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Linnaius and the Furze-bushes. See j 1 . 
 
Eminent Naturalists. 
 
 "BT 
 
 THOMAS GEEEyVOOD, RBjGLS., 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 
 " A Tour in the States and Canada," "Free Public Libraries," 
 
 "Half Hour Papers. " etc, 
 
 - 
 
 
 SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, & 
 
 COL, 
 
 STATIONERS' HALL COURT, E.C. 
 
 
 1886. 
 
 
P E E F A E. 
 
 The age in which we live necessitates brevity, and 
 average readers have not time for the perusal of volu- 
 minous biographies. It appeared to the author that 
 there was a need of short yet comprehensive sketches of 
 some leading naturalists, and he has attempted to supply 
 that want. His desire has been throughout to stimulate 
 a desire, particularly in the minds of the young, for 
 Natural Science. Elementary lessons in Botany, Greology, 
 and other subjects of a similar nature are now given in 
 many Board and voluntary schools, and the author 
 will be glad if this little book reaches the hands of 
 some of these young students. He has endeavoured to 
 interest the reader in the lives of a few of the men of 
 light and leading in the study of nature. 
 
 London, January, 1886. 
 
CONTENTS, 
 
 -♦<>♦- 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Sir Charles Lixnjeus ... 1 
 
 Sir John Lubbock ...... -34 
 
 Thomas Edward 46 
 
 Louis John Rudolph Agassiz . 94 
 
 Cuvier ....-•• H ( ^ 
 
 Buffos 140 
 
 Sir Charles Lyell, Bart 100 
 
 Sir Roderick J. Murchison . 183 
 
EMINENT NATURALISTS 
 
 SIR CHARLES LINN/EUS. 
 
 he subject of this sketch was born 
 on May 3rd, 1707. His father was 
 pastor of the little village of Bashult, 
 in the province of Smaland, Sweden. 
 The family surname is supposed to 
 have originated from a lofty linden- 
 tree which stood in the native place 
 of their ancestors. 
 
 Charles was the first-born of the 
 family, and, like many other men 
 who have made the world famous, it was intended that 
 he should follow the same calling as his father, and 
 though the pidpit of that day may have lost an earnest 
 and zealous teacher, botanical science has been the 
 gainer, and in many ways it may be said that he 
 has exerted a wider and more beneficial influence by 
 the calling which he eventually followed than he could 
 possibly have done as a village pastor. 
 
 1 i? 
 
2 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 His father, Nicholas Linnaeus, was passionately fond 
 of gardening, and living as he did in the heart of a 
 beautifnl country, in a house surrounded by ample 
 grounds, he was enabled to gratify this hobby to his 
 heart's content, and young Charles appears to have 
 been born with this intense love for the same pursuit, 
 and thus his parents themselves laid the foundation 
 of what was afterwards to defeat their most cherished 
 wishes, that he should enter the ministry. As a babe 
 cooing in his wooden cot he was often carried into 
 the open air amid the trees and flowers, and the 
 lullabies of his mother were supplemented by the 
 lullabies of the birds and the rustling leaves. His 
 earliest attempts to walk were among the flower-beds, 
 and his fingers daily revealed the handfuls of soil 
 which he had been displacing. Even his very toys 
 were flowers, and thus in the midst of such surround- 
 ings there could be no wonder that he should grow 
 up a veritable child of nature. 
 
 A change of pastorate in 1708 took the family to 
 another living, and here the father selected a house 
 with a very large garden, which he soon cultivated 
 to such an extent as to make it the finest and most 
 variegated in the entire district. He had at one 
 time in it upwards of four hundred species of flowers, 
 many of them of foreign growth. Young Charles 
 very soon made himself familiar with the names of 
 the plants and flowers growing around their home, 
 and almost as soon as he had found the use of his 
 little legs he went out on private expeditions and 
 brought home roots of weeds and wild herbs among 
 
SIR CHARLES LINNiEUS. . 6 
 
 other things, and these he himself planted in the 
 garden, giving his father great trouble to get rid of 
 them afterwards. The boy, however, soon began to 
 distinguish what he could bring home and plant with 
 safety, and what he could not. 
 
 The time soon came when Charles was to attend 
 his first school, and to Wexico, a neighbouring town, 
 he was sent in 1717. His father had given him a 
 good elementary education, and of Latin the boy's 
 head had just about as much as he could well carry 
 at that time ; but, chief of all, his love for his 
 favourite pursuit went with him, and it was 
 fortunate that the rector of the school was also 
 fond of botany, and soon took an additional interest 
 in Charles when he discovered that he possessed 
 extraordinary talents in quoting the names and 
 j^eculiarities of plants and flowers which grew about 
 the school. The majority of the school-companions 
 of Linnaeus were far ahead of him in the ordinary 
 studies which they passed through, and looked upon 
 Charles in the light of a truant in his self-imposed 
 excursions after plants at the expense of Hebrew and 
 the other subjects of the school course. So negligent 
 did the boy become of these subjects, that the tutors, 
 after many admonitions, considered it necessary to 
 complain to his father, and this so disturbed the 
 senior in his mind that Charles was severely repri- 
 manded. He promised to pay all the attention which 
 he could to divinity, but had to confess to his father 
 that he possessed no inclination whatever for the 
 sacred pursuit which he so eagerly desired him to 
 
4 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 follow. The hopes of the father received a severe 
 blow at this, and without delay Charles was appren- 
 ticed to a shoemaker. 
 
 How many examples are afforded from the lives 
 of men whose parents have been unable to understand 
 the bent of the son's mind have placed them in trades 
 directly opposed to that for which they had the most 
 liking ! Luther was meant to be a lawyer, and became 
 the greatest reformer which the world has known. 
 Tycho Brahe was to have been a politician, and 
 became an astronomer. Shakespeare was to have 
 measured yards of cloth behind a draper's counter, 
 and became the greatest play-writer of any age. 
 Carlyle was intended for a parson, and became a 
 philosopher; and so other instances might be quoted. 
 No blame could be attached to the father of Linnaeus 
 for this decision. He naturally argued with himself, 
 How could the boy make a living out of plants ? and 
 so, as he had no taste for theology, an honest calling, 
 which would eventually be a livelihood for him, was 
 selected. But there was to be one of many examples 
 where "man proposes and Grocl disposes," and young- 
 Charles' guardian angel was to be a physician in 
 "Wexico, who was professor of medicine in the college 
 where Charles attended. This physician, John Eoth- 
 mann by name, appealed eloquently to the father not 
 to remove his son from college, but to let him study 
 botany and physic ; and to these entreaties he added 
 an offer, which shows how fully he believed in the 
 views he held concerning young Linnaeus, and what 
 large-heart edness he possessed. He generously recom- 
 
SIR CHARLES LINNAEUS. 5 
 
 mended that Charles should make one of his house- 
 hold during the remainder of the term for which he 
 had been sent to Wexico, and with a suggestion such 
 as this, the mother, who had a kindly and sympathetic 
 nature, and the father, after a hard struggle, gave up 
 their darling wish to see their son in a pulpit ; and 
 so Charles entered the house of Rothmann to study 
 a little physic and a good deal of botany. Noble 
 John Eothmann deserves to be remembered for his 
 part of this transaction, and naturalists especially owe 
 him a debt of gratitude. 
 
 The library of Rothmann contained some rare books 
 on botany, and these became the eager study of the 
 youth. He attended the school for three years, and 
 then in his twentieth year prepared himself to go to 
 the University of Lund in 1727. It was intended that 
 he should reside in the house of a relative during his 
 studies at Lund ; but almost before he had arrived there 
 he was informed of the death of his kinsman. He, 
 however, entered the class of Professor Stobceus, the 
 lecturer on physic and botany, and by means of the 
 discourses of this tutor the botanical knowledge of 
 Linnaeus soon began to assume a definite form. The 
 principles of the science became fixed in his mind. 
 Stobceus noticed his diligence, and followed the good 
 example of Rothmann, and took him into his own 
 house. It was here that he first met with a well- 
 arranged collection of natural history, and became 
 acquainted with curiosities which lie had never seen 
 before. He at once began collecting a herbal for 
 himself, and made many journeys into the neigh- 
 
6 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 bouring districts for the purpose of enriching his 
 collection. During one of these excursions he nearly 
 became a victim to his own curiosity. While cutting 
 a plant he was stung by a venomous worm. He was 
 some distance from home, and his hand and arm began 
 to swell visibly before his eyes. He at length reached 
 the house of Stobceus, and there he kept his bed for 
 some time, all hopes of his recovery having been given 
 up. The skill of Stobceus, and the good nursing which 
 he received in the professor's household, eventually 
 saved him. This adventure, rather than deterring 
 him from further collecting, only served to deepen 
 his curiosity to become acquainted with some of the 
 inferior classes of nature. 
 
 To the great regret of Stobceus, he decided to leave 
 Lund for the University of Upsala, which was con- 
 sidered the better college of the two. His father could 
 allow him only £8 a year towards his expenses. Under 
 this small allowance, and with a young and increasing 
 familv, it was the most that could be done. No wonder 
 that the pangs of hunger should be no uncommon occur- 
 rence to this studious youth. His shoes — and he was 
 very hard on shoe-leather — were constantly in holes, 
 and these he endeavoured, as well as he could, to stop 
 up with paper. The cast-off clothes of the other 
 students were the best covering which he could obtain. 
 Sheer poverty stared him in the face, and a less 
 determined youth would have given up his favourite 
 studies in despair. This was one of the most dis- 
 tressing periods of his life, but he struggled manfully 
 through it. Celsius, the professor of divinity at Upsala, 
 
SIR CHARLES LINNJEUS. 7 
 
 and himself a botanist of no mean order, discovered 
 Linnaeus one day in the gardens surrounding the 
 college, intently examining a plant, and on entering 
 into conversation with him he was astonished at the 
 extent of the botanical knowledge which Linnaeus 
 displayed. This was the first of many conversations 
 with him, and these eventually led to Celsius, where, 
 for the literary assistance which he woidd be able to 
 render his benefactor, he was to receive board and 
 lodging free. The professor was engaged on an 
 elaborate work on the plants and trees mentioned in 
 the Bible, and it was in the compiling of this that 
 he was to help. Celsius treated him with great 
 paternal care and gave Linnaeus free access to the 
 extensive library which he possessed. Among the 
 quiet of the books of Celsius and Rudbeck, another 
 professor, Linnaeus first conceived those schemes of 
 classification, by which he was to revolutionise 
 botanical science. He set to work to consider the 
 plants, especially from their new and unimproved 
 side, by their sexes, by the number of stamina, and 
 compared them with the ancient system, and the 
 divisions which had till then been used. As he 
 progressed with his studies the more deficient did he 
 find the ancient system. The sexes of plants now 
 occupied his thoughts night and day, and the fresh 
 knowledge which he obtained by these studies soon 
 paved his way to better fortune. 
 
 The steps taken in Sweden at this time for the 
 furtherance of botanical science deserve never to be 
 forgotten. Professor Rudbeck travelled at the expense 
 
8 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 of Queen Christina, for the purpose of collecting 
 herbs and plants. He was a man of deep learning, 
 and with considerable boldness gave utterance to 
 principles which tended to completely upset some of 
 the theories generally accepted up to that period. He 
 was author of several valuable works, and his death 
 was said to have been accelerated by the destruction by 
 fire of work on which he had been engaged for some 
 years. 
 
 Olaus Eudbeck succeeded his father as professor 
 at Upsala, and as he greatly needed assistance in the 
 botanical lectures, his choice for this work fell on 
 Linnaeus, for whom he had acquired a great liking. 
 At this time Linnaeus was twenty-three ; but the 
 vivacity of his instruction and the novelty of his 
 matter charmed his audience, and he rapidly rose in 
 favour in the college. His new plan of botanical 
 reform took hold of him ; but he very soon became 
 acquainted with the difficulties and trouble which 
 would attend the introduction of a new botanical 
 system; but the prospects of honour and fame 
 increased his zeal and impelled him to go forward. 
 
 A society had existed for some years in Upsala 
 which had received royal sanction and assistance. 
 The object of this society was to extend the know- 
 ledge of domestic natural history. The elder 
 Rudbeck already named had some years previously 
 undertaken a journey to Lapland to collect specimens 
 of the flora and fauna of that country, at the expense 
 of King Charles XI., but his collection had been 
 destroyed in the great fire at Upsala in 1702. In 
 
Linnaeus. 
 
SIR CHARLES LINN^US. 11 
 
 1731 the academy came to the decision to send ont 
 another traveller to make discoveries in that wild 
 region; and the choice fell on Linnaeus for this 
 purpose. 
 
 On the 17th of May, 1732, he started on this journey 
 to Lapland, with a very small allowance for travelling- 
 expenses, and without any promise of ultimate 
 reward from the society ; indeed, the whole sum which 
 the academy devoted to this perilous and uncomfort- 
 able journey did not amount to ten pounds. 
 
 The only reliable biographer of Linnaeus is Dr. 
 Stoever, whose book was published in the Swedish 
 language about the year 1785, and an English 
 translation of which, published in 1794, says of 
 this journey : — 
 
 Under these unencouraging circumstances he 
 started alone, sometimes on horseback, and sometimes 
 on foot, for Lapland. He was persuaded at various 
 places to wait for milder weather, but being impatient 
 of this, he resolutely pursued his journey. Trees, 
 herbs, animals, mountains, and almost every curiosity of 
 nature which offered itself, became the objects of his 
 observation and attention. Difficulties and hardships 
 surrounded him. Rivers over which he had to pass 
 were often swollen and had rapid torrents, and so his 
 life was often in danger. Bogs, forests, lack of 
 provisions did not stop him, and often lie had to 
 content himself with a bed such as he could make 
 of twigs and leaves. Fortunate did lie consider 
 himself if, after the hard and trying work of the 
 day, he could discover the hut of some Laplander 
 
12 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 where he could obtain food and rest for the night. 
 It is said that, at the time of this journey through 
 the various provinces of Lapland, it did not contain a 
 single town, and only thirty-two scattered villages, 
 some of which were only very small. It can be 
 easily gathered how perilous and lonely this 
 journey must have been. Linnseus said of this 
 journey some years afterwards: — "My journey 
 through. Lapland was particularly toilsome : and I 
 own that I was obliged to sustain more hardships 
 and dangers in the sole peregrination through the 
 frontier of our northern world, than in all the 
 travels which I undertook in other parts, though 
 not without fatigue and weariness. But having 
 once sustained the toils of travelling, I buried in the 
 oblivion of Lethe all the dangers and difficulties 
 which I had suffered. The invaluable fruits which 
 I reaped from these excursions compensated for 
 every toil." 
 
 He travelled during this journey about 4,000 
 miles, and brought back upwards of a hundred plants 
 before unknown or undescribed ; but, as before stated, 
 his attention was not wholly absorbed with the 
 plant"' region. He noticed the curiosities of the 
 animal region, the domestic arrangements and 
 customs of the inhabitants, and many other things 
 which came in his way, making as he went along 
 lengthy notes in his diary, and which were after- 
 wards elaborated and published by him in 1748. 
 In this he described the plants, not by their 
 flower or blossom, but by his own plan of sex, 
 
SIR CHARLES LINNiEUS. 13 
 
 number of stamina or dust-threads, and the pistilla 
 or dustways. From this work his system first dated. 
 
 The Royal Academy of Sciences, at whose sugges- 
 tion he had made this journey, gave him very little 
 encouragement on his return. They generously 
 elected him an academician, but did not amend the 
 insignificant allowance which they had made towards 
 his expenses. Shortly after his return to Upsala he 
 commenced to give lectures ; but the success of these 
 led to a complaint being made to the heads of the 
 college that it was against the charter of the university 
 that lectures should be given by any but those who 
 had obtained the fidl academical degree. This 
 opposition to Linnseus was carried to such an extent 
 that, enraged and baffled, it was on one occasion 
 only the interposition of the bystanders which pre- 
 vented him from using his sword on the body of 
 his chief opponent. 
 
 His situation became trying and critical. A few 
 fellow- students rallied round him, and in 1733 they 
 resolved to visit some of the mountainous regions 
 of the country, and placed Linnaeus at their head. 
 Mineralogy was to be their especial study ; and at 
 Fahlun, noted for its rich copper mines, he was intro- 
 duced to Baron Eeuterholm, the governor of the 
 province, who delighted in studies of nature. He 
 grew fond of Linnaeus, and eventually placed his 
 two sons under his care during a travelling tour which 
 the baron wished them to undertake. A few other 
 young nobles joined them, and each had assigned to 
 him a particular and separate branch of observation. 
 
14 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 On their return, Linnaeus established a little college 
 under the auspices of the baron, and here his lectures 
 and experiments on the assaying of metals and 
 other subjects brought him friends and money. They 
 did something more : they brought across his path 
 a young lady who was destined to become his wife. 
 She was the daughter of a physician, to whom a certain 
 baron had paid his addresses, but without success. 
 After having won the heart of the young lady, the 
 lady's father had next to be consulted, and although 
 he was partially inclined towards Linnaeus, the un- 
 certain income of the wooer, was the barrier; and the 
 father finally declared that his daughter should remain 
 unmarried three years longer, and at the end of that 
 time he would give his decision. 
 
 The three years passed, and at the age of twenty- 
 seven Linnaeus had a bride ; but even then his prospects 
 were far from bright. His father-in-law advised him 
 to study medicine more closely. He became anxious 
 to obtain his degree ; but poverty stood as a great 
 barrier. With the aid of some earnings of his wife, 
 he started with £15 in 1735 for Holland, to obtain 
 there a diploma which would enable him to practise 
 physic as a livelihood, or to lecture at the universities. 
 
 He took a circuitous route in order that he might 
 have an opportunity of visiting collections of literary 
 curiosities as well as of natural history, of which 
 several cities boasted. At Hamburg there was one 
 of such collections which occupied his attention for 
 some considerable time. An amusing incident occurred 
 at the museum in this city, which, although it added 
 
SIR CHARLES LINNAEUS. 15 
 
 somewhat to the already high reputation of young 
 Linnreus, placed hini for the time being in a some- 
 what unpleasant dilemma. The eminent founder of 
 the collection had for years been looked upon as 
 the fortunate possessor of one of the most marvellous 
 specimens in the whole animal world, being no less 
 a phenomenon than a serpent with seven heads. This 
 curiosity had been one of the most interesting speci- 
 mens in the museum, and great was the dismay of 
 the founders to learn, after a careful inspection by 
 Linnoeus, that the prodigy was the work of a very 
 clever taxidermist, who appears to have added to the 
 serpent's one head the jawbones of weasels artfully 
 covered with serpent's skin. 
 
 This serpent had been lodged as security for a 
 loan of £500, and the seven heads had been readily 
 accepted as ample guarantee for the money. But 
 its value was hastily shattered, and after much con- 
 tention, it was insisted that Linna3iis should prove, 
 before a carefully-selected committee, his statements 
 respecting the serpent. This he was prepared to do; 
 but a Dr. Jaenisch advised him to leave the city at 
 once, in order to avoid delay and litigation, and this 
 he did. 
 
 This little incident shows how imperfect was much 
 of the scientific knowledge of that day, and also shows 
 the wide knowledge of nature which Linnoeus had 
 acquired. 
 
 He succeeded in obtaining his degree : after three 
 examinations and a public defence of his treatise, he 
 was rewarded with the dignity he so well merited. 
 
16 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 After this he spent some time at Leyden, then the 
 seat of the leading fJutch university, where he made 
 friends with several naturalists. One of these 
 strongly advised him to publish the result of his 
 inquiries and investigations. Acting upon this advice, 
 he published a prospectus occupying fourteen folio 
 pages, giving his Systema Naturce, which has proved 
 the foundation of his fame. A celebrated Dr. Boer- 
 haave took notice of him, and invited him to his 
 villa some distance from Leyden, where he had a 
 botanical garden. The doctor had among his trees 
 one bearing the name of Crategus Aria, which was 
 looked upon as a rarity. Linnaeus was asked if he 
 had seen the tree before, and he replied that he had, 
 and that he had also read the description of it in a 
 book by Yaillant. The eminent medical man doubted 
 this, and went so far as to say that his visitor must 
 be greatly mistaken ; and to prove himself in the right, 
 went to his library and brought back the book and 
 referred, when to his great astonishment he found that 
 Linnaeus was right, and that he had most accurately 
 rendered the description as given by Yaillant. 
 
 On Linnaeus leaving Leyden for Amsterdam, Dr. 
 Boerhaave gave him a letter of introduction to a 
 pupil of his who was professor of botany in the 
 capital of Holland. This Professor Burmann was 
 engaged at the time of his visit in completing a 
 description of the plants of the island of Ceylon. In 
 the course of conversation Burmann showed him a 
 shrub which he said was a great rarity. Linnaeus 
 examined it, and pronounced it a species of bay. 
 
SIR CHARLES LINNJEUS. 17 
 
 After further interviews, Burmann induced Linn; ens 
 to remain in his house in order to aid him in the work 
 he had in hand, and Linnaeus, with his slender 
 resources well-nigh exhausted, was glad to avail 
 himself of the board and lodging offered in exchange 
 for his services, so that he might be able to pursue 
 his studies. 
 
 The Dr. Boerhaave already mentioned now rendered 
 Linnaeus a further most valuable service. He had a 
 patient, by name Cliff ort, who was very rich, and 
 who had spent large sums of money in acquiring 
 treasures of every description from all parts of the 
 world; but these he kept in a veritable Olla Podrida 
 fashion, without almost any attempt at classification. 
 He was a man who was always imagining himself ill ; 
 and Dr. Boerhaave advised him to keep a physician 
 of his own, and to fill this post he recommended a 
 young Swede then at Amsterdam, who was qualified 
 as a doctor, but was also an excellent botanist, and 
 this was Linnaeus. 
 
 Burmann and Linnaeus were invited without delay 
 to the house. In the gardens and hothouses were 
 many rare and curious productions from the Cape 
 of Grood Hope. Linnaeus displayed such knowledge 
 of these, that Cliff ort, on Burmann's expressing his 
 pleasure on seeing a newly-arrived volume, " The 
 Natural History of Jamaica," said that Burmann 
 might have the copy with pleasure if he would leave 
 him Linnaeus by way of exchange. His offer was thai 
 of a home and an allowance of 1,000 florins per annum. 
 And this house of Cliffords at Hartecamp became the 
 
 c 
 
18 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 school of his greatness. The villa was surrounded 
 by treasures from all parts of the world, and there 
 was everything for which Linnoeus could possibly wish. 
 In 1736, while here, he published a crude edition 
 of his "Fundamenta Botanica," which fifteen years 
 later he greatly extended and revised. Following this 
 was his " Bibliotheca Botanica," and after this a third 
 book appeared. 
 
 These productions established his fame, while the 
 new principles which he put forward attracted universal 
 notice. Naturalists in various countries began to 
 inquire as to who this new teacher was, and several 
 learned bodies in Grermany and elsewhere admitted 
 him to a fellowship of their associations. 
 
 In 1736, at the expense of Cliff ort, Linnaeus visited 
 England, an opportunity for doing which he had long 
 wished for. Mr. Cliffort was desirous of enriching 
 his garden with foreign, and especially with North 
 American plants. He brought with him a letter of 
 introduction to Sir Hans Sloane, who was a collector 
 of objects of natural history, and afterwards the 
 founder of the British Museum. The letter was from 
 Boerhaave, who said in it : — " The bearer of this 
 letter is alone worthy of seeing you — alone worthy 
 of being seen by you. He who shall see you both 
 together, shall see two men whose like will scarcely 
 ever be found in the world." 
 
 Sir Hans Sloane does not appear to have received 
 him very cordially, notwithstanding the elaborate letter 
 of introduction which Linnceus brought with him. 
 
 Linnaaus had for vears desired to see the botanical 
 
SIR CHARLES LINN^US. 19 
 
 gardens then situated at Chelsea. Philip Miller was 
 then curator of the grounds, and several amusing 
 incidents are related of the early interviews between 
 the young Swede and this celebrated botanist, who 
 died, it may be mentioned, in 1771. 
 
 Singular to say, at the elaborate explanations of 
 Miller in showing the various specimens, Linnaeus was 
 silent, and this somewhat tried the patience of Miller, 
 who was indiscreet enough to say to a friend near 
 him at the time, but sufficiently loud to be heard 
 by Linnaeus — " Sure, the botanist of Burgomaster 
 Cliff ort is a great man — he knows nothing at all of 
 plants." Miller was particularly fond of giving the 
 ancient names to the various plants. Linnaeus said, 
 " Why do you apply these, pray ? We have better 
 and conciser appellations." Linnaeus very soon showed 
 the curator that he had more knowledge of botany 
 than he would at first have given him credit for ; 
 and it is significant to note that in after years 
 the collection at Chelsea was arranged according to 
 the Linnaean system. 
 
 It is told of Linnaeus that when he first saw a 
 common near London, covered with furze bushes in 
 full bloom, he fell on his knees (see frontispiece), 
 and, with tears, uttered his thankfulness for so glorious 
 a sight. When he returned to Sweden he took with 
 him some plants of furze, but they could not live 
 through the northern winter. 
 
