REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT, 1922. 19 



IN MEMORIAM. 



It is with a deep sense of loss to science and to the Institution that 



record is made of the death of Dr. Alfred Goldsborough Mayor, 



Alfred Director of the Department of Marine Biology, a 



Goldsborough distinguished contributor to the advancement of 



science in this field. Sustained by an exceptional 



enthusiasm and devotion to science, Dr. Mayor continued his work at 



the Tortugas Laboratory practically to the last moments of his life, 



which ended on June 24, 1922. 



Dr. Mayor was born at Frederick, Maryland, April 16, 1868. At 

 the age of twenty-one years he graduated with the degree of mechanical 

 engineer from Stevens Institute of Technology. In recognition of his 

 studies in zoology he received the degree of Doctor of Science from 

 Harvard University in 1897. Following in the footsteps of his father, 

 a distinguished professor of physical sciences, he taught physics for 

 periods of two years at Clark University and at the University of 

 Kansas. Later he was associated with Alexander Agassiz in develop- 

 ing the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard and accompanied 

 Agassiz on various scientific expeditions to the Bahamas, to Australia, 

 and to the islands of the South Pacific. 



In 1900 Dr. Mayor was appointed Curator of Natural Sciences in 

 the museum of the Brooklyn Institute, and in 1904 he joined the 

 staff of the Carnegie Institution of Washington to superintend the 

 erection of the Marine Biological Laboratory at Tortugas and to com- 

 plete the organization of this department. 



Through the medium of the Tortugas Laboratory and with the 

 assistance of contacts formed by many expeditions conducted in the 

 tropics, Dr. Mayor was able to outline an organization and carry 

 through a great number of fundamental investigations in the field of 

 marine biology. He came thus to see realized many of the ideals 

 arising from his scientific philosophy. His personal researches con- 

 cerned a wide range of types of marine invertebrates. A long list of his 

 publications in this field appears in the reports of the Institution, many 

 of his own papers being included in our published contributions. Dr. 

 Mayor was a scholar of unusual originality and versatility. He had 

 advantage of the instincts of the engineer and investigator combined 

 with a splendid general scientific training. These qualifications were 

 of large value to him in directing the activities of the Department of 

 Marine Biology and made possible some of the most significant work, 

 such as is illustrated by the application of physical and chemical experi- 

 mentation to distinctly biological problems. 



