286 Obituary — The Marquis of Saporla. 



year. He was part editor of the American Journal of Science from 

 1846, and continued his interest in it up to the last. 



Dana received the Copley Medal from the Royal Society in 1877, 

 and the Wollaston Medal from the Geological Society in 1872 ; he 

 was a member of the Academy of Sciences, Paris, and of the 

 Academies of Berlin and Munich, and was elected a Foreign Member 

 of the Royal Society in 1884 and of the Geological Society in 1851. 



His publications amount to nearly 400 in number, and when one 

 considers that these include such colossal works as his "Mineralogy" 

 and his "Manual" and "Text- Book of Geology," one is astonished 

 at Prof. Dana's wonderful power of work, and are not surprised 

 to learn that his health broke down upon several occasions owing 

 to his excessive mental labours. It is wonderful and touching to 

 read of Prof. Dana working on at the new edition of his " Manual 

 of Geology " at the age of eighty-two, and being actively assisted 

 in all his literary labours by his life-long companion with never- 

 failing and watchful care to the end. 



It is impossible to do justice to this distinguished man and personal 

 friend in so short a notice, but we feel that, with our American 

 brethren, we have also lost one of the greatest figures in geology of 

 our time. 



THE MARQUIS OF SAPORTA. 



Born 1823. Died January 26th, 1895. 



By the death of the Marquis of Saporta the sciences of Geology 

 and Botany have suffered a severe loss. A wide botanical know- 

 ledge, combined with a vigorous enthusiasm and an untiring energy, 

 enabled Saporta to add a rich store of facts to palasontological 

 literature. Born at Saint-Zacharie (Var) in 1823, he spent some 

 time in a Jesuit college at Fribourg, and in 1861, in conjunction with 

 M. Matheron, published his fi.rst paper on a palseobotanical subject.^ 

 From that date up to the time of his death, Saporta devoted himself 

 as a keen student to the problems of his chosen science. 



His earlier works dealt especiall}' with the Tertiary vegetation 

 of the South-east of France ; the floi-as of Aix, Manosque, Sezanne, 

 and other localities have formed the subjects of elaborate mono- 

 graphs, in which he has not merely recorded lists of fossil species, 

 but has dealt with the facts from a broad and philosophic standpoint. 

 Between the years 1872-91 there appeared the splendid series of 

 volumes on the Jurassic Flora of France ; this comprehensive work, 

 with its numerous illustrations and exhaustive text, forms an 

 indispensable handbook to students of Mesozoic Botany. Saporta's 

 most recent work, on Upper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous Plants, 

 appeai-ed a few months before his death - ; it contains a detailed 

 geological and botanical analysis of an exceedingly interesting flora, 

 and supplies fresh facts of considerable importance towards a more 

 complete knowledge of the early history of dicotyledonous plants. 



^ Exam en analytique des flores tertiaires de Provence. 



^ Flore fossile du Portugal (Direction des travaux geologiques du Portugal), 

 Lisbon, 1894. 



