ELISHA MITriIf:LL SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY. 19 



and thoroiigli study of the topoi^rapliy and theological structure 

 of the Appahu-hlau re<>:ion. But in this disappointment awaited 

 him. He had but fairly heirun the topoo;ra])liic work when, in 

 vSepteniber, 1883, failing health necessitated his resignation. 



The disease — catan-h of the digestive organs — which had for 

 so long a time preyed u}>ou him, had now greatly weakened his 

 svstcni. Dui-in*!' the two vears f »llowin<i: he was unable to do 

 any active work. He spent the winters at Tampa, Floi'ida, and 

 the summers in the mountain region of this State. It was dur- 

 iuLT these stavs at Tam|)a that he made obsei-vations on the 

 eocene deposits there, his notes on which were j)ul)lished subse- 

 quent to his death, in the Journal of this Society (188o-'8(J). 



Professor Kerr was through his whole life at the disadvan- 

 ta2:e ordinarily attendant on a iihvsical oroanization to() frail for 

 the work imposed upon it. He was of the sturdy and enduring 

 Scotch-Irish I'ace, but there must have been a cross of some other 

 blood which <»:ave him the verve and delicacv of luind and bodv 

 that distinguished him, and that even in early \\i'(^ indicated him 

 as one not likelv to see old aire. For tiu; last fifteen or twentv 

 years the condition of his health was a constant source of anxi- 

 ety to his friends and family. Still he would not succund), but 

 clunu: to his woi'k, imi)elle(l and sustained bv nervous enerjxv 

 alone, and undertaking additional labor even after it was plainly 

 apparent that his day w;is over. 



Many things dei)ressed him, many things irritated and hin- 

 dered, which, if his j)hysi(pie had but been coarser and stronger, 

 he would n(»t have felt. No memoir that means to do him fid! 

 lustice should onu't to indicate; these characteristics, since bv them 

 lie was often judged aixl mi-judged. 



r^r<»m the time of his apj)oiiitiuent as State (Jeologist to the 

 day of his death he spared himself no j)ains, no exertidU, no 

 fatigue in lii> ai'dor for the development of" North ("ai'oliua, his 

 anxiety to see her among the fbi'emost in the new raee set before 

 the S(»uth. 'I'he State has never had a more genuinely and 

 sagaciously publie-<pirited eiti/cn than he. But the times wei'c 

 evil, and for several vears Prol'essor Keir shared the fate ol' all 



