934 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIX. No. 1017 



himself to paleontology, and chiefly to brachio- 

 pods of the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras. The 

 comprehensiveness of his mind evinced itself 

 even in these early years, for in 1859 and 1860 

 appeared a little book of 122 pages, entitled 

 " Die Wohnsitze der Braehiopoden," in which 

 he examines the living species, seventy-six in 

 number, and from this draws certain conclu- 

 sions as to the probable habitats of the fossil 

 forms. 



At the age of twenty-four he married the 

 daughter of Dr. Strauss, a distinguished physi- 

 cian in Prague, and, as has been said by Geikie, 

 '■' entered on a life of great domestic happiness, 

 which largely contributed "to the success of a 

 strenuous career wherein science and politics 

 came to be strangely blended." 



Geikie says further : 



From his youthful days, when he described the 

 Carlsbad springs, he had been interested in under- 

 ground waters, and among the inquiries which he 

 pursued while attached to the museum was one that 

 embraced the relations of the soil and water sup- 

 ply of Vienna to the life of its inhabitants. In 

 1862 he published a small volume on this subject, 

 in which he gave a comprehensive account of the 

 economic geology of the district. At that time the 

 city was suffering from an impure water supply 

 and consequent typhoid fever. The luminous essay 

 of the young professor at once attracted attention. 

 He was the same year elected into the town coun- 

 cil, that he might give the benefit of his advice in 

 the steps to be taken towards the attainment of 

 better sanitary arrangements. He boldly advo- 

 cated a scheme for bringing the abundant pure 

 water of the Alps into Vienna by means of an 

 aqueduct 110 kilometers in length. This project, 

 eventually adopted, was brought to a successful 

 termination in 1873. So grateful were his fellow- 

 citizens for the signal service thus conferred on 

 them that they bestowed on him their highest civic 

 distinction by electing him an honorary burgess. By 

 this time he had made his mark in the town coun- 

 cil as one of its most useful and able members, so 

 that it was not surprising that he should have been 

 chosen as one of the parliamentary representatives. 

 For more than thirty years he sat in the Austrian 

 parliament as a powerful leader of the Liberal 

 party, only retiring in 1896, when advancing age 

 made the strain of the two-fold life as a politician 

 and man of science too great to be longer borne. 

 As a geologist and a member of parliament, 



it was natural for Suess to be deeply interested 

 in the future supply of the monetary metals, 

 gold and silver. He writes : 



Some years after the introduction of the gold 

 standard in Germany, I published, in 1877, a small 

 work, "Die Zukunft des Goldes, " wherein I tried 

 to show that from geologic indications we must 

 expect in the future a scarcity of gold and an 

 abundance of silver, and that the extension of the 

 gold standard to all civilized states is impossible. 



In 1892 he published his " Die Zukunft des 

 Silbers," and this work was so well thought of 

 that an English translation was ordered and 

 with the author's consent was published in 

 1893 by the finance committee of the United 

 States Senate. At that time his predictions 

 were being verified ; gold was becoming scarcer, 

 and silver kept on increasing in quantity in 

 spite of its falling price. He says : 



Under these circumstances many of my friends 

 and myself were of the opinion that Austria-Hun- 

 gary, in order to guard herself against all con- 

 tingencies, ought indeed gradually to acquire a 

 moderate amount of gold, but ought neither to 

 proclaim a gold standard nor establish a definitive 

 ratio between the silver florin and the gold coin. 



At the age of twenty-six, Suess was ap- 

 pointed professor extraordinary and in 1867 

 was promoted to full professorship in the Uni- 

 versity of Vienna, and for forty-four years he 

 remained a great and enthusiastic teacher, re- 

 tiring with the title emeritus at the age of 

 seventy. Among his students may be men- 

 tioned Neumayr, Mojsisovics, Puchs, Waagen 

 and Penck. 



The greater part of Suess's long life was de- 

 voted to working out the evolution of the fea- 

 tures of the earth's surface. The problem of 

 mountain-building presented itself to his mind 

 during his many excursions in the eastern 

 Alps, and in 1875 he stated his views thereon 

 in the small volume called " Die Entstehung 

 der Alpen," an octavo of 168 pages. Up to 

 this time his publications numbered sixty 

 titles, his studies having ranged over nearly 

 all the branches of geology. 



" Die Entstehung der Alpen," to quote again 

 from Geikie, 



