454 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XIX. No. 481. 



the classes in geology. In 1892 he was 

 made the assistant professor of historical 

 geology in the Sheffield Scientific School, 

 and in 1897 full professor and a member 

 of the governing board. March 10, 1902, 

 his title was changed to that of university 

 professor of paleontology. In 1899 he suc- 

 ceeded the late Professor Marsh as curator 

 of the geological collections and became a 

 member of the board of trustees of the 

 Peabody Museum. At the time of his 

 death he was secretary to the board and a 

 member of the executive committee. In 

 1899 he was elected a member of the Na- 

 tional Academy of Sciences, a correspond- 

 ent of the Geological Society of London 

 and a fellow of the Geological Society of 

 America. In 1900 he became president of 

 the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sci- 

 ences and held this office until 1902. 



Professor Beecher married, September 

 12, 1894, Miss Mary S. Galligan, who with 

 two young daughters survives him. The 

 interment was in Grove Street Cemetery, 

 New Haven. 



Like most successful students of organic 

 life, Beecher was a born naturalist. As a 

 boy he collected the shells of the region 

 about Warren, Pa., where his home was 

 situated, and his fi.rst scientific paper, pub- 

 lished in conjunction with Mr. Walker, was 

 a list of the land and fresh-water shells 

 found about Ann Arbor, Michigan, the seat 

 of the state university. The abundance of 

 Devonian fossils about his home at Warren 

 doubtless contributed to his early interest 

 in them. In 1884 he published his first 

 paleontological paper, an essay on the rare 

 Paleozoic crustaceans known as phyllocari- 

 da, a siibjeet to which he returned eighteen 

 years later in a memoir which will be clas- 

 sical. Always a field naturalist, after his 

 connection with the Sheffield Scientific 

 School began his opportunities for work in 

 the west became more frequent and fruit- 

 ful. On becoming curator of the geological 



collections he presented to the university 

 his private collection of fossils, the result 

 of many years of accumulation and of great 

 scientific value. 



Beecher was one of those students who 

 derived from the teachings of Hyatt and 

 Cope those guiding principles in research 

 which have proved so fruitful for American 

 science. By the application of these prin- 

 ciples, together with a thorough and minute 

 knowledge of details, he produced those 

 memoirs on the Trilobites, the Brachiopoda 

 and the origin and significance of spines, 

 upon which (with much other worthy 

 work) his reputation in days to come will 

 chiefly rest. Space fails for an analysis of 

 these contributions, which are universally 

 known among professional experts. 



Beecher had the artist's gift and his 

 papers were largely illustrated by himself, 

 many of his drawings being of a high order 

 of merit. He had the sense of order and 

 proportion so necessary for a museum ex- 

 pert. He was quiet, cautious, without os- 

 tentation, efficient and enthusiastic. 



The director of the scientific school has 

 said of him:* "Quiet and unassuming, he 

 never sought adulation, but when there was 

 earnest work to be done, requiring skill, 

 patience and good judgment, he would 

 labor quietly and industriously, bringing 

 to bear upon the problem such a measure 

 of common sense and of thoughtfulness 

 that confidence in and respect for his con- 

 chisions were inevitable. - * * * No matter 

 how trivial the duty, it was always done at 

 the appointed time and thoroughly done. 

 * * * As a friend he was loyal and trust- 

 worthy and his memory will always be 

 cherished by his associates in the Sheffield 

 Scientific School." 



One of his pupils has testified to the in- 

 spiration given by him to his students, and 

 how his patience, perseverance and inge- 

 *Yale Alumni Weekly, XIII., p. 488, March 2, 

 1004. 



