242 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LII. No. 1341 



FRANK SLATER DAGGETT 



Under the directorship of Frank S. Daggett, 

 the Museum of History, Science and Art of 

 Los Angeles, has come to exert an important 

 influence in science and education in South- 

 em California. The collections representing 

 the history of California and the southwest, 

 and especially the splendid representation of 

 the extinct life of California secured from the 

 asphalt deposits of Eancho La Brea, have 

 made the institution the object of frequent 

 visits by large numbers of residents of Cali- 

 fornia and by travellers from the east. The 

 rapid development of the museum, the excel- 

 lent organization of its collections, and the 

 inaintenance of a high standard of ef&ciency 

 throughout the institution were in a very 

 large measure due to the untiring effort of 

 Mr. Daggett. Interesting and valuable ex- 

 hibits representing living birds, mammals, 

 and molluscs of Southern California were 

 assembled imder Mr. Daggett's direction, but 

 by far the most important collection was that 

 representing the extinct fauna secured in the 

 extraordinary asphalt deposits at Eancho La 

 Brea on the western border of the city. 



Born at Norwalk, Ohio, in January 30, 

 1855, Mr. Daggett was for the greater part of 

 his life engaged in commercial pursuits. He 

 was a successful grain merchant at Duluth, 

 Minnesota, from 1885 to 1894, and was a 

 member of the Board of Trade of Chicago 

 from 1904 to 1911. He was always deeply 

 interested in natural history and from his 

 early boyhood was engaged in the study of 

 insects and birds. . 



His collection of Coleoptera numbered two 

 thousand species and his bird collections con- 

 tained over eight thousand specimens. Al- 

 though he published little of a technical na- 

 ture his interest in natural history subjects 

 was a continued inspiration ,to many who 

 were professionally engaged in scientific pur- 

 suits, and his influence in the advance of 

 natural history of the Pacific Coast has been 

 a factor of much importance. 



Mr. Daggett became the director of the Mu- 

 seum of History, Science and Art in 1911. 

 At the time of his assuming the office, the 



building was finished, but contained no ex- 

 hibits and no staff appointments had been 

 made. Among the first tasks taken up was 

 the securing of privileges for collecting in the 

 Pleistocene deposits at Eancho La Brea. 

 The excavations were carried on with the 

 most extreme care and with all advice that 

 could be obtained from those especially inter- 

 ested in the scientific study of the deposits. 

 With the utmost precautions the great series 

 of specimens unearthed was cleaned, prepared 

 for study, and marked as to location in the 

 beds. At no stage in the handling of this 

 great collection was anything omitted which 

 might have helped to make the material more 

 useful to the student of future years. Along 

 with its many other contributions to science 

 the Eancho La Brea collection of the Museum 

 of History, Science and Art must always 

 remain as a monument to the scientific inter- 

 est and administrative skill of Mr. Daggett. 

 It was the writer's privilege to make the 

 acquaintance of Mr. Daggett at the time of 

 his first interest in the deposits at Eancho La 

 Brea, and to cooperate with him through the 

 whole work of the excavation and preparation 

 of these collections. In these years of close 

 cooperation and friendship he proved himself 

 a man of the highest ideals and finest purposes 

 in development of all that is most funda- 

 mental and significant in the phases of nat- 

 ural science with which he came in contact. 

 Although Mr. Daggett's name will not be 

 known in future years by length of publica- 

 tion lists or by species described, there must 

 be given to him a full measure for very sig- 

 nificant constructive work done with much 

 interest, with keen insight, and with an 

 effectiveness which is rarely equalled. 



John C. Mereiam 



JOHN LOSSEN PRICER 



John Lossen Pricer,i of the Illinois State 

 iN'ormal University at Normal, Illinois, died 

 suddenly of heart trouble on August 19, 1920. 

 By his death the scientific interests of Hlinois 

 and other mid-western states have suffered a 



1 Bom January 10, 1871. A.B. and A.M., Uni- 

 versity of Illinois, 1907. 



