148 



THE MUSEUM. 



most exclusively to studies in natural 

 history, and is a daily worker in the 

 Smithsonian Institution, having since 

 1894 held the honorary office of as- 

 sociate in zoology on the scientific 

 staff of the National Museum. 



Meanwhile he had became connect- 

 ed with the Columbian University, at 

 first as associate professor of zoology 

 and subsequently as full professor, 

 which appointment he still holds, and 

 gladly meets his classes regularly, con- 

 sidering it a privilege to contribute his 

 services without compensation to the 

 universty. It was from the medical 

 department of Columbian University 

 that in 1866 he received the degree of 

 M. D. ; that of Ph. D. came to him 

 from Columbian University in 1S70, 

 and that of L. L. D. in 1894, from the 

 same source. 



His activity as a zoologist has been 

 unceasing, and his contributions to 

 that science have included over five 

 hundred separate papers, most of 

 which have been on ichthyology. Of 

 these, many appeared in the Proceed- 

 ings of the Philadelphia Academy of 

 Natural Sciences, but since 1878 the 

 Proceedings of the United States Na- 

 tional Museum has been his favorite 

 place of publication. His work has 

 been chiefly on systematic ichthyology, 

 especially with the arrangement of 

 fishes in their classes, orders, and fam- 

 ilies, yielding a more natural and res 

 tricted distribution of genera, which 

 has been almost universally accepted 

 in the United States, and recognized 

 in Europe. Among the most import- 

 ant of his contributions are "The Ar- 

 rangement of the Families of Mollusks" 

 (1871), "The Arrangement of the 

 Families of Mammals" (1873), "The 

 Arrangement of the Families of Fishes" 

 (1 8731; the zoological portion of 

 "Johnson's Universal Cyclopedia, " the 

 greater part of the volume on fishes 

 and a portion of the volume on mam- 

 mals of the ' 'Standard Natural History, " 

 and the zoological te.\t of the "Cen- 

 tury" and "Standard" dictionaries. 



Prof. Gill is a member of over sev- 



enty-five scientific societies, including 

 the National Academy of Sciences, to 

 which he was elected in 1873. His 

 connection with the Ameriran Associa- 

 tion began in 1S68, an i in 1874 he 

 was made a fellow. L-dst year he was 

 chosen vice president of the section on 

 zoology, and as the senior vice presi- 

 dent succeeded to the presidency on 

 the death of Prof. Cope. 



Oliver Wolcott Gibbs, the president 

 upon whom the duties of presiding 

 over this year's meeting will devolve, 

 is also a native of New York City, 

 where he was born on February 21, 

 1822. His education was likewise re- 

 ceived in his native city. After pass- 

 ing through Columbia Grammar School 

 he was graduated at Columbia College 

 in the year 1841. Turning his atten- 

 tion to chemistry he studied for a few 

 months under Dr. Robert Hare in 

 Philadelphia, and then took a course 

 in the College of Physicians and Sur- 

 geons in New York City, after which 

 he spent several years in Europe study- 

 ing under such famous masters as 

 Pammelsberg, Heinrich, Rose, Liebig, 

 and 1 ignault In 1848 he returned 

 to the United States, and for a year 

 lectured on chemistry in Delaware 

 College, Newark, Del. , whence he was 

 called to the chair of physics and chem- 

 istr}- in the College of the City of New 

 York, where he remained until 1863, 

 and then was elected to the Rumford 

 professorship in Harvard Universitj', 

 with charge of the laboratory of the 

 Lawrence Scientific School, which 

 place he held for a quarter of a cen- 

 tury, and then was made emeritus. 

 Prof. Gibbs fitted up a private research 

 laboratory in Newport, R. I. in 1887, 

 where he had long had his summer 

 home, and there he still continues his 

 chemical studies. His personality at- 

 tracted a large number of students to 

 him at the Lawrence Scientific School, 

 including such men as Frank W. 

 Clarke, Charles E. Munroe, Samuel 

 P. Sadtler, Thomas M. Chatard, and 

 others of the foremost chemists of the 

 United States. His research work 



