OBITUARY NOTICES. 
409 
ORLANDO METCALF POE. 
1832-1895. 
[Read before the Society, May 23, 1898.] 
The name of Orlando Metcalf Poe does not appear among 
the names of those who in the spring of 1871 requested 
Joseph Henry to preside at a meeting to be held for the pur¬ 
pose of forming a society having for its object the free ex¬ 
change of views on scientific subjects and the promotion of 
scientific inquiry among its members, a meeting which re¬ 
sulted in the organization of the Philosophical Society. 
/ Rut Joseph Henry was then and until his death a warm 
personal friend of General Poe, and the latter’s personal and 
social relations with the founders of the Philosophical Society 
were very close. He was elected a member of the Society in 
1874, but long before that time he had been a member of a 
small club of distinguished men out of which grew the Philo¬ 
sophical Society. This club numbered among its members 
Bache, Henry, Meigs, Barnard, Newcomb, Hilgard, Chase, 
and McCulloch. The latter was then Secretary of the Treas¬ 
ury, and later in life, in his published reminiscences, entitled 
“ Men and Measures of Half a Century,” he gave an account 
of the club. He declares that the most delightful hours 
which he spent in Washington were spent at its meetings. 
Describing the characteristics of the men composing it, he 
says that “ all of them were interesting men—all well known 
to each other, and some of them to the public, by their scien¬ 
tific and literary attainments; there was not one who would 
not have been distinguished in any literary and scientific 
club in this country or in any other country; there was not a 
money-worshipper or time-server among them all.” * * * 
11 0. M. Poe, whom I knew very well, was one of the youngest 
members of the club. He was regarded as a young man of 
great promise, which promise has been fulfilled. He has 
become, while still in the prime of life, one of the ablest and 
most distinguished engineers connected with the army.” 
