ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. 



49 



the Alps that his excellence in rock-drawing of every kind is con- 

 spicuous. Overwork and anxiety first clouded and then terminated 

 a life which once seemed full of brilliant promise. 



Dr. Wilhelm Philipp Schimper, Professor of Greology in the 

 Faculty of Sciences, Director of the Museum of Natural History, 

 and Professor in the University of Strasburg, a Corresponding Mem- 

 ber of the French Academy of Sciences and of the Academies of 

 Munich, Lisbon, and Philadelphia, elected a Foreign Correspon- 

 dent of the Geological Society in 1874, died of disease of the heart 

 on the 20th March, 1880. 



Dr. Schimper was descended from a family living in the 

 Palatinate, the connexion of which with Alsace was at all times 

 close, and especially so during the first French empire. His 

 father at this time became the Protestant pastor of Dossenheim, 

 near Saverne, in Alsace ; and here Schimper was born in 1808. 

 He was educated at first by his father, and from an early period 

 showed a great taste for natural history, which continued to 

 manifest itself after he had temporarily left the paternal roof, at 

 the age of 14, to pursue his studies at the College of Bouxwiller. 

 Here he remained until 1826, when he went to Strasburg, and 

 there, in 1833, took his degree as Bachelor of Divinity. He sub- 

 sequently acted for a time as curate to his father, who was then 

 pastor at Offwiller. 



The young Schimper, however, seems to have devoted his atten- 

 tion more to Natural History, especially Botany, than to theologi- 

 cal studies ; and he had acquired such a knowledge of the Mosses, 

 that as early as 1834 the eminent botanist Bruch proposed to 

 him that they should produce a joint monograph on the European 

 forms of that class of plants. Schimper acceded to the proposal, 

 and, with the view of devoting himself exclusively to natural- 

 history studies, resigned his ecclesiastical functions, not without 

 opposition on his father's part, and in 1835 accepted the position 

 of preparator in the Museum of Natural History at Strasburg. 

 "With that establishment he remained connected until the day of 

 his death, having been reinstated in his various offices by the Ger- 

 man authorities after their annexation of Alsace. 



The work on European Mosses above mentioned was pro- 

 duced by Schimper alone. It is entitled ' Bryologia Europaea, sen 

 genera Muscorum Europseorum, Monographia illustrata,' and is a 

 monument of the author's industry and botanical attainments, 

 extending to six 4to volumes, with an atlas of 641 plates. Its 

 publication was commenced in 1836, but was not completed until 

 nearly twenty years afterwards (namely, in 1855). The author's 

 bryological publications did not cease then, however : he afterwards 

 produced several supplements to his great work, besides other 

 memoirs on Mosses, and a ' Synopsis Muscorum Europgeormn,' of 

 which the second edition appeared in 1874. 



In procuring materials for the above work, Schimper travelled a 

 good deal in various parts of Europe; and on his journeys he was in- 



