A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE 
9 
attributes from the whole of his personality, I come to many that 
arrest and enchain my attention. 
It is interesting to consider his practice and advice to beginners 
in the study of Nature. It was to start out, not from a general 
principle, but from some phenomenon that had caught the eye 
and become a nucleus for thought. Continued, persistent obser- 
vation and reflection circling round such a . center would yield, 
he held, solid results in the shape of new facts and would sooner 
or later lead one into living contact with great questions. This 
method of work was eminently characteristic of his independent, 
individualistic temperament. 
The serenity of Dr. Brooks impressed every one. In a mind so 
strong, active, and keen, calm temperateness was doubly notice- 
able. This peace of mind must have been due in part to the fact 
that his critical insight was unobscured by self-seeking. A firm 
gaze fixed on the distant goal held the immediately advantageous 
in its proper place, and gave him a confidence, a quiet boldness 
that we all recognized. 
Brooks frequently said that he tried always to be a reasonable 
man. And in dealing with men and their ways I am convinced 
that reasoning did guide him in remarkable degree. His log- 
ical habit of thought came in, however, for more congenial exer- 
cise in professional work. Do we not all remember the pleasure 
he had in the skillful disengagement of the idea from the mass of 
details, and in its portrayal, language and drawing mutually con- 
tributing to clearness? 
I recall also his strong and helpful faith in the value of labor 
spent in searching out the order of the universe, the way things 
happen in nature. For, as he often said, such knowledge both 
makes the conscious life of man fuller and nobler, and is the 
basis on which rests all our control of natural phenomena. 
The machinery of Professor Brooks' department, the lectures, 
set tasks and routine, was simple. Experience has shown, how- 
ever, that it was not inadequate, on the contrary, that it was well 
adapted to the purpose in view. Brooks' underlying assumptions 
were that graduate students had come to stay some time, would 
work as hard as they could, and that they had enough independence 
