472 
EZEKIEL BKOWN ELLIOTT. 
acquainted with the methods adopted in caring for the sick 
and wounded. 
In 1865 he was made secretary to the commission, con¬ 
sisting of Messrs. Wells, Colwell, and Hays, for revising the 
United States revenue laws; and subsequently he continued 
in a similar relation with Mr. Wells when that gentleman 
became special commissioner of the revenue, in the office of 
the Secretary of the Treasury. After the expiration of Mr. 
Wells’ official term, Mr. Elliott remained in the office of the 
Secretary of the Treasury until September, 1870, when he 
was made chief clerk of the U. S. Bureau of Statistics. 
He was transferred to the Bureau of the Mint about 1878, 
and in July, 1881, he was appointed to the newly created 
office of government actuary, whi^h he held till his death. 
Notwithstanding the nominal changes in his official posi¬ 
tion, from 1867 to 1888 Mr. Elliott’s duties were always 
substantially the same, namely, those of an actuary em¬ 
ployed in the office of the Secretary of the Treasury, and 
as such he bore a large part in the operations connected with 
the refunding of the United States war debt. In addition 
to the offices already mentioned, he was appointed by Gen¬ 
eral Grant, in June, 1871, a member of the first Civil Serv- 
vice Commission, which place he held until the close of the 
active operations of the commission, in March, 1875. 
Mr. Elliott was elected a member both of the American 
Association for the Advancement of Science and of the 
American Statistical Association in 1856, of the American 
Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1857, of the British Asso¬ 
ciation for the Advancement of Science in 1864, and subse¬ 
quently of the American Horological Society. He was one 
of the founders of the Washington Philosophical Society in 
1871, of the American Metrological Society in 1873, and of 
the Cosmos Club in 1878. 
Both in the American Association for the Advancement 
of Science and in the Washington Philosophical Society 
Mr. Elliott was very prominent, contributing many papers 
to their proceedings; he was vice-president of the former 
