MEMORIAL OF E. W. HILGARl) 49 



To this may l)e appropriately added the following extract from the 

 address of Prof. E. J. Wickson on the same occasion : 



"The proper relation of agricultural practice to agricultural science, as fac- 

 tors in educational effort ; the educational distinction between labor performed 

 for enlightenment and labor prescribed to beget a liking for labor ; the place 

 of both the art and science of agriculture in a university of higher learning, 

 when both are handled ably for instructional purposes — these were among his 

 fundamental contentions, upholding them through many controversies, and his 

 victory is seen in their entry into the regular curricula of all of the newer 

 institutions of learning and their pursuit by older institutions established on 

 other standards of learning before the existence of them as educational factors 

 was dreamed of as worthy and capable. 



"Even the vocational point of view, now so universally prevalent, was clearly 

 occupied in his first report, that of 1877, and the tirst accession to his staff 

 was an instructor in practical agriculture, in 1878. Thus, at the first oppor- 

 tunity, he justified his conception of the relation of facts and principles, when 

 the natural temptation was to exalt his own personal line of research by 

 proper laboratory provision and equipment." 



Doctor Hilgard was of medium height, rather slender, and until his 

 later years remarkably youthful in appearance. Meeting him in 1891, 

 after an interval of 20 years, I could see no. signs of advancing age, no 

 gray hairs. He was aleit and quick in all his movements. To those who 

 knew him he was one of the most lovable of men. 



His extraordinary fund of general as well as of special information, 

 made always available by a never failing memory, along with his cheerful- 

 ness and vivacity, notwithstanding the handicap of a rather frail con- 

 stitution, made him a delightful companion, and his letters, even on 

 technical or scientific matters, were always enlivened by humorous and 

 witty quotations and remarks, so that they are truly "good reading.^^ 



He was master of the English language, as may be seen in his numerous 

 writings, and in his spoken word there was nothing of the foreign accent, 

 barring a slight lisp which might have been taken for it. In German, 

 of course, and in French and Spanish he was equally at home and fluent. 

 He read easily also Greek, Latin, Sanscrit, Italian, and Portuguese. 



Among the causes contributing to Hilgard^s success were, first of all, 

 his mastery of the subjects in which he became interested and his untir- 

 ing industry, as shown in the long list of his contributions to science. 

 His suave and pleasing address made friends for him everywhere; but 

 with all his geniality and gentleness of manner he could fight most 

 strenuously for his cause when occasion demanded it. 



When he became State Geologist of Mississippi, in 1858, he found 

 strong opposition to the Survey among the legislators as well as among 



