DR. JOHN D. GODMAN. 15 



utterly destroyed, as I can never hope, nor would I 

 venture if I could, again to resume my labours. My 

 success promised to be very great, but it has pleased 

 God I should move in a different direction." 



His disease advanced with steady pace, and, though 

 there were many fluctuations, his strength continued to 

 decline. The gradual progress of his disorder allowed 

 him many intervals of comparative ease. In these 

 he returned to his literary labours with his usual 

 ardour, and wrote and translated for the press until 

 within a few weeks of his death. Perfectly aware 

 of the fatal character of his disorder, he watched its 

 progress step by step with the coolness of an anato- 

 mist, while he submitted to it with the resignation 

 of a Christian. The "Rambles of a Naturalist" 

 were among the last productions of his pen, and 

 were written in the intervals of acute pain and 

 extreme debility. These essays are not inferior in 

 poetical beauty, and vivid and accurate description, 

 to the celebrated letters of Gilbert White on the 

 natural history of Selbourne. He came to the study 

 of natural history as an investigator of facts, and not 

 as a pupil of the schools; his great aim being to 

 learn the instincts, the structure, and the habits of 

 all animated beings. This science was a favourite 

 pursuit, and he devoted himself to it with indefati- 

 gable zeal. He has been heard to say that, in in- 

 vestigating the habits of the shrew mole, he walked 

 many hundred miles. His powers of observation were 

 quick, patient, keen, and discriminating : it was these 

 qualities that made him so admirable a naturalist. 



