20 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



REPORT OF THE DEPARTMENT OF GEOLOGY AND 



GEOGRAPHY. 



By Robert DeC. Ward. 



Several important changes have taken place during the year 

 1911-1912. Professor Davis's absence, as Exchange Professor at 

 the Sorbonne, necessitated the bracketing of his courses. At the end 

 of the year, Professor Davis resigned his position as Sturgis Hooper 

 Professor of Geology. He began his service at Harvard as Assist- 

 ant in the year 1876-1877. He was Instructor from 1878 to 1885; 

 Assistant Professor of Physical Geography from 1885 to 1890; 

 Professor of Physical Geography from 1890 to 1899, and has been 

 Sturgis Hooper Professor of Geology since 1899. In Professor 

 Davis's withdrawal the Department loses its senior member, a 

 valued and effective teacher, whose work in geology, meteorology, 

 and especially in physiography has contributed greatly to the 

 advancement of these sciences. The Department has suffered a 

 severe loss in the death, on April 7, 1912, of Professor A. Lawrence 

 Rotch. As Professor of Meteorology, Professor Rotch had been 

 a member of the Department since 1908, in which year he placed 

 the splendid equipment of his Blue Hill Observatory at the service 

 of the Department by offering an advanced course in meteorologi- 

 cal research ("Geology 20f") to competent students. By this 

 affiliation the Department was able to offer unequalled opportuni- 

 ties to its advanced students in meteorology. Professor Rotch's 

 death has thus made a very serious break in the instruction which 

 we have lately been able to give. It is not out of place to add that 

 Professor Rotch was Harvard's first Professor of Meteorology; 

 that he served in this professorship without pay, and that he left 

 to the University, the Blue Hill Observatory with an endowment 

 of $50,000. 



The appointment of Professor Reginald A. Daly, as Sturgis 

 Hooper Professor of Geology, brings to the Department a well- 

 known geologist, of high scientific standing, who will in every way 

 contribute to its development and influence. 



Professor Percy E. Raymond's appointment, as Assistant Pro- 

 fessor of Palaeontology, has greatly strengthened the Department. 

 Instruction in palaeontology was resumed in the second half-year. 



