Some Cranks and their Crotchets 455 



" Nor I," said Youmans. 



" Do you believe he has any theory at all ? " 



"Not a bit of it. He is a madman, and his 

 belief that he has a theory is simply the form 

 which his delusion takes." 



" Exactly so," I said ; and so it proved. Severe 

 business troubles had wrecked Mr. Flighty's mind, 

 and it was not long before we heard that he had 

 killed himself in a fit of acute mania. 



My story must not end with such a gruesome 

 affair. Out of the many queer people I have 

 known, let me mention one who is associated with 

 pleasant memories of childhood and youth. This 

 man was no charlatan, but a learned naturalist, of 

 solid and genuine scientific attainments, who came 

 to be a little daft in his old age. Dr. Joseph 

 Barratt, whose life extended over three fourths of 

 the present century, was born in England. He 

 was at one time a pupil of Cuvier, and cherished 

 his memory with the idolatrous affection which that 

 wonderful man seems always to have inspired. 

 Dr. Barratt, as a physician practising in Middle- 

 town, Connecticut, is one of the earliest figures in 

 my memory, a quaint and lovable figure. His 

 attainments in botany and comparative anatomy 

 were extensive ; he was more or less of a geologist, 

 and well read withal in history and general litera- 



