240 Obituary. 



sets are at miicli higher levels than in the lower part : there is an ex- 

 cellent instance of this at the Sogndal in the above fjord. (5) That 

 deltas are now forming in the fjords below these terraces, as, for 

 example, at Lierdalsoren ; where the head of the fjord is becoming 

 a marshy swamp (the valley for a considerable distance behind 

 the village is a level plain), and then a well-marked terrace some 

 30 feet high, ending abruptly, is met with, and continues for some 

 miles till the rocky bed of the valley rises from beneath it. (6) 

 That considering the coarse materials of which the terraces are not 

 unfrequently composed, one would expect their upper surfaces to 

 slope away (like the Mississippi banks) from the stream. This 

 is not the case. (7) The general arrangement of the terraces, which 

 of course could only be shown by elaborate diagrams, is to my mind 

 quite inexplicable on Colonel Greenwood's theory. 



I believe, therefore, that the terraces of the Eraser Eiver, of the 

 Yangma, and of Norway, are all to be attributed to the same cause, 

 viz., the erosion of detritus deposited by a river in a pre-existing 

 valley, when, in consequence of a change in its velocity or volume, 

 it cuts away that which it has previously been depositing or covering. 



St. John's College, Cambridge. T. G. Bonnet. 



OBITTJ-iLia-y. 



WiLHELM VON Haidinger Is no more. He died at the age of 77 years 

 on the 19th of March. His father, Karl Haidinger, was a mineralogist, 

 and for several years Professor of Mining at Schemnitz. The young 

 Haidinger inherited his father's taste for minerals, for he joined the class 

 of the distinguished mineralogist Mohs at Gratz, and subsequently went to 

 Freiberg to complete his training in Mining. Count Breunner, who came 

 to England in 1822, invited the young mineralogist to accompany him. 

 They travelled together through England to Edinburgh, where Mr. Allan, 

 the banker, invited young Haidinger to make a home of his house while 

 employed in translating the Mineralogy of Mohs into English ; he accord- 

 ingly made Mr. Allan's house his head-quarters till 1827. With Mr. 

 Eobert Allan, the eldest son of his friend, he travelled during four years 

 through Cornwall, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Austria, Italy, 

 and France, During these travels the famous collection, afterwards the 

 property of Mr. Robert Greg, and now in the British Museum, was formed. 

 At this time he brought out his translation of Mohs' treatise, and wrote 

 several Mineralogical papers for the Wernerian Society and the Transac- 

 tions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. In 1840 he returned to his 

 native city, Vienna, to devote himself more exclusively to the scientific 

 pursuits he loved. A compendious and valuable treatise on Mineralogy, 

 brought out in 1845, to take the place of an earher treatise, was continually 

 undergoing revision for new editions ; while new investigations of minerals 

 were also appearing under his name. From the foundation of the Geo- 

 logical Institute for the Empire in Vienna, Haidinger was its Director 

 until some two or three years ago, when he retired from the position he 

 had filled so well, with a Ritter's rank and a well-earned pension. For the 

 last twelve years of his life he had given liis attention almost exclusively 

 to the subject of meteorites. He leaves behind him a name which Austria 

 may cherish as that of one of her illustrious sons, and which many an 

 Austrian and many a foreigner will remember with warm respect. — Ex- 

 tracted from Natwe, April 6th. 



