March 24, 192 1] 



NATURE 



1^3 



2oic and Tertiary localities in English collections. 

 In 1879 he collected specimens of the dwarf birch 

 at Bridlington, and on later visits he always 

 <iivided his time between conferences or excursions 

 with Mr. Clement Reid and collecting plants from 

 the Jurassic rocks of Yorkshire. A summary of 

 his work on the distribution of Arctic plants 

 during the Glacial epoch was contributed by him 

 to Nature for January 21, 1892. 



In 1907 Nathorst attended the centenary of the 

 Geological Society as a delegate of the Swedish 

 Academy, and received the Sc.D. degree from the 

 University of Cambridge. In 1909 he returned to 

 Cambridge as a delegate to the Darwin celebra- 

 tions. In 1917, at the age of sixty-seven, in 

 accordance with Swedish custom, he retired from 

 the museum directorship. After his retirement his 

 researches were frequently interrupted by heart 

 trouble, but he had the satisfaction of completing 

 an important memoir, published last year, in con- 

 tinuation of his well-know-n investigations of the 

 Lower Carboniferous flora of Spitsbergen. 

 Nathorst 's contributions to knowledge cover a 

 very wide field — Arctic exploration, stratigraphical 

 and tectonic geology, palaeontology in the broadest 

 sense, and recent botany. In 1882 he again visited 

 Spitsbergen, and in 1898 he was the scientific 

 leader of an expedition, primarily in search of 

 Andr6e, to Bear Island, King Charles Land, and 

 other regions ; it was in the course of this expedi- 

 tion that he circumnavigated Spitsbergen. He 

 ■described his experiences of two summers in polar 

 seas in an attractive two-volume book written in 

 Swedish and published in 1900, and the scientific 

 results of the voyage, both geological and palaeo- 

 botanical, have appeared in a succession of valu- 

 able papers. 



Nathorst's first paper, in 1869, was on Cambrian 

 rocks of Scania, and this was followed by a series 

 of botanical and geological papers. In 1875 he 

 published the first of a long series of contributions 

 to our knowledge of the rich Rhaetic floras of 

 Scania, which have thrown a flood of light upon 

 many extinct types, and incidentally have illus- 

 trated in a most striking manner the possibilities 

 of the intensive study of the fossil plants of a 

 single region. Though he became more and more 

 absorbed in palaeobotanical researches, he always 

 retained an active interest in both geology and 

 botany ; the range of his work was exceptionally 

 wide. He had few equals in the extent of his 

 knowledge and in breadth of view. 



It is to Nathorst more than to anv other man 

 that we owe our knowledge of Arctic floras extend- 

 ing frpm the Devonian to the Late Tertiary period. 

 His work is characterised by meticulous accuracy, 

 lucidity of presentation, originality, and philo- 

 sophical treatment. In 1904 he contributed to the 

 French Academy a preliminary account of a re- 

 markable collection of Jurassic plants from 

 Graham Land, on the borders of Antarctica, which 

 demonstrated the almost world-wide distribution 

 of certain ferns and cycadean plants. His palaeo- 

 botanical papers deal w^ith floras from Japan, the 

 New Siberian Islands, the Arctic regions gener- 

 NO. 2682, VOL. 107] 



ally, Scandinavia, and other parts of the world. 

 By his researches into the Jurassic plants of York- 

 shire, Nathorst not only added greatly to know- 

 ledge, but also stimulated other workers in the 

 same field, and his friendly invasion of the East 

 Coast increased the activity of some English 

 palaeobotanists. His discovery of male flowers of 

 Williamsonia and of several new types of the 

 genus is of special interest to English students. 

 An improved method, which he invented, of treat- 

 ing the carbonised or mummified impressions of 

 plants led to fruitful results both from his own 

 researches and from those of others. His 

 demonstration of the true natufe of many sup- 

 posed Palaeozoic Algae marked an important 

 advance in accurate knowledge and in experi- 

 mental methods of research. 



Of special interest from the point of view of 

 evolution are Nathorst's discoveries of many new 

 generic types, such as Pseudobornia, a primitive 

 Devonian plant combining characters of the 

 Equisetales and the extinct group Sphenophyllales ; 

 Lvcostrobus, a Rhaetic lycopodiaceous cone com- 

 parable to the large Palaeozoic Lepidostrobi ; 

 Cephalotheca, a new Devonian fern with peculiar 

 fertile pinnae ; several new seeds from Low^er Car- 

 boniferous rocks of Spitsbergen; Wielandiella, a 

 remarkable cycadean genus bearing bi-sporangiate 

 flowers and in habit entirely difi"erent from that 

 of recent cycads; Cycadocephalus, a Rhaetic 

 cycadean micro-strobilus ; and Camptopteris, one of 

 several Rhatic ferns which he described in detail. 

 He also made numerous important additions to our 

 more accurate knowledge of cycadean fronds in- 

 cluded in the group Cycadophyta (a name insti- 

 tuted by Nathorst), and investigated the past his- 

 tory of "the Ginkgoales, a group with one existing 

 representative, the maiden-hair tree. 



The Palffiobotanical Museum of Stockholm, 

 which was worthily housed in a new building, 

 erected bv the Government at a cost of 140,000/., 

 a few vears before his death, is an epitome of his 

 achievements and a monument of which his native 

 countrv mav be justly proud. In no other country 

 has paieeobotanical research received a more gener- 

 ous recognition ; it is usually relegated to a posi- 

 tion of secondary importance. 



It would be difficult to exaggerate the value of 

 Nathorst's contributions to natural knowledge ; he 

 devoted his life to research, and it was always a 

 joy to him to give all the assistance he could to 

 other workers who appealed to him for guidance. 

 As a critic he would take infinite pains, and it was 

 never a trouble to him promptly to answer in a 

 letter of almost perfect English the most trivial 

 questions. Those who were among his regular 

 correspondents have lost a true friend, the value 

 and stimulating efl'ect of whose wise counsel and 

 frank but kindly criticism cannot at once be 

 thoroughly appreciated, 



Nathorst was fortunately able to retire with the 

 knowledge that his successor and pupil, Dr. Halle, 

 would fully maintain the high standard of palaeo- 

 botanical work which has long been associated 

 with the Stockholm Museum. A. C. Seward. 



