1 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [May 1 895, 



the identification of the different species. Hence he began his expe- 

 riments in order to discover some simpler method of determining 

 these by flame-tests. His results were published, first in 1873, in 

 the ' Verhandlungen der k. k. geologischen Beichsanstalt,' and then 

 in greater detail in Buda-Pest in 1876. 



In these works he described the method with which his name 

 has been coupled, and has become familiar in every geological 

 laboratory. His second most important work was that entitled 

 ' Die geologische Beschreibung von der Umgebung von Selmecz 

 (Schemnitz),' issued in 1892. In this he described the series of 

 Kainozoic lavas in the classical district of Schemnitz. ranging from 

 the orthoclase-trachytes of the Lower Oligocene, the andesine- 

 labradorite ' trachytes,' as he called them, of the Aquitanian and the 

 Miocene, to the still more basic anorthite-bytownite ' trachytes ' of 

 the Pliocene, and the basalts of the post-Pontian period. He did 

 not, however, confine himself to a mere description of the rocks, for 

 with Szabo lithology was of interest mainly from its bearing on the 

 broader problems of geology. He traced the gradual increase in 

 the basicity of the lavas from the earliest to the latest members of 

 the Schemnitz series ; he pointed out the greater fusibility of the 

 magmas compared with the crystalline constituents of each rock, 

 and determined the bearing of these facts on the general problems 

 of vulcanicity. His most original contribution to the subject was, 

 however, in his classification of the rocks ; he laid stress on 'habit' 

 as well as on chemical and petrographical characters, and thus pro- 

 posed an altogether new scheme of the relations of the trachytes 

 and andesites. Whether he will be followed in this may well be 

 doubted, but no one can question the value of the great monograph 

 which was the crowning achievement of his life. But before this 

 had been published Szabo had gained high honour at home and 

 abroad ; he was a Knight of the kingdom of Hungary, President of 

 the Geological Society of Buda-Pest, Professor in the University of 

 that city, Correspondent of the Geological Institute of the Austro- 

 Hungarian Empire, and a Foreign Member of this, as well as of 

 numerous other Scientific Societies. 



He died on 10th April, 1894, at the age of 72. A posthumous 

 note on the trachytes of the Danubian Hills is the last of a long 

 list of over 150 papers which he contributed to the geology of his 

 fatherland.— [J. W. G.] 



In Gustave Honoee Cotteatj France has not only lost a well- 

 known judge, but one of her leading palaeontologists. He was born 



