24 CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES [Proc. 4th Ser. 



unquestionably true that this abiHty can Hft talent above its 

 normal level and make it super-efficient in its results. Mr. 

 Hittell possessed great patience, and an immense capacity for 

 taking pains. Possibly these were the dominant notes in his 

 character. 



It was this genius for details that made him a painter of 

 considerable skill. His early love of drawing was born at 

 his mother's knee. Later he attracted a good deal of local 

 attention for his pen and ink drawings. He soon flowered 

 into oil painting, which became one of the principal amuse- 

 ments of his early life. In those days painting in oil was 

 complicated by the necessity of grinding his own colors ; but 

 he became almost infatuated with oil painting, and some of 

 his productions are still in existence. At Yale College he 

 gained a reputation as a cartoonist and his sketches were well 

 known and very popular. 



Like most writers, he also wrote poetry. In his earlier life 

 he translated a number of poems from the German. In the 

 issue of September, 1903, Sunset Magazine published his 

 poem entitled A Blackfoot Burial. The same magazine, in 

 June-July, 1906, printed his Phoenix Rcdivivus, written to 

 celebrate the arising of San Francisco after the fire and 

 earthquake of that year. In April, 1907, the same magazine 

 printed his poem, Reconstruction, devoted to the same subject. 



He was familiar with a number of modern languages, and 

 could read with ease German, Spanish, French, and also to 

 some extent Italian and Portuguese. He never attempted to 

 speak in any foreign language but German. 



Mr. Hittell was a true Democrat of the sturdy and out- 

 spoken American type. When in college he did not join a 

 Greek letter society because he thought these organizations 

 were undemocratic. His hatred of despotism was never hid- 

 den under a bushel, but constantly burst forth in his writings 

 and conversation. 



He was a man of unswerving integrity of character, verac- 

 ity of speech and sense of justice. He was tenacious, some- 

 times obstinate, in his attachment to his convictions; and 

 where a question of right was concerned, he was immovable. 

 When he was a young student he fell under the spell of 

 Thomas Carlyle. Only a few weeks before his death he said 



