xxii Obituary Notices of Fellows deceased. 



Erom 1877 the records which, as describing recent work, are the best illustra- 

 tions of survey progress, doubled in size, and they certainly did not fall off in 

 the importance of the contributions printed, either economical or scientific. 

 Besides these Mr. Medlicott edited, during his tenure of office, about 

 10 volumes of the Memoirs and numerous parts of the Palseontologia Indica, 

 comprising Dr. Feistmantel's descriptions of Gondwana plant fossils, most of 

 Mr. Lydekker's accounts of the Siwalik and other vertebrata, and the largest 

 portion of Dr. Waagen's great work on the Salt Eange fossils, and of the 

 descriptions of Tertiary Corals and Echinoderms from Western India by 

 Dr. Duncan and Mr. Percy Sladen. There was the same thorough progress 

 in other directions : for instance, in the arrangement of the Museum and of the 

 Survey Office. 



His work absorbed him entirely ; living almost the life of a hermit, and 

 confining himself to his office, he devoted all his time to the Survey. He 

 was a man of a retiring disposition originally, not in the least from want of 

 energy or courage, but because the social pursuits of men in general did not 

 attract him ; he had, in fact, something of the ascetic temperament. During 

 his life at the Museum, he not merely lived alone on the poorest of fare, but 

 he scarcely quitted the building. In the evening he took exercise on the 

 roof. He had retained some early habits, such as walking bare foot, and long 

 after he left Calcutta, a path along the flat Museum roof, worn by his naked 

 feet, could still be traced. As a young man he had been strong and active, 

 and amongst other traits had acquired the power, not often possessed by 

 Europeans, of sitting like a native of the East on his heels. His method of 

 living he rarely cared to explain, though as a fact, whilst his own living 

 expenses were reduced to a minimum, far below the usual minimum of Anglo- 

 Indians, he was providing for several relatives and not merely for his own 

 family. The death of his brother, too, had added to a considerable extent to 

 his responsibilities. 



After the completion of his 55th year, in 1884, Mr. Medlicott was retained 

 by the Government of India in his office until 1887. He retired on April 27 

 in that year, having served almost continuously for rather more than 33 years. 

 He was only on leave for six months in 1865, less than six months in 1871, and 

 again six months in 1884, or 18 months during the whole period of service. 



Since his retirement he lived very quietly at Clifton, near Bristol, and 

 had taken but little part in scientific discussion, though always keenly 

 interested in the progress of the Indian Survey. His time, as long as he 

 remained in good health, was mairdy devoted to philosophical problems, 

 to which he had always been devotedly attached. He published two short 

 pamphlets on "Agnosticism and Faith," in 1888, and on "The Evolution of 

 Mind in Man," in 1892, and was engaged on a larger work which has not been 

 finished. A few years since, a strain caused by bicycling, when, with character- 

 istic energy and determination, he had resolved that he would not be beaten by 

 a particular hill, led to serious heart symptoms, and, although for a time a 

 partial recovery was made, a relapse early in 1904 reduced him greatly. 



