Ruschenberger.] jlv^^x [April 1, 



unexpected calamity has changed the present occasion from one of rejoic- 

 ing to one of mourning — scarcely mitigated by the circumstance that Dr. 

 Leidy died as he wished, after a short illness and with his shoulder, as it 

 were, still at the wheel. For Dr. Leidy never ceased to work. His 

 industry was only equaled by his intellect, and these by the sweet 

 simplicity of his life. He loved science for science's sake, and neither 

 poverty nor promise of riches, nor ambition, nor princely decoration 

 could swerve him from his purpose. We are stupefied by the suddenness 

 of our loss. And there is a fitness in the association of the end of your 

 greatest teacher's life, and the new commencement of your own, which 

 ought not to be without its effect in keeping green his precious memory, 

 and in stimulating you to emulate his example." 



The funeral services were at the First Unitarian Church, May 2. 

 Members of the societies to which he belonged, the Faculties of the Uni- 

 versity, and prominent citizens in large numbers were present. The 

 venerable and Rev. Dr. Furness ofiiciated, and delivered an eloquent 

 and touching tribute to his worth. 



His remains, and at the same time those of his brother. Dr. Philip 

 Leidy, who died April 29, were cremated. May 9. 



Not long afterwards representatives of the University solicited contribu- 

 tions to an endowment of $50,000 to be raised at once and exclusively 

 devoted to the use of his widow ; and ultimately revert to the University, 

 "to establish and endow the Leidy Memorial Museum as an independent 

 part of the great museum" projected for the Institution. Dr. Leidy be- 

 queathed a modest sufficiency for his family. For such reason, probably, 

 the necessity of the proposed endowment was not generally regarded to 

 be urgent. About the same time it was decided to obtain an endowment 

 for the Chair of Anatomy, the sum to be counted in the General Endow- 

 ment Fund of $250,000 for the Medical Department, which, to make Dr. 

 Pepper's conditional subscription of $50,000 payable, "must be secured 

 before June 1, 1892, and then designate this chair by " the illustrious name 

 of Leidy, whose labors gave it imperishable fame." "No more fitting 

 memorial," says the circular, "can be found for this great man and 

 beloved teacher." And the other circular says, " No memorial of Joseph 

 Leidy can be more fitting than a museum in which will be garnered the 

 infinite variety of natural objects which formed the basis of his admirable 

 studies." 



Prof. J. P. Lesley, his personal and scientific friend, early in May pub- 

 lished in the Chrinilan EeyisUr a warm tribute to his worth and memory. 

 He said among other statements: "The eulogy of the dead runs easil^y 

 into exaggeration. In this case that cannot happen. Rare men are so 

 j-fire — a few in a generation, here and there one whose excellence is 

 above degrees, the perfect man, the ideal man. He is like a statue set 

 up in the public park of the metropolis, veiled until the day of showing 

 comes. Death drops the veil, and the splendid apparition smites the 

 heart of the community with a strange astonishment." 



