Edward Claypole, The Scientist—Comstock. 21 
on the occasion of the meeting of the Cordilleran Section 
mentioned before. He asked me if I could not join him; re- 
marking that it would probably be the last opportunity to 
meet our friend in this life. There had been cherished inci- 
dents in which the loving kindness of both these great men 
had endeared them to me, and it was hard to be obliged to de- 
cline the invitation. But how little did we then realize that 
so soon one would hie him in full harness, for the last time, 
to the scenes of. his early labors, and the other, only resting 
a little in the midst of his life work, would start out to meet 
him and return not at roll-call here. 
I saw Dr. Claypole after his meeting with LeConte and 
was more than ever impressed with the close relation of the 
two men in character and life-work. 
Versatility in men of average caliber usually betokens 
weakness, but there are great minds which can be broad. It 
was impossible for Dr. Claypole to be narrow in any sense. 
His culture was so comprehensive as to fit him to grasp wide 
and diverse problems and to bring them into harmony with the 
one idea of the “unity and universality of law’. It was this 
principle animating his whole being and outcropping incessant- 
ly in his life work, which made him chafe under artificiai re- 
strictions. Hence we find him reaching out, not blindly, but 
fearlessly, into paths which led beyond the boundaries of 
geology, strictly so-called. This was his recreation, simply a 
change of work, but probably too little removed from his 
regular pursuits to avail in prolonging life. 
Thus, he made valuable contributions, at times, to ento- 
mological, microscopical and horticultural societies, and his 
notes on botany and meteorology possess peculiar value. 
For some reason which is not now apparent, the year 
1885 was marked by great activity in the lecture field. He 
had worked off the bulk of his material gathered on the 
Pennsylvania survey and his palaeontological studies in the 
Ohio Devonian were not fairly begun. Probably need of 
rest and inability to rest except by change of work, impelled 
him to this course. Consequently there are manuscripts left 
in his library whose titles cannot appear in the bibliography, 
but which must have afforded rare treats to those who heard 
them as lectures. While mostly on literary subjects, they are 
