nX MY IJFK 



tonia, Podophyllum, Jeffersonia, etc.—] now saw in flower for 

 the first time. During these excursions we had many long 



talks and discussions while taking OUr lunch. At that time I 

 was not a convinced Socialist, and in that respect Lester Ward 



was in advance of me, though he could not quite convince me. 



lie was also an absolute agnostic <>r monist, and around this 



question our discussions most frequently turned. But as I 



had a basis of spiritualistic experiences of which he was totally 

 ignorant, we looked at the subject from different points of 

 view : and I was limited to urging the inherent and absolute 

 differences of nature between matter and mind, and that 

 though, as a verbal proposition, it may be as easy to assume 

 the eternal and necessary existence of matter and its forces 

 as it is to assume mind as the fundamental cause of matter, 

 yet it is not really so complete an explanation or so truly 

 monistic, since we cannot actually conceive matter as pro- 

 ducing mind, whereas we certainly can conceive mind as 

 producing matter. 



I also soon became very intimate with Major Powell, the 

 head of the geological survey, and also with Captain Dutton, 

 Mr. McGee, and other members of the survey. I spent a 

 good deal of time in their library, reading up the history of the 

 glacial phenomena and the antiquity of man in America. At 

 twelve o'clock we all lunched together, in a very informal way, 

 on bread and cheese, fruit, cakes, and tea ; and at this time we 

 had many interesting conversations, as Major Powell was a 

 great anthropologist and psychologist, as well as a geologist, 

 and we thus got upon all kinds of subjects. 



I also spent a good deal of my time in the great collection 

 of prehistoric remains, stone implements, weapons, etc., of 

 early man in the National Museum, perhaps the most wonder- 

 ful and interesting collection of such objects in the world. 

 One of the gentlemen interested in such things, Dr. Hoffman, 

 took me to a field in the suburbs which had been the site 

 of an old Indian village and where arrow-heads were still 

 often found, and I was able to pick up a few specimens 

 myself. 



