Seitember 25, 1903.] 



SCIENCE. 



407 



eamp life with him in the Koeky Moun- 

 tains remember not only his skill with rod 

 and gun but more particularly their dis- 

 may as thej' tried to follow those long 

 swinging strides that carried him over 

 mountain and plain. The restless energy 

 of the naturalist-explorer was his, and day 

 after day he urged himself from locality 

 to locality in search of new finds. Even 

 when loaded down (as he usually was) 

 with collecting implements, .specimen bag 

 and camera he seemed never to tire. 



As early as his means would allow, he 

 entered the Universitj' of Nebraska, from 

 which he graduated in 1886, receiving the 

 degree B.Se. As a student there he early 

 demonstrated his scientific tendencies. The 

 biological sciences and especially geology 

 were his delight. Under the inspiration 

 which Dr. Bessey alwaj's exercises upon 

 his students, ilr. Knight seriously contem- 

 plated taking up botany as his life work, 

 and while his inclination to study the rocks 

 and the story that they reveal proved 

 stronger, he never lost his interest in the 

 flora of the great plains and the mountains 

 where his life was spent. 



He was at varioiis times a graduate stu- 

 dent at the University of Nebraska, his 

 alma mater, from which he received the 

 degree cf :\I.A. in 1893 and the doctorate 

 in philosophy, in 1901. He had also stud- 

 ied for a short time at the University of 

 Chicago. 



After all has been said about his work 

 in the schools, tho.se who knew him best 

 understand that his degrees represent not 

 what he carried away from the class-room 

 and laboratory, but rather what he carried 

 to these as he came fresh from the fields 

 that he had explored. When he presented 

 himself before academic faculties for ex- 

 amination the funds of knowledge that in- 

 terested those faculties were not facts that 

 he had gleaned from books but those that 

 he had at first hand. He read widely and 



a.ssimilated much, but he accepted little on 

 mere 'authority.' True scientist that he 

 was, he accepted statements cautiously, un- 

 less the facts upon which they were 

 founded w-ere apparent. If his own expe- 

 rience confirmed or if lie were able to ver- 

 ify, he accepted all truth with joy. In the 

 field he was a keen observer and he soon 

 accumulated a store of facts upon which 

 he based his hypotheses and later his more 

 mature judgments. When he had reached 

 a conclusion, he modestly .yet firmly held 

 to that conclusion unless it could be shown 

 that he was in error about the underlying 

 facts. 



He had a wide acquaintance among sci- 

 entific men, many of whom he had person- 

 ally met. The great expedition to the fossil 

 fields of AVyoming, in 1899, which he so 

 successfully conducted, brought him into 

 contact with scores of men who recall 

 those weeks as a time of profit and delight 

 and Professor Knight as a cherished per- 

 sonal friend. 



Dr. Knight was great not merely from 

 a scholastic point of view, but quite as 

 much from the grasp he had upon eco- 

 nomic questions. He was actively in touch 

 with the industrial problems of his state, 

 and his opinions were eagerly sought by 

 corporate as well as private interests. This 

 drew- him into many and diverse fields, as 

 the appended partial list of his publica- 

 tions will show. 



To the University of Wyoming he had 

 made himself indi.spen.sable. Elected to 

 the chair of geology and mining engineer- 

 ing in 1893, he continued in that position, 

 with the added duties of principal of the 

 school of mines, until his death. Faculty 

 and students alike recognized in him a suc- 

 cessful teacher, a wise counselor and a true 

 friend. 



The other positions that he held at va- 

 I'ious times may only be mentioned : As- 

 sistant territorial geologist, 1886-7 : as- 