 From London Linnaeus went on to Oxford, where 
 there was a capital botanical garden. Here he was 
 made sport of just as he had been at Chelsea, the curator 
 
•JO EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 at Oxford remarking to a person while in the presence 
 of Linnreus, that he (Linnaeus) was the young man 
 who confounded all botany. After a time, however, 
 he got on better with these learned sages, and procured 
 many valuable specimens from both Chelsea and 
 Oxford for the garden of his employer, Mr. Cliff ort. 
 
 Linnreus, after a brief stay in England, returned 
 to Holland, and very soon became absorbed in his 
 system of botanical reform. Stoever says of him at 
 this time : "It required a strong and forcible progress 
 to bring about such a revolution ; and, in fact, no 
 time during the whole life of Linnaeus was more 
 distinguished by an extraordinary activity, none more 
 fertile for the republic of science than the year 1737. 
 It was in the course of this same year when Linnaeus 
 published about 200 printed sheets. Such a deal of 
 writing would have been no novelty, and the young 
 Swede had long before been excelled in it. But what 
 constituted its pre-eminence was, that the six works 
 which Linnaeus published in the course of the year, 
 and which diffused the reform of botany from Harte- 
 camp throughout Europe, were all original, and by 
 more than one-half large classical works, replete with 
 the most difficult researches, new representations, and 
 accurate critical doctrines. It would have done infinite 
 honour to his diligence had he only produced one of 
 those works in a whole twelvemonth. The plans and 
 materials for some of them had certainly been pre- 
 viously collected, but the whole required to be digested 
 and arranged." 
 
 The " Grenera Plantarum " was the first book 
 
SIR CHARLES LINNJflUS. 21 
 
 which Linnaous published after his return from England, 
 an octavo book of 384 pages. He described in this 
 book upwards of 935 species of plants. This was 
 followed by other books, one of them being a very 
 comprehensive descriptive and scientific account of 
 Mr. Cliffords collection. 
 
 To Linnaeus we owe much for having simplified 
 the study of botany. A. frequent remark of his own 
 was that the maze of ancient names " resembled a chaos, 
 the mother of which was ignorance, the father custom, 
 and the godfather prejudice." He wrote to a friend, 
 " Why shoidd we retain such useless jargon as 
 Monolasiocablenomenophyllorum, Hypophylocarpoden- 
 dorum, and all the whole family of these outlandish 
 names ? " 
 
 So he attacked the old system in vigorous language, 
 meeting with much severe criticism, opposition, and 
 ridicule. 
 
 In the midst of all this work financial difficulties 
 surrounded Cliffort, and he was obliged to leave his 
 beautiful villa and its valuable gardens, and shortly 
 after this event he joined a collegiate acquaintance at 
 a salary of 800 florins a year, to aid in the rearranging 
 of the botanical garden at Leyden. While engaged 
 in this work he published two other works, which 
 added materially to his reputation, and he was now 
 beginning to see the object of his ambition gratified, 
 and the accuracy of his method acknowledged. 
 
 The Dutch Government proposed to him to go out 
 to the Cape of Good Hope on a botanical expedition 
 at the expense of the Republic, and on his return 
 
22 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 they promised to give him the professorship of botany 
 in a Dutch university, but this offer he declined. 
 
 It will be remembered that the future father-in-law 
 of Linnaeus had fixed three years as the period for 
 which he must wait for Ins intended bride. These 
 three years had passed, and Linnaeus had been absent 
 almost the entire period, corresponding with the fair 
 Elizabeth, to whom he was greatly attached. A 
 rival to him appeared, and endeavoured to persuade 
 her that her lover would never return to Sweden ; 
 but a friend of Linnaeus, who knew his feelings well, 
 told Miss Moraeus exactly how matters stood, and so 
 the intentions of the rival were quite frustrated. 
 
 Linnaeus wished to travel further, and visited 
 Leipsic, Upper and Lower Saxony, Denmark, and 
 Paris, which city he had longed for some time to 
 visit. One or two learned men said of him in Paris 
 that he was " a young enthusiast who confounds all, 
 and whose sole merit consists in having plunged 
 botany into a state of anarchy." One naturalist, 
 Gruettard, however, said, "Don't laugh, good people, 
 don't laugh at Linnaeus, the time will come when 
 he will laugh at you all." And so it was, for in 
 later years, the royal gardens were arranged according 
 to his system. Several literary honours were con- 
 ferred on him during his stay in Paris. From the 
 French capital he started for Stockholm. 
 
 The period of his career had now arrived when 
 he was to experience severe opposition to his system 
 and much criticism from his contemporary botanists. 
 These were very numerous, and there was on the 
 
SIR CHARLES LLWV.IS. 23 
 
 part of some much rancour and personal antipathy 
 displayed. He promulgated his theories, to his 
 credit be it said, without intentionally wounding 
 the feelings of others; but this did not prevent him 
 from making a very vigorous defence of his 
 system when there was need. Botanists twice his 
 age were somewhat chagrined that one so young 
 should thus boldly seek to overthrow the methods 
 which they had all adopted for so many years. 
 
 Many of his opponents were men of great repu- 
 tation, and in some cases of high social standing. 
 One of these wrote of him as follows : " Linnaeus, a 
 pupil and friend of Baron Haller, with whom he was 
 well acquainted by several years of domestic connec- 
 tion, had in the course of a few years pulled 
 down the whole structure of botany, that he might 
 erect on the ruins of his predecessors his own 
 system: he rejected everything foreign to his own 
 precepts, and sent the greatest botanists into a 
 school, where they were first to learn the signification 
 of the names he had created and the laws of his 
 system. Haller, with placid eye, saw this might}' 
 dictator step forth; he was not insensible of the 
 necessity of a reform, but saw at the same time, 
 that he went too far. He followed Linnaeus wherever 
 he thought the truth was his guide, but where the 
 latter only dealt in hypotheses, he there quitted him." 
 
 It is impossible to follow all that was said against 
 Linnaeus at this time; but in his system thus being 
 severely criticised and examined it only made its 
 ultimate success the more assured. 
 
24 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 During the year 1737 he received many congratu- 
 latory letters from eminent botanists in all parts of 
 the world. Sir Hans Sloane wrote : "I am so 
 uncommonly pleased with your "Flora Lapponica' 
 that I very much wish to see the other parts of 
 the natural history of that country completed, and 
 publicly described by you." 
 
 Linnreus published the last edition of his " System of 
 Nature" in 1766, when he was advanced in life, and 
 in his preface he says : "I have ranged through the 
 thick and shady forests of nature ; I have to and fro 
 found sharp and perplexing thorns, I have, as much 
 as possible, avoided them ; but learned at the same 
 time that foresight and attention do not always 
 conciliate perfect and entire safety. I have there- 
 fore quietly borne the derision of grinning satyrs, 
 and the jumps of monkeys upon my shoulders. I have 
 entered the career and completed the course assigned 
 by fate." 
 
 He reached Stockholm in the September of 1738, 
 after an absence of three and a-half years. The return 
 was a source of pleasure to him. It was only natural 
 that he should anticipate, after his laborious 
 researches and fatiguing travels, honours and 
 respect wordd be paid him. But alas ! with him as 
 with others, he was to experience the disheartening 
 truth that " a prophet has no honour in his own 
 country." College dignitaries and professors made 
 sport of his botanical knowledge, and ridiculed his 
 pretensions. 
 
 Again did the necessities of life compel him to 
 
SIR CHARLES LINNiEUS. '-■'> 
 
 seriously consider what lie was to do for a livelihood, 
 for "botanists must eat as well as other mortals, and 
 he forthwith turned his attention to medicine and 
 the curing of patients. In this he was not by any 
 means successful at first, for the public were not 
 slow to grasp the fact that even if he were good as 
 a botanist, a botanist was one thing and a doctor 
 another; and so he had many clouded days, and fortune 
 appeared to have deserted him. 
 
 A gentleman in a good position in Stockholm 
 suffered from what had been termed an incurable 
 complaint, but in a fortnight Linnaeus, either by 
 superior skill or one of those fortunate events of life, 
 he was able to cure his patient in a fortnight ; and 
 soon his fame spread in the city, patients became 
 abundant and fees plentiful. One of the ladies in 
 waiting on the Queen of Sweden had a cough, and 
 Linnaeus had been asked to prescribe for this. He 
 made for the lady some lozenges which she could 
 always carry about with her. One day while she was 
 engaged in playing a quiet game of cards with the 
 Queen, the Queen noticed her place something in her 
 mouth, and asked what it was. The Queen had a 
 cough at that particular time and became interested 
 in the remedy. Linnaeus was called in, and cured 
 the Queen almost immediately ; and so this trouble- 
 some cough gave him such a step upwards that he 
 never afterwards looked back. 
 
 With such assured success, the future father-in-law 
 could no longer withhold his consent to the marriage 
 of his daughter with Linnaeus, and they were married 
 
26 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 in June, 1739, after some years of patient working 
 and waiting, which made him, however, none the 
 worse husband. 
 
 Linnraus had now many friends in influential posi- 
 tions, and it was his desire to found a learned society 
 in Stockholm similar to what Berlin and Groettingen 
 then possessed. Such a society was founded in Stock- 
 holm, with six members, and himself as the first 
 president, in the same year as his marriage took 
 place. The membership increased, and in two years' 
 time it was constituted the Eoyal Academy of Sciences. 
 The society still exists and has done much good in 
 making known useful knowledge and discoveries. 
 
 He still continued his practice, which had by this 
 time produced him a splendid income. In 1741, he 
 was selected by the state to travel into unexplored 
 parts of Sweden for the purpose of discovering plants 
 which might be useful for dyeing purposes, and also to 
 search for a suitable clay for the making of chinaware. 
 
 At the age of thirty-three he was appointed professor 
 of physic and anatomy in the university of Upsala. 
 The botanical gardens of the city had been allowed to 
 fall into a condition of neglect, and Linnseus devoted 
 now several years to their care and development. In 
 1745, they had, under his skilful management, not only 
 recovered then former prestige, but would now compare 
 very favourably with the gardens at Kew, Paris, aud 
 
 ewhere. The embellishing and enriching of these 
 botanical gardens at Upsala was the favourite study of 
 his life. His academical lectures on botany were 
 delivered to crowded audiences, and new life was 
 
SIR CHARLES LINNJEUS. 27 
 
 altogether infused by him into the university. The 
 number of students was usually about 500, but during 
 the year 1759, when Linnaeus was rector, the number 
 had grown to 1,500, and to profit by the instruction 
 of so able a teacher, students had gone from England, 
 Bussia, and even America. 
 
 He gave lectures on botany, natural history, the 
 medicinal virtues of plants, the Materia Medica, and 
 on the dietetics and knowledge of diseases. One of 
 his most eminent students said of him : " Science 
 streamed with peculiar pleasantness from his lips. 
 He spoke with a conviction and perspicuity, which 
 his deep penetration, his clear notions, and ardent 
 zeal inspired him with. It was impossible to be 
 near him without attention, without participating in 
 Ins enthusiasm. He communicated to his pupils the 
 greatest part of the ideas and materials of the thirty 
 disputations which were held under him till the year 
 1750. They contained real treasures and elucidations 
 of science. " 
 
 Not only did Linnaeus make valuable additions to 
 botanical literature at this time but he published a 
 description of the Swedish animals, birds, insects, and 
 other branches of natural history. 
 
 Honours now followed each other quickly. A 
 medal was struck, showing on one side a bust of 
 Linnaeiis, and on the other a flattering inscription. 
 
 His father died at the age of seventy-four, in 1748, 
 and a year before that time his son, whom he had 
 at one time designed for a shoemaker, was made 
 Dean of the College of Physicians. 
 
28 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 As with grand old Martin Luther so it was with 
 Linnaeus — he belonged to the world, for his researches 
 benefited not alone Sweden but the whole of Europe. 
 His lecture-room became the nursery of eminent men. 
 His enthusiasm, his thirst for science, became their 
 own, and he gave them opportunities to exert 
 those qualities. From Upsala the pupils of Linnaeus 
 travelled to all quarters of the globe to sti;dy 
 nature. 
 
 Linnaeus at this period says : — " If I look back 
 upon the fate of naturalists, must I call madness or 
 reason that desire which allures us to seek and examine 
 plants ? The irresistible attractions of nature can 
 alone induce us to face so many dangers and troubles. 
 No science ever had so many martyrs as natural 
 history. Pliny, the prince of nature among the 
 Eomans, plunged into the fiery abyss of Mount Etna. 
 Simon Pauli, from his love of plants, broke his leg ; 
 Clausius, an enthusiast, equally unfortunate, was thrown 
 into irons and robbed of all his treasures in Barbary ; 
 Lippi was murdered in the wilds of Ethiopia ; Steller 
 fell a victim to his exertions in Siberia ; Grmelin was 
 thrown into a dungeon by the Tartars ; Bannister was 
 hurled headlong down a rock in Virginia ; Barelli, and 
 others, without number, fell a sacrifice to their scientific 
 exertions in natural history." 
 
 Many of the pupils of Linnaeus fell victims to 
 science. One died in India in search of specimens. 
 Another, a brave youth, died after he had travelled 
 through Palestine and some parts of Arabia, having 
 made a very valuable collection of plants and other 
 
SIR CHARLES LIXX.KIS. 29 
 
 things. Three others of his students found graves 
 in Asia. 
 
 Although not a few of his pupils thus met with 
 death early in life, Linnaeus had many pupils who 
 were more fortunate in their career. One, Sparrmann, 
 accompanied Captain Cook in his voyage round the 
 world, and was afterwards engaged at the British 
 Museum until his death. 
 
 The academic career of a college professor and prin- 
 cipal will almost of necessity be the most important 
 part in the entire life of that individual ; and it was 
 during the ten years between 1750 and 1760 that 
 the reputation and learning of Linnaeus became con- 
 solidated and ennobled. 
 
 It was dming this period that the royal museums 
 of Sweden received the greatest amount of attention 
 from the nation ; and in 1754 Linnaeus arranged and 
 published a description of some of these collections. 
 
 During the period named Linnaeus spent much time 
 in the royal palaces of Sweden, classifying and cata- 
 loguing the collections, but became for some time very 
 subject to gout. Whether the cure effected in him 
 may be worth anything I do not know, but he ate 
 most liberally of strawberries, and to this habit he 
 attributed the disappearance of this troublesome com- 
 plaint from his system. 
 
 Botanists have for centuries been open to the charge 
 of giving unpronounceable and impossible-to-be-remem- 
 bered Latin names to their specimens. Linnaeus was 
 about the first to introduce the common names. One 
 writer of that time said : " If a woman, or any of 
 
;J0 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 those men who are so much like them, asked the name 
 of some herb or garden flower, than to throw np, 
 by way of answer, a long train of Latin words, which 
 sounded like a conjuration of hobgoblins." 
 
 Had Linneeus done nothing else but this, it would 
 indeed be a noble monument to his memory. The 
 applying of simple names by him promoted and 
 facilitated the study of botany. It got rid of the 
 deterring appearance of an arduous science. Par- 
 ticularly did it popularise botanical studies among the 
 fair sex, and Linn&eus had no greater admirers than 
 the Queen of Sweden and her family and other ladies 
 immediately connected with the court. Not only was 
 Linnaeus on terms of intimacy with the Swedish royal 
 court, but in 1773 he received an offer from the then 
 Spanish king to be chief botanist in the Madrid 
 gardens at a high salary, accompanied by an offer 
 to at once create him a nobleman. This flattering 
 proposal he declined for himself, but obtained it for 
 one of his own pupils. 
 
 All through the studies of Linnaeus he kept strictly 
 in view the curative properties of plants, as well as 
 the furtherance of botanical science. His work, the 
 " Materia Medica," which was for years the best book 
 on medicine, shows how much of a doctor as well 
 as a botanist he was. He laboured long and earnestly 
 to reduce diseases to definite and certain species with 
 as much accuracy as a botanist he had done with regard 
 to the description of plants. 
 
 Honours began freely to fall upon him. The 
 different academies of Europe vied with each other 
 
SIR CHARLES LINN2ETJS. 31 
 
 which of them should first have the honour of electing 
 Linnaeus one of their members. The lloyal Society 
 of London elected him a corresponding member in 
 1763, following as they did the example set by Paris, 
 Florence, and other cities. Frederick the Great, King 
 of Prussia, spoke in the highest terms of encomium 
 of the work and private life of Linnaeus. 
 
 About this time he received the honour of knight- 
 hood. His public activity continued up to 1776, when 
 he had reached his sixty-eighth year. Then the feeble 
 and infirm state of his health suffered a fresh shock ; 
 his senses appeared to be losing their power, and his 
 tongue, palsied as it were, almost denied its office. 
 His biographer states that " even in this melancholy 
 and painful state nature still remained his only comfort 
 and relief. He used to be carried to his museum, 
 where he viewed the treasures which he had collected 
 with so much labour, and manifested a particular 
 delight in examining the rarities and new specimens 
 which were constantly being sent to him from all parts 
 of the world." 
 
 Apoplexy again seized him, and after much physical 
 suffering he expired in a gentle slumber on January 10, 
 1778. 
 
 He received a public funeral, and the king ordered 
 a gold medal to be struck in honour of the late 
 botanist. 
 
 Probably the highest monuments which have been 
 erected to his memory are the Linna3an societies which 
 have been established at various times in the leading 
 cities of the world. That in London was founded 
 
32 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 in 1788, and has connected with it to-day men of great 
 scientific research and renown. This society was pre- 
 ceded by one established in Paris, and was followed 
 by one in Leipsic, established in 1790. 
 
 The royal prince of Denmark had a service of 
 porcelain made, on which the flora of his country 
 were painted, according to the Linnsean system. 
 
 It is impossible in a limited space like the present 
 to give a list of the published works of the great 
 naturalist. Many of these were distinguished by 
 great research and thought. 
 
 His activity during the working years of his life 
 was as great as his thirst for truth. The strictest 
 order, the most punctual regularity, distinguished all 
 his actions. In the summer he usually slept five 
 hours, rising at three in the morning, and in the 
 winter he invariably rose at six. He was most genial 
 and kind in manner, a true and tender husband and 
 father to the six children who were born to them. 
 
 With a keen remembrance of his own poverty, 
 he frequently returned the class fees to the poorer 
 students of the university of Upsala. 
 
 His coat of arms included the motto, " To spread 
 fame by deeds." Throughout his life he had a pro- 
 found adoration of the DivinnVy, and never lost sight 
 of this in all his researches. \Vhenever he found 
 an opportunity of expatiating on the greatness, the 
 providence, the omnipotence of God, which frequently 
 happened in his lectures and botanical excursions, 
 his heart glowed with emotion, and a deep religious 
 fervour entered into his discourses. 
 
SIR CHARLES LINNJEUS. 33 
 
 His habits were simple, and he at all times dis- 
 played great kindness of heart. 
 
 During the more than a century that lias passed 
 since his death, his fame has not decreased. It is true 
 that to-day he is looked upon more as a classifier than 
 a discoverer. He reduced chaos in botany to order 
 by a system of sexual classification, which has greatly 
 benefited the entire world of science. 
 
 He was the great master-mind which named and 
 arranged botanical science, and whose efforts, more than 
 the efforts of any other single individual, either before 
 or since his death, gave an impetus to studies which 
 have given joy and intelligence to thousands of all 
 countries. 
 
 Botanical science owes much to Linnoeus, and for 
 centuries to come he will receive the homage of 
 posterity. 
 
 i) 
 
SIR JOHN LUBBOCK, BART., M.P., 
 
 F.R.S. 
 
 apology is required for introducing 
 the name of this well-known public 
 man in this book. Amidst a busy 
 commercial and political life, Sir 
 John Lubbock makes time to pursue 
 natural history studies with all the 
 zest of a born naturalist. 
 
 Anyone who has come in contact 
 with him cannot fail to have been 
 struck with his exceedingly clear 
 and forcible sentences in expressing himself. 
 
 Science has from earliest years possessed great charms 
 for him, and in 1881 he filled a well-deserved position 
 in the presidency of the British Association for the 
 Advancement of Science, and gave on the occasion of 
 the annual meeting an address Ml of vigour and 
 stiggestiveness. 
 
 He was born on April 30th, 1834, so that now he 
 is in the prime of life, and is one of the busiest 
 
 34 
 
Sir John Lubbock, M.P. 
 
SIR JOHN LUBBOCK. 37 
 
 yet most accessible of our public men. He comes 
 from a very good stock. The connection of the family 
 with the bank in Lombard Street dates back to 1750, 
 and in monetary matters Sir John has taken a most 
 active interest. 
 
 His seat at High Elms, near Farnborough, Kent, 
 is beautifully situated in the midst of an estate of 
 some fifteen hundred acres. Here most of those 
 experiments with, and observations of, insects, Crus- 
 tacea, &c, have been carried on, and in these natural 
 history pursuits he has been greatly aided by 
 his daughters and nieces. The late Mr. Charles 
 Darwin, whose memory will be the more honoured 
 the more he is understood, was for a long time 
 a near neighbour of Sir John Lubbock, and 
 their frequent intercourse gave, no doubt, depth 
 and definiteness to the studies of Sir John, and in 
 the papers read before the various learned societies, 
 and in the books he has published, it is very 
 evident how greatly his mind was impregnated 
 with Darwin's theories and principles. 
 
 In the very first speech made by him in 
 Parliament the subject under discussion was 
 education, and in the course of his speech he 
 said : " Every one who loves children must know 
 that they are eager for information — that they long 
 to understand the facts of nature, and how every 
 bird and beast and flower is a w r onder and a 
 delight to them." In 1S79 he made a motion in 
 the House of Commons for the introduction of 
 science-teaching into elementary schools. 
 
38 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 His own studies in natural history were in the 
 first instance chiefly devoted to the structure and 
 character of certain groups of insects and Crustacea. 
 Much that he has written on points of dispute and 
 uncertainty on fixed points in connection with these 
 lias an interest only for the specialist. 
 
 There is, however, much that he has written and 
 spoken which has been within the comprehension of 
 the general public, and on the habits and peculiarities 
 of ants in particular he has caught the popular style ; 
 and naturalists owe him a debt of gratitude for 
 probably more than any other writer having familiar- 
 ized the public with most interesting facts respecting 
 ants ; and further than this, has given to many 
 young folks and adults to take up the study of 
 the lower forms of insect life. 
 
 Those who have heard him lecture know full 
 well with what an interest he envelops his subject ; 
 and by way of illustrating his style I will give 
 portions of a lecture on "Ants" which he delivered 
 some time ago before the Leeds Philosophical 
 Society. 
 
