4 
WILLIAM KEITH BROOKS 
nature of knowledge itself in such a way that his helpfulness 
has been gladly and gratefully recognized in many circles of 
science. 
In his personal character Brooks combined gentleness and 
strength and a rare wisdom. In university matters and in all the 
affairs of life he was a lover of freedom and of justice tempered 
with kindliness. Although looked upon from the beginning as a 
master mind, he was totally free from formality and never ass amed 
the authoritative air of the traditional professor, but met his 
students and associates in all simplicity and frankness as fellow 
student and inquirer. What he was as a man and a student was 
fully revealed, and the singularly deep influence which he exerted 
upon those who worked with him constitutes a remarkable 
tribute to his genuine ability and worth. The close friend- 
ship between him and his students was evidenced in many ways 
in the daily life of the laboratory, and at the evening gather- 
ings at his home. It was given more definite expression on the 
occasion of his promotion to a full professorship, and again on 
his fiftieth birthday, when his pupils came together at Bright- 
side to present to him formally the portrait for which he had 
sat at their request. 
The appreciations, reviews and recollections embodied in the 
following pages and coming from former students and associates 
record some of the labors and some of the traits, human and pro- 
fessional, of a profound thinker and tireless worker. 
SOME RECOLLECTIONS OF PROFESSOR BROOKS CHRONOLOG- 
ICALLY ARRANGED 
1876-79.- Among the company of twenty young men who 
came together in Baltimore in 1876 as the first group of ''Fellows'' 
of Johns Hopkins University, were three biologists. One of these 
was of less than average stature, wearing a serious face, with 
close-set eyes, quiet and unhurried in his movements, speaking 
not frequently, and never with haste. This was W. K. Brooks 
of Williams and Harvard. The biological department was at 
once organized by Professor Martin with Dr. Brooks as an Asso- 
' Professor S. F. Clarke, Williams College. 
