252 Joseph Barrell. 



always gladly placed at our disposal, and his construc- 

 tive criticism and fertility of suggestion have been the 

 stimulus to more of our work than we shall ever realize. 

 We rejoice that the privilege was ours of working with 

 him, and in our hearts there will always remain the 

 grateful memory of his inspiring personality. 



Barren's death occurred in New Haven, Connecticut, 

 on May 4, 1919, after a week's illness with pneumonia 

 and spinal meningitis. He leaves a wife, Lena Hopper 

 Bailey, and four sons, Joseph, Herbert Bailey, William 

 Colburn, and Richard Lull. Standing 5 feet 10-5 inches 

 in height, of the blue-eyed Nordic type, with a full head 

 of wayj^ light-brown hair, he was spare of build and yet 

 of great muscular strength, the "strong man" of his 

 class at Lehigh. Once seen, he was easily remembered, 

 and he was quickly picked out in a crowd. This was 

 due in part to his tall slender build, his long and awk- 

 ward stride, and his confident bearing, but more espe- 

 cially to the strength of character reflected in his large 

 features, particularly the wide mouth and long, narrow 

 nose concave in profile. He prided himself on the 

 longevity of his ancestors, and believed he also would 

 attain to great age. 



Modest and optimistic, with a strong independence of 

 mind, he prized true worth highly, and was easily aroused 

 to point out shams and errors, as he does tellingly in 

 his review of "The Place of Origin of the Moon," in 

 "Schaeberle and Geological Climates," and more espe- 

 cially in "Fair Play and Toleration in Criticism." 

 Simple in attire and fond of simple li\dng, his intel- 

 lectual ideals were of the highest, and it was his plan 

 that his sons should have the best of collegiate training. 

 An omnivorous reader and a hard worker, he never tired 

 of unravelling the intricacies of earth structure. Yet 

 with all his own work, he was always ready to help his 

 colleagnies and students, and those who had problems to 

 solve found him ever fertile in suggestion. No man ever 

 had better developed the power of detachment from his 

 own views than did Barrell. He could examine his con- 

 clusions from all angles. "As Davis says, "He inter- 

 ested himself in thinking about how he thought, and 

 tried to evaluate the results of his thinking. He was 

 as careful and critical in this respect as he was fertile 

 and ingenious in mental inventions. ' ' His writings show 