 Sir John Lubbock, in the course of his lecture, said 
 that to the true lover of nature there was no one species 
 of animal or plant which would not repay even the 
 devotion of a lifetime. No doubt some were more 
 interesting than others, and few more so than the ant. 
 In bodily structure monkeys approached nearer to man 
 than did any other animals, but when we considered the 
 habits of ants, their social organisation, their large 
 communities, their elaborate habitations, their road- 
 
SIR JOHN LUBBOCK. 39 
 
 ways, their possession of domestic animals, and ov< u 
 in some cases of slaves, it must be admitted that they 
 had a fair claim to rank next to man in the scale 
 intelligence. In this country we had thirty kinds ; but 
 ants became more numerous m species, as well as in 
 individuals, in warmer countries, and more than on i 
 thousand were known. No two species of ant ; 
 were identical in habits, and, on various accounts, 
 their mode of life was far from easy to unravel. 
 In the first place, most of their time was passed 
 underground. All the education of the young was 
 carried on in the dark. Again, ants were essentially 
 gregarious, and within the same species the indi- 
 viduals seemed to differ in character, while even th i ! 
 same individual woidd behave very differently under 
 different circumstances. The life of an ant fell into 
 four well-marked periods, — those of the egg, larva or 
 grub, the pupa or chrysalis, and the perfect insect. 
 Under ordinary circumstances an ants' nest, like a 
 bee-hive, contained three kinds of individuals — workers, 
 or imperfect females, which constituted the great 
 majority, males, and perfect females. There were, 
 however, often several queens in an ants' nest, while 
 there was never more than one in the hive. The 
 queens had wings, but after a single flight they tore 
 off their wings and did not again quit the nest. An:> 
 had their desires, their passions, even their caprices. 
 The young were absolutely helpless. Their communities 
 were sometimes so numerous that, perhaps, London and 
 Pekin were almost the only human cities that could 
 compare with them. They were organized oommunities, 
 
40 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 labouring with the utmost harmony for the common 
 good. Various observers had recorded, in the case of 
 ants, instances of attachment and affection. In the 
 whole course of his observations he had never seen a 
 quarrel between two ants belonging to the same nest ; 
 within the limits of the community all was harmony. 
 On the other hand, it must be confessed that ants 
 not belonging to the same nest were always enemies, even 
 if belonging to the same species. Among ants, as 
 among men, all were not Grood Samaritans. Numerous 
 experiments he had made, with a view to test the 
 characteristics of ants in this and other matters. He 
 had even gone so far as to make a number drunk 
 by putting them into spirits, since no ant would 
 voluntarily degrade herself by getting drunk. The 
 sober ants seemed much puzzled at finding their friends 
 in this helpless and discreditable state. They took 
 them up, and carried them about for a while in an 
 aimless sort of way, as if they did not know what 
 to do with their drunkards any more than we do. 
 Ultimately, however, the results were these : the 
 ants removed twenty-five friends and thirty strangers. 
 Of the friends twenty were carried into the nest, and 
 five were thrown into the water. Of the strangers, 
 on the contrary, twenty-four were picked up, taken to 
 the edge of the moat, and thrown, or rather dropped, 
 into the water; only six were taken into the 
 nest, and these were shortly afterwards brought out 
 again and thrown away. Ants had the power of 
 remembering and of recognizing their friends, and had 
 been known to fall into mutual caresses with their 
 
silt JOHN LUBBOCK. 41 
 
 antennae. In most species the power of smell was very 
 keen. On the other hand, as regarded their sense of 
 hearing, the case was very different. Over and over 
 aerain he had made the loudest and most shrill noises 
 he could with a penny pipe, a dog-whistle, a violin, 
 as well as the most piercing and startling sounds he 
 could produce with his own voice, all without effect. 
 At the same time he would not infer from this that 
 they were really deaf, though it certainly seemed 
 that their range of hearing was very different from 
 ours. Our range was, however, after all, very 
 limited, and the universe was probably full of music 
 which we could not perceive. It was far from 
 improbable that ants might produce sounds entirely 
 beyond our range of hearing ; indeed it wa s not 
 impossible that insects might possess a sense, or 
 rather perhaps sensations, of which we could no 
 more form an idea than we should have been able 
 to conceive red or green had the human race been 
 born blind. The organs of vision were in most 
 ants very complex and very conspicuous. There 
 were generally three eyes, arranged in a triangle 
 on the top of their heads, and on each side a large 
 compound eye, containing sometimes more than 2,000 
 facets between them. The single eyes probably 
 saw in the same manner as ours did. But how 
 about the compound eyes ? There were two theories 
 as to the manner in which these eyes saw. One 
 supposed that each facet acted as a separate eye. 
 But if the male ant saw a thousand oueens, only 
 when one was really present, it would seem a very 
 
42 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 bewildering privilege. The prevailing opinion of 
 entomologists now was that each facet took in one 
 point of the field of view, so that, in fact, they 
 saw a sort of mosaic. Bnt even this theory was 
 open to serious objections, and the whole question 
 was full of difficulty, and one of many still remaining 
 to be solved. From experiments he had made, he 
 concluded that ants were capable of distinguishing 
 between different colours. He had gone beyond, 
 and had attempted to determine how far their limits 
 of vision were the same as ours. These attempts 
 had satisfied him that ants perceived rays at the 
 violet end of the spectrum which to our eyes were 
 quite invisible. Nevertheless, the sight of ants did 
 not seem to be very good. Much of what had 
 been said as to the powers of communication 
 possessed by bees and ants depended on the fact 
 that if one of them in the course of her rambles 
 had discovered a supply of food a number of 
 others soon found their way to the store. This, 
 however, did not necessarily imply any p ower of 
 describing localities. If the bees or the ants merely 
 followed their more fortunate companion, or if they 
 hunted her by scent, the matter was comparatively 
 simple. If, on the contrary, the others had the 
 route described to them the case became very 
 different. Under ordinary circumstances, if an ant 
 discovered a stock of food she carried as much as 
 possible away to the nest and then returned for more, 
 accompanied generally by several friends. On their 
 return these brought others, and in this way a string 
 
SIR JOHN LUBBOCK. 43 
 
 of ants was soon established. He concluded from 
 numerous experiments that when large numbers of 
 ants came to food they followed one another, 
 being also, to a certain extent, guided by scent. 
 The fact therefore did not imply any considerable 
 power of intercommunication. On the other hand 
 they certainly could, he thought, transmit simple 
 ideas. Experiments, moreover, seemed to indicate the 
 possession by ants of something approaching to 
 language. It was generally stated in entomological 
 works that the males of ants died almost 
 immediately. No doubt this was generally the case. 
 It had also been the general opinion that the females 
 lived about a year. He had found, however, that the 
 life of the queens and workers was much longer than 
 had been supposed. He had now two queens which 
 had lived since 1874. They must therefore be at least 
 nine years old. He had also kept workers alive more 
 than seven years. In industry ants were not surpassed 
 even by bees and wasps. They worked all day, and in 
 warm weather, if need be, even at night too. As a 
 general rule each species lived by itself. There were, 
 however, interesting exceptions. Most ants, indeed 
 woidd carry off the larvae and pupa3 of others if 
 they got a chance, and this explained, or at any 
 rate threw light upon, that most remarkable pheno- 
 menon, the existence of slavery among ants. The 
 food of ants consisted of insects, great numbers of 
 which they destroyed, of honey, honey-dew, and 
 fruit — indeed, scarcely any animal or sweet substance 
 came amiss to them. Our English ants did net 
 
44 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 store up provision for the future. Their food was 
 not of a nature which would admit of this. Some 
 of the southern ants, however, laid up stores of 
 grain. Some at least did take steps to provide 
 themselves with food for the future. Ants were 
 not without their enemies. In addition to birds 
 and other large foes were some very small flies of 
 the genus P/tora, that might be observed in summer 
 every now and again making a dash at a particular 
 ant. Curiously enough there seemed to be in ant 
 life three principal types, offering an analogy to the 
 three great phases in the history of human develop- 
 ment — the hunting, the pastoral, and the agri- 
 cultural stages. In face even of the facts upon 
 record, it was impossible not to ask ourselves how 
 far were ants mere exquisite automatons, how far 
 were they conscious beings ? When we saw an ant- 
 hill, tenanted by thousands of industrious inhabitants, 
 excavating chambers, forming tunnels, making roads, 
 guarding their home, gathering food, feeding the 
 young, tending their domestic animals, each one 
 fulfilling its duties industriously and without con- 
 fusion, it was difficult altogether to deny to them 
 the gift of reason. Observations tended to confirm 
 the opinion that their mental powers differed from 
 those of man not so much in kind as in degree. In 
 conclusion, he might say that, notwithstanding the 
 labours of many great naturalists, there were in 
 natural history few more promising or extensive 
 fields for research than the habits of ants. 
 
 Some of his papers and addresses, particularly one 
 
SIR JOHN LUBBOCK. 1 5 
 
 on the "Origin of Civilization," have created long and 
 warm discussion ; but even those who differ radically fr< >m 
 his conclusions acknowledge the earnestness with which 
 Sir John desires to seek truth in all his researches. 
 
 English naturalists may well be proud of Sir John 
 Lubbock, and his reputation has spread far and wide; 
 and foreign learned societies have not been slow to 
 recognize the value of his position as a scientist. He 
 has received the degree of LL.D. from the University 
 of Dublin, from the University of Oxford the degree of 
 D.C.L. The best degree of all, however, lies in the fact 
 that when he writes or speaks, particularly on science 
 subjects, a very large proportion of our population stop 
 to read or listen to one of the subjects upon which he is 
 now a recognized authority. We trust that for many 
 years Sir John Lubbock may be spared to pursue those 
 subjects dear to him, and to enlighten the public on 
 subjects of natural science. 
 
THOMAS EDWARD. 
 
 cotlaxd lias reared prominent men in 
 almost every branch of scientific and 
 philosophic literature. Her annals 
 are full of the records of men who, 
 with no greater stock in trade than 
 average brains, indomitable perse- 
 verance and laborious consistency 
 in a particular direction have yet be- 
 come renowned in the specific branch 
 or branches of study to which they 
 have devoted attention. The country beyond the Tweed 
 in fact breeds men, but cannot keep them, and British 
 reputation has been ably maintained and increased by 
 numerous examples furnished by her sturdy sons. 
 
 Many eminent naturalists are of Scotch birth or 
 descent ; but it is only with one of them that at the 
 moment we wish to deal, and he is so thoroughly repre- 
 sentative of a large number of his countrymen, that a 
 brief sketch of his life will but illustrate much that 
 might be said of many. 
 
 4<; 
 
Thomas Edward. 
 From Photo, by Bremner, Banff. 
 
THOMAS EDWARD. 49 
 
 The passion for Natural History which possessed 
 Thomas Edward from his earliest years, was not in- 
 herited from his father or mother, for neither parent 
 appears to have had even the most ordinary proclivities 
 for the study of nature. The father of Edward at the 
 time of his birth was a militiaman, and Thomas saw the 
 light of day at Grosport, where the regiment was at that 
 time stationed. This took place on Christmas Day, 1814, 
 and a few years afterwards, on the disbanding of the 
 militia, the father and mother took up their residence in 
 Aberdeen, where they remained for some years. 
 
 How Edward first acquired a taste for natural history 
 he never knew, but it is very certain that from his earliest 
 years he displayed the most precocious tendency for 
 insects, and in fact, any representative of the animal 
 world which came under his notice. When asked the 
 question in his old age what was the origin of his love 
 for natural history, by Dr. Samuel Smiles, who has 
 devoted one of his most readable and instructive bio- 
 graphies to Thomas Edward, he replied, " I suppose it 
 must have originated in the same internal impulse which 
 prompted me to catch those flies in the window." (This 
 he had made vigorous attempts to do when a mere babe 
 in his mother's arms.) " This unseen something — this 
 double being, or call it what you will, inherent in us 
 all, whether used for good or evil, which stimulated the 
 unconscious child to get at, no doubt, the first living 
 animals he had ever seen, at length grew in the man 
 into an irresistible and unconquerable passion, and 
 engendered in him an insatiable longing for, and earnest 
 desire to be always amongst such things." This was 
 
 r. 
 
50 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 the only reason lie could ever give for being a lover of 
 nature. 
 
 At the age of ten months he could walk, and no 
 sooner had he found the use of his legs than he would 
 toddle out among the ducks, hens, cats, and dogs. A 
 litter of pigs greatly excited his curiosity, and when he 
 was missing and his mother asked, " Where's Tarn ? ' 
 the answer as a rule was, " Oh ! he's awa wi' the pigs." 
 The father of Edward was a weaver at one of the mills 
 outside Aberdeen, and the cottage in which they lived 
 was in close proximity to several small streamlets run- 
 ning into the sea. These were prolific in eels, worms, 
 crabs, and snails, and a neighbouring heap of refuse 
 provided him with beetles, insects, rats, and other kindred 
 vermin. To Edward they conveyed no sense of being 
 vermin, and his pinafore was full of such a miscellaneous 
 litter as he could pick up, and these he woidd take 
 home and deposit in drawers and cupboards, to the 
 horror of his father and mother, who had the clearing 
 out of these nests on numerous occasions. For these 
 tricks he was scolded and beaten, but neither seemed to 
 produce any effect upon him. If he was set to rock the 
 cradle of the baby who came after him, he would wait 
 until his mother's back was turned, and then off would 
 start on his wanderings, generally dragging any willing 
 boy or boys whom he could find to accompany him. 
 He became so troublesome as a wanderer, that his father 
 determined that he would one day take his clothes with 
 him to the factory. His mother had to go out for milk, 
 and previous to doing so had pinned a red flannel petti- 
 f oat roimd his neck. No sooner was she out of the 
 
THOMAS EDWARD. 51 
 
 house, than he dodged her and away he started for his 
 old haunts. When his father came home, great was his 
 surprise to learn that he had disappeared in the morning, 
 and had not been seen again by his mother during the 
 day. Very angry was the father. By-and-bye a 
 neighbour came in and said that the lad had returned, 
 and was warming himself at her fireside. Tom had, 
 however, very soon followed her, and heard most of his 
 father's threats of what he would do for him. The 
 woman, however, got a promise that he should " no' be 
 licked," and at this the lad came forward. Immediately 
 the father caught sight of the petticoat hanging loosely 
 around his neck, covered with mud, and his legs and 
 arms in a like predicament, he burst into a loud fit of 
 laughter. That ramble brought on a serious fever, 
 from which it was months before he recovered. During 
 this fever he talked much of his beasties, and his first 
 sensible words were, " Mother, where are my crabs and 
 bandies that I brocht name last nicht ? " 
 
 A number of boys out in the woods one day noticed 
 hanging to a branch of a tree, a bees' " byke," or nest. 
 None of them dared venture up the tree to try and get 
 it, but Edward, with more boldness than the rest, 
 climbed it and found when he got near the byke, that 
 his Scotch bonnet would not be large enough, neither 
 would his stocking, and, as nothing else appeared 
 available, he took off his shirt, and, after being severely 
 stung, he managed to get it safely into his nether gar- 
 ment, and folding it up tightly, started for home. He 
 arrived safely there, and deposited his treasure in an 
 old iron porridge kettle, and attempted to steal quietly 
 
52 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 into bed. His younger brother noticed the absence of 
 the shirt, and shouted out to their parents. Up the 
 stairs came father and mother, and on the appearance of 
 the strap of which he had often made acquaintance, he 
 confessed where his shirt was to be found, and offered 
 to go and fetch it for his father to show him that there 
 really was something peculiar about it. The father 
 declined this proof, and they poured some boiling water 
 on it. In the morning they found that what master 
 Tarn had really brought home was — a wasps' nest. 
 
 Schooldays came on, and he was sent to a dame's 
 school to be out of the way, and here he became a 
 dreadful truant. The help of his grandmother was 
 called in to take him to school, and this she did day 
 after day, but he would trick her in a number of ways 
 that he became the bane of the poor old woman's life. 
 One day she had followed him on one of these truant 
 excursions, down to the Denburn, a little distance from 
 Aberdeen. Here he was searching for horse-leeches, 
 and while he was in the act of getting one of these, he 
 saw his grandmother's form reflected in the water, and 
 at once dropped the stone which he was lifting up, and 
 off he started as fast as his legs would carry him. The 
 poor old lady made a clutch at him, but missed her 
 footing, and fell headlong into the water. The dame 
 who kept the school, if she did not teach her little folks 
 much, had at least the merit of possessing much Scotch 
 piety. She prayed with the children twice a day. 
 Young Edward became a perfect dread to her. His 
 pockets were perpetually full of all kinds of live stock, 
 and time after time, he srot his ears boxed whilst he 
 
THOMAS EDWARD. 53 
 
 was emptying them at the nearest safe place. But all 
 the corporal punishment which he ever received, did 
 not deter him from following the bent of his inclina- 
 tions, and he became not a whit better. The more he 
 was punished at home, and scolded at school, the more 
 he visited his favourite haunts. 
 
 One day, he took with him to the dame's school a 
 jackdaw, which became very fond of him, and he of it. 
 His mother had become tired of its noise at home. He 
 received strict injunctions to get rid of it, and what to 
 do with it he did not know. At last he hit upon the 
 plan of lodging it in his baggy trousers, and so went 
 into the room where the school was held. During the 
 time the scholars were on their knees, the jackdaw had 
 struggled to get its head out between the top of the 
 lad's trousers and his vest, and then commenced its 
 peculiar noise, startling the old dame out of her wits. 
 In answer to her hurried questions as to what it was, she 
 was informed that it was " a beast of Tarn Edward's," 
 and the youngster was seized by the coat collar, and 
 carried bodily out of the room, and deposited safely 
 into the street. The old dame had had quite enough of 
 young Edward, and that was the last of his first experi- 
 ences at school. Edward was not more fortunate at his 
 second school. He was very soon ignominiously dis- 
 missed for taking horse-leeches in broken bottles. 
 
 A third school was found for him, but there seemed 
 to be a dreadful fate hanging over the youngster. His 
 reputation for carrying beasts about with him had 
 spread to every school in the district, and this bad name 
 clung dreadfully to him. On a hot summer's day, one 
 
54 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 of the masters received a dreadful bite from a centipede. 
 Nobody in the school would acknowledge to having 
 brought it there, and young Edward was called up. 
 
 He was asked, did he bring it, and his reply was 
 " No." This so enraged the master, who was suffering 
 from the bite, that he gave him a double punishment, 
 one for bringing it, and the other for telling a lie. 
 Even after this severe beating with a strap, he per- 
 sisted in saying that he had not taken it there, and 
 after each relay of whacks, the master only seemed to 
 lose his temper the more. Edward's back and hands 
 received at this time the worst punishment of any of 
 the many inflictions of this nature with which he had 
 been visited. Out of breath, the master finally took him 
 by the collar, and thrust him forcibly out of the school. 
 Towards nightfall, Edward went home, and at night 
 his father intended to give him a second edition of what 
 he had received at school, but it was found that his 
 shirt could not be taken off, owing to blood having 
 flowed from the cuts, and clotted. Gro back to that 
 school he would not, and he has said in after life, that 
 his statement about having taken the centipede was 
 perfectly true. 
 
 He was too young to go to work, and so for some 
 time he could do pretty well as he chose, and he took 
 every advantage of doing so. His school became the 
 seabeach and the little rivulets which ran into the sea. 
 On one of these wandering expeditions he had a singular 
 adventure. While searching among the heather and 
 stones for specimens of natural history, he caught 
 sight of a peculiar animal. He lost sight of it, and 
 
THOMAS EDWARD. 55 
 
 began to tear up the heather, and as he rested for a 
 time, another lad came up and asked, " Fad are ye 
 looking for ? " 
 
 " A thing like an eel," he replied ; " will ye come 
 and help me?' : "Na, na!' said the lad; "I dinna 
 want to be bitten to death ; but I ken that what ye are 
 looking for is among that heap o' stanes there." 
 
 Away went Edward, and commenced lifting off the 
 stones one by one, but no eel did he see. In despair, 
 he turned over a heap of turf which was near, and there 
 was the ugly creature he had been long in search of. 
 Down he pounced on it in a moment with both hands, 
 and grasped it tight. Away he started home and ran 
 in to his mother with the thing wriggling in his hands, 
 saying, " See, see, mither, what a bonnie beastie ! ' Away 
 she fled, and some neighbours after her, with the cry of 
 " A snake ! " " A snake ! ' He was told to take it to 
 Doctor Ferguson, a chemist near, and there he went, 
 followed by a number of boys, who kept, however, at a 
 very respectful distance. When the doctor saw it, he 
 ordered the boy out of the shop, and told him to stand 
 in the middle of the street until he had got a bott] . 
 This was soon found, and he was told to put it in there 
 and cork it up at once. He did so safely, and then 
 received from the chemist fourpence for the biggest 
 adder which had ever been seen in the whole country. 
 
 He was fast acquiring idle habits, and the parents 
 began to think what trade he could be placed at, and 
 although only six years old he went to work at a tobacco 
 factory for fourteenpence per week. He did not si ay 1< >ng 
 here, for he had heard that at one of the factories some 
 
56 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 few miles from where they were living, the boys earned 
 more, so after a good deal of persuasion he was allowed 
 to go. In order to get his breakfast, and be at the mill 
 at the proper time, he had to be up by four in the morn- 
 ing, and rarely got home before nine. His way from 
 their home lay partially through thickly- wooded fields, 
 and partially by the side of a burn or brook. These in 
 the summer time were very pleasant, but in the winter 
 bleak and uninviting. Years afterwards, when relating 
 the facts connected with his life, to Dr. Samuel Smiles, 
 who has given us such an interesting account of this 
 self-made naturalist, he said, " People may say of fac- 
 tories what they please, but I liked this factory. It was 
 a happy time for me whilst I remained there. It was 
 situated in the centre of a beautiful valley, almost 
 embowered amongst tall and luxuriant hedges of 
 hawthorn, with watercourses and shadowy trees between, 
 and large woods and plantations beyond. It teemed 
 with nature, and natural objects. The woods were easy 
 of access during our meal-hours. What lots of nests ! 
 What insects, wild flowers, and plants, the like of which 
 I had never seen before ! Prominent amongst was the 
 Scottish nightingale, which lay concealed in the reedy 
 copses, or by the margin of the mill-lades. Oh ! how I 
 wondered at the little thing ; how it contrived to imitate 
 almost all the other birds I had ever heard, and none to 
 greater perfection than the chirrup of my old and special 
 favourite, the sparrow! It so happened that for a 
 month or two during the summer-time, owing to the 
 scarcity of water, one part of the factory worked during 
 the night-time and the other during the daytime, 
 
THOMAS EDWARD. 57 
 
 week and week about. This was a glorious time for me. 
 I rejoiced particularly in the night- work. We got out 
 at six in the morning, and, instead of going directly 
 home, I used to go up to the woods of Scotston and 
 Scot-stem Moor, scoured the country round them, and 
 then returned home by the auld brig." "Ah, these 
 were happy days. There were no taws (strap) to 
 fear, and no tyrannical dominie to lay them on. True, 
 the farm people did halloo at me at times, but I 
 generally showed them a clean pair of heels. The 
 gamekeepers, also, sometimes gave me chase, but I 
 managed to outstrip them; and although no nests were 
 to be got, there was always something to be found or 
 seen." ..." This was life, genuine life, for the young. 
 But, alas ! a sad change was about to come ; and it came 
 very soon." 
 
 After working for about two years at the factory, the 
 father thought that the time had arrived when his two 
 eldest sons should be apprenticed to some regular trade, 
 and he fixed upon that of shoemaking. He was forth- 
 with bound for six years to a shoemaker in the 
 Grallowgate, Aberdeen, where his wages were to be 
 eighteenpence per week, for the first year, and rising 
 sixpence a week afterwards. Cobbling and tippling 
 have for years gone together, and so it appeared to be 
 the case with Begg, the name of the man to whom 
 Edward was apprenticed. He was dissolute, irregular, 
 and quarrelsome in his habits, and when drink was in 
 him, not only wit, but " the milk of human kindness ' 
 was out of him. He was in many respects a typical 
 representative of the kind of masters to whom boys 
 
58 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 were apprenticed years ago, and the youth of to-day 
 have much to be thankful for, that a new species of 
 masters has originated who dare not practise cruelty, 
 and who must teach the trade to which the apprentice is 
 bound to him. 
 
 Edward very frequently would take with him to the 
 shop little boxes containing butterflies, or bird's eggs, 
 which he had found on his way to work, but Begg soon 
 got into a habit of rifling the lad's pockets of such things, 
 and pitched them into the street, boxing afterward 
 Edward's ears for being " such a fool as to care for such 
 varmin." Tom's pets were ruthlessly treated by Begg, 
 and this cruel treatment of the little things hurt 
 Edward a great deal more than the physical punishment 
 which he was constantly receiving. 
 
 One day Edward took three moles to the shop, and 
 these Begg killed at once, and afterwards knocked 
 down Edward with a last, and then seized him by the 
 neck and breast and threw him into the street. At 
 last he protested that he would not go any more to 
 work for such a cruel master. 
 
 Thoughts came into his head of going for a sailor, 
 and he eventually came to the conclusion to run away 
 from home. He had no money of his own, as all that 
 he had been able to earn had been given to his mother. 
 His mother went out for a longer time than usual one 
 day, and, finding sixpence, he bundled his few things 
 together and started off, with the idea of going to 
 Kettle, about a hundred miles distant from Aberdeen. 
 He walked forty miles on the first day, and slept at 
 night on some hay which he pulled from a rick. He 
 
THOMAS EDWARD. 50 
 
 reached Kettle, but his uncle did not by any means 
 give him a warm reception. This rather chilled him, 
 and for the first time he began to think what his father 
 and mother would say of his disappearance. The next 
 day he started for home again, his uncle having sup- 
 plied him with eighteenpence to pay for food and the 
 crossing of the ferry at Dundee. He reached home 
 again without anything more serious happening than 
 a near chance of being tossed by a bull, and got nothing 
 worse than a severe lecture. He begged to be allowed 
 to go to sea, but this his father and mother would not 
 hear of, and so he resumed his shoemaking, but this 
 time under another master, who had a kind disposition, 
 and as Edward did not neglect his work during his 
 master's time, he was allowed to follow the bent of his 
 inclination, and of these opportunities he made the 
 most use. 
 
 His parents about this time had removed to another 
 house, and adjoining this was a piece of waste ground. 
 He now commenced what he termed his Wild Botani- 
 cal Grarden. Here he tried to raise the wild flowers 
 which he gathered during his rambles. Some of them 
 grew pretty well, but others of them withered and died. 
 His mother suggested the making of an ordinary gardes 
 of it, and, adopting this plan, he visited frequently a heap 
 where the gardeners, at several large houses outside 
 Aberdeen, were accustomed to throw away roots which 
 they did not want, and from this Edward obtained 
 sufficient to make a neat and well-stocked garden. 1 !<• 
 made a habit of never planting more than one flower, 
 so that in course of time he had quite a rich variety. 
 
60 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 Time passed on pleasantly with him for a little time. 
 He improved his knowledge of reading by reading the 
 prints which were exhibited on the stalls which attended 
 the market, and spent his spare pennies in the purchas- 
 ing of the Penny Magazine and other periodicals. Trade 
 afterwards became very bad, and Aberdeen shared in 
 the universal depression which was then experienced. 
 Many people left England and Scotland and emigrated 
 to the United States, and Edward would have done 
 this if he could have raised money enough for the 
 purpose, and, failing this, he made a strong effort to 
 get out as a stowaway, but was discovered in his hiding- 
 place just as the vessel was about to sail, and so had to 
 give up the plan. 
 
