572 PROCEEDINGS OF THE KEW YORK MEETING 



generall)' assumed as Lower Silurian. The results of this work appeared 

 chiefly in the American Journal of Science between 1879 and 1890 and 

 established for the author a reputation as a most careful observer of 

 obscure paleontologic detail. He was also the successful designer of 

 mechanical appliances for making thin-sections of the much altered 

 fossils of these semicrj^stalline rocks from which metamorphism had 

 nearljr obliterated the evidences of organic life. It was the privilege of 

 the writer to become acquainted with him in 1885, when in the midst of 

 success in the development of a new field of investigation, and his enthu- 

 siasm and self-sacrificing devotion to his work were such as to inspire the 

 highest admiration. 



At the time when Professor Dwight took up his work it was commonly 

 considered by trustees of colleges that only chemists and physicists were 

 entitled to laboratories and apparatus; other workers in science were 

 supposed to elaborate their conclusions chiefly from the alcoves and dust 

 of the college library. It was therefore at that time a more strenuous 

 undertaking to accomplish the result in question than to do similar work 

 in these enlightened days of more liberal allowances for college work in 

 science. As a teacher. Professor Dwight filled a wide field and will long- 

 be remembered as a strong and beneficent influence in the progress of 

 natural science. He was content to give much of his time to elementary 

 instruction, but will prove to have been of broader helpfulness than some 

 who have specialized in higher branches of geology. 



His end, which came at Cottage City, Massachusetts, on August 29, 

 1906, was sudden, peaceful, and probably painless, perhaps the best that 

 one can desire. Three children survive him with the comfort of an 

 honored father's name. 



MEMOIR OF SAMUEL LEWIS PEXFIELD 

 BY JOSEPH P. IDniNGS 



Samuel Lewis Penfield, known to the world of science as mineralogist 

 and investigator, remembered bj^ hundreds of graduates of the Sheffield 

 Scientific School as the Professor of Mineralogy and Instructor in Blow- 

 pipe Analysis, was to his colleagues and friends a genial and lovable 

 companion, whose cheerfulness, generositj^, steadfastness, and absolute 

 honestv in thought and action form his most memorable characteristics. 



Born in the village of Catskill-on-the-Hudson on January 16, 1856, 

 his boyhood was spent at home, in attending school and in the enjoyment 

 of such sports as a boy may find on the river or the neighboring moun- 

 tains. His father, George H. Penfield, was a shipping merchant, promi- 

 nent in business and in religious affairs, ,a man noted for his generosity 



