Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-11-11
ALICE WATTS HOsTETLER.

1--WE of the men who were among
l. the founders of the Cosmos
Club 50 years IS. ago so S 0ef ssne
versary of that event.
Or. w. H. Holmes, DR.. Henry S.
Pritchett. DR.. Otto H. Tittmann, Or.
n. c. Yarrow and H. w. Henshaw
are scholars whose names graced the
first roll of the club and are on the
list of members today. Or. Holmes
and DR.. Pritchett will speak at the
fiftieth anniversary meeting. over
which the president of the club,
Wendell PHILLIPS Stafford. associate
justice of the Supreme Court Of the
District of Columbia, will preside.
Although he was only eight years
from his college graduation at the
time he became one of the founders
of the club, William Henry Holmes
had already established himself as a
young man who would merit the hon.
ors which later came to him. AS di-
rector of the National Gallery Of Art
he looks back over series of posi-
lions, any one of which would honor
q man. He has been chief Of the
Bureau of American Ethnology, Gu
rator of anthropology Of the Ma
tional Museum and Of the Art Gallery.
He is a member Of long list of hon
orary societies and was president of
the Washington Academy Of Sciences.
Dr. Pritchett has engaged in i'm
portant expeditions for astronomical
investigation, has been president Of
Massachusetts Institute Of Technology,
is president Of the Carnegie Founda-
ton for Advancement Of Teaching and
wears the rosette Of the Legion of
Honor.
The three other living founders
achieved fame in different lines. Mr..
as a surgeon and DR.. Tittmann as
geodesist. DR.. Yarrow was surgeon
and naturalist for the expedition ex-
ploring the territory west of the Tooth
meridian, member of the medical fac
ulty of George Washington University
for 80 years, and curator of reptiles
of the United States National Mu-
scum It was DR.. Tittmann who repre-
sented the United States in settling
the boundary between Alaska and
Canada. He has been superintendent
Of the United States Coast and Ceor
detic Survey and president of the Ma
tional Geographic Society.
Leland Ossian Howard is chairman OF
the committee which is arranging for
the gathering whose brilliance, If meas
ured in watts. would rival Broadway at
night. DR.. Roland Cotton Smith, known
in Washington as the former rector OF
st. Johns, will return for the occasion
as a speaker. Dr. Harvey Wiley, George
Otis Smith, Charles E. Munroe and
Marcus Benjamin will address the
audience of scholars. If their engage
ments will permit, Ray Stannard Baker.
Clifford Pinchot and Livingston Far
rand. president of Cornell University,
will come to speak.
X
THERE are So names written on the
l. page of the minutes Of the Cosmos
Club, dated January 6, 1879, and before
the date of the annual election January
10 one more was added. making the
original so members planned for. In
q letter inviting the so charter members
to form a club which today is world
renowned, John w. Powell, the first
president, outlined the purposes and |
reasons for the organization of a social
club in Washington on the models OF |
the Century Club of New York and the |
Scientific Club of London, to be called |
the Scientific Club of washington, and |
to be composed Of men devoted to or
interested in science, professionally or |
otherwise Z" He elaborated the idea by |
adding, at is conceived that such an |
organization for purely social purposes
is necessary in this city. 1t is intended |
to procure clubrooms in some central |
part of the city, which are to be open |
during the afternoon and evening only; |
to form a library of periodicals.; to pro-
vide only extremely simple refresh
ments, at least at first, and, in general,
to make a place where it will be pos
sible for members of the club to meet
socially at any time under pleasant sur
roundings."
He was authorized tc send out this |
letter at preliminary meeting held in |
his home on November 16. 1873, when |
a group of men of gregarious instincts |
with scientific tastes laid the founda- |
ton of the club which honors men in |
bestowing membership.
1t is not surprising but rather quite |