JOSEPH MILLER WILSON. Vi 
knowledge of actual facts and powers in nature, ever with a view to 
their direct application in new phases of work, and this kept him 
in touch with investigation in many fields. 
He was never visionary ; imagination was not his strong point, 
not even in his moments of relaxation, when music (the organ in 
particular), painting or photography were cultivated because of the 
fine-art appreciation which they called for. Yet few recognized 
more than he what scientific research contains, potentially, for 
further advancement by co-operation toward the revelation of truth 
in unity. 
From his point of view this was the highest ideal as to material 
things, fer se, demanding constant touch with the progress of the 
age, and treatment both subjective and objective in life-work. 
To study, control and utilize the forces of nature was his busi- 
ness in life, and he did so according to the most approved methods. 
If this were all, this tribute to his memory might well close at this 
point with one phrase: a man of high cultivation and refined feel- 
ing, an eminent engineer, whose works do follow him. With him, 
however, this was not all. It was not all of life to live and work— 
not by any means, neither in science nor religion. 
To those who knew him best his personality was most sympa- 
thetic, responsive and pure in communication. He was never idle, 
but constantly seeking in the domain of fine art and kindred fields 
to gratify a refined taste and keen appreciation of the beautiful as 
well as the good and true, thus producing impressions which ap- 
pealed through their spiritual import. These traits characterized 
his moral nature as forcibly as the more exact sciences and arts 
appealed to his intellect. His numerous descriptive manuscripts 
of travel, containing sketches and illustrations drawn on the spot 
from nature, are as a mine of wealth to those left behind. These 
studies of nature in its refined aspects—the optimism in nature— 
touched a chord which vibrated with still higher harmonies. With 
him the progressive spirit was not only onward but upward toward 
the eminent domain of theologic aspect—theology the queen of all 
sciences. 
No one realized his own limitations better than himself, but the 
ideal he ever held before him was fundamentally not subject to limi- 
tations, being neither more nor less than the Divine Personality who 
had said unto him, ‘‘I am the way, the truth and the life. Follow 
me.’’ This dictum was to Joseph M. Wilson the most profound 
