342 The American Geologist. June, iwio 
couragement and oftentimes material assistance in other ways 
have been the foundation or turning points in the careers of not 
a few who have since achieved more or less prominence as sci- 
entists. 
In Kansas his scientific work was largely that of an ex- 
plorer. Arduous, intrepid, willingly undergoing hardships and 
dangers for the sake of science, he explored a very large part 
of Kansas when explorations meant real dangers and hard- 
ships of the most pronounced kind. As early as 1870 he made 
explorations into the extreme \vestern part of the state in the 
study of its geology and paleontology, and for years afterward, 
nearly every summer found him in the midst of the Indian 
country usually wholly without protection from the danger of 
hostile Indians save such as his own rifle and revolver afiforded. 
In the summer of 1874, with but two assistants he explored the 
whole length of the Smoky Hill river, an utterly trackless wild 
infested by Indians, whose murderous depredations were visi- 
ble on every side. 
Professor Mudge's published scientific work is not exten- 
:'ive. Knowledge that he acquired, and which he might have 
given to the world himself, he freely intrusted 10 others for 
publication, largely through his own modesty, partly because 
he believed that the better facilities of others would enable 
them to do the work more thoroughly and better. His gener- 
ous unselfishness in scientific matters, as in everything else, 
prompted self abnegation for the greater benefit of his dearly 
beloved science. So long as his numerous scientific discoveries 
added to the stock of human knowledge he seldom cared who 
gave them to the world. His extensive collections in the whole 
field of Kansas geology and paleontology have greatly enriched 
scientific literature. Especially will his name be found with 
great frequency in the published works of Lesquereux, White, 
Cope and Marsh as the discoverer of very many of the new 
forms described by them. It was on one of his early trips in 
the western part of the state that he discovered the now famous 
specimen of Ichthyornis, the first specimen of a toothed bird 
ever found showing the presence of teeth. This specimen yet 
remains perhaps the most perfect specimen of the smaller 
toothed birds in any collection. It was practially presented to 
Prof. Marsh, and furnished this author the material from which 
