1892.] -'■"•-' [Ruschenbcrger. 



He also suid, in substance, that while Cope and Marsh were working 

 the fossiliferous Held into which Dr. Leidy had entered long before, and 

 by his labor made, in a sense, his own, they fell into disputes over priority 

 of dates of different names of genera and species found in the later strata 

 of a Western Territory, in which contention Leidy, the friend of both, 

 refused to take any part. And, it seems proper to add, so dominant was 

 his repugnance to controversy of every kind that he left his friends, freed 

 from his participation, to compete with each other, and for a considerable 

 period engaged in an entirely different field of investigation, to return 

 long afterwards to his beloved paleontology. 



The Trustees of the Building Fund of the Academy of Natural Sciences 

 ordered, 3Iay 15, 1891, a memorial notice to be preserved with the record 

 of their proceedings, in which it is stated that "his modest, amiable de- 

 portment at all times, his abiding interest in the welfare of the Academy 

 and in the progress of the natural sciences, won for him the unreserved 

 confidence and respect of his colleagues on the Board, and made his pres- 

 ence at its meetings alw^ays welcome. But his connection with the 

 Trustees and his many official positions in the Academy could not add to 

 the high estimation in Avhich he was held in the community. His accu- 

 rate and extensive knowledge of natural history in all its departments, 

 his writings, his most acceptable teachings as Professor of Natural History 

 in Swarthmore College, and as Professor of Human Anatomy in the 

 University of Pennsylvania during more than a third of a century, from 

 May, 1853, obtained for him a deserved reputation and fame among the 

 friends of the Natural Sciences at home and abroad." 



In his Address to the Graduating Class of 1891, at Swarthmore College, 

 June 16, the President of the Board of Managers, Mr. Joseph Wharton, 

 said: "And since nothing more potently aids us in the struggle to be- 

 come wiser and better than observation of those who stand above us, and 

 study of their methods, I can do nothing more fitting this occasion than 

 endeavor to show you how this great man came to be so eminent, so 

 trusted and so beloved. 



"Joseph Leidy inherited excellent constitution of mind and body ; lie 

 was transparently sincere and absolutely devoted to truth ; he was re- 

 markably devoid of selfishness in any form ; he had persistent and life- 

 long diligence ; he was systematic in his expenditure and careful in his 

 economy of time ; he held firmly to whatever task he undertook ; his 

 temper was cheerfully equable and his disposition affectionate." 



Commenting on each of these characteristics successively, in a lucid 

 style, Mr. Wharton thus happily concludes his pleasing address : "If now 

 I have succeeded in showing you that every part of Dr. Leidy's great 

 eminence grew out of the cultivation of such natural powers as your own, 

 and out of the constant practice of such simple virtues as should also be 

 yours, that, in a word, you may hope to scale such heights, to breathe 

 such lofty air, to serve so well your kind, and to attain such universal 

 respect and affection, without possessing other genius than that which lias 