 In 1831 he enlisted in the Aberdeenshire Militia, at 
 which time he was eighteen. One day the regiment to 
 which he belonged was out for drill on the sea-shore. 
 The afternoon was bright and warm, and there came 
 flying in the neighbourhood of where the men were 
 standing a butterfly. Edward caught sight of this, 
 and no sooner did he do so that off he started to catch 
 it, and flew in and out of the small sand-hills, making 
 energetic clutches at it as he ran along. "What a chase 
 he had ! and what a chase the corporal of the company 
 had too, to catch Edward; but he presently did so, and 
 laid hold of him roughly by the neck. Back he was 
 marched, and the corporal had instructions to lodge him 
 in the guard-house for breaking away from the ranks 
 during drill, as butterfly-catching was scarcely con- 
 sidered a part of military training. Two militiamen 
 walked in front of him and two behind, and he was 
 
THOMAS EDWARD. 61 
 
 brought before the officer, who asked him : " Well, sir, 
 what have you to say about breaking the ranks during 
 drill, and running after a butterfly ? Are you subject 
 to fits of insanity ? ' To this Edward did not reply, 
 and the officer asked again : " What induced you to 
 leave the ranks and run after a harmless insect ? ' His 
 reply was : "I really do not know, unless it was from a 
 desire to possess the butterfly." He had never been 
 insubordinate before, and as some ladies who had 
 noticed the occurrence, interceded for the poor fellow, 
 he received nothing worse than a reprimand. 
 
 Edward, shortly afterwards, at the age of twenty, 
 moved to Banff, in which town, with only a short 
 period when he was in Aberdeen, he has resided the 
 remainder of his life, and where he continues to live 
 to-day. He had no love for his trade, shoemaking, 
 but it appeared the only trade by which he was likely 
 to earn a living. His bench was rarely ever free from 
 caterpillars or other insects, and from these old habits 
 of his his shopmates were just as much annoyed as had 
 been the children and masters of the schools of his 
 childhood. At the age of twenty-three he acquired 
 another passion, and that was for a servant at a farm- 
 house, and they had the courage to marry when 
 Edward's earnings averaged some nine-and- sixpence 
 per week, but in his wife he had found a kindly and 
 sympathetic companion, and Edward has acknowledged 
 in a very touching way how cheerfully his dear wife 
 bore up amidst their poverty and Edward's love of his 
 favourite pursuits. He had learned how to preserve 
 and stuff animals and insects, and his house — for In* 
 
62 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 had taken a little cottage — was soon full of these 
 treasures. It was now that he began very seriously to 
 feel the disadvantage of being able to read and write 
 only with difficulty. Arithmetic was an unknown 
 subject to him. He had never up to this time read 
 a book on Natural History, so that all the knowledge of 
 the various insects and animals he had gathered was 
 his own discovering. He was looked upon by those 
 with whom he worked as queer and uncanny. Drink 
 was the pleasure of his shoj)mates, but he had no dis- 
 sipation of this kind to indulge in. He was of a 
 thoughtful and retiring disposition. His love of nature 
 intensified, and to use his own words : "I can never 
 succeed in describing my unbounded admiration of the 
 works of the Almighty ; not only the wonderful works 
 which we ourselves see upon earth, but those wondrous 
 and countless millions of orbs which roll, both near and 
 far, in the endless immensity of space, the Home of 
 Eternity ! Every living thing that moves or lives, 
 everything that grows, everything created or formed 
 by the hand or the will of the Omnipotent, has such 
 a fascinating charm for me, and sends such a thrill of 
 pleasure through my whole frame, that to describe my 
 feelings is utterly impossible." 
 
 At the age of twenty-four, and after he had been 
 one year married, Edward commenced in real earnest 
 to make a collection of natural history objects. His 
 apparatus was of the rudest description. Bottles, nets, 
 and boxes for his insects were all of his own adapting, 
 and such as he could make or procure without much 
 expense, as he had neither money nor time to waste. 
 
THOMAS EDWARD. 63 
 
 Night after night, in the spring and summer-time, 
 after he had been working hard at his bench during 
 the day, he would snatch a hasty supper of cheese and 
 bread, and then he would start on his rambles, taking 
 with him, besides the things named above, an old rusty 
 gun, with the barrel tied to the stock with stout twine, 
 and spend the nights out of doors, resting often, during 
 the hours of darkness, under a favourite gravestone in 
 the Boyndie churchyard, near Banff. He was a perfect 
 conundrum to his neighbours. They could not bring 
 themselves to give him the poacher, but they were 
 mystified at his nightly excursions and odd habits. 
 
 In addition to making his miscellaneous collection, 
 he grew quite a capital taxidermist, and could produce 
 some good specimens of stuffed birds, rats, and other 
 animals which came in his way. One of the receptacles 
 in which he would place his " takings " was his hat, 
 and this used to be full on these nocturnal wanderings 
 of a very " olla podrida ' of insects, birds, and other 
 specimens of natural history. He could not, of course, 
 go out on these visits night after night without meeting 
 with some adventures, and these he very frequently met 
 with. He received many bites from weasels and rats, 
 and on one occasion he was very near being injured by 
 several badgers. One adventure with a pole-cat I may 
 mention. He was lying out of doors near to the ruined 
 castle of the Boyne, a favourite haunt of his, above five 
 miles west of Banff. He was awakened from his sleep 
 by a patting about his legs. He thought it was a rabbit 
 or a rat, and moved his legs sharply, and so thought he 
 would get rid of it. The animal would not, however, 
 
64 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 go, and he gave a rapid dash with his hand, and there 
 was a shriek as it fell to the ground, and then he knew 
 at once that it was a pole-cat. On recovering itself it 
 flew at him furiously, and attempted to get at a water- 
 hen which he had in his hreast. The pole-cat screamed 
 and clawed at him, and Edward's grip did not appear 
 to be a very sure one, but he eventually gained the 
 mastery by making it swallow about an ounce of chloro- 
 form, a commodity which he always carried with him 
 on these excursions, and then he was able to get it down 
 on the ground and place his foot on its neck. He 
 says of this encounter that it was the most terrible that 
 he ever had with an animal of its class. His hands 
 were very much bitten and scratched, and for a long 
 time afterwards remained sore and inflamed ; but he 
 states that the pole-cat which he had captured was well 
 worth the struggle. It was a male which he had caught, 
 and he afterwards stuffed it as a companion to a female 
 which he had at home. 
 
 These nightly visits of his made him familiar with 
 the birds and animals which catch their prey in the 
 darkness, but, in addition to this, he learned much of 
 bird life. 
 
 He became anxious to form a natural history 
 collection, and he had many dreams of what might be 
 its ultimate usefulness to himself and to others. He 
 greatly felt the need of a friendly hand to guide him, 
 and to save him from having to struggle through many 
 difficulties which, had he been able to obtain books and 
 practical help, would have aided him materially, and 
 saved him much time and laborious work. He was 
 
THOMAS EDWARD. 65 
 
 most assiduous in his labours. If lie wanted to procure 
 a particular bird or insect lie would walk miles, and 
 search patiently for days until he discovered that for 
 which he was looking. He fixed a number of traps in 
 all sorts of places, composed of dead birds, rats, rabbits, 
 hedgehogs, fish, crabs, or seaweed, and these he placed 
 in all sorts of out-of-the-way corners, and visited some 
 of them daily, others weekly and monthly. By dint of 
 his perseverance he had collected over nine hundred 
 specimens of insects, and these he had pinned down in 
 boxes of his own making, and placed numbers to them 
 which he had cut out of an old almanack. There were 
 twenty boxes in all, and these he had ready for glazing. 
 They had been deposited in a garret for safety, and 
 after he had obtained the glass he went up to the room 
 to get them, when, to his great astonishment, he 
 discovered that the box had been stripped entirely of 
 its contents. On looking at the others, all had been 
 served the same, except a wing here and a head there. 
 Rats or mice had evidently got at them. His wife 
 asked him what he was going to do next : " Weel," 
 said he, " it's an awfu' disappointment, but I think the 
 best thing will be to set to work and fill them again." 
 This he did, although to collect these 916 insects he had 
 been four years engaged. 
 
 Sir Isaac Newton setting to work again after his 
 favourite dog "Diamond' had overturned a candle. 
 which had set fire to some papers upon which were 
 mathematical calculations, which had occupied him Bar 
 years, did not show a more noble spirit than did 
 Edward, who, without delay, began again collecting 
 
Qft EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 moths and other insects, and in about three years he 
 had replaced his lost number. He had now been some 
 eight years collecting, and during this time — 1845 — he 
 had preserved nearly 2,000 specimens of living creatures 
 found in the neighbourhood of Banff. About half the 
 number consisted of quadrupeds, birds, reptiles, fishes, 
 Crustacea, starfish, zoophytes, corals, sponges, and other 
 objects. In addition to these, he had also collected an 
 immense number of plants. His cases were entirely 
 his own making, and the papering of them inside, 
 painting outside, and glazing was also his work. His 
 collection filled no less than 300 cases, and every nook 
 and corner of his house was full of them. 
 
 It had long been the wish of his heart to leave the 
 shoe-making trade, and give his attention wholly to 
 natural history. He had a project of exhibiting his 
 collection, and this he did at a hiring fair in Banff in 
 1845. A great many country people visited the town 
 at this fair, and there was always at it a miscellaneous 
 collection of fat women and dwarfs, and other wonderful 
 things, and he thought that surely among all these 
 curiosities there would be many who would pay the 
 small entrance sum to see the contents of his cases. A 
 room in the Trades' Hall was taken, and it was 
 advertised as a "Collection of preserved animals, com- 
 prising quadrupeds, birds, fishes, insects, shells, eggs, and 
 other curiosities." 
 
 One of the local papers said of it, " that the collection 
 was the result of his own untiring efforts and ingenuity, 
 without aid, and under discouraging circumstances, 
 which few would have successfully encountered. . . . 
 
THOMAS EDWARD. 67 
 
 Our young friends especially should visit the collection ; 
 it will both amuse and instruct them. They will learn 
 more from seeing them in half-an-hour, than from 
 reading about them in half-a-year." 
 
 His neighbours were greatly surprised, and some of 
 the better class enquired as to " what had made him a 
 naturalist ? ' : Edward says that " when this question was 
 first asked him he was completely dumbfoundered. I had 
 no notion that a naturalist could be made. What ! 
 make a naturalist as you would make a tradesman ! I 
 could not believe that people became naturalists from 
 pecuniary motives. My answer to those who put the 
 question invariably was, and still is, I cannot tell. I 
 never knew of any external circumstance that had any- 
 thing to do with engendering in my mind the never- 
 ceasing love which I entertained for the universal works 
 of the Almighty ; so that the real cause must be looked 
 for elsewhere." 
 
 The exhibition was a success, and Edward was 
 greatly encouraged, and at once set to work collecting 
 for another exhibition, which must be larger and more 
 comprehensive than the first, but he decided that Banff 
 was scarcely the place for this, and he fixed upon 
 Aberdeen as being the city where he would be likely to 
 have most visitors. He was buoyed up with this great 
 project, which filled his thoughts night and day, and he 
 was most assiduous in adding to his collection every 
 specimen of interest which came in his way. He had 
 been successful at Banff, surely he would meet with far 
 greater encouragement in a large and well-populated 
 city like Aberdeen, with its university, its many 
 
68 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 schools, and its reputed learning. It was natural that 
 he should feel very enthusiastic about this project, and 
 long before the time came for him to think of moving 
 his collection to the granite city, he had planned what 
 works on Natural History he would be able to buy 
 with the proceeds of his exhibition, and that he would 
 also be able to obtain a microscope for a more minute 
 study of some of his specimens. Aberdeen was to be 
 to him a veritable El Dorado, and no one can say that 
 this young man, who had in the spare moments saved 
 out of his labours as a shoemaker, should anticipate 
 that this venture of his would place him in such a 
 position that he would be able to devote the whole of 
 his time to the pursuit of the natural history studies 
 which had become a very necessity of his existence. 
 It was not that he had a soul above his shoe-soles, for 
 it is a very interesting fact that Edward was acknow- 
 ledged to be about the best workman which his 
 employer had, and was always entrusted with work to 
 which special attention was needed. His promises 
 with regard to the time that certain work were very 
 different from the majority of the promises of shoemakers 
 in general, for he could always be depended upon. 
 
 The British Isles provide very numerous examples 
 of young men who have struggled manfully and nobly, 
 toiling diligently in the honest, if humble, calling 
 which they have followed for a livelihood, yet given to 
 burning midnight oil in the acquiring of knowledge, or 
 following patiently a certain bent of study, overcoming 
 difficulties by which thousands around would have 
 been baffled and defeated. Among this great number 
 
THOMAS EDWARD. 69 
 
 we may certainly include Thomas Edward, and I should 
 like to dwell on this portion of his life. When in 
 Aberdeen he fondly hoped and expected he would meet 
 with some appreciation of his collection, and enough 
 money to permit of his henceforward looking to natural 
 history to find bread for himself and family. To him 
 it was drawing near the Rubicon, and the future was 
 full of promise, for were not the Aberdonians about to 
 come in hundreds, and pay their money to see what it 
 had taken him years to collect ? 
 
 Edward had taken a shop in Union Street, which is 
 now one of the finest thoroughfares in Great Britain, 
 and on a Friday, in July, 1846, the six large carriers' 
 carts, containing his collection, and also the furniture 
 of their little cottage. His patient and helpful wife, 
 with their five children, accompanied the carts, and so 
 they in this way performed the journey to Aberdeen by 
 road, at which place they safely arrived. 
 
 He at once got them in order, and issued his hand- 
 bills and advertisements. One of the handbills stated 
 that " the objects comprising this collection have been 
 collected in the counties of Banff and Aberdeen, and 
 preserved by a single individual, and that individual a 
 journeyman shoemaker. They have been exhibited by 
 him in Banff, to the delight and admiration of every 
 visitor — all being surprised at the beauty, order, and 
 multitude of the various objects — some going so far as 
 to doubt the fact of the proprietor being a shoemaker, 
 saying that it was impossible for a person of that trade 
 being able to do anything like what they saw before 
 them. 
 
70 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 " Thomas Edward takes the liberty of stating that 
 the collection is allowed by eminent naturalists to be 
 one of the greatest curiosities ever offered for public 
 inspection in this quarter, amounting, as it does, to 
 about two thousand objects ; and being the work of one 
 individual, who had to labour under every disadvantage, 
 having none to tell how or where to find the different 
 objects ; none to teach him how to preserve these objects 
 when found ; no sound of promised reward ringing in 
 his ears to urge him on his singular course ; no Mend 
 to accompany him in his nightly wanderings ; help 
 from none, but solely dependent on his own humble 
 abilities and limited resources." 
 
 Such was the appeal made to the Aberdeen public, 
 helped on by kindly notices in the local papers. The 
 prices of admission were low enough for all, being, 
 " Ladies and gentlemen, 6d. ; tradespeople, 3d. ; chil- 
 dren, half-price." 
 
 After all was ready for the crowd, which he fondly 
 thought would gather at the door, he looked around 
 his eight years' collection with a pardonable pride. He 
 thought he had reached the Rubicon and was just on the 
 threshold of better and more prosperous days. The 
 Aberdeen public little thought of how their sixpences 
 would have helped to cheer that worthy soul, but they 
 were very very chary of parting with them. 
 
 Sad to say, there were very few who came to see it. 
 Some of Edward's chief visitors, those who had stuffed 
 birds and animals to sell, or others who mistook him for 
 a dog doctor and wanted cures for pets of the canine 
 tribe. He was told by several professors of the Aber- 
 
THOMAS EDWARD. 71 
 
 deen college that his collection was one of the finest 
 which they had ever seen ; but, Job's comforters as they 
 were, they generously informed him that " he was 
 several centimes too soon, as the people of Aberdeen 
 were not yet prepared for such an exhibition, especially 
 as it had been the work of a poor man." 
 
 True, he was a " poor man," but possessed a noble 
 heart and an indomitable perseverance. Poor fellow ! 
 disappointment, bankrupt hopes, nun looked him in the 
 face. He had faith in himself, but he had fears that it 
 was as the University professor had said, — he was born 
 a century too soon. There were not a few of his visitors 
 who had the impertinence to doubt, and that in no choice 
 language to him, that the collection had really not been 
 got together in the way he would have people believe. 
 
 This he felt very keenly. A few of the people came 
 to see his exhibition who worked at the mills where 
 twenty years before he himself had been as a lad earn- 
 ing a pittance to aid his father and mother in providing 
 food for themselves and their bairns. He naturally 
 thought that the labouring class, of which he was one, 
 and among whom he had lived, would take some interest 
 in his exhibition ; but no, as the days of its being opened 
 increased in number, the attendance appeared to de- 
 crease. He advertised and distributed handbills in 
 thousands, but the result was still the same, although 
 he had reduced the price of admission to a penny for 
 the working classes. 
 
 The rent of the shop he had taken was falling due at 
 the end of the third week, and he was deeply in debt, a 
 feeling which chafed him into an agony of mind. Each 
 
72 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 day only seemed to drive him deeper into the difficulty. 
 He had risked his all in the undertaking, and he could 
 see nothing but absolute ruin for him. Black despon- 
 dency seized him, and in the midst of his bewilderment 
 no wonder that his reason for the time being should 
 have been unhinged. Wife and five children dependent 
 on him, his situation to be lost unless he returned with- 
 out a day's delay, debt, and nothing to pay with, all 
 helped to bring on a state of feeling which would have 
 tried the strongest will. He went out with the intention 
 of not coming back again, and made his way to the sea- 
 shore. He had taken off his hat, coat and vest, and 
 remained looking into space with an utter blankness of 
 mind, until suddenly his eye caught sight of a flock of 
 birds, and among them one which was different from all 
 the rest. He waited until they rested on the sand, and 
 then off he started towards them. Each time they rose 
 and flew away off he started too, for his curiosity to 
 know something of the strange bird among the flock 
 was thoroughly aroused ; but secure it he could not, but 
 one thing he did secure, for to-day he is alive and 
 could tell the story of how his life was providentially 
 preserved by a little bird and his intense love of 
 nature. 
 
 It was hard to bring himself to the fact that his 
 collection must be sold, but go it must. Several gentle- 
 men spoke of its being preserved by one of the scientific 
 societies, but nobody was ready to advance the necessary 
 money, and eventually it was sold for twenty pounds 
 ten shillings for the use of a boy who never seems to 
 have made any use of it. His heart went with it, and, 
 
THOMAS EDWARD. 73 
 
 broken in spirit and desolate in heart, he returned to 
 Banff. The walls of his cottage which, before he left 
 had been hid completely with his cases, now only pre- 
 sented a bare appearance, which chafed and depressed 
 him. Hunger, which is a hard master, left him no 
 time to grieve long over his lost collection and his 
 almost penniless condition, for the twenty pounds had 
 all been absorbed in paying his debt, an undertaking 
 which he gave himself no rest until it was accomplished. 
 So little had he left, that there was not sufficient to pay 
 the earner for the bringing of the wife and bairns back 
 to Banff, but the kindness of the carrier who had taken 
 them to Aberdeen helped them to overcome that diffi- 
 culty by taking them without charge. 
 
 His disappointment was keen. The cup of fortune 
 had been dashed from his lips just as he was about to 
 raise it to his lips, but, like all noble natures, he did not 
 give way to repining and quarrelling with his fate. 
 Without delay, he returned again to his shoemaker's 
 bench, and whacked the leather even more briskly than 
 ever he had done before. 
 
 The brave wife, who had cheered and stood by him 
 through all his cares, showed at this time what a true 
 helpmeet she was. The house became comfortable 
 again, and around his fireside, with the little ones 
 bearing his name and the brightness of his wife's face, 
 he soon resumed his usual manner. An autumn and 
 winter passed, but he did not do much to replace his 
 lost treasures, but immediately spring returned his old 
 habits came back upon him, and he could not, had he 
 tried, overcome the irrepressible desire to make another 
 
74 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 collection. For nights together he would be away after 
 his day's work was over, and would stay out on the 
 moors and in the fields, ready again to commence his 
 searches with the first streak of dawn. His clothing 
 possessed wonderful receptacles for his boxes to contain 
 specimens which he found. His coat was all pockets, 
 both inside and out, and his waistcoat had been specially 
 made by his wife, also, with pockets in such places as 
 had never before been dreamed of, and even his hat had 
 been constructed for a similar purpose. It had a deep 
 crown, and just above the portion for his head there was 
 a partition for lodging specimens. He was perfectly 
 contented when he was out hunting in this way. Very 
 often, hungry and footsore, he would return home in 
 the morning, and as soon as he had finished his break- 
 fast off he would go to work. 
 
 One day he had wandered farther away than usual, 
 and in rather a new district to him. He was out on a 
 moor, and had been utterly unconscious that a storm 
 was approaching, and before he was aware it burst, and 
 there he was, on a wild moor, without a house or any 
 place of shelter in sight. He had his pockets full of 
 chip-boxes, which contained specimens in abundance of 
 ants, butterflies, moths, worms, and other things, for he 
 was out on a three days' excursion, it being a holiday 
 time, and there was no leaving his specimens behind 
 " until called for." The rain came on in torrents, and 
 he was soon drenched. He ran first along one path, 
 then in another, but no house was to be seen. It was a 
 perfect hurricane of rain, such as only the Swiss and the 
 Scotch mountains can provide. On he ran, until at last 
 
THOMAS EDWARD. 75 
 
 he espied some smoke issuing out of a thatched roof, 
 and for this highland cottage, arriving suddenly, to the 
 consternation of two little girls who stood at the turf 
 fire, and dropped on the nearest chair, without for a few 
 minutes being able to speak. The mother was out, but 
 the girls said that he might remain, and he presently 
 began to see in what condition his cardboard boxes and 
 the inmates were. 
 
 The two girls evidently found something very amus- 
 ing about him, for they laughed away heartily, looking 
 at him as they did so. Then off they scampered to 
 fetch their mother, who was out some distance cutting 
 firewood. Presently she came with an axe in one hand 
 and a stout branch from a tree in the other, and looked 
 6ternly at Edward, in such a way that he was not quite 
 sure which she was going to use on him first. " "Will 
 ye' gang, ye varmin?' : she kept repeating, Edward 
 protesting meanwhile that she was wrong ; but, poor 
 fellow, he very soon found out that she wasn't, for 
 crawling all about him were caterpillars, moths, and 
 butterflies, and other live-stock in a kalf-drowned 
 condition, but in such a way that he was literally all 
 alive. He strode rapidly away to an outhouse and 
 overhauled all his clothes, and then came back to thank 
 the woman — standing at a respectful distance, for she 
 would not let him come near her or enter her house 
 again — for the shelter which she had given him. 
 
 Edward had much cheap advice given him as soon as 
 his exhibition at Banff brought himself and his hobby 
 into notice. There is always more than enough of this 
 stale commodity to be had cheap, but practical help he 
 
76 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 had none from his townsmen or others who had come 
 to know of his work. Some advised him to extend his 
 researches into Aberdeenshire, and others to contribute 
 specimens to general museums and so bring his name 
 into prominence, but publicity he knew well would never 
 feed and clothe his eight children. His bravest helper 
 was his wife, and her practical aid was worth a book 
 full of such prolific advice as was being constantly 
 tendered him. She worked at the uppers of the boots, 
 of which Edward placed on the soles, and she worked 
 too for others and so earned wages in this way ; but 
 with money so coming to her she very frequently 
 bought boxes for his insects or wood for his cases. 
 
 No wonder, then, that Dr. Smiles, in his book, should 
 pay the tenderest tribute to her memory. She possessed 
 the truest nobility of heart and soul, and never regretted 
 joining her lot with Edward, and commencing their 
 married life on eight shillings a week. 
 
 A friendly magistrate gave Edward a kind of pass 
 which enabled him to wander about through fields as 
 his fancy led him, with his gun and his pouches, with- 
 out being taken for a poacher ; and this was of consider- 
 able service to him in preventing disagreeable interviews 
 between himself and farmers, who could not understand 
 a man running about to pick up livestock as it came in 
 his way. 
 
 It was scarcely possible for him to wander far and 
 near in this way without meeting with adventures and 
 without, at times, serious risk of life and limb. He was 
 one day out among the precipitous rocks of the sea-coast, 
 and shot at a marten flying over his head. The bird 
 
THOMAS EDWARD. / / 
 
 fell, but he could not make out where it had dropped 
 down. In searching for it he had to climb the cliff, 
 and in doing so missed his footing and fell down a 
 distance of some forty feet. His gun had preceded him 
 and had become wedged between two rocks, and he fell 
 on it, breaking it to pieces ; but it broke his fall and 
 probably saved his life. He fell into two clefts of the 
 rock, and the weight of his body and the force of the 
 fall made it impossible for him to get out by himself. 
 Two ploughmen, who had been watching him from a 
 distant field, came to his assistance. Had it not been 
 for them it would have gone very hard with Edward. 
 This accident cost him a fortnight's loss of work. No 
 bones were broken, but he was very sore, and had 
 sustained some severe contusions. 
 
 Nor was this the only occasion when his life was in 
 real danger of being sacrificed to his love of nature, 
 but this did not deter him from still going on in his 
 researches. 
 
