Abstract
BY the sudden death of this chemist and metallurgist on the 5th inst. geology loses one of its ablest leaders in a department where the labourers are not very numerous here, and at the same time one of the kindliest and most helpful among the students of science. Mr. Phillips was born in Cornwall, and among the metalliferous rocks of that county began the scientific researches which he has since prosecuted with so much success. Having early shown his taste for mining and metallurgy, he, was sent to obtain his training in these subjects at the École des Mines of Paris. As far back as 1841 he began to contribute papers to the scientific journals. His early essays were almost wholly devoted to chemical and metallurgical subjects. His studies among the Californian gold-fields, however, led him to investigate wider questions in physical geology. By degrees he turned into the domain of petrography, and for the last sixteen years it has been mainly in that branch of science that his original researches have been carried on. His papers on the eruptive rocks of the south-west of England are admirable illustrations of the value of the union of chemical and mineralogical qualifications in petrographical inquiry. Most of his time during the last two or three years had been devoted to the production of large and important treatises. Of these his volume on “Ore Deposits,” published in 1884, has taken its place as a standard English work of reference. At the time of his death he was busy with the preparation of a new edition and expansion of a work on “Metallurgy,” which he had published when still a young man. In this task he had associated Mr. Bauerman with himself, in whose competent hands the volume is sure to see the light in a form worthy of its author's reputation. Those who were personally acquainted with Mr. Phillips, while they lament the loss to science which his sudden death has inflicted, mourn still more the extinction of a life of singular simplicity, earnestness, and kindliness. He was a large-hearted and open-handed man, fond of taking every chance that came in his way of doing a good deed and helping every one to whom his help could be of service.
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John Arthur Phillips, F.R.S. . Nature 35, 248 (1887). https://doi.org/10.1038/035248c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/035248c0