Proceedings of the Ohio State Academy of Science. 63 



DR. HERMAN HERZER. 



Rev. Herman Herzer, A.M. D. Sc, was born July i, 1833 

 in Neustadt on the Orla, Saxony- Weimar. When fifteen years 

 of age he came to America with his parents and soon obtained 

 work in New York as a cobbler, having learned the trade in 

 Germany. 



After trying in vain to flee from the call to the ministry, he 

 finally yielded and served as a German Methodist itinerant in 

 Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Kentucky from 1855 to 1875 

 and again from 1877 to 1907, part of which time he was a 

 presiding elder and for four years superintendent of the German 

 Methodist Orphan Asylum at Berea, Ohio. 



He was an indefatigable worker and, although he did not 

 attend a higher institution of learning he mastered several lan- 

 guages and spent his Mondays in Scientific research, making 

 several notable discoveries as the specimens bearing his name 

 indicate, viz : Dinichthys herzeri and Lingula herzeri. Tlie 

 former is "Herzer's terrible fish" as geologists were wont to 

 call it in derision until he proved to them that he had discovered 

 a new species of fossil fish. 



During the two years from 1875 ^o 1877 suffering with 

 throat trouble which prevented his speaking in public, he was 

 appointed State Geologist of Kentucky. 



Although his special field was paleontology as shown by the 

 extensive collection that he presented to the Museum of German 

 Wallace College, that bears his name and of which he was curator 

 for years, he was also well versed in conchology and made an 

 excellent collection of mosses and mounted birds. 



Dr. Herzer was for several years a member of the American 

 Association for the Advancement of Science and of the Ohio 

 State Academy of Science, serving as First Vice President of 

 the latter in 1901. He contributed several interesting papers and 

 descriptions which were published. He is said to have been the 

 first to discover the origin of oil. 



Since 1899 ^^^ resided in Marietta, Ohio, where his constant 

 pleasure was collecting geological specimens. Besides the many 



