668 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. VII. No. 176. 



affairs. And then again, science represen- 

 ted to him all that is highest in life, and 

 it followed that any work which he con- 

 sidered bad from a scientific point of view 

 seemed to him a crime. More than this, 

 much that appeared of great importance to 

 others had no weight with one who regarded 

 the mission of science from so high a stand- 

 point and whose refined nature could not 

 fail to despise all ambiguity, empty phrases 

 and affectations in its literature. He con- 

 sidered the great defect in this to be that, 

 whilst each isolated investigation is deemed 

 a personal achievement and quoted as such, 

 important generalizations were regarded as 

 impersonal property. He was by no means 

 a man who could not endure contradiction 

 and was always ready to listen to it when 

 well founded ; it was only when the opposi- 

 tion seemed to rise from incapacity and 

 stupidity that he was roused to fierce anger. 

 His standpoint is best described in the fol- 

 lowing words written to a friend at the end 

 of a keen discussion : " After all, in science, 

 as in ordinary life, all hinges upon whether 

 a man accept the general point of view of 

 his opponent ; when that is done it is al- 

 ways possible to arrive at some satisfactory 

 conclusion, and I hope this will always be 

 the case with us." 



Although the purely intellectual side of 

 his nature outweighed the emotional, he 

 was invariably grateful for the smallest ser- 

 vices, and to me he always proved an indul- 

 gent, lovable teacher. At the same time 

 he could coldly repel all who were uncon- 

 genial to him. He agreed with Goethe, 

 ' Sage nur von deinen Feinden, warum 

 willst du gar nicht wissen,' etc. 



As time went on he became more and 

 more dissatisfied with the state of botanical 

 literature. Such dissatisfaction, however, 

 did not keep him from incessant toil when- 

 ever he was well enough, and more espe- 

 cially when the sun shone. Like Goethe 

 and many other sensitive natures, he was 



strongly affected by sunshine or the lack op 

 it. ' ' If you imagine yourself transplanted 

 from Java to Bavaria and that the sun's 

 face has been veiled for the last three weeks 

 by a layer of sail-cloth 100 meters thick, 

 you may form some conception of the vege- 

 tation in our garden. The grass and leaves 

 grow as though this were a dairy-farm ! 

 Every one is charmed with our luxuriant 

 vegetation, but there are no signs of blos- 

 soms. It is as dark at four o'clock as it 

 would be at the same hour at Christmas, 

 and it has been like this for the last three 

 weeks. I should not complain, liking as I 

 do to take things as they come, but unfor- 

 tunately I cannot live without sunshine 

 and the lack of it makes me ill." 

 ( To he concluded. ) 



CURRENT NOTES ON ANTHROPOLOGY. 

 THE 'monumental EECOEDS.' 



A periodical recently started in N"ew 

 York City should be mentioned in these 

 notes. It is entitled Monumental Records 

 and is edited by the Rev. Henry Mason 

 Baum. As its title indicates, it is concerned 

 with the discovery of ancient monuments, 

 including those of both the Old and New 

 Worlds. In the three numbers which have 

 already appeared there are descriptions of 

 the ruins in Yucatan ' and Mexico by Mr. 

 Marshall H. Saville, translations of the 

 Moabite stone, descriptions of the remark- 

 able exhumation of Greek manuscripts in 

 Egypt, a report of Mr. de Morgan's work in 

 the same countr}'- and a running series of 

 archaeological and literary notes by the 

 editor. 



The subscription price for this hand- 

 somelj' illustrated periodical is placed at 

 the moderate sum of 61.50 a year and the 

 address is ' Box 1839, New York City.' 



THE PASSAMAQUODDY WAMPUM RECORD. 



In the Proceedings of the American 

 Philosophical Society for December, 1S97, 



