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he often turned, in his writings, from polysyllabic profundities to the racy speech of those who live closest to the soil; to the slang of the day, the catchwords heard everywhere for a time and then forgotten. What he demanded of the material at hand was that it fitly express his thought. No desire ever came to him for the cheap and facile applause of the multitude. That meant nothing to him, but he welcomed the communion that was his with men of light and leading in the highest literary and philosophic circles.

Of Mr. Blood's philosophy as revealed in "The Anaesthetic Revelation," and in "Pluriverse," which was not published until after his death, let those tell who are better qualified to do so than the present writer. As a poet—although poetry was with him a side issue, so to speak-he appealed to a larger audience, while retaining that which he had won by his prose. The reception from him, by the editors of Scribner's Magazine, of a poem for its pages, was regarded as an event in the office of that publication. He was a master of words; he knew their magic, color and beauty; he used them with grace and force; his current of poetic thought was deep and had a lambent flow. William James described his "The Lion of the Nile" as an allegory of the champion spirit of the world," in its various incarnations, and declared it to be "a very remarkable piece of writing, both in thought and diction." Who of us all," added Mr. James, "handles his English vocabulary better than Mr. Blood?" It is well that his occasional