234 
have Mr. Rathbun transferred to the National 
Museum so that he might give his entire time 
to the development of the department of ma- 
rine invertebrates and the working up of the 
important collections that were constantly be- 
ing received, but on the death of Baird in 
1887, Dr. G. Brown Goode, who succeeded tem- 
porarily to the office of Fish Commissioner, 
persuaded Mr. Rathbun, in consequence of his 
long experience and familiarity with the work, 
to remain with the commission. Later, when 
Colonel Marshall McDonald became permanent 
commissioner, he was equally appreciative of 
Mr. Rathbun’s valuable qualities and likewise 
was able to induce him to remain with the bu- 
reau until his own death in 1895. 
In 1896, on the invitation of Secretary Lang- 
ley, he accepted appointment in the Smithson- 
ian Institution, and on January 1, 1897, began 
his duties as Assistant in charge of Office and 
Exchanges. Before the expiration of the 
month his abilities were so manifest and his 
appreciation of the conditions so complete that 
he was made Assistant Secretary. This place 
he then held until July 1, 1898, when, still con- 
tinuing as Assistant Secretary, he was given 
charge of the National Museum, in which ca- 
pacity he remained until his death. 
Tt is almost impossible to attempt to con- 
sider in detail the many ramifications of the 
great work that he accomplished, and naturally 
the minor, but certainly not unimportant, in- 
terests aré obscured by the larger events to 
which he gave the later years of his life. 
The most important of these was the con- 
struction of the new building, in which the 
natural history collections are preserved: His 
intense interest in this undertaking, as well as 
his remarkable capacity for studying details, is 
perhaps best shown by his careful preliminary 
study “ The United States National Museum. 
An Account of the Buildings occupied by the 
National Collections,” that appeared in the 
annual report of the U. S. National Museum 
for 1903.7 
The years of patient watching and waiting 
for the completion of the structure, with his 
perfect knowledge of every detail, can never be 
7Pp. 177-315, pls. 1-29. 
SCIENCE 
[N. 8. Von, XLVIIT. No. 1236 
satisfactorily told in words, but they are strik- 
ingly illustrated by the careful ‘“ Descriptive 
Account of the Natural History Buildings of 
the U. S. National Museum” that forms No. 
80 of the Bulletin series,’ that he published in 
1913 on the completion of the building. 
These two publications show how much he 
gave of himself to the perfection of a work 
that must always remain as the greatest monu- 
ment that can be reared to his painstaking 
genius. 
With an interest equal to that shown by 
him in the construction of the new museum 
building, he undertook the development of the 
National Gallery of Art, an important feature 
of the Smithsonian Institution, which al- 
though the one mentioned first in the funda- 
mental act, had remained dormant for lack of 
adequate facilities. The valuable collection of 
paintings and art objects bequeathed by Mrs. 
Harriet Lane Johnston in 1903 to the National 
Gallery of Art afforded an opportunity quickly 
appreciated by Mr. Rathbun, who, recognizing 
its importance, began at once to plan for the . 
building up of a great national art. gallery. 
In 1904, the Freer collection with its unique 
specimens of Whistler’s art work, was tend- 
ered and accepted by the Institution, and in 
1907, William T. Evans began his gifts of se- 
lected paintings by contemporary American 
artists, which number more than 150 canvases 
and an equal number of other art objects. 
With these and other gifts the National Gall- 
ery of Art has “attained a prominence that 
has brought world-wide recognition.” <A per- 
manent record of this development has been 
left by Mr. Rathbun in Bulletin No. 70 of the 
U. S. National Museum, under the title of 
“The National Gallery of Art, Department of 
Fine Arts of the National Museum,” ® a vol- 
ume remarkable for its. artistic appearance, to 
every detail of which he gave his personal at- 
tention. 
His natural taste for research and his tend- 
ency to go to the bottom of things led him to 
make elaborate studies on the collections, and 
8 Pp. 1-131, with plates 1-34. 
9 First ed., 1909, pp. 1-140, pls. 1-26; 2d ed., 
1916, pp. 1-189. 
