Annual Report of the Conncil. xxxvii 



Fortunately, he was turned from his projected career as a mining 

 engineer by the travels of his later student days, which led him, 

 among other places, to Scotland, where so many others also 

 have caught the passion for pure geology. At the same time he 

 visited England, and doubtless learned then of the pioneer work 

 of Sorby in the application of the microscope to the study of 

 rocks. So early as 1862 he ])ublished an important investiga- 

 tion on microscopic petrography, and soon became the leading 

 exponent of the new science. His " Lehrbuch " of 1866 was 

 the first text-book of the subject. It was followed in 1873 

 by the more important " Mikroscopische Beschaffenheit der 

 Mineralien und Gesteine," and soon after (1876) by the 

 "Microscopical Petrography," published as one of the volumes 

 of the " Exploration of the 40th Parallel." 



To the scientific world at large, Zirkel was known as a great 

 investigator and the author of very many papers on petrology 

 and mineralogy. By very many he was greatly beloved as 

 a teacher. He obtained his first professorship at the age of 

 twenty-five, in the University of Lemberg. Five years later he 

 went to Kiel, where he remained only two years. He was then 

 offered the Professorship at Leipzig, which became his per- 

 manent scene of labour. The brilliance of his work and the 

 affection of his pupils obtained him many honours. In this 

 country he was made a Foreign Member of the Royal Society 

 and of the Geological Society. He was elected an honorary 

 member of this Society in April, 1888. 



Zirkel maintained his activity and his love for petrology 

 throughout a full life. In 1894 he completed a second edition 

 of his "Lehrbuch," in reality a nev/ work containing the fruit of 

 thirty-five years' study, and taking its place at the head of the 

 petrographical literature of the time. He continued his pro- 

 fessional duties till close upon the time of his deeply lamented 

 death, which took place on June nth, 1912, robbing geology of 

 one of its most notable figures on the European stage. 



G. H. 



