222 WILLIAM HENRY HARVEY 



" but we must remain content to be as wide asunder as the 

 poles, but without, thank God, any malice or other ill-feeling\" 

 Thus it will be seen that Harvey took but little part in 

 influencing the thought of his time ; the materials for his work 

 were gathered not from his own creative brain, nor from the 

 thoughts of other men, but direct from Nature's storehouses; his 

 study was the far-stretching shore, his companions 



"The toiling surges, 

 Laden with sea-weed from the rocks," 



his duty the describing with pen and pencil the harvest of the 

 sea. In his works, he rises above mere technical description of 

 the species with which he is dealing. His mind is filled with the 

 beauty and wonder of plants ; and he strives to impress the 

 reader with the deep interest of the study of botany. He 

 endeavours always to popularize his favourite pursuit by means 

 of pleasant general introductions, and to promote a better know- 

 ledge of seaweeds or of flowering plants by appealing to his 

 readers to collect, and by giving instructions for the gathering 

 and preserving of specimens. 



He derived a peculiar satisfaction from the thought that, at 

 his post at Trinity College, Dublin, he was building up a great 

 permanent collection that would be useful to future generations 

 of botanists. " Here," he writes, " I sit like a turnspit roasting 

 the meat, and when I am gone I suppose another dog will be 

 put in my place. The Herbarium will not be broken up. I am 

 content, for 1 seem to be working for some little purpose. 

 I should just like to leave it in better order to get through the 

 arrears and to return borrowed specimens." It was the same 

 thought that prompted him to the publication of the great 

 descriptive works which his rapidity and skill with pen and 

 pencil enabled him to complete despite frequent intervals of 

 illness. He devoted himself to his task with intense application. 

 " Twenty minutes," he writes from South x'\frica in the middle 

 of the stifling summer, " is my fair allowance for a drawing, with 

 all its microscopical analysis." 



From his letters, and from the reminiscences of persons who 



^ More Letters of Charles Darwin, Vol. i. p. i66. 



