904 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters . 
One morning, possibly a vexed text in Shakespeare absorbed 
bis interest; another, a stray scrap of American history; a gen¬ 
ealogical puzzle, next day, or mayhap a bit of English folk-lore, 
or the significance of a Cornish place-name; perhaps a curious 
Yorkshire custom in the days of Queen Bess; the genesis of a 
Hebrew proverb; a new theory as to the central chamber of the 
Great Pyramid; an archaeological “find” just reported by 
cable from Delphi; an inquiry into the composition of Raph¬ 
ael’s pigments; the higher criticism of the Bible; the latest cen¬ 
sus bulletins on race amalgamation in America; or a new-found 
portrait of Columbus. Yesterday, he was perhaps reviewing for 
the Nation a globe-trotter’s log-book; today, he has been crit¬ 
icising for that journal a new edition of Lewis and Clark’s 
tour across the continent, and revealing the fact that he is fa¬ 
miliar with almost every river bendi upon their route; tomor¬ 
row^ he may be discussing in its columns the antiquity of chain¬ 
ed libraries, the origin of slang, or the meaning of a debated 
line in Dante or Horace. Perhaps a stranger wandered into 
the library with an old coin whose history he would have un¬ 
raveled ; our savant would turn with alacrity from his research¬ 
es far afield and good-naturedly spend an hour with the inquir¬ 
er, giving him what he sought, for make-weight throwing in a 
quaintly-phased homily on the science of numismatics, that 
broadened the visitor’s mental horizon. And herein we have 
two of the chiefest characteristics of our revered friend: 
breadth of scholastic taste, and winsome courtesy. 
Dr. Butler’s literary output was not so large as might be ex¬ 
pected from one persistently leading a scholar’s life, and who 
for probably forty years seemed quite undisturbed by a con¬ 
cern for material cares; and that output was rather suggestive 
than creative, seldom rising above the level of the review arti¬ 
cle, the club paper, or the minor monograph. This was disap¬ 
pointing to his friends, who continually were expecting more 
important and lasting products from his ever busy workshop. 
But he seemed deliberately to have set out in life determined 
not to be a specialist; to wear for himself no ruts in which to 
live and move; to maintain only a philosopher’s interest in the 
