128 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1915. 



Dr. Theodore Nicholas Gill was an associate in zoology in the 

 National Museum and for many years a leading figure in scientific 

 activities. He was born in New York City, March 21, 1837, the son 

 of James Darrell and Elizabeth Vosburgh Gill, and received his 

 early training from private schools and special tutors in that city. 

 It was the desire of his parents that he should devote himself to 

 the service of the Church and his early schooling was therefore 

 directed to the classical studies with emphasis on Greek and Latin. 

 It was found, however, that his inclination did not trend toward 

 clerical service and he was assigned to the legal profession and read 

 law diligently for some time, but never applied for admission to the 

 bar. 



Visits to the Fulton fish market in New York and the wharves 

 where sailing vessels returning from distant cruises would bring 

 curious animals from foreign ports, and the meeting with some of 

 the early collectors and amateur naturalists excited his fancy and 

 stimulated in him a love for natural history and the desire to devote 

 himself to this field. We thus find him, in early youth, seeking and 

 obtaining a scholarship at the Wagner Free Institute of Science in 

 Philadelphia, which jdelded him the meagre means that enabled 

 him to pursue his studies in natural history, and to come in contact 

 with that group of men who laid the foundation of American science. 



It was in the winter of 1857 that he came to Washington to gain 

 additional knowledge, before sailing to the West Indies to collect 

 shells and other natural history objects for Mr. D. Jackson Stewart. 

 The collections which he made on this visit to Barbados, Trinidad 

 and other islands of the West Indian group were reported upon in 

 the Annals of the Lyceum of Natural History of New York, and in 

 the Proceedings of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences. 

 During the preparation of these reports he had free access to the 

 splendid library of J. Carson Brevoort, where most of his com- 

 parisons and critical studies were made. His next expedition was 

 a visit to Newfoundland, which laid the foundation for his Northern 

 Boundary report in 1860. 



In 1861 he settled in Washington where his ability was promptly 

 recognized and he was given charge of the library of the Smith- 

 sonian Institution, and when that was transferred to the Capitol 

 in 1866 he continued in the service there until 1874, serving for a 

 time as Assistant Librarian of Congress. 



Shortly after coming to Washington he became connected with 

 Columbian College (now George Washington University) where he 

 occupied the chair of Zoology until 1910 when he was made emeritus 

 professor. Here his services were appreciated not only by his stu- 

 dents but also by the University, as attested by the fact that it 

 bestowed upon him the degree of master of arts in 1865, doctor of 



