122 
THE SCIENTIST. 
naoie coined by Professor Cones, which 
hixs since become incorporated in onr 
languaoje and been made the caption of 
a series of six volnmes nnder his editor- 
ship or from his own pen, which have 
ah-eady passed tlirough several ?ncces- 
sive editions. 
This new departure seems to liavebeen 
encouraged and confirmed b}^ Professor 
Coues's vi.-it to England in 1884, during 
which he received great altenlion from 
the leading scientists of London, and 
became a member of the British Society 
for Psychical Research. In spite of the 
organized opposition which the conserv- 
atism o'f science otfered to his views, 
and in the face of no little ridicule aris- 
ing from misunderstanding of his atti- 
tude toward what is called "theosophy," 
which certainly injured his personal 
l^restage , Professor Cones continued his 
studies in psychical science, and has 
never hesitated to declare himself in 
public both with tongue and pen, until 
his utterances have become almost as 
voluminous as his earlier publications in 
physical science. Some of his views, 
once ccMisidered visionar}", are already 
among the accepted and formulated 
tenets of scientific orthodox}^ He will 
probably live to see them all recognized, 
though few pioneers in new iields of 
thought receive their just dues until 
their posthumous fame is established. 
For several years past Professor Cones 
has been deeply absorbed in yet a differ- 
ent kind of literary labor, that of the 
lexicographer. He is one of the corps of 
Experts of the great "Century Diction- 
ary of the English Language" now pub- 
lishing by the Century Company of New 
York, under the editorial supervision of 
Professor W. D. Whitney of Yale, the 
famous Sanskritist. Dr. Cones has 
charge of the important and very exten- 
sive departments of general biology, zoo- 
logy, and comparative anatomy. The 
advance strides of knowledge in these 
branches during the past quarter of a 
century, with which Prof. Coues's own 
name is so closely identified, have result- 
ed in the coinage of tiiousands of new 
technical words, and most of those al- 
ready in use require to be defined with 
renewed precision as ^^■ell as with 
ehangch of significance. For this vast 
M'ork, which implies on the part of the 
experts a resurvey of the entire field of 
human knowledge, and the making of 
numberless new definitions of words, 
Pj-ofessor Cones has shown himself pe- 
culiarly well fitted, not only by hi« ])j-o- 
found erudition in his own departments, 
but by his habit of painstaking precision 
in the minutest details of dry fact. 
IVJost men can do some things well, 
but nature is seldom so lavish of her 
gifts as to produce a genius who does all 
things equally well. It is rare to find 
one capable of incessant drudgery in the 
most prosaic technicalities, who is also 
blessed with the poetic temperament and 
an ardent imagination, able to arj-ay the 
deepest problems in a sparkling style 
which facinates while it convinces. Pi o- 
fessor Coues's literary labors would kill 
most men ; but to his grasp of mind na- 
ture has kindly joined a strong healthy 
body that has thus far proved capable of 
any demand upon physical endurance 
that his intellectual activity may niake. 
He is tall and Avell-formed, classic in 
features, straight as an arrow still, with 
the air of the scholar though with none 
of the student's stoop, and shows no 
trace as yet of mental Aveariness. A 
magnetic personality betrays the fiery 
soul within, almost feminine in its swift 
and sure intuitions, yet most masculine in 
its intense intellectuality^ His main- 
spring of action seems to be an almost 
passionate honesty and love of truth 
which leads him to the most direct 
methods of accomplishing his ends, and 
at times to an almost brutal fi-ankness of 
speech which gives oft>nse to those who 
do not know how to take him. Yet men 
envy his impressive pei-sonality , and 
women rave over his social charms. 
