Obituary — J. 8. Grant Wilson. 91 



Islands. He also wrote petrological iiapers. He joined the Liverpool 

 Marine Biology Committee, and reported on the deposits found on the 

 bed of the Irish Sea, comparing these with older geological formations. 

 During later years, under the auspices of the British Association, most 

 of his leisure was devoted to the study of the British Trias and 

 a comparison of it with modern deserts. In 1905 he visited some of 

 the desert regions in South Africa and Egypt, and when he met his 

 death by accident in December last he was extending his researches 

 to the region round Biskra in Algeria. 



For many years Lomas was a well-known leader of field excursions, 

 and he organized the excursion of the Geologists' Association to the 

 Berwyn district of Wales last summer. He was also an active 

 member of the British Association, and had been for several years 

 Recorder of Section C (Geology). His personal charm and good 

 nature and his enthusiastic cheerful manner endeared him to a large 

 circle of friends, who mourn his unexpectedly early loss. The 

 Geological Society of London acknowledged his scientific worth by 

 the award to him of part of the Lyell Fund in 1897 ; while the 

 Geological Society of Liverpool honoured him by election for two 

 terms to its Presidential chair. 



Mr. Lomas was a frequent writer on geological subjects. His 

 separately published papers amount to seventy-two in number, thirty- 

 one being read before the Liverpool Geological Society, twenty-four 

 before the British Association, nine in the Geological Magazine, and 

 the rest read before various local scientific societies, that on existing 

 Deserts compared with the British Trias (see Geol. Mag., 1907, 

 pp. 511 and 554) being one of the most important. 



J. 8. GRANT WILSON. 



Born Jixe 2, 1855. Died December 29, 1908. 



"We regret to record the death of Mr. J. S. Grant "Wilson on 

 December 29 after thirty-two years' service on the Scottish Staff 

 of the Geological Survey. After completing his education at 

 St. Andrews University, where he carried out a series of analyses 

 of minerals in the chemical laboratory under the supervision of the 

 late Professor Heddle, he joined the Geological Survey in 1876. He 

 received his first instruction in field mapping under Dr. B. N. Peach 

 and Dr. Logan Jack when they were engaged in surveying the 

 Silurian, Old Red Sandstone, and Carboniferous Eocks of the border 

 territory in Eskdale and Liddesdale. 



During his official career it fell to his lot to map large areas of 

 crystalline schists in Banffshire, the north-east of Aberdeenshire, 

 Central Perthshire, the fascinating region on either side of Ben Nevis, 

 and part of the Knapdale plateau in Argyllshire. 



"While prosecuting his operations in the field in Perthshire he made 

 a careful series of soundings in Lochs Tay, Earn, and Turamel, the 

 results of which were published in T/ie Scottish Geographical Magazine 

 for May, 1888. His results agree very closely with those obtained 

 subsequently by the Scottish Lake Survey. 



