CHARLES RICHARD VAN HISE, 511 



by his intimate associates. He spared no labors to insure complete 

 accuracy; diligent and painstaking in all his investigations, his con- 

 clusions on a disputed point of history met with general acceptance 

 among his associates as the final word upon a subject, and although 

 he had little patience with the superficial investigations of others, 

 he was a kindly though severe critic. 



Arthur Lord. 



CHARLES RICHARD VAN HISE (1857-1918) 



Fellow in Class II, Section 1, 1911 



President Van Hise was born at Fulton, Wisconsin, in 1857, received 

 his scientific training in the University of Wisconsin, and remained 

 always closely connected with that institution, rising through the 

 different grades of instructor and professor to the presidency, which he 

 held from 1903 to his death in 1918. 



Dr. Van Hise was from the beginning interested in geology and 

 allied subjects, and was trained under R. D. Irving, then working 

 on the crystalline pre-Cambrian rocks of the Lake Superior district, 

 whose structure, classification, origin and relation to similar rocks 

 throughout the world was then and still is one of the important prob- 

 lems of geology, enlianced by the vast copper and iron deposits which 

 these rocks contain. Van Hise soon became a collaborator of Irving 

 and on the latter's death carried on the work with an ever broadening 

 field. He was for many years in charge of the Division of Archean 

 Geology of the U. S. Geological Survey, and so had unique opportunity 

 to study the pre-Cambrian in all parts of this country and Canada. 

 Of his two most important geologic works the "Principles of North- 

 American Pre-Cambrian Geology" was the result of these years of 

 study. With a broadening view he then studied the chemical and 

 physical forces which have acted in the formation of these rocks and 

 his "Treatise on Metamorphism," a quarto volume of some 1200 

 pages was the outcome. This is a vast collection of facts gathered 

 from his own experience or collated from the geological literature of 

 the world, with elaborate discussions and original classifications and 

 conclusions; it is perhaps his greatest single contribution to geology. 



