Chapter VIII. 



HIS RESEARCHES ON LIVING REPTILES. 



It is a relatively easy matter to make an assess- 

 ment of the extent of Brown's success in the field 

 of fossils. One has only to glance at the long list 

 of scientific publications dealing with his specimens 

 to see that his reputation is securely built in this 

 respect. These are from the pens of all the leading 

 palaeontologists of his day and have thus the 

 scientific hall-mark. It is altogether different 

 with regard to his researches upon living reptiles, 

 regarding which we only have a few semi-popular 

 publications by Brown himself. The great mass 

 of undigested data that fills so many of his folios 

 has not yet been studied. It is impossible there- 

 fore to say whether he was or was not equally 

 successful in making a contribution to science in 

 this direction. This will have to await the verdict 

 of someone with the time and the ability to study 

 this mighty inventory of the Reptilia. One thing 

 is quite certain, and that is that he devoted even 

 greater assiduity to this study of living reptiles 

 than he did to that of fossil ones. 



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