42 McGEE MEMORIAL MEETING 



real value of the contribution. In those days I knew very few men 

 in the scientific world, but I bravely sent out my little pamphlet to 

 all with whom I could by any chance claim acquaintance, and, among 

 others, to McGee, who had once lectured to us when I was a student 

 at Johns Hopkins. He took the thing as seriously as though it had 

 been a contribution from one of the leaders of science, and wrote me 

 a most careful and critical review in the form of a personal letter, at 

 the same time making most illuminated and suggestive comment that 

 led me in the next succeeding years into a very fascinating field of 

 physiographic work. Apparently, to McGee, the young man work- 

 ing in a far state as a beginner was worth time and thought; and I 

 have reason to believe that this was his habit of mind, and that many 

 beginners, as well as myself, have him to thank for inspiration. 



Later, as with Calvin I worked over the Pleistocene in north- 

 eastern Iowa, I realized something of what his own work as a begin- 

 ner had been, and how he must have appreciated any help which came 

 to him at that time. He really did a great piece of work in northeast- 

 ern Iowa. It is hard to realize now how firmly fixed was the notion 

 of one glacial period. In the area in which McGee studied, there are 

 the drift sheets of three well defined periods, as we know now. He 

 insisted that there were more than one and proposed two as the maxi- 

 mum of audacity. Such mistakes as he made were due mainly to 

 the fact that he wasn't bold enough and did not claim more than 

 two. It was because he tried to make the whole scheme fit in with 

 this that he missed the well-marked and extremely significant drift 

 border near Iowa City. 



I saw something of McGee later at the time he was trying so hard 

 to build up a museum at St. Louis. He had even then, although a 

 much older man, a tremendous store of enthusiasm and energy, and 

 all of us on the Illinois Survey who came in contact with him derived 

 many fruitful suggestions from him. 



From John Barrett, of Washington, D. C.: 



I knew W J McGee almost intimately for many years, and he grew 

 on me with the passing of time. At first I did not fully understand 

 him, but later, when I came under the influence of his wide knowledge 

 and his sincere enthusiasm, I realized that he was, indeed, a rare man. 



