THOMAS TRACY BOITVE: MEMORIAL MEETING. 
231 
them may perhaps for a moment be astonished that success in such 
labor does not beget a love for the occupation itself. 
In addition to his general work in the Society as President, an 
office that in his hands was by no means a sinecure, he continued 
his active labors in the departments of Mineralogy and Geology, and 
in fact both of these may be said to have *owed the larger part of 
their specimens and their fitness to be selected for completion to his 
labors. I mean by this that when the preliminary arrangement of 
the Museum had been finished and the departments placed in 
their proper order, Mineralogy, Geology, Botanjq Synoptic Zoology, 
Comparative Anatomy and Osteology, Palaeontology, and all the 
rest of the systematic zoological departments in the sequence of 
their natural relations, still other steps in advance became advisable. 
We had to determine whether we should make an effort to carry on 
all departments abreast and bring each one gradually up to a condi¬ 
tion of advancement admitting of the publication of a guide-book 
for the use of students and the public, or whether one or more should 
be selected and all of our available means turned into these narrower 
channels. After ample consideration it became apparent, that the 
Society might never be able to accomplish the desired effect, if the 
former plan were adopted, and consequently the latter alone was 
practicable. 
It was recognized that Mineralogy, Geology, and Palaeontology 
were further advanced and could be completed more quickly than 
any other departments, and the two former, being on the vestibule 
floor, were finally selected for this purpose. 
Mr. Bouve gave the same hearty assistance in this as in other 
previous movements and although unable to spend so much time as 
heretofore in the actual handling of specimens, he gave effective 
aid to Mr. Crosby who did the work, both in the way of 
donations of specimens and of sympathy and co-operation. He 
never for a moment exhibited that peculiar jealous love of the col¬ 
lections he had so largely brought together, studied, and labeled, 
which so often interferes with the progress of a scientific rearrange¬ 
ment during: the life of the original curator. 
Every one of the Curator’s Annual Reports from May, 1872 to 
May, 1882 contains acknowledgments of active work done in the 
collections of Palaeontology, Mineralogy, and Geology, often accom¬ 
panied by donations of specimens that were needed. This record, 
however, is necessarilv limited to certain classes of facts and takes 
