662 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IV. No. 97. 



As a boy he moved with his parents from 

 Indiana and settled in New York. He 

 early showed a fondness for natural history 

 and it was his pride to recall how this 

 boyish fancy was confirmed by his reading 

 the reports of the Smithsonian Institution, a 

 set of which formed part of the family li- 

 brary. As he grew older he was prepared for 

 college and in time entered Wesleyan Un- 

 iversity, in Middletown, Conn., where he 

 was graduated in 1870, being one of the 

 youngest members of his class. During his 

 college career his predilection for natural 

 history studies was marked, and he was re- 

 cognized as ' a man exceptionally promising 

 for work ' in that direction. During the 

 first part of the college year of 1870-71, he 

 was entered as a graduate student in Har- 

 vard University and there came under the 

 influence of the elder Agassiz. Meanwhile, 

 Orange Judd Hall, a building devoted to 

 natural sciences, was erected in Middle- 

 town through the munificence of the gentle- 

 man whose name it bears, and young Goode 

 was promptly called by the faculty of his 

 alma mater to arrange and display the nat- 

 ural history collections of the university in 

 such a shape as to make them worthy the 

 name of a museum. As the work proceeded 

 it became manifest that he had found his 

 vocation and in the task of arranging the 

 museum of Wesleyan University he began 

 to display that remarkable ability for mu- 

 seum administration, that has since found so 

 worthy a field in the National Museum in 

 Washington. 



His scientific studies, however, were not 

 neglected and he sought to increase his 

 knowledge by becoming acquainted with 

 the workings of the United States Fish 

 Commission. He met Prof. Baird, in the 

 summer of 1873, in Portland, Me., during 

 the meeting there of the American Asso- 

 ciation for the Advancement of Science. It 

 proved a fortunate meeting for both men. 

 The elder naturalist was at once impressed 



by the enthusiasm of the younger man and 

 invited him to become an assistant in the 

 service of the commission . Eegularly there- 

 after from 1873 until 1880 Goode was a 

 member of one of the summer parties and 

 later served in other capacities until, on 

 the d^ath of Prof. Baird, he was at once 

 called to the place of Fish Commissioner, 

 which high ofiice, notwithstanding the 

 many other duties pressing on him, he con- 

 sented to fill without salary until the law 

 could be amended so as to make the of&ce 

 independent of the National Museum. 



In connection with the Fish Commission 

 it is proper to mention the active part that 

 he took in behalf of the United States at 

 the Halifax Commission, which had to do 

 with settling the fishery relations between 

 this country and Canada. Nor should the 

 fact that he had charge of the work for the 

 Fishery Division of the tenth census be 

 omitted. 



The ability displayed by Goode during his 

 first season with the Fish Commission soon 

 led to closer ties between himself and Prof. 

 Baird, for the latter invited him to join the 

 scientific staff of the National Museum. 

 In 1873 he became regularly connected with 

 that institution, and for a time received as 

 his only compensation specimens of natural 

 history which he in turn presented to the 

 Museum in Middletown, where he retained 

 his connection until 1877. From assistant 

 curator in the National Museum he was ad- 

 vanced to the office of assistant director, 

 and in 1887 he was made, on the recom- 

 mendation of Secretary Baird, assistant 

 secretary of the Smithsonian Institution in 

 charge of the National Museum, which office 

 he continued to fill until his death. The 

 genius that he first showed in the arrange- 

 ment of the collections in Wesleyan Uni- 

 versity broadened and developed as he grew 

 older until it was universally conceded that 

 he had no superior in the world among 

 museum administrators. His writings on 



