REPOKT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1915. 129 



medicine in 1866, doctor of philosophy in 1870 and doctor of laws 

 in 1895. 



Rarely does one find, as in the present instance, the more or less 

 accidental early phases in the groping for a career converge in such 

 a manner as to at once become useful and necessary. Dr. Gill's early 

 training was a most fortunate one, for the splendid classical school- 

 ing of his youth gave him a complete familiarity with Greek and 

 Latin, and his legal knowledge, combined with the former, rendered 

 him a judge where questions of nomenclature were involved. His 

 subsequent library training brought him in contact with the world's 

 literature, and this, yoked with great industry and a phenomenal 

 memory, made him the acknowledged master in his chosen field. It 

 also produced a breadth of knowledge that rendered him a fountain 

 of information and, as someone has stated, " "With the simplicity of 

 the truly great and the trul}^ able he gave freely of his stores of 

 knowledge, so that to all the investigators who came in contact with 

 him, he proved an ever ready source of exact and reliable informa- 

 tion and a sound adviser." It is certain there are few workers in 

 systematic biology in Washington and many other places who have 

 not received assistance from Dr. Gill. 



Dr. Gill's published zoological writings, covering more than 500 

 titles, are chiefly devoted to fishes. Here, as in his other studies, his 

 efforts were largely directed to the production of a natural classi- 

 fication. His "Arrangement of the Families of Fishes" (1872), 

 although considered decidedly radical when first propounded, is now 

 generally accepted. He not only possessed the ability to accomplish 

 systematic work, but he had the rare gift to render scientific facts 

 available to the layman by presenting them in language both simple 

 and charming. This is splendidly exemplified by his papers on 

 " Parental Care among Freshwater Fishes " and " Contributions to 

 the Life Histories of Fishes." 



In addition to the many papers which he contributed to the Smith- 

 sonian Institution, the National Museum and the Proceedings of the 

 Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences, he wrote most of the 

 volume on fishes and much of that on mammals for the Standard 

 Natural History, the zoological part of Johnson's Universal Cyclo- 

 pedia and the zoological text of the Century and Standard diction- 

 aries. His greatest excellence, however, was that of scientific critic, 

 when his statements, though frank and fearless, were always friendly. 



Dr. Gill's contributions to science were widely recognized and 

 brought him honorary election to more than seventy-five scientific 

 societies in the United States and abroad. In our own country he 

 was a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American 

 Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, 

 12264°— NAT MTJS 1915 9 



