ANNIVERSAKT ADDEESS OE THE PEESIDENT. 59 



his experience by a visit to America, where he spent a year and a half 

 in investigating the geology and palaeontology of Texas and other 

 Southern States. The results of this research were embodied in several 

 publications after his return to Europe. In one of these he described 

 the Cretaceous system of Texas ; in another (dedicated to Murchison) 

 he gave an account of the Silurian fauna of W. Tennessee. JFrom 

 1847 to 1855 he remained at Bonn as ' Privat-docent ' and busy in the 

 elaooration of his Texas materials. In the last-named year he 

 was appointed to the Chair of Geology, Palaeontology, and Minera- 

 logy in the University of Breslau, and continued to hold that 

 position until his death. 



But while Breslau remained his headquarters he made many and 

 extensive journeys through all parts of Europe. Remote as was 

 his hone, there were few Continental geologists more widely known 

 in persm than he. His tours were made indeed not only to see 

 the gedogy of other countries, but to meet foreign geologists and 

 to disciss with them the problems of his favourite field of science. 



His scientific writings show the great extent of his acquirements 

 and the wide range of subjects that interested him. He was a 

 palseortologist who contributed to our knowledge especially of the 

 fossil invertebrata, including sponges, graptolites, corals, crusta- 

 ceans, arachnids, molluscs, echinoderms, ophidians, and even mam- 

 malfc. On some of these divisions of the animal kingdom he wrote 

 monc^raphs which were important contributions to morphology, 

 such, for instance, as those on Cujpressocrinus, Melonites, and the 

 asterojds and blastoids of Bundenbach. The enormous amount of 

 reearch spent by him on his great work ' Lethsea Palaeozoica ' 

 sbws his indomitable industry and power of concentration. He 

 w.s likewise a good geologist, and besides the treatises on Texas 

 aii smaller papers, he produced in 1870 a huge work in three 

 qurto volumes on the geology of Upper Silesia. He added also 

 soie papers to the literature of mineralogy. 



Ferdinand von Eomer, as we met him in his journeys or at some 

 meting or Congress, seemed one of the most genial of men. There 

 W8 a light-hearted gaiety about the way he discussed even the 

 dnst problems of science. He had a happy knack in finding a 

 hmorous side to everything, and he continued to impart his own 

 goi spirits to all who shared his society. Yet one knew that 

 uner all this playfulness there lay that earnest and diligent zeal in 

 th severest toil and drudgery which had enabled him to produce so 

 laije and so valuable an amount of scientific work. 



