Obituary — Charles Wachsmuth. 191 



to the British Museum for £80. The 203 specimens thus obtained, 

 together with 75 specimens received through exchange in 1888, 

 contain many of the finest examples in the Museum, and some 

 which are in their way unique, notably the splendid calyx of 

 Megistocrinus Evansi, measuring 8 cm. (S-^- inches) in diameter. 



Again Wachsmuth settled down in Burlington, eager to make 



a fresh collection and continue his studies. He was so fortunate as to 



fall in with Mr. Frank Springer, then a young lawyer at Burlington, 



with whose assistance he again gathered together one of the finest 



collections of crinoids in the world, to receive which he built a 



special fire-proof museum at the back of his home in Marietta Street. 



From this time onwards there have appeared a series of important 



papers, which, with the exception of " Notes on the Internal and 



External Structure of Paleozoic Crinoids " (American Journal of 



Science, 1877) have been written by the two friends. Next to the 



paper just mentioned, which was an epoch-making one in this branch 



of science, the most valuable is the " Revision of the Palasocrinoidea," 



published by the Philadelphia Academy. To deal in detail with 



the differences in our knowledge of these animals that have been 



due to Wachsmuth and Springer, is impossible on the present 



occasion, and readers may be referred to the Geological Magazine, 



Decade III, Vol. VIII, pp. 219-224, for one of the very few accounts 



of their work that have appeared in this country. We may, however, 



again point out that these authors were very different from the usual 



race of species-mongering collectors that nourish too plentifully in 



similar rich localities. Their aim was not so much to add to the 



already overladen lists of species as, on the one hand, to sift, 



summarize, and correct the work of their predecessors, and, on the 



other hand, to throw what light they could upon the structure and 



classification of the Crinoidea. It is not the least praise that can be 



accorded them to say that many of the suggestive views which they 



have at various times put forward they have at other times overthrown 



by their own more careful, more extended observations. There are 



those who jeer at the inconsistencies of science, forgetful of the wise 



saying that it is only fools who never make mistakes. In searching 



out his knowledge Wachsmuth was possessed of indefatigable 



patience ; and in maintaining what he held to be the truth, he 



displayed a vigorous enthusiasm. At the same time he was always 



ready to discuss objections, and to yield with open mind to more 



powerful arguments. His generosity to his fellow-workers, and 



especially to those in England, must not pass unnoticed here. 



I could speak myself of his kindness, both in correspondence and 



in person, when I had the pleasure of staying with him and 



examining his marvellous collection at Burlington ; but it is perhaps 



more fitting that I should quote from Etheridge and Carpenter's 



preface to their " Catalogue of the Blastoidea in the British Museum," 



when they say — " Our chief difficulty, the want of adequate material, 



was soon and simply solved ; for Mr. Charles Wachsmuth generously 



offered to place at our disposal a selected series from his fine 



collection of American Blastoids. Though it was originally lent 



