352 NA T URE-ST UDY RE VIE W [15 :&— Nov. , 1919 



reading these Journals the conviction is forced upon the reader 

 that Thoreau was first and last essentially a naturalist. We doubt 

 if there exists in print any other such body of careful observations 

 on every phase of Nature as is found in these fourteen voliimes. 

 They are a veritable mine of minute and accurate observations. 



Thoreau lived before the era of specialists and he had no tomes 

 written by them which he might consult to give him extended 

 information concerning birds, trees, plants and animals as does 

 the naturalist of today. Whenever he could find scientific author- 

 ity he used it to the fullest extent ; he consulted the works of the 

 veteran entomologist, Harris, concerning insects and he used the 

 botanies of the time to get scientific names of plants and trees; 

 but the value of the Journals lies in his own careful notes often 

 illustrated graphically by drawings, — the ideal field notebook. 



It is true that the htmian element enters into the Journals in an 

 engaging manner. He was interested in what his neighbors did 

 and said; no one can read these journals and believe Thoreau 

 was "crusty" except perhaps when he was commenting on the 

 arguments of his philosopher friends. " His himian interests were 

 general and democratic. Ellery Channing said of him "He came 

 to see the inside of every farmer's house and head, his pot of beans 

 and mug of hard cider." The evidence of this interest in people 

 keeps the reader's heart warm while perusing these five thousand 

 pages of notes. Had these been published first Henry Thoreau 

 would have been known to the world as an authority on the life 

 of the woods and field and ponds and streams and he would have 

 been consulted by scientists whose habit it has been to regard 

 his writings with a certain pharisaical contempt as "Literary 

 Nattiral History" ; for he was a true naturalist first and a literary 

 natural philosopher second. In reading the Journals one is im- 

 pressed by the fact that very few of the pages were written with 

 any thought that they would ever be printed. He saw what was 

 and noted it and that was the end of it. That he understood and 

 valued his observations is shown by a letter he wrote shortly 

 before his death to a young friend. He said, "I have not been 

 engaged in any particular work on Botany or the like, though if I 

 were to live I should have much to report on Natural History 

 generally." When near to his death, a friend called to talk to 

 him about the life beyond, and he answered "One world at a time, 

 please." This answer was not flip]:»ant; he had given his life 

 and thought to seeing and understanding this world and had 

 gained a reverence for worlds that his friend failed to understand. 



