Page:A veteran naturalist - being the life and work of W.B. Tegetmeier (IA veterannaturalis00richuoft).pdf/11



IT is with great pleasure that I respond to the invitation to write an Introduction to the Life and Work of the late W. B. Tegetmeier: a man whom I, like all who were brought in contact with him, held in the warmest affection and respect. I think those who had the good fortune to know him intimately would agree that the salient points in his character were inflexible honesty of purpose and high moral courage; and that it was to these qualities he owed in great measure the place he won in the spheres to which he devoted himself.

Strong, practical good sense dictated all his actions, and when he had made up his mind that the course he proposed to adopt was right, no thought of personal consequence could influence him; he was then utterly indifferent to unpopularity or odium.

He was a man upon whom it was always possible to rely for an honest opinion on any subject; he would not obtrude his views unasked; but when called upon to express an opinion or give advice, it was nothing to him whether what he had to say were acceptable or the reverse : as one who knew him well wrote, "He said what