36 
WILLIAM KEITH BROOKS 
long campaign of education. In this he had in mind to bring the 
State to realize the value of the Chesapeake for oyster production, 
and the worth of proper methods of supervision and cultivation. 
He was available for semi-popular lectures, wrote magazine and 
newspaper articles on the subject of oysters, and in 1891, published 
a treatise entitled ^'The Oyster," a little book that had wide 
influence and which was characterized by President D. C Gil- 
man as '^a memoir in natural history and a chapter of political 
economy,'^ in which the life history of the oyster is described '^in 
terms scientific enough to be accurate, not so scientific as to be 
hard of understanding." 
Dr. Brooks' efforts during this period resulted in the creation 
of an intelligent appreciation on the part of the general public 
not only throughout Maryland but in all of the Atlantic States 
as well, of the value and possibilities of the natural resources of 
tidal waters for the production of oysters, and men of large influ- 
ence were enlisted in the cause of oyster culture. This deep cumu- 
lative influence of Professor Brooks on the public mind made him 
one of the most valuable citizens Maryland has ever had. Others 
carried to completion the task of crystallizing sentiment in favor of 
oyster culture, and finally in 1906 the Maryland Legislature 
passed a law for the protection and propagation of oysters along 
substantially the line that had been advocated by Brooks. The 
long campaign was thus happily terminated. 
Contribution to Anthropology.^'^ Brooks' paper ^^On the Luca- 
yan Indians" embodies the results of an excursion into the field 
of physical anthropology made during two visits to the Bahama 
Islands in connection with his summer laboratory. Very charac- 
teristically, he became interested in the history of the islands 
and in the people who dwelt there when they were discovered 
by Columbus. The skeletal fragments which there is reason to 
believe represent remains of the aborigines are very few. The 
material which Brooks had, and which was found in caves on 
the islands, consisted of three well preserved skulls and some 
" Professor H. H. Donaldson, The Wistar Institute. 
