﻿CHARLES 
  DOOLITTLE 
  WALCOTT 
  

  

  By 
  George 
  Otis 
  Smith 
  

  

  [With 
  2 
  plates] 
  

  

  Leadership 
  is 
  not 
  an 
  accident; 
  the 
  position 
  of 
  Charles 
  Doolittle 
  

   Walcott 
  among 
  his 
  fellow 
  scientists 
  is 
  subject 
  to 
  scientific 
  analysis, 
  

   just 
  as 
  the 
  characters 
  of 
  a 
  Cambrian 
  type 
  organism 
  justify 
  study 
  

   from 
  the 
  viewpoint 
  of 
  phylogeny 
  and 
  ontogeny. 
  Ancestry 
  and 
  

   environment, 
  as 
  well 
  as 
  self-determination, 
  explain 
  the 
  truly 
  success- 
  

   ful 
  life 
  of 
  high 
  scientific 
  attainments, 
  valued 
  public 
  service, 
  and 
  win- 
  

   ning 
  personality 
  that 
  made 
  the 
  late 
  Secretary 
  of 
  the 
  Smithsonian 
  a 
  

   leader 
  in 
  American 
  science. 
  

  

  The 
  future 
  scientist's 
  interest 
  was 
  early 
  stimulated 
  by 
  his 
  environ- 
  

   ment. 
  He 
  was 
  born 
  in 
  New 
  York 
  Mills, 
  Oneida 
  County, 
  N. 
  Y., 
  

   March 
  31, 
  1850. 
  At 
  7 
  years 
  of 
  age 
  he 
  was 
  already 
  a 
  collector 
  of 
  the 
  

   natural 
  objects 
  that 
  attract 
  the 
  attention 
  of 
  the 
  country 
  boy, 
  and 
  at 
  

   13 
  the 
  curiosity 
  aroused 
  by 
  some 
  fossils 
  he 
  found 
  started 
  him 
  on 
  the 
  

   way 
  to 
  the 
  study 
  of 
  local 
  geology, 
  which 
  later 
  opened 
  up 
  the 
  larger 
  

   questions 
  of 
  evolution 
  of 
  life 
  on 
  the 
  earth 
  and 
  of 
  the 
  origin 
  of 
  the 
  

   earth 
  and 
  the 
  solar 
  system. 
  

  

  Of 
  this 
  period 
  he 
  says, 
  referring 
  to 
  fossils 
  accidentally 
  opened 
  up 
  

   by 
  his 
  wagon 
  wheel 
  when 
  driving 
  : 
  

  

  In 
  a 
  small 
  drift 
  block 
  of 
  sandstone 
  which 
  I 
  found 
  in 
  1S67 
  on 
  the 
  road 
  from 
  

   Trenton 
  to 
  Trenton 
  Falls, 
  Oneida 
  County, 
  N. 
  T., 
  there 
  is 
  an 
  unusual 
  apparent 
  

   association 
  of 
  Upper 
  Cambrian 
  and 
  Ordovician 
  fossils. 
  When 
  as 
  a 
  boy 
  I 
  found 
  

   the 
  rounded 
  block 
  of 
  sandstone 
  referred 
  to, 
  I 
  broke 
  out 
  all 
  the 
  fossils 
  possible, 
  

   as 
  at 
  the 
  time 
  I 
  was 
  well 
  acquainted 
  with 
  the 
  Trenton 
  limestone 
  fauna, 
  and 
  

   the 
  fossils 
  in 
  the 
  block 
  were 
  strangers 
  to 
  me, 
  with 
  the 
  exception 
  of 
  Leperditia 
  

   armata. 
  The 
  following 
  winter 
  I 
  endeavored 
  to 
  locate 
  the 
  stratigraphic 
  position 
  

   of 
  the 
  associated 
  trilobites 
  but 
  could 
  not, 
  further 
  than 
  that 
  they 
  were 
  evidently 
  

   of 
  pre-Trenton 
  age. 
  This 
  study 
  aroused 
  an 
  interest 
  in 
  the 
  American 
  early 
  

   Paleozoic 
  fossils 
  that 
  gradually 
  led 
  me 
  to 
  take 
  up 
  the 
  Cambrian 
  rocks 
  and 
  

   faunas 
  as 
  my 
  special 
  field 
  of 
  research. 
  

  

  A 
  college 
  education 
  was 
  not 
  granted 
  to 
  young 
  Walcott. 
  His 
  pater- 
  

   nal 
  grandfather 
  had 
  endowed 
  a 
  professorship 
  at 
  Hamilton 
  College, 
  

   and 
  his 
  father 
  had 
  held 
  a 
  leading 
  place 
  in 
  the 
  community 
  but 
  died 
  

  

  1 
  Reprinted 
  by 
  permission, 
  wltli 
  different 
  illustrations 
  and 
  some 
  additions, 
  from 
  tlie 
  

   American 
  Journal 
  of 
  Science, 
  fifth 
  series. 
  Vol. 
  XIV, 
  No. 
  79, 
  July, 
  1927. 
  

  

  555 
  

  

  