92 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



Ho luMiiieatlied to the National Museum his libiaT^y, cousistingof 715 

 l)ouiul volumes, and 1,722 volumes unbouud; his archa3ologieai collec- 

 tion comi)jising 1,920 specimens (ethnologic) and his collection of 

 minerals and fossils. 



These objects have been transferred to the Museum by bis adminis- 

 trator, Mr. Thomas Wilson. The books comprising the library are being 

 arranged and catalogued, and will form the nucleus of a departmental 

 library. The archaeological specimens will be ke]>t together and dis- 

 played under the name of their donor. Almost the entire life of Dr. 

 Kan was spent in arcluTBologic studies. He was faithful, zealous, and 

 devoted to science. lie had the courage of his convictions and was 

 ready to defend them before any person or tribunal, however august. 

 He did what he could for the alleviation of human suffering and regret- 

 ted he could not do more. The fruits of his scientiiic labors will be de- 

 scribed in the Bibliographical Ai)pendix to the Report of the National 

 Museum in Part II of this Keport. 



In addition to the above, mention should be made of the deaths of 

 the following employes of the Institution : 



On June 8, 1888, Charles Wickliffe Beckham, formerly an assistant 

 in the Department of Birds, died at his home near Bardstown, Ky. lie 

 had made several valuable contributions to Ameiican ornithological 

 literature. 



Mrs. L. S. Weaver, clerk and translator, died November 2G, 18S7. 

 She had been employed in the Institution since 187G, having been ap- 

 pointed upon the death of her tirst husband, L. Stoerzer, at that time 

 chief taxidermist; and she r( udered always willing and efficient service, 



Oapt. C. W. C. Dunuington, a respected citizen of Washington, for 

 several years a watchman in the Museum, Frederick II. Parker, a clerk 

 in the Institution, and Isaac Diggs, for twenty years a laborer and at- 

 tendant, have also died during the year. 



The following notice of Dr. Bmil Bessels has been supplied by Dr. 

 Dall : 



Dr. Emit Bessels was born in Heidelberg, June 2, 1847. Educated at 

 the University, and securing the degree of doctor in medicine, he was 

 more disposed toward science and belles-lettres than to the practice of 

 his profession. Being in easy circumstances he was enabled to follow his 

 natural bent, and for a time was a student in zoology under Van Bene- 

 den, and an assistant of Krauss at the Naturalien Cabinet, or Royal 

 JMuseum of Wiirtemberg in Stuttgart. lie became interested in Arctic 

 discovery, and his first essay in this direction, under the encouragement 

 of Petermaun, of Gotha, was the well-known v^oyage of I8G9 into the 



