STUDIES FOR STUDENTS. 357, 
coral islands. It was a subject to which before the publication 
of Darwin’s views he had himself given much thought, with- 
out arriving in his own mind at any satisfactory hypothesis. 
“As soon as Darwin published his theory, however,” said nS PS IL 
saw at once that it solved the difficulties of the case,’ and 
though he did much to expand and verify it, he never claimed 
it in any degree as his own. His change of opinion regarding 
the theory of evolution is likewise well known, and he never 
hesitated to mention it in his lectures upon the subject. 
Upon those, however, who sought to gain scientific repute by 
any other means than a careful and unbiased study of facts, his 
strictures were severe. One geologist of some prominence he 
described as ‘‘a man of wonderful resources, because he had 
only to go to his own brain for facts,” and his students were often 
warned against accepting any of such an observer’s conclusions 
Woe likewise to the student who sought to conceal the bub- 
ble of his ignorance with a thin varnish of words. The bubble 
would be pricked with a celerity and suddenness that left no 
desire for a repetition of the experiment. 
No man, however, was ever more ready, even eager, to assist 
those who wanted to obtain knowledge. While he had no time to 
waste on those who studied geology only as a matter of form, 
his resources were freely at the disposal of any who displayed 
intelligent interest in the subject. 
One way in which he evinced this was by the long walks 
which he was wont to take with his students about New Haven, 
or other trips to places more distant. Though these were over 
the same ground year after year, he never seemed to weary of 
the journey so long as his students showed any desire to be 
instructed by what they saw. Even to the very last of his life 
these trips were continued, the teacher of nearly fourscore years 
traveling over rocky steeps and through brambly thickets with 
all the ease and sprightlhness of youth and at a pace which 
his younger followers found difficult to imitate. The number and 
variety of illustrations of geological principles which he could 
point out in such walks of a few hours were indeed remarkable, 
