43 



influence that you have had on your fellow-workers in Geology. 

 That influence is to be traced in much of the work that we have 

 had of late years, and during our present session we have had 

 papers which, I venture to say, would not have been written but 

 for lines of thought suggested by you." 



A fund was raised by Lap worth's Midland friends and others 

 interested in geology, in order to provide for assistance in some 

 of his routine work and to give him more time for research. The 

 fund proved sufficient for this purpose, and as well it provided 

 some addition to the cramped space previously occupied by the 

 Geological Department of the University. Through the operation 

 of the fund Lapworth was able to carry out several researches for 

 which it would have been impossible otherwise to find time,, 

 including in particular the Graptolite Monograph, to the editing 

 of which he gave very close attention. 



I. CONCLUSION. 



On reviewing the life and work of Professor Lapworth, it is 

 impossible to avoid being struck by the salient features of his 

 character and equipment. 



The leading characteristic was his intense mental and bodily 

 energy, which were so great that they more than once overtaxed 

 his powers. With this was coupled a burning enthusiasm, which 

 never allowed him to shirk trouble in acquiring a fact or devising 

 an explanation ; a living belief in the value of research ; trust, founded 

 on experience, that problems could be solved ; intense faith in his 

 own science, and a love of it which glowed in many of his utterances. 



His great driving force was derived from two things ; his 

 overmastering love of truth, and his delight in overcoming obstacles. 



Truth was to him a veritable religion, the one great object 

 that it is in the power of man to compass if his will be but strong 

 enough. The mainspring of his research was to widen the bounds 

 of knowledge, true and tested. For honours or advancement he 

 cared little, except in so far as they enlarged his opportunities 

 or benefited the science he loved. Nothing short of exact and 

 exhaustive knowledge satisfied him, and that is why his work 

 requires so little revision and is so difficult of extension. But as 

 he grew older and realised how much confidence was placed in his 

 lightest word by those who knew and trusted him, he grew slower 

 and increasingly cautious in publication. 



With this love of truth was naturally linked distrust in 

 assumption of authority, unless founded upon a solid basis of 

 well-proved fact. He fought strenuously against any attempt to 

 strangle enquiry by authority, to shackle truth by convention, or 



