William Crawford Williamson

Abstract

WHEN the author of this article began. the work for his “Einleitung in die Palæophytologie,” he soon realised that it was quite impossible to produce such a book without an accurate knowledge of Williamson's collection of sections. He therefore wrote to Manchester and requested permission to make use of the collection. An invitation to Williamson's hospitable house was the immediate result. He there spent eight delightful and busy days, during which the host was never weary of demonstrating his specimens to his guest, who was astonished at their abundance, or of imparting to him the fullest information from his store of knowledge. The guest departed with feelings of the warmest respect and gratitude. In the course of the following years, however, he has often again had the privilege of returning to Manchester and London, and of knitting closer the bonds of reverence and friendship with him who is gone. The last occasion was in the spring of the current year, when the writer left with the conviction that it had been their last meeting. Williamson's death actually took place at Clapham Common, on June 23, when in his seventy-ninth year.