Ill \\\v W iiilci- (if l"ll| l"ll_' I'l-efi'-, -..,!• \\;itN ;irrMiii|i;inic(l (lie 

 writrr mi lii^ I K-scrl Sij^ni I 'i i->l l''.\i)i'ilitii iii iiitu llir deserts of 

 C'lilifi'i Ilia and Nex'ada, wliirli resulted in Stair and I niled States 

 (i(-iveniiiu'nt •^upimrt. and a ^axini; nf lil\' and nnirli iniinrc I'roni 

 tliirsf. 



In IS" '4, tlie I.MS Aiii^eles C'liamher of ( 'oiiinierre |)cli! ioiied die 

 State Mining- lUiiTan {<< -end an exiiert liere lo xtud\' the oil and 

 gas l)eai"in,L; foiaiialioii^. rrote^Mir W att^ was cIiom^'II, and his 

 report stimulated later activity, and was really the hef^dnning of 

 the immense de\'eloi)ment which (|iiickdy followed. 



He was a memlier of the American Institute of Mining Engin- 

 eers. I)irectt)r and Fellow of our Southern California Academy 

 of Sciences, and proniinent in the Masonic I'raternity, T.os An- 

 geles Chamber of Mines and Mining and of the Academy of Sci- 

 ences San I'^rancisco. He wrote numerous reports on oil condi- 

 tions and was the author of "Snioland or Iceland. 'It's Jokuls and 

 Fjalls" — 1875; "Bulletin No. 3 California State Mining Bureau"; 

 "Gas and Petroleum Yielding Formations of the Central Valley 

 of California and contributed largely to California State Mining 

 Reports 8, 1(), 11,12 and \^. In 1876 he wrote another book on 

 his Icelandic adventures "Aci'oss the A^atna Jokul." 



At the time of his death, which occurred on board the S. S. 

 Navarre at Sea, Januar}- 2nd. l'^21. Professor Watts was return- 

 ing from London to Trinidad, British West Indies where he was 

 associated as geological expert for the Kern River Oil Fields 

 Company of California, Limited. 



Lender Louis 14th, members of the Academy of Paris were 

 granted pensions for life. Other cities in France emulated Paris 

 and academies were established in IMontpelier, Toulouse, Nunes, 

 Aries, Lyons, Dijon, and Bordeaux. 



Tlie Royal Academy of Sciences was established at Berlin in 

 1714. Alexander Von Humboldt was one of its members. Cath- 

 erine of Russia established an Academy of Sciences in 1728 and 

 endowed it with a sum equivalent to S24,000. Sweden, Denmark 

 and the Netherlands had their academies. The Royal Society of 

 London, the most distinguished scientific body in the world, grew 

 out of what was hrst called an Academv of Sciences. 



38 



