37 



and had prepared the MS. of voluminous reports which he was about to 

 publish at the time of his death. It is to be hoped that some worthy suc- 

 cessor may still give them to the world. 



" In his character Hartt was, like our friend Carpenter, an amiable, exem- 

 plary, benevolent and Christian man, and I have known few of our )'ounger 

 men of science who gave greater promise of brilliant success. 



" His rapid advancement to high and important positions, shows that 

 science is not without its advantages as a profession, and may, perhaps, 

 serve to encourage others to devote themselves to similar pursuits, however 

 such ardor may be checked by the remembrance of his early death. But it 

 is better to live well and to good purpose, than merely to live long." 



Prof. A. S. Packard, Jr., in " The American Natu- 

 ralist " for May, 1878: 



"It is with great sorrow that we announce the sudden death of Prof. 

 Charles Frederic Hartt, Chief of the Brazilian Geological Commission, 

 He died at Rio de Janeiro, March i8. His untimely death is a great 

 calamity, as, after nearly three years of constant exploration, over a large 

 part of Brazil, he had begun to prepare for publication the results of the re- 

 searches of himself and assistants, Messrs. Derby and Rathbun. He was 

 born at Fredericton, New Brunswick, in £840, and graduated at Acadia 

 College, at Wolfville, Nova Scotia. He was a student under Agassiz from 

 T862 until 1865, and during that time investigated the Devonian plant and 

 insect beds of St. John, and made important researches in the Cambrian 

 fossils of the Acadian series at St. John. He then accompanied Agassiz as 

 Geologist of his journey to Brazil, and subsequently made three visits to the 

 coast regions and the Amazonas, the results of his explorations being com- 

 prised in his work on ' The Geology and Physical Geograph)' of Brazil,' pub- 

 lished in 1870. Several years previous he was appointed Professor of 

 Geology and Physical Geography at Cornell University. He made a 

 specialty of Brazilian Geology, and mastered the Portuguese language, in- 

 vestigated the natural history and archaeology of that country, and so identi- 

 fied himself with its physical history, that it seemed as a matter of course 

 that the Emperor of Brazil should honor himself by appointing the young 

 explorer Chief of the Imperial Geological Commission. This was in May, 

 1875 ; since then his studies have extended widely over the Empire, including 

 the unraveling of the geology of the Amazon, consisting of Silurian, Devo- 

 nian and Carboniferous rocks, the thorough examination of the coast and 

 interior of the Province of Pernambuco, a reconnoissance of the diamond 

 and gold districts of Minas Geraes, the examination of large areas in Sao 

 Paulo and Santa Calharina. The survey had collected enormous quantities 

 of fossils and zoological material from the Devonian and Carboniferous for- 

 mations in the Amazonian valle)', large numbers of remains of vertebrates 

 and invertebrates from Pernambuco, including many new reptilian forms, 

 mainly Cretaceous. For the last six months but little field work had been 

 done, and publication was progressing rapidly. Prof. Hartt also made a 



