



Professor Brooks found time for wide reading and was fond of 

 the best in literature and careful in his own writings to seek for 

 expression in simple English. His library contained well-worn 

 favorites, but he was anything but a collector of books. For the 

 pet dog that chewed his Shakspere he had but praise as showing 

 good taste, but the pup that destroyed cheap novels was a rascal. 



He was ever fond of a good joke, and took delight in an anecdote 

 of unexpected and subtle turn. Though so devoted to his work 

 as to be shut off from much social life, he was very fond of his 



