54 
NOTICE OF BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS 
any finds of ancient human material, archeological or skeletal, that may be 
discovered by the American Army in their trench digging and excavations in 
France. France, as is well known, was the home par excellence of man from 
the haziest antiquity. Most of our knowledge relating to his evolution has 
come from collections made in France, and much more material doubtless 
still lies in French soil. During the extensive digging of trenches and other 
excavations the men of our Army are more than likely to come across such 
precious remains and steps should be taken for their preservation. The 
armies on the western front have already made such discoveries. 
Notwithstanding the discouragement so far encountered by the Committee 
a great deal in the line of its recommendations can still be accomplished. 
Many more drafted men will be examined and the opportunities for observa- 
tions in the camps are multiplying. The collection of post-mortem data and 
material can be initiated at any time before the actual fighting commences. 
Our great problem now is how shall we proceed in order to be more success- 
ful in these directions in the future than we have been in the past, and how 
can our recommendations be made effective? 
W. H. Holmes, Chairman. 
Ales Hrdlicka, Secretary. 
NOTICE OF BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS 
The following biographical memoir has been published by the Academy 
since the last notices of such memoirs appeared in the August 1917 number 
of the Proceedings. 
John Shaw Billings (1838-1913). By S. Weir Mitchell, With The 
Scientific Work of John Shaw Billings. By Fielding H. Garrison. 
Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy, 8, pp. 375^116. 
The first biographer sketches in generality, and with the sympathy of a personal friend, 
the life work of John Shaw Billings in its early struggles, in the army during the Civil War, 
in the Army Medical Museum, in the National Academy, and in the Astor-Tilden-Lenox 
Library of New York. Dr. Garrison, though not neglecting personal characteristics, treats 
primarily the achievements of Dr. Billings in the six fields of his activity, military and pub- 
lic hygiene, hospital construction and sanitary engineering, vital and medical statistics, 
medical bibliography and history, advancement of medical education and the condition of 
medicine in the United States, and in civil administration; he also gives an account of the 
scientific contributions originating with Dr. Billings either directly or through his pupils, 
but attempts no formal bibliographical list of the published writings. 
