Igtt} BRIEFER ARTICLES 143 
northern island and was the first person of western origin to live among 
them. . He collected many data and made many photographs see 
tive of his observations among these people, which have unfortunately 
never been published. His sojourn in Japan, however, had one impor- 
tant result, namely that of directing the attention of the young scien- 
tist to the extremely interesting arboreal flora of these islands. After 
his return to the United States, in 1880, he spent several years in special 
investigations at Cambridge, Mass. When Sir Wrmt1am Dawson of 
McGill University called upon 
Asa GRaAy to send him a young 
man qualified to initiate botanical 
studies, PENHALLOW was the 
choice. His relations with Sir 
Witt1am Dawson, a_ distin- 
guished geologist and paleontolo- 
gist, gave a paleobotanical bent 
to the scientific investigations of 
the young botanist. During his 
earlier years at McGill, he pub- 
lished a number of articles on 
fossil plants, some of which were 
in collaboration with Sir WiLLIAM 
Dawson. Most important among 
these are his investigations on the 
gigantic Devonian seaweeds of 
Gaspé, Canada, and of another 
problematic vegetation from the 
Devonian of Kentucky, including 
remains of what must now prob- 
ably be regarded as the earliest fernlike seed plants. 
PENHALLOW early saw the need of the structural study of fossil 
plants, and in his later life was among the most prominent American 
authorities on the organization of extinct conifers. He gave his special 
attention to this field for nearly 25 years, publishing, in the early 
nineties, a key to the identification of coniferous woods, based upon 
their microscopic structure. The principles laid down by GOEPPERT, 
Kraus, and other European masters in this field were used for the 
elucidation of the structure and affinities of American conifers living and 
extinct. Professor PENHALLOW was among the very first to astemep* 
to interpret the evolutionary sequence of the conifers in terms of their 