 A Rev. Mr. Smith, Presbyterian minister in the 
 neighbourhood, was one of the warmest and best friends 
 that Edward ever had. He advised him to write down 
 on paper all that he knew or could learn about the 
 specimens which he acquired, and this, after a good deal 
 of persuasion, he did, and afterwards communicated to 
 a local paper short but most interesting sketches, some 
 of which displayed a quickness of perception and 
 a felicity of expression which was really most 
 remarkable, considering how little education he had 
 received. His description of birds and their habits 
 was most graphic. In the preparing of these papers 
 
78 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 for press Mr. Smith gave him the most practical assist- 
 ance, taking the notes of Edward's observations, and, 
 at a later date, persnading him to let him send the 
 communications to the Zoologist, in which they after- 
 wards appeared. Did space permit, many of these 
 descriptions of birds would be of considerable interest ; 
 but I must refer the reader to the book of Dr. Smiles' 
 " Life of a Scotch Naturalist," who has, in this life 
 of Thomas Edward, given us one of his most charming 
 industrial biographies. This work of Dr. Smiles was 
 to him a labour of love, and it is from it that most of 
 the facts which I have quoted are collated. All who 
 desire a fuller account of this shoemaker naturalist 
 should read the book referred to, which has now been 
 published in a cheaper edition. 
 
 The closeness of observation, the accuracy of his 
 views respecting birds and bird life, were amazing to 
 those who came in contact with him. His patience was 
 astounding ; nothing ever seemed to give him the sense 
 of weariness and fatigue when he was on the search for 
 specimens — and that meant every time he was out of 
 doors. In a letter to his biographer he said, " In look- 
 ing over my printed articles you will find a great 
 number of notices of the habits and workings of various 
 species. I spent so much time in observation, that I 
 had little time to spare to write out the results, and 
 what I did write, did not seem to be much appreciated. 
 Perhaps this is not to be wondered at. It appears that 
 the compilers of works on natural history in this country 
 do not care for details of the habits of the animals they 
 treat of ; they rather glory in the abundance of technical 
 
THOMAS EDWARD. 79 
 
 descriptions they can supply. These may seem scientific, 
 but they are at the same time very dry. In fact, natural 
 history is rendered detestable to general readers. We 
 want some writers of the Audubon and Wilson class to 
 render natural history accessible to the public at large." 
 
 Edward was perfectly right in this, and, had he only 
 received a complete education, there is no doubt but he 
 would have been one of those who would help materially 
 in expunging difficult words and phrases from such 
 books. It is, in fact, due to the lives of such men as 
 Edward that books have since been written of a simpler 
 and more popular character. 
 
 Another Presbyterian minister was also of consider- 
 able service to him. His house was always open to 
 Edward, and a friendship of the warmest character 
 existed between them, and continued until the time of 
 Mr. Boyd's death, in 1854. He interested himself 
 greatly on Edward's behalf, and not long before his 
 death he, in conjunction with some other gentlemen, 
 who were on a visit to his house, had a long notice 
 inserted in a Fraserburgh paper; portions ran as 
 follows : — " During the past month our district has 
 been visited by Mr. Thomas Edward, from Banff, a 
 naturalist of no mean attainments, and one who, we 
 doubt not, will soon bring himself into public notice, 
 both by his indefatigable researches into natural science, 
 and his valuable contributions to various scientific 
 
 periodicals We cordially wish Mr. Edward 
 
 every success in the various fields of research upon 
 which he has entered. It is but justice to a most 
 deserving person to draw attention to his praiseworthy 
 
80 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 endeavours, in the midst of many difficulties, to perfect 
 his knowledge of natural history, and to recommend it 
 to all around him, especially the young. Happy would 
 it be, if our tradesmen were to take a leaf out of Mr. 
 Edward's book, and instead of wasting their time, 
 squandering their means, and embittering their existence 
 in the haunts of dissipation, they would sally forth in 
 these calm summer evenings to rural scenes and sylvan 
 solitudes, to woo nature in her mildest aspect, to learn 
 a lesson from the moth or the spider, to listen to the 
 hum of the bee or the song of birds, to mark the various 
 habits and instincts of animals, and thus to enrich their 
 minds with useful and entertaining knowledge." 
 
 The idea underlying this notice was to get the working 
 classes interested in natural history, and to arrange with 
 Edward for some lectures of a rudimentary character; 
 but Mr. Boyd's sudden death put an end to this, and 
 Edward grieved for him sorely, as a true friend gone 
 from his side. 
 
 Several friends interested themselves on his behalf. 
 He was willing to undertake any kind of honest work 
 which would bring him in a livelihood for his wife and 
 family ; but apparently there was nothing likely to prove 
 a permanency which would take him away from his 
 cobbler's bench. Even for his many articles in various 
 scientific periodicals he received no remuneration, 
 although some of them were of a valuable character. 
 
 irom many of these it would be easy to quote at 
 length, and there is in them much original and sugges- 
 tive information of fishes, Crustacea, zoophytes, mol- 
 luscs, fossils, and plants. 
 
THOMAS EDWARD. 81 
 
 It was scarcely possible that so many nights spent 
 out of doors in all kinds of weather should not 
 have some serious effect on his health, and this now 
 gave way. A severe attack of rheumatic fever seized 
 him, and for four weeks, and for the greater part of this 
 time he was wandering about his insects and birds. 
 The doctor told him that if he wished to have his life 
 preserved, he would have to cease entirely from his 
 nightly excursions. His earnings had been so small 
 that he had been able to save only very little ; but, as on 
 previous occasions, his chief savings bank — the collection 
 of natural history — was the means by which he was 
 once again cleared from debt, and was scattered among 
 purchasers. 
 
 He had been obliged to take very seriously to heart 
 what the doctor had said, and although he was. for- 
 bidden to go out and spend nights in the open air, he 
 was determined not to give up his studies immediately 
 his strength returned, and he was able to follow his 
 daily employment. In his spare time, which he always 
 made for nature, he began to devote himself to the 
 natural history of the sea-shore, and in this department 
 of study he was very successful in discovering a number 
 of new specimens not previously known. 
 
 Several of his daughters were exceedingly useful to 
 him in this work, for they woidd go among the fisher- 
 men as they brought their night's catch to market, 
 and obtain the rubbish out of their nets, for which they 
 did not care. This so-called rubbish he obtained some 
 very valuable specimens of Crustacea. Both he and his 
 family soon became well known to the fishermen, and 
 
82 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 he was helped greatly by several of tliem. On one 
 occasion lie wrote as follows to the local paper, which 
 now regularly printed his notes on the specimens which 
 came in his way : "It is quite astonishing what amaz- 
 ing numbers of minute creatures are at times to be 
 foimd amongst the refuse of only one boat's lines. 
 .... The ocean is, as it were, one vast and bound- 
 less expanse of life, and the inhabitants thereof about 
 as numberless as the sands by the sea-shore. I have 
 myself picked out of a net nine distinct species of shells, 
 three different kinds of starfish, and five different sorts 
 of zoophytes, besides worms, and a number of other 
 parasitical animals." 
 
 It is impossible for me to follow up his studies of sea 
 life in all its rich variety of forms. Friends at a distance 
 began to lend him books, other naturalists named his 
 specimens for him through the medium of the post, and 
 one scientific gentleman sent him a microscope. Several 
 again interested themselves in trying to procure for him 
 work more congenial to his tastes, but these efforts, 
 singularly and unfortunately, did not lead to the desired 
 result. True, just about this time he became keeper of 
 the Scientific Society's Museum at Banff, at a salary of 
 forty- two shillings per annum, and all through his 
 career the Banff public do not seem to have realized what 
 sort of a man they had amongst them. It appears to 
 have been the old story of a prophet having no honour 
 in his own country. The scientific men of the district 
 found it hard to swallow Edward's lapstone and his 
 growing reputation as a naturalist. Gret free, however, 
 from his bench, he could not, and he has patiently and 
 
THOMAS EDWARD. 83 
 
 submissively worked on at it up to old age, for to-day he 
 is living and is at last honoured by his fellow-townsmen. 
 
 He corresponded with some of the most eminent scien- 
 tists of the day, and many a naturalist who has added to 
 our English literature on these important subjects, owes 
 much to specimens which have been discovered by 
 Edward, and especially to the information which he 
 has been able to give of animal life. 
 
 His family reached eleven children, but although 
 with his quiver full, he seems to have been greatly 
 blessed, for all his children have grown up to love and 
 to help the father, who has accomplished so much in the 
 way of natural science, although so little of what the 
 world often very erroneously counts success. 
 
 Edward was particularly enthusiastic in his discoveries 
 amongst zoophytes, molluscs, and fishes. These have 
 for many years now occupied his attention. And in 
 this department of study he was successful in rediscover- 
 ing some specimens which had been completely lost to 
 sight for nearly sixty years. At first so rare and un- 
 known were some of his specimens, that there was a 
 difficulty in naming them; but in this respect he was 
 greatly aided by other naturalists, for there is a wonder- 
 ful fraternity of feeling among lovers of nature, and 
 there is often very much interchange of pleasant com- 
 munication among them. 
 
 It was only natural that after all his correspondence 
 with eminent naturalists, and the numerous specimens 
 with which he had provided them, that he should receive 
 some acknowledgment, and in 18G6, he was elected as 
 an Associate of the Linnoean Society, probably the 
 
84 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 highest honour that could be conferred upon him. A 
 diploma of the Glasgow Natural History Society was 
 also granted him. It is a stigma on his townsmen that 
 they allowed his hiunhle but honest trade to stand 
 between him and their regard for him. It would have 
 been the greatest joy of his life to have been able to 
 leave his bench and devote his remaining years entirely 
 to natural history studies ; but in 1877, and indeed after- 
 wards, he was working away mending and making boots 
 with as much zeal as he had shown in his young life. 
 
 His earnings have during all his life been but small ; 
 and in fact it may be said that all over Scotland wages 
 do not reach the rates which are usually paid south 
 of Tweed, for the reason I suppose that labour is more 
 plentiful and few outlets for it. Notwithstanding the 
 smallness of his earnings, he has always been able to 
 save a little out of them, and this has always been 
 spent in the pursuit of his natural history proclivities. 
 It is an old but very true saying that true happiness 
 lies not in the abundance, but in the fewness of a man's 
 wants, and so the Scotch are in many respects greatly 
 to be admired for their thrift, and the ease with which 
 they adapt themselves to living on the narrowest pos- 
 sible income. 
 
 With all the educational privileges which the rising 
 generation of this country enjoy, there is one most 
 important principle which needs to be taught and 
 learned over and over again, and that is, the dignity 
 which attaches to all honest labour, no matter how low 
 in the social grade the species of toil may be. 
 
 While Edward has naturally felt on many occasions 
 
THOMAS EDWARD. 85 
 
 the wish that some employment congenial to his tastes 
 might be provided for him, he has never, according to 
 his own report, experienced any feeling of pride that 
 he was above his awl and his lapstone; nay, rather on 
 the contrary, the more he has advanced in his studies 
 the better has his work been turned out as a shoemaker. 
 
 His sobriety has always been with him a strong 
 point. While some of his fellow- workmen have idled 
 their time and spent their earnings in drink, he has 
 quietly and perseveringly followed his studies, achieving 
 a success of greater practical worth than thousands of 
 men who have had every facility for early education, 
 followed by a university career. 
 
 The true value of natural history studies is well 
 represented by Thomas Edward, and it is for this 
 purpose that I have included his name in these sketches. 
 Possessing no advantages of an early education ; rarely, 
 if ever, free from the anxieties which inevitably sur- 
 round struggling circumstances, he has laboured on 
 through every variety of trouble, but never relaxing, 
 from Ins earliest years, his love for nature, which had 
 become part of himself. 
 
 Such lives as his show the truest nobility of soul. 
 In all his studies he has never lost sight of the great 
 Author of the universe ; and all natural history 
 studies, unless they tend to this, must be very empty 
 and unsatisfying in their results if they do not lead 
 to an unquenchable admiration for the Creator of all 
 things. Nay, the rather a mind imbued with these 
 studies soon learns to stand in amazement at the 
 wonderful forces displayed, yet the absolute perfection 
 
86 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 of law and order. This awe becomes worship in itself, 
 not from a fear of majesty and might, but from the 
 feeling that an allwise Creator has indeed " ordered 
 all things well." 
 
 In Edward's old age there may indeed be to him 
 the consolation and assurance that his life and labours 
 will be a source of strength to thousands who will come 
 after him. He may have been born before his time, 
 and, probably, were he thirty years younger, success 
 in a worldly point of view would be his reward. The 
 pioneer, however, must ever go before and perform the 
 drudgery of preparing the way for others; and this is 
 exactly what he has done, making the path easier, 
 aiding most materially, with his specimens and his 
 notes, those whose names have been more to the front, 
 and who, in many cases, have reaped the honour which 
 belonged to Edward. 
 
 I have already referred to Edward's wife and family. 
 She, whose lot has been one with his, has cheered and 
 bravely supported with an affectionate sympathy, which 
 must have all through his married life been an un- 
 ceasing comfort to him. His troop of girls have all 
 been naturalists, and it could scarcely be otherwise, 
 considering that every available part of their house has 
 afforded space for his cases. They have also aided to 
 maintain the household, and Edward owes much to 
 the love which has lightened toil in his household. 
 
 As he nears the end of this life's journey, to enter 
 into a more perfect rest, and maybe — who knows ? — 
 pursue his favourite studies in the great hereafter, we 
 send to him, in his seventieth year, a warm and genuine 
 
THOMAS EDWARD. 87 
 
 greeting, and with the wish, that around his latter 
 years there may be much joy and a quiet, restful peace 
 of mind. 
 
 I had recently a letter from Mr. Edward, and con- 
 sidering his age, and all through which he has gone, he 
 writes a very firm and legible hand. He forwarded me 
 with the letter, a copy of an address to farm servants, 
 delivered by him in 1881. This address is full of sound 
 advice, and I should like to give it in full, did space 
 permit; but I can only give a short portion. He say-: 
 
 "But your reading. Select good books together with 
 history, travel, works on science and art, and all such 
 like, biographies, and lives of eminent individuals. 
 Peruse the last often and attentively, study the charac- 
 ters and traits of the various persons mentioned well 
 and leisurely. Take lessons from, and imitate the best, 
 that you may have a chance of becoming men. Surely 
 it is for your own interests then that you join one or 
 other of these institutions, and assist the promoters and 
 your fellow-workmen all that lies in your power. I 
 have heard it said by some of your own class that you 
 have no means, nor any time for anything of the sort. 
 Oh, no ! Ye hae nae bawbees tae spare that wye, yer 
 sma' wages winna afford it, an' yer maisters needs a' yer 
 time. Well, that looks plausible certainly. But what 
 is the real fact? Listen, and if I am wrong, stop me. 
 
 " Have not many of you, I shall not say all, plenty 
 of money to squander, which you do willingly, and 
 with a lavish hand, when you like? Yes, when you 
 like, and take time to do it too, whether it be your 
 master's or not. But on what is this money, this hard- 
 
88 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 wrought for bawbees, and time spent ? Shall I tell ? 
 Not on that which will either enlighten, elevate, nor 
 yet in any way help to better your condition, No. 
 But on that which rather tends to make you inebriates, 
 and may lead you to — to what ? Here I must pause, 
 for who could take upon him to say what the end 
 might be ? The very thought makes me shudder. 
 Beware then how you spend your money, and the 
 precious moments you waste in doing so. Be not 
 offended, I beseech you, at my seeming earnestness and 
 pleadings ; I wish none of you any harm, but rather 
 good. I would be the same to all who waste their time 
 and substance so, and who indulge in that doubly 
 accursed thing — drink and lewd living. 
 
 " I will now advert a little to your time. Time 
 wasted is time lost. Never forget that. Also that, 
 once gone, it can never be recalled by you, by no one. 
 No time, no means to get knowledge ! No will, no 
 wish, to regenerate yourselves and better your condition ! 
 I do not, I declare, understand you. Had you said, No 
 inclination, I might have managed that. Bethink 
 yourselves, my friends, and get wisdom, at whatever 
 cost or sacrifice. 
 
 " I am well aware that you have much to contend 
 against, and many privations to bear with ; but you are 
 not alone in that. Others have the same, and perhaps 
 worse. Have a mind to do, and do it and all obstacles 
 will fly. That's the road to success and renown. 
 Blow the midges out of your path. It can be, and has 
 been done, as I have already told you, by some fully as 
 badly off in every respect as you are, or can be. Even 
 
THOMAS EDWARD. 89 
 
 within my narrow circle of acquaintance, and it is 
 surely narrow enough, I knew one who was untutored 
 as any of you, had as little money as you could have, 
 wrought longer horns than any farm servant ever did, 
 save in harvest, reared a family perhaps as big as any 
 have here or about the country-side, having ten 
 daughters, and each of these lasses has a brother ; yet 
 that man found time and means, unaided, mark you, 
 and unencouraged, to do that which has made his name 
 familiar and respected in every quarter of the habitable 
 globe. More. He can now jingle a shilling in his 
 pouch, whereas before, if it did ever see a coin at all, it 
 was simply a bawbee awhile on Sabbath. This is no 
 fabrication — a sensational hitch as it were. I am in a 
 position to prove every word I have said. This, then, 
 is still farther encouragement to you and all like you, 
 whether of the country or the town. Have the will, 
 and take no heed for the rest. Strive after knowledge, 
 and diligently seek that wisdom which is from above. 
 This obtained, everything would be changed to you, 
 would wear a newer aspect. You would be changed 
 yourselves, and in time would feel and see things 
 differently. You would have pleasure and enjoyments 
 you at present have no idea of — your very lives, as a 
 natural consequence, would be sweeter." 
 
 He counts among his proudest possessions a letter 
 sent to him by Lord Beaconsfield, announcing a pension 
 of 50/. from the Queen. It was written by the late 
 Premier's own hand, and bore his signature — 
 " Beaconsfield." This he has had framed with another 
 picture — a cartoon from Punch, of which a reduced 
 
90 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 sketch is given on page 92. The description of it, as 
 given in that paper, will be interesting. " ' Thomas 
 Edward, shoemaker and naturalist,' " and this greatly 
 amused him, at the fun made at his expense. " A rale 
 guid pictur'," he says of it. 
 
 " Help yourself ! " is a good rule, and a capital text, 
 on which Mr. Smiles, some time ago, preached a 
 sermon by examples, with the title of "Self -Help." 
 The moral of this sermon is summed in the old proverb, 
 " Grod helps those who help themselves,' ' for there 
 indeed lies the strength of " Self-help " — it is Grod's 
 help. And now Mr. Smiles has preached another 
 sermon on the same text, called " The Life of a Scotch 
 Naturalist." It is the wonderful true story of a won- 
 derful true man — Thomas Edward, Associate of the 
 Linnsean Society, and souter in Banff ; a story to bring 
 tears into the eyes, and to fill the heart with sadness 
 and gladness : a story to make those who read it better, 
 humbler, and gentler, and, above all, more thankful to 
 the great Father of all, who can so mysteriously teach 
 and guide, strengthen and lead up one of the humblest 
 of His children, from eleven years of age till sixty-three 
 an earner of distressful bread at a cobbler's stool, with 
 an average wage of nine shillings a- week. 
 
 Thomas Edward has lived two lives. There was first 
 the humble life of the hardly-brought-up son of a poor 
 weaver ; scholar, now and then, for brief spells, of 
 brutal dominies ; next apprentice of a drunken ruffian ; 
 then toiling bread-winner for a brave and true wife, 
 and a well-reared family of eleven children. This was 
 the man who helped himself. 
 
THOMAS EDWARD. f»l 
 
 But side by side with this life he was living another 
 — of communion with the wonderful works of God, who 
 took upon himself this part of his teaching, instead of 
 the dominie with his taws and cane; binding him 
 apprentice to nature, instead of to drunken Charley 
 Begg, in the Grallowgate ; and after his days of sordid 
 stooping over uppers and twitching at waxed-ends, 
 giving him nights of wonderful intercourse with all 
 living things; appointing him "the beasties " for 
 books, and the silent hours of darkness for his school- 
 time ; and holes in dykes, or bields under stone walls, 
 or bits of crumbling ruin, for his schoolrooms. This 
 was the man helped of Grod. 
 
 If you want to know how Thomas Edward lived 
 those two lives side by side, helping himself manfully 
 under the heavy burdens of a poor man among poor 
 men, and letting Grod help him wonderfully, in gather- 
 ing wide and rare knowledge of plants and beasts, 
 birds, and creeping things, fishes, and crabs, starfishes, 
 and molluscs, till he was able to add new chapters to 
 the great book of natural science, and to teach teachers, 
 and win honour from renowned naturalists, and was, at 
 length, made an Associate of the most famous of their 
 societies, you will find the story told fully and feelingly 
 in Mr. Smiles' "Life of a Scotch Naturalist," published 
 by John Murray. 
 
 And you will read, too, how close work at the 
 cobbler's stool by day, and wandering and watching 
 and lying out by night, wrestlings with winter's winds 
 and frosts, drenchings with rain, wettings from se;ts, 
 tumbles from cliffs, with long fastings, and spare fere, 
 
92 
 
 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 at best, of oatmeal cakes and water, played havoc with 
 a strong body, so that at sixty-three, Thomas Edward 
 is an old and crippled man. 
 
 In the same book is told the touching story of this 
 man's loneliness and disappointments : how, under the 
 pinch of hard times, he had, again and again, to sell 
 
 the collections he had so laboriously made, which he 
 straightway set to making over again, like Robert 
 Bruce' s spider ; and how the prophet, honoured as he 
 was by wise and famous men far away, was not 
 honoured in his own country — Banff bailies, and Banff 
 
THOMAS EDWARD. 93 
 
 bodies, and Banff sonls, being too high — or low — to see 
 the poor souter, bowed over his work, and so lower 
 still. 
 
 But you will not read in the book — for that came 
 after it was written — how the Queen and Lord 
 Beaconsfield, having read the story of Thomas Edward's 
 life, were moved by a common thought to put Thomas 
 Edward on the Pension List for a modest fifty pounds 
 a year, so that for the rest of his life he may give 
 himself wholly to the reading of Grod's Book of 
 Creation, without being a burden to the children who 
 have been true and helpful stays to him thus far. For 
 among Thomas Edward's other good gifts from Grod, is 
 a good and wise wife, and they have bred good bairns. 
 And so Punch takes leave of Thomas Edward — in 
 harbour at last; and, lifting his hat, and holding out 
 his hand to this stout-hearted and rarely-endowed man, 
 craves leave — as the highest honour should come the 
 latest — to offer this his tribute of respect after Prime 
 Minister and Queen. 
 
LOUIS JOHN RUDOLPH AGASSIZ. 
 
 oris Agassiz, by which name he was 
 everywhere known, was born at 
 Mottier, in the canton of Frieberg, 
 on May 28, 1807. He belonged to 
 an old French Protestant family 
 who had been compelled to quit 
 their native country by the revoca- 
 tion of the Edict of Nantes, whence 
 they took refuge in the Pays de 
 Yaud. His father was a Protestant 
 pastor, and for six generations his lineal ancestors had 
 been clergymen. On the mother's as well as on the 
 father's side, Agassiz was richly endowed with a vigor- 
 ous mind and active disposition. 
 
 The mother superintended the education of her boy 
 Louis until he reached the age of eleven, when he was 
 sent with his younger brothers to the gymnasium at 
 Biel, a small town in the canton of Bern, where 
 he was mainly occupied with the study of ancient and 
 modern languages, the acquaintance with which proved 
 
 94 
 
LOUIS JOHN RUDOLPH AGASSIZ. 95 
 
 of important service to him in his later biological 
 investigations. His play-hours he devoted to fishing 
 and the collecting of insects. Thus early did his 
 leaning towards ichthyological researches manifest 
 itself, and his knowledge of the habits of fish often 
 astonished even experienced fishermen. 
 
 His father was transferred from Mottier to the little 
 town of Orbe at the foot of the Jura. Here, during 
 the vacations, young Agassiz became intimate with a 
 young clergyman named Fivaz, who first introduced 
 him to the study of natural history, and especially 
 botany. 
 
 He remained at Biel for some few years, and after- 
 wards entered the Academy of Lausanne, on the shores 
 of Lake Greneva, and, in 1824, betook himself to Zurich 
 to study medicine ; for he was obliged to look forward 
 to a time when his knowledge would be his only means 
 of livelihood. 
 
 After remaining two years at Zurich he went to 
 Heidelberg, where he continued his medical studies at 
 the University, devoting himself chiefly to anatomy 
 and physiology under the noted Tiedmann, and botany 
 and zoology under Bischoff and Leuckhart. In the 
 autumn of 1827 he entered the University of Munich, 
 which had recently been reorganized. Among the 
 eminent men assembled there, Agassiz formed intimate 
 friendships. 
 
 He studied the organization of plants and their 
 geographical distribution with Martius. Dollinger, the 
 great master in physiology and embryology, soon 
 recognized the high talent of the young Swiss, and 
 
96 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 ripened in him a long cherished plan of devoting him- 
 self to zoology in the widest sense of the term. He 
 was intimate with Wagler ; and under Oken — in some 
 respects the most remarkable zoologist that Germany 
 has produced — he studied his curious classification of 
 the animal kingdom. With Fuchs he studied mine- 
 ralogy ; and for four successive years he attended all 
 the philosophical lectures of Schelling. 
 
 His fellow-students remember vividly the remark- 
 able appearance of Agassiz at that period ; his 
 active and powerful physique, the intellectual 
 beauty of his face, his brilliant eye, and hearty 
 laugh. Although a laborious and devoted scholar, 
 he found time for athletic sports; and, as leading 
 swordsman of the University, was elected president 
 of the Swiss Club, the " Helvetia." 
 
