November 14, 1902.] 



SCIENCE. 



783 



MINUTES OP A MEETING HELD AT THE U. S. 



NATIONAL MUSEUM PRECEDING THE 



FUNERAL OF MAJOR J. W. POWELL, 



DIRECTOR OF THE BUREAU OP 



AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY, 



SEPT. 26. :902, 



The meeting was called to order by Mr. 

 Richard Rathbun, Assistant Secretary of 

 the Smithsonian Institution. Mr. W J 

 McGee acted as Secretary. 



Mr. Rathbun made the following intro- 

 ductory remarks: 



"Ladies and Gentlemen: You know the 

 sad occasion which has brought us together. 



"The Smithsonian Institution, the en- 

 tire scientific body of Washington, and in- 

 deed universal science have lost a devoted 

 ofScial, an aflfectionate friend, an original, 

 ingenious and forceful contributor to hu- 

 man knowledge in the death of Major 

 Powell. This is not the time to recount 

 his labors or successes or to estimate the 

 work which he pursued with such unflag- 

 ging zeal amidst sufferings which would 

 have daunted many a less heroic spirit. 



"We are met together to give expression 

 in a few words to our sense of loss and the 

 grief which we feel at the passing away 

 of him whom all his friends, and they were 

 legion, affectionately called the 'Major.' 



' ' I shall ask a few of you, who no doubt 

 wish to pay a tribute of respect to him, 

 to say a few words, but before doing so, 

 there is a word which I feel I must say on 

 behalf of Mr. Langley, the Secretary of 

 the Institution, whose affection for the 

 Major was known to you all, and who has 

 lost in him as near a friend as he had 

 either in his official or in his private rela- 

 tions. The affectionate consideration and 

 regard which these two men had for each 

 other was something beautiful to know. I 

 am sure that if Mr. Langley were here 

 to-day he would say so much and even 

 more, and it will be a matter of great regret 

 to him that he cannot pay this tribute to his 



old friend. He appears to have arrived 

 from Europe in Boston yesterday morning 

 and to have immediately left, before re- 

 ceiving word of the Major's death. 



"I presume that the meeting will wish 

 to adopt a minute expressive of its sense 

 of loss, together with a word of condolence 

 to the striken family, and I shall ask that 

 the following gentlemen act as a committee 

 to prepare these words: Doctor Walcott, 

 Doctor McGee, Professor Mason, Doctor 

 Dall and Mr. Hodge." 



Mr. W. H. Dall then addressed the meet- 

 ing as follows: 



"Our friend has left us. While the 

 time is not yet appropriate to estimate 

 his scientific labors and to detail the work 

 he has done for his country, the first feel- 

 ing undoubtedly that has come to all of 

 us, with the news brought from his death- 

 bed, has been that of personal bereavement. 

 I may say from my own experience, which 

 I am sure is uniformly that of every one 

 who was associated with the Major, that 

 few men in official life or out of it have 

 succeeded, without effort apparently, in in- 

 citing in the hearts of those who observe, 

 esteem and honor them, so much of real 

 personal aft'ection. 



"I look back for over twenty years on 

 my acquaintance and intimacy with Major 

 Powell, and from the very first I knew 

 him as one who would look around among 

 those brought from all sources to his official 

 work, not merely with the supervising eye 

 of a master, the critical mind of a scientist, 

 or the indifference of a disciplinarian, but 

 rather as a friend— one might almost say, 

 as a father— to the young fellows serving 

 him and with him. 



"With the feeling of grief so keen, it 

 is hard to say much, or to express that feel- 

 ing adequately. Perhaps there are some 

 of you who heard, fourteen years ago, his 

 address on the death of Professor Baird, 



