April 4, 1919] 



SCIENCE 



323 



On September 11, 1901, he was married to 

 Mary Chappel Hicks, of Cohimbus, Ohio. 

 Their daughter, Janet, fourteen, is now busy 

 with her high school studies. 



Not taking into consideration the devotion 

 and thoughtfulness which characterized his 

 home life, the main enthusiasm of this man 

 was in the field of science; and this for the 

 simple reason that he could tolerate nothing 

 except truth. Keenly appreciative of language 

 and literature, still he felt them to be of special 

 value as being a means of giving expression to 

 some sort or phase of truth. As an investi- 

 gator he very sharply discriminated between 

 the significant and the pointless, a clear, long 

 perspective stretching out before the former, 

 while the latter was given little patience. 

 KeUicott had not chosen a particular problem 

 as his special zoological interest; his research 

 contributed to our knowledge of cytology, 

 normal embryology, correlation, growth meas- 

 urements, animal breeding and factors in- 

 fluencing development. A second paper deal- 

 ing with the last-named question was in process 

 of writing at the time of his death. He often 

 reprimanded himself for thus not concentra- 

 ting his investigative effort, and he doubtless 

 would have selected a special field ere long; 

 but ever insistent with him was the conviction 

 that he must school himself in the current 

 zoological movements of the day, that he might 

 be the better trained and speak and think out 

 of his own experiences. Exacting, though al- 

 ways kindly, in his teaching, he prescribed an 

 even greater degree of discipline for himself. 

 Assumption was seldom a mental experience 

 with him. The following quotation is one of 

 his own selection — " Surely, if there is any 

 knowledge which is of most worth, it is knowl- 

 edge of the ways by which anything is entitled 

 to be called knowledge, instead of being mere 

 opinion, or guesswork, or dogma" (Dewey). 



As a teacher Kellicott instinctively knew the 

 art of making subject matter appeal because of 

 its own intrinsic significance; he did not ob- 

 scure it by obtruding mannerisms or his own 

 personality. Seldom is a man given a greater 

 degree of loyalty by his students, or for better 

 reasons, than was he. As a participant in ad- 



ministrative matters, he was broad-minded, 

 simultaneously unafraid and cooperating, in- 

 dei)endent of precedent and practise where 

 these seemed wasteful or obstructive. His in- 

 fluence seemed uniformly disproportionate to 

 the length of his service and his academic title. 



KelUcott's nature was too large to permit ex- 

 pression in one field alone. It was magnetic- 

 ally drawn toward the beautiful in music, in 

 art, in the sculpture and adornment of nature's 

 earth, and in human nature. His capacity for 

 friendship was exceptional; companions of his 

 own age felt themselves rich in the resources 

 which were his; his seniors, startled by his 

 passing, have become aware of how large a 

 place he occupied in their confidence. One of 

 them has written : " I didn't really know how 

 much I loved the lad. I had formed the habit, 

 unconscious till now, of thinking to myself, 

 ' How would that strike Kellicott ? ' " 



Side by side with his straight directness in 

 thought and action , there dwelt a subtle, 

 copious humor, an unstinted unselfishness and 

 generosity, a buoyant gladness, which, as he 

 " dwelt by the side of the road " of human lives, 

 made him, in uncommon degree, " a friend to 

 man." 



It is better, and more just, that we do not 

 circumscribe and limit the loss which has come 

 upon science, the teaching profession, and upon 

 his widening circle of friends by attempting to 

 define in words the significance of the death 

 of William Erskine Kellicott. " He is so vivid 

 a man that he defends himself in your own 

 mind against misinterpretation." 



Egbert A. Budington 



SCIENTIFIC EVENTS 



THE DIRECTORSHIP OF THE BRITISH 

 NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM 



Sir Lazarus Fletcher retired on March 3 

 from the directorship of tlie Natural History 

 Museum after forty-one years in its service. 

 Previous to his appointment as director in 

 1909, he had served two years as assistant and 

 twenty-nine years as keeper in the Mineral 

 Department. In connecton with the appoint- 

 ment of his successor Nature prints the follow- 