 At this the beginning of his scientific life, the 
 bent of his mind towards a combination of 
 natural history with metaphysics was already 
 marked. His studies under Schelling and Oken all 
 pointed in this direction, and the interest he took 
 in both conclusively proved that the essential 
 character of his intellect was the same in youth as 
 in age. 
 
 An irresistible passion, an intense longing to tear 
 from nature the secret of life, had now complete 
 possession of Agassiz, and was destined not to lead, 
 but to drive him during the remainder of his exist- 
 ence. The surroundings were, it is true, favourable, 
 but it was because he sought them, and had they 
 not been favourable, he would have sought them 
 
LOUIS JOHN RUDOLPH AGASSIZ. 97 
 
 elsewhere. Of this period of his life he afterward 
 wrote : " Our professors were themselves original 
 investigators, daily contributing to the sum of 
 human knowledge. They were not only our teachers 
 but our friends. The best spirit prevailed among 
 professors and students. We were often companions 
 of their walks, often present at their discussions, 
 and when we met for conversation, or to give 
 lectures among ourselves, as we constantly did, our 
 professors were often among our listeners, cheering 
 and stimulating us in all our efforts after inde- 
 pendent research." 
 
 It was in Munich that young Agassiz, who 
 occupied a room in Dollinger's house, soon gathered 
 around him a circle of young and talented students, 
 to talk over and discuss matters of scientific interest. 
 His room was the meeting-place of this club, which 
 soon assumed the title of the Little Academy and 
 of which Agassiz acted as president. Before this 
 society did Michaelis lay the results of his researches 
 in the Adriatic Seas ; Born exhibited his beautiful 
 preparations of the anatomy of the lamprey ; 
 Eudolphi lectured to the students on the Bavarian 
 Alps and the coasts of the Baltic; and Schimper 
 and Braun here first expounded the laws of the 
 phyllotaxis. Dollinger himself did not disdain to 
 initiate his disciples and friends of this Little Acad- 
 emy in his newest discoveries and ideas, ere he 
 made them known to the scientific world, and here 
 he taught them the use of the microscope in 
 embryological research. 
 
 H 
 
98 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 When Don Pedro of Brazil married an Austrian 
 princess, the Austrian and Bavarian governments 
 availed themselves of the opportunity of sending to 
 that country a scientific exploring expedition. The 
 naturalists who accompanied it were Martins, Spix, 
 Natterer, and Pohl. Agassiz, still a student, had 
 already published a few special papers. On the 
 return of the scientific corps Martius occupied himself 
 with the publication of his great work on Brazil. 
 The zoological portion was intrusted to Spix, but he 
 had not completed it at the time of his death. 
 Martius at once selected young Agassiz to elaborate 
 the ichthyological department, upon which very little 
 had been done, and the manner in which he accom- 
 plished the task placed him at once in the foremost 
 rank of naturalists. This work was published in 
 Latin at Munich in the year 1829, and was dedi- 
 cated to Cuvier. These studies and labours diverted 
 him from the profession of medicine, to which he 
 had been destined by his parents. The allowance he 
 had hitherto received from his father, on which, 
 moderate as it was, he had not only subsisted, but 
 had employed a distinguished young artist, Dinkel. 
 was now withdrawn. 
 
 Agassiz now applied to Cotta the publisher, who 
 struck by the value of the materials the former 
 had collected for a " Natural History of the Fresh- 
 Water Fishes of Europe," and no doubt impressed 
 with the genius of the young naturalist, enabled him 
 by a timely supply of funds to complete the work. 
 This was his second great undertaking. 
 
LOUIS JOHN RUDOLPH AGASSIZ. 99 
 
 About this time he presented himself as a candidate 
 for the degree of doctor of philosophy, which lie took 
 at Erlangen, after passing a very severe examination 
 with distinction. In the same year he took al Munich 
 the degree of doctor of medicine, on which occasion 
 he maintained the superiority of woman in a Latin 
 dissertation upon the thesis, Femina humana superior 
 mart. 
 
 It was at this time that he began his investigations 
 on fossil fishes. The immediate occasion of this step 
 was a short notice by Professor Rudolph Wagner on 
 the fossils of the Munich Museum, in which he 
 praised the number and beauty of the unnoticed 
 fossil fishes. Agassiz immediately applied to Professor 
 Fuchs, who had the care of the paheontological 
 collection, for permission to investigate the ichthy- 
 olites in detail. Professors AVagler and Schubert 
 placed freely at his disposal the collection of recent 
 fishes and their skeletons, and Dollinger, Oken, and 
 Martius in various ways encouraged him in this difficult 
 undertaking. To this great work he devoted seven 
 years of study before beginning the publication. 
 This was continued through ten years, and was 
 brought to a close in 1844. 
 
 In the course of his preparation for this work 
 Agassiz visited the principal museums of Europe, 
 accompanied by a skilful artist ; and so great was the 
 interest felt universally in these researches, and the 
 confidence which the author inspired, that he w;is allowed 
 to take with him for examination and comparison 
 the most valuable specimens of more than eighty public 
 
100 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 and private museums, some of which he was permitted 
 to retain from five to ten years. 
 
 He came to London with letters of introduction to 
 Sir Roderick Murchison. 
 
 " You have been studying nature," said the great 
 man. " What have you learned ? " 
 
 Agassiz was of a timid nature and the opposite of 
 egotistical, and after a pause said, 
 
 " I think I know a little about fishes." 
 
 " Very well. There will be a meeting of the 
 Royal Society to-night. I will take you with me 
 there." 
 
 Towards the close of the meeting that night he said : 
 " I have a young friend here from Switzerland who 
 thinks he knows something about fishes ; how much 
 I have a fancy to try. There is under this cloth a 
 perfect skeleton of a fish which existed long before 
 man." He then gave some particulars as to where it 
 was found, and afterwards said to Agassiz, 
 
 "Can you sketch for me on the blackboard your 
 idea of this fish?" 
 
 Agassiz took up the chalk, hesitated a moment, and 
 then rapidly sketched a fish. Sir Roderick held up the 
 specimen, and it was found that the drawing was correct 
 in every bone and line, and there was a burst of 
 applause. 
 
 Agassiz said that that was the proudest moment of 
 his life. 
 
 In 1830 he went to Vienna where he stayed a year, 
 attending at the hospitals, and studying in the Imperial 
 Museum the splendid collection of sturgeons of the 
 
LOUIS JOHN RUDOLPH A.GASSIZ. 101 
 
 Danube region, as well as the fossil fishes of Monte 
 Balca. Moreover, he was so interested in the cyprinoids 
 of the Danube, which were already partly known to 
 him from those of the Isar, that he concluded a work 
 on the Fresh-Water Fishes of Central Europe. On 
 account however, of the Revolution of July, 1830, this 
 work was not published. 
 
 The years 1831 and 1832 Agassiz spent in France, 
 and in Paris had much pleasant intercourse with 
 Cuvier and Alex, von Humboldt. Cuvier was then 
 giving a course of lectures on the history of natural 
 science, and combated with all the power of his science 
 and his detailed knowledge of the organic structure of 
 the whole animal world, the development theory of 
 Greoffroy, based on the variability of species, which the 
 latter defended in the sittings of the French Academy. 
 From this time Agassiz adhered to Cuvier' s ideas 
 on the classification of the animal kingdom, and on 
 creation catastrophes especially, and, with but little 
 modification, defended them in his teachings and 
 writings to the close of his life. 
 
 The drawings of Agassiz so delighted Cuvier — who 
 had just commenced his work on fishes — that he offered 
 to relinquish to the young man all the materials lie had 
 himself collected, and from that time to his death he 
 cherished a warm friendship for the Swiss naturalist, 
 and received him in his family on the most intimate 
 terms. 
 
 In Hiunboldt, again, Agassiz found an attached and 
 powerful patron, whose support at a later time essen- 
 tially facilitated the publication of many of his costly 
 
102 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 works, and to whose recommendation he in part owed 
 the brilliant reception he met with in America. 
 
 With his residence in Paris the student life of 
 Agassiz may be said to have ended. He was about 
 to begin a profession which was one day to become 
 an engrossing one, and one never to be relinquished — 
 the profession of a teacher. In 1832 he applied to 
 M. Louis Coulon to obtain for him a position as 
 professor of natural history in the Gymnasium of 
 Neufchatel. No such chair then existed ; but M. 
 Coulon raised monej^ enough to guarantee for three 
 years a salary of 2,000 francs, and the new professor 
 was duly installed, already planning the best way 
 of laying out so considerable an annual sum as £80. 
 He found no museum there, and for lack of a lecture- 
 room was obliged to give his course in a hall of the 
 town-house. But this ill-provided teacher soon brought 
 his branch to overshadow all others in the Gymnasium. 
 From all parts of Switzerland came young and talented 
 pupils and friends of nature thither and gathered 
 round Agassiz, who understood how to inspire them 
 with his great ideas. 
 
 He sent for the specimens he had amassed in Ger- 
 many, and with ceaseless activity added fresh ones, until 
 a tolerable collection was ready for display and study. 
 Then, with the confidence of a man having abundant 
 resources in money and power, he proceeded to surround 
 himself with the appliances of a great scientific centre, 
 and to enter on a series of original investigations which 
 might well have taxed the powers of three able men. 
 
 He had constantly employed two artists, "Weber and 
 
LOl IS JOHN RUDOLPH AGASSIZ. L03 
 
 Dinkel, and a painter, Jacques Burckhardt, who had 
 been his fellow- student at Munich, and who remained 
 his life-long companion. Stahl, since noted as the Lest 
 modeller at the Jardin des Plant es, was then em- 
 ployed at Neufchatel. Hercule Nicolet, summoned from 
 Paris, was persuaded to set up, in this new home of 
 science, a large lithographic establishment, where were 
 published the last plates of the " Poissons Fossiles"; 
 those of the " Poissons d'Eau Douce " ; of the em- 
 bryology of Coregonus ; of the works on the Glaciers ; 
 and of the Echinoderms. 
 
 The " Little Academy ' of Munich now took on 
 a new shape, and reappeared as La Societe des Sciences 
 Naturelles de Neufchatel. Its first meeting was in 
 December, 1832, when Louis Coulon was chosen Pre- 
 sident, and Louis Agassiz Secretary of the section of 
 Natural History. 
 
 The next fourteen years, during which he held the 
 chair in Neufchatel, were especially his years of research 
 and publication ; and it is hardly conceivable that one 
 man, even with able assistants, could within that period 
 have done such an enormous amount of work. Thus 
 far his attention had been directed chiefly to the class 
 of fishes in which Martius had interested him. Their 
 study had led him into paleontology, because of the 
 great quantity of fossil species which had hitherto been 
 the despair of ichthyologists. Fishes whose skeleton.^ 
 were soft and which had thick muscles, were so crushed 
 and distorted as to be unrecognizable, and the viscera 
 were almost never to be distinguished. In the course 
 of an exhaustive study of their anatomy, Agassi/ 
 
104 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 discovered that the scales of fishes correspond by four 
 kinds of structures to f our grand natural divisions, which 
 he called Granoids, Placoids, Cycloids, and Ctenoids. 
 With this basis, and aided by an intimate knowledge 
 of the skeleton, he was enabled to tabulate all the 
 known fossil species. These formed his gigantic work 
 published as "Recherches sur les Poissons Fossiles," the 
 publication of which at Neufchatel extended over ten 
 years. It formed five quarto volumes, with 311 folio 
 plates. Eighty of the greatest museums of Europe 
 had furnished the materials for it, and the number 
 of described species amounted to 1,700 in about 20,000 
 examples. This is, undoubtedly, the greatest work of 
 Agassiz, and forms, with Cuvier's and Valenciennes' 
 " Histoire Naturelle des Poissons," and Johann Miiller's 
 Treatises, the foundation of our present knowledge of 
 fishes, while it does not confine itself to the region of 
 ichthyolites, but extends over the entire wide field of 
 the anatomy and classification of fishes, essentially 
 modifying the latter. Agassiz considered, and with 
 justice, that the separation of the ganoids from the 
 other fishes into the rank of a special order was the 
 greatest step towards progress for which science was 
 indebted to him, and on the basis of the comparison 
 of the fossil fishes of formations with living forms, 
 he enunciated several generally valid laws, which have 
 had an important bearing on the development theory 
 of the whole organic world. 
 
 The preparation of this work was laborious in the 
 extreme. Agassiz was obliged to travel with an artist, 
 in order to examine and figure the specimens which 
 
LOUIS JOHN RUDOLPH AGASSIZ. 105 
 
 could not be sent to Neufchatel. The expense, too, waa 
 far beyond his slender means, so that, despite the 
 aid obtained through Huniboldt and other warm 
 friends, he incurred heavy debts which hamper* <1 
 him for many years. He was, however, a man 
 who counted neither money, nor time, nor labour, 
 when knowledge was in the balance, and he hesitated 
 not to enter on new and intricate investigations in 
 the midst of his original work. 
 
 Being greatly interested in the subject, he found 
 time to devote to the study of living fishes. Thus 
 may be mentioned his treatise on the cyprinoids, 
 published in 1834 ; the great work brought out in 
 conjunction with Carl Yogt between 1839 and 1845, 
 on the fresh-water fishes of Central Europe. In 1842 
 he brought out his important " Nomenclator Zoologi- 
 cus," the result of many years' gatherings, and which 
 contained an alphabetical arrangement of the specific 
 names of the entire animal kingdom, their etymology, 
 information as to the authors who had proposed these 
 names, as well as the year of their appearance. The 
 " Nomenclator " found a magnificent conclusion in the 
 " Bibliographic Grenerale d'Histoire Naturelle," printed 
 at the cost of the Bay Society. 
 
 Such was the mental capacity of Agassiz, not 
 yet thirty years of age, and such his endurance of 
 continuous labour, that these numerous threads of 
 research, instead of producing a hopeless tangle in 
 his mind, seemed each to serve as a separate clue to 
 the truth of nature. 
 
 While he, no doubt, exercised a considerable influ- 
 
106 
 
 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 ence on geology by means of his palaeontological 
 researches, still it is as a glacialist that the name of 
 Agassiz will always be prominently associated with 
 that science. Venetz's, Schimper's, and especially 
 
 View of the Jungfrau. 
 
 Charpentier's observations and theories on the greater 
 extension of glaciers and their relations to erratic 
 blocks attracted the attention of the young naturalist 
 in 1836 to the glacial phenomena of Switzerland. 
 Charpentier's theories on the former extension of 
 
LOUIS JOHN RUDOLPH A.6ASSIZ. 107 
 
 glaciers and other points especially interested Agassiz, 
 who gave himself with his peculiar energy and 
 fertility of idea to the study of the subject. Willi 
 Gyot, Desor, Studer, and other young friends, did 
 he during several years visit most of the glaciers of 
 Switzerland and examine them in their entire extent, 
 from their origin to their lowest margins. In 1841 
 the ascent of the Jungfrau was undertaken. In the 
 middle of the Aar glacier, at a height of 8,000 
 feet above the sea, twelve miles from any human 
 habitation, protected by a huge block, a station was 
 erected, which latterly obtained a European celebrity 
 under the name of "Hotel des Neufchatelois." Here 
 for fully eight years were researches carried out on 
 the origin of glaciers, the forward and backward 
 oscillations, the structure and thickness of the ice as 
 well as its formation, the origin of moraines, etc. 
 In 1840 appeared Agassiz's first great work, "Etudes 
 sur les Glaciers," in which he throroughly discussed 
 the chief phenomena of glaciers, and developed his 
 views on their general extension. In a second work, 
 " Systeme Glacial," he gave a satisfactory account of 
 the observations made in the years 1841-45, especially 
 on the progress of glaciers in various years and under 
 the influence of conditions of temperature. The 
 adoption of a special glacial period was the final 
 result of Agassiz's research among the glaciers of 
 Switzerland, as well as those of Scotland and Wales. 
 The immense importance of this theory, both in 
 geology and biology, was soon recognized, and its 
 discussion has engaged the earnest attention of the 
 
108 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 ablest men in all departments of science. He proved 
 unmistakably that in the position of the visible parts 
 of the earth as they stand, water had been an agent 
 in a form before scarcely thought of and to an extent 
 before not apprehended. He showed that in the form 
 of vast rivers of ice it had modified the terrestrial 
 surface most materially in places where the climate 
 no longer permits of such action. The discoveries of 
 Agassiz also gave an explanation for the existence 
 of boulders or large water-worn stones, in positions 
 far above the reach, nowadays, of the agencies to 
 which they must have been at one time subjected. 
 
 From 1846 the biography of Agassiz belongs to 
 the natural history of the United States. At the 
 suggestion of Mr. (afterwards Sir) Chas. Lyell, Mr. 
 (now Hon.) John A. Lowell had, in 1845, invited 
 Professor Agassiz to Boston, to deliver a course of 
 lectures before the Lowell Institute. The Bostonians 
 claim, and with reason, to represent the best of American 
 intellectual life, so that this was no slight compliment. 
 About the same time that the invitation reached 
 Agassiz, the King of Prussia, through the ever- 
 thoughtful mediation of Humboldt, had presented 
 him with a sum of money in aid of a scientific 
 mission to America. Thus encouraged by invitation 
 and by pecuniary aid, he crossed the Atlantic in the 
 autumn of 1846, and made his debut in the United 
 States as a lecturer. His first lectures were on the 
 subject of Comparative Embryology, and they were 
 listened to by audiences of from 1,500 to 2,000, 
 embracing all that was most cultivated in science and 
 
LOUIS JOHN RUDOLPH AGASSIZ. 1()!» 
 
 letters in Boston and the vicinity. This course of 
 lectures led to important results. It aroused an 
 enthusiasm for the study of nature in the widesi 
 circles ; and Agassiz understood how to make the 
 scientific development of North America in this 
 direction a matter of honour for the whole nation. 
 
 Immediately afterwards, by special request, he 
 delivered another course of lectures upon the glaciers 
 and the phenomena connected with their former 
 greater extension. 
 
 Hitherto Agassiz had been the brilliant dis- 
 coverer, now he was to be the explorer and the 
 teacher. In 1847, Mr. Abbott Lawrence, witli the 
 same judicious selection that M. Coulon had shown 
 fifteen years before, offered to found for Agassiz a 
 professorship of zoology and geology in the Scien- 
 tific School at Harvard College, Cambridge, Mass. 
 Having obtained an honourable discharge from his 
 European engagements, he accepted the appointment, 
 and gave up all thought of returning to Europe. 
 He placed his activity, his science, and his talents, 
 at the disposal of the nation that showed itself so 
 anxious to keep him, and where he would enjoy a 
 social power and a liberty, which were hardly possible 
 to the savans of the Old World. 
 
 As in Neuchatel, so in Cambridge, Agassiz in a very 
 short time attracted around him a circle of young 
 men, enterprising lovers of natural science. He 
 entered upon his duties at Cambridge in the spring 
 of 1849, and at the close of the academic year 
 started with twelve of his pupils upon a scientific 
 
110 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 exploration of the shores of the Lake Superior. The 
 results of this journey appeared in the well-known 
 work, published in 1850, " Lake Superior : its Physical 
 Character, Yegetation, and Animals," in which Agassiz 
 discussed in detail the erratic phenomena of the lake, 
 its future form and extent, and the character of its 
 ichthyologieal and reptilian fauna. The narrative 
 part was written by Mr. J. Eliot Cabot, together with 
 the reports of the lectures which the Professor delivered 
 at the close of each day; and Mr. J. Le Conte con- 
 tributed the account of the coleoptera. In succeeding 
 years, he made similar expeditions with his pupils 
 into the interior of the United States, and with the 
 collections brought back laid the foundation of a 
 natural history museum, which until then had no 
 existence at Harvard University. 
 
 At the request of Professor Backe, of the Coast 
 Survey, Agassiz passed the winter of 1850 among 
 the Florida reefs, where he determined the law of 
 growth by which that peninsula has gradually 
 extended southward by the successive formation of 
 reefs, keys, and mud flats. 
 
 His stay at Charlestown, South Carolina, led to 
 his appointment in 1852, to the chair of Comparative 
 Anatomy at the Medical College ; but he returned 
 to Cambridge after two years, the warmer climate 
 of the south not agreeing with him. Soon after 
 he visited all the great towns of North America, 
 lecturing in all departments of zoology and geology. 
 Everywhere he was received with enthusiasm, for 
 his expositions were remarkably clear, and full of 
 
LODIS JOHN RTJDOLPH AGASSIZ. 1 1 I 
 
 suggestive thought ; his language noble and fluent; his 
 knowledge of human science of the widest ; his manner 
 so charming, and his conversation so full of instruction, 
 that every one felt it a privilege to be near him. 
 
 From that time Agassiz became the declared pet 
 of the Americans, and was one of the most popular 
 men in the country, and in intellectual matters became 
 one of its greatest benefactors, exercising his influence 
 in improving education, and in increasing educational 
 establishments. 
 
 In 1855 he began to prepare for the publication of a 
 magnificent work — " Contributions to the Natural 
 History of the United States." In a short time the 
 necessary means were obtained by subscription, and 
 in 1857 the first volume appeared. Unfortunately, this 
 work only reached its fourth volume. The first contained 
 as an introduction the universally known and much 
 discussed " Essay on Classification," which latter, as a 
 separate work, was republished in London and Paris. 
 Agassiz treated in this work the questions of the origin, 
 development, and systematic arrangement of the organic 
 world, and developed from these his philosophical views 
 which he had obtained from his own studies and 
 observations, and which stand in direct opposition to 
 the theory of descent. 
 
 Agassiz was, however, not destined to resume his 
 old habits of investigation and publication. The 
 will of Mr. Francis C. Gray established in 1858 
 a fund for the support of a museum of comparative 
 anatomy, and a liberal private subscription, seconded 
 by a large gift from the state, assured the future 
 
112 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 of the establishment. Henceforth the current of 
 Agassiz's thoughts ran in a new channel. In the 
 words of a contemporary, "he determined to found 
 a great museum arranged to show his views of the 
 relations of living animals among themselves, and 
 their connections in the geological and embiyological 
 successions. Such a museum he hoped to leave as 
 a legacy — his all — to the people of this country 
 (America), and to make it at once a mark of his 
 affection and a monument of his labour. He gave 
 less and less of his time to those special investigations 
 by which he had gained his reputation, and pondered 
 more and more on this museum, which should serve 
 as a tabulation of the creative thought by presenting 
 the creatures themselves in a connected order." 
 
 Day by day he laboured to increase his collections 
 and to forward their arrangement. His Brazilian 
 expedition, undertaken in I860, at the cost of Mr. 
 Nathaniel Thayer, brought back vast riches in natural 
 history specimens. Not the sight, however, of familiar 
 fishes that took him back to Munich and the time of 
 Spix and Martius, could turn him again to special 
 studies. He kept on with ever-increasing toil, and 
 yet preserved his relations to the public, his popular 
 lectures, his interest in education and agriculture, 
 his voluminous correspondence. All this, in addition 
 to his duties as Professor of Natural History, was 
 too much even for his powerful frame, and in 1869 
 he was seized with a cerebral attack which threatened 
 his life. From it he recovered only to enter, with 
 all the spirit of a youth just beginning the world, 
 
LOUIS JOHN RUDOLPH A(;.\ssiz. L13 
 
 upon the Hassler Expedition of 1871, which was 
 under the direction of the Coast Survey. He 
 endured without complaint the hardships of a voyage 
 round Cape Horn in a small steamer, and returned 
 laden with new collections. 
 
 A minute exploration was made of the Saragossa 
 Sea, and a nest-building fish was discovered in the 
 vast bed of oceanic vegetation, and other important 
 contributions were made to natural science. 
 
 At the end of 1873 his career was suddenly and 
 unexpectedly closed by death. In full harness and 
 abundant enthusiasm for the studies which he deeply 
 loved, he passed away. The American papers were 
 full of eulogistic records of his attainments and 
 qualities as a man ; but for my present purpose, it 
 will only be necessary for me to quote one short 
 notice written by an eminent American, and which 
 appeared in the report of the American Academy of 
 Arts and Sciences for 1873. It reads as follows : — 
 
 The last year of his life was a very happy one. He 
 saw the museum well supplied with funds, growing in 
 size, and advancing towards arrangement. There came 
 besides, from Mr. John Anderson, the gift of the Island 
 of Penikese, and a large sum in money, to found a 
 summer school of natural history. It was at once 
 started with about fifty pupils, and Agassiz had the 
 great pleasure of founding the first establishment of the 
 kind in the world.* But he killed himself in doing it. 
 
 * The station of Dr. Dohrn, at Naples, is of a 
 different character, and was not then in working order. 
 
 i 
 
114 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 It was precisely this new and prolonged strain, at a 
 season when usually he took a sort of vacation, that 
 shattered his system beyond the power of repair ; and 
 on December 14, 1873, he died. 
 
