THE MUSEUM. 



•49 



has included elaborate memoirs on the 

 platinum metals, on the ammonia- 

 cobart bases, on new analytical meth- 

 ods, on complex inorgjanic acids. It 

 is this last research, which has extend- 

 ed over many years, that led to his 

 discovery of the platino-tungstates, and 

 the molybdates. He has also contrib- 

 uted valuable papers to the literature 

 of physics. 



During the civil war he was in New 

 York Cit}-, and at time became active- 

 ly associated in the workings of the 

 United States Sanitary Commission 

 and was chosen a member of its execu- 

 tive committee. In this connection 

 he frequently met the other members 

 of that body, and out of their daily 

 contact grew the idea that, for the suc- 

 cessful carrying on of their work, their 

 meetings should "take the form of a 

 club which should be devoted to the 

 social organization of sentiments of 

 loyalty to the Union." This was the 

 inception out of which quickly matur- 

 ed the Union League Club, of New 

 York City, whose original meeting was 

 held at his residence on January 30, 

 1863, and of which he is today the 

 senior honorary member. Prof. Gibbj 

 has been honored at home and abroad 

 as no other American chemist has. 

 He has received the degree of L. L. 

 D. from Columbia and from Harvard. 

 He has been elected an honorary mem- 

 ber of the Chemical Society of Lon- 

 don, and is also the only American 

 who has ever received an election to 

 honorary membership in the German 

 Chemical Society. He is one of the 

 four surviving original members of the 

 National Academy of Sciences, and of 

 which he has held the office of foreign 

 secretary, becoming in 1896 the presi- 

 dent of that body. Prof. Gibbs has 

 long been a member of the American 

 Association for the Advancement of 

 Science, and as far back as 1866 was 

 a vice-president of that organization. 



At the meeting hela last year, when 

 it was proposed to hold a joint meet- 

 ing with the British Association, the 

 nominating committee, in casting 



about for the most distinguished Ameri- 

 can scientist to represent the American 

 Association, were prompt to recognize 

 the fact that the president of the Na- 

 tional Academy of Sciences was indeed 

 the most eminent living American 

 scientist. The wisdom of this choice 

 was universally conceded, and the 

 American Association quickly ratified 

 the action of their committee. 



Groug Work in the University of 

 Michigan Museum. 



No one who is interested in common 

 birds of Michigan, either for their song, 

 plumage or otherwise, can help but 

 admire and appreciate the several dif- 

 ferent groups, which have been placed 

 in neat and appropriate wall cases in 

 the Museum of the U. of M. The 

 hand of the master has touched every 

 detail. These groups have been select- 

 ed and arranged so as to illustrate im- 

 portant facts in bird life. Some 15 in 

 all were secured, very near Ann Arbor, 

 together with nests, eggs, section of 

 trees or lands, as were necessary to 

 show the true habit or fact. In this, 

 great care has been exercised in the 

 held work where there were any material 

 of a perishable nature, notes and casts 

 were taken, (by N. A. Wood, who has 

 this work in charge), then with the 

 skill of the wax artist, Mr. Wood, the 

 leaves have been reproduced in art 

 fabric, true to nature, sections of trees 

 stand laden with leaves by the art of 

 this fabric, plots of ground are thickly 

 covered with grasses or dowers, as the 

 case demands; water and snow are 

 represented, the whole combining beau- 

 ty and knowledge. 



The work stands as a tribute to 

 to Prof. D. C. Worcester the Curator, 

 not only for his knowledge and energy 

 in directing this work; but also for the 

 good he has done in making it possible 

 to visit our friends and find them in 

 their true habits. 



The veteran Ornithologist, Mr. A. 

 B. Covert, deserves credit for his able 

 advice, and a large share of the taxi 



