May 17, 1895.] 



SCIENCE. 



545 



Born in Maine in 1S20, even from l\is 

 graduation in 1849 he ranked as a mathe- 

 matical genius, one of the most remarkal)k' 

 America has produced. But he seemed to 

 have no ambition to leave an adequate 

 record of his mental life in print. In per- 

 sonal character he resembled Lobachevsky, 

 ■whom he intenselj' admired. 



He Avas spontaneouslj' loj-al to the good 

 and the true, enthusiastic, thorough, pains- 

 taking. He loved poetry ; he loved Sliake- 

 speare ; he was averse to religious creeds. 

 For Professor Oliver goodness was s^jon- 

 taneous. He did the right not because it 

 was right, but because he intensely wished 

 to do just that. The spring of action seemed 

 a combination of sympathj', perception, 

 knoM"ledge, scientific logic. 



In matliematics Professor Oliver worked 

 for the love of it and because he was deeply 

 convinced that mathematics aflbrds that 

 fine culture which the best minds seek for 

 its ovra sake. 



He was a pronounced believer in the non- 

 Euclidean geometry. 



I vividly recall liow he came up after my 

 lecture on Saccheri at Chicago, and express- 

 ing his interest in the most charming fash- 

 ion, proceeded unhesitatingly to give me a 

 profound lecture on stellar paraUax. the 

 measurement of the angles of astronomical 

 triangles and the tests of the quality of 

 what Cayley called ' the physical space of 

 our experience.' 



Again, after the Brooklyn meeting of the 

 American Association, he took up the same 

 subject with me, explained a plan for com- 

 bining stellar spectroscopj' with ordinary 

 parallax determinations, and expressed liis 

 disbelief that C. S. Pierce had proved our 

 space to be of Lobachevsky's kind, and liis 

 conviction that our universal space is really 

 finite, therein agreeing \Nath Sir Robert 

 Ball. 



George Bruce Halsted. 



University of Texas. 



JAJfES D WIGHT DAXA. 



AVe take from the autliorized account by 

 Professor Edward S. Dana, in the May num- 

 ber of the American Journal of Science, the 

 following facts concerning Dana's life. He 

 was born in XJtica, N. Y., on February 12, 

 1813, his father and mother being from 

 Massachusetts. He early showed an inter- 

 est in natural history, which increased dur- 

 ing his course at Yale College from 1830 to 

 1833. Immediatelj- after graduation, Dana 

 spent fifteen months as instructor in mathe- 

 matics to the mid-shipmen of the United 

 States Xavy, the time being passed in the 

 Mediterranean. He then spent two j'ears 

 at New Haven, being part of the time as- 

 sistant in chemisti-y to Benjamin Silliman. 

 The four following years were spent with 

 the exploring expedition sent bj- the govern- 

 ment of the United States under Wilkes to 

 the Southern and Pacific Oceans. The fol- 

 lowing years were devoted to the study of 

 the material collected. In 1 S-1-1 he married 

 a daughter of Prof. Silliman, who survives 

 him, and in 18'4G became associated with 

 him in the editorship of the American Jour- 

 nal of Science. In 1850 Dana was made pro- 

 fessor in Yale College. The remainder of 

 his life was spent as teacher, editor, author 

 and investigator. 



Dana was President of the American As- 

 sociation for the Advancement of Science in 

 1852, and was one of the original members 

 of the National Academy of Sciences ; he 

 received the AVollaston Medal of the Geo- 

 logical Society of London, the Copley Medal 

 from the Royal Societ}-, and the Walker 

 Prize from the Boston Society of Natural 

 History. He received honorary degi'ees 

 from the University of Munich, Edinburgh 

 and Harvard. He was a member of the 

 Royal Society of London, tlie Institute of 

 France, the Rojal Academies of Berlin, 

 Vienna and St. Petersburg, and many 

 other societies. 



In addition to a large number of papers 



