26 BULLETIN OF THE 



Two years later, the death of Prof. Bache created a great va- 

 cancy. At that time the character and qualifications of the man 

 who should succeed him in that high office were thoroughly under- 

 stood. A recognized pre-eminence among scientific men, an ability 

 to form an independent judgment respecting the problems of geo. 

 desy involved in the work — these were essentials. It is enough to 

 say of Prof. Peirce that his appointment amply fulfilled these re- 

 quirements. Foremost among the geometers of his own land, and 

 regarded as in the front rank of foreign mathematicians, Prof. 

 Peirce, during the first years of his superintendency, developed an 

 administrative ability, which, in the methods of its exercise, won 

 for him the friendly regard and respect of both the older and 

 younger officers of the survey. Recognizing, with a fine tact and 

 courtesy, the conditions entailed upon officers engaged in field 

 work — much physical hardship, small pay, and slow promotion — 

 he established a system of gradual increase of pay at certain in- 

 tervals, and according to merit. 



With Government officials, members of Congress, and all whom 

 it was necessary to consult in obtaining appropriations for the sur- 

 vey, Prof. Peirce was never at fault ; he knew how to use the legiti- 

 mate methods of success; and he will long be remembered, not 

 only as a great mathematician, but as the able director of an im- 

 portant national work. 



President Newcomb said, as one who had known Prof. Peirce 

 pnly a little less than a quarter of a century, it might not be in- 

 appropriate for him to say a few words, although much that he 

 would have said had been anticipated by those who had already 

 addressed the Society. 



One of the most interesting points in Prof. Peirce's character 

 was the fact that he was anything but a mathematician, as conven- 

 tionally understood — cold, unsympathizing, living in an atmosphere 

 above the rest of the world. Prof. Newcomb had never known any 

 one who had a better heart. 



Several members had spoken of the encouragement given by 

 Prof. Peirce to those who first entered upon their life career. The 

 speaker's first interview with that distinguished mathematician had 

 been indelibly impressed upon his mind. What struck him most 

 forcibly about Prof. Peirce at that time was the perfectly unsophis- 

 ticated way in which he put one at ease, and the total freedom 



