Page:Charles von Hügel (1903 memoir).djvu/52

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WIESNER

scientific treatises, written by others, on the objects collected by Hügel, who, like all truly scientific travellers, placed the material which he had collected in the hands of the best known specialists, that they might turn it to scientific account. The coins were described by Josef Arneth, the fishes by J. J. Heckel, the insects by Vincent Kolar and by J. Redtenbacher, prominent specialists, who at the time occupied leading positions in the Vienna Hof Museums. The celebrated Munich zoologist, A. Wagner, described the Mammals of Cashmere from the specimens which Hügel had brought home.

All these monographs were received by the scientific world with unqualified approval; but Hügel's service to science in procuring these rich materials goes far beyond that of a mere collector, for he did not, like so many travellers, collect at random, but used the knowledge of an expert and the insight of a man of science in the formation of his collections. The best specialists, the learned men who dealt with his collections, corroborate this estimate. Thus Josef Arneth in his introduction to the numismatical part of the work says: "Baron Karl von Hügel brought from his great travels in India and Central Asia a remarkable collection of newly discovered coins, representing many dynasties, of which we had, previously, no notion." Not to be wearisome, I will quote but one characteristic remark of the distinguished Austrian ichthyologist Heckel, on Hügel as collector and observing geographer. He says: "The enormous fall of the Jilum river, was first made known by Hügel who followed its course the whole length of the valley, and then through the mountains to Mazafferabad." He further remarks that the collections and observations of Hügel have proved that, in this water with its steep fall, trout are replaced by carp species which