374 SKETCH OF PALEOBOTANY. 



reared, and enroll his name alongside those of Bronguiart, linger, and 

 Heer. 



7. Gorda.—The propriety of placing Oorda's name in this roll of honor 

 may be questioned by some, but his contributions to paleobotany were 

 important, and there can be no doubt that had his life not been prema- 

 turely cut off they would have been far more so. Born in 1810 at Eeich- 

 enberg, Bohemia, he early turned his attention to botany, and espe- 

 cially to close histological investigations in fungology. Humboldt, 

 attracted by his productions, called him to Berlin in 1829, and Stern- 

 berg recalled him to Prague in 1834. His "Skizzen zur vergleichenden 

 Phytotomie," appended to Heft 8 of Sternberg's " Flora der Vorwelt," 

 was a valuable addition to that work, and led the way to his two other 

 principal works, " Beitrage zur Flora der Vorwelt," Prague, 1845, and 

 "Die fossilen Pflanzen der bohmischen Kreideformation'' (in Eeuss's 

 " Versteinerungen der bohmischen Kreideformation "), Stuttgart, 184C. 

 In these works and other of his memoirs a large number of species of 

 fossil plants are named, described, and carefully figured, forming a 

 permanent tribute to the growing science. In 1847 Prince Golloredo 

 sent Corda to Texas to collect scientific material. He remained there 

 two years, making large accumulations, and started back with them in 

 the Bremen steamer Victoria, which was lost in the middle of the At- 

 lantic, and Corda, with all his scientific treasures, went down with her. 



8. Geinitz. — Only a comparatively small number of Geinitz's papers 

 relate to paleobotany, and a still smaller number are devoted exclu- 

 sively to that subject ; and yet not less than thirty-five titles belong to 

 this department of paleontology. Born at Altenburg in 1814, he has 

 stood for a full half century in the front rank of continental geologists, 

 and still continues his indefatigable labors. His protracted studies into 

 the age and character of the Quadersandstein formation of Germany, 

 in which so many fossil plants have been found, have shed much light 

 upon this difflcult horizon, while his investigations in the Permian 

 (Dyas, Zechstein), the Carboniferous, and the Gray wacke have always 

 led him to study and describe the floras of these periods. V^e thus pos- 

 sess in his works a geological authenticity for very many fossil plants, 

 which all paleobotanists know how to appreciate. His " Character! stik 

 der Schichten und Petrefakten des sachs.-bohmischen Kreidegebirges," 

 Dresden, 1839-42, appears to have been his first work relating to our 

 subject, and his paleobotanical labors therefore date from 1839. 



9. Binney. — If Witham deserved enumeration in our present list for 

 founding the British school of what may be called phytopaleontological 

 histologists, Binney must be admitted in recognition of the extent and 

 importance of his researches in this department. He seems to have 

 commenced publishing the results of his investigations in 1839,^ and 



8Tli6 first of his papers whose title appears in the " Royal Society Catalogue" is 

 " On a Microscopic Vegetable Skeleton found in Peat near Gainsborough." British 

 Association Report, 1839 (Part II), pp. 71, 72. 



