EDITORIAL. 303 



States, in connection with the report on cotton production, with 

 which he was charged under the tenth census. 



His writings were extensive, and liis reports were widely sought, 

 for they were alive with the results of new work and constructive 

 reasoning. He saw beyond his work, and with clear purpose and 

 keen perception he advanced the boundaries of knowledge and clari- 

 fied the field in what had hitherto proved a most difficult field of in- 

 quiry. In characterizing his qualities as an investigator, the Paci-fiG 

 Rural Pi^ess says: "He possessed notably the creative faculty in 

 thought. He was quick to see his opportunities of public service, 

 to recognize his duty therein, and he was masterful and tireless in 

 pursuit of it. He was bold in his conquest of truth and fearless in 

 his use of it for the interests of mankind. His great undertaking 

 was in natural science and its relations to agriculture, seizing gladly 

 the foremost fact from research and pressing it to the humblest 

 service, but always preserving and enforcing the relations of both 

 the fact and the service to the broadest interests of his State and of 

 his fellow men." 



Beyond this, he was " unswervingly true and deeply patriotic and 

 humanistic — a man whose thinking was clear and whose motives were 

 as unselfish as his service of them was forceful and effective." 



It may not be generally Imown that Dr. Hilgard was at one time 

 invited to accept the appointment of U. S. Commissioner of Agricul- 

 ture and later the Secretaryship, but his distaste for administrative 

 details on so large a scale led him to decline acceptance. He pre- 

 ferred at that stage to remain in the service of the State and the in- 

 stitution to wliich he had given the best part of his active life. The 

 necessity for guarding his health in recent years cut him off from 

 travel and from participation to any large degree in the activities 

 of scientific societies and similar bodies, whose work he followed 

 with deep interest. 



Personally, Dr. Hilgard was a kindly man, gentle, sympathetic, 

 looking for the best in others as he gave of the best in himself. His 

 bright genial nature and his unfailing courtesy gave him a wide circle 

 of warm friends, and he won the loyalty and affection of those who 

 came in close association with him. In the highest and best sense he 

 exemplified the scholar, but his humanity was never lost in his 

 scholarship. 



Strong, forceful, with a zealcus love for truth, he made a very 

 definite contribution to his generation, and he left a name which will 

 long be revered. 



The Second Pan American Scientific Congress, held at Washing- 

 ton, D. C, from December 27, 1915, to January 8, 1916, was an occa- 

 sion of considerable interest from various points of view, among 



