WARD, LESTER FRANK (1841-1913), American geolo gist and sociologist, was born in Joliet, Ill., on June 18, 1841. He graduated at Columbian (now George Washington) university in 2869 and from the law school in 1871, his education having been delayed by his service in the Union army during the Civil War. In 1865-72 he was employed in the United States Treasury department, and became assistant geologist in 1881 and geologist in 1888 to the U. S. geological survey. In 1884-86 he was pro fessor of botany in Columbian university. He wrote much on
palaeobotany, including A Sketch of Palaeobotany (1885), The Geographical Distribution of Fossil Plants (1888) and The Status of the Mesozoic Floras of the United States (1905). His more important works are : Dynamic Sociology (1883, 2nd ed. 1897), Psychic Factors of Civilization (1897), Outlines of Sociol ogy (1898), Sociology and Economics (1899), Pure Sociology (1903), and with J. Q. Dealy, Text-Book of Sociology (1905). He died in Washington, D.C., on April 18, 1913.