THOMAS TRACY BOUVE: MEMORIAL MEETING. 
227 
was elucidating. I ventured to question him once, whether it was 
well to admit such pulpit eloquence into purely scientific papers. 
His answer was that if he could not thank God for his goodness, in 
any of his writings, scientific or not, then science should be set 
aside. 
He lived to a green old age and was strong enough, even in his 
failing health, to be able to gratify some of his cherished wishes 
regarding his scientific treasures. He finished his scientific contribu¬ 
tions to the History of Hingham and then presented his mineralogi- 
cal and botanical collections to the Public Library of the town which 
had been his home for the greater part of his life, re-arranging the 
specimens in the cabinets there with his own hands. 
Science has made wonderful strides since the early days of the 
Boston Society of Natural History. But never, in the days to come 
of unknown advancement, will the Society have a more faithful, 
untiring, able, genial associate, friend, and benefactor than Thomas 
Tracy Bouve. 
Chas. Jas. Sprague. 
Mr. Bouve’s Services in the Society since 1870. 
BY ALPHEUS IIYATT. 
The man whom it is our honored duty to commemorate to-night, 
Thomas T. Bouv6, although not one of the founders of this Society, 
has, on account of his long and conspicuous service, become in our 
minds quite as important a contributor to its welfare as any one of 
the men who began with its history. 
I did not meet Mr. Bouve in an intimate way until 1870, the year 
of his election as President and of my own as Custodian. 1 had 
known him since the winter of 1858 and was charmed with the 
genial and delightful welcome that he had given me when I first 
began as Curator of the Mollusca in 1863. 
In 1867, I succeeded him as Curator of Palaeontology, a depart^ 
ment that he resigned in order to devote himself more exclusively to 
that of Mineralogy which was then and remained ever after his 
favorite department. It was my privilege in those earlier and tran¬ 
sitional days to meet many of the doctors and lawyers, the teachers, 
and business men who had built up the Society and accumulated its 
