IN MEMORIAM : J. R. MORTIMER. 
259 
It is indeed the peculiar value of his scientific work, that it 
has dealt so exhaustively with a definite and limited tract ; his 
collections remain as a splendid example of what, \Wth per- 
sistent effort, may be achieved for science in the spare hours of 
a strenuous business career. To the end of his days, Mortimer 
found relaxation and delight in his studies, and I know that they 
served him well as a solace in times of strain and stress. 
Mortimer was delicate of health during his youth, and in 
later years he was never robust ; but his tall lithe frame, his 
alert movements, and his bright eyes betokened the tough virility 
and mental energy that carried him through a long life and 
remained in him unabated almost to the last. 
He was fond of telling how his interest in science was first 
stirred by an eventful visit to the Great Exhibition in London 
in 1851. Then he began to collect the flint implements of the 
Wolds, aided by his brother, the late Robert Mortimer, who joined 
keenly in the search. This soon led him to the opening of barrows 
and the excavation of earth- works ; and, having once begun, he 
carried on the work with his wonted tenacity of purpose, through- 
out the whole district, as opportunity occurred, for over forty 
years. To store and display the huge collection thus gathered he 
built a private museum at Driffield, cherishing the hope that this 
would remain as a permanent memorial of his researches. Late 
in life he set himself the arduous task of publishing a full record 
of his archseological findings, and. with the aid of his daughter, 
Agnes, who x>repared all the drawings, and of his friend, Mr. T. 
Sheppard, who undertook the editorial duty, this task also was 
brought to a successful conclusion by the publication six years 
ago of a monumental volume entitled " Forty Years" Researches 
in British and Saxon Burial Mounds of East Yorkshire " (pp. 86 
-f- 452. and 125 plates. A. Brown and Soils, London and Hull). 
When this great work issued from the press, its author had 
already attained the age of 80 years ; yet after that, he further 
published seven or eight papers, the last, on " The Stature, etc., 
of our Ancestors in East Yorkshire,'" being sent for reading at 
the Portsmouth (1911) Meeting of the British Association ; but 
his hfe ceased just before the meeting. We learn from "Six. 
Sheppard's account in The Naturalist that there are also several 
more papers written, but not yet published. 
