270 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLIII. No. 1104 



could devote himself especially to the esthetic 

 side of a paper, as in his wonderful Rector's 

 address, " Die Organismen als historische 

 Wesen " or in his necrologue on Anton Dohrn, 

 he reached the state of literary perfection of a 

 work of art. And these characteristics of his 

 work were in full harmony with his personal- 

 ity. At first sight not remarkable, he imme- 

 ■ diately fascinated one through his eyes, flash- 

 ing with genius. And those who knew him 

 were aware how much the artistic side of life 

 meant for him, who was more than an amateur 

 in music and painting. He was not only a 

 great scholar, but a noble, harmonious man. 

 What he has been for our science may be said 

 with the words that he himself dedicated to 

 Anton Dohrn: 



■ Et brauchte ja nur um sich zu blicken, um sich 

 sageu za muSssen, dass er der Biologie einen Im- 

 puls gegeben hat, dem wenige sich an die Seite 

 stellen konnen, und dass seine Tat und mit ihr sein 

 Name leuchten werden in der Gescliiclite uuserer 

 Wissenscliaft, weit hinaus, wo nur die hoeehsten 

 Gipfel noeli siehtbar sind. 



Richard Goldschmidt 

 osboene zoologioai, laboratory, 

 Tale University, 

 New Haven, Conn. 



ARTHUR WILLIAMS WRIGHT 



Professor Arthur Williams Wright died 

 at his home in New Haven, Conn., on Decem- 

 ber 19. He was born on September 8, 1836, in 

 Lebanon, Conn., where his father, Jesse 

 Wright, at one time a member of the Connec- 

 ticut House of Representatives, served as jus- 

 tice of the peace, selectman and a member of 

 the school board. Samuel Wright, who 

 settled in Springfield, Mass., in 1639, was his 

 earliest paternal ancestor in this country. His 

 mother was Harriet, daughter of WiUiam 

 Williams and a descendant of Robert Williams, 

 who came to this country from England in 

 1637, settling at Roxbury, Mass. 



He received his early education in his native 

 town, preparing for college, under William 

 Kinne, at Canterbury. His career as an under- 

 graduate at Tale College was a distinguished 

 one. He not only achieved notable successes 

 as a scholar in mathematics and astronomy, his 



studies of predilection, and in Latin, but he 

 was prominent in undergraduate social life. 

 A life-long love for music naturally led him to 

 identify himself with the musical organiza- 

 tions of his time, and a critical knowledge of 

 music, including an enviable skill in perform- 

 ance, added largely to the pleasures of his 

 later and more leisurely life. 



After graduation he continued his studies 

 at Yale, specializing in mathematics and sci- 

 ence, and acquired the degree of Ph.D. in 

 1861. From this time until his retirement in 

 1906 his life was identified with Tale except 

 for a period in 1868-9, when he studied at 

 Heidelberg and at Berlin, and the three years 

 1869-71 during which he held a professorship 

 of physics and chemistry at Williams College. 

 In the last named year he returned to Tale 

 as professor of molecular physics and chemis- 

 try. 



One of Professor Wright's most distin- 

 guished services to his university, and indeed 

 to the teaching of science in America, was the 

 early recognition that the practise of combin- 

 ing professorships of physics and of chemis- 

 try had ceased to be either economical or pos- 

 sible. It was, therefore, under his stimulus 

 and activity that the first Sloane Laboratory 

 of Tale College, the first structure in the coun- 

 try devoted exclusively to the work of a phys- 

 ical laboratory in the modern sense — was de- 

 signed and constructed. This was completed 

 in 1883, and henceforth he devoted his time, 

 until his final retirement, to instruction and 

 various physical investigations there, although 

 the title of his professorship was not changed 

 to that of molecular physics until 1887. This 

 Sloane Laboratory also contained the study 

 and lecture room of Professor J. Willard 

 Gibbs, whose contributions to physical sci- 

 ences have made it celebrated for all time. 



The greater portion of Professor Wright's 

 scientific work found its first publication in the 

 American Journal of Science. These con- 

 tributions are not merely important; they are 

 characterized by rare excellence of form and 

 of clarity. A short review of these papers will 

 prove of interest. 



" On a Peculiar Porm of the Discharge be- 



