CHAP. xxiv. DICK'S CHARACTER. 427 



are carefully gummed on to their respective sheets, and 

 in the case of the Caithness plants, the habitat is always 

 given. The manner in which they are arranged shows 

 the eye of the artist. The mosses are unfinished. We 

 have by us the book which he carried in his side-pocket, 

 still full of the mosses which he was collecting and 

 gumming on at the time of his death. 



The herbarium seems to have been thrown into a 

 corner, and laid on the floor. It is full of living moths, 

 and their grubs have already made sad havoc with the 

 collection of grasses in which Dick took so much pride. 

 The Scientific Society of Thurso ought surely to do 

 something to put the collection in proper order. The 

 respect which they entertain for Eobert Dick requires 

 this to be done. They will never again possess such 

 another botanist to collect and arrange the plants and 

 grasses, and ferns and mosses, of Caithness. 



A few more words about Dick's character. "We 

 have said that he was a solitary man. He was for the 

 most part alone with himself. He communed much 

 with his own thoughts. He always made his long 

 journeys on foot alone. "No good work," he said, 

 " could be done in company." He had few real friends ; 

 and his relatives were far distant. 



Under such circumstances, and with such a nature, 

 Dick was in imminent danger of losing the health of his 

 spirit and the just balance of his character. Such a 

 man is often driven to brood on himself ; or sell his life 

 to miserable, miserly money-making ; perhaps to drink 

 or self-indulgence. But Dick did none of these. Hi3 



