144 Obituary— Martin Simpson. 
MARTIN SIMPSON. 
Born 20TH NovemBer, 1798. Diep 31st DecempBEr, 1892. 
Tue death of Mr. Simpson, of Whitby, severs the remaining link 
with “ Young and Bird,” and takes us back to an age when geology 
was quite in its infancy. Mr. Simpson served his apprenticeship 
to a cabinet maker in Whitby, and afterwards entered as a student 
at Hdinburgh University. In 1836 he became second master at 
Wakefield Grammar School, and frequently lectured on geology 
in that neighbourhood. His active geological life was almost 
entirely spent in his native district, and it may be said that for 
over half a century he investigated the rocks and collected the 
fossils of the Whitby area. Most of his wanderings were made 
on foot, and the results of his labours were published in his 
“Monograph of the Ammonites of the Yorkshire Lias” (1843) ; 
The Fossils of the Yorkshire Lias (1855) ; A Guide to the Geology 
of the Yorkshire Coast (1859) ; and the Geology of Whitby (1861). 
Acting as Honorary Curator of the Whitby Museum he became 
well-known to geologists from all parts of the world, and it was 
not through any want of labour on his part that the Museum (so 
full of types) did not take rank as one of the best in the kingdom. 
In 1860 the Council granted him the magnificent remuneration _ 
of £10 per annum, which he received till his death. Fortunately, 
however, a small farm which he possessed brought him in sufficient 
for his daily needs, but he was preeminently one who laboured for 
science, and for the credit of his town, without reward. 
His familiar figure, and unvarying old-world courtesy, will long 
be remembered by those who had the fortune to come in contact 
with him, and though his work may have now passed out of date, 
the energy he displayed and the difficulties he had to contend with, 
must always demand our admiration and respect. C. Ds: 
IMEIG SOA sts bya aslo Se 
Mattress Cave-ExpiLoration.—Mr. Joun H. Cooks, F.G.S., has 
just (Feb. 23) submitted his Report to the Royal Society of London, 
on the exploration of the Har-Dalam Cave, Malta. Mr. Cooke has 
been fortunate in adding a Bear (related to Ursus ferox), and the 
‘Barbary Deer” (Cervus elaphus, var. barbarus) to the fauna of the 
Maltese caves. He also found the pigmy Hippopotamus (H. Pent-— 
landi) in great abundance. This species is common in Sicily and 
adjacent lands. Man is represented from this cave by a single 
metacarpal bone, and by pottery of two distinct periods, of Phoenician 
and Punie origim. The antiquity of the cave and its deposits is 
proved by the fact that the cave is now 40 feet above the level of 
the gorge, whose flood-waters freely flowed into it in prehistoric 
times. At present only a tiny streamlet (dry, save in the rainy- 
season) flows through the gorge, incapable of performing any visible 
erosion, whereas the ancient stream carried large boulders along 
its course and piled them also (well water-worn and rounded) in 
abundance within the cavern, which is some 400 feet in length. 
Only one molar and part of a jaw and one humeros of Hlephas 
mnaidriensis were found, 
