EDWARD TUCKERMAN. 495 



lished at Amherst in the year 1872 ; second, the "Synopsis 

 of the North American Lichens," Part I, comprising the 

 Parmeliacei, Cladoniei, and Comogoniei, published in Bos- 

 ton in 1882. It is hoped, but it is not yet certain, that some 

 portions of the remainder, relating to the Less conspicuous 

 but more difficult tribes, may have been substantially made 

 ready for the printer. The loss, we fear, is irreparable : for 

 the work cannot be completed by other hands upon quite 

 the same lines, nor in our day with the same knowledge and 

 insight; and Professor Tuckerman's mode of exposition is 

 inimitable. 



That which Professor Tuckerman did accomplish, however, 

 suffices to show the wide reach and remarkable precision <>f 

 his knowledge, his patience and thoroughness in investigation, 

 his sagacity in detecting affinities, and his philosophical and 

 rather peculiar turn of mind. He wrote in a style which — 

 though perhaps founded on that of his botanical model, Fries, 

 for succinctness, and that of his favorite German philosoph- 

 ical masters for involution — was yet all his own, and which 

 was the more pronounced in advancing years, when, owing t<> 

 increasing- deafness and delicate health, he led a more secluded 

 life. In disquisition, the long and comprehensive sentences 

 which he so carefully constructs are unmistakably clear to 

 those who will patiently plod their way through them, and 

 his choice even of unusual words is generally felicitous : hut 

 sometimes the statements are so hedged about and interpene- 

 trated by qualifications or reservations, and so pregnant with 

 subsidiary although relevant considerations, that they are far 

 from easy reading. Like nests of pill-boxes, they are packed 

 into least bulk ; but for practical use they Deed t«> !>.■ taken 

 apart. 



That Professor Tuckerman could write idiomatic ami clear- 

 flowing English upon occasion, the delightful introduction to 

 his edition of Josselyn's " New England's Rarities" demon- 

 strates ; and in the framing of botanical descriptive phrases, 

 Latin or English, in which clearness and brevity with just 

 order and proportion are desiderata, lie had hardly a Buperior. 



As has been said, his botanical model was Eliaa Pries, He 



