THE MUSEUM 



A Monthly Magazine Devoted to Research in Natural Science. 



Vol. III. 



ALBION, N. Y., AUGUST 15, 1897. 



No. lo- 



A Meeting of the American Assoc- 

 iation- 



BY MARCUS BENJ.\MIN. 



It has often been noted as an inter- 

 esting fact that the American Associa- 

 tion has commonly three presidents at 

 one of its meetings. These are the 

 retiring president, who yields the chair 

 to the coming president at the open- 

 ing of the session and delivers his ad- 

 dress on the same evening, and the 

 president elect, who is chosen at the 

 meeting held on the last day. This 

 year, by the death of Edward D. Cope, 

 whose demise in the spring deprived 

 this country of one of its most brilliant 

 scientists, a fourth name presents it- 

 self in that of the senior vice president, 

 who succeeded to the presidency, and 

 who will call the meeting to order in 

 the place of President Cope and deliv- 

 er the retiring address, which on this 

 occasion, at the request of the council, 

 will take the form of a critical descrip- 

 tion of Cope's contributions to science. 

 No one is more competent to attempt 

 this task than Prof. Gill, for he has 

 been the friend and fellow worker of 

 Cope in similar lines since the early 

 sixties, when the two \oung men were 

 fellow students in natural history under 

 Prof. Baird in the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion. That the address will be a splen- 

 did summary of the work of natural 

 history for the last quarter of a century 

 is confidently expected by those who 

 are already familiar with Gill's admira- 

 ble biographies of Huxley and Goode 

 that were prepared on the deaths of 

 these two men. 



Theodore Nicholas Gill, who ranks 



among the very first of American zoolo- 

 gists, is a native of New York City, 

 where he was born on March 21, 1837. 

 His early education was received in 

 private schools and from private tu- 

 tors, and then he studied law, but 

 never was admitted to the bar. As 

 he grew to manhood he developed an 

 interest in natural science, and during 

 the winter of 1857-58 he visited Bar- 

 bados, Trinidad and other West In- 

 dian islands for Mr. D. Jackson Stew- 

 art, for whom he collected shells and 

 other specimens in natural history. 

 The results of his explorations were 

 worked up mainly in the library of Mr. 

 J. Carson Brevoort, and published in 

 the Annals of the New York Lyceum 

 of Natural History and in the Proceed- 

 ings of the Philadelphia Academy of 

 Science. It was in the library (the 

 best of its kind in the United States) 

 of this patron of science that he laid 

 the foundations for that great know- 

 ledge of books and authorities which, 

 combined with a splendid memory, 

 has stood him in such good stead in 

 his latter days. In 1859 he visited 

 Newfoundland and studied its fauna, 

 and in i860 prepared a report of the 

 fishes of the northern boundary for the 

 State Department. 



It was about this time that he came 

 to Washington, which has since been 

 his home, and in 1862 he became li- 

 brarian of the Smithsonian Institution. 

 This office he held until i S66, when 

 the library was transferred to the Capi- 

 tol, where he was continued in service 

 until 1874, having become chief assist- 

 ant. Subsequent to the last named 

 date he has devoted his attention al- 



