MEMOIK OF PERSIFOR FRAZER / 



his professorship of chemistry to take charge of the geological work in 

 some of the counties in the southeastern part of the State. The geology 

 in this region is in many cases very complicated, and the highest scien- 

 tific ability was required in solving the many problems involved. Frazer, 

 however, showed himself thoroughly capable of handling the task, and in 

 a masterly way he worked out the structure and other intricate geological 

 problems of the region in great detail. This work brought him more 

 into the public eye and gave him more prominence than anything he had 

 previously done. Four volumes of the publications of the Second Geo- 

 logical Survey of Pennsylvania and a monograph in another volume 

 attest to the energy with which he pursued his geological researches dur- 

 ing the eight years in which he was connected with that organization. 



In 1881 Frazer was general manager of the Central Virginia Iron 

 Company. Somewhat later he took up the practice of his profession as 

 consulting and reporting geologist, chemist, metallurgist, and mining 

 engineer, and continued in it for many years. This led him to many 

 different parts of the United States and foreign countries, and his numer- 

 ous papers published during this period prove his activity in his investi- 

 gations, and also show that, though engaged on the commercial side of 

 his profession, he never lost his interest in the purely scientific side. 



While in France in 1881-1882 Frazer received the degree of Docteur 

 es-Sciences Katurelles from the Universite de France, being the first for- 

 eigner to whom this degree had ever been given. It was conferred upon 

 him after a rigid examination and on the presentation of a thesis entitled. 

 "Memoire sur la geologic de la partie sud-est de la Pennsylvanie." In 

 1890 again the French Government honored him with the title of Officier 

 de ^Instruction Publique. 



In 1880-1881 Doctor Frazer was vice-president of the American Insti- 

 tute of Mining Engineers, and in 1907 he was vice-president of the coun- 

 cil of the same society. In 1885 he represented the American Associa- 

 tion for the Advancement of Science before the Eoyal Society of Canada, 

 and in the same year he was chosen secretary of the American Committee 

 of the International Geological Congress. In 1888 he was appointed 

 vice-president of the same committee at the meeting of the International 

 Geological Congress held in London that year, and in 1897 he was again 

 chosen vice-president of this committee at the meeting of the Interna- 

 tional Geological Congress held in Saint Petersburg. 



Doctor Frazer was one of the founders of the "American Geologist" 

 and was one of its editors from 1888-1905. In 1889 he was chosen pro- 

 fessor of horticultural chemistry by the Horticultural Society of Perm- 



