WARD, LESTER FRANK (1841—). An Ameri can geologist and paleontologist, well known as a sociologist and philosophieal writer. He was born at Joliet, Ill., and obtained his early education in that State. After serving in the Federal Army during the Civil \Var he was graduated from the Columbian Uni versity, Washington, D. C., in 1869, and two years later from the Law School of the same uni versity. After seven years of work in the United States Treasury Department he be came an assistant geologist under the United States Geological Survey, and after 1888 was a paleontologist of the Survey. Already for many years Ward had been deeply interested in the broader aspects of evolution, and especially in the problems of social evolution. Accepting in its broader outlines the philosophy of Spencer, he modified it in certain particulars as a formu lation of physical phenomena, and radically in its application to society. In 1883 lie published a
large work in two volumes, entitled Dynamic Sociology. in which he outlined a complete sys tem of cosmic philosophy. As a contribution to sociology it was recognized as a powerful and original work. The psychological character of all social phenomena was again insisted upon and more fully expounded in The Psychic Fac tors of Cirilization (1893). Certain views were further developed in the Outlines of Sociology (1898), and in Pure Sociology (1903). In 1903 he was president of the Institut Internationale de Sociologic of Paris. .Among, his more impor tant contributions to geology and paleontology are: The Flora of Washington. (1881); Sketch of Paleontological Botany (1885) ; Synopsis of the Flora of the Laramie Group (18.86); Types of the Laramie Flora (1887) ; and Geographical Distri bution of Fossil Plants (1889).