1888.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 399 



BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF GEORGE W. TRYON, Jr. 



BY AV. S. W. RUSCHENBERGEPv, M. D. 



" for, go at night or noon, 



A friend, whene'er he dies, has died too soon, 

 And, once we hear the liopeless He is dead. 

 So far as flesh hath knowledge, all is said." 



yatnes Russell Lowell — Agassiz. 



The Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia requested me, 

 February 7th, 1888, to prepare a biographical notice of the late 

 George W. Tryon, Jr. for publication in its Proceedings. He died 

 February 5. The suddenness of the event shocked all his personal 

 and many of his merely scientific friends, far and near. One (Mr- 

 C. E. Beddome), who is in every sense qualified to justly appraise 

 his worth, said to me in a note, dated Tasmania, April 4, not very 

 long since received, — " I have respected him as one of the grandest 

 conchologists of the day. I feel that I have lost my most valued 

 correspondent ; but what must be the loss of your academy and the 

 conchological world. His great Avork * Manual of Conchology,' not 

 yet finished, will be the grandest monument that could be erected to 

 his memory." 



Eminence, fairly acquired by a toiler on any path of learning or 

 scientific research, wins admiration, especially from those moving 

 forward on the same quest, Avhether in his neighborhood or in places 

 widely remote ; and after he dies, they become more or less curious 

 about his origin and career. Some are pleased to seek causes of his 

 success in the circumstances of his life, assuming that social environ- 

 ment sways the formation of character, just as physical conditions 

 surrounding certain organisms are supposed to influence their de- 

 velopment. Students of this class ask where the eminent man was 

 born and raised and trained, as well as what notable features char- 

 acterized the locality where he grew to be distinguished among his 

 associates. Those of another sort, who confide almost entirely in 

 the doctrines of heredity, are disposed to ascribe the notable qualities 

 of a contemporary to his parents and their ancestors, thus failing to 

 recognize in him any merit wholly and clearly his own. They seem 

 to forget that uncommon intellectual force, mental capability is not 

 always traceable to heredity or to environment in any considerable 



