WILLIAM KEITH BROOKS 
A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE BY SOME OF HIS FORMER PUPILS 
AND ASSOCIATES^ 
William Keith Brooks, second of the four sons of Oliver Allen 
Brooks and Ellenora Bradbury Kingsley, was born at Cleveland, 
Ohio, March 25, 1848. His parents were both descended from 
the early settlers of Massachusetts, the first of the name having 
come to America from England, before the year 1634. His 
father, who was born in Middlebury, Vermont, had removed to 
Cleveland in 1835, where he was engaged in business. 
As a boy. Brooks was studious and thoughtful. He obtained 
his early education in the public schools of Cleveland, and entered 
Hobart College at the age of eighteen. Two years later he entered 
the junior class at Williams College, from which he received the 
degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1870. Although in college he had 
^ Biographical sketches of Professor W. K. Brooks have been published as fol- 
lows: 
1. E. A. Andrews; Sketch of William Keith Brooks. Pop. Sci. Monthly, vol. 
55 no. 3, July 1899, pp. 400-409, with portrait. 
2. E. A. Andrews; William Keith Brooks. Science, N. S. vol. 28 Dec. 4, 1908, 
pp. 777-786, and Jan. 1, 1909, p. 31. 
3. Edwin G. Conklin; The Life and Work of Professor Brooks. Anatomical 
Record, vol. 3, no. 1, January 1909, pp. 1-13, with portrait. 
4. Edwin G. Conklin; William Keith Brooks. Proc. Am. Phil. Soc, no. 190, 
1909, pp. 3-10. 
5. Edwin G. Conklin; Biographical Memoir of William Keith Brooks, 1848- 
1908. National Academy of Sciences, Biographical Memoirs, vol. 7, February 
1910. 
6. E. A. Andrews ; Biography of William Keith Brooks, in ' ' Leading Americans, ' ' 
Holt & Co., New York. 1910. 
A meeting commemorative of Prof. Brooks was held in McCoy Hall, Johns 
Hopkins University, Nov. 12, 1908. Addresses were made by Professor B. L. 
Gildersleeve, Dr. H. M. Hurd, Professor W. H. Howell, Professor E. A. Andrews, 
Dr. Caswell Grave and Professor W. H. Browne. See Johns Hopkins Univer- 
sity Circular, January 1909. 
THE JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL ZOOLOGT, VOL. 9, NO. 1. 
