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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



guide-books designed to meet the requirements of the school were pub- 

 lished,, the authors being Mrs. Agassiz, Dr. H. P. Bowditch, Professor 

 George L. Goodale, H. L. Clapp, Ellen H. Kichards, W. 0. Crosby, 

 Hyatt, and Hyatt and Arms. Five of these pamphlets are by Hyatt; 

 their titles are " About Pebbles/' " Commercial and other Sponges," 

 " Common Hydroids, Corals and Echinoderms," " The Oyster, Clam 

 and other Common Mollusks," and " Worms and Crustacea " ; and in 

 1890 he published in collaboration with Miss Jennie M. Arms (now 

 Mrs. Sheldon) a remarkably clear, concise and well- worded book upon 

 insects. This is the most elaborate guide-book of its series, and no 

 work could give a clearer idea of the distinctive characters of the six- 

 teen orders of insects classified in accordance with Brauer's scheme 

 from the lowly organized Thysanura to the highly specialized Diptera. 

 As a school-teacher's guide it is unsurpassed, and its clear explanations 

 are admirably supplemented by 223 outline figures of common Amer- 

 ican insects. It is far more than an anatomical treatise, however, for 

 it presents charmingly worded accounts of the development, physiology, 

 habits and ancestry of the various orders of insects. Yet it is not a 

 theoretical treatise, but aims to present to the teachers well-established 

 and incontrovertible facts. Indeed, the authors take pains to advise 

 teachers to avoid presenting mere theories to immature minds. 



This association with the teachers in which Hyatt was so deeply 

 interested won high appreciation from the intelligent public of Boston, 

 a concrete manifestation of which appeared after his death in the 

 founding by general subscription of an endowment known as the Hyatt 

 Memorial Fund, the income from which is used annually to transport 

 school children from the city into the country in order that they may 

 be taught to observe nature in the field. 



Altogether Hyatt's best work, apart from his researches, was that 

 among the school-teachers of Boston. 



Mrs. Jennie Arms Sheldon, than whom none is better prepared to 

 speak, states that " as a museum curator Hyatt never lost interest in 

 the larger plan or ' scheme ' which his comprehensive mind had worked 

 out for the arrangement of the material at his command. His ' natural 

 classification ' claimed much of his time and thought, and he sought 

 to find assistants who could carry out the details which, naturally, did 

 not interest a mind like his." His plan was that the museum should 

 be so arranged that the visitor on entering should pass from the simple 

 and more generalized groups to those more specialized. He possessed 

 considerable mechanical skill, and delighted in hours of recreation to 

 work as a carpenter and machinist upon his country place at Annisquam, 

 and his invention, the " Hyatt bracket," has proved useful not only in 

 museums but elsewhere. 



At first sight, it must seem strange that so able, inspiring and lov- 



