﻿Obituary— F. B. Meek. 143 



1858, with the exception of three summers, two of which he spent 

 with the Missouri State G-eological Survey. In the summer of 1853 

 he accompanied Dr. F. V. Hayden in an expedition to explore the 

 "Bad Lands" of Dakota, and brought back very valuable collections. 

 This was the commencement of that long series of successful ex- 

 plorations of all portions of the West, which have continued up to 

 the present time. While at Albany he was constantly engaged in 

 the most important pala^ontological works, the results of which were 

 published in the proceedings of the learned societies of the United 

 States. 



In 1858 he went to Washington, where he resided until the time 

 of his death, leaving the city only for a few months at a time while 

 engaged as Palseontologist for the State of Illinois, Ohio, or in field 

 explorations in the far west, in connexion with the U.S. Geological 

 Survey of the Territories under the direction of Dr. F. V. Hayden. 



His publications, aside from the State reports referred to, were 

 very numerous, and bore the stamp of the most faithful and con- 

 scientious research. One gi'eat distinction between Mr. Meek's 

 palseontological labours and the geological publications of his col- 

 leagues on the great Surveys of the States, lies in the fact, that 

 whereas much of their work will require most careful concordance 

 before the grand results accomplished by them can be fully corre- 

 lated, on account of many of the separate States having adopted 

 purely local or new-coined names for their rock series, Mr. Meek's 

 palgeontological work is at once available to his brother- workers all 

 over the world, being written in the same cosmopolitan language. 



Mr. Meek was so modest and retiring that he was scarcely known 

 outside a very limited circle of friends. His bodily infirmities pre- 

 vented him from mingling in society. Although his fame as one 

 of the most eminent paleontologists on the American Continent 

 had been acknowledged among scientific men everywhere, his 

 existence was scarcely known to the world at large. He was a 

 member of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States, 

 and many other prominent scientific associations in America 'and 

 in Europe. 



He died within the walls of the Smithsonian Institution, where 

 he had occupied rooms for eighteen years. He had been connected 

 with the U.S. Geological and Geographical Surveys of the Territories 

 as a salaried officer for the greater portion of the time since its first 

 organization in 1867. 



His last great work (Vol. IX.) appeared in 1876, and contains 

 630 pp. of quarto text, and 45 plates, of which he writes to Dr. 

 F. V. Hayden, " The following is my final Eeport on the Invertebrate 

 Cretaceous and Tertiary Fossils of the Upper Missouri Country." 



His grand palseontological works are his noblest and best monu- 

 ment ; yet, as Prof. Dana truly observes, " he is gone before his work 

 was done ; " and he adds, "American palaeontology has lost (as regards 

 its Invertebrate Department) half its working force at a blow." ^ 



^ These notes were, in great part, commimicated by Dr. F. V. Hayden through 

 the kindness of Thomas Davidson, Esq., F.E.S. — Edit. Geol. Mag. 



