428 | Obituary—JTames William Davis. 
to a high position as an investigator in Geology, Paleontology, and 
Archeology. Scientific work was, indeed, his solace and recreation. 
From his earliest boyhood, he was imbued with an ardent liking for 
the pursuit of Natural History ; and in company with his friend and 
former neighbour, Mr. Percy Sladen, he was long occupied with 
practical work in Comparative Anatomy to enable him to carry on 
his future researches in interpreting fossil vertebrata. Only last 
winter, when Mr. Davis penned a long letter of woes to the writer 
of this notice, detailing how the whole of a new extension of his 
business premises had been burned down in one night, he concluded 
with the remark that all worries were just to be buried for two hours 
by the. peaceful contemplation of Acanthodes—a Carboniferous fish 
on which he was writing a memoir for the Royal Dublin Society. 
Provided with what he termed a “prime Havana” and surrounded 
by piles of books and fossil fishes, Mr. Davis always found himself 
indeed in perfect peace and enjoyment. 
From his earliest youth Mr. Davis had been connected with the 
Yorkshire Scientific Societies, and he first entered a wider sphere in 
1873 by becoming a Fellow of the Geological Society of London 
and a member of the British Association. In 1875 he received the 
Fellowship of the Linnean Society, and also later that of the Society 
of Antiquaries. In 1891 he became a member of the Council of 
the Geological Society. Since 1876 he had been Honorary Secretary 
of the Geological and Polytechnic Society of the West Riding of 
Yorkshire, and brought the Proceedings, which he edited, to a high 
standard of value. In 1888 he organized the jubilee meeting of 
that Society, and subsequently wrote a volume detailing the history 
of its fifty years’ work. He had occupied the Presidential chair 
of many local societies, was an active member of the Yorkshire 
Naturalists’ Union, and an elected Governor of the Yorkshire 
College. He rarely missed the meetings of the British Association, 
where his keen business capacity was highly valued in the com- 
mittees; and the circle of friends who had the privilege of being 
his guests at Chevinedge during the Leeds meeting in 1890, will 
never forget his qualities as a host on that occasion. In scientific 
journalism, too, Mr. Davis undertook no inconsiderable share of 
work. He was one of the directors of the “ Westminster Review,” 
and, if the London “Sun” can be trusted on a subject that has 
hitherto remained obscure, he was one of the promoters and chief 
supporters of Messrs. Macmillan’s monthly, “Natural Science,” a 
journal that has already attained a prominent position as a critical 
review of current matters in Geology and Biology. 
In original research, as shown by the list of papers appended, 
Mr. Davis made many important contributions to knowledge of the 
Geology of Yorkshire; and in 1878, he co-operated with Mr. 
F. A. Lees, the Botanist, in a volume on “ West Yorkshire: its 
Geology and Botany.” He was also Secretary of the British Associa- 
tion Committee for the exploration of the Raygill Fissure, and took 
considerable part in many archeological investigations in the county, 
In Geology and Paleontology, however, Mr. Davis will longest be 
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