limited his acquaintance with books to the outside of them, engaged in conversation on literary or scientific subjects, or the current topics of the day, it needs not be said that the young clerk was an interested listener. Nor can we doubt that now and then, when increasing familiarity and his own nice sense of propriety permitted it, he began to arrest the attention of these revered seniors by permitting the escape of a bright thought of his own. He certainly secured the regard and esteem of those with whom he was thus brought acquainted, and with many, perhaps the most eminent of them, this acquaintance ripened into a friendship which never came to an end.

It may have occurred to our readers that the educators of our young friend-these books which surrounded him, and these veteran scholars, were too diverse themselves to favor concentration of labor in him; that he was in danger of becoming a man of general intelligence in all departments of knowledge without making signal progress in any. It cannot be denied that the subsequent life of Mr. Herrick exhibited this effect in some degree. Not that he did not make remarkable attainments in some studies; but he was so well prepared by his exact knowledge in many branches of science, that one did not satisfy him as his own separate field of labor, but several, simultaneously or in succession, arrested his attention and enlisted his efforts and his zeal. He would doubtless have attained to greater eminence in the scientific world, had his prodigious and enlightened industry been applied in some single department of knowledge. Whether he would thereby have made his life more valuable to the world is a question which it is not easy to answer.

But Mr. Herrick made diligent use of the opportunities for voluntary education to which we have referred. One would see from his habitual manner, that he was earnestly engaged upon something and had no time to lose. He moved with a quick step when he walked abroad, and usually took the most direct way from point to point, regardless of the paths which others used. Many who were connected with Yale College twentyfive and thirty years ago, will remember him as he used to pass from his mother's door on the college square, by his own

path, across the green to his place of business. They will remember, too, his genteel and cultivated appearance in the bookstore, and how, while he was always attentive to his proper business, he was nevertheless more interested in the contents of the books he was selling than in their sale. The time which he would gladly have devoted to science during this period, was broken by many other engagements besides the duties of his clerkship. He was under the necessity of adding to his income by copying, and by reading proofs, and in various other ways. Still, with all his interruptions, he had given such evidence of his proficiency in knowledge during his connection with this bookselling establishment, that in 1838, the year when he left it, the Corporation of Yale College conferred on him the honorary degree of Master of Arts.

Mr, Herrick was early interested in subjects connected with Natural History. His first contribution to the American Journal of Science-the joint production of himself and Professor Dana-was a description of the "Argulus Catostomi, a new parasitic Crustaceous animal," found in the vicinity of New Haven. It was published in 1837, but it had been read the previous year before the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences.

It is not known when the subject of Entomology first attracted his serious attention, but it is probable that he had been an observer or a student of the subject, to some little extent, at least, while he was yet in his teens. He never, however, professed to have undertaken the mastery of the whole science, and he cannot, therefore, be called, in the largest sense of the word, an entomologist. But an article published in the Journal of Science, in the year 1832, on the subject of the Hessian fly, was so obviously and thoroughly erroneous in his judgment, that his scientific curiosity was piqued to discover the entire truth concerning this insect. The subject, also, he judged, with reason, worthy of his labor for its bearing on economical questions. He therefore addressed himself to the work of becoming thoroughly acquainted with two or three genera of insects, to which the Hessian fly and its parasites belonged. But the task which he had proposed to himself, covering as it did not only the entomology of the insect and its parasites, but also its

political history and the questions connected therewith, proved a greater labor than even he probably anticipated, and nine years elapsed before he made even a partial report of his investigations to the public. This delay was doubtless due, in part, to the interruptions and embarrassments of business, but still more to his great carefulness, and to his purpose to say nothing to the public which should afterwards need correction. At the very outset, also, he was sadly hindered by the want of books-a want which, therefore, first commanded his attention, and which he made a great effort to supply.

But his whole object in this scientific investigation, as well as the difficulties which were found to attend it, are so well stated in a letter addressed in October, 1833, to William Spence, Esq., of London, who was an author in this department of science, and the letter is, at the same time, so fair a specimen of Mr. Herrick's perspicuous style, that we are sure our readers will be interested in the following extracts. He had written previously for information concerning a royal proclamation, issued in 1788, which forbade the importation of wheat into England from the United States, lest the Hessian fly should be carried with it. This proclamation, with its accompanying documents, he was anxious to see; and, referring to what he had written, he says:

"It may perhaps appear somewhat singular that I should be so desirous to see these obsolete papers, when an opportunity of making personal observation of the insect is so easily had. My object was merely to cbtain the particulars of its early political history. For some time past, I have spent my little leisure time in collecting materials for a Memoir on the Hessian Fly and some of its Parasites, and I was desirous of making the affair as complete as possible, by adding an abstract of this history. I find the investigation much more laborious and difficult than I anticipated, and I apprehend that two years more will be needed to render it complete. I have also made it an object to read all the notices respecting this insect, which are contained in the magazines and newspapers of this country, both new and old. It is truly astonishing that so much should have been written to so little purpose. The grossest errors on this subject have been promulgated, from the times of the first notice of the insect in America down to the present year. For one instance, let me refer you to the twenty-second volume of the American Journal of Science, printed last year, where you will find an Article which is an error from beginning to end. My faith in the testimony of common observers in Natural History has been greatly shaken, and at the same time my conviction [of the importance] of exact scientific descriptions of insects has been

confirmed. Indeed, without scientific system, entomology would be a mere chaos.

