148 
WOODWARD. 
to work with him on committees and to consider with him 
questions raised by a great variety of topics, especially those 
relating to the conduct of the work of scientific societies. 
During these years I have been repeatedly struck with his 
disposition and capacity to see the various sides of questions 
which came up for consideration. He was always ready to 
listen to an expression of opinion from his opponents, and 
he was always ready to anticipate the results of any measure 
proposed for action. He was one of the relatively few indi- 
viduals I have met who always ask what will happen next it 
we adopt any pending measures for application in the con- 
duct of a new enterprise. 
During many conferences and talks and walks with him 
in recent years, I found him full of suggestions with regard 
to almost every topic which might arise for consideration, 
and as a subject of study the operations of his mind came 
to be of great interest to me. Something over a year before 
his death he promised to write out for me his own impressions 
with regard to the workings of his intellectual machinery, 
but, although keenly interested in this line of inquiry, it 
does not appear that he found time to comply with my 
request. 
One of the striking characteristics of his mind, often mis- 
interpreted for indifference or inattention, was due to bis 
superior capacity for mental concentration and his frequent 
absorption in thought. This characteristic he defended in 
his “Reminiscences” and often in conversation. The posses- 
sion of this trait in an unusual degree helps to account not 
only for his unrivaled productivity but also for the unusual 
clearness of his written work. He enjoyed the distinction 
amongst his fellow-countrymen of being able to write the 
clearest English produced by any man of science in America. 
An illustration of this degree of absorption may not be out 
of place here. During the last eight or ten years of his life 
he was continuously and by unanimous approval President 
of the Astronomical and Astrophysical Society of America. 
It happened on one occasion that the council of this society 
held a meeting in one of the high-school buildings of the 
city of St. Louis. At this meeting a considerable amount 
