3u flDemoriam. 



129 



HENRY CLIFTON SORBY, LL.D., F.R.S., F.S.A., F.G.S., etc. 



(1826-1908). 



One of the greatest losses that YorksMre naturahsts have 

 ever experienced, and one of the severest blows that geological 

 science has ever had, occurred on the evening of March the 9th. 

 On that date Sorby died. Though he was in his eighty-second 

 year, had long been a cripple, and confined to his house, 

 the newspapers of that Tuesday morning early in March con- 

 tained information which came as a surprise and a shock to 

 hundreds of Yorkshiremen ; and scientific men the world over 

 learned with regret that one of their most brilliant lights had 

 been extinguished. 



Sorby was in many ways a marvellous man. All his long 

 life was devoted to scientific research ; few, if any, have solved 

 as many difficult problems in so many different branches of 

 science as has he. Whatever subject he investigated, he 

 Tlumined. No problem so profound but was mastered by his 

 erseverance and skill. His investigations were so thorough, 

 his results so far-reaching, that in numerous directions he has 

 very materially benefitted mankind. The indebtedness of the 

 scientific world to him can never be estimated ; and yet, with all 

 this, he was the most approachable of men. No one could be 

 more ready or more willing to assist others in their studies 

 than was Sorby. Before the accident occurred which kept him 

 to his house, he never lost an opportunity of encouraging others 

 in their work. He frequently attended the annual meetings 

 of the Yorkshire Naturalists' Union, and any society in his 

 native county, however small, could always depend upon 

 receiving his help. In his quiet and unostentatious way he has 

 done much, not the least valuable part of his work being the 

 delivery of scores of lectures to various natural history societies, 

 the character of which was such that their enormous beneficial 

 influence can hardly be judged. 



When the writer last saw him — not so long ago — he was 

 unable to walk ; unable even to stand up, and had little hope 

 of ever doing so ; yet a more cheerful and more contented man 

 it would have been difficult to have found. His work was still 

 going on, and more hours a day than most ' business ' men 

 would care for, was Sorby busily employed. Only a few days 



J908 April I. 



I 