 If we consider simply the influence of his philoso- 
 phical ojrinions on the mass of scientific men, Agassiz 
 lived too late and also too early. At all stages of its 
 progress, the human mind presents a kind of atrophy 
 of some of its parts ; and he who treats of such topics 
 as are appreciated only by these parts speaks to deaf 
 ears. Continuance in one set of opinions through 
 several generations produces at last lassitude, then a 
 sort of rebellion, and finally the welcoming of anything 
 novel, as a glad relief. Here is a great, if not the 
 greatest cause of changes which are on the whole 
 beneficial. The tree of knowledge at such times throws 
 out new and strong branches, albeit they are all on one 
 side. Thus it has been with natural science. Scholars 
 get tired of Bridgwater Treatises, and talk of means and 
 ends, and of plans of creation ; moreover, they were in 
 some places exasperated by opposition from Church or 
 State. Then they were getting suffocated by their 
 material ; and, when the species of shells increased to 
 thousands, and of beetles to tens of thouands, they 
 exclaimed, "It is enough — give us relief ! " 
 
 Their relief was like that of the Mediaeval Catholic 
 Church. Positivism advanced, and said, " Bury every- 
 thing that is inconvenient, and come and lean on me 
 and I will give you peace. Thought and causation 
 have no real existence. They and you are only figures in 
 a procession that has neither beginning nor end . Amuse 
 
LOUIS JOHN RUDOLPH AGASSIZ. 115 
 
 yourselves, therefore, by looking at this procession, 
 until the inevitable comes upon you." This is the 
 philosophy which to-day is powerful among thinking 
 men ; and its tide is fated to rise higher before it 
 ebbs. Like all systems, it will work good and evil ; 
 but its good will remain, and its evil melt away. 
 
 Against such a current Agassiz struggled in vain. 
 He was a theistic philosopher, who chose for his 
 field the working of supreme thought in the animal 
 creation. He addressed a world of learned men, the 
 majority of whom could not understand what basis 
 theistic philosophy had, and of whom not a few 
 accused him of want of honesty for even introducing 
 such a theme. The time will come when his power and 
 insight will be appreciated. Meanwhile we must be 
 content with his successes that lay in a lower plane ; 
 they were his special zoological investigations, and his 
 brilliant career in the United States, where he raised an 
 enthusiasm for high studies, and where he established 
 a great centre of science. 
 
 On his fiftieth birthday, the late poet Longfellow, 
 
 who lived for some years a neighbour of Agassiz, and 
 
 was a fellow-prof essor with him in Harvard University, 
 
 addressed to him a poetical tribute, which I cannot 
 
 do better than quote : — 
 
 It was fifty years ago, 
 
 In the pleasant month of May, 
 In the beautiful Pays de Yaud 
 
 A child in its cradle lay. 
 And Nature, the old nurse, took 
 
 The child upon her knee, 
 Saving:, " Here is a storv-book 
 
 My Father has written for thee. 
 
116 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 " Come, wander with me, " she said, 
 
 " Into regions yet imtrod, 
 And read what is still unread 
 
 In the manuscripts of God ! " 
 
 And he wandered away and away 
 With Nature, the dear old nurse, 
 
 Who sang to him night and day 
 The songs of the universe. 
 
 And whenever the way seemed long, 
 
 Or his heart began to fail, 
 She would sing a more wonderful song, 
 
 Or tell a more marvellous tale. 
 
 So she keeps him still a child, 
 
 And will not let him go, 
 Though at times his heart beats wild 
 
 For the beautiful Pays de Vaud, 
 
 Though at times he hears in his dreams 
 
 The Ranz des Yaches of old, 
 And the rush of the mountain streams 
 
 From glaciers clear and cold. 
 
 And the mother at home says, "Hark! 
 
 For his voice I listen and vearn ; 
 It is growing late and dark, 
 
 And mv bov does not return ! " 
 
 He possessed many admirable traits of character. 
 There was about him no vain ostentation, but in 
 manner he had a child-like naturalness which made 
 his society exceedingly instructive and agreeable. He 
 evidenced too at all times a reverent spirit. Deeply 
 did he realize the grandeur and uses of life ; and in 
 his investigations of the wonders of nature he felt 
 that he was searching out the thoughts of Grod. The 
 
LOUTS JOHN RUDOLPH A6ASSIZ. 117 
 
 books wliicli lie left behind him as his chief legacy 
 to mankind adduce testimony wherein he sees the 
 manifestation of a mind as powerful as it is prolific; 
 the acts of an intelligence as sublime as it is provident ; 
 the marks of goodness as infinite as wise ; and the 
 clear demonstration of the existence of an Author 
 of all things, Ruler of the universe. 
 
CUYIER. 
 
 the distinguished individual whose 
 history forms the subject of the 
 present paper it has been truly 
 said : — " His various acquirements, 
 equally vast and minute, his multi- 
 plied labours, his elevated views, 
 his private virtues, have furnished 
 to each admirer so many topics of 
 just eulogy. The naturalist, the 
 moralist, the orator, the statesman, 
 have each acknowledged the sympathy which binds 
 them all to a man in whom every variety of merit 
 seemed to be united, and whose eloquence equally 
 adorned and enforced the philosophy of science and 
 of life. His attached friends, and the pupils who 
 reverenced him and loved him, have felt that the 
 contemplation of such a character charmed and 
 elevated their own, and have lingered over reminis- 
 cences, before which all that was mean, or indolent, 
 or intellectual fled away." 
 
 118 
 
CUVIER. L19 
 
 The parents of young Ouvier inflicted upon liini 
 a terrible string of Christian names, for it was in 
 full, Georges Chretien Leopold Frederic Dagoberl 
 Cuvier, was born at Montbeliard (then belonging to 
 the Duke of AVurtemburg) , August 23, 1769. 
 
 The family came originally from a village in the 
 Jura, which still bears the name of Cuvier; but becom- 
 ing the victims of religious persecution they were 
 much impoverished, and were driven to settle at 
 Montbeliard at the period of the Revolution, and 
 where some of its members held offices of distinction. 
 
 The grandfather of Cuvier had two sons, the 
 younger of whom entered a Swiss regiment in the 
 service of France. A brave man and an excellent 
 officer, he rose to high honours, and at the age of 
 fifty married a lady considerably younger than 
 himself, and had three sons. The eldest died in 
 infancy, the second became the naturalist, and the 
 third was Frederick Cuvier. As Georges had a 
 delicate constitution, his mother watched over him 
 with the tenderest care. She taught him to read, 
 made him repeat to her his Latin lessons, instructed 
 him in drawing, and developed that ardent desire 
 for knowledge which was so remarkable in him. 
 
 At the age of ten he was placed at a school called 
 the Gymnase, where he remained for four years. 
 He made rapid progress, and was constantly at the 
 head of the classes of geography, history, and 
 mathematics, and acquired Greek and Latin with 
 readiness. 
 
 At this early period his taste for natural history 
 
120 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 was stimulated by reading a copy of Buffon, which 
 he found at the house of a relative ; and his 
 memory was so retentive that, at the age of twelve, 
 he was perfectly familiar with the descriptions of 
 birds and quadrupeds. At the age of fourteen he 
 formed a kind of academy from among his school- 
 mates, of which he was president. He drew up the 
 regulations, and fixed the meetings for every 
 Tuesday at a stated hour, and seated on his bed, 
 and placing his companions round a table, he 
 ordered that some work should be read which 
 treated either of natural history, philosophy, history, 
 or travels. The merits of the book were then 
 discussed, after which the youthful president summed 
 up the whole, and pronounced a sort of judgment 
 on the matter contained in it, which judgment was 
 always strictly adopted by his disciples. 
 
 He was then remarkable for his declamatory 
 powers ; and on the anniversary fete of the sovereign 
 of Montbeliard (Duke Charles of Wurtemburg) he 
 composed an oration in verse on the prosperous 
 state of the principality, and delivered it fresh 
 from his pen, in a firm, manly tone, which astonished 
 the audience. On account of a prejudice on the 
 part of the head of the school, arising from annoy- 
 ance at some sarcasms in which young Cuvier had 
 indulged, this display of talent did not meet with 
 its proper reward ; and instead of being placed in 
 the first rank of the themes presented, it was 
 included in the third rank. This was the more 
 vexatious, as the station of the boy at college 
 
CUVIER. |Jl 
 
 depended on it; and though Cnvier afterwords felt 
 that the change in his destiny — he was preparing 
 himself for the Church — which resulted from this 
 circumstance was one for which he had much reason 
 
 to be thankful, yet at the time its evident injustice 
 was severely felt. 
 
 The fame of the young student, however, and his 
 disappointment, reached the ears of Duke Charles, and 
 when on a visit to Montbeliard, he sent for Cuvier, 
 and took him under his special favour, and sent him 
 to the Academy of Stuttgart, in March, 1784. 
 
 After studying philosophy for twelve months, he 
 applied himself to the science of fiscal administration, 
 because it gave him an opportunity to pursue his 
 favourite natural history in books, in the fields, and 
 in cabinets. One of the professors gave him a copy 
 of Linnaeus' "System of Nature," which was his 
 library on natural history for several years. While 
 occupied by such reading and the collection of 
 specimens, he also obtained several prizes in his 
 class studies, including the prize for the German 
 language. 
 
 At the termination of his academical career, Cuvier 
 wag promised a place in the service of his country 
 when a position became vacant ; but circumstances 
 compelled him to seek employment in a manner 
 wholly different from his own wishes, or the hopes of 
 his patron. The unsettled state of finance in France 
 caused his lather's pension to be withheld ; and 
 being thus unwilling to burden his father, and unable 
 to wait, perhaps two or three years, till an oppor- 
 
122 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 t unity of advancing his fortunes should be presented 
 to the Duke, Cuvier was obliged to accept the offer 
 of M. Parrot, a countryman, and become a private 
 tutor in a Protestant family. Those who knew his 
 extraordinary talents considered the office as a lament- 
 able waste of his powers ; but here, again, that which 
 was considered a serious misfortune proved a stepping- 
 stone to fame and success. In July, 1788, Cuvier 
 arrived at Caen, in Normandy, as private tutor in 
 the family of Count cVHericy, for the education of 
 his son. In this situation he remained until 1794. 
 On arriving at Caen, he brought with him that 
 love of labour, that depth of reflection, perseverance, 
 and uprightness of character, from which he never 
 swerved. To these admirable foundations for renown 
 he afterwards added that remarkable clearness of 
 system, perfection of method, and tact of giving 
 only what is necessary, followed by that elegant 
 summing up of the whole which particularly 
 distinguishes the French writers : the whole was 
 completed by the most perfect modesty and that 
 respect for his own esteem without which talents 
 become the medium of traffic for the mere accpiire- 
 ment of wealth. Whilst with the Count's family, 
 Cuvier saw all the nobility of the surrounding 
 country, and acquired the forms and manners of the 
 best society. It may be said that, engaged as he 
 was as a private tutor in a retired district at the 
 age of twenty-one, he laid the foundation of that 
 fame which was to fill the world, and to reach to 
 distant ages. 
 
cuvier. L23 
 
 He pursued at Caen natural history with great 
 zeal, the district being very favourably situated i"<»r 
 the study both of terrestrial and marine animals. 
 Some terebratulce having been dug up in his vicinity, 
 he conceived the idea of comparing fossils with 
 living species. The dissection of some molluscs 
 suggested to him the necessity of a reform in the 
 classification of animals ; and here originated the 
 germ of his two great works, the " Ossemens 
 Fossiles," and the " Regne Animal." 
 
 He said to a friend regarding his observations and 
 thoughts which he had committed to paper : " These 
 manuscripts are solely for my own use, and doubtless 
 contain nothing but what has been done elsewhere, and 
 better established by the naturalists of the capital, for 
 they have been made without the aid of books or col- 
 lections." Nevertheless, almost every page of these 
 precious manuscripts was full of new facts and en- 
 lightened views, which were superior to almost all that 
 had previously appeared. 
 
 While he was thus employed, a society was formed 
 at Valmont, in his neighbourhood, for the encouraev- 
 ment of agriculture. L'Abbe Tessier had sought at 
 this place a refuge from the persecutions of the revolu- 
 tionists, and at one of the meetings of the new society, 
 Cuvier discovered this learned old man, under hi- 
 disguise of a surgeon, and addressed him by name. 
 He had been able to recognize him from his style oi 
 speaking, which strongly resembled that of his writings ; 
 but the recognition was at first the cause of alarm 
 to the poor abbe, who was then under proscription. 
 
124 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 He found in Cuvier, however, a generous friend and 
 admirer, and was so delighted with his talents, that 
 he afterwards wrote of him to Jussien in terms of the 
 highest commendation. 
 
 Through his acquaintance with M. Tessier, he began 
 a correspondence with Greonroy St. Hilaire, Lapecede, 
 and other Parisian savants on subjects of natural 
 history ; and in the spring of 1795 he accepted their 
 invitation to go to Paris, and was appointed professor 
 in the central school of the Pantheon, for which he is 
 said to have composed his " Tableau elementaire de 
 l'Histoire NatureUe des Animaux," in which he first 
 published his ideas on zoological arrangement. 
 
 M. Mertrud had been appointed professor of com- 
 parative anatomy at the Jardin des Plantes. Feeling 
 himself unable from age to discharge all its duties, 
 he called upon Cuvier to assist him, who at this time 
 invited his brother Frederic to. join him, and com- 
 menced the collection of comparative anatomy, which 
 has since become so famous and extensive. 
 
 In 1796 the National Institute was formed, and 
 Ouvier was associated with Lapecede and Daubenton 
 in the section of zoology, and was its third secretary. 
 The death of Daubenton, at the close of 1799, made 
 vacant for Cuvier the chair of natural history at the 
 College de France in 1800, and in 1802 he succeeded 
 Mertrud as professor of comparative anatomy at the 
 Jardin des Plantes. 
 
 In 1796 he announced his discovery of red blood 
 in leeches, and in the following year he read his cele- 
 brated paper on the nutrition of insects. 
 
cuvier. L25 
 
 On the return of Napoleon from Egypt in 1800, 
 when he was made First Consul, and was ambitious 
 of every variety of fame, he placed himself at the 
 head of the Institute, and had thus occasion to 
 witness the talents and sagacity of Cuvier. He was 
 hence induced in 1802 to appoint him one of the 
 six inspectors-general for establishing Lyceums in 
 thirty towns of France ; and it fell to the lot of 
 Cuvier to found those of Marseilles, Nice, and 
 Bordeaux, which are at present royal colleges. 
 During his absence from Paris, the Institute was 
 remodelled, and he was elected one of the perpetual 
 secretaries, viz., that for the natural sciences, at an 
 annual salary of £240. 
 
 On the death of his father, and also of his brother's 
 wife, who had managed the domestic affairs of the 
 family, he married, in 1803, the widow of M. 
 Duvaucel, one of the farmers-general who had 
 perished on the scaffold in 1794. "Without fortune, 
 and with the burden, or as Cuvier found it, the 
 blessing, of four children by her first husband, this 
 lady contributed largely to his happiness. SI if 
 brought him other four children, all of whom he was 
 fated to survive ; but these afflictions were the 
 darkest, if not the only clouds which interrupted the 
 sunshine of his felicity. The balance of good and 
 evil with which his lot was cast was thus bitterly 
 destroyed; but Providence heaped wealth and 
 honours into the uplifted scale and weighed it down 
 with the consciousness that they were the reward- oi 
 virtue and of knowledge. 
 
126 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 In 1808 Cuvier, in his character of secretary, wrote 
 a report on the progress of the natural sciences from 
 the year 1789. A mere report was demanded, but 
 the author produced one of the most voluminous 
 treatises that had ever appeared. This report was 
 presented to the emperor, and in the same year, 
 when Napoleon created the Imperial University, 
 Cuvier was made one of the councillors for life, and 
 was thus brought constantly into the immediate 
 presence of the emperor. 
 
 In 1810 he commenced a series of journeys for 
 the purpose of organizing the foreign department 
 for public instruction. He began with the academies 
 of the Italian States, then examined those of Holland, 
 and finally those of Lower Germany. These 
 journeys were doubly useful to him by establishing 
 his health, which had suffered in consequence of his 
 incessant labours, and by giving him an opportunity 
 of visiting the museums of those countries, where lie 
 took drawings of new objects, particularly of the 
 fossil remains of Tuscany, of which he had procured 
 a great number. 
 
 In 1811 his most important scientific work appeared 
 — that on fossil remains ; and he also wrote admirable 
 reports from Holland and the Hanseatic towns. 
 
 While at Hamburg the title of Chevalier was 
 conferred upon him by the Emperor, and assured 
 to his heirs. But worldly honours were not to be 
 transmitted to his posterity; for after losing a 
 daughter four years of age in 1812, he was bereaved 
 of his son in 1813, who was seven years of age. 
 
cuvier. L27 
 
 The impression produced by this last stroke was 
 never entirely effaced. Often when walking with his 
 daughter he would stop before a group of boys, who 
 as they played reminded him of his child. This loss 
 happened to him when in Rome, then annexed t<> 
 the French empire, where he was sent to organize 
 the universities. 
 
 During Cuvier's sojourn at Rome, Napoleon from 
 his own personal feeling appointed him Master of 
 Requests in the Council of State; and before tin- 
 year had closed, he appointed him Commissionaire 
 Imperial Extraordinaire, and sent him to Mayence 
 to rouse the inhabitants of the left bank of 
 the Rhine against the allied troops that were 
 in full march upon their territory. The rapid 
 advance, however, of the enemy compelled him to 
 return, and his zeal in the cause of his country was 
 rewarded in 1814 by the rank of Councillor of State. 
 Louis XVIII. not only continued our philosopher in 
 this honourable office, but appointed him to the 
 temporary situation of Commissionaire clu Roi, in 
 which it became his duty to defend all new and 
 improved laws before the two chambers. 
 
 The tornado of the Hundred Days, though it 
 hurled Cuvier from the Council of State, left him in 
 possession of his office in the university; and after 
 the second revolution, he was elevated to the rank 
 of its chancellor. 
 
 In 1818 he visited London, and remained there 
 with his family and secretary for six weeks, visiting 
 everything worthy of notice. His remark to his 
 
128 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 Majesty, Greorge IV., concerning our natural history 
 was, that if the private collections could be massed 
 into one, they would form a great national museum 
 which would surpass every other. 
 
 The election for Westminster was going on at the 
 period of his visit, and he frequently dwelt on the 
 amusement he had derived from being on the 
 hustings every day. " These orgies of liberty were 
 then unknown in France, and it was a curious 
 sj>ectacle for a man who reflected so deeply on all 
 around him, to see and hear our orators crying out 
 at the tops of their voices to the mob, who pelted 
 them with, mud, cabbages, eggs, and other sundry 
 missiles ; and Sir Murray Maxwell, in his splendid 
 uniform, flattering the crowd, who reviled him, and 
 sent at his head all the varieties of the vegetable 
 kingdom." Cuvier frequently described this scene 
 with great animation. 
 
 At Oxford, to which he was conducted by Dr. 
 Leach, he was received with great distinction, and 
 its splendid collections made a deep impression upon 
 his mind, and often called forth his admiration. He 
 joined Madame Cuvier and his daughter at Windsor, 
 and after admiring the Castle, &c, they went to pay 
 a visit to Sir Wm. Herschell, at Slough, where a 
 cloudy evening prevented them from observing any 
 of the celestial phenomena through that astronomer's 
 splendid telescopes. 
 
 The kindness and hospitality with which Cuvier 
 and his family were everywhere received were remem- 
 bered with the most grateful feelings ; and the favour- 
 
CUVIER. 12!) 
 
 able impressions which this visit had given him of 
 England and her institutions, has been recorded in 
 his Eloge of Sir Joseph Banks, where, without any 
 feeling of jealousy, he bears a just and noble testi- 
 mony to our national greatness. 
 
 In 1818, before Cuvier had quitted England, he 
 was elected a member of the Academie Francaise, on 
 which occasion he delivered a discourse of extreme 
 beauty and elegance. In the following year he was 
 made President of the Comite de l'lnterieur, and 
 created a baronet. In 1822 his appointment to the 
 office of Grand Master of all the Faculties of 
 Protestant Theology was made. In 1824 as presi- 
 dent of one of the Councils of State, he took part 
 in the coronation of Charles X., on which occasion 
 he was made Grand Master of the Legion of Honour 
 and Commander of the Order of Crown by the 
 King of AVurtemburg. In 1827 he was appointed 
 Censor of the Press, but the office was so odious to 
 his feelings that he instantly and firmly refused it, 
 although at the risk of losing all his other offices by 
 so doing. Charles X. exhibited some displeasure on 
 this occasion; but afterwards gave further proof of 
 confidence in him by charging him with the adminis- 
 tration of all the non-Catholic religions in Franoe. 
 
 Sacrificing everything to the interests of science. 
 Cuvier formed a vast library, and permitted naturalists 
 who sought the privilege, to go and work in it as 
 in a public library. No mean spirit of jealousy of 
 the discoveries of others ever displayed any power 
 over the spirit of this extraordinary man ; on the 
 
 K 
 
130 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 contrary, he rejoiced at the advancement of know- 
 ledge by whomsoever effected, and even when it led 
 to alterations in what he had himself propounded. 
 At his request travellers were sent by government 
 into all parts of the world to collect observations and 
 specimens for the enrichment of the museum. Each 
 of these travellers received directions and instructions 
 from his own mouth; so that it might be said of him 
 as of Linnseus, that Nature was everywhere interro- 
 gated in his name. 
 
 In the year 1827 Cuvier lost his only daughter, 
 Clementine, at the age of twenty-two, and then on the 
 eve of her marriage. This sad event, the loss of their 
 only child, overwhelmed the disconsolate parents in grief. 
 The feelings of Cuvier could scarcely be controlled. 
 The framework of his mind reeled like a vessel in full 
 sail that strikes upon a rock, and he rushed to his 
 studies as the only anchor by which his distracted 
 faculties could be held. Many a furrow, the channels 
 of many a tear now marked his manly check, and his 
 fine hair suddenly changed to a silvery whiteness. But 
 though thus prostrate, he did not 
 
 "Perish with the reed on which he leant." 
 
 He found relief under the high pressure of intel- 
 lectual labour, and he continued for a few vears to 
 pursue the studies to which his life had been so 
 successfully devoted. 
 
 After this period, Cuvier seems to have worked harder 
 than ever ; and a new proof of his perseverance came 
 out in 1829, being a second edition of the " Eegne 
 
CUVIER. 131 
 
 Animal," with additions and modifications. To this 
 succeeded vols. 3 and 4 of his " Ichthyology '', the 
 former volumes having appeared the year before. 
 
 In the year 1830, Baron Cuvier opened a course of 
 lectures on the history and progress of science in ;ill 
 ages, which he continued till the end of his life. In the 
 same year he paid a second visit to England, and he 
 was in London when the French Revolution was con- 
 summated. Like many others, Cuvier had not antici- 
 pated any violent crisis from the ordonnances of 
 Charles X., and he quitted Paris under the influence of 
 this opinion. Before, however, he had been five hours 
 absent from the barriers, firing commenced in Paris. 
 The flying English overtook him near Boulogne, but 
 though anxious to return, he doubted if he should be 
 able to re-enter Paris, or even to retrace his steps, with 
 the passports of Charles X. He accordingly awaited a1 
 Calais the details of the Three Days, and having received 
 assurances that perfect tranquillity prevailed at Paris 
 he proceeded to England, where he remained only two 
 weeks. 
 
 Under the government of Louis Philippe, Cuvier 
 retained all his dignities and offices. In 1 832 he was 
 made a Peer of France, and his appointment of 
 President of the entire Council of State only waited 
 for the royal signature, when his career was suddenly 
 terminated by death. 
 
 On May 8, 1832, he had opened his course of lectures 
 at the College de France. After the first lecture he 
 felt pain and numbness in the right arm, and his throat 
 became affected; on the third day both arms were 
 
132 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 seized, and the power of swallowing was lost, all his 
 mental faculties and the power of speech remaining 
 unaffected. He was perfectly calm and resigned. 
 
 Four hours before he died he was carried ^t his own 
 request into a cabinet where the happiest and proudest 
 moments of his life had been spent, and where he 
 wished to draw his last breath. 
 
 " Four hours before his death," says Baron Pasquier, 
 in his Eloge, " I was in that memorable cabinet. His 
 countenance was in a state of perfect repose, and never 
 did his noble head appear to me more beautiful, or 
 worthy of admiration. No alterations of a too sensible 
 or painful kind had yet taken place, only a little 
 weakness and difficulty in supporting himself were 
 observable. 
 
 " I held the hand which he extended to me, while he 
 said, in a voice scarcely articulate, ' You see what a 
 difference there is between the man of Tuesday' (we 
 met on that day) ' and the man of Sunday ; yet so 
 many things remain to be done ! ' I made an effort to 
 find words to express to him the general interest which 
 he excited. ' I love to believe it/ he replied, ' I have 
 long endeavoured to render myself worthy of it.' 
 
 At nine o'clock on the evening of the 13th May, 
 1832, he had ceased to live, having reached only the 
 age of 62, although belonging to a family remarkable 
 for longevity. 
 
 At his own desire, Cuvier was buried in the cemetery 
 of Pere la Chaise, beneath the tombstone which covered 
 the remains of his daughter. His funeral obsequies 
 were attended by men of all ranks and opinions, who, 
 
CUVIER. 133 
 
 even in the midst of a raging pestilence, were eager 
 to offer upon his tomb their last tribute of affection and 
 admiration. 
 
