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  Samuel 
  Wendell 
  Williston. 
  

  

  SAMUEL 
  WENDELL 
  WILLISTON 
  

  

  While 
  occupying 
  a 
  position 
  high 
  among 
  the 
  leaders 
  of 
  

   science 
  in 
  America, 
  and 
  before 
  his 
  powers 
  had 
  begun 
  to 
  

   wane, 
  or 
  the 
  clarity 
  of 
  his 
  scientific 
  vision 
  to 
  grow 
  

   obscure, 
  Professor 
  Williston 
  was 
  called 
  to 
  his 
  account. 
  

   He 
  died 
  on 
  August 
  30, 
  1918, 
  in 
  the 
  sixty-eighth 
  year 
  of 
  his 
  

   age. 
  

  

  Although 
  of 
  New 
  England 
  stock 
  and 
  Boston 
  nativity, 
  

   Williston 
  's 
  boyhood 
  through 
  the 
  completion 
  of 
  his 
  school 
  

   and 
  collegiate 
  education 
  was 
  spent 
  in 
  Kansas, 
  as 
  were 
  

   many 
  of 
  the 
  most 
  productive 
  years 
  of 
  his 
  after 
  life. 
  New 
  

   Haven, 
  Lawrence 
  and 
  Manhattan, 
  Kansas, 
  and 
  Chicago 
  

   were 
  his 
  places 
  of 
  residence, 
  although 
  the 
  pursuit 
  of 
  his 
  

   researches 
  took 
  him 
  farther 
  afield. 
  

  

  At 
  Yale 
  he 
  studied 
  medicine, 
  taking 
  his 
  M.D. 
  in 
  1880, 
  

   and 
  filling 
  the 
  chair 
  of 
  anatomy 
  in 
  the 
  Medical 
  School 
  

   from 
  1886 
  to 
  1890. 
  Previous 
  to 
  this, 
  however, 
  he 
  had 
  

   become 
  interested 
  in 
  fossil 
  vertebrates, 
  and 
  studied 
  under 
  

   Professor 
  Marsh, 
  aiding 
  to 
  a 
  large 
  degree 
  in 
  field 
  work 
  in 
  

   the 
  Kansas 
  Chalk 
  and 
  in 
  the 
  dinosaurian 
  deposits 
  of 
  the. 
  

   Morrison. 
  As 
  an 
  appreciation 
  of 
  his 
  attainments 
  in 
  

   research, 
  Yale 
  conferred 
  the 
  Ph.D. 
  degree 
  upon 
  Williston 
  

   in 
  1885; 
  this 
  judgment 
  was 
  reaffirmed 
  in 
  1913, 
  when 
  he 
  

   received 
  from 
  Yale 
  an 
  honorary 
  Sc.D. 
  We 
  have, 
  how- 
  

   ever, 
  no 
  record 
  of 
  the 
  actual 
  research 
  in 
  paleontology 
  

   which 
  he 
  may 
  have 
  accomplished 
  during 
  his 
  association 
  

   with 
  Professor 
  Marsh. 
  It 
  was 
  mainly 
  to 
  find 
  an 
  outlet 
  

   for 
  his 
  ideas 
  that 
  he 
  took 
  up 
  the 
  study 
  of 
  insects, 
  espe- 
  

   cially 
  the 
  Diptera, 
  as 
  a 
  side 
  issue. 
  This 
  group 
  became, 
  

   however, 
  of 
  such 
  absorbing 
  interest 
  that 
  by 
  1896 
  he 
  had 
  

   published 
  no 
  fewer 
  than 
  eighty-three 
  authoritative 
  

   papers 
  upon 
  it 
  — 
  more 
  than 
  half 
  of 
  his 
  entire 
  output 
  of 
  

   scientific 
  publication 
  up 
  to 
  that 
  time. 
  

  

  In 
  the 
  year 
  1890 
  Williston 
  was 
  elected 
  professor 
  of 
  

   geology 
  and 
  anatomy 
  and 
  dean 
  of 
  the 
  Medical 
  School 
  of 
  

   the 
  L^niversity 
  of 
  Kansas, 
  and 
  there 
  he 
  wrought 
  some 
  of 
  

   his 
  best 
  work 
  until 
  called 
  to 
  Chicago. 
  Lawrence 
  being 
  

   not 
  far 
  from 
  the 
  fossil 
  areas, 
  Williston 
  spent 
  season 
  

   after 
  season 
  in 
  the 
  field, 
  securing 
  a 
  large 
  and 
  represen- 
  

   tative 
  series 
  of 
  fossils 
  from 
  Kansas 
  and 
  the 
  contiguous 
  

   stales. 
  It 
  was 
  but 
  natural 
  that 
  he 
  should 
  turn 
  his 
  atten- 
  

   tion 
  to 
  the 
  mosasaurs 
  and 
  plesiosaurs 
  of 
  the 
  Kansas 
  

  

  