329 
gn Memoriam. 
JOHN ROBERT MORTIMER. 
It is appalling to think of the inroads recently made by the 
hand of death into the front rank of our scientific men. The 
pages of this journal alone have included records of many of 
our leaders of scientific thought ; many whose places will never 
be filled ; and the most recent of these is J. RK. Mortimer, of 
Driffield. « ; 
So recently as}May last, The Naturalist contained an 
account of his life’s work, which was accompanied by a 
portrait and a list of his memoirs and papers. 
Only a very short while ago, on seeing him at Driffield, 
we spent a pleasant afternoon together, talked over many 
things, and arranged for the publication of yet another of his 
works. A few days ago I received a cheerful letter in 
reference to what has proved to be his last paper, which he 
had asked me to read for him at the Portsmouth meeting of 
the British Association ; though in his letter he referred to 
his growing weakness. This paper appears on another page, 
and deals with a subject that particularly appealed to him. 
And then, though in his eighty-seventh year, the news of his 
death on August 19th, came unexpectedly. After one has seen 
a fine personality such as that of Mr. Mortimer, almost weekly, 
for many, many years, and after one has regularly received letters 
from him for nearly a quarter of a century, it seems difficult 
to believe that he will never be seen again, never talk over the 
many matters in which he was so interested, and that one 
will hear from him no more. 
Perhaps more so than is the case with anyone else, the 
present writer owes much to Mr. Mortimer. When quite a 
schoolboy he was encouraged by Mr. Mortimer’s help. Many 
an afternoon he has spent in the Driffield Museum, when the 
owner gave hour after hour in describing the objects and 
explaining how they were obtained. Twelve years ago we 
passed many Sundays together—the only time then mutually 
convenient—the result of which was the publication of the 
Illustrated Descriptive Catalogue of his museum. A few 
years later I succeeded in persuading him to publish his ‘ Forty 
Years’ Researches in British and Anglo-Saxon Burial Moulds,’ 
which he did conditionally on my seeing it through the press. 
After two years’ hard work the volume appeared, and was 
additionally valuable for the hundreds of illustrations from the 
charming drawings made by his daughter, Miss Agnes Mortimer. 
This work will ever remain a monument to his memory. But 
in addition there is the collection of pre-historic objects itself, 
which will, we have every reason to believe, be kept intact, and 
Ig1r Sept. 1. 
