68 GARDINER GREENE HUBBARD 



States Army and Senior Vice-President of the National Geo- 

 graphic Society, on behalf of that Society. 



Gen. A. W. Greely : When I first came to know Mr Hubbard 

 his years were such as had well won a right to rest, but with 

 noble discontent he held the creed, " Old age hath yet his honor 

 and his toil." How great that toil it has been for few to know ; 

 how great that honor in some way we felt before death touched 

 him, but its full extent has only been revealed by this notable 

 memorial meeting in the capital city of the Nation, of which 

 he was so proud. The school, the library, the university, the 

 Smithsonian Institution, the church — in short, all the varied ele- 

 ments of a Christian civilization, in which he was not only an 

 actor but an inspirer — are distinct losers by his death. It is, 

 however, the National Geographic Society that has a right to feel 

 itself especially bereft, for this Society was the child of his old 

 age, which had won his heart, for which he toiled at all seasons, 

 and toward which, last of all, turned his thought and affection. 

 His last months were filled with plans for the fit celebration of 

 our tenth anniversary, which now lacks so much by his absence, 

 but which also seeks inspiration for the future by a brief review 

 of the past. Mr Hubbard was not only our President for these 

 ten years, but he was also an initiator and an incorporator of the 

 Society. At the original meeting, on January 13, 1888, there were 

 present thirty-three individuals, who have increased to an aggre- 

 gate membership of 2,421, of whom remain with us 1,572, the 

 loss by death and resignation being 849. 



In his introductory address of February 17, 1888, Mr Hubbard 

 set forth the aims and objects of the Society on broad and gener- 

 ous lines, thus insuring growth and success. He said, " I am one 

 of those who desire to further the prosecution of geographical 

 research. We hope to bring together, first, the scattered workers 

 of our country ; second, the persons who desire to promote their 

 researches." 



The work was to be patriotic, educational, and scientific. How 

 far it succeeded is rather a record of facts than an expression of 

 opinion. It appealed to the spirit of patriotism by the estab- 

 lishment of two departments, the Geography of the Air and the 

 Geography of the Sea, representing the two allied branches of 

 meteorology and oceanography that owe their initial formation 

 to the genius and activity of Americans. To this Society is due 

 the credit that America was fittingly associated through the 

 means of a Geographical Conference at the Columbian Exposi- 



