REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1914. 159 
a short period, in the absence of Dr. Langley, as Acting Secretary 
of the Smithsonian Institution, and from then until 1901 the admin- 
istration of the Museum fell mainly on Dr. True’s shoulders. In 
another large field, that of international exposition work, Dr. True 
also served with distinction, having directed the preparation of the 
exhibits for, and represented the Institution and Museum at, Nash- 
ville in 1897, Omaha in 1898, Buffalo in 1901, Charleston in 1902, 
St. Louis in 1904, and Portland in 1905. On June 1, 1911, he was 
called from the Museum to become the Assistant Secretary of the 
Smithsonian Institution in charge of library and exchanges, which 
position he was occupying at the time of his death, on June 25, 1914. 
Dr. True was a member of the American Philosophical Society and 
the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, a corresponding 
member of the Zoological Society of London, and a fellow of the 
American Association for the Advancement of Science, besides hold- 
ing membership in various other societies. 
Only those who came closely in contact with Dr. True can properly 
measure the extent of his worth to the National Museum, which was 
always uppermost in his mind. Of a retiring disposition, and with 
no conception of the meaning of rest, he labored unceasingly, going 
about but little, neglecting sports, though intensely fond of music, 
and dividing his hours mainly between the Museum and his home 
study. He was above all a profound student, though apt and thor- 
ough in business matters. He did nothing perfunctorily, but went 
to the bottom of every problem, and everything he undertook was 
done more by his own hand than in any other case with which I 
am acquainted. Dr. True was never more happy than when in the 
library he organized and to which he continued to give attention, 
but he knew as much of the making of books as he did of their 
arrangement, and for many years he was the chief adviser in the 
selection and printing of the Museum publications. 
It had been Dr. True’s early desire to make a specialty of one of 
the lower groups of animals, but finding his eyes not equal to the 
constant use of the microscope, he turned to the other extreme, the 
group containing the largest of all living animal forms. Although 
the author of a number of miscellaneous papers on mammals, Dr. 
True’s scientific reputation is mainly based on his studies of the 
Cetacea, especially the whales, and also on the fact that through his 
persistent activity he brought. together in the Museum one of the 
largest and most important collections of whales in existence. Owing 
to the universally large size of the members of this group, museums 
generally are satisfied with a few examples, which furnish no basis 
for comparison with the object of determining individual or geo- 
graphic variations in these monsters of the sea. Through the efforts 
of Dr. True very much has been done to overcome this disadvantage 
