No. 5.] IN MEMORIAM E. BILLINGS. 259 



articles to the "Naturalist," and besides numerous official reports in 

 the publications of the Survey, he wrote valuable papers for the 

 Journal of the Canadian Institute of Toronto, for the American 

 Journal of Science and Arts, and for the Geological Magazine 

 of London. He was awarded a bronze medal in Class 1 by the 

 jurors of the London International Exhibition of 1862, and a 

 similar one at the Paris Exposition Universelle in 1867. 



For three years before his death, Mr. Billings' state of health 

 was such as to cause grave uneasiness to his friends. Slowly 

 and insidiously his originally vigorous constitution was under- 

 mined by that affection of the kidneys known as Bright's disease 

 to which he ultimately succumbed on the morning of the 14th 

 of June, 1876. 



As is the case with so many original thinkers, Mr. Billings 

 was entirely a self-taught man, so far at least as science was con- 

 cerned. The success of his career as a palaeontologist — and that 

 it was a success can scarcely be doubted — was largely due to the 

 concentration of his mind on one object. To this must be added 

 the possession of analytical powers of mind of a high order, 

 which enabled him to discriminate readily between specific or 

 generic distinctions as opposed to merely individual differences. 

 In his knowledge of the invertebrates of the Lower Palaeozoic 

 rocks of Canada he had no equal, though his weakest point was 

 unquestionably the Protozoa of these deposits. From the Silu- 

 rian and Devonian formations in the Dominion he described 

 about one thousand new species of fossils, and the frequency 

 with which his writings are enquired for both in America and 

 Europe, afford the best proof of the high estimation in which 

 they are held abroad. Until his health failed him, he was to be 

 found at his desk as early as half-past seven in the morning, and 

 he often took his work home with him at night. He possessed 

 a capacity for brain labour such as falls to the lot of few, and 

 taught himself enough of German, Norwegian, Swedish, and 

 Danish to be able to construe palgeontological essays in either of 

 these languages with ease. That he was enabled to devote 

 twenty years of his life exclusively to the prosecution of resear- 

 ches for which he shewed so much aptitude, was no doubt a very 

 great advantage, yet on the other hand he had many difficulties 

 to contend with, especially in the earlier part of his life. Before 

 1856 he had access to no public collections or to any good scien- 

 tific libraries., Apart from his visit to England, and he stayed 



