ACADEMY OF SCIENCES] BIOGRAPHY 3 



in the mining and metallurgical fields. His presidential address, "Our possibilities," showed 

 him to possess keen analytical powers in showing what we might expect in the future, for many 

 of his predictions have been verified. Howe was one of those who believe in yeoman service 

 to the cause he represents, and he was always ready to serve in the arduous work of directing 

 the policies of the technical societies to which he belonged. 



He had a gift for organization which was to stand him in good stead when the call came in 

 1917, of which more later. He had also a farsighted vision as to the possibilities of future 

 usefulness to the community of societies that had not yet found themselves, as illustrated in 

 the case of the American Society for Testing Materials, of which he accepted the presidency, 

 or chairmanship, as it was then, in the early days of its formation in 1900. As stated by one 

 of the founders, Mr. William R. Webster: 



On looking.over the American Society for Testing Materials records you will find that we made very little 

 progress during the first few years of our work, and that it was not until after Doctor Howe was elected president 

 of the society that our work was systematized and real work accomplished. 



It was during Doctor Howe's stay in Boston after establishing himself as a consulting 

 metallurgist that he began what was later to become the true mission of his life. Already 

 Howe had established his position as an acute observer and reasoner, imbued with the love 

 of investigation and scientific research, expressing himself with a fine clearness, not only in 

 his writings, but also in his lectures to his students and in technical papers presented at scientific 

 meetings. 



In 1891 there appeared The Metallurgy of Steel, the great book which constituted the 

 principal foundation of Doctor Howe's fame. Up to this time steel making was only a practice, 

 not a science. It was a series of operations resulting in the production of a material which 

 was not always satisfactory in quality; nor were the defects understood, nor had the use of 

 the microscope been known generally in the making of steel. Metallography was practically 

 a new science. Therefore, since a quarter of a century had elapsed after the appearance of 

 Percy's classical work on iron and steel, and meanwhile there had appeared merely handbooks, 

 including the really admirable books of Bauerman and of Ledebur and the masterly discussion 

 of Bell in connection with the metallurgy of iron, and especially with the blast-furnace process, 

 it seems to have been a fitting time to offer in accessible form, and more fully than these dis- 

 tinguished authors had, the data which made up our then present knowledge of the metallurgy 

 of steel, and, above all, to discuss these data and seek their true teachings. This book, embody- 

 ing the results of a comprehensive study of the literature on the subject, marks a new era in 

 the history of steel metallurgy. With astonishing clearness Doctor Howe collected and collated 

 all known facts, either in English, French, or German, in such a comprehensive and full, but 

 concise, manner that it no longer was necessary to consult previous literature on the subject 

 for information relating to the metallurgy of steel, although the author, in seeking to lighten 

 the labor of others who might wish to examine the matter in greater detail, or who might wish 

 to verify his statements, has given many references which it would profit most readers but 

 little to examine. In the words of Dr. Rossiter W. Raymond, this "was an amazing accumu- 

 lation of reported facts tabulated, verified, and explained as far as was then practicable." 



In 1902, beside many professional papers of importance, there appeared Dr. Howe's Metal- 

 lurgical Laboratory Notes, translated into French, a book containing information on various 

 laboratory practices in the field of metallurgy. Immediately following this, in 1903, came the 

 book entitled, "Iron, Steel, and Other Alloys," translated into Russian. This was a contribu- 

 tion to metallurgical literature for the benefit of not alone the various classes of students, but 

 also to meet the needs of practitioners by giving them a systematic account of the condition 

 of the metallography of iron at that time. Other important works which should at least be 

 mentioned briefly here are the article on "Iron and steel" in the new volumes of the tenth edi- 

 tion of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, appearing in 1902, and a later article on the same subject 

 for the eleventh edition of the same work. These are comprehensive but brief statements of 

 the history of iron and steel up to the time of the publication of the treatises. 

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