CARL LUDWIG ROMIXC.iCK — MHKKll.l, 8l 



offered a great obstacle to his progress. Indeed, he never became a 

 ready writer of Enghsh. German was his native tongue and to it 

 he resorted whenever conditions would allow. Even when -writing 

 or talking, his form of construction was more German than English, 

 and the force and point of his remarks and criticishis were often 

 wholly lost on this account. 



The following quotation from a personal memorandum to the 

 present writer, made a few years before his death, and referring to 

 his work on corals (vol. iii of the Survey reports), will illustrate both 

 of these points : 



"It was my original intention to continue the work I had bej^un 

 under the auspices of the Geological Survey, but the installation of 

 Governor Alger made a sudden end of my position, which I had 



filled for fourteen years To continue this work on my 



own expense I became totally discouraged after I had made the 

 experience with the extra copies I had printed of the third volume 

 on my own expense. Urged to do it by more than one himdred 

 letters of persons wishing to obtain it from me after the State had 

 no more of this volume to give away, I ordered two hundred fifty 

 copies printed, and paid for each volume $4.75 ; wanted to sell them 

 for the same amount, but to my surprise most of the persons order- 

 ing the volume were expecting it as a donation. With difficulty I 

 could sell at the rate of $3.00 about fifty volumes, and one hundred 

 fift}- I gave away, and about one hundred are left in my hands un- 

 sold. This experience cost me about $800.00 direct loss and cured 

 me of every attempt to edit a book at my own expense." 



Dr. Rominger is described by those who knew him as a genuine 

 scientist of the old school- — brusque in his manner, not always too 

 patient toward those who asked what seemed to him foolish ques- 

 tions, but withal generous and unpretentious. 



He was an indefatigable collector and spared neither time nor 

 energy in the pursuit of his favorite study. His tremendous physique 

 enabled him to make collections in regions which were practically in- 

 accessible to those having less power of endurance. In illustration 

 of this, attention may be called to the extensive collections of choice 

 Silurian corals made by him in the Glade regions of west Tennessee. 

 These glades even today are penetrated with difficulty, and at that 

 time the entire journey had to be made on foot. 



Rominger left two important paleontological collections, the first 

 being now the property of the University of Michigan, at Ann 

 Arbor, and the second of the National Museum, at Washington. The 

 first collection was especially rich in corals — in fact, it was the most 

 complete set from the Paleozoic extant at the time it was made, and 

 was the basis of his monograph (vol. in of the Michigan Survey). 

 The second collection was of a more general biological nature and 



