Obituary — Prof. C. Ferdinand von Roemer. 93 



the new Texan Geological Survey, as affording " a remarkably com- 

 prehensive view of the geology of the State." 



In 1855 Romer accepted the Chair of Geology, Palaeontology 

 and Mineralogy in the University of Breslau ; thenceforth his strictly 

 geological work was mainly devoted to Silesia, his chief results 

 being included in his " Geologie von Oberschlesien " issued as three 

 quarto volumes in 1870. For this work he was knighted and 

 appointed Geheim Bergrath of Silesia. But during the whole of 

 this period he did not rest in peace at home : his travelling instincts, 

 doubtless stimulated by his American experiences, repeatedly drove 

 him to wider fields : thus in addition to tours in England, Belgium, 

 Poland and Austria, he visited Sweden (1856) ; Norway (1859) ; 

 Eussia (1861) ; Turkey (1863) ; and Spain (1864 and 1871). In 

 1859 he was elected a Foreign Member of the Geological Society, 

 by which he was also awarded the Murchison Medal in 1885. The 

 later years of his life were spent at Breslau, busily engaged until 

 the end, which came with sad suddenness just before the attainment 

 of the jubilee of his doctorate ; this his many friends and students 

 were preparing to celebrate, out of respect for his high character and 

 personal popularity, and in gratitude to his power as a teacher. 



On turning to Ferdinand von Romer's work in science, one cannot 

 but be impressed with his wide range of interests and knowledge : 

 it seems doubtful whether he will be longest remembered as a 

 geologist or paleeontologist. In the former department he has added 

 greatly to the knowledge of the stratigraphy of America and the 

 countries that he visited ; he worked at one time or another on 

 nearly every system from the early Paleozoic to the Pleistocene ; 

 but probably his work on the Devonian rocks was the most 

 important, ranging as it did right across Europe, from Devonshire 

 to Constantinople. His palEeontological works were very numerous 

 and included papers on the Sponges, Graptolites, Rugosa, Ostracoda, 

 Eurypterida, Arachnida, Bryozoa, Lamellibranchiata, Cephalopoda, 

 all classes of Echinodermata ; the Ophidia and Mammalia. Many of 

 the genera he added to science were of exceptional interest, such as 

 Stephanocrinus and Dorycrinus, while his discovery of the pinnules 

 in Blastoids, and his work on the anatomy of Cupressocrinus, and 

 the structure of Melonites, were important contributions to morph- 

 ology. His monographs on the Asteroidea and Crinoidea of Bunden- 

 bach, on the Blastoids, and on the fauna of the Bone Caves of 

 Ojcow, in Poland (of which an English translation was issued in 

 1884), and his "Die Fauna der silurischen Diluvialgeschiebe von 

 Sadowitz," were all valuable additions to paleeontological literature. 

 His "Lethaea Pal^ozoica" issued between 1876 and 1880 as the first 

 part of the third edition of the "Lethsea Geognostica" (with the 

 ^arly editions of which he had been associated) was a work of vast 

 labour and permanent value. In later years Romer also wrote on 

 mineralogy, issuing papers on the zinc ores, scheelite, columbite, and 

 the pseudomorphism of cerrusite after cotunnite. But these three 

 subjects did not exhaust his range of interests, for he was well read 

 in literature both modern and classical, and his " Texas, mit besouderer 



