SEPTEMnER 4, 190;!.] 



SCIENCE. 



301 



organizing the department. The ties that 

 bound him to the National Museum were 

 too strong to be completely severed, and 

 accordingly in 1895 he returned to Wash- 

 ington, resuming his otfice as Curator of 

 Mechanical Technology, which place he con- 

 tinued to hold until his death, as well as 

 that of Superintendent of Buildings, which 

 his early training as an engineer made him 

 most competent to fill. 



The information that he acquired nat- 

 urally led to the publication of numerous 

 papers, and among these may be mentioned 

 'Beginnings of Engineering' (1888) ; 'The 

 Development of the American Rail and 

 Track' (1889) ; 'The Log of the Savannah' 

 (1890) ; and 'Transportation and Lifting 

 of IIea\y Bodies by the Ancients' (1898). 

 It culminated in his being chosen to pre- 

 pare the history of the Pennsylvania Rail- 

 road, 18-45-1896, a series of quarto volumes 

 descriptive of the first fifty years of that 

 railroad, which is beyond doubt the most 

 complete history of the beginnings of rail- 

 road transportation in the United States. 



As his reputation increased, he became 

 more and more widely known as the great 

 American authority on the history of me- 

 chanical arts, and in recognition of his 

 work in this direction, the Stevens Institute 

 of Technology conferred upon him the de- 

 gree of Doctor of Science. He served as a 

 juror on his specialty at the expositions 

 held in Atlanta, Omaha and Buft'alo. 



Dr. Watkins was exceedingly loyal to the 

 city of Washington. He was the moving 

 spirit in the Patent Centennial that was 

 held in Washington in 1891, acting as 

 secretary of the executive committee, and 

 had much to do with the volume that was 

 subsequently published. He also served on 

 various committees in connection with the 

 inaugurations of the presidents and of the 

 centennial celebration of the capitol. He 

 was a member of the Cosmos Club, the 

 American Society of Civil Engineers, the 



Society of Colonial Wars, the Society of 

 Sons of the Revolution, the Society of the 

 War of 1812, of which he was for some 

 time treasurer, and the Washington Philo- 

 sophical Society, of which he was for many 

 yeai-s secretary. 



Following the custom that has prevailed 

 on similar occasions a meeting of the of- 

 ficers and employees of the Smithsonian 

 Institution was held on August 12, for the 

 purpose of taking action on the death of 

 Dr. Watkins, and the following minute 

 prepared by a committee consisting of Dr. 

 Cyrus Adler, Mr. W. de C. Ravenel and 

 Professor W. H. Holmes was adopted: 



In the death of J. Elfreth Watkins, the Smith- 

 sonian Institute is deprived of the services of a 

 loyal, able and intelligent official ; the foremost 

 authority on the history of transportation and of 

 the mechanical arts in America ; and a man whose 

 reputation extended far beyond the confines of 

 his own country. He pursued his scientific and 

 administrative labors under physical infirmities 

 which would have crushed the ordinary man, yet 

 he had the heart and found the time to be kind 

 and helpful to every one with whom he came in 

 contact, from the humblest to the highest. He was 

 the founder of the collection of transportation and 

 of the histoi-y of invention now in the National 

 Museum, and from his pen there were contributed 

 many notable memoirs on these subjects. He was 

 upright, hospitable, generous, and leaves behind 

 him the memory of a conscientious official, an up- 

 right man, a patriotic American, a notable con- 

 tributor to scientific literature and a sense of per- 

 sonal bereavement on the part of all who have ever 

 had tlie good fortune to be associated with him. 

 His colleagues and friends extend to his widow 

 and his children their dee|>est sympathy in this 

 great bereavement, with the expression of consola- 

 tion which the contemplation of the life and deeds 

 of such a man must afford to those who loved him. 



Marcus Benjamin. 



SOCIETIES A\D ACADEMIES. 



THE TKXAS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 



At the regular meeting of the Texas Acad- 

 emy of Science held in the Biological Lecture 

 Room of the L^niversit.y of Texas, April 17, 

 1903, Mr. Robert A. Thompson, president of 