"It has always been a disputed question whether the Hessian fly exists in Europe, and I should be glad if I could be enabled to do something toward settling it Sir Joseph Banks asserted that it was not to be found there, and Dr. Mitchell of New York, said the same. From a notice in Duhamel's Eléments d'Agriculture, it would seem that an insect very similar to, if not identical with the Hessian fly, has at various times injured the wheat in the vicinity of Geneva. As you have recently traveled through various parts of Europe, and have doubtless had entomology considerably in view, I should consider your opinion on the subject, of great value. If it does exist in Europe, it is indeed strange that it should never have been noticed, and if it is a native of this country, it is equally strange that it should not have been observed before 1776.

"Entomology has but few cultivators in this country. Mr. Thomas Say has undoubtedly described more new American species than any one else here, but he rarely tells us anything respecting their habits.

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A great obstacle to the advance of the science in this country, is the want of entomological books, transactions of learned societies, &c. For the want of these, we must ever be uncertain whether a given insect is or is not new to the entomological world. In this city I have not been able to procure more than six or eight books on this subject."

Mr. Herrick's correspondence on the subject of the Hessian fly and its parasites, and on entomology generally, was very voluminous. A portion of that which he carried on through more than twenty-five years with Dr. Harris, the distinguished entomologist of Massachusetts, is just publishing in connection with a memoir of the latter. We subjoin an extract from one of his letters to his very obliging correspondent, Dr. Vallot, Professor of Natural History and one of the Secretaries of the Academy of Sciences at Dijon, France. It shows in some measure the nature of his correspondence with those interested in this subject, as having to do mainly with questions concerning books, and it also indicates his own method of observation. The new edifice referred to is evidently the Divinity College.

"I feel very sensible of your kindness in entertaining so favorable an opinion of the value of my labors, and so readily extending me a helping hand in my difficulties. The very particular and minute manner in which you have made your references, is of great advantage to me, and is altogether satisfactory.

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My investigations into the economy of the Hessian fly have, I am sorry to inform you, been seriously delayed by an unavoidable occurrence. That part of the garden, attached to my residence, in which I had for two years planted several parcels of wheat, for the purpose of frequent and more practicable study, and in

which there were at the time, in addition to two patches of common wheat, three rows of wheat from Mahon, and also rye, lay directly in the site of an intended public edifice. Early in February last, while the earth was still hard frozen, large quantities of building material were deposited in this garden, and completely destroyed all my little plantation, and deprived me during the succeeding spring and summer of the means of investigation; for there are no fields of wheat in the environs of this city to which I could resort. Last autumn, however, I planted anew, and hope in the spring to resume my labors.

Since my last, I am not aware that anything in the entomological way has been published in this country. Alas! that I should be obliged to tell so lean a story. You are doubtless aware that our chief entomologist, Thomas Say, has departed. He has been dead more than a year, and has indeed left a wide gap. He has published more than all other American entomologists together. The results of his labors are principally given in the Journal of the Academy of Natural Science of Philadelphia, a society which has done much for the advancement of American natural history, and which possesses by far the most extensive library on this subject in the United States.

"During the year past several important works have come into my hands. Wiedemann's Aussereuropäische zweiflügelige Insekten I find less satisfactory than I expected, because he gives no generic characters. For these he refers the student to Meigen. Of the latter work I have seen the first five volumes. The sixth volume I am anxious to see, because it probably contains much supplementary matter. Meigen appears to be an admirable work.

"Macquart's late book on the Diptera, (2 vols. 8vo. Paris: 1834 and 1835), does not fulfill my, expectations. I find nothing new of much importance among the Tipulariae Gallicolae.

"I have been so fortunate as to procure the first, second, third, fourth and sixth volumes of Degeer's immortal work-Mémoires des Insectes, in 4to. I am delighted with the full and clear manner in which he describes, and feel grateful to him for his numerous illustrations. His sixth volume contains some insects very nearly allied to the Hessian fly, and his memoirs on these will be very serviceable."

Mr. Herrick's personal observation of the insects which he had taken in hand, was conducted with the greatest care and patience, and repeatedly verified anew, year after year. Indeed, as an investigator, on whatever subject, he was worthy to be studied as a model; for with an eye trained to the most exact accuracy, and a mind in full sympathy with it, not satisfied in the least, so long as any element that might affect the result remained unaccounted for, he had a patience of labor which left him entirely free to keep in mind the single object of his search. Labor was a pleasure rather than a weariness to him so long as it promised any good results. It was the element in which he lived.