A CENTURY OF ZOOLOGY IN INDIANA. 207 



of natural sciences was to be selected by the Board of Trustees of Indiana 

 University to succeed Dr. Richard Owen who had resigned on account of 

 age. Our fellow-member, Dr. A. W. Brayton (Avon, N. Y., March 3, 1848 — ) 

 thought he might like the place, so he made a trip to Bloomington to look 

 into the matter. Dr. Jordan went along to recommend him to the trustees. 

 I remember very distinctly meeting tnem on the train as they were returning 

 to Indianapolis and Dr. .Jordan telling me, jokingly, that he had done all 

 he could to induce the board to offer the position to his friend Brayton. He 

 told them all the good things he could about Brayton and how eminently well- 

 fitted he was to succeed the distinguished Dr. Owen. The trustees listened 

 to Dr. Jordan most respectfuUj' and then offered the position to him! Bray- 

 ton moved to make it unanimous and there was nothing Dr. Jordan could do 

 but accept! 



The twelve years (1879-1891) spent b,y Dr. Jordan at Indiana University 

 were among the most productive of his life, not only in relation to zoological 

 science in general but to zoology in Indiana in particular. The influence 

 upon the state was epoch making. The effect upon the state of training so 

 many of its young men and women in the method of science and sending 

 them out over the state and beyond its borders imbued with the spirit of 

 the real naturalist Avho seeks truth, who sees things as they are, and who 

 knows animals when he meets them in the open, can not be overestimated. 

 Many and varied were the problems in zoological science that these young 

 men and women investigated, studied, and attempted to solve. They were 

 by no means confined to the fauna of Indiana. In ichthyology their field 

 was world-wide. It is true, however, that the richness of the Indiana fauna 

 appealed to many of these young naturalists, and zoological literature has 

 been greatly enriched bj^ their contributions. I shall first refer briefly to 

 some of the work that relates especially to the fish fauna of Indiana. I shall 

 begin with Dr. Jordan's life-long and most able and distinguished ichthyo- 

 logical associate, 



Charles Henry Gilbert 

 (Rockford, 111., Dec. 5, 1859 ) 



Gilbert was discovered in the Indianapolis high school by Herbert Cope- 

 land, and it was Copeland who started in him the fire which has never ceased 

 to burn. Upon Copeland's death Gilbert, while yet a mere boy, went with 

 Jordan to Butler University, and with him he has ever since remained most 

 intimately associated. 



The first joint paper by Jordan and Gilbert was published January 17, 

 1877, in the Indiana Farmer, and, very appropriately, it was a list of the 

 fishes of Indiana. Gilbert was then scarcely more than 17 years old. In 

 the same year Dr. Jordan published in the Proceedings of the Philadelphia 

 Academy a paper "On the Fishes of Northern Indiana," based on the Levette- 

 Cooke collections. 



