IOWA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 
15 
exchanges with collectors in this country and Europe, and by having 
collectors in the field. Liberal purchases for the library were made, and 
when work was commenced on the monograph, nearly the whole crinoidal 
literature, from the time of J. S. Miller to date, was at hand. By examin- 
ing the titles of their publications it will be noticed that Wachsmuth and 
Springer took verj little pride in describing new species, their attention 
being directed mainly to the morphology, with a view to classification, and 
to the revision of the work of the earlier writers. As the work of the 
monograph was nearing completion. Prof. Alexander Agassiz, the present 
director of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, offered to publish it, in 
the best style possible, as one of the memoirs of the museum, and in this 
series it now appears, a model of typographic art. 
Mr. Wachsmuth was at one time vice-president of this society. He was 
also a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, 
of the Geological Society of America, and of the Davenport Academy of 
Sciences. He was a corresponding member of the Philadelphia Academy 
of Natural Sciences, and a member of the Imperial Society of Natural 
Sciences, of Moscow, Russia. For many years he carried on an extensive 
and intimate correspondence with leading scientists of this country and 
Europe. That which passed between Dr. P. Herbert Carpenter, the most 
eminent European authority on Echinoderms, and Mr. Wachsmuth during 
the past ten years would alone fill a large volume. 
For many years Mr. Wachsmuth was in delicate health and was obliged 
to spend the winter seasons in the South. The early spring was usually 
passed in the mountains of Alabama, Tennessee and Kentucky, where 
immense collections of both crinoids and blastoids were brought together. 
On all of these trips he was accompanied by his faithful wife, who is, her- 
self an excellent and indefatigable collector. 
The sudden demise of our associate took place on February 7, 1896. 
Although rarely able to be present at the meetings of our Academy no 
member took greater interest in its deliberations nor had greater solici- 
tude for its welfare and progress. 
From early childhood Mr. Wachsmuth possessed a frail constitution 
which continually threatened to give away, yet he withstood the inroads of 
an organic disease long enough to nearly complete the allotted span of 
human life, of three score years and ten. During the last three years his 
health gradually failed, until for several months previous to the end, hercu- 
lean efforts were necessary to enable him to work even for a short time each 
day. His last illness covered only a few days, and even the iron will, 
which had so often before overcome a long-standing ailment, finally had to 
give up to the physically weak heart. To within a day of his demise, with 
a zeal that is begotten only for love of the sublime, he continued to apply 
himself to the finishing stages of the crowning glory of his life — the Mono- 
graph of the Fossil Crinoids. The first half only was written and the final 
proofs of this part were barely read when the angel of death beckoned him. 
The triumphant joy of beholding the completed structure of a noble life’s 
work was not his lot. Deprivation of what he held dearest took the place 
of conquering satisfaction, in the very hour of victory. 
Few outside of the little circle of workers directly interested in the 
rather limited field of investigation can appreciate the great importance 
and originality of Mr. Wachsmuth’s work. Compared with the extent of 
