116 REPOET OP NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1913. 



philanthropic, and social work in many capacities. He was also a 

 founder of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, and a patron 

 of, and the curator of Eocene mollusca in, the Academy of Natural 

 Sciences of Philadelphia. 



Dr. Chamberlain's relations with the National Museum arose 

 through his marriage in 1890 with Miss Frances Lea, daughter of Dr. 

 Isaac Lea, the eminent naturahst of Philadelphia, and one of the 

 Museum's most generous benefactors through two distinct contribu- 

 tions following his death on December 8, 1886. One of these was 

 the large and unrivalled collection of Unionidse, or fresh-water mus- 

 sels, which had not only been assembled by Dr. Lea at great expendi- 

 ture of time and mone}^, but had also been the subject of profound 

 research by him, resulting in elaborate and standard publications. 

 The other was a collection of gems and precious stones, sufficiently 

 rich and varied to serve as a worthy foundation for an appropriate 

 representation of this popular branch of mineralogy. During the 

 short period of her married life, only 4 years, Mrs. Chamberlain, who 

 had always taken a keen interest in the labors of her father, remained 

 the patron of these collections, assisting in their increase and in the 

 increase of the Hbrary relating to them. After her death, these duties 

 were assumed by Dr. Chamberlain as of the nature of a sacred trust, 

 which he faithfully and generously carried out during the many years 

 that followed. His aid was not promiscuous, but was specifically 

 directed toward the supplying of deficiencies and the strengthening 

 of the collections where it was most needed, and it is especially inter- 

 estmg to note that through his contributions the Isaac Lea collection 

 of Unionidse has been kept much the foremost of this extensive group 

 in the world. 



In 1897 Dr. Chamberlain became honorary custodian of the collec- 

 tion of gems and precious stones in the Museum, and in 1905 he was 

 designated honorary associate in mineralogy. Though long resident 

 in New York City, his death occurred in Pasadena, Cal., and it was 

 not until after the close of the fiscal year that information was re- 

 ceived of the bequest in his wiU of a considerable sum of money, the 

 interest of which is to be used for the increase and improvement of the 

 two Isaac Lea collections. 



Mr. Joseph Palmer, who was born in Barrow, Suffolk, England, in 

 1836, died in Washington on April 19, 1913. While a young man 

 he worked for some years at the Crystal Palace at Sydenham, where 

 he assisted Prof. B. Waterhouse Hawkins in connection with his 

 celebrated restorations of extinct animals. In 1868 he came to 

 this country with Prof. Hawkins, who had been commissioned to 

 make similar reproductions for Central Park, New York, but this 

 work being soon abandoned, Mr. Palmer found employment at the 

 Park as taxidermist and general assistant at the Museum, and for 



