of such a mode of existence." 



In this we have a little retrospect into the early 

 life of Dr. Cooper from his own pen. The tendencies 

 thus early manifested were fostered by his father, to 

 whom Dr. Cooper owed his preparation for his later 

 work in life, and it was at the home of William Cooper 

 that such men as Samuel L,. Mitchell, M. D., Nathaniel 

 Paulding, poet, Dr. John Torrey, the botanist, Prof. 

 Eaton, and Lucien Bonaparte were wont to meet. It is 

 not difficult to see how these men may all have exerted a 

 profound influence on the mind of the young naturalist. 

 At the age of twenty-eight, Dr. Cooper became a mem- 

 ber of the New York Lyceum, now the New York Aca- 

 demy of Sciences, his father, at the age of nineteen, 

 having been one of the founders. Dr. Cooper was one 

 of the early members of the California Academy of 

 Sciences, holding for several years the office of vice- 

 president and for some years being curator of the sec- 

 tion of palaeontology, which he had given much time to 

 build up. His last actual work was the compiling of a 

 Catalog of California Fossils, issued as Bulletin No. 4 by 

 the California State Mining Bureau, Sept. 1894, Parts 

 II, III, IV and V. 



Dr. Cooper is the last of that circle of distinguished 

 naturalists, who had been the foremost zoologists and 

 botanists in his early days. Such men as Asa Gray, 

 Baird, LeConte, Hayden, Meek, George Gibbs, Torrey, 

 Warren and Dr. Suckley were his colaborers. To the 



