Jan., 1894. OBITUARY. 75 



tion, in conjunction with M. Crosse, of the mollusca collected by the 

 Scientific Mission to Mexico and Central America ; with M. Tournouer, 

 the invertebrate portion of the fossils of Mont Leberon, in Vaucluse ; 

 and accounts of the mollusca collected during the voyages of "Le 

 Travailleur " and the " Talisman," 



Dr. Paul Fischer, in spite of the numerous writings above- 

 mentioned, is best known as the author of the celebrated Mamiel de 

 Conchyliologie, published in Paris (1880-87). The appearance of this 

 work at once stamped the author as one of the most eminent malaco- 

 logists the world has ever seen. It is based on the well-known 

 manual of S. P. Woodward, and in fact the plates illustrating it are 

 identical with those in the English work referred to ; but although 

 the plan is the same, it is naturally a much larger work, and must 

 have entailed years of labour. It is here that we first become 

 acquainted with the fact that Dr. Fischer knew the fossil mollusca 

 quite as well as the living forms, and seeing how little he had 

 previously written on the matter, this must have been a surprise to 

 all but his most intimate friends. To say that the work is perfect is 

 to ignore the insuperable difficulties of the subject ; but it is now, and 

 will for some years remain, the principal text-book on recent and fossil 

 mollusca. 



Dr. Fischer was a man of somewhat reserv^ed habits, but was 

 always willing to render assistance to those who consulted him, and 

 they were not few. He had been ailing for a long time, and passed 

 to his rest on the 29th November last. 



G. F. H. 



GEORGE GORDON. 

 Born July 23, 1801. Died December 12, 1893. 



WE regret to record the death of this veteran geologist, though of 

 course, at his advanced age, his life could not long have been 

 spared. He was son of the Rev. William Gordon, and was born in 

 the old manse oi Urquhart, near Elgin. Entering Marischal College, 

 Aberdeen, in 1815, he graduated M.A. in 1819. After studying 

 Divinity both at Aberdeen and at Edinburgh, he was licensed by the 

 Presbytery of Elgin in 1825, and was presented to the parish of 

 Birnie, by Francis, Earl of Moray, in 1832. For 57 years he was 

 minister of Birnie, retiring in 1889 to Brae Birnie, a house in Elgin, 

 He was made an LL.D. of Marischal College in 1859. 



He had early developed a taste for Natural History and Anti- 

 quities, and eventually became one of the most enthusiastic of 

 Scottish geologists. In 1839 he published "Collectanea for a Flora 

 of Moray," and later on contributed to the Zoologist a series of 

 papers on the Fauna of Moray. 



In the great question of the age of the Elgin Sandstones, Dr. 

 Gordon took the deepest interest, and to the last he maintained that 



