OBITUARY NOTICES. 
479 
Young Roland there passed his boyhood days, and in his 
rambles over the island first exhibited a taste for geological 
studies. His education was conducted by his father and his 
sisters until his twelfth year, when he attended a classical 
school near his home. In 1863 he entered the freshman 
class at Columbia College, but owing to a disorder of the 
eyes he was obliged to suspend his studies during his sopho¬ 
more year. Six months of this enforced interval of rest was 
passed in England. Returning in 1866, he resumed his 
studies and was graduated as a mining engineer from the 
School of Mines in 1869, and as a master of arts from the 
collegiate department of Columbia College in 1870. Ten 
years later the same institution conferred upon him the 
degree of Doctor of Philosophy. 
While a student at the School of Mines he was engaged 
during the summer of 1867 as an assistant engineer in the 
Lykens Valley colliery, Pa., and during the following sum¬ 
mer as assistant geologist on the Geological Survey of Ohio. 
Soon after his graduation he accepted the position of 
metallurgist in the Gold Smelting Works of Greenville, 
N. J., where he was employed until the summer of 1870, 
when he was called to the chair of geology, mining, and 
metallurgy—changed to the chair of geology and mineralogy 
in 1880—in the University of Wisconsin, a position which 
he held until his death. 
He was assistant State geologist of Wisconsin between the 
years 1873 and 1879, and expert special agent of the 10th 
Census, in charge of explorations on Lake Superior in 1880 
and 1881. For several years he was president of the Wis¬ 
consin Academy of Sciences. 
In 1882 he became connected with the United States Geo¬ 
logical Survey and assumed the direction of the Lake Su¬ 
perior division, a position which occupied a large share of 
his time and thought until his death. His reports in this 
capacity are among his most enduring contributions to 
science. 
On August 8,1872, Professor Irving was married to Abby 
