164 TRANSACTIONS OF THE [Mar. 27 
of his subject, and was, perhaps, somewhat indifferent to classi- 
fication, and did not attempt to seriously philosophize,* 
In Borany.—His best work in botany, exclusive of paleobotany, 
was done in the earlier years of his work, before it was crowded 
to one side by geology. Before he entered college he had, as 
stated above, gathered an herbarium and had made a Catalogue 
of the Plants of Ohio. This list was published in 1859, making 
forty-one pages of the Ohio Agricultural Report of that year. 
His earliest and best botanical publication was the report in 
1857 on “The Botany of Northern California and Oregon,’’ in 
the sixth volume of the Pacific Railroad Reports. His chapter 
in this elegantly illustrated report upon the forest trees of the 
region described is a classic in American forestry. 
In Zoorocy.—Dr, Newberry was, as a boy, interested in the 
mollusea, and one of his earliest papers, 1851, was upon this 
group. Only five papers of his can be strictly classed as 
zoological, apart from the paleozoology, the most important 
being upon the zoology of Northern California and Oregon. 
However, there was no great branch of animal life with which 
he was not very familiar. 
RELATION TO NEW YORK SOCIETIES. 
Rarely in this country has one man been longer at the head 
of a prominent scientific society continuously and without 
opposition. For twenty-four years Dr. Newberry honored the 
New York Academy of Sciences as its President. He was first 
elected in February, 1868, and remained continuously in office 
until February, 1892, when, on account of illness and absence, 
he was made Honorary President. During all this time there 
was no opposition to him, but, on the contrary, he was often 
re-elected in the face of his positive declination. He wasseldom 
-absent from the chair, and was a graceful and dignified presid- 
ing officer. In later years, perhaps, he did not use the power 
of his position and reputation for the benefit of the Society to 
the extent that a critical judgment, or the expectation of mem- 
bers might have demanded, but he was ever more than loyal, and 
gave the Society an added dignity and standing. And if he did 
not discover and develop the latent talent of the membership, 
or in the meetings draw out the modest members in discussion, 
he largely compensated by his own freely given knowledge, It 
was rare that any subject was presented before the Society to 
* The writer is indebted to Professor E. D. Cope for the substance of this 
estimate of Dr. Newhberry’s work on fossil fishes. 
