July 15, 1898.] 



SCIENCE. 



69 



to Clark University, Worcester, Mass., 

 wliere he lectured on his favorite subjects. 

 By this time he had become interested in 

 the problems of geographical distribution of 

 •organisms and his attention was turned to 

 the Galapagos Islands. Having succeeded 

 in interesting influential persons in his 

 scheme, he left New York for these islands 

 on May 1, 1891, and arrived at Chatham 

 Island, June 8th. He visited in succession 

 Hood, Barrington, Indefatigable, Albe- 

 marle, Duncan, Indefatigable again, Jervis, 

 Albemarle again, James, Chatham again, 

 Tower, Bindloe and Abingdon islands, and 

 everywhere made abundant collections of 

 animals and plants. He had intended to 

 visit all the islands of the group, but tidings 

 •of sickness in his family compelled him to 

 hasten home. He reached New York on 

 •October 2d. 



At the opening of the University of Chi- 

 cago, in 1892, Dr. Baur was called to the 

 chair of comparative osteology and verte- 

 brate paleontology in that institution, and 

 this he occupied until his death. His age 

 ■did not exceed forty years. He leaves a 

 wife and four children. 



Dr. Baur's contributions to science consist 

 ■of probably one hundred or more papers. 

 •Other and more extensive works were in 

 process of preparation. Among these is an 

 account of the tortoises of North America, 

 which was to have been published by the 

 National Museum. This work must have 

 been completed or nearly so, and will prob- 

 ably appear in due time. 



Dr. Baur's especial interest was in the 

 morphology of the vertebrate skeleton. 

 Although he recognized the great value of 

 descriptive osteology, such work alone did 

 not satisfy the demands of his mind. Al- 

 though he wrote much on vertebrate pale- 

 ontology, he was the describer of few new 

 genera and species. His constant effort 

 was to discover the relationships of forms 

 a,nd the way in which they had originated. 



He was thus impelled to study the homol- 

 ogies of the various bones and to attempt 

 to connect them with the skeletons of more 

 primitive forms. In many of his papers we 

 find attempts made to unravel the genealogy 

 of groups and to base classifications on this 

 genealogy. His views regarding the scope 

 and the methods of comparative osteology 

 may be learned from a lecture published in 

 Science, 1890, Vol. XIV., p. 281. 



Some of the parts of the skeleton to which 

 he gave especial attention are the carpus 

 and tarsus, the vertebral column, and the 

 bones of the temporal region. His opinions 

 on all questions resulted from a careful 

 study of the material objects involved, from 

 a comparison of these with one another, 

 and from examination of the views of other 

 scientific men. His ideas were expressed in 

 clear and simple language, quite in contrast 

 with the usual German style, and one reads 

 after him with pleasure and profit, even if 

 one does not agree with him. His acquaint- 

 ance with scientific literature was exten- 

 sive, and his papers are usually enriched by 

 a full bibliography of the subject discussed. 

 He possessed an independent spirit, and in 

 the utterance of his opinion he stood in awe 

 of no authority. He had strong convic- 

 tions ; and, possibly, sometimes in the heat 

 of discussion he may have expressed him- 

 self with some asperity. Although he main- 

 tained his opinions with vigor, he was open 

 to conviction ; and an examination of his 

 papers will show that he later held views 

 quite different from those advocated at an 

 earlier period. Dr. Baur's studies on the 

 carpus and tarsus resulted in several papers 

 which appeared in the MorpJwlogisches Jahr- 

 buch, American Naturalist, Science, and the 

 Zoologischer Anzeiger. His views were 

 summed up in a short paper published in 

 the American Naturalist for July, 1S85. 



In studying the development of the limbs 

 Dr. Baur held that the Amniota which pos- 

 sessed more than five fingers were highly 



