f language permits. I have been as dramatic
and as eloquent as I thought this occasion demanded. If any one wishes a
plain statement regarding the exploration, I will be happy to give it to
him at my hotel." There was a hush for a moment as the students grasped
the implication and cries of "Sold!" burst from them. A large number did
call the next morning to discover whether he had actually stated facts,
which of course he had.

* A wamus in old times was a very heavy woollen garment.

He possessed absolute independence of thought and never accepted what
was-told him unless he could demonstrate its accuracy. Often in his
explorations he was told he could not travel in certain places, but he
went on just the same to find out for himself. He had a rare faculty of
inducing enthusiasm in others, and by reposing complete confidence in
the individual, impelled him to do his very best. Thus he became the
mainspring for much that was never credited to him, and which was really
his in the germ or original idea. Gilbert truly says, "it is not easy
to separate the product of his personal work from that which he
accomplished through the organisation of the work of others. He was
extremely fertile in ideas, so fertile that it was quite impossible
that he should personally develop them all, and realising this, he gave
freely to his collaborators. The work which he inspired and to which
he contributed the most important creative elements, I believe to be
at least as important as that for which his name stands directly
responsible."*

* Science, Oct. 10,1902. See also "John Wesley Powell," edited by G.
K. Gilbert, reprinted from The Open Court, 1903.

In the field of geology he was particularly facile in the invention of
apt descriptive terms, and indeed he was never at a loss for words to
express new meanings, coining them readily where none had existed that
were appropriate. Some of his ideas have been developed by younger men,
till they have become distinct divisions of the larger science to which
they belong. His greatest work in the Geological Survey, that which was
more the result of his personal effort, may be summed up under
three heads: First, the development of a plan for making a complete
topographic map of the United States; second, the organisation of a
Bureau for the collection of facts and figures relating to the mineral
resources of the country; and third, his labours to preserve for the
people the wa