620 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1930 



Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, and some volumes of Edwin Arling- 

 ton Robinson; in fact, he was ever a lover of music and poetry. 

 A typical " down East Yankee," he appeared on first acquaintance 

 austere, reserved, and pessimistic, but to his many friends, though 

 always critical, he showed a loyal and generous heart. Those who 

 met liim as host or at any social function found him unsurpassed 

 in humor and in apt quotation. 



Merrill's thought was rarely, if ever, speculative. As Farring- 

 ton (1930) says, " He preferred to keep close to facts and allow time 

 and accumulation of further data to furnish their interpretation," 

 a tendency to which he himself bears witness when he states that he 

 prefers in his daily work " to be always afloat in regard to opinions 

 in geology." (1913a: 67.)' 



His ideals of what qualities a geologist should possess profes- 

 sionally may be read in his statement at the centenary of the birth 

 of James D. Dana, whom he greatly admired. "A geologist," he 

 says, " must be, first, a good observer ; second, he must be sufficiently 

 grounded in certain basal sciences to enable him to draw legitimate 

 conclusions from what he observes ; third, he must know what other 

 workers have done and be able to utilize to advantage their work and 

 conclusions; fourth, he must have staying power; fifth, if he is a 

 great geologist he must possess a creative imagination and be mas- 

 ter of both inductive and deductive methods of reasoning." 

 (1913a: 64-65.) 



Merrill was a Government officer in the United States National 

 Museum for nearly a half century (1881-1929). His official and 

 scientific career there will be presented under four headings, as 

 follows : 



I. As organizer of the department of geology in the National 

 Museum. 



II. As pioneer in the study of building stones and the processes 

 of rock weathering. 



III. As pioneer in the application of petrology to the study of 

 meteorites. 



IV. As pioneer historian of North American physical geology. 



MERRILL AS ORGANIZER OF THE DEPARTMENT OF GEOLOGY IN THE UNITED 

 STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



As previously stated, Merrill began his long and fruitful Wash- 

 ington career in the winter of 1880-81 as aide in the United States 

 Fisheries Bureau. The following July he was transferred to the 

 department of geology in the National Museum, which had started 

 in 1880 in charge of Dr. G. W. Hawes, who died in 1882. The next 



" This and subsequent references are to Merriirs bibliography as it will appear in the 

 Bulletin of the Geological Society of America. 



