JOHN WESLEY POWELL 1 29 



wonderful birth of species, the path that threaded the aeons of 

 time, on and up to man ; — all these things were present to his 

 thought, and colored his work. With it there was a sympa- 

 thetic interest in those mental problems which are relegated to 

 metaphysics ; but these questions were always before him and 

 were made the subject of eager investigation, so that in contem- 

 plating the whole man we must remember that these, although 

 they were not announced to the world, formed an essential part 

 of his thought, and were always associated with what he did as 

 a man of science, and constituted, indeed, his innermost point 

 of view. 



The veil of which I speak should rest on the subject of his 

 family affections, for even here, as elsewhere, he was self con- 

 tained, and he needed not to speak of those things even to a 

 friend as near as I was privileged to be. 



Going outside of the realm of these affections into that of his 

 relation to the world, we still find Major Powell reticent of 

 expression of opinion. Sincere he was, and truthful to the 

 point of being unable to bring himself to hint the thing which 

 is not, nor even to allow the shadow of deceit in his ways. 

 Such sincerity existing in his own heart, begat a confidence in 

 others, which did not always meet its just return. I do not 

 admit that this sincerity and trustfulness were faults in his 

 character, but if they were, they were faults for which we 

 loved him. 



I feel how wholly inadequate these few words are as an 

 eulogy of the man, and I can only plead that the very nearness 

 of my affection for him makes it difficult for me to say dispas- 

 sionately what such an occasion as this might seem to demand. 

 He was a generous man, kind to others and helpful ; a com- 

 bative and a brave, and always a self contained man, who 

 found in himself counsel sufficient for his need. He was a 

 stoic who suffered long years of pain in silence and w^ho at the 

 end met the approach of death as though it were a familiar 

 incident of life. He was a truthful and steadfast man, and one 

 who never deserted a friend. We shall not often look upon 

 his like. 



Proc. Wash, Acad. Sci., July, 1903. 



