MEMORIAL OF C. S. PROSSER 71 



whose ancestor, William Lawrence, came to tins country with the Tuttles 

 in 1635. 



At the age of sixteen Charles Prosser entered the Union School at 

 Brookfielcl, New York, and graduated with the first class in 1879. The 

 following summer was spent in Professor Wait's preparatory school at 

 Ithaca, and he entered Cornell University in the fall, graduating with 

 the class of 1883, with the degree of Bachelor of Science. He began his 

 graduate studies the following year, the first holder of the Cornell Fellow- 

 ship in Natural History. He now came under the tutelage and inspira- 

 tion of that master of precise stratigraphic methods. Prof. Henry Shaler 

 Williams, who was to develop the natural aptitudes and tendencies of the 

 boy, already stimulated by the rock ledges of the Unadilla Valley, into 

 the fruitful powers of the fully equipped geologist. He acted as Doctor 

 Williams' assistant in the Devonian laboratory of the United States 

 Geological Survey from 1883 to 1888, spending the greater part of his 

 summers in the field in New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. 



In 1888 he was appointed an assistant paleontologist on tlic United 

 States Geological Survey in the division of Paleobotany, then in charge 

 of the versatile Lester F. AA^ard. He remained with the Survey until 

 1892, being detailed for field-work in New York, Pennsylvania, Mary- 

 land, Virginia, and Arkansas. It can not be said that his experience on 

 the Federal Survey was altogether to his liking, for he was not especially 

 interested in fossil plants, nor was he especially trained in that phase of 

 paleontologic work. The exacting requirements of the work were, how- 

 ever, excellent training, and he acquired during this period particularly 

 that careful technique in the preparation of manuscript and conscientious 

 attention to details which stood him in good stead throughout the rest of 

 his life, and which he imparted in some measure to the younger geologists 

 who received their training under him. This period also brought him 

 the acquaintance of many eminent men and established many a lasting 

 and helpful friendship. He never completely severed his connection with 

 the Survey, but his chief labor was from this time on to be in another 

 field, namely, that of the teacher. 



From 1892 to 1894 he was Professor of Geology at AYashburn College, 

 Topeka, Kansas. Here began the interest in the younger Paleozoic rocks 

 of Kansas and adjoining States, which was to be foremost in his thoughts 

 for the balance of his life; for always, whatever other problems might 

 temporarily absorb his attention, his mind loved most to dwell on the 

 problems of the Permian. Eemoval to Union College, New York, in 

 1894, presently made it impossible for him to do active field-work in 

 Kansas, though he returned several times to his favorite excursions in 



