NovEMBER 10, 1899.] 
supervision of all the operations of that body 
in the valley of the Mississippi. He organ- 
ized the comprehensive work of the com- 
mission in the large section that was en- 
trusted to his care, and during its life 
expended more than $800,000 in money, be- 
sides distributing hospital stores that were 
valued at more than $5,000,000. The whole 
story of that wonderful achievement, its 
development, and its completion was told 
by himself in his report of the commission 
in the valley of the Mississippi that was 
published in 1871. 
With the return of peace came a new in- 
terest in the development of our institu- 
tions of learning, and conspicuous among 
the newer experiments was the then re- 
cently organized School of Mines of Colum- 
bia College. It was the first institution of 
its kind in the United States, and its suc- 
cess was yet to be determined. Newberry 
was called to the charge of the department 
of geology in the new school, and, with a 
faith in its ultimate success that never fal- 
tered, he accepted the trust. With the 
same genius for organization that was 
shown by his development of the work of 
the Sanitary Commission, he began the plan- 
ning of courses of study. Alone he gave in- 
struction in botany, zoology, geology, lithol- 
ogy, paleontology and economic geology, 
and a quarter of a century later left. to the 
world as his best and greatest memorial a 
magnificently equipped department of the 
special branches taught by him not excelled 
by any similar educational institution in 
this country. Nor was this all. He created 
a museum of over 100,000 specimens, prin- 
cipally collected by himself, which served 
to illustrate his lectures on geology and eco- 
nomic geology. It contains “the best repre- 
sentatives of the mineral resources of the 
United States to be found anywhere, as well 
as many unique and remarkable fossils.” * 
* This is his own description taken from a personal 
letter written to me in 1888. 
SCIENCE. 
679 
Kemp calls it ‘a monument to his mem- 
ory,’ and adds: 
Its wealth of fossil fish and fossil plants makes it 
unique and famous among geological museums, * 
In 1869 he became State geologist of 
Ohio, and for many years he regularly spent 
his summers in the field, while the accumu- 
lated material was digested during the 
winter months in the laboratory in New 
York, yielding the nine large volumes of 
reports published by Ohio. The unwilling- 
ness of the State Legislature to permit the 
completion of the work as originally in- 
tended was the great grief of his closing 
years, and marked the beginning of his end. 
It is a pleasure to remember that during 
the last years of his life he received the 
fossil plants and fishes from the United 
States Geological Survey to report on, and 
so returned to the study of those forms 
which, as a boy, he loved to collect in the 
coal deposits of eastern Ohio. 
He was rich in thoseaccumulated experi- 
ences that we call wisdom. He was a 
friend, faithful and true, as those who knew 
him can testify. He is gone, but his influ- 
ence cannot die. It will live forever to 
‘reach through nature, moulding men.’ 
American astronomers hold a high place 
in the history of the development of their 
chosen science, and among those in our 
country who have made the study of the 
heavens their chief life-work, first place 
must unquestionably be given to Benjamin 
Apthorp Gould for his splendid achieve- 
ments. In his time he ranked as the great- 
est of our astronomers, and our Association 
-honored itself in choosing him to preside 
over the meeting held in Chicago in 1868. 
Marcus BENJAMIN. 
U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM. 
(To be continued. ) 
THE BEST MOVEMENT FOR HANDWRITING. 
Ir is by no means certain that the ordi- 
nary writing movement, as taught in the 
* School of Mines Quarterly, Vol. XIV., p. 99. 
