342 The American Geologist. December, i896 
ever, attended social gatherings. He never married and 
seemed disinclined to female society, but if brought into the 
presence of ladies no one was more courteous and respectful 
than he. He was rigorously circumspect in all his acts and 
conversation, and as chaste in every word and thought as if 
the fruit of the Vitex had found a place on his dail}^ bill of 
fare. 
In dress he was plain, but neat, preferring the costume prev- 
alent in his early manhood. He wore a broadcloth cloak in 
cold weather, and always wore a silk hat, as seen in the ac- 
companying portrait. Indeed, to protect his head from drafts 
of air, to which he was peculiarly sensitive, he so often wore 
his hat in the house that his friends declared that his portrait 
would look unnatural without it. So, when he sat to the pho- 
tographer, he good-naturedl}'^ complied with their request and 
kept his hat on. He was never miserly, but his habits were 
so frugal that at the time of his death he had accumulated a 
competence which was quite sufficient for all his needs, even 
if he had lived to great old age. 
He seemed to have had no morbid fear of death, but he 
evinced much unwillingness to make any provision for the dis- 
position of his property with reference to that event. None 
of his friends, not even professor Henry, who had great influ- 
ence with him, could induce him to make his will. The result 
was that after long search his legal executor was able to find 
a distant relative who could legally take possession of the 
property. The Smithsonian Institution bought from that heir 
Mr. Meek's library, and this closed the business affairs of a 
laborious and frugal life, but which was only a subjunctive 
corollary of a noble, intellectual life. 
In looking back from this distance of time upon the life 
that I have briefly sketched, one is impressed with its appar- 
ent early failures and with its really great success, a success 
that is full of encouragement to struggling early manhood. 
Still few men will be so long remembered for eminent ability 
and sterling and loveable personal qualities as Fielding Brad- 
ford Meek. 
