REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 91 



I)K'. PETKi; TARKER, EXREGENT. 



While recoiintiii.i;" the inroads made by death on the earlier por- 

 tion of the iiiembershii) of the Institution and its Board of Regents, it 

 seems proper to notice also the (l«;mise of Dr. Peter Parker, who had 

 been a Itegent from ISOS to 1884, when he was induced to resign his 

 position on the Boanl in consequence of infirmity and failing health. 

 His death occurred at his residence in this city on the 10th day of Jan- 

 nary last (1888). 



The stated annual meeting of the Board occurring on the following 

 day (January 11, 1888^ expression was given to the regret occasioned 

 thereby, in the following preamble and resolution : 



Whereas the Board has received the aftlictive intelligence that the 

 venerable Dr. Peter Parker, who for sixteen years was a member of the 

 Board of liegents, and who for this whole ])eriod served with fidelity 

 on its executive committee, has departed this life after a long career 

 filled with useful labors in the service of God and of man : Therefore, 



He it resolved, That in the retrospect of such a life-career, protracted 

 as it was beyond the limit usually allotted to men, and yet at each stage 

 of its i)r()gress dedicated to beneficent works in the cause of religion, 

 philanthropy, and science, we desire to testify our respectfor the exalted 

 worth and scrupulous conscientiousness which Dr. Parker brought to 

 the discharge of every duty, and which during his connection with the 

 government of this Institution were nobly exemplified by the zeal and 

 diligence with which he ever watclied and worked for its prosperity and 

 usefulness, even during the later period of his honorable service, when 

 the burden of years was added to the burden of official cares, and when 

 with a less conscientious sense of public duty he might have claimed 

 an exemption from the tasks of life. 



DR. CHARLES RAIT, CURATOR OF ANTIQUITIES. 



Dr. Charles Ran, for many years in charge of the de{)artraent of an- 

 ti(piities in the National Museum, was born in Belgium in 1820. lie 

 lived for a time in Germany and as a political exile came to America 

 thirty years ago, landing at New Orleans December 23, 1818; lived for 

 a time in Saint Louis; engaged in teaching at Belleville, 111., and later 

 went to New York City, still occupied as a teacher of languages. He 

 had always been a deeply interested student of aboriginal remains, and 

 had written many articles on the prehistoric condition of man. In 1875 

 he had charge of an exhibition of North American archa3ology for the 

 display of the Institution in the Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia. 



lie was in 1881 appointed curator of the department of antiquities 

 in the National Museum. His health gave way in 1886, and in July, 

 1887, he went to the hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, where 

 he died on the 25th of July. His body was brought to AVashington and 

 was buried in Oak Hdl Cemetery, where a modest grave-stone bearing 

 a suitable inscription has been erected to his memory. 



