WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 113 



I have had occasion to study very closely several of his contributions, 

 and respect for his method increased with the reading. 



I would lay a double wreath upon his tomb ; one to the friend whom 

 I have lost, the other to the student who has left an abiding impression 

 upon several branches of American science. 



From Professor J. E. Todd, of the University of Kansas. 



My thought goes back to a day in 1878, when I first met Doctor 

 McGee at a St. Louis meeting of the American Association. We 

 each of us presented our first papers before the Geological Section. 

 We were both from Iowa. He had a retiring, almost bashful, man- 

 ner, and I took pleasure in introducing him to several acquaintances 

 whom I had met while studying in the east a few years before. 



In 1881, while spending a winter at Washington, I received a letter 

 from him asking me to make some inquiries from Major Powell, then 

 Director of the United States Geological Survey, concerning some 

 formations in northeastern Iowa. During our interview, Major 

 Powell volunteered the remark that he considered McGee a very 

 promising young man. This I naturally repeated to McGee. I can 

 not doubt that that remark had much to do with his going to Wash- 

 ington a few years after and with his brilliant career there, which dis- 

 tinguished him over all the world. I have met him several times at 

 various scientific meetings, and have often been impressed with his 

 native ability, his quiet confidence, his resourcefulness, and the 

 uniform success which rewarded his efforts. 



He made mistakes and made enemies; from many of these I 

 have often thought a thorough education would have saved him. 

 He deserved great credit for having achieved so much despite the 

 disadvantages of his early life. Few have done so well. I have 

 always found him a genial companion and a faithful friend. 



From Doctor Thomas Wayland Vaughan, chief, section of Coastal 

 Plain investigations, United States Geological Survey: 



McGee's most important geologic contributions were those he made 

 to the geology of the Atlantic and eastern Gulf Coastal Plain while 

 connected with the United States Geological Survey, which he joined 



