going up the left-hand side of the 
street,. Hitching with the horse headed 
;he wrong way was quite all right, for 
wen one-half the avenue was not one 
way. 
There, in a pie-shaped room whose 
broad side was on the corner, another 
’air-sized one, and a cloakroom, mem- 
oers could drop in from noon until 
midnight to enjoy the amenities of club 
life. After the first few months of 
adjustments, when a code of by-laws 
and rules and regulations was estab- 
lished, the board of management au- 
thorized the serving of punch at 
monthly meetings. Perhaps this hos- 
pitality was one of the reasons that 
during the first year it was necessary 
to take additional rooms. 
Never applauding prominence, bm 
always recognizing merit, the club en- 
tertains men who contribute to the art, 
and scientific worlds when they visit 
in Washington. Membership is now 
^extended to those of intellectual qual- 
ification and of proficiency in literature, 
art and law, as well as to those who 
have achieved distinction in science. 
sj; 
A T first the number of members in 
scientific fields overbalanced the 
others, the Geological Survey having 
the most men in the club. Some years 
ago Dr. Holmes classified the member - 
DR. L. O. HOWARD, CHAIRMAN 
OF COMMITTEE PLANNING 
GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY OF 
THE COSMOS CLUB. 
The first officers of , the club were : 
President, Maj.. John W. Powell; vice 
president, Prof. William Harkness; 
secretary, .Prof. E. S. Holden; treasurer, 
Dr. John S. Billings; trustees, Cant. E, 
C. Dutton, Dr. J. C. Welling, and Col. 
Garrick Mallery. 
Less than a month after the first 
meeting when men started a club that 
was to become even more unusual with 
the years, rooms were rented in the 
Corcoran Building. The first home v. as 
situated on that corner of Pennsylvania 
avenue and Fifteenth street which is 
opposite the Treasury and is now oc- 
cupied by the Washington Hotel. At one 
time $53 rent was paid monthly for 
2,200 feet of space in a six-room suite! 
There is some question in the minds 
of those who look at the picture of 
that neighborhood at the time of the 
opening of the Cosmos Club as to why 
rooms v/ere necessary at all. Except 
for protection from the weather and 
the comforts of armchairs, there seems 
to be no reason why even scientists 
could not have held their meetings in 
that quiet street. A few horses and 
buggies, the crawling horsecar, and an 
occasional passerby strolling across did 
not bring confusion to the broad ave- 
nue. There was not a policeman’s 
shrill whistle to crack the calm and 
there was no such heinous offense as 
ship into 11 descriptive groups as fol- 
lows: “Geologists, biologists, anthro- 
pologists, chemists and astronomers — 
including many scientific men; writers 
of prose, poetry and editorials — mostly 
literary men; painters, engravers and 
sculptors : — all men of genius; doctors, 
dentists, physicians and specialists — 
but no quacks; lawyers — but no shy- 
sters; Army and Navy officers — all 
heroes; teachers and professors, and 
some educators; preachers and min- 
isters — all divines; bankers and finan- 
ciers; designers of buildings — all archi- 
tects; statesmen, diplomats, secretaries, 
directors, chiefs, superintendents, chief 
clerks, office holders and others; some 
400 in all, and absolutely select. 
Scanning the list of members of the 
Cosmos Club is like reading Who’s 
Who, although reading Who’s Who 
is not like reviewing the membership of 
the club. It is specifically mentioned 
in the by-laws that the club shall be 
composed of men who have done meri- 
torious original work in science, litera- 
ture or the fine arts; who, though not 
occupied in science, literature or the 
fine arts, are well known to be culti- 
vated in a specific department thereof; 
who are recognized as distinguished in 
a learned profession or in public service. 
Consequently, the roll reveals names 
that are known in intellectual circles 
the world over. There are many which; 
are glamorous even to the layman. . 
The names of the men who have pre- 
sided over the Cosmos Club are signifi- 
cant. One appears in this office as 
merely H. W. Wiley. It is Dr. Harvey 
Wiley who classifies himself ds dietitian 
and who is known everywhere as the 
grand old man who made eating a 
science as well as a habit. 
One of the presidents of the Cosmos 
Club v/as the man who brought geog- 
raphy into the home, Gilbert Grosvenor. 
Another was Herbert Putnam, who is 
resnonsible for the most usable large 
collection of books in the world, that of 
the Library of Congress. Charles Ed- 
ward Munroe, inventor of smokeless 
powder and authority on explosives; 
George K. Burgess, director of that 
mainspring of science in the United 
States, th? 5 Bureau of Standards; Gif- 
ford Pinchot, the conservationist, and 
Charles L. Marlatt, who is chief of the i 
Bureau of Entomology, all former presi- j 
dents, demonstrate the breadth and 1 
depth of learning at home in this club 
of reason. 
It has been suggested that an investi- 
gation would reveal that the longevity 
of members of the Cosmos Club is 
greater than that found in other clubs. 
The reasons why these scholars live to a 
