Dean Shaler was perhaps the most versatile member of the Faculty. He not only attained distinction as an administrator and scientist, but was also well known as a soldier, historian, philosopher, and poet. After graduating from the Scientific School as a Bachelor of Science in 1862, he served two years in the Union army, as captain of a Kentucky volunteer battery, known as "Shaler's Battery." Four years after leaving the army Dean Shaler became a member of the Faculty.

As a teacher and educator Dean Shaler combined the exacting standards of the old-fashioned school-master with a breadth of view and a progressive spirit which lead him to welcome and vigorously promote all improvements in educational methods. He was one of President Eliot's most active and useful so-workers in the many educational reforms accomplished in the University during the last 35 years.

Most conspicuous was his long and active service as Dean of the Scientific School, during which time he applied his energies unsparingly to bringing the School up to the highest standard of excellence.

Next to his service for the Scientific School, Dean Shaler's administrative work is perhaps chiefly distinguished by his successful development of the Summer School. Another feature of the College administration which had his active approval and support was the Student Reception Committee, a system by which every new comer should be assisted in adjusting himself to his new surroundings and made to feel from the first that his College was directly concerned in his comfort and success.

Dean Shaler was a strict disciplinarian, but his rule was always tempered with justice and sympathy. During his 15 years as Dean of the Scientific School he never failed to visit a sick student in his department. In cases of serious illness he called every day, sometimes even oftener. He went to the Stillman Infirmary almost daily.

To strangers he gave the impression of a certain abruptness of manner, but those who knew him well learned that this was in appearance only, and that his habit of blunt, direct speech was really the expression of a simple, earnest, democratic nature, scorning all pretense of super-refinement and anxious to meet all upon the terms of absolute equality. He combined the instinct of the true scholar with a wonderful breadth of sympathies and a fellow feeling for all.

As a student he was known primarily as a geologist, but he had investigated as well practically every other branch of science. In his scientific work he was essentially a pioneer and investigator: an enthusiastic explorer of volcanoes and caverns, and curious, unusual phenomena in geology. He placed himself repeatedly in danger, and was several times an eye-witness of avalanches and landslides.

He never cared very much for the closet study of exact sciences, and although he constantly applied mathematical computations in interpreting and generalizing from natural phenomena, he regarded such processes as a useful instrument of research rather than an end worth while in themselves. Tangible, physical facts were his chief interest.

The Dean's wide range of interests was shown in his writings. Three recent works, "The Individual", "The Citizen" and "The Neighbor", appear to have been written with one general purpose, that of answering many questions that arise in the minds of each intelligent member of society, concerning his relation to his surroundings. Not more than three years ago he published "Elizabeth of England", a drama in five acts, each in a separate volume, written in blank verse. He wrote this to disprove the statement so often made that prolonged scientific study unfits a man for literary activity. He also wrote the Phi Beta Kappa poem in 1902.

There was no man more widely known through the University among undergraduates, and those in the professional schools. Professor Shaler's lectures were popular, and numbers of men who were not taking the course came through sheer interest in what would be said, and in the manner in which it would be said. His use of the English language was notable for its forcible and original choice of words, and the apt expression of those turns of thought which will always be associated with his keen sense of humor.

Every afternoon, except in very stormy weather, he took a long walk. With his walking stick tucked under his arm, and his hands deep in his coat pockets, he came from University Hall and left the Yard with his long swinging stride. He never failed to attend morning prayers, and promptly at 8.45 he was to be seen walking across the lawn toward the Chapel, where he always occupied the same pew.

His kindly figure will always hover in the memory of numberless Harvard men.

By Theodore Roosevelt '80.

White House, Washington, D. C., April 11, 1906.

To the Editors of the CRIMSON: