Senate Memorial

The University Senate Friday adopted the following memorial on the death of the late Prof. Winchell: Prof. AlexanderWinchell, LL. D., passed away yesterday morning in the 6-jth year of his age, and we, the members of the university senate, have assembled to endeavor to express our feeling of sorrow and sense of bereavement. In the death of Dr. Winchell the university experiences a great loss - the loss of an eminent and learned man, one of its most devoted and loyal friends; one who, in addition to the duties of his professorship, has done more than most menineducating the general public; a man of the greatest industry and incessant intellectual activity; a striking figure in the growth of the university for nearly forty years, and one of the few remaining bonds which connect us with its early history; a leader in his chosen science and a man of lofty ideáis. Dr. Winchell was called to this university by President Tappan, in 1853, and, with one exception of six years, from 1873 to 1879, his connection with this institution has been unbroken. When firstappointed, he was only 29 years of age, but he had already made his mark as a teacher and a man of science. The breadth of his attainments, so well known to us, and since displayed in numberless ways, was then already evident. He came here as professor of physics and engineering, but he was soon transferred to the department of geology, zoology and botany. He was thoroughly at home in all these sciences, and it was only the growth of the university which required their separation and left him in charge of geology-ascience which is, in some degree, a summary and abstract of all the others. To this chair he brought ripened scholarship and thorough training in the most diverse ways. He was a practiced linguist, reading more than a dozen languages and speaking several. He was well read in philosophy, and he was a thoughtful student and writer on educational subjects. He held the chair of geology to the time of his death, with the most distinguished success, as is shown by the honors which have been heaped upon him. At the time of his death he was co-editor of the American Geologist, president of the Geological Society of America and one of the organizing committee of the International Congress of Geologists to be held in Washington this year. Dr. Winchell did not confine his labors to his professional duties. His studies in the field have been made under the auspices of the national and several state surveys. His success as ascientific lecturer caused incessant demands to be made on him, both from other institutions of learning and from the public platform. His literary activity was, if possible, still greater than his activity in other directions. He was the author of at least twelve formal books and of more than 300 lesser publications, and these were not thrown off in haste and carelessly, but each was the result of elabórate research and deep reflection. They would alone form a worthy monument to the memory of any man. They are read wherever the English language is spoken, and in many cases they have been translated into other languages, thus carrying his name, and with it the name of the university, with which his was always linked, far beyond the confines of his own country; carrying them, in fact, over the entire world. To some of his books it was given to guide, to a degree rarely accorded to books in these days, popular thought on the subjects on which they treat. They have had an influence which few scientific books have ever reached; they have not only made their author one of the most prominent figures in American science, but have made his name a lousehold word in thousands of families. But we feel the loss of Dr. Win:hell,not only because of his eminence n his chosen field of work, but also aecause of his personal qualities. He was a man of impressive appearance and dignified bearing; a sourteous colleague and a faithful Eriend, and those who knewhim best found in him depths of gentleness and affection which are found but seldom. He was absolutely unswerving in his allegiance to what he believed to be the truth. With true scientiflc instinct, he firmly believed that all truth was one, and he devoted himself for many years to proving that science and revelation could not be in conflict. His faith in ascertained science was no less unwavering than his faith in religión, and, in earlier days, when such an assertion provoked hostile and even bitter criticism, he dared to assert and maintain that geology and revelation were in accord. Unmoved by the storm which he had raised, firm in his convictions of scientific truth, and devout by nature, he then passed on to the study of the great problems of creation; problems to which his deeply religious feeling, his love of nature, and the natural bent and grasp of his mind all irresistibly turned him. With a reverent, but master hand, he endeavored to lift the veil of the past, to follow the steps of creation, ascertain its laws, and follow its evolution. These were the problems to which he delighted to devote himself. His other studies were only incidental to these, or to the duties of instruction. It was under the inspiration of these grand problems that his most influential books were written, and his most eloquent discourses delivered; and, as it happens, his last public lecture, the last lecture he was destined to deliver, when the feebleness of mortal disease was overeóme by the inspiration of his subject, a lecture which called together so many that his class-room had to be exchanged for University Hall, that his last public address was again devoted to one of the noble problems of creation. It was a fitting subject for the last discourse, and a fitting close for the public life of so great, so able, and so devout a man. A noble and striking personality, a man of great learning and lofty ideáis, has been stricken down, and we grieve at his loss; a gentle and earnest spirit has left us, and we mourn. We extend our heartfelt sympathy to his family in their great bereavement, and we desire in a body to join with them in the last sad tribute to the mortal remains of our late associate.