214 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVIII. No. 972 



that was the first song that ever stirred me, but 

 it left a yearning ineradicable as long as the mind 

 lasts. Another time on the top of a small oak 

 tree, on a bitterly eold winter day, I saw a pine 

 finch, the only morsel of living nature in sight; the 

 peculiar happiness of that moment will never be 

 forgotten. The mating note of the red-winged 

 blackbird, when it first arrives in the spring, or 

 the tremulous note of the white-throated sparrow; 

 at twilight the rich variety of notes of the screech 

 owl; cold nights on the coast of Maine with the 

 plover lined along the shore; or titmice in the 

 pine forests of Germany; — such associations and 

 innumerable others, appear to the memory time 

 and time again, . . . and they are always an unex- 

 plained joy. 



Perhaps such associations are hallowed merely 

 in comparison with the tedium of life's little cares. 

 This is very probably the case, but it in no wise 

 lessens the joy. Man must work, he is paid by the 

 work rather than by the hire, and his enjoyment 

 is found in his work. But far above the plane of 

 such enjoyment is the wonderful ecstasy produced 

 by yearnings whose object is unknown. In human 

 nature the wonderful thing is the multiplicity of 

 characters, and the infinite number of changes and 

 moods in each character. One of these is the 

 character of the poet and naturalist. A naturalist 

 may not be ' ' born ' ' one, for this is a loose expres- 

 sion. But he must become one in his earliest, 

 purest and most impressionable years; let a few 

 years go by, and the clay is too hard for the 

 mould. Once a naturalist always a naturalist, the 

 zeal of a naturalist never dies, but he must not be 

 fettered in his pursuits. The cravings of which 

 we have spoken are the poetic, spiritual side of 

 the naturalist — the naturalist in contradiction to 

 the Naturforscher. . . . One may become an excel- 

 lent morphologist or physiologist, a clear eluci- 

 dator of phenomena, and yet be without any poetic 

 spirit. Or one may derive his most hallowed im- 

 pressions from presentations in the laboratory, 

 while another gets them from observation of ob- 

 jects in the field. One can only postulate that for 

 certain natures vague naturalistic sensations are 

 productive of the greatest joy. I too can testify 

 to the keen joy experienced when after months of 

 toil and many failures one attains the solution of 

 a difficult problem. But in my case such a joy 

 does not make as lasting an impression as does the 

 pleasure from the mental states spoken of above; 

 and surely the strength of a joy may be measured 

 by the length of its duration. 



He loved to spend many hours alone in 

 fields and woods observing living creatures 



and feeling himself to be "a modest but 

 integral part of nature" and yet he was 

 not a mystic nor a recluse, but a jovial and 

 delightful comrade who took great pleasure 

 in association with intimate friends. He 

 had a fund of dry humor with which he 

 lightened up serious subjects of conversa- 

 tion and yet on such occasions he never let 

 himself go beyond proper and dignified 

 bounds. He was a firm friend and a good 

 hater — a man who was reserved and strenu- 

 ous, but tender and sympathetic ; and above 

 all one whose chief motive in life was an 

 absolute devotion to truth. His great wiU 

 power was one of his most striking charac- 

 teristics. His ability to concentrate all his 

 energies upon his work was remarkable; 

 at such times nothing diverted him and he 

 allowed himself no relaxation. His powers 

 of self-control in all personal relations were 

 equally remarkable; although his nature 

 was intense he was always master of him- 

 self. He was a strong and virile man — 

 and yet he was not domineering nor self- 

 willed and he preserved an exquisite bal- 

 ance between self-contained dignity and 

 charming courtesy toward others. He was 

 always kind and sympathetic, and it was 

 from real kindliness of nature, as well as 

 from good breeding that those qualities 

 arose which to many of his friends seemed 

 to entitle him in a peculiar degree to "the 

 grand old name of gentleman. ' ' 



He was for a few years consciously and 

 joyously a part of that nature which he so 

 much loved. He has left to men the record 

 of a life devoted to science and enlighten- 

 ment, and to his family and friends the 

 memory of a true and noble soul. 



Edwin G. Conkun 



FOBECAST OF TBE BIRMINGHAM MEET- 

 ING OF TSE BRITISH ASSOCIATION'- 



The meeting of the British Association 

 for the Advancement of Science, which will 

 'From the London Times. 



