54 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



The last death to which I have to refer is by far the saddest 

 record amongst the year's losses. The distinguished men whose 

 careers have been briefly commemorated in the preceding pages 

 passed away, full of years and honours, at an age when their scien- 

 tific work might fairly be regarded as finished ; but in Dr. Melchior 

 Neumayr, who died on the 29th January, 1890, at the age of 44 

 years, we have lost one of the best and most scientific palaeontolo- 

 gists who has ever lived, at an age when his talents had but recently 

 arrived at maturity. 



Dr. Neumayr was born in Munich October 24th, 1845. He was 

 the son of a Bavarian Minister of State, Max v. Neumayr, and his 

 early life was passed in Stuttgart, where his father was the Bava- 

 rian Ambassador. After passing through the course of the gym- 

 nasium in Munich, Melchior JSTeumayr entered the University of 

 that city in the autumn of 1863 with the object of studying law, 

 in accordance with the traditions of his family, who had for gene- 

 rations furnished a series of distinguished lawyers and officials in 

 the service of the Bavarian government. But at the university 

 Neumayr's tastes for science soon asserted themselves, and, aban- 

 doning the law, he devoted himself to geology and palaeontology, 

 both at Munich and afterwards at Heidelberg, where he completed 

 his studies and took the degree of Ph.D. After some practice of 

 field-geology with Prof. Giimbel, Neumayr entered the Austrian 

 Geological Survey in 1868, at first as a volunteer, subsequently as 

 assistant geologist. In 1872 he left the Survey and returned to 

 Heidelberg as a tutor (Privatdocent), but was recalled the next 

 year to Yienna as extraordinary Professor in the newly-created 

 chair of Palaeontology. In 1879 he was promoted to the ordinary 

 Professorship, a post which he held till his death. In 1878 he 

 married the daughter of our distinguished Foreign Member Professor 

 Suess. 



It would be impossible to attempt within the limits of an ordinary 

 obituary notice to record the various branches of geology and palae- 

 ontology to which Dr. jN^eumayr has contributed in the course of the 

 last twenty-five years. In addition to his scientific powers he 

 possessed much literary ability, and his papers are written with a 

 clearness which is unfortunately not always conspicuous in German 

 scientific works. He was consequently a successful popular writer 

 on geology, one of his principal works, his ' Erdgeschichte/ in two 

 volumes, which appeared in 1887, having had a wide circulation. 

 But although he wrote frequently and well on physical geology, it 



