SCIENCE. 



FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 1883. 



OSWALD HEER. 

 Oswald IIeeu, whose death in his scvonty- 

 fiftli year we announced a fortnight since, was 

 born in Gla- 

 nis, Switzer- 

 land, Aug. TjI . 

 1809. Inl8is 

 lie went to 

 Ilalle to study 

 theology and 

 natural histo- 

 ry, lie began 

 liis career as a 

 pastor at da- 

 rns ; and cer- 

 tain habits and 

 manners of :i 

 clergyman 

 clung to him 

 throughout 

 life, and traces 

 of them may 

 even be seen 

 in his special 

 paleontological 

 writings. lie 

 soon gave up 

 the ministry, 

 and devoted 

 himself exclu- 

 sively to natu- 

 ral history ; 

 and we next 

 find him set- 

 tled in Zurich, 

 where, in 1835, 

 he founded the 

 botanic gar- 

 den, and be- 

 came its director. In the following year he 

 was attached to the universit}' as professor 

 of botany and entomology, — the two studies 

 which divided his lime throughout his life. 

 Later, about 18.').5, he transferred his alle- 



No. 39. - 1883. 



giance to the Polytechnicnm, an institution of 

 world-wide fame, where he remained the rest 

 of his life. In 184.5 he founded and became 

 president of the Zurich society of agriculture 

 and horticulture. And for twenty years he 

 was a Rath- 

 shcrr. or mem- 

 ber of the 

 Grand council 

 of Zurich. 



It was not 

 until 1840 that 

 he turned Ids 

 attention to 

 paleontology, 

 studying first 

 of all the fossil 

 insects of Oen- 

 ingen. This 

 task he under- 

 took at the in- 

 stance of his 

 friend Escher 

 von der Linth. 

 Knowing him 

 from his child- 

 hood, Escher 

 quickly per- 

 ceived that a 

 mind so deli- 

 cately adjust- 

 ed to observa- 

 tion, which no 

 detail escaped, 

 was well pre- 

 pared for the 

 difficult work 

 of.detci-mining 

 and classifying 

 the numerous 

 plants and in- 

 a virgin field, 

 of his friend, 





sects of Oeningen. It was 

 Yielding to the solicitations 

 Ileer bravely undertook the suggested work; 

 and with scarcely an interruption, notwith- 

 standing a constitution always delicate, he 



