HIS MODE OF TEACHING 



" Thus in studying the Cambrian era, which the labors 

 of Walcott and others at that time had shown to be of 

 far greater extent and importance than had previously 

 been supposed, his students were told to regard it as of 

 equal importance with the Lower Silurian, though in his 

 text-book it was one of the subdivisions of the latter, and 

 his remark at the time was, ' I have found it best to be 

 always afloat in regard to opinions on geology/ 



" So, too, in accepting as divisions of independent con- 

 tinental progress, the Eastern Border, Eastern Conti- 

 nental, Interior Continental, Western Continental, and 

 Western Border regions, a classification which differed 

 from that which he had previously made, he said: ' I 

 always like to change when I can make a change for the 

 better. ' 



" In adopting views which had been originated by- 

 others, he never sought to assume from them any credit 

 to himself, but freely gave honor to whom honor was due. 

 This was well illustrated in his espousal of Darwin's 

 theory of the formation of coral islands. It was a subject 

 to which before the publication of Darwin's views he had 

 himself given much thought, without arriving in his own 

 mind at any satisfactory hypothesis. ' As soon as Dar- 

 win published his theory, however,' he said, ' I saw at 

 once that it solved the difficulties of the case,' and though 

 he did much to expand and verify it, he never claimed it 

 in any degree as his own. His change of opinion regard- 

 ing the theory of evolution is likewise well known, and he 

 never hesitated to mention it in his lectures upon the 

 subject. 



" Upon those, however, who sought to gain scientific 

 repute by any other means than a careful and unbiased 

 study of facts, his strictures were severe. One geologist 

 of some prominence he described as ' a man of wonderful 

 resources, because he had only to go to his own brain 

 for facts,' and his students were often warned against ac- 

 cepting any of such an observer's conclusions. 



' Woe likewise to the student who sought to conceal 

 the bubble of his ignorance with a thin varnish of words. 

 The bubble would be pricked with a celerity and sudden- 

 ness that left no desire for a repetition of the experiment. 



" No man, however, was ever more ready, even eager, 

 to assist those who wanted to obtain knowledge. While 



'73 



