NATURALIST AT LARGE

A well-known New England museum director (Agassiz, Peabody, Harvard University, etc.) writes the story of his scientific career. One might characterize him as a milder Sanderson, whose career contains no vigorous adventure, rough excitements, or such, but has a special quality of mellowness, a dry and sometimes witty appraisal which readers who like this sort of thing will relish. His work has taken him to the West Indies, Canal Zone, South and Central America, where his achievements and friendships make pleasing reading. There are enough personal glimpses of the man ""shrinking, cowardly...penitent, unpopular"" and of his ""strong-minded, masterful...wife and children"" and his circle of friends, which included David Fairchild, Justice Holmes, etc. These personal bits highlight and set off his scientific experience in classifying, collecting, discovering plant and zoological specimens -- experiences pursued with a delight which is infectious.