Evening star., 1927-03-28
DIR. WILLIAM H. DALI
D|ESAT AGE OF g
Noted American Scientist
Was Credited With Many
important Discoveries.

DR. William Healey Dali, honorary
curator of mollusks at the United
States National Museum and one OF
the foremost of American scientists,
died yesterday afternoon, at Gariielu
Hospital He was 50 years OLD.
DR.. Dali was born in Boston, son OF
the first missionary of the Unltarlan
Church to India His mother Tor
many years was principal of a school
for young women in Washington. Dan
was educated in the public schools OF
Boston and later entered Harvard
University, where he studied under
Agassiz.
In 1865 he accompanied the Inter
national Telegraph expedition to Alas
ka for the purpose of collecting sclen-
tific data He remained in this serv-
ice for three years. accumulaung val
liable collections. particularly of mol
lusks. In 1870 he published Alaska
and Its Resources, which for more
than 20 years was an accepted au-
thority on this territory
Prepares Data on Mollusks.
He returned to Alaska in 1871 in
the service of the United States Coast
and Geodetic Survey. In 1884 he was
transferred as a paleontologist to the
Geological Survey. Working facili-
ties and a room in which to store his
collections were found for him in the
north tower of the Smithsonian 1nsti-
tuition. and there he remained for
more than 40 years, preparing hun
dreds of papers on mollusks. Larger
quarters were given him in 1909, when
the division of mollusks was trans
ferred to the National Museum Build
ing.
His papers were published by both
the National Museum and the GeOlog
ical Survey. He gained recognition
as the foremost of American authors
on shells. DR.. Dali retired in 1928
but persisted in his work, and was to
be found almost daily in his office.
His last paper was completed the last
day he visited his office and has not
yet been published.
Literary Work Conspicuous.
Besides his scientific papers his lit
erary work included one American edi-
ton of Nadaillac's prehistoric Man"
and biography of Spencer Fullerton
Baird
In addition to his services for the
Government he also held the chair of
invertebrate paleontology in the Wag
ner Institute of Science in Philadel-
phia and periodically delivered
course of lectures there. From 1899
to 1915 he was honorary curator of
the Bishop Museum in Hawaii
He was given the honorary degree
of M. A. in 1888 by Wesleyan Univer-
sity, and that of Sc. D. by the Uni
versity of Pennsylvania in 1904, while
George Washington University gave
him the degree of LII. D. in 1915 In
1882 he was chosen chairman of the
section Of biology of the American AS
sOciation for the Advancement of Sci
ence and in 1885 he became chairman
of the section of .anthropology. In
both cases he had the rank of vice
president of the association. Since
1897 he has been a member of the
National Academy of Sciences and
was a fellow Of the American Acade-
my of Arts and Sciences.
Merit Recognized.
Authors in various bra inches of bot
any and zoology have recognized the
merit OF DR.. DalPs work by comforting
his name on organisms covering the
entire range of the biological sciences.
In commemoration of the completion
of so years of service to science q
dinner was given him at the Cosmos
Club in 1915 by more than 100 of his
colleagues and friends. He. is sur.
vived by his widow, who was Miss An
nette Whitney; by two sons, Col.
Charles Whitney Dali and Marcus Fl,
Dali, and by one daughter. The fami-
ly home is at 1119 Twelfth street.
Funeral services will be held at All
Souls Unitarian Church tomorrow
evening at S o'clock. Interment will
be private.