Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 48.djvu/768

696 "Another remarkable trait of the character of your lamented brother was his perhaps too liberal disposition to work in science for the benefit of others, without credit for himself. Not only did he give his time to the determination of an immense number of specimens which were sent to him by students, or by so-called authors, etc., but often, without claiming his right of authority, he determined the species, prepared descriptions of the new ones, when he well knew that they would be published under the names of his applicants. He has thus fixed a far larger number than those which were published in his name. Even lately he examined a large collection of mosses in which his opinion was requested, prepared descriptions of new species, remarks on interesting ones, etc., and from this work a catalogue was made by the same applicant, the notes copied as well as his remarks, and thus the authorship was literally taken from him, and not even a word of credit was given for his work. Such absence of scientific honesty was not even resented by your brother, who merely alluded to it as a poor reward for hard work. A character as was his, without trace of envious or jealous feeling, marked by true kindness for everybody, by a ready disposition to acknowledge and help every effort for the advancement of his science of predilection, to recognize errors and to correct them without the slightest word of depreciation, could but excite admiration and love; and, indeed, your brother was truly and sincerely loved by the few who knew him well; for he was not open to everybody. A man of few words, he never talked of himself or his doings, and thus only those who had the privilege of being intimate with him would recognize his noble nature."

a paper read at the recent International Geographical Congress, Mr. H. Yule Oldham, of the University of Cambridge, attached great value in the study of the history of geographical discovery to the mediæval manuscript maps or portolani. Usually made for practical purposes, by sailors, they were, as a rule, free from personal and political bias. A careful study of them gives valuable corroboration and often correction of information derived from ordinary documents. It was long customary to ascribe the discovery of the Madeiras and Azores to the fifteenth century, but they were found on maps of the fourteenth century. Similarly at a later period Cuba was shown to be an island at a time when, according to the ordinary historical documents, it was believed to be continental; and the Bermudas and other islands were shown on maps of earlier dates than those to which their discovery was ascribed. So often was cartographical information found to be ahead of historical records pointing to the results of otherwise unrecorded voyages, that additional interest and importance were lent to those maps which seemed to indicate the possibility of a pre-Columbian discovery of America.