THEODOEE NICHOLAS GILL DALL. 585 



once become useful and necessary. Dr. Gill's early training was a most fortu- 

 nate one, for the splendid classical schooling of his youth gave him a complete 

 familiarity with Greeli and Latin, and his legal knowledge, combined with tlie 

 former, rendered him a judge where questions of nomenclature were involved. 

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

 ture, 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 some one 

 has stated, " With the simplicity of the truly great and the truly able he gave 

 freely of his stores of knowledge, go that to all the investigators who came 

 in contact with him he proved an ever-ready source of exact and reliable infor- 

 mation 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. 



Very soon after his arrival in Washington, Gill became associated 

 with Columbian College, afterwards Colmnbian University, and still 

 later reincorporated under the name of George Washington Univer- 

 sity. In 1860 he was made adjunct professor of physics and natural 

 history; from 1864 to 1866 and 1873 to 1884, lecturer on natural 

 history; from 1884 to 1910, professor of zoology, and for the re- 

 mainder of his life professor emeritus. The university, in apprecia- 

 tion of his merits, conferred upon him in 1865 the degree of master 

 of arts; in 1866 an honorary doctorate of medicine; in 1870 the doc- 

 torate of philosophy ; and in 1895 that of laws. 



Dr. Gill was naturally elected to membership of many scientific 

 societies, both at home and abroad. He became a member of the 

 American. Association for the Advancement of Science in 1868, and 

 a fellow in 1874. In 1896 he was elected vice president of Section F, 

 zoology, and upon the death of Prof. E. D. Cope, the president elect, 

 he succeeded to the presidency of the association at the meeting held 

 in 1897 at Detroit. 



He was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences 

 in 1873, and represented the academy at the Boston meeting of the 

 International Zoological Congress in 1898 and at the celebration 

 of the 450th anniversary of the foundation of the University of 

 Glasgow, Scotland, in 1901. He was a member of the American 

 Philosophical Society, of the Philosophical Society of Washmgton, 

 the Biological Society, a founder of the Cosmos Club of that city, 

 a foreign member of the Zoological Society of London, and of some 

 70 other societies and scientific bodies. 



As a young man, Gill was slender and rather delicate m appear- 

 ance, with black hair, dark eyes, and a somewhat brunette com- 

 plexion. His relatives by his father's second marriage seem to have 

 partaken of a constitutional delicacy, as death removed many of 

 them at a comparatively early age. I have referred to the fac that 

 in his early manhood Gill was compelled to extreme frugality by an 

 insufficient income. It was only in middle age that by inheritance 



