Page:My Climbs in the Alps and Caucasus (1908).djvu/19

Rh His aptitude for following difficult lines of thought, his preference for short cuts in a rarified atmosphere of abstraction, were interesting, though somewhat embarrassing to one who sought to walk with him. Had lived to carry out his intention of devoting his time to working out in mere detail his economic theory, this gift of abstraction would have been his great obstacle to acceptation. For, in conciseness of expression, as in boldness of speculation, he surpassed Ricardo among economists, approaching at times the compactness of Spinoza's philosophic systematisation. At any rate, it was a bracing experience to follow him into the recesses of some speculation in a fresh problem, either economic, ethical, or metaphysical, which he had carved out for himself.

Though he had read a good deal in a miscellaneous way, in literature, science, and history, he made no pretence to great erudition. So far as mere book-learning is concerned, he was not even an accomplished economist. Probably he under-used books rather than over-used them, as do most scholars. But for a nature like his we may probably adapt to the intellectual plane the famous saying that " Riches is the impediment of virtue," He probably climbed better, carrying less weight than others. For working with him intellectually was a constant series of surprises at his fertility of mind in using the knowledge he possessed, gathered somewhat carelessly from many sources