FIFTY YEARS OF MUSEUM WORK 



23 



an opportunity of meeting their seniors unofficially and of hearing at 

 first hand a discussion of some of the important scientific problems of the 

 day, but an invitation to these evenings was a recognition of the fact 

 that they too were counted among the scientific workers. The one quali- 

 fication for attendance was that the visitor should be able to tell some- 

 thing of interest, and no one ever possessed greater ability to "draw 

 people out" and make them talk than did Doctor Bell. 



The liberal policy adopted by Baird for the Smithsonian and the 

 U. S. National Museum was reflected by those associated with these and 

 the kindred institutions, the U. S. Geological Survey, U. S. Department of 

 Agriculture and the U. S. Fish Commission— now Bureau of Fisheries— 

 and there was no place where information was more freely given than in 

 Washington and no class of men who gave it more cheerfully. In those 

 days, these institutions were not the great bureaus they subsequently 

 became; everybody was acquainted, money or position did not count for 

 so much as now and a young man was accepted largely on his own merits. 



While my first scientific work was done and my first papers 1 pub- 

 lished while in Rochester, yet it may be said to have really been taken up 

 seriously in Washington where I had more leisure, more opportunity, 

 and more advice and criticism. 



My scientific work was taken up on my own initiative, since, Doctor 

 Goode once told me, "the preparation of scientific papers was no part 

 of my duties." However, he never prohibited such diversions so long as 

 they did not interfere with my other duties, which never happened, 

 partly because of a liking for mechanical work, partly because of the 

 pleasure of seeing exhibits grow under my hands, and partly because of 



another remark of Doctor Goode's that , engaged as Assistant 



Curator, was "getting off in a corner with his microscope and not ar- 

 ranging the exhibits in his charge." 



Not unnaturally, I took up the osteology of birds, as material was 

 more readily obtainable than in any other class of vertebrates — material, 

 too, more varied in its character and that from its small size could be 

 easily and quickly prepared. Also Shufeldt's papers, the first of which 

 had recently appeared in the Bulletin of the U. S. G. S., had suggested 

 work on birds, and I suspect that the fact that these, with their numerous 

 illustrations, were attractive-looking papers had considerable influence on 

 my choice of a subject. 



My skill as a preparator stood me in good stead here, for I was not 

 dependent on anyone for the preparation of specimens, and when I 



'On the Species of Orangs, and Os prominent. 



