4 WILLIAM KEITH BROOKS 



nature of knowledge itself in such a way that his helpfulness 

 has been gladly and gratefully recognized in many circles of 

 science. 



In his personal character Brooks combined gentleness and 

 strength and a rare wisdom. In university matters and in all the 

 affairs of life he was a lover of freedom and of justice tempered 

 with kindliness. Although looked upon from the beginning as a 

 master mind, he was totally free from formality and never ass amed 

 the authoritative air of the traditional professor, but met his 

 students and associates in all simplicity and frankness as fellow 

 student and inquirer. What he was as a man and a student was 

 fully revealed, and the singularly deep influence which he exerted 

 upon those who worked with him constitutes a remarkable 

 tribute to his genuine ability and worth. The close friend- 

 ship between him and his students was evidenced in many ways 

 in the daily life of the laboratory, and at the evening gather- 

 ings at his home. It was given more definite expression on the 

 occasion of his promotion to a full professorship^ and again on 

 his fiftieth birthday, when his pupils came together at Bright- 

 side to present to him formally the portrait for which he had 

 sat at their request. 



The appreciations, reviews and recollections embodied in the 

 following pages and coming from former students and associates 

 record some of the labors and some of the traits, human and pro- 

 fessional, of a profound thinker and tireless worker. 



SOME RECOLLECTIONS OF PROFESSOR BROOKS CHRONOLOG- 

 ICALLY ARRANGED 



1876-79.- Among the company of twenty young men who 

 came together in Baltimore in 1876 as the first group of "Fellows" 

 of Johns Hopkins University, were three biologists. One of these 

 was of less than average stature, wearing a serious face, with 

 close-set eyes, quiet and unhurried in his movements, speaking 

 not frequently, and never with haste. This was W. K. Brooks 

 of Williams and Harvard. The biological department was at 

 once organized by Professor Martin with Dr. Brooks as an Asso- 



3 ProfessorS. F. Clarke, Williams College. 



