144, Obitwary— Thomas Sergeant Hall, D.Sc. 
His work extended to every department of botany. Perhaps the 
most important of all was that on fossil botany. He was an intimate 
friend of the late Professor Williamson. His Paldéophytologie, published 
in 1887, was translated for the Oxford Press in 1892. In it the 
author impresses on botanists the value and significance of the 
geological record as affecting plants. 
Of special importance may be mentioned his paper on Bennettites 
‘Gibsonianus, a fossil Cycad from the Isle of Wight; on the 
‘Cycadofilices, Protopitys, Medullosa, ete.; on Devonian and Lower 
‘Carboniferous Plants; and on Psaronius. 
He was elected a Foreign Member of the Linnean Society in 1887, 
of the Royal Society in 1902, and of the Geological Society in 1906. 
He received the Gold Medal of the Linnean Society in 1911, and was 
madea Sc.D. of the University of Cambridge at the Darwin,celebration 
in 1909. 
[D. H. S. From Nature, January 13, 1916. ] 
THOMAS SERGEANT HALL, M.A., D.Sc. 
BoRwN 1858. DIED DECEMBER 21, 1915. 
A sERious gap has been made in the ranks of Australian geologists 
by the deeply regretted death of Dr. Hall, on December, 21, 1915, 
at the comparatively early age of 57. 
Dr. Hall occupied the post of Lecturer in Biology at the Melbourne 
University, where he was greatly esteemed as a teacher. He was 
perhaps better known abroad as an ardent geological worker amongst 
the Victorian graptolitic and Tertiary rocks. In 1899 he contributed 
an important paper to this Magazine on ‘‘ The Graptolite Rocks of 
Victoria, Australia’’. In recognition of his work on the distribution 
of Australian graptolites, embodied in many important contributions 
to various journals, he was made the recipient of the Murchison Fund 
of the Geological Society of London in 1901. The subdivisions of 
the Victorian Ordovician rocks were suggested and worked out in 
detail by Dr. Hall. He had also devoted much time to the study of 
the interesting and somewhat complex series of Tertiary fossiliferous 
strata of Victoria, generally in conjunction with Dr. Pritchard ; and 
these authors originated the useful local terminology now usually 
applied to the subdivision of these rocks. In all his undertakings — 
Dr. Hall was very thorough, and his intimate knowledge of the 
biological side of the science added to the value of his paleontological 
_ work. Always ready to help his confréres, especially in the domain 
of scientific literature, he will by them be greatly missed. His book 
on Victorian Hill and Dale has done much to foster a popular taste 
for outdoor geology, and his series of chatty articlesin the Australasvan 
on current scientific topics under the pen-name of Physicus were widely 
read. In the cause of maintaining a high standard for our Victorian 
scientific libraries, and especially that. of the Royal Society of Victoria, 
of which he was the Hon. Secretary for fifteen years and President 
in 1914-15, Dr. Hall did significant service, which alone would 
justify his high reputation as a devoted scientific worker. 
Pe Gy 
