GEORGE HUNTINGTON WILLIAMS. 7 6 3 



writings ; whether in advocacy of the intimate connection between 

 crystallography, physics, and chemistry ; or in proclaiming the 

 achievements of microscopical research in the realm of geology ; 

 or in the substantial aid to the study of crystallography which 

 he has bequeathed us in his text-book on the Elements of Crys- 

 tallography. His natural impulse to disseminate knowledge 

 showed itself in the many reviews and notices of other works, 

 which were thus brought to the attention of a wider circle of 

 readers. His last writings were in connection with Johnson's 

 Universal Cyclopaedia and the Standard Dictionary. A com- 

 plete list of his publications will appear in the current volume of 

 the Bulletin of the Geological Society of America, through the 

 kindness of Professor Wm. B. Clark. 



As an investigator he was naturally influenced by the charac- 

 ter of his environment, though his researches were in no sense 

 limited or narrow. In a country where geological problems pre- 

 sent themselves on every hand, it is likely that an investigator 

 will attack those that are most accessible. And he will be fortu- 

 nate if he finds himself in a region as diversified and interesting 

 as that in which Professor Williams began his investigations. 

 But while his work took color from its local surroundings, it was 

 by no means confined to the borders of a limited area, or even 

 of the state in which he lived. His interests and acquaintances 

 in other parts of the country, his proximity to Washington, and 

 his early connection with the United States Geological Survey 

 enabled him to carry on his studies in distant places, and in this 

 way to enlarge the field of his observation. Thus, while the 

 major part of his work was prosecuted in Maryland, it extended 

 into Virginia and North Carolina on the one side, and into Penn- 

 sylvania on the other. His researches in the Menominee-Mar- 

 quette region of Michigan, and in the vicinity of Peekskill, N. Y., 

 besides his travels through some of the most instructive regions 

 of Western America, Canada, and Norway, further enriched his 

 geological experience. 



This wide range of opportunity furnished him material in 

 part purely mineralo-gical, in part petrographical, and toward 



