NATIONAL ACADEMY BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS — VOL. VII 



continued in that position until his death. His active scientific 

 life was therefore coextensive with that of the Johns Hopkins 

 University, and his love of the biological department, and his 

 loyalty to his university were always evident. 



CHARACTERISTICS AS TEACHER AND INVESTIGATOR. 



Although his publications were numerous and important, I 

 think that his influence was greatest and most far-reaching in 

 his work as a teacher and scientific director. To few zoolo- 

 gists, perhaps to no other in the history of this country, has it 

 been given to direct the work and shape the scientific ideals of 

 so large and influential a body of young men. Among those 

 who took their doctor's degrees under him are more than a 

 score of the leading zoologists of this country, while many 

 other distinguished scholars of this and foreign lands were his 

 pupils. 



As a teacher, Professor Brooks was characterized by his 

 breadth of view and his interesting and illuminating style, 

 rather than by his accuracy in details. Like all great teachers, 

 he knew that the primary purpose of teaching is inspiration and 

 illumination, and that information is only of secondary im- 

 portance. A candidate for the doctor's degree expressed to 

 Professor Brooks, on the morning after his major examination, 

 his mortification that he had blundered in answering one of 

 the questions. With apparent seriousness Brooks said: "Your 

 mistake is a serious one, for it makes you responsible for mis- 

 informing my whole class on that subject; I used your answer 

 in my lecture this morning." 



His lectures were often vivid and picturesque, as well as 

 clear and logical ; and this, joined with his habit of taking little 

 for granted on the part of his hearers and of dealing with the 

 broader and more general phases of a subject, made his lec- 

 tures interesting not only to biologists, but also to those having 

 no special knowledge of the subject. He invariably lectured 

 without notes, and yet his lectures were so orderly and logical 

 that they bespoke the logical character of his mind. Professor 

 Howell in his memorial address (Johns Hopkins University 

 Circular, No. 212, January, 1909) said, with regard to this, 

 that "when it was known that Brooks was to give a paper 



42 



