472 RECORD OF SCIEXCE FOR 1886. 



NECROLOGY OF MINERALOGISTS. 



Waltkr Flight.— Born January 21, 1841; died November 4, 1885. From 1867 on, he 

 was assistant in the mineral department of the British Museum. He was an ac- 

 tive worker in chemical mineralogy, and was especially interested in meteorites. 

 He published a number of papers on these subjects, among others a chapter on 

 the History of Meteorites, which ran through a number of issues of the Geologi- 

 cal Magazine. 



Arnold von Lasaulx.— Born June 14, 1839; died January 25, 1886. He was pri- 

 vatdocent at the Bonn University in 1868, then professor (ausserordeutlicher) of 

 mineralogy at Breslau, later (1880) full professor at Kiel, and in the sauie year 

 made professor at Bonn, where he spent the remainder of his life. He was an 

 exceptionally active and successful worker in mineralogy and in petrography, 

 and tlie list of his original papers in these and allied subjects is a long one. He 

 was the author of two books, Elemeute der Petrographie (1875) and Einfiihruug 

 in die Gesteinslehre (1885). He also extended his researches into the geological 

 field, writing of earthquakes and volcanic phenomena. 



Martin Websky. — Born July 17, 1824; died November 27,1886. He was a student 

 of Weiss at Berlin iu 1846, and later studied at Freiberg and Bonn. From 1850 

 to 1865 he was engaged in practical work in connection with the miuing com- 

 mission of Silesia, but during this time made many contributions to science. 

 From 1865 to 1873 he lectured at the Breslau University, and after the death of 

 Gustav Rose he was called to be his successor at Berlin, where he remained till 

 his death. He stood conspicuously in the front rank of German mineralogists, 

 and his contributions are many and of high grade; they are largely crystallo- 

 graphic, dealing with the description of crystallized minerals or with general 

 theoretical problems of crystallography; he was also a successful analytical 

 chemist. During his life at Berlin he devoted himself almost exclusively to the 

 arrangement of the large collection of the university, and his activity iu this di- 

 rection, while perhaps an equal benefit to science in the end, was a great sacrifice 

 from a personal point of view. His larger works include the well known "Die 

 Mineralspecies nach den fiir das specifische Gewicht derselben angenommeneu 

 uud gefundenen Werthen," which passed through several editions. 



Charles Upham Shepard. — Born in 1804; died May 1, 1886. During the whole of 

 his long life zealously devoted to mineralogy. He was graduated at Amherst 

 College in 1824; in 1827 was assistant to Professor Silliman, at New Haven, in 

 chemistry, mineralogy, and geology; after 1832 he divided his time between New 

 Haven, Amherst, and Charleston; from 1845 to 1852 and 1861 to 1877 he was pro- 

 fessor at Amherst, and iu 1854 he was made professor of chemistry at Charleston, 

 continuing his duties there till 1869, except as interrupted by the civil war. He 

 was an active collector and student of minerals, and science owes to his keen eye 

 the discovery of many new and interesting species, such as microlite, warwickite, 

 danburite, as well as the development of many valuable localities. His large 

 private collection, which became the property of Amherst College, was unfortu- 

 nately destroyed by fire in 1880, but he continued to collect until his life ended. 

 He was also active in collecting and describing meteorites, and brought together 

 one of the largest collections iu the country. In addition to many shorter papers, 

 he was the author of a Treatise on Mineralogy in 1832, and i-i 1837 he published a 

 report on the mineralogy and mineral products of Connecticut. 



