52 PROCEEDINGS OF THE BALTIMORE MEETING 



Pre essor Williams was a charter member of and one of the founders 

 of the Geological Society of America. '^It appears probable/^ says Prof. 

 Herman L. Fairchild, that "the initial gathering of the Society, with 

 representatives from different places, was held at Ithaca on the sugges- 

 tion and invitation of Professor Williams. He certainly had immediate 

 charge of the arrangements and was thanked by name along with the 

 trustees of the university, and in the evening he and Mrs. Williams re- 

 ceived the fellows of the university at their residence.'' ^ 



Professor Williams was also the founder of the Society of the Sigma Xi. 



"The fine scientific spirit of Henry Shaler Williams shows itself nowhere 

 more potently than in his connection with the Society of the Sigma Xi. Here 

 he was truly a pioneer, a missionary, and a prophet. His sense of the nobility 

 and majesty of science, of its deeper philosophical significance, and of its 

 proper place in the higher education became manifest. 



**What the society would have become but for his influence we know not; 

 but that it would have been very different from the Sigma Xi today is certain. 

 The little group at Cornell, who in 1885 and 1886 were planning for its estab- 

 lishment, were engineering students. They had in mind an honorary society 

 for engineering students. He persuaded them to build upon a broader founda- 

 tion ; to include pure science without excluding its applications. Thus there 

 came into existence, largely through his labors, which extended over many 

 years, a Phi Beta Kappa for science, but with new ideals and broader func- 

 tions. 



"In his conception, Sigma Xi was to stand for three important things, not 

 even yet fully realized after more than thirty j-^ears, but in process of realiza- 

 tion : ( 1 ) The recognition of scholarship and science, even as scholarship had 

 long been recognized in the humanities. (2) The establishment of a new cri- 

 terion of fitness, more subtle and significant than the old standard of marks 

 or class standings — that is, the promise of achievement in research. (3) The 

 linking together of the great family of sciences through an organization of the 

 workers in all departments of research, so that the sundering and estrange- 

 ment due to modern specialization might be ameliorated and sympathy and 

 cooperation fostered." 9 



Eespected by those who knew him, blest with loyal friends, successful 

 in the chosen profession which he loved, enabled almost to the day of his 

 death to do a work which was a constant joy to him. Professor Williams 

 leaves an indelible record of his achievements in a great science in which 

 great men have worked and will work for generations to come. 



Bibliography 



1873. Comparison of the muscles of the Chelc>jian and human shoulder gir- 

 dles. Transactions of the Connecticut Academy, volume II, pages 

 301-308. 



8 H. L. Fairchild : Memorial address, Cornell University. 

 » Edwai-d L. Nichols : Memorial address, Cornell University. 



