144 Obituary—E. B. Tawney. 
the sections, laid before the Geological Society a masterly review of 
the whole question, maintaining the general correctness of the 
classification of Edward Forbes and the Survey. 
He also read a résumé of his views on this subject before the 
Cambridge Philosophical Society. 
The controversy was carried on with much force and vigour; some 
said it was occasionally too personal, but most thought that they 
would not have learned so much on a somewhat involved question 
if there had been a less clear statement of the points referred to, 
and aless clear quotation of the views commented on. The scientific 
world was much the wiser for the discussion, which had the effect of 
eliciting most valuable information. That question may be con- 
sidered to have been set at rest, but he was engaged upon some 
details required for the fuller working out of the correlation of the 
series at the time of his death. However, the work was far advanced, 
and it is hoped that it will be shortly published. 
He was a good linguist, and read with ease scientific papers in 
French, Italian, and German. This, with his wide range of know- 
ledge and his strong critical faculty, made him a valuable contributor 
to the Geological Record, of which he was sub-editor. It also gave 
him great facility of correspondence and conversation with foreign 
geologists, whether in carrying on his own studies or in connexion 
with the International Geological Congress of the British Committee, 
of which he was general secretary. 
His worth was soon recognized at the University, and on Dee. 4, 
1879, an honorary M.A. degree was conferred upon him—the public 
orator referring in flattering terms to his educational and scientific 
successes, and alluding to the distinguished career of some of his 
relatives. He was at the same time made a member of Trinity 
College, allowed to put himself in commons and granted the ordinary 
privileges of a Fellow of the College. He commonly dined in 
hall till lately, when he complained much of the climate, and did 
not go out at night. In December he went to Mentone, accompanied 
by the Professor of Mineralogy, and put himself under a foreign 
medical man. At first it was hoped that the warmth and fresh air, 
which he was now able to get out and enjoy, were doing him good ; 
but in a few days he complained of great weakness, and on Dec. 380, 
before he had been out a week, he passed quietly away in sleep. 
He was followed by the Secretary of the Geological Society of 
France, of which he was an esteemed member, and by the Professors 
of Mineralogy and of Geology at Cambridge, to the tomb in the 
rocky cemetery that overhangs the town and looks out on the 
Mediterranean beyond; among the rocks that only a few days 
before he had been hammering for fossils. 
To the scientific world, and especially to the University whose 
interests he had identified with his own, his loss can hardly be 
repaired. 
Those who knew him well saw beyond that keen critical mind 
the warm heart ever prompting him to do unostentatiously acts of 
consideration and kindness. T. McKunny Hucues. 
