Abstract
BOSWELL once told Johnson that he had a plan for collecting the poetry of the Border, a task which he fortunately left to be undertaken by a more skilful hand. Not indeed that he feared he would be unequal to it, but, as he told his master, he doubted whether it would be of much good to any one. “Sir,” replied the sage, “never mind whether it is going to be any good to any one: do it.” It is in the spirit of this answer, that Prof. D'Arcy Thompson has been for years accumulating the material brought together in this volume. He must have often had doubts as to the practical value of his labour, and as to the reception it would meet with from scholars on the one hand, and scientific men on the other. The region of scholarship invaded by a Professor of science, the precious time of a scientific researcher given up to laborious reading of a voluminous Greek literature! It is true enough that if called upon to explain to any ordinary man of business what the value of the work is, we should find it hard to do so; yet we feel all the more disposed to admire the indefatigable perseverance which has carried the author through his self-imposed task to its completion, dogged as he must have been by the sense that he was travelling all the time in a mist, where no certain conclusions could be drawn as to bird, or legend, or etymology.
A Glossary of Greek Birds.
By D'Arcy W. Thompson, Professor of Natural History in University College, Dundee. Pp. xvi + 204. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1895.)
Enjoying our latest content?
Log in or create an account to continue
- Access the most recent journalism from Nature's award-winning team
- Explore the latest features & opinion covering groundbreaking research
or
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
FOWLER, W. A Glossary of Greek Birds. Nature 53, 292–293 (1896). https://doi.org/10.1038/053292a0
Published:
Issue date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/053292a0
