262 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



and Commerce in the Stone Age, Pre-Arj'-an American Man, The 

 Esthetic Faculty in Aboriginal Races, The Huron-Iroquois a 

 Typical Race, Hybridity and Heredity, and Relative Brain-weight 

 and Size. The volume may be said to fitly sum up its author's 

 life-long studies of these important topics. 



But this anticipates. Sir Daniel's later years were marked by 

 events of grave moment. In 1885 a great and irreparable per- 

 sonal loss befell him in the death of his wife, "after forty-five 

 years of as great wedded happiness as ever fell to the lot of man." 

 The event made little change in his outward demeanor ; but how 

 deeply it affected him was shown three years later, when the 

 honor of knighthood was unexpectedly bestowed upon him. In 

 general, as has been said, he cared nothing for merely titular dis- 

 tinctions. For her sake, to gratify her wifely pride and affection, 

 this honor might have been acceptable. As it was, he at first 

 positively declined to accept the title. But pressure from all sides 

 came upon him. He wrote in his own amusing vein : " I have had 

 the honor and glory of knighthood for a full week telegrams, 

 cable messages, letters of congratulation, time for little else but 

 replying. To a jolly old bumble-bee the process of feeding on 

 honey and being smothered in rose leaves is probably the ideal of 

 happiness ; but to a wingless biped like myself a little goes a long 

 way. And what are most covetable honors, now that my Maggie 

 is gone ?" But the friendly urgency proved too great for resist- 

 ance, and he yielded at last to the general desire of the commu- 

 nity, which, reasonably enough, saw in the title simply an evi- 

 dence of well-earned respect and public gratitude. 



Not long afterward, his unremitting labors for the advance- 

 ment of his university were interrupted by a serious calamity. 

 On the 14th of February, 1890, a fire broke out in the principal 

 college building, which destroyed nearly the whole of its con- 

 tents, including its fine library of thirty-three thousand volumes 

 and most of its museum collections. The president's action was 

 characteristic. Instead of being depressed by the blow, as might 

 have been expected in a man of seventy -four, his spirit rose with 

 the occasion. He was early on the ground, giving every assist- 

 ance in his power to rescue what could be saved. Returning 

 home late at night, he said to one anxiously watching for him : 

 "Well, the old building's gone ; but never mind. It wasn't large 

 enough for us. We'll soon have a better one." To a colleague who 

 came in a few minutes later, saying, " O Mr. President, don't be 

 discouraged," he replied: "Discouraged! I should think not. 

 You'll see, we'll soon have a far finer building." Before sleeping 

 that night he had formed his plans. On the next day, which 

 happened to be Saturday, he so arranged for Monday's lectures 

 being held in various buildings kindly placed at his disposal, that 



