Febkuaet 2, 1917] 



SCIENCE 



105 



was encouraged to exhibit his various contri- 

 vances there. The extraordinary merit of his 

 work was at once recognized, and the instru- 

 ments exhibited attracted much attention. It 

 was his visit to the fair that drew him to the 

 iiniversity. 



At Madison, Muir worked at any sort of 

 thing, earning a few dollars. Of this he said := 



I was thus winning my bread while hoping that 

 something would turn up that might enable me to 

 make money enough to enter the state university. 

 This was my ambition, and it never wavered, no 

 matter what I was doing. No university, it seemed 

 to me, could be more admirably situated, and as I 

 sauntered about it, charmed with its fine lawns and 

 trees and beautiful lakes, and saw the students 

 going and coming with their books, and occasion- 

 ally practising with a theodolite in measuring dis- 

 tances, I thought that if I could only join them it 

 would be the greatest joy of life. I was desper- 

 ately hungry and thirsty for knowledge and will- 

 ing to endure anything to get it. 



Of his admission to the university he says :^ 



With fear and trembling, overladen with ignor- 

 ance, I called upon Professor Sterling, the dean of 

 the faculty, who was then acting president, pre- 

 sented my case, and told him how far I had got 

 on with my studies at home, and that I hadn't 

 been to school since leaving Scotland at the age 

 of eleven years, excepting one short term of a 

 couple of months at a district school, because I 

 could not be spared from the farm work. After 

 hearing my story, the kind professor welcomed me 

 to the glorious university — next, it seemed to me, 

 to the Kingdom of Heaven. After a few weeks in 

 the preparatory department I entered the fresh- 

 man class. 



Doing odd jobs during the term and work- 

 ing in the harvest fields in the summer, Muir 

 maintained himself at the university for four 

 years ; but pursued those studies toward which 

 he was attracted rather than a regular course. 

 He was interested in all the sciences, and 

 particularly in botany and geology. It was 

 in his botanical studies about these Madison 

 lakes that he first learned to wander. Upon 

 leaving the university Muir says:'^ 



B lUd., p. 274. 



Ibid., pp. 275-76. 



T " My Boyhood and Youth, ' ' pp. 286-287. 



From the top of a hill on the north side of Lake 

 Mendota I gained a last wistful, lingering view of 

 the beautiful university grounds and bviildings 

 where I had spent so many hungry and happy and 

 hopeful days. There with streaming eyes I bade 

 my blessed Ahna Mater farewell. But I was only 

 leaving one university for another, the Wisconsin 

 University for the University of the Wilderness. 



John Muir's life work was that of an ex- 

 plorer and a student of nature. His travels, 

 beginning in the region of the Great Lakes 

 shortly after leaving the university, extended 

 throughout the world, and continued to old 

 age. His journeys carried him to Russia, 

 Siberia, Africa, Australia, South America, 

 and other remote regions little visited by the 

 ordinary traveler. But his contributions to 

 knowledge were mainly due to his studies in 

 California and Alaska. 



It was inevitable that after reaching Cali- 

 fornia Muir should be drawn by an irresistible 

 attraction to the Sierra Nevada. His first 

 visit filled him with burning enthusiasm; and 

 during some ten years he studied the flora, 

 the fauna, the glaciers, and the topography of 

 that superb range. His study of animals and 

 plants was not that of systematic biology — 

 the interior structures or methods of life 

 growth — indeed was very unlike that in the 

 biological laboratories of the present day. His 

 interests were rather in the habits of the plants 

 and animals and their relations to their neigh- 

 bors and to their environment. Each animal 

 or plant as an individual was a subject of in- 

 terest to John Muir. The mighty silver firs, 

 the sugar pines, the Douglas spruces and the 

 gigantic sequoia were ever inspiring him; 

 and he never ceased to write of their beauty 

 and their majesty. However, he was no less 

 moved by the dwarf cedars, pines and oaks, 

 which near the timber line carried on- a brave 

 struggle through the years against the terrific 

 storms and prolonged cold of the heights. 



The wonderful variety and beauty of the 

 flowers of the Sierra also deeply stirred him. 

 With enthusiasm he sought and admired each 

 species, whether found for the first time or an 

 old friend. 



The animals and their habits thrilled him 

 with delight. There have been no more ap- 



