WILLIAM KEITH BROOKS — CONKIJN 



before the scientific association of the university it was a cus- 

 tom for men in all the graduate departments to attend the 

 meeting-, so much did they appreciate the charm and clearness 

 with which he could present the problems of his subject." I 

 well remember the first time I saw and heard him ; it was on 

 the occasion of the annual opening of the graduate school in 

 the fall of 1888. His appearance was neither impressive nor 

 prepossessing, but when he began to speak the closest attention 

 was paid to him. In fascinating terms he described the beau- 

 ties of the Bahama Islands, with their cocoanut palms and 

 coral reefs ; and I shall never forget the enthusiasm and the 

 calm but almost dramatic manner with which he described the 

 finding of the eggs of Gonodactylus in the twilight of his first 

 day in the Bahamas. Equally vivid are the memories in the 

 minds of all his students of his description of the way in which 

 a starfish eats an oyster ; of the comparison of a starfish with a 

 sea urchin; of the structure and movements of a jelly fish; of 

 the structure of a squid (in which his own body represented 

 the visceral mass and his coat. the mantle) ; of Salpa, "a barrel 

 with muscular hoops, " or Pyrosoma, which at night looked like 

 "a redhot cannon ball." Most delightful, too, were his refer- 

 ences to the history of zoological discovery, as, for example, 

 Aristotle's knowledge of the relationships between the various 

 members of a colony of bees, or Chamisso's discovery of the 

 supposed alternation of generations in Salpa. 



His blackboard drawings added very much to the interest 

 and value of his lectures; with a firm, even hand he would 

 sketch the form he was describing, and he rarely needed any 

 other eraser than his forefinger. He had learned, early in 

 life, to draw on the blackboard with both hands, by observing 

 the work of Prof. E. S. Morse, while lecturing in Cleveland. 

 He was really an artist of considerable ability and his pub- 

 lished drawings were made with much care; in general, they 

 were not only accurate, but also artistic. He was a great be- 

 liever in pen and ink drawings, and the time and care which 

 be devoted to putting in round and equidistant stipples seemed 

 excessive, until one learned that these were times of reflection 

 with him. His fondness for innovation was shown by his 

 adoption, at one time, of a method of drawing with lithographic 



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