4 CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON. 



distinguished services in altruistic endeavors and of the rela- 

 tively narrow limits of time and of opportunity available to 

 the individual for application of his more mature capacities. 

 Something Hke the first third of life is spent by the average man 

 in finding himself; a second third is consumed in testing his 

 abilities and in establishing a reputation for trustworthiness; 

 while a scant remaining third, in general, permits the pursuit of 

 highest usefulness to his race. 



Henry Lee Higginson was born in New York City, November 

 18, 1834, but he lived nearly all his life in Boston, where he died 

 November 14, 1919. He was one of the initial Trustees of the 

 Institution and maintained a keen interest in its affairs to the 

 day of his death. On this date, in fact, and but a few hours 

 before death, he sent a letter to the Institution extending greet- 

 ings to his colleagues but expressing fear that he might not be 

 able to attend the annual meeting of the Board of Trustees to 

 be held a month later. Like Dr. Billings and Dr. Mitchell of 

 the initial group of Trustees, Higginson was a well-known 

 veteran of the Civil War, in which he attained the rank of 

 lieutenant-colonel and in which he was severely wounded. He 

 was by nature a somewhat aggressive man, as related in the 

 remarkable autobiography of his friend Henry Adams, and else- 

 where; but no one could wish for a fairer or more generous 

 antagonist. Whatever cause he espoused he urged and sup- 

 ported with the utmost vigor and sincerity. There was never 

 any doubt about his conviction concerning any question to which 

 he gave attention. He was passionately devoted to the pro- 

 motion of education and to the cultivation of the higher types of 

 music. His services as a member of that corporate body known 

 as the '' President and Fellows of Harvard College" and his 

 long maintenance of the Boston Symphony Orchestra entitle 

 him to grateful appreciation from his contemporaries and still 

 more from their successors. 



Mr. Higginson was a regular attendant at the meetings of the 

 Board of Trustees of the Institution and he served as a member 

 of the Finance Committee from 1902 to 1913. With regard to 

 financial affairs he was a bold optimist and did not hesitate to 

 urge action in defiance of the laws of probability and the perils 



