August 15, 1902.] 



SCIENCE. 



269 



of naturalist as well as medical adviser to 

 the party. He was one of the original 

 group of young naturalists which gathered 

 around Professor Baird in the early days of 

 the institution, who made up the Potomac- 

 side Naturalists Club, and whose names are 

 classic in the annals of zoology in this coun- 

 try. Although never robust, and for much 

 of his life in delicate health, he survived all 

 the others. Dr. Cooper was assigned to the 

 western division of the survey, terminating 

 at Puget Sound, under the superintendence 

 of Geo. B. McCIellan, of the Engineer 

 Corps of the army. Jefferson Davis was 

 Secretary of War; the regimental quarter- 

 master who supplied the needs of the party 

 on the Pacific coast was U. S. Grant. Co- 

 laborers with Cooper in working up the 

 collections were Baird, Torrey, Asa Gray, 

 Hayden, George Gibbs, Meek, Le Conte, and 

 Dr. Suckley, in cooperation with whom 

 Cooper prepared a report on the birds of 

 Washington Territory. As usual in those 

 days, he collected in all branches, and made 

 a particular study of the meteorology of the 

 region. The foUomng year he returned to 

 Washington to prepare his report, but was 

 soon obliged by lung trouble to return to 

 the more favorable climate of the Pacific 

 coast. For several years he devoted him- 

 self to making collections on the Pacific 

 coast, much of the time at his private cost. 

 During the latter part of the Civil War he 

 was surgeon in the 2d Cavalry, California 

 Volunteers, and served until the regiment 

 was mustered out. In 1865 and 1866 he 

 was natiiralist to the Geological Survey of 

 California, under Whitney, and his report 

 on the birds of the state, after the close of 

 the Survey, edited by Professor Baird, was 

 published by Professor Whitney at the per- 

 sonal cost of the latter, though in form as 

 one of the 'Reports of the State Geological 

 Survey.' In 1866, Cooper married Miss 

 Rosa M. Wells, and continued in the prac- 

 tice of his profession until the failure of 



his health in 1871, after which his work, 

 though often interrupted, was still pursued 

 as his strength permitted. He was long as- 

 sociated with the California Academy of 

 Sciences, and also with the State Mining 

 Bureau. Much of Dr. Cooper 's early work 

 was of great help and importance in devel- 

 oping knowledge of the fauna, flora and geol- 

 ogy of the Pacific coast. Ornithology knows 

 him as a valuable contributor, and his most 

 extensive works were on that branch of 

 science. Later he published many papers 

 on the moUusks of the coast, and the number 

 of titles in this line of research mounts up 

 to forty-three. Many of the younger stu- 

 dents of zoology on the Pacific coast have 

 testified to their appreciation of his help in 

 guiding and promoting their studies. The 

 Cooper Ornithological Club of California 

 was named in his honor, and the first num- 

 ber of its Bulletin contains a sketch of his 

 life, up to 1899, and a portrait. To this 

 summary we are indebted for many of the 

 above facts. Dr. Cooper was tall and slen- 

 der, rather reserved in manner, and his 

 physical activity was held in check by ill 

 health during much of his life, while for 

 years he was dependent upon his medical 

 practice for support. But in spite of these 

 handicaps his work on the Pacific coast has 

 been of primary importance, and by his 

 death passes away the last member of a 

 group of men to whom American zoology is 

 permanently indebted. 



Wm. H. Dalij. 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS. 

 The Principles of Inorganic Chemistry ; WlL- 

 HELM OsTWALD. Translated with the Au- 

 thor's Sanction by Alexander Findlay. 

 London, Macmillan & Co. 1902. 8vo. Pp. 

 xxvii+785. 



Professor Ostwald has played a most promi- 

 nent part in the promulgation of modem phys- 

 ical chemistry. His pen has been so wonder- 

 fully prolific that astonishment is felt that he 

 is able to produce so many books of large size 



