This Is My 78th Birthday
WILLIAM J. BEAL.
Dr. William J. Beal, famous as a botanist and for many years a member of the faculty of the Michigan Agricultural college, was born in Adrian, Michigan, March 11, 1833, and spent his boyhood on a farm. He graduated from the University of Michigan in 1859 and spent the next ten years in teaching school. In 1870 he became professor of botany in the Michigan Agricultural college, and continued in that position until last fall, when he resigned on account of age. Dr. Beal was the first president of the association of Botanists of the United States and first president of the Society for the Promotion of Agricultural Science. He has served also as president of the Society of the Michigan State Academy of Science and as secretary of the American Pomological society. He is the author of several well known works on botanical subjects.