MARCUS 
 BENJAMIN 
 
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MARCUS BENJAMIN, editor, born in 
 San Francisco, California, on January 
 17, 1857. He is of distinguished Amer- 
 ican lineage and is the eighth in descent from 
 Joseph, the fifth son (the first born in America) 
 of John Benjamin, who came from England 
 on the ship Lion, and arrived in Boston in Sep- 
 tember, 1632. His great-great-grandfather, 
 Capt. Nathan Benjamin, served in the War of 
 the Revolution. The distinguished Wash- 
 burn family, of whom Elihu B. represented 
 the State of Illinois ; Israel, the State of Maine ; 
 Cadwallader C, the State of Wisconsin ; and 
 William D., the State of Minnesota simulta- 
 neously in Congress were the sons of Martha 
 Benjamin, a descendant in the sixth genera- 
 tion of John Benjamin. She is said to have 
 been a woman of "great force of character " 
 and her sons inherited her disposition. Gen. 
 Montgomery C. Meigs, the famous Quarter- 
 master-General of the Army of the Potomac, 
 was a grandson of Clara Benjamin, likewise 
 a descendant of John Benjamin. Of less 
 remote connection are Park Benjamin and 
 Samuel G. W. Benjamin, the well-known 
 litterateurs. 
 He is also descended from Capt. Nathaniel 
 
the editorial staff of "Johnson's Universal 
 Cyclopedia " but resigned that connection to 
 assist Dr. G. Brown Goode in the prepara- 
 tion of a history of the half century of the 
 existence of me Smithsonian Institution 
 to which work he contributed the chapters 
 on Chemistry and Meteorology. On April i, 
 1896, he was appointed Editor of the U. S. 
 National Museum in Washington, which place 
 he has since held. During 1896-'; he was 
 also connected with the editorial staffs of 
 " The Encylppaedic Dictionary " and "Zell's 
 Encyclopaedia." 
 
 Other literary labors have included transla- 
 tion of Bertholet's "Explosive Materials" 
 (1883), copies of which by order of their re- 
 spective governments were placed in the libra- 
 ries of alT American and English men of war ; 
 authorship of The Druggist's Circular prize 
 essay on " Disinfectants " (1885) ; the prepar- 
 ation of two chapters for the " Memorial His- 
 tory of New York City," notably one for the 
 fourth volume on "The Development of Sci- 
 ence in New York City " (1891-2) ; and a sketch 
 entitled " A Hero and a Martyr " (1892) written 
 for the " Liber Scriptorum " of the Author's 
 Club of which he is a member. He has 
 also written for various periodicals including 
 The Chautaquan, Harper's Weekly, The 
 Cosmopolitan and The Popular Science 
 Monthly. The corresponding chapter in 
 chemistry of the Agassiz Association was 
 organized in 1892 chiefly through his influ- 
 
ence, and he was its president until 1896. 
 In 1893 he was a member of the International 
 Jury of Awards at the World's Fair in Chi- 
 cago, serving especially in the sections having 
 to do with chemistry. In 1896 he was ap- 
 pointed a member of the Assay Commission 
 by President Cleveland. 
 
 The honorary degree of A. M. was con- 
 ferred on him by Lafayette College in 1888 
 and that of Ph. D. by the University of Nash- 
 ville in 1889. He is a life Fellow of the 
 London Chemical Society and of the Amer- 
 ican Association for the Advancement of Sci- 
 ence, and a member of the American Chem- 
 ical Society, the Society of Chemical Industry, 
 and other scientific societies. 
 
 Dr. Benjamin has been active in the vari- 
 ous patriotic societies, and in 1896 was chosen 
 Historian of the Society of the Sons of the 
 American Revolution in the District of Colum- 
 bia, and he was one of the founders of the 
 Society of the War of 1812 in the District of 
 Columbia, of which he was elected a Vice- 
 President. He is a member of the Society of 
 Colonial Wars in virtue of descent from eight 
 ancestors, a member of the Society of Colo- 
 nial Governors, and a member of the Society 
 of Mayflower Descendants, in virtue of his 
 descent from Governor Bradford, and a 
 member of the St. Nicholas Society of New 
 York. * 
 
 For some years he has been a collector of 
 American pottery and his collection is one of 
 
the best in the country. He also made a col- 
 lection of the portraits and autographs of the 
 members of the National Academy of Sci- 
 ences which, on its completion, being abso- 
 lutely unique, he deposited in the U. S. 
 National Museum in Washington, and it was 
 exhibited by the Government at the World's 
 Fair in Chicago, and also at the Exposition 
 in Atlanta in 1895, receiving a medal at both 
 places.