of the large
amount of study he gave to it. I never knew a man take keener interest
in anything, and as we had all the necessary authorities at hand, he
worked over them for two days, coming down on the morning of the third
day with the triumphant air of one who had wrestled successfully with a
mathematical problem all night. He sat down and, as I remember it, wrote
the note substantially as it now stands in the volume. He was very
strong on all economic and sociological questions, displaying in a
marked degree the intellectual stimulus he had derived from his
association with Professor Sumner. He was a born controversialist and
liked to argue. "The appetite comes in eating" is a French saying, and
with Bourne his knowledge seemed to be best evolved by the actual joint
working and collision with another mind.

I remember one felicitous suggestion of Bourne's which after much
working over we incorporated into a paragraph to our common
satisfaction; and this paragraph received commendation in some critical
notice. Showing this to Bourne, I said: "That is the way of the world.
You did the thinking, I got the credit." Bourne had, however, forgotten
his part in the paragraph. His mind was really so full of knowledge,
when one could get at it, that he did not remember giving off any part
of it. In addition to his quality of close concentration, he acquired a
good deal of knowledge in a desultory way. In my library when
conversation lagged he would go to the shelves and take down book after
book, reading a little here or there, lighting especially upon any books
that had been acquired since his previous visit, and with reading he
would comment. This love of browsing in a library he acquired when a
boy, so his brother informs me, and when at Yale it was said that he
knew the library as well as the librarian himself.

It will be remembered that last spring our accomplished editor, Mr.
Smith, decided that he could no longer bear the burden of this highly
important work; and the question of a fit successor came up at once in
the mind of our President. Writing to me while I was in Europe, he
expressed the desire of consulting with me on the subject as soon as I
returned. I was unfortunately unable to get back in time for the June
meeting of the Society; and afterwards when I reached Boston the
President had gone West, and when he got home I was at Seal Harbor. To
spare me the trip to Boston and Lincoln, he courteously offered to c