NATIONAL ACADEMY BIOGRAPHICAL M KM OIKS VOL. VIII 



balance, who formed his judgment without overweight of 

 admiration, and who wrote of his friend : "His philosophic 

 writings belong to a field in which thought has ever found 

 language inadequate, and are for the present, so far as may be 

 judged from reviews of 'Truth and Error/ largely misunder- 

 stood. Admitting myself to be one of those who fail to under- 

 stand much of his philosophy, I do not therefore condemn it 

 as worthless, for in other fields of his thought events have 

 proved that Vie was not visionary, but merely in advance of his 

 time." 



It is sad to close the record of an earnest life with an ac- 

 count of plans unfinished and unfinishable, rather than with a 

 record of labors brought to a well-rounded .close ; it is sadder 

 still to follow a leader to a point where his leading is not fol- 

 lowed where his latest thoughts, instead of remaining the in- 

 spiration and foundation of new studies, are passed over in 

 silence by the generation that follows him. But for these re- 

 flections there are two consolations : one is. the contemplation 

 of the great and enduring work that the leader accomplished 

 in years of fuller strength, and of that some record is here set 

 forth; the other is the loving memory in which he is held by 

 his many friends. Two of these may here speak, as they did 

 at a meeting commemorative of Powell's services, held under 

 the auspices of the Washington Academy of Sciences on Feb- 

 ruary 1 6, 1903. 



PKRSONAL ESTIMATES. 



Powell's long-time friend and trusted fellow-worker, G. K. 

 Gilbert, from whose address the last preceding quotation is 

 taken, said also : "The glow of his enthusiasm, the illumination 

 of his broad philosophy, the warmth of his friendship, are still 

 with us, and we should be either more or less than human to 

 divest ourselves so soon of the influence of his inspiring per- 

 sonality. It was through this personality, too, that he accom- 

 plished much of his work for science. Gathering about him 

 the ablest men he could secure, he was yet always the intel- 

 lectual leader, and few of his colleagues could withstand the 

 influence of his master mind. Phenomenally fertile in ideas, 

 he was absolutely free in their communication, with the result 



82 



