124 MCGEE 



volumes ; yet in ethnology and general anthropology, no less 

 than in geology, the larger share of the fruit 'of his vigorous 

 thinking was turned over freely to colaborers, with a generosity 

 unparalled in the history of science, to find its way into the 

 general body of human knowledge under other names than his 

 own. 



So brief an outline as this admits no more than the baldest 

 mention of Powell's greatest contributions to the Science of 

 Man : the recognition of agency in the human realm ; the iden- 

 tification of that agency with the progressively growing men- 

 tality of the generations of men ; the definition of the human 

 activities as the basis of sciences of a new order ; the recogni- 

 tion of the culture stages as way marks of progress in the past 

 and as guides for further advancement ; and, toward the end 

 of his labors, the recognition of Mind itself as the sublimest 

 product of natural interactions — these are among Powell's 

 greatest gifts to the world. And it may not be forgotten that 

 while these and other contributions grew out of patient research 

 by the rigorous methods of science, they were w^armed by a 

 personal humanity of unsurpassed richness and sweetness — 

 for Powell loved mankind with all the ardor of a great heart. 



As Major Powell's most intimate scientific friend for years, 

 it may be permitted me, na}^ it behooves me, to say a w^ord of 

 his uncompleted work as well as of his duties done. As many 

 know, it was the ambition of his life to build up a great Bureau 

 of the Science of Man no less beneficent than the Bureau 

 of the Science of the Earth which he did so much to create 

 — to establish a Bureau of Ethnology no less firmly and broadly 

 than the Geological Survey was established ; but here fortune 

 failed him in ways it were premature to define — and, despite 

 the cheerful face of life-long habit, this failure gradually broke 

 the Old Man's sturdy spirit, embittered his later years, and un- 

 doubtedly shortened his life. 



Another ambition long glowed brightly in the Major's mind ; 

 it was that of summing all knowledge and philosophies, from 

 those of savage and lower barbarian up to Plato and Aristotle, 

 thence to Bacon and Linne, and on to the third epoch of science 



