July 24, 1890] 



NATURE 



297 



west of the African coast opposite the Sahara, and in the 

 bed of the Indian Ocean to the south of Australia, small 

 grains of red quartz sand, and they had found scarcely a 

 trace of such in the sea-bed in any other part of the 

 world. He suspected this quartz sand had been blown 

 out from the Sahara in the one case, and from the 

 Australian desert in the other. 



In the south of Algeria he got a light carriage which 

 could traverse the desert, such as was now in use for the 

 post just established by the French to Tougourt, in the 

 Sahara. Taking bedding and food with him, he first 

 skirted a large area covered with salt, and then passed 

 on through the long belt of oases which the French have 

 planted on the way to Tougourt. Along this route 

 numerous artesian wells had been sunk, and an abundant 

 supply of water thereby obtained for the palm-trees 

 which had been planted. There were now three com- 

 panies in existence, who had dug artesian wells, and 

 were planting thousands of palm-trees, with the view of 

 getting a valuable return in a few years. 



At Tougourt the real sandy part of the desert began, 

 and he made excursions into it, with that town as his 

 head-quarters. He exhibited to the meeting a specimen 

 of the sand, of a light yellowish-brown colour, and ex- 

 ceedingly fine in the grains. There were a good many 

 clay particles in it, and the quartz particles, which were 

 also numerous, were identical with those they had got 

 in the bottom of the Atlantic. There was no doubt that 

 the winds from the desert carried the sand a long way 

 out to sea. He had also examined the region geo- 

 logically, and the formation of the rocks was entirely 

 that of fresh water, and of Quaternary date. 



The great majority of geographers and geologists had 

 expressed the belief that the Sahara was an old sea-bed, 

 but he was of opinion that it had never as a whole been 

 covered by the sea since Cretaceous or Devonian times, 

 and no part of it had been covered by the ocean since 

 Tertiary times. All the assertions as to the discovery 

 of shells rested upon one common species being found 

 very rarely in one region of the desert. He thought that, 

 owing to recent researches, the opinion as to the Sahara 

 being an old sea-bottom was likely soon to disappear from our 

 text-books. He considered that the features of the region 

 had been produced by atmospheric conditions. The sand 

 was the product of the disintegration of the rocks in situ, 

 which engirdle the Sahara. The existing rock was not 

 far below the surface, and, by digging down to it, the 

 hard sandy particles were found embedded in the stone. 

 The sun shone on the rocks, and they expanded. The 

 sudden cooling at night broke them up, the wind carried 

 away the smaller particles, and so continually the rocks 

 were being disintegrated by means of changes other than 

 water, although water perhaps had in times past played a 

 greater role there than it did now. 



There was a range of hills in the desert to the south 

 7000 feet high, and for three months in the year their 

 summits were covered with snow. Descending the hills 

 were river- courses, some of great length. Much of the 

 region, he considered, had once been a large fresh- 

 water lake. Speaking of the commercial aspect of the 

 Sahara, he said it was difficult to go there without be- 

 coming enthusiastic about it. There seemed to be no 

 limit to the amount of water that was to be got by sinking 

 artesian wells. The head of the water must be a long 

 distance away in the higher lands surrounding the desert. 



The cultivation of palms was extending to an enormous 

 extent, and the French expected to carry on their railway 

 to Tougourt (at present nearly a week's journey from 

 Algeria) in the next few years. The French were also 

 hopeful that France would tap all the trade of the North 

 Soudan across the Sahara, by making a railway across 

 the desert. He did not think it was at all impossible to 

 build and keep open such a railway. There was plenty 

 of water to be had, and the sand never drifted to such an 



NO. 1082, VOL. 42] 



extent as to bury a railway. The climate, though very 

 warm, was at the same time very healthy. If the French 

 built the railway, they would then have no cause to 

 complain about Britain remaining in Egypt. 



WILLIAM KITCHEN PARKER, F.R.S. 



TIT-ILLIAM KITCHEN PARKER was born at Dogs- 

 * * thorpe, near Peterborough, June 23, 1823, and 

 died suddenly, of syncope of the heart, July 3, 1890. He 

 was visiting his second son. Prof. W. N. Parker, at Cardiff, 

 and, whilst cheerfully talking of late discoveries and 

 future work in his favourite biological pursuits, he ceased 

 to breathe. Accustomed to outdoor life, he was a true 

 lover of Nature from the first ; the forms, habits, and 

 songs of birds, especially, he knew at an early age. 

 Village schooling at Dogsthorpe and Werrington, and a 

 short period at Peterborough Grammar School, prepared 

 him for an apprenticeship, at 15 years of age, to Mr. 

 Woodroffe, chemist and druggist at Stamford ; and three 

 years afterwards he was apprenticed to Mr. Costal, 

 medical practitioner, at Market-Overton. At Stamford 

 he studied botany earnestly, and used to persuade a 

 fellow-apprentice to leave his bed in early mornings to go 

 afield in search of plants. Both when living at his father's 

 farm, and in his holidays afterwards, he kept many pet 

 animals, and dissected whatever he could get, including a 

 donkey and many birds. Of the latter he prepared 

 skeletons ; and of these he made many large drawings, 

 at Market-Overton, which of late years he had some 

 thought of publishing as an atlas of the osteology of birds. 

 In 1844-46 he studied at King's College, London ; and 

 became student-demonstrator to Dr. Todd and Mr. (now 

 Sir William) Bowman there. He also attended at Charing 

 Cross Hospital in 1846 and 1847, and, having qualified 

 as L.S.A., he commenced practice, in 1849, at Tach- 

 brook Street, Pimlico ; and soon afterwards married 

 Miss Elizabeth Jeftery. His wife's patient calmness under 

 all difficulties and trials was a true blessing to a man of 

 Mr. Parker's excitable temperament ; and her unselfish 

 life and widespread influence for good are well known in 

 and beyond the family circle. Unfortunately he was left 

 a widower about four months ago. His family consists 

 of three daughters and four sons. Of the latter, one is 

 Professor of Zoology and Comparative Anatomy in the 

 University of Otago, New Zealand ; the second is Pro- 

 fessor of Biology in the University College at Cardiff", 

 South Wales ; the third is an able draughtsman and 

 lithographer ; and the fourth has lately taken his 

 diplomas of L.R.C.P. and M.R.C.S. 



Mr. Parker had a good father, courteous and gentle..by 

 nature, conscientious, and earnest in business, who had 

 worked hard to be able to give even his youngest son, 

 Mr. W. K. Parker, " a start in life." From his placid 

 and thoughtful mother he probably inherited much of his 

 love of reading and his talent for learning. 



Always energetic, in spite of constant ill-health, Mr. 

 Parker enthusiastically carried on his medical work and 

 his natural-history studies, especially in the microscopic 

 structure of animal and vegetable tissues. Polyzoa and 

 Foraminifera, collected on a visit to Bognor, and from 

 among sponge-sand and Indian sea-shells, especially 

 attracted his attention. Having sorted, mounted, and 

 drawn numbers of these microzoa, he was induced, about 

 1856, by his friends W. Crawford Williamson and T. 

 Rupert Jones, to work at the Foraminifera systematically. 

 His paper on the Miliolitidce of the Indian Seas (Trans. 

 Micros. Soc, 1858), and a joint paper (with T. R. Jones) 

 on the Foraminifera of the Norwegian coast {Annals 

 A'. //., 1857) resulted ; and the latter formed the basis of 

 a memoir on the Arctic and North-Atlantic Foraminifera 

 (Phil. Trans., 1865). With T. Rupert Jones, and after- 



