Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 48.djvu/921

Rh of pernicious insects of the United States. Prof. E. A. W. Zimmerman, of Brunswick, translated into German and published the memoir on the fascinating faculty of serpents and that on the bite of the rattlesnake.

In 1797 Dr. Barton married a daughter of Mr. Edward Pennington, of Philadelphia, who, with their only children, a son and a daughter, survived him. He named his son after Mr. Thomas Pennant, an English naturalist and author of Arctic Zoölogy, with whom he became acquainted while a medical student.

Dr. Barton was extremely cautious about accepting human testimony in matters of science, and in one of his publications he declares that "credulity is the most injurious feature in the character of the naturalist as well as that of the historian. Its influence in one individual is often felt and propagated through many ages. Unfortunately, too, it has been the vice of naturalists, or those who have touched on questions relative to natural history."

In a general description of Prof. Barton his nephew says: "As a medical teacher he was eloquent, instructive, and when occasion called for it quite pathetic. His voice was good, though attenuated, penetrating, and sometimes rather sharp—his enunciation clear and distinct—his pronunciation constrained, and his emphasis, owing to his remarkable kind of punctuation, and a desire to be perspicuously understood, was studied, forced, and often inappropriate. In his lectures his diction was cacophonous and unpleasant.

"As a writer he is ingenious, rich in facts, profound in research, and always abounding in useful information. He wanted, however, in a great degree, a talent for generalizing. Hence his various works are characterized by an egregious want of method or perspicuous arrangement. His style, it must be confessed, is always diffuse, inelegant, and frequently tautological. As he never corrected what he once wrote, or at least but rarely, these defects in his composition were the natural consequences of his vehemence in writing. His punctuation is truly remarkable, and, for a man of his discernment and extensive reading, singularly incorrect.

"As a physician, he discovered a mind quick in discriminating disease, skillful in the application of appropriate remedies, though he certainly was a very cautious if not timid practitioner. No man read more extensively on the subject of diseases—in fact, he was deeply versed in pathological knowledge derived from books. As, however, his medical practice was never very extensive, his practical observations delivered in his lectures were strikingly marked with the evidences of overweening caution. Hence he recommended to his pupils, and always employed himself,