In several directions, John Fiske was a great writer. First as regards the doctrine of evolution, the great idea which has come to the world in our day. What a great and solemn thing it is! The slow process through the lapse of ages from the monad to that which crawls, then to that which swims, then to that which flies, until we come at last to that which walks erect with brow expanded broadly to the light of heaven; the slow increment of intelligence in the brain, as species becomes merged in constantly higher species; the extension of infancy, with its beautiful sequence of humanity, of love, of spirituality. This has come to be accepted by scientific minds as the path which the divine energy chooses to follow in the work of creation. Now, among our American writers, I suppose there is no one who has had so much to do with the development of the doctrine of evolution as John Fiske. He was the intimate friend and counsellor of Darwin, of Huxley, of Herbert Spencer, of Tyndall. They recognized in him their peer, and if it is the case--and I believe it to be the case--that John Fiske contributed to the doctrine of evolution the idea of the "extension of infancy" as being the cause of what is most gentle and lovely in humanity he deserves to be named with the first of those who have been connected with that great theory. In the second place as a historian, this wonderfully versatile man stands among the very first of the country. As a historian, John Fiske is not to be spoken of without discrimination. He had his limitations. I do not think that he had the power of picturesque description to the extent that Motley or Prescott possessed it. I do not think that he had the power of indefatigable research to the extent that it was possessed by our honored fellow-member, Justin Winsor. I do not think that he had the faculty of character-drawing as it was possessed for instance by the great historian, Clarendon, of the seventeenth century. But John Fiske had his gift, and it was a remarkable one. Taking a chaotic mass of facts, I know of no other American writer who had such genius to go in among them, to discern the vital links that connected one with another, to get order and system out of it, and then to present the result with a lucidity and a beauty which carried captive every reader. That was his faculty, as a historian; and he possessed it to such an extent and he used it in such a way that he is entitled to a place among our greatest historians. Nor are these the only claims to distinction of this great man who has gone. As a religious leader, John Fiske is one of the foremost men of the time. His "Destiny of man," his "Idea of God," his latest noble address on the immortality of the soul, not yet published, are priceless writings, and men and women among the very best and brightest find in these books the best expression and guidance for their religious feelings.