lviii PROCEEDINGS Of THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [May I904, 



Among Zittel's contributions to scientific literature a prominent 

 place must unquestionably be given to one of the publications of 

 his later years — his admirable * Geschichte der Geologie und 

 Pakeontologie,' which appeared in the summer of 1899. Various 

 attempts had previously been made to present a connected account 

 of the progress of geology, but most of these dealt with the earlier 

 periods of the science and were written before the extraordinary 

 development, in the second half of last century, of our knowledge 

 of the history of the earth. Zittel, while treating luminously of the 

 older researches, set himself the formidable task of digesting the 

 literature of geology and palaeontology down to the end of last 

 century, and presenting to the world an ordered narrative of the 

 advances made in the several departments of these great domains 

 of natural knowledge. While it is difficult to exaggerate the 

 magnitude of this task, it is hardly less so to overpraise the success 

 with which the task has been accomplished. Turning everywhere 

 to the original sources of information, Zittel has been able to place 

 in a new light the enquiries of the ancient observers and those who 

 nourished in the heroic age of geology before the third decade of 

 last century. He shows the relations of the work achieved by a 

 host of labourers all over the world, and prepares the reader for 

 the more detailed discussion of the striking amplification of geolo- 

 gical effort in all directions during the rest of the century recently 

 closed. In none of his writings does he manifest more impressively 

 his breadth of view in natural science, his wide sympathy with 

 every line of scientific advance, the calm logical attitude of his 

 mind, the range of his knowledge, and the deftness of his literary 

 skill in marshalling so vast a body of facts in clear and interesting 

 order. His volume must form part of the library of every geologist ; 

 and to no book will the student of the future more frequently turn 

 for information and guidance through the crowded literature of 

 geology. 1 



On the 4th of October last Zittel was knocked over by a bicyclist 

 in the street, and his right knee sustained such injury as to confine 

 him to bed for several weeks. About two months later he acci- 

 dentally further injured the wounded knee. This bodily affliction, 

 coming after the deep mental distress into which he had been 



1 Au excellent translation of this work, somewhat abridged, has been pub- 

 lished, with Zittel's approval, by Mrs. Ogilvie-Grordon (a former pupil of his), 

 under the title of ' History of Geology & Palaeontology to the End of the 

 Nineteenth Century ' Contemporary Science Series, London, 1901. 



