30 Mejnorial of George Brown Goode. 



feel the comfort, in hours of remorse, that, after all, its life had not been 

 wholly wasted. Baird's example was not forgotten by his pupil. 



Lest engrossment in a specialty breed indifference to progress in com- 

 mon, it is of the highest importance that the leader in a band of workers 

 shall use every opportunity of emphasizing their joint responsibility to 

 science and to the public, for whose entertainment and instruction the 

 museum is supported by public funds. This duty Goode never forgot, 

 and by example and precept he continually stimulated each and every 

 one to his best efforts. 



The experiments in methods of preservation and exhibition, by which 

 the best results are reached, are of interest and value to the whole scien- 

 tific community. It often happens that only through a long series of 

 failures, all more or less costly, is success at last attained. Were each 

 museum, private or public, obliged to run the whole gamut of experi- 

 ment, the losses would be irreparable and the cost enormous. In this 

 direction, as did Baird in his time, Goode developed a particular genius, 

 and his successes placed him early in his career in the very front rank, 

 if not at the virtual head, of all Museum experts. The results of this 

 work were placed freely at the disposition of all interested, and nearly all 

 museums in this country and many abroad have materially profited by 

 the skill and ingenuity thus displayed. It is highly probable, so modest 

 was the originator, that few of those whose work is thus assisted have 

 any definite idea of the source from which the facilities came. 



Looking beyond the Museum itself and considering its external rela- 

 tions, we find that naturalists and anthropologists all over the country are 

 in the habit of appealing to the Director or staff of the National Museum 

 for scientific information, advice, or needed assistance in all sorts of 

 directions. In many cases the question is not simple, but one requiring 

 the utmost consideration and delicacy. 



The needs or requests of different institutions or persons are not infre- 

 quently conflicting, and the decision may be far-reaching. The compe- 

 tition between different workers or institutions in the same field is 

 liable, unless treated with great tact, to rouse antagonisms. Small 

 societies sometimes inadvisedly identify themselves with the opinions or 

 theories of some individual member, and if the latter prove contestable 

 the amount of human nature which may be displayed is astonishing. It 

 has happened that such an organization, in a fit of pique, has showered 

 abusive pamphlets over the inhabited universe. Rival candidates for 

 coveted posts resort to the most ingenious methods for .securing indorse- 

 ment contrary to the rules of the institution. Occasions arise when 

 advice is sought with seriousness and given with anxiety, as a matter of 

 duty. In short, it is required of the head of the Museum to have a gen- 

 eral knowledge of the character, responsibility, and reliability of all the 

 professional and most of the amateur scientific workers of the country 

 and of the character and interrelations of all the more or less scientific 



