explanations. The boy long remembered and resented the extreme and mysterious application. Perchance, Thoreau did not think it wise to perplex a boy of eleven years with the doctrines of decay, fermentation, and fertilization, though, as a pioneer evolutionist, he realized that these processes were, in truth, miraculous.
In recognizing the poet-philosopher in Thoreau one must not underrate his rank and work as naturalist. While essentially the poet, girding himself to be "a hunter of the beautiful," he was, not the less, a practical, keen observer and recorder of facts. Unconsciously, he uttered his own characterization,—"Facts fall from the poetic observer as ripe seeds." Granting certain omissions, his impetus as pioneer American naturalist is now generally acknowledged. He overlooked certain botanical varieties then and now found in Concord; it must be recalled, however, that a few of the flora, whose omission in his journal has sometimes been cited, have been introduced into Concord within more recent years by Mr. Pratt and other botanists. Thoreau emphasized, as if discovered by himself, occasional local varieties long recognized by the few naturalists of the region. They had not, however, often published their researches. When he speaks of the hibiscus moscheutos and cer-
