THE INCORPORATORS 135 



ford professorship. He equipped a small laboratory for himself 

 and carried out those brilliant researches on complex inorganic 

 acids, which brought him the highest praise. The chief piece 

 of apparatus used in these important investigations was a cast- 

 iron cooking stove, and the rest of the equipment was equally 

 modest. 



After the closing of the Scientific School laboratory, Dr. 

 Gibbs lectured to small classes upon the spectroscope, and on 

 thermodynamics. Upon his retirement as professor emeritus, 

 he removed his private laboratory to Newport, where he had a 

 summer home. Here he took pleasure in his garden and especi- 

 ally in the cultivation of roses. His death occurred on Decem- 

 ber 9, 1908, when he was nearly 87 years of age. 



Gibbs wrote no books and delivered no popular lectures, but 

 his researches and his voluminous scientific writings brought 

 him honors from many scientific societies in Europe and America. 

 He was the first Home Secretary of the National Academy of 

 Sciences and its President for five years, and also presided over 

 the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 

 1897. 



As a citizen he was not devoid of public spirit. The Union 

 League Club was founded at his house, and he took an active 

 interest in the Sanitary Commission, the forerunner of the Red 

 Cross Society. 



(From F. W. CLARKE, in Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of 

 Sciences, vol. 7, 1910, pp. I-I2.) 



JAMES MELVILLE GILLISS 



Born, September 6, 1811 ; died, February 9, 1865 



Captain Gilliss was the eldest son of George Gilliss and Mary 

 Melville Gilliss of Georgetown, D. C. His father, who was in 

 the service of the Government, was a descendant of Thomas 

 Gilliss, a native of Scotland, who settled at an early date on the 

 Eastern Shore of Maryland. James Melville Gilliss entered 

 the Navy, as midshipman, in 1826. He obtained leave of 

 absence in 1833, and entered the University of Virginia, but was 



