i894. NOTES AND COMMENTS. 163 



Von Zittel. 



Another, eminent German, just now receiving well-merited 

 honours at the hands of both his and our own countrymen, is Karl 

 Alfred von Zittel, the first palaeontologist of the day. In another 

 part of this number (p. 222) we review the great "Handbook of Palaeon- 

 tology," which he has just brought to a conclusion. Here we give a 

 few facts of his personal history, which we hope may prove of interest. 



Von Zittel's father was a Protestant minister and head man of 

 the Liberal Party at Bahlingen in Baden. Here Alfred was born on 

 September 25, 1839, and here, amid the volcanic mountains of the 

 Kaiserstuhlgebirge, he passed the first ten years of his life. Then 

 the father was transferred to Heidelberg, where he sent his son to 

 the Lyceum and afterwards to the University. The young student 

 came into very intimate relations with the Professors of Geology and 

 Palaeontology, Cesar von Leonhard and H. G. Bronn, and in i860 

 took his degree as Doctor of Philosophy. The following year he spent 

 in France and particularly in Paris, where he made the acquaintance 

 of Elie de Beaiimont, the Eudes-Deslongchamps, father and son, and 

 many others then or afterwards leaders in the development of geology 

 and the allied sciences. In 1862, Zittel joined as a volunteer the Austrian 

 Geological Survey at Vienna, and during 1863 was employed as an 

 assistant in the royal "Hof-Mineralien-Cabinet." In the latter year 

 he became Professor of Mineralogy and Geology at the Polytechnic 

 in Carlsruhe (Baden), whence, in 1866, he removed to Munich as 

 Professor of Palaeontology in the University. In this post he has 

 since remained, adding to it since 1880 the duties of Professor of 

 Geology. Professor von Zittel has travelled much in the interests of 

 science, his most notable expedition being that to the Libyan Desert in 

 1873-4. In his Professorial capacity, as editor of Paleontogvaphica, as 

 editor and part author of the Handbuch der Palceontologie, and by his 

 numerous original publications, he has probably done more than any 

 living man to advance his favourite science. He is a member of the 

 Royal Bavarian Academy of Science, Director of the Palasontological 

 Museum at Munich, and Chevalier of the Order of the Crown. He 

 served as Vice-President of the International Congress of Geologists 

 at its Washington meeting, in i88g he was elected a Foreign 

 Member of the Geological Society of London, and at its Anniversary 

 Meeting this year the same Society awarded him the WoUaston 

 Medal, the highest honour in their power. Lastly, he has been 

 appointed a Privy Councillor of the German Emperor. 



In 1863 von Zittel married a daughter of Schirmer, the well-known 

 Diisseldorf painter, then Director of the Academy of Arts at Carlsruhe. 

 An excellent musician, and he is as charming and accomplished in 

 society as he is profound in his own special studies. He speaks our 

 language readily, and has more than once visited England, where 

 he has a friend in everyone that has the honour of his acquaintance. 



