190 Obituary — Charles Wachsmuth. 



Lira to good purpose in collecting European fossils, and in studying 

 the crinoids in the principal museums. Finally he visited the 

 British Museum, with one of his magnificent Burlington specimens 

 in either pocket ; these were promptly purchased. Fired by what 

 he had seen, Wachsmuth, on his return to Burlington, determined to 

 devote the rest of his life to the study of the crinoids. His want of 

 scientific training was not altogether a disadvantage, since he came 

 to the subject unhampered by the preposterous notions of crinoid, 

 or at least fossil crinoid, morphology that obtained among the older 

 writers. W. H. Niles, a student of Agassiz, had been led to believe, 

 from the published observations of Dr. C. A. White, and from notes 

 given him by Wachsmuth, that a careful study of the distribution 

 of the crinoidal remains at Burlington would be rewarded with 

 interesting results. He came to Burlington and, as he says, " found 

 Mr. Wachsmuth acquainted with many important facts in this 

 connection which could be reached only by a long experience in 

 collecting these fossils, by an intimate acquaintance with the species, 

 and a series of most careful observations." The result of his visit 

 was the joint paper published in the American Journal of Science 

 in 1866, proposing a division of the Burlington Limestone into two 

 horizons, based on the restriction of the various species of Crinoids 

 to one or other of these two. The paper was also of importance as 

 pointing out the gradual progression of crinoidal life and structure 

 from the Lower Burlington to the Keokuk Limestone, an idea 

 afterwards elaborated by Wachsmuth and Springer in their remark- 

 able paper on " Transition Forms in Crinoids," 1878. F. B. Meek, 

 who was preparing the fifth volume of the Illinois Survey, also 

 came to study Wachsmuth's collection, and in that volume are 

 several remarkable notes on the structure and habits of Palaeozoic 

 Crinoidea, based upon " some unique and exceedingly interesting 

 specimens " in the collection of Wachsmuth. The authors, Meek 

 and Worthen, remark: "We express our thanks to Mr. Wachsmuth 

 for the zeal, industry, skill, and intelligence he has brought to bear, 

 in collecting and pi'eparing for study, such an unrivalled series of 

 the beautiful fossil Crinoidea of this wonderfully rich locality. 

 Some idea of the extent of his collection .... may be formed, when 

 we state that of the single family Actinocrinidse alone, after making 

 due allowance for probable synonyms, he must have specimens of 

 near 150 species, or perhaps more, and many of them showing the 

 body, arms, and column. It is also due to Mr. Wachsmuth that we 

 should state here that he is not a mere collector only, but that he 

 understands what he collects, and knows just what to collect, as 

 well as how to collect." 



Later on Agassiz paid a second visit to Burlington, and for the 

 sum of 6000 dollars induced Wachsmuth to part with his magnificent 

 collection, and also to come to Cambridge to arrange the specimens 

 for exhibition, and to study them and publish the results. After 

 this Wachsmuth made a second collection, by no means so extensive 

 as the first, but still containing many splendid specimens, which he 

 brought with him on his second visit to Europe in 1874, and sold 



