VI PREFACE 



While these societies do not coincide exactly in scope with this work or have uniform 

 standards of admission, it seemed unwise to attempt to discriminate among the members. 

 If a few are admitted owing to their membership in societies who would not have been 

 admitted on such opinion of the value of their work as the editor might be able to secure, 

 no great harm is done. These societies must be regarded as the basis for the organiza- 

 tion of science in this country, and their membership may properly be included in a work 

 that is intended to promote this organization. In addition to these societies the mem- 

 bership of medical, engineering and other societies was reviewed, the catalogues of insti- 

 tutions of learning were consulted, other reference books (especially Who's Who in 

 America ) were used, the contributions to scientific journals were analyzed, requests for 

 names omitted were printed in Science, in The Popular Science Monthly and in Tlie Nation, 

 and much assistance was received from individuals. 



The blanks were sent in all to about ten thousand who might have contributed to the 

 advancement of science, and from the replies the names included have been selected. As 

 many as four requests were sent to those who it was believed should be included when 

 they did not reply to previous applications. Proofs of all the biographies were sub- 

 mitted for correction a second and a third copy having been sent when necessary 

 and revised proofs were sent after the corrections had been entered. 



It was intended that each entry should contain information as follows : 



(1) The full name with title and mail address, the part of the name ordinarily omitted in correspond- 



ence being in parentheses. 



(2) The department of investigation given in italics. 



(3) The place and date of birth. 



(4) Education and degrees. 



(5) Positions with dates, the present position being given in italics. 



(6) Temporary and minor positions. 



(7) Honorary degrees and other scientific honors. 



(8) Membership in scientific and learned societies. 



(9) Chief subjects of research, those accomplished being separated by a dash from those in progress. 



The abbreviations are intended to be self explanatory, not being carried far except in 

 the case of the scientific societies. Here F. A. A. signifies fellow of the American Associa- 

 tion for the Advancement of Science, and M. A.A., member of the association. ' American' 

 is omitted in the case of the national societies. In citing institutions of learning the 

 words 'college' and 'university' are omitted. Degrees are cited as A. B., A.M., etc., 

 although the reverse order of the letters is used in Great Britain and sometimes here. 

 When the same position has been occupied successively in different institutions, the name 

 of the position is not repeated, and when different positions have been occupied succes- 

 sively in the same institution, the name of the institution is not repeated. 



A star is prefixed to the subject of research in the case of about a thousand of the 

 biographical notes. These are the thousand students of the natural and exact sciences in 

 the United States whose work is supposed to be the most important. In each of the twelve 

 principal sciences the names were arranged in the order of merit by ten leading students of 

 the science. The average positions and the probable errors were then calculated, so that 

 in each science the order of merit was determined together with its validity. The names 

 were then combined in one list by interpolation, the numbers in each science being taken 

 approximately proportional to the total number of workers in that science. The thousand 



