THE AUDUBON BULLETIN 13 
Frank Smith—Teacher 
By Dr. ALvIn R. CAHN 
Department of Zoology, University of Illinois 
For practical purposes we may divide avian-minded persons, whom we 
term ornithologists, into three groups. These are the taxonomists, who 
count and measure; the field men, who observe and perhaps collect; and 
the teachers. he state of Illinois has been particularly fortunate in the 
number of her sons who reached prominence in the first two groups. One 
has but to mention the names of Nelson, Kennicott, Cory, Ridgway, 
Holder, Hess, to start the list. Great teachers of ornithology have been 
sadly few and far between, yet foremost among them I would place 
Frank Smith. 
Born in 1857 at Winneconne, Wisconsin, he took up his first teaching 
duties in the department of mathematics at Hillsdale College, Michigan, 
and the results of his mathematical inclinations were ever present in his 
later work in zoology, as abundantly illustrated by the methodical care 
and precision of his contributions. In 1886 he took the chair of professor 
of chemistry and biology at Hillsdale, remaining there until 1892, when 
he went to Trinity College as instructor in biology for a period of two 
years. The fall of 1893 found him with the department of zoology of the 
University of Illinois, where his advancement through the academic ranks 
to that of professor in 1913, plainly bespeaks the recognition of his genius 
as a zoologist. 
During his teaching years at the state university, Professor Smith 
organized and developed two important courses in the study of ornithology, 
one a beginning course intended to introduce the student to a field knowl- 
edge and the economic status of the birds of the Urbana region; the other 
an advanced course for those who desired to pursue further the study of 
birds. In all some 1,400 students came into these courses. His lectures 
were clear and happily organized, and his classes gratifyingly large and 
enthusiastic. To stress the quality of his training and the success of his 
methods, we need but to mention the names of a few recognized ornithol- 
ogists who developed under his guidance: W. Elmer Ekblaw, who was a 
member of the Croker Land Arctic Expedition; Dr. Alfred O. Gross, 
field ornithologist for the Illinois State Laboratory of Natural History, 
whose contributions, many of them with Dr. Stephen A. Forbes, form a 
conspicuous milestone of progress in the pursuit of field ornithology; and 
T. E. Musselman, who in 1921 published one of the most complete cata- 
logues of the birds of Illinois that we have. 
Due to the fact that Professor Smith chose to establish himself as a 
authority on oligochete worms and fresh 
national—yes, an international 
