The Late Dr. John Strong Newberry. 341 
loss they now sustain. He was born at New Windsor, Con- 
necticut, on December 22, 1822, and took the degree of 
M.D, from the Cleveland Medical College, Ohio, in 1848. 
Before beginning the practice of medicine, which he in- 
tended to be his occupation in life, he spent two years in 
Europe. During his stay at that time in Paris he acquired 
a good knowledge of the French language, and had many 
opportunities of cultivating a love of science, which soon 
manifested itself as one of his distinguishing characteristics. 
Returning to his native country, he began practice as a 
medical man at Cleveland in 1851. Even at the outset of 
his professional work he contrived to find time also for 
scientific enquiry. His first published paper appeared in 
the same year in which he started in his medical profession. 
It is devoted to the geographical distribution of land and 
fresh-water shells. 
‘“‘ But he soon entered upon the two branches of geological 
investigation in which he was to make his name familiar all 
over the civilized world—the study of fossil botany and of 
fossil fishes. As early as the year 1853 he made his first 
contribution to the history of Carboniferous plants, and 
three years later his earliest memoir on fossil fishes was 
published. By this time his scientific acquirements and 
enthusiasm were widely known. Hence when an expedi- 
tion under Lieutenant Ives was organized for the explora- 
tion of the Colorado River of the West, Newberry was 
selected to accompany it, and to take charge of the observa- 
tions to be made in natural history. His geological contri- 
bution to the famous Report at once placed him in the very 
front rank of American geology. His account of the geolo- 
gical structure of the region traversed by the expedition, 
and of the marvellous denudation of the cations, will always 
remain as one of the landmarks of geological progress. 
‘“‘He had now been touched by the fascination of explora- 
tion in the far west. The drudgery of medical practice be- 
came irksome to him, so that when in the year following 
his return from Colorado the offer was made to him to take 
part in another expedition, he gladly availed himself of 
