Apkil 22, 1904.] 



SCIENCE. 



671 



not in itself a sufficient qualification for the 

 naturalist. Certainly Mr. Long's publishers 

 know better, for they have taken pains, in the 

 published apology already cited, to establish 

 the competency of their author as a naturalist 

 by an enumeration of the successive stages of 

 his education. Quoting from The Connecti- 

 cut Magazine,* they assert that ' his life has 

 been one long search for the verities.' Unfor- 

 tunately all searches are not rewarded, and 

 length of search is after all of less moment 

 than quality, which depends upon the searcher. 

 Of the last we are told that " at eighteen 

 years he made the sacrifice that few can 

 measure, of giving up home, friends, money, 

 position, to follow what seemed to him the 

 truth," which, being interpreted, turns out to 

 mean that he attended the Bridgewater Nor- 

 mal School, Harvard University, Andover 

 Theological Seminary, Heidelberg University, 

 where he took the degree of Ph.D., and the 

 Universities of Paris and Rome! Are we to 

 interpret this account of his martyrdom as an 

 expression of educational cynicism?! But 



*Vol. VIII., No. 1, Series of 1903, Pamphlet, 

 pp. 2, 4. 



t It is said that Mr. Burroughs has gone out 

 of his way to emphasize the fact that Mr. Long 

 is a clergyman. If this is true it would seem un- 

 gracious. Clergymen are, as a class, probably 

 neither better nor worse than other respectable 

 citizens. While a theological education is fraught 

 with grave intellectual dangers, it certainly need 

 not unfit a man for science, any more than a 

 ' fulfillment of the requirements for the degree 

 of Ph.D." in a German university need fit a man 

 for the same. There have been excellent natural- 

 ists who were clergymen to begin with. Mr. 

 Burroughs's favorite, the good Gilbert White, is 

 a case in point. Others, like the lamented Dr. 

 Buckland, dean of Westminster, have attained 

 eminence in natural science. Bitterness toward 

 the clergy to-day strikes one as an anachronism. 

 The ecclesiastic as we know him is either friendly 

 towards science or indifferent to it, or, in any 

 case, ineffectual against it. Time was of course 

 when things were difi^erent; possibly Mr. Bur- 

 roughs remembers! There remain, however, 

 abuses enough to counteract without turning our 

 wrath backwards. Tlie dinosaurs have histor- 

 ical interest for us, although certain of our 



such self sacrifice is not in itself enough to 

 make a good naturalist. ' He speaks four or 

 five languages.' ' Four or five '• — but if it 

 should turn out that he speaks only four, and 

 that five are requisite, what then becomes of 

 the argument ? No information is given rela- 

 tive to the candidate's preferences in neck- 

 wear, not to mention other equally relevant 

 items. ' His specialties,' however, ' are philos- 

 ophy and history,' and 'the study of nature 

 and animal life is to him purely a recreation 

 in a life of constant hard work,' yet ' it must 

 be admitted that he brings to this study a rare 

 training.' Granted! For it has not even 

 been hinted that Mr. Long has ever studied 

 any branch of natural science. But if philos- 

 ophy is a specialty with him, perhaps biology 

 is another: for he understands the one about 

 as well — or as ill — as the other. (Witness 

 the confusion of categories exhibited above.) 

 Let us see if Mr. Long's methods are as 

 ' rare ' as his training ? The pamphlet is 

 again at our service, with its fusillade of 

 quotations from The Ypsilantian, Our Ani- 

 mal Friends, The Christian Register, The 

 Christian Advocate, and all the rest! The 

 Ypsilantian* did not think it ' exactly nice ' 

 of Mr. Burroughs to write his Atlantic 

 Monthly article; yet, at the risk of offending 

 the good taste of The YpsHantian, let us pro- 

 ceed in the interest of truth. Mr. Richard 

 Burton has assured the readers of The Boston 

 Transcript^ that Mr. Long ' is a true natural- 

 ist, a scientist in quest of knowledge.' (This 

 in spite of Mr. Long's assertion that nature 

 and science differ as emotions differ from 

 facts, and love differs from economics ! Hocus 

 pocus, hocus pocus, X, Y, Z !) The readers of 

 The Boston HeraldX know better; they know 

 that " Dr. Long * * * never seeks exact facts, 

 never studies consciously." Are we to infer 

 that he dreams his stories? No, rather are 

 we to believe Mr. Long's own account of his 

 attitude toward nature, when he says (if cor- 

 rectly quoted by The Boston Herald — ■ we have 



Mesozoic ancestors may have found it necessary 

 to be veritable ' pragmatista ' in their presence. 



'' July 16, 190,3, Pamphlet, pp. 7-8. 



t Date not given, Pamphlet, pp. 12-16. 



% August 9, 1903, Pamphlet, pp. 18-19. 



