Obituary — M. Frangois Fontannes. 143 



Society, but were made also to the Chemical and the Eoyal Societies, 

 and some were published in tlie Philosophical Magazine. He was 

 elected a Fellow of the Geological Society of London in 1872, and 

 of the Royal Society in 1881, and at the time of his death was a Vice- 

 President of the former Society. He was also a F.C.S., a M.I.C.E., 

 and an " Ancien Eleve de I'Ecole des Mines." 



Those who were personally acquainted with Mr. Phillips, while 

 they lament the loss to science which his sudden death has inflicted, 

 mourn still more the extinction of a life of singular simplicity, 

 earnestness, and kindliness. He was a large-hearted and open- 

 handed man, fond of taking every chance that came in his way of 

 doing a good deed and helping every one to whom his help could be 

 of service. 



CHARLES FRANCOIS FONTANNES. 



Of the losses by death sustained by Geological Science in the year 

 1886, none has been greater than that of M. Fontannes. Men of 

 riper age, and of wider reputation, we may have lost ; but when we 

 consider the value and the amount of the work performed by 

 M. Fontannes before reaching his 48th yesLV, it will be evident that 

 the gap left by his death will not be easily filled. Especially will 

 this be the case with the " International Geological Congress," which, 

 is to hold its next meeting in England in 1888. 



There are several Secretaries to the Congress at each meeting, 

 but the bulk of the work falls on one or two. At Bologna, in 1881, 

 M. Fontannes divided the work with M. Delaire ; but in 1885, at 

 Berlin, M. Fontannes took it almost entirely upon himself. The 

 " proces verbal " of a foreign scientific meeting is very different 

 from the " minutes " of an English meeting ; it is really a full 

 abstract of the entire discussion, and the prompt preparation of this 

 is no small test of a man's powers. 



M. Fontannes' earliest work was a notice of the Museum of Lyons, 

 1873. This was followed in 1874 by a Note on the Infra-Lias of 

 Narcel, and by notes taken at Athens. In 1876 he published, with 

 M. Dumontier, " Description des Ammonites de la zone a Ammonites 

 tenuilobatus de Crussol et de quelques autres fossiles Jurassiques 

 nouveaux ou peu connus " (Mem. VAcad. Lyon). In 1879 this was 

 followed up by a work on the same subject by Fontannes himself, 

 Dumontier having died meanwhile. In the Introduction to the 

 later work Fontannes pays a warm tribute to his late master, attri- 

 buting to his encouragement and influence his own love for geology. 

 These books made known a new Jurassic Fauna for the South-east 

 of France. 



The most important works by Fontannes were " Les Invertebres 

 du Bassin du Sud-est de la France — Les Mollusques Pliocenes de la 

 Vallee du Ehone et du Eoussillon," of which two volumes appeared 

 (1879-82) ; and " Etudes stratigraphiques et paleontologiques pour 



