286 Obituary — Sir Clement Le Neve Foster. 



and was a raembei- of the Executive Committee. He was elected 

 a member of the National Academy of Sciences, a Foreign Corre- 

 spondent of the Geological Society of London, and a Fellow of the 

 Oeological Society of America. In 1900 he was elected President 

 of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, and filled the 

 office for two years. 



" In 1899 he presented his entire collection of fossils, containing 

 upwards of 100,000 specimens, to Yale Museum. The gift was 

 without conditions, and was given ' in grateful recognition of the 

 honours and favours conferred upon me during my connection with 

 the University.' 



" Although Professor Beecher was interested in stratigraphic and 

 descriptive palaeontology, he published almost nothing in either 

 branch of the science. Of stratigraphic and faunal papers he has 

 five. Of new species apparently not more than thirty-one were 

 described by him. Besides these he proposed seven new genera 

 and seven new orders. 



" His most philosophic paper, and the one which he himself 

 thought best, is entitled ' The Origin and Significance of Spines. 

 A study in evolution.' He states here that all spinose species when 

 young are devoid of spines, and are derived from non-spinose 

 ancestors. Forms attaining the limit of spine difi"erentiation leave 

 ■no descendants, and out of spinose types no new types are developed. 



" Charles E. Beecher's scientific writings amount to about sixty-five 

 in number. His standing among biologists and palfeontologists was 

 high, and he was the leader among the students of Brachiopoda and 

 Trilobita. His palseontological work at Yale was essentially of a 

 biological and philosophical character. As a preparator of fossils he 

 had no equal, and as a collector was one of the best. He had the 

 artistic temperament, and made most of the illustrations for his 

 publications. He was a slow and very careful worker. Those who 

 knew him well saw in him an enthusiast, but his exuberance was 

 always held in check by his judicial qualities, which character made 

 him also an excellent counsellor. He travelled extensively, read 

 wisely, was a lover of the English masters and of Herbert Spencer's 

 philosophy. He was orderly in his work, and, as he had the 

 ' museum instinct ' well developed, he made one of the best of 

 museum curators.'" — Professor Charles Schuchert. 



His past students bear the highest testimony to his worth as 

 a teacher in science, both as a lecturer and as a demonstrator in the 

 laboratory. As a friend, all who knew him appreciated his many 

 excellent qualities and his sterling worth. 



{Kindly favoured by Miss Lucy P. Bush from the YaJe Alumni Weelchj, New Haveu, 

 Conn., March 2ud, 1904.] 



SIR CLEMENT LE NEVE FOSTER, D.Sc, F.R.S. 



BoKN Mahch 23, 1841. Died Apkil 19, 1904. 



In the death of Sir Clement Foster we mourn the loss of a 

 geologist the most distinguished in this country for his scientific 

 and practical knowledge of metalliferous mining, and of all matters 

 relating to stone quarries and slate-mines. 



