40 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



On the 16th of March, at Makouw's Ylei, on the Vaal, in South 

 Africa, died G. "W. Stow, who had contributed probably more 

 than any other person towards a thorough geological exploration 

 of those parts of the African continent comprised in our own 

 dominions and the Free States. Mr. Stow's work was carried on 

 under circumstances of such continued pecuniary difficulty and 

 personal hardship as nothing but the sacred fire of a pure love of in- 

 vestigation for its own sake, rather than for any monetary emolu- 

 ments which might ultimately accrue from it, would have enabled 

 him to endure, though a man of exceptionally strong character and 

 great physical strength. But the strain finally proved too great, and 

 he succumbed at a moment when success seemed almost within his 

 grasp. He leaves a widow and five young children, in very destitute 

 circumstances, to lament his loss. 



Elected a Fellow in 1872, he contributed papers on the geology and 

 fossils of South Africa, which were published in our Journal. But 

 the work to which he devoted his best years and energy is still in 

 manuscript. It is greatly to be desired that this should find a 

 publisher. 



Sir Charles Wtville Thomson, born in 1830, had only just 

 completed his fifty-second year at the date of his death on the 10th 

 of March last. Beginning the study of Medicine at the University 

 of Edinburgh in 1845, he soon found himself attracted rather to its 

 scientific than to its practical side ; and in 1853 he was appointed to 

 the vacant lecturership in Botany in King's College, and later in 

 Marischal College at Aberdeen, from which University he received 

 the degree of LL.D. when he had scarcely attained his majority. 

 He subsequently held lecturerships on botany, zoology, geology, and 

 mineralogy in the Queen's Colleges at Cork and Belfast and in the 

 University of Edinburgh, where he had the reputation of being an 

 able teacher. Attracted particularly to the class Echinodermata, and 

 especially to the order Crinoidea, he communicated, in 1863, to the 

 Royal Society a paper " On the Embryology of Antedon (Comatula) 

 rosacea." Later he went to Norway, at the instance of Prof. Sars, to 

 study the living Apiocrinoid now known as Rhizocrinus lofotensis, 

 the exhibition of which in scientific circles by his friend Dr. 

 Carpenter principally led to the deep-sea dredging expeditions of 

 H.M.SS. ' Lightning ' and ' Porcupine,' in which, in conjunction with 

 Dr. Carpenter and Dr. Gwyn Jeffreys, Sir. C. W. Thomson took an 

 important part. The latter expedition laid the foundation for the 

 solution of many questions of the highest interest to physical 

 geography and geology, by demonstrating that there is practically 

 no limit to the depth at which marine animals may exist. Not only 

 was the true temperature of the deep-sea bottom then first ascer- 

 tained, but the temperature at different depths was worked out. 

 Many marine types, especially of Echinoderms and Siliceous Sponges, 

 procured by dredging, distinctly represented Cretaceous forms ; and, 

 further, the Olohiyerina -mud, which covers the Atlantic bed to an 

 unknown thickness, was proved to correspond in many points with 



