MEMOIR OF Et)WiN E. HOWELL 31 



director of the American Museum of Natural History; William T. 

 Hornaday, director of the N"ew York Zoological Park; Charles H. 

 Townsend, director of the New York Aquarium; F. C. Baker, curator 

 of the Chicago Academy of Sciences; William M. Wheeler, professor 

 of economic entomology at Harvard University, and Henry L. Ward, 

 director of the ^lilwaukee Public Museum, and in addition to these the 

 writer, who ranks himself somewhat proudly as senior alumnus. This 

 was Howell's school, his real school despite the fact that the biographies 

 mention only the country schools of his native county and the University 

 of Eochester, which recognized certain special studies by making him a 

 master of arts. He entered it in 1865, at the age of 21, and took his 

 diploma — so to speak — in 1872. 



For two years he was a geologist of the Wheeler Survey and then for a 

 year held a similar position in the Powell Survey, his work consisting of 

 geologic reconnaissance in Utah, Nevada, Arizona, and New ^lexico. 

 Then, having become satisfied that this occupation was not the one for 

 which he was best fitted, he resigned his position and returned to the 

 Eochester ^luseum, becoming a partner where he had before been an 

 assistant. A few 3'ears later he removed to Washington, where he estab- 

 lished "The ]\Iicrocosm," an institution somewhat similar to Ward's 

 Cosmos Hall, but devoted more particularly to geologic material and 

 subjects. The modeling of relief maps, in which work he was a pioneer — 

 if not the pioneer — for the United States, soon became a specialty; and 

 his monument for a generation at least will consist in the plastic repre- 

 sentations of physiography, topography, and geologic structure which 

 adorn the halls and walls of museums and school-rooms throughout the. 

 continent. 



He was one of the founders of the Geological Society of America and 

 was connected with a number of other scientific associations, national and 

 local, but he rarely contributed to their discussions. Besides the report 

 on his geologic field work, his contributions to scientific literature in- 

 cluded only brief descriptions of meteorites. 



Personally Howell was quiet, unassuming, and sincere. His recognized 

 integrity was an important factor in his business success. If he had 

 enemies or detractors, I have not met them. His modeling was not dis- 

 tinguished by its artistic quality, but was realistic whenever the material 

 from which he worked was full. His clients found him ever clamorous 

 for facts and anxious to revise work at any stage if it could thus be made 

 more truthful, and his clients, who were numerous among the investi- 

 gators and teachers of geology and geography, were also his friends. 



He was born March 12, 1845, in Genesee County, New York, and 



