PERSONAL IMPRESSIONS 



447 



disarmed his enemies with an amiable grace that made defeat 

 endurable if not entirely delightful. 



As for his method of handling scientific subjects in 

 conversation : — 



He has the same quality, the same luminous style of exposi- 

 tion, with which his printed books have made all readers in 

 America and England familiar. Yet it has more than that. 

 You cannot listen to him without thinking more of the speaker 

 than of his science, more of the solid beautiful nature than of 

 the intellectual gifts, more of his manly simplicity and sincerity 

 than of all his knowledge and his long services. 



But his personality left the deepest impression, perhaps, 

 upon those who studied under him and worked with him 

 longest, before taking their place elsewhere in the front 

 ranks of biological science. 



With him (Professor A. Hubrecht * writes), we his younger 

 disciples, always felt that in acute criticism and vast learning 

 nobody surpassed him, but still what we yet more admired than 

 his learning was his wisdom. It was always a delight to read 

 any new article or essay from his pen, but it was an ever so 

 much higher delight to hear him talk for five minutes. His was 

 the most beautiful and the most manly intellect I ever knew of. 



So, too, Professor E. Ray Lankester : — 



There has been no man or woman whom I have met on my 

 journey through life, whom I have loved and regarded as I have 

 him, and I feel that the world has shrunk and become a poor 

 thing, now that his splendid spirit and delightful presence are 

 gone from it. Ever since I was a little boy he has been my ideal 

 and hero. 



While the late Jeffery Parker concludes his Recollec- 

 tions with these words : — 



Whether a professor is usually a hero to his demonstrator I 

 cannot say; I only know that, looking back across an interval 

 of many years and a distance of half the circumference of the 

 globe, I have never ceased to be impressed with the manliness 

 and sincerity of his character, his complete honesty of purpose, 



* Of Utrecht University. 



