in later years, when he undertook his work on the structure of fossil plants. Williamson very early made a beginning as an original contributor to science. When little more than sixteen he published a paper on the rare birds of Yorkshire, and a little later (in 1834) presented to the Geological Society of London his first memoir on the Mesozoic fossils of his native district. In the meantime he had assisted Lindley and Hutton in the preparation of their well-known Fossil Flora of Great Britain. On entering the medical profession he still found time to carry on his scientific work during his student days, and for three years acted as curator of the Natural History Society’s museum at Manchester. After completing his medical studies at University College, London, in 1841, he returned to Manchester to practise his profession, in which he met with much success. When Owen’s College at Manchester was founded in 1851 he became professor of natural history there, with the duty of teaching geology, zoology and botany. A very necessary division of labour took place as additional professors were appointed, but he retained the chair of botany down to 1892. Shortly afterwards he removed to Clapham, where he died on the 23rd of June 1895. Williamson’s teaching work was not confined to his university classes, for he was also a successful popular lecturer, especially for the Gilchrist Trustees. His scientific work, pursued with remarkable energy throughout life, in the midst of official and professional duties, had a wide scope. In geology, his early work on the zones of distribution of Mesozoic fossils (begun in 1834), and on the part played by microscopic organisms in the formation of marine deposits (1845), was of fundamental importance. In zoology, his investigations of the development of the teeth and bones of fishes (1842–1851), and on recent Foraminifera, a group on which he wrote a monograph for the Ray Society in 1857, were no less valuable. In botany, in addition to a remarkable memoir on the minute structure of Volvox (1852), his work on the structure of fossil plants established British palaeobotany on a scientific basis; on the ground of these researches Williamson may rank with A. T. Brongniart as one of the founders of this branch of science. His contributions to fossil botany began in the earliest days of his career, and he returned to the subject from time to time during the period of his geological and zoological activity. His investigations of the Mesozoic cycadioid fossil Zamia (now Williamsonia) gigas was the chief palaeobotanical work of this intermediate period. His long course of researches on the structure of Carboniferous plants belongs mainly to the latter part of his life, and his results are chiefly, though not wholly, embodied in a series of nineteen memoirs, ranging in date from 1871 to 1893, in the Philosophical Transactions. In this series, and in some works (notably the monograph on Stigmaria ficoides, Palaeontographical Society, 1886), published elsewhere, Williamson elucidated the structure of every group of Palaeozoic vascular plants. Among the chief results of his researches may be mentioned the discovery of plants intermediate between ferns and cycads, the description of the true structure of the fructification in the extinct cryptogamic family Sphenophylleae, and the demonstration of the cryptogamic nature of the dominant Palaeozoic orders Calamarieae, Lepidodendreae and Sigillarieae, plants which on account of the growth of their stems in thickness, after the manner of gymnospermous trees, were regarded as phanerogams by Brongniart and his followers. After a long controversy the truth of Williamson’s views has been fully established, and it is now known that the mode of growth, characteristic in present times, of dicotyledons and gymnosperms prevailed in Palaeozoic ages in every family of vascular cryptogams. Thus, as Count Solms-Laubach has pointed out, palaeobotany for the first time spoke the decisive word in an important question of general botany. Williamson’s work in fossil botany was scarcely appreciated at the time as it deserved, for its great merits were somewhat obscured by the author’s want of familiarity with the modern technicalities of the science. Since, however, the subject has been seriously taken up by botanists of a newer school, the soundness of the foundations he laid has become fully recognized. It may be added that he was a skilled draughtsman, illustrating all his works by his own drawings, and practising water-colour painting as his favourite recreation.
A full account of Williamson’s career will be found in his autobiography, entitled Reminiscences of a Yorkshire Naturalist, edited by his wife (London, 1896). Among obituary notices may be mentioned that by Count Solms-Laubach, Nature (5th September 1895), and one by D. H. Scott in Proc. R.S. vol. lx. (1897) (D. H. S.)
WILLIAMSPORT, a city and the county-seat of Lycoming county, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., on the north bank of the west branch of the Susquehanna river, about 70 m. N. by W. of Harrisburg. Pop. (1890) 27,132; (1900) 28,757, of whom 1144 were negroes and 2228 were foreign-born, including 1089 Germans; (1910 census), 31,860. Area, about 7 sq. m. Williamsport is served by the New York Central & Hudson River, the Pennsylvania, the Susquehanna & New York, and the Philadelphia & Reading railways, and by electric lines connecting with the neighbouring towns of Montoursville (pop. in 1900, 1665), South Williamsport (pop. in 1900, 3328), on the S. bank of the river, and Du Boistown (pop. in 1900, 650). The city has an attractive site, on a high plain, nearly surrounded by hills. It has five parks, Brandon (44 acres) within the city limits, and Vallamont, Starr Island, Sylvan Dell and Nippono in its suburbs. Williamsport is the seat of Williamsport Dickinson Seminary (Methodist Episcopal, co-educational, 1848), a secondary school. Among the principal buildings are the county court house, the city hall, the United States Government building, the Scottish Rite Cathedral, the Masonic Temple, a Y.M.C.A. building, and the James V. Brown Memorial Library (1907). In the city are a Boys' Industrial Home (1898), a Girls' Training School (1895), a Florence Crittenton Home (1895), a Home for Aged Coloured Women (1898), a Home for the Friendless (1872), and Williamsport Hospital (1873). There are practically no tenement houses. The value of factory products in 1905 was $11,738,473, 20.7% more than in 1900. Williamsport has the largest lumber market in Pennsylvania; lumber was for forty years the most important of its manufactures, and Williamsport was styled the “sawdust city.” The decreasing importance of the industry is due to the virtual exhaustion of standing timber in the neighbourhood. Lumber and timber products were valued at $1,310,368 in 1905, and lumber and planing mill products at $579,667. Among other manufactures are silk and silk goods, valued at $1,191,273 in 1905; foundry and machine shop products, $1,164,737; rubber and leather boots and shoes, furniture, &c. The city has a large trade with the surrounding country. The water supply is derived from mountain streams S. of the city. Lycoming county was erected in 1795, in which year Williamsport was founded and became the county-seat, after a bitter contest with Jaysburg, which was then a village of only some half a dozen houses and which subsequently ceased to exist. Williamsport was incorporated as a borough in 1806, and was chartered as a city in 1866.
WILLIAMSTOWN, a town of Bourke county, Victoria, Australia, 9 m. by rail S.W. of Melbourne. Pop. (1901) 14,083. Shipping is the chief business of the place, there being commodious piers, breakwater, also provision for the repair of vessels, patent slips and shipbuilding yards. Several quarries of superior basalt are worked near the town, and brown coal of good quality has also been found. The flourishing industries include woollen-milling, bottle-making, fodder-compressing, meat-freezing and cycle-making.
WILLIAMSTOWN, a township of Berkshire county, Massachusetts, U.S.A., on the Hoosick and Green rivers, in the N.W. corner of the state, and about 20 m. N. of Pittsfield. Pop. (1890) 4221; (1900) 5013, of whom 929 were foreign-born and 138 were negroes; (1910 census), 3708. Williamstown is served by the Boston & Maine railway and by an interurban electric line to North Adams. It covers an area of about 49 sq. m. and contains five villages. Williamstown, the principal village, is a pleasant residential centre on the Green river; it is surrounded by beautiful scenery and its streets are shaded by some fine old trees. Mission Park (10 acres) here is adorned by native
