MASON BLANCHARD THOMAS. 



On Wednesday evening, March 6, 1912, Mason Blanchard Thomas, 

 Professor of Botany at Wabash College and Dean of the Faculty, died at 

 his home in Crawfordsville of an acute attacli of pleurisy. 



Mason B. Thomas was bom at New Woodstock, N. Y., December 10, 

 1866. He prepared for college at Cazenovia Academy and entered the 

 College of Arts and Sciences at Cornell University in the fall of 1886. 

 He was graduated with the degi-ee of B. S. in 1890 and was awarded a 

 graduate fellowship in biology at Cornell for the following year. In 1891 

 he came to Wabash College as Professor of Biology, and after 1805, when 

 the departmont was divided, he gave liis whole time to the study and teach- 

 ing of Botany. 



While at Cornell he was elected to membership in the Sigma Xi So- 

 ciety and at Wabash was elected as an organization member of the Phi 

 Beta Kappa Society. In 1907 an honorary I'h.D. was conferred upon him 

 by the trustees of Wabash. 



In June, 1S93, he was joined in marriage to Miss Annie Davidson, only 

 daughter of Judge and Mrs. T. F. Davidson, of Crawfordsville, and his 

 wife survives him. 



Professor Thomas was a great teacher. He brought to his work a 

 thorough knowledge of his subject, an unbounded euergj- and enthusiasm, 

 and a personal interest in and love for liis students. He was active also 

 in furthering the general interests of tlie college; was for many years 

 the chairman of the Athletic Committee of the Faculty, and since 1007 

 has been the Dean of the Faculty. He was a fellow and past president of 

 the Indiana Academy of Science and has always been active in its serv- 

 ice. At the time of his death he was secretary of the Indiana Forestry 

 Association and chairman of its Educational Connnittee, and secretary of 

 the Board of Trustees of the Boys' School at Plain field. He was also a 

 fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and 

 a member of the American Microscopical Society, tlie Auicrican Forestry 

 Association, the Botanical Society of America, tlio American Phyto- 



