92 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



lie boqneiitlied to the National Museuin liis library, consisting of 715 

 bonnd vohmies, and 1,722 volnmes unbonud ; his archiBologicai collec- 

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

 minerals and fossils. 



These objects have been transferred to the Musenm by his 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 l)e kei)t together and dis- 

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

 Kau was spent in archieologic studies. He was faithful, zealous, and 

 devoted to science. He 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 scientilic labors will be de- 

 scribed in the Bibliographical Appendix to the Report of the National 

 Museum in Part II of this Report. 



In addition to the above, mention should l)e made of the deaths of 

 the following emi)loyes of the Institution : 



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

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

 had made several valuable contributions to Ameiican ornithological 

 literature. 



Mrs. L. S. Weaver, clerk and translator, died November 26, 1887. 

 She had been emi)loyed in the Institution since 1876, having been ap- 

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

 chief taxidermist; and she rendered always willing and efficient service. 



Capt. C. W. C. Dunnington, a respected citizen of Washington, for 

 several years a watchman in the Museum, Frederick R. 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. Emil Bessels has been supplied by Dr. 

 Dall : 



Dr. Emil 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 stu<lent in zoology under Van Bene- 

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

 Museum of Wiirtemberg in Stuttgart. He became interested in Arctic 

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

 of Petermann, of Gotha, was the well known voyage of 1869 into the 



