718 ALPHEUS HYATT. 



he was one of the founders and editors of the " American Naturalist/' 

 contributing frequently to its pages. 



The principal founder of the American Society of Naturalists, we well 

 remember the zeal and interest he took in organizing this at present 

 influential body, the preliminary meeting being held by a few at Spring- 

 field, Mass., in April, 1883. If we mistake not, he gave the name to 

 the society. He was its first president, and a few years ago was elected 

 an honorary member in recognition of his services. 



He also founded and organized a seaside laboratory at Annisquam, 

 Mass., under the auspices of the Woman's Education Association of Boston. 

 He took personal charge of it, as his summer home was there. His in- 

 terest in this school, and in marine zoology, led him to take part in the 

 foundation of the Biological Laboratory at Wood's Holl. As an indica- 

 tion of the value of his services as an expert in zoology and his ability as 

 an organizer, he was elected the first president of its board of trustees. 

 He was elected a fellow of this Academy in 1869. 



Throughout his life, after graduation at Harvard University, he was an 

 honorary Assistant Curator in the Museum of Comparative Zoology, in 

 charge of the collection of fossil Cephalopods. In 1888 he was offered the 

 position of United States Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries, but pre- 

 ferred to live the almost ideal life, with its rich opportunities for research, 

 which he rounded out at his home in Cambridge. 



Professor Hyatt was not only a specialist, but a generalizer, a philoso- 

 pher. His special, detailed, observational work was continually leading 

 him to broad, sound generalizations, and not only in the field of embry- 

 ology, taxonomy, and phylogeny, but of general organic evolution. He 

 was a slow worker, very patient, cautious, constantly reviewing his work 

 and conclusions. He was not always luminous in exposition ; he some- 

 times, especially early in his life, failed from want of training and practice 

 in writing, to state clearly and pointedly the views that crowded his mind. 

 But this defect was largely outgrown. For this reason his first essay 

 on " Parallelism," etc., was not understood by Mr. Darwin, as well as 

 others who had not had experience in similar studies, but this defect of 

 style was overcome in his later memoirs. 



As the result of his manner of investigation, Hyatt became an acknowl- 

 edged master in the methods of paleontology, in a mode of treatment of 

 fossil forms then comparatively new to paleontology, due to his long and 

 thorough training in zoology, comparative anatomy, and embryology. 

 Before his time paleontologists, with the exception, of course, of Cuvier, 

 Owen, Huxley, and Agassiz, had had but little training in anatomy and 



