30 PROCEEDINGS OF THE WASHINGTON MEETING 



On October 20, 1887, Doctor Holmes married Miss Jeannie I. Sprunt, 

 of Wilmington, North Carolina. 



Doctor Holmes was a fellow and charter member of the Geological 

 Society of America; fellow of the American Association for the Advance- 

 ment of Science; member of the American Institute of Mining Engi- 

 neers, American Society for Testing Materials, and American Society of 

 Mechanical Engineers. He was appointed a member of the Mining Leg- 

 islation Committee of Illinois ; one of the founders of the Elisha Mitchell 

 Scientific Society; member of the Sigma Xi Scientific Society; member 

 of the Washington Academy of Science, Saint Louis Academy of Science, 

 and the North Carolina Academy of Science; member of the Cosmos 

 Club of Washington and the Engineers' Club of New York. 



In closing this sketch let me further express my feelings and thought 

 regarding Doctor Holmes in the words of several friends who were very 

 close to him : 



"Doctor Holmes stands as one of the finest examples of unselfish devotion 

 to the cause which he championed, even to the extent of giving his life for it. 

 Mining in America in its national aspect is more deeply indebted to him on its 

 scientific, operating, and industrial sides than to any one other individual. It 

 seems most unfortunate that Doctor Holmes did not live to aid the movement 

 to improve the laws affecting mines and mining ; but, with the Bureau of 

 Mines firmly established, and cooperating with the thoughtful mining engi- 

 neers and operators throughout the country, the results he hoped to see should 

 be speedily obtained. 



"Charles D. Walcott." 



"Ever thoughtful, resourceful, a great organizer, a clear, logical, and eloquent 

 speaker, a splendid judge of men and their capacity to do the work his master 

 mind had planned, the United States Bureau of Mines, founded only in 1910, 

 has under his leadership rapidly grown to be one of the most important of all 

 government agencies. ... 



"His monument is the United States Bureau of Mines, and his memory -will 

 be cherished forever in the hearts of countless miners, whose lives he has ren- 

 dered safer in the perilous occupation they follow, and without the product of 

 whose busy hands our present civilization could not exist. Although cut down 

 in but little beyond the prime of life, he has left us an example of what glori- 

 ous achievements, indomitable will, and untiring work can accomplish. The 

 great Bureau he so largely created and so successfully directed will continue 

 its brilliant work along the path he so skilfully blazed, since, thanks to a very 

 able and conscientious Secretary of the Interior, his successor is in thorough 

 accord with the high ideals of the former chief, and was ever his efficient 

 helper. 



"I. C. White." 



"In the death of Doctor Holmes the people of the United States lose one of 

 their most remarkable and efficient public servants. And the saddest part of 

 it all is that Doctor Holmes is a victim of overwork — a too great devotion to 