 But it was not among the companions alone of his 
 labours and his glory that this homage of love and 
 sorrow was paid. In every corner of his native land, 
 teeming with intellectual wealth, and splendid with 
 immortal names, the loss of their naturalist, their 
 legislator and their instructor, was bewailed as a national 
 calamity. The remotest corners of his native land, and 
 those in other countries, joined in the general lamenta- 
 tion ; and within the temple of science itself it was felt 
 that one of its chief pillars had fallen. 
 
 A history of Cuvier's labours in the domain of natural 
 history would be the history of natural science in the 
 first half of the nineteenth century. When he formed 
 a system based on the invariable characters of ana- 
 tomical structure instead of external resemblances, he 
 discovered the true basis of a natural classification. He 
 first introduced the division founded on different plans 
 of structure of radiata, mollusca, articulata. and verte- 
 brata; and this has been the basis of all modern 
 improvements in zoology. The grand idea of Cuvier 
 was to discover the plan of created beings by the study 
 and comparison of the intimate structure of their 
 organism. With him, comparative anatomy and z< k il< >i:\ 
 went hand-in-hand, and from their united facte la- 
 deduced the laws of a new science, that of fossil animal 
 life, astonishing the world with the magnitude of his 
 conceptions and the grandeur of his discoveries. 
 
 Linnaeus had included in his class of worms all 
 
134 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 animals which have not red blood — more than half of 
 the animal kingdom. Cuvier's first researches were on 
 this class of animals, which in 1795 he divided into 
 the classes of his invertebrate series. 
 
 His very first observations in 1792 were on the 
 anatomy of the common patella, certain dipterions 
 insects, and crustaceans, in the " Journal d'Histoire 
 Naturelle." In the same year he studied the structure 
 of the mollusca, divided them into orders, and com- 
 menced a series of observations which resulted in his 
 memoir on the history and anatomy of molluscs, 
 published in 1817. 
 
 Comparative anatomy was the basis of Cuvier's 
 zoology, and we find memoirs on this subject from 1795 
 to 1831. The " Lecons d'Anatomie Comparee " was 
 but the preface of a more extended work, the plan 
 of which he had already completed when death over- 
 took him. Such as it is — a monument of vast labour' — 
 it has furnished materials for the development of this 
 science, and has from its own stores enabled critics to 
 point out unavoidable deficiencies. From a heap of dry, 
 unconnected facts concerning the structure of animals, 
 he obtained the general laws of organization, the limit 
 of variation in each organ, the marked influence of 
 some upon the general system, the subordination of 
 many, and the co-existence or incompatibility of others. 
 Among the prominent points are : the development of 
 the teeth, the structure of the larynx of birds, of the 
 nasal fossae and organs of hearing in cetaceans, and 
 of the respiratory organs in the perennibranchiate 
 amphibia ; the comparison of the brain in the verte- 
 
CUVIER. 135 
 
 brata, and the relation of its development to the in- 
 telligence ; the respiration, animal heat, muscular force, 
 sensory and digestive systems of these animals. For 
 this treatise he received one of the decennial prize- 
 instituted by Napoleon in 1810. 
 
 Cuvier in his scientific labours stated positively only 
 that which he knew from personal observation, and 
 therefore early directed his attention to collecting 
 objects of natural history. The great collection at the 
 Jardin des Plantes, made chiefly through his own 
 exertions, contributed the materials of which he made 
 such remarkable use. This collection was also necessary 
 for the determination of fossil species, which he began 
 to investigate while living in Normandy. 
 
 In 1796 appeared his treatise on the skeletons of 
 the megalonyx and megatherium, and on the skulls 
 of fossil bears from the caverns of Graylenreuth. 
 From this period till 1812 he contributed many 
 papers on fossil bones, the most important of which 
 were afterwards published under the title of 
 " Recherches sur les Ossemens Fossiles." 
 
 Deposits of molluscs and other marine animals 
 had long been known to exist at great distances 
 from and heights above the sea, and wore attri- 
 buted to the Deluge. Large bones discovered in 
 caverns or dug from the earth had given rise to 
 traditions of the existence of giants in the early 
 ages; and even philosophers regarded the fossil 
 impressions in the rocks and the shells in the 
 ground as accidental freaks of nature. Bernard 
 Palissy, an unlettered potter, discovered the annua] 
 
136 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 origin and former existence of these objects, and 
 although he defied the learned men of the sixteenth 
 century to disprove his statement, it was not until 
 the end of the seventeenth that his ideas met with 
 a scientific recognition. 
 
 Founded on these now acknowledged facts, many 
 theories, all more or less fanciful, were success- 
 ively adopted, and abounded until the middle of the 
 eighteenth century, when more rational views began 
 to prevail, and the study of fossils to excite that 
 attention which, in the hands of Cuvier, resulted 
 in establishing many of the laws of geology and 
 palaeontology. The bones of the giant teutobochus 
 had been long since recognized as those of elephants; 
 the skeleton of the supposed antediluvian became 
 under the eye of Cuvier that of a gigantic aquatic 
 salamander. The fact of ancient creations of animals, 
 entirely distinct from the present species and long- 
 since exterminated, was set at rest by the comparison 
 of fossil and living animals by Cuvier. 
 
 In his first notes on fossil elephants, in 1800, lie 
 announced his views on extinct animals and commenced 
 a series of observations unparalleled in the annals of 
 science for brilliancy and profound insight into 
 natural laws. With him a bone, or even a portion 
 of one, was sufficient for the restoration of a fossil 
 animal which he had never seen, simply from the 
 principle of the unchangeable relations of organs. 
 
 He made several epochs of creation. The first com- 
 prised the molluscs, fishes, and monstrous reptiles ; 
 the second the anaplotherium and palseotherium, the 
 
CUV IKK. L37 
 
 m 
 
 singular pachyderms of the neighbourhood of Paris; 
 the third the mammoth, mastodon, gigantic sloths, 
 &c. ; then came a fourth, the age of man and the 
 present creation. Anterior to the first epoch was a 
 period in which no organic life, either animal or 
 vegetable, existed on the earth. To Cuvier was 
 principally due the discovery and exploration of the 
 terra incognita of remote ages. 
 
 In 1817 was published the " Regne Animal," 
 which has served as the basis for subsequent zoologi- 
 cal classifications. The last great work of Cuvier, 
 which he undertook in conjunction with Valenciennes, 
 is the " Histoire Naturelle des Poissons." This 
 contains the application of his principles of classifi- 
 cation to class of fish. Linnaeus had determined 
 about 500 species, Lapecede 1,500. The title of this 
 book implies its magnitude. It is " Natural History 
 of Fishes, Containing more than 5,000 Species of these 
 Animals, Described after Nature and Distributed 
 according to their Affinities, with Observations on 
 their Anatomy, and Critical Researches on their 
 Nomenclature, Ancient as well as Modern." 
 
 Besides the " Report on the Progress of the Physical 
 Sciences," undertaken at the request of Napoleon. 
 Cuvier displayed the extent of his acquirements by his 
 reports before the Institute, on meteorology and natural 
 philosophy, in general chemistry and physios, mine- 
 ralogy and geology, botany, anatomy, and physiology, 
 zoology, travels connected with natural science, medi- 
 cine, surgery, and other subjects. 
 
 He contributed many articles on natural history to 
 
138 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 the " Dictionnaire des Sciences Naturelles." Prominent 
 among these is the one on "Nature," in which he 
 combats the mataphysical systems of pantheism or 
 plurality of gods, and refers everything to the wisdom 
 and goodness of an Almighty Creator. 
 
 Cuvier had a deeply religious nature, and his re- 
 searches into science only intensified his veneration for 
 the great Author of all things. 
 
 His language, both written and spoken, was clear, 
 forcible, precise, and animated, frequently rising to the 
 highest eloquence. The benignity and noble expres- 
 sion of his countenance were remarkable. 
 
 In private life he was kind, affable, and ready to 
 communicate information. He had the greatest love 
 for order and regularity, and rarely allowed himself to 
 be disturbed during the hours set aside for study, but 
 during Iris hours of audience he was accessible to every- 
 body. 
 
 With Iris other accomplishments he was an expert 
 draughtsman, and many of his plates were drawn by 
 himself. He left a large collection of designs intended 
 to illustrate his unfinished work on comparative 
 anatomy. 
 
 The disinterestedness of Cuvier's character is shown 
 not only by the acts of his life, but by the small fortune 
 he left at his death, which was only about £5,000 and a 
 library which cost him a similar sum. The latter was 
 purchased by government and given to various institu- 
 tions, principally to the " Jardin des Plantes." 
 
 When we consider the number of offices he held, and 
 the duties which he conscientiously performed, any one 
 
CUVIER. 13D 
 
 of which after his death was sufficient for a man of great 
 talent, and some of which could not he as completely 
 filled, we are able to form some idea of the varied 
 acquirements, the unceasing industry, the wonderful 
 memory, and the transcendent ability of Cuvier. 
 
 By universal consent he is regarded as one of the best 
 of men, most brilliant of writers, soundest of thinkers, 
 most far-sighted of philosophers, purest of statesmen, 
 and may with every reason be classed among the greatest 
 naturalists of modern times. 
 
BUFFON. 
 
 eorge Louis Le Clerc, afterwards 
 Count Buffon, the celebrated French 
 naturalist, was born at Montbard, 
 in Burgundy, September 7, 1707 — 
 the same year in which Linnaeus 
 was born. His father was a coun- 
 cillor of parliament of Dijon. It 
 was the wish of his father that 
 Buffon, with a view to qualify him- 
 self for the magistracy, should adopt 
 the profession of the law. This, however, had no 
 charms for the latter, and his father quickly observed 
 that astronomy and mathematics were likely to become 
 the chief objects of his son's study. He wisely allowed 
 him to follow the path which he had chosen, and he 
 became so interested in geometry that some of his 
 biographers assert, that while his youthful companions 
 were at their sports he w T as generally to be found in 
 some retired corner, poring over his pocket copy of 
 
 140 
 
Buffon. 
 
BUFFOK. 14'1 
 
 Euclid with a fervour equal to that displayed by Parson 
 Adams for his ^Eschylus. 
 
 ►Such a mode of spending leisure hours, which other- 
 wise would have been those of play, brought forth its 
 fruits in due season, and many stories were current that 
 he had anticipated Newton in some of his discoveries, 
 but that he had withheld his claim, observing that 
 people were not obliged to accept the assertion. These 
 statements, in the light of the present day, should 
 be received with reserve, for, to leave dates out of the 
 question, it cannot be denied that vanity was certainly 
 not absent as an ingredient in the character of young 
 Buffon. 
 
 When he was about twenty years of age he made the 
 acquaintance of Lord Kingston and his tutor, both 
 of whom he met at Dijon. This soon ripened into 
 friendship, and he arranged to travel through Italy in 
 their company. The tutor appears to have been 
 possessed of high scientific attainments, and his pupil 
 at the same time a ready partner in his pleasures. 
 While in Italy he received intelligence of the deatli of 
 his mother, a lady of considerable intelligence. This 
 event placed him in possession of a large income, nearly 
 £12,000 a year, and from this time onward his life was 
 a completely independent one, and he was enabled to 
 devote himself entirely to his scientific pursuits. 
 
 On his return to Montbard, he, on account of some 
 private entanglement, found it necessary to leave the 
 place for a brief period, and he accordingly went to 
 Paris, and visited England. He did not settle on b a 
 estate "for good" until he had reached twenty-five. 
 
144 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 On returning to Montbard, however, he resolutely 
 pursued his studies, and as it may not be uninteresting 
 to those who think life was not given to us to be passed in 
 mere frivolities, to know how Buff on passed his time, we 
 select the following from a modern biographer. There is 
 every reason to conclude that the history of one day 
 was to a large extent similar to that of all the others, 
 generally speaking, throughout a period of fifty years : — 
 "After he was dressed he dictated letters and 
 regulated his domestic affairs, and at six o'clock he 
 retired to his studies at the pavilion called the Tower of 
 St. Louis. This pavilion was situated at the extremity 
 of the garden, and the only furniture which it contained 
 were a large wooden secretaire and an arm-chair. 
 No books or pictures relieved the naked appearance 
 of the apartment, or distracted the thoughts of 
 the learned possessor. The entrance was by green 
 folding-doors ; the walls were painted green, and the 
 interior had the appearance of a chapel, on account of 
 the elevation of the roof. Within this was another 
 cabinet, where Buffon resided the greater part of the 
 year, owing to the coldness of the other apartment, and 
 in this room he wrote the greater number of his works. 
 It was a small square building, situated on the side of a 
 terrace, and was ornamented with drawings of birds 
 and insects. Prince Henrv of Prussia called it the 
 
 t/ 
 
 " cradle of natural history," and Rousseau, before he 
 entered it, used to fall on his knees and kiss the 
 threshold. At nine o'clock Buffon usually took an 
 hour's rest, and his breakfast, which consisted of a piece 
 of bread and two glasses of wine, was brought to his 
 
BUFFON. 1 \-> 
 
 pavilion. When he had written two hours after break- 
 fast, he returned to the house. At dinner he Bpent 
 a considerable portion of time, and indulged in all the 
 gaieties and trifles which occurred at the table. After 
 dinner he slept an hour in his room, afterwards took a 
 walk, and during the rest of the evening, he either con- 
 versed with his family or guests, or sat at his desk 
 examining his papers. At nine o'clock he went to bed. 
 
 This kind of life he passed for fifty years ; and to one 
 who expressed his astonishment at Iris great reputation 
 he replied, " Have not I spent fifty years at my desk ? ' 
 
 During all this long period of time he was indefa- 
 tigable in his application, was extremely fond of study, 
 and yet in his early days, felt the inconveniences of indo- 
 lence. To an old friend he once said : "I was a great 
 lover of my bed in my youth. My poor Joseph " (a 
 servant who lived with him more than sixty years) 
 " assisted me greatly to conquer that propensity. I 
 promised him a crown every time he roused me at six. 
 The next morning he did not fail to do his duty, but I 
 repulsed him; he came the morning after, and I 
 threatened to turn him out of the room. 'You haw 
 gained nothing, Joseph,' I said to him at noon ; * you know 
 not how to manage me ; think only of my promise, and 
 don't listen to my threats.' The next morning he fid- 
 filled my wishes, by forcing me to rise in spite of my ill- 
 humour; and every succeeding day he was indemnified 
 for my cross temper when I awoke, by my thanks and 
 a crown. Indeed, I owe to Joseph ten or twelve volun 
 of my works." 
 
 In pursuing this course of living, study and regimen, 
 
 i. 
 
146 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 there can be no doubt that Buffon prolonged his life, 
 notwithstanding the pangs from a painful disease from 
 which he suffered. 
 
 The longevity of Buffon's family was somewhat 
 remarkable, his father lived to the age of ninety-three, 
 and his grandfather was eighty-seven when he died. 
 Concerning the elevation of Buffon to the aristocracy of 
 France, we may be permitted to refer to an incident 
 which significantly marks the brutality and ignorance 
 of the French people under the Reign of Terror. The 
 only son left by Buifon was murdered only fifteen days 
 before the fall of Robespierre. It might have been 
 thought that the sacrifice of the son would have satis- 
 fied the bloodthirsty cravings of the Parisian mob ; but 
 no, the body and memory of the father whom the nation 
 had honoured at his death were not secure. During the 
 great storm which darkened the political horizon of 
 Europe, the remains of the illustrious zoologist were 
 torn from the grave, the lead in which his coffin was 
 encased was plundered, and the monument which the son 
 had erected to his memory was razed to the ground. 
 
 Before proceeding to give an account of the works of 
 Buffon, we shall mention a few particulars relating to 
 his person and character. His figure was noble and 
 manly, and his countenance, even in advanced age and 
 during the periods when he suffered great physical pain, 
 was calm and placid, and exhibited traces of singular 
 intelligence. Vanity, however, which seemed to have 
 been his predominant passion, extended even to his 
 person and to all his exterior ornaments. He was par- 
 ticularly fond of having his hair neatly dressed, and for 
 
BUFFON. 1 47 
 
 this purpose lie employed a fashionable hair-cutter, who 
 operated upon him twice and sometimes three times a 
 day. To his dress he was particularly attentive, and 
 took great pleasure in appearing on Sundays before the 
 peasantry of Montbard in gold-laced clothes. He en- 
 couraged his attendants to relate to him every gossiping 
 story which they heard. His vanity betrayed itself on 
 a variety of occasions in relation to his literary perform- 
 ances, which were often the subjects of his discourse and 
 even of his commendation. When he was recommending 
 the perusal of the best works in every department of 
 taste and science, he would sometimes add with singular 
 presumption and self-confidence, " Capital works are 
 scarce ; I know but five great geniuses, Newton, Bacon, 
 Leibnitz, Montesquieu, and myself." 
 
 He was in the habit of reciting to those who 
 visited him, whole pages of his compositions, for he 
 seemed to have them almost all by heart. Notwith- 
 standing, however, his vanity, he listened to objections, 
 entered into a discussion of them, and surrendered 
 his own opinion to that of others when his judg- 
 ment was convinced. He expressed himself with 
 rapture concerning the pleasures accruing from study, 
 and he declared his preference of the writings to 
 the conversations of learned men, which almosl 
 always disappointed him, and therefore he voluntarily 
 secluded himself from society with such, and in 
 company was fond of trifling and was not at all 
 times gentlemanly in his conversation. He main- 
 tained an extensive correspondence with several 
 persons of rank and eminence. But his vanity was 
 
148 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 perpetually recurring, particularly towards the close 
 of his career. He frequently said that he had no 
 fear of death, and that the hope of immortal renown 
 was the most powerful of death-bed consolations. 
 
 Buffon, during the greater part of his life, was 
 highly respected in all Europe, and it is said that 
 during the war, 1755 — 1762, whenever the captains 
 of English privateers found in their prizes any 
 boxes addressed to Comte de Buffon (and many were 
 addressed to him from every part of the world), they 
 immediately forwarded them to Paris unopened — a 
 mark of reverence for genius which ought not to 
 remain unrecorded. 
 
 But I took great pains in forming the style of 
 his writings, and as composition was to him a diffi- 
 cult task he repeatedly revised his works before he 
 published them. Such was his attention to style that 
 he could not bear the least deviation from accuracy 
 and propriety in the use of language. 
 
 " The style," said he, " is the man. Out' poets 
 have no style; they are coerced by the rules of nietiv. 
 which makes slaves of them." 
 
 To this circumstance it was perhaps owing that he 
 abandoned poetry, which he attempted in his youth, 
 and restricted himself to prose. Such was Buffon r s 
 regard to fame, that he destroyed every paper which 
 he thought useless or unfinished, and thus preserved 
 his reputation from being destroyed by posthumous 
 publications. 
 
 Of the free sentiments which Buffon had imbibed 
 with regard to religion his works afford ample evi- 
 
BUFF0N. 14!) 
 
 dence. They sufficiently indicate his attachment to 
 the system of materialism, and some of his remarks 
 respecting religion and the Creator were of such a 
 nature as would greatly pain a sensitive mind. T<> 
 quote these remarks would do no good in the present 
 instance. He did not attempt to argue the want of 
 proof as to a divine power. He simply treated all 
 such matters with great contempt. Here again it is 
 probable that his excessive vanity led him into giving 
 utterance to language which he did not sincerely fed. 
 
 Buffon's literary career began with a series of 
 translations. On his return to France from his tour 
 in Italy, he translated into French two English works 
 — the "Vegetable Statics" of Dr. Hales, and Newton's 
 " Treatise on Fluxions." These translations, and th< 
 prefaces which he attached to them, were the firsl 
 essays which, as it were, revealed him to himself, 
 for from this time forth he quitted not the path of 
 research into which his genius had led him. 1 1 
 wrote successively several papers upon geometry . 
 physics, and other subjects, which opened for him the 
 doors of the Academie des Sciences, into which bo<l\ 
 he was elected at the early age of twenty-six. In 
 the year 1739 he was appointed to an important 
 post in the Jardin des Plantes. The almost acci- 
 dental circumstances which led to the appointment 
 of Buff on to the position are deserving of mention 
 as affording another illustration of the truth of the 
 old axiom, that great events frequently spring from 
 trifling causes. 
 
 The Jardin des Plantes answers to our Zoological 
 
150 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 Gardens and the Botanical Grardens at Kew combined, 
 and for years they had been under the care of the 
 first physician to the king. This physician was 
 indifferent to the science of botany ; he had neglected 
 the garden, which had consequently fallen into such a 
 state of decay as to attract the attention of govern- 
 ment. An inquiry into the management having been 
 instituted, it was finally determined that the superin- 
 tendence of the chief physician should be abolished, and 
 the direction of the garden being deemed worthy of 
 special and continuous attention, the post was conferred 
 on a M. Dufay, a man of learning and science. After 
 occupying the post for some years he was taken seriously 
 ill, and a friend said to him, " Buff on is the only man 
 enabled by his strength of character to continue the 
 work of regeneration begun by you " ; and Dufay himself 
 signed the application that Buffo n should be appointed, 
 and from that period dates the development of the 
 garden. 
 
 Assured of the royal favour, and safe in popular 
 esteem, Buffon found himself unlimited in means and 
 uncontrolled in scheme. He purchased houses, lands, 
 collections. He pulled down, rebuilt, enlarged, reor- 
 ganized. The king threw open to him the public 
 treasury, and of this princely credit Buffon made ample 
 and unshrinking use, guarding, however, at the same 
 time, against unpractical and visionary projects. 
 
 In 1744, Buffon first published his " Theory of the 
 Earth," which was included in his comprehensive and 
 most celebrated work, " Natural History, Greneral and 
 Particular," which commenced in 1749 and was com- 
 
BUFFON. 151 
 
 pletecl iu 1767, extending to no fewer than fifteen 
 different volumes. To these, supplements were after- 
 wards added equal to several more volumes. In the 
 anatomical portion of this work, the author had the 
 assistance of M. D'Aubenton, but in all the other 
 departments Buff on himself displays his learning, 
 genius and eloquence, and he also indulges his fancy in 
 exploring and delineating the whole economy of nature. 
 He begins with a theory of the earth, which, as well 
 as the other planets, he supposes to have been originally 
 a mass of liquefied matter, dashed out of the body of 
 the sun by the violent illapse of a comet. He then 
 covers it with ocean, from which he forms strata by 
 deposition, and mountains by the flux and reflux of 
 the tide. Subterraneous fires, eruptions, and earth- 
 quakes produce other changes, and the world we now 
 inhabit is but the ruins of a former world. In his 
 account of the population of the earth with living 
 creatures, he investigates the analogies between vege- 
 table and animal life, and in explaining the mystery of 
 animal generation, he allows ample range to his imagin- 
 ation in a variety of hypotheses and conjectures. 
 
 Buffon's natural history of animals commences with 
 that of man, whom he traces from the cradle to the 
 grave, through the development and maturation of 
 his bodily organs and mental powers, the nature and 
 operation of his senses, and the several varieties of 
 his species, introducing and intermixing in the 
 research many curious discussions. He then investi- 
 gates the nature of brute animals in general, and 
 marks the distinction between them and man by 
 
152 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 denying them a soul and a memory, properly so 
 called, and making all their actions to spring from 
 external impressions. 
 
 In a supplementary volume published in 1776, 
 Buffon added the history and figures of several new 
 animals, with valuable additions to most of those 
 described in the original work, together with a most 
 ingenious dissertation on mules. 
 
 Disdaining the arrangements of systematic natural- 
 ists, Buff on has rejected all the received principles of 
 classification, and has thrown his subjects into groups. 
 Not content with deviating from established modes 
 of distribution, he ridicules the authors of systematic 
 arrangements, and particularly Linnaeus, whose zeal and 
 labours in investigating and classing natural objects 
 entitle him to the highest praise. 
 
 It is hardly necessary to remark that Buffon 
 adapted his style to the particular subjects of his 
 discussion. Whilst the mere enumeration of facts, 
 or descriptions of the figure, dimensions, and colours 
 of animals, admit of no other ornament than that 
 of perspicuity, topics of philosophy and argument 
 require a higher and more figurative expression. Of 
 these different species of writing the works of Buffon 
 afford numerous examples. It has also been noted 
 that his style occasionally rises above the level of 
 his subject, and this is particularly the case when he 
 is painting in glowing colours the manners and 
 habits of the lion, the horse, the elephant, and 
 others of his favoivrite subjects. By the indulgence 
 of this passion for high painting, he has frequently 
 
BUFFON. L53 
 
 been betrayed into a deviation from the limits of 
 simple truth, and has been led to wander into the 
 regions of fancy. In particular and minute obser- 
 vation he excels, and by his indefatigable researches 
 he made a most valuable addition to the treasure of 
 authenticated facts. But at the same time it can- 
 not be disputed that Buffon was occasionally misled 
 by an undue attachment to theory, as well as by the 
 ambition of distinguished eloquence. 
 
 Of what Buffon calls the "method" of his 
 natural history, his own description is so curious, 
 and in a sense "unmethodical' as compared with 
 previous systems, but is yet so full and explicit, that 
 it is a valuable lesson in itself. He imagines a 
 man who, having forgotten all things, wakes up 
 afresh to a sight of the objects which surround 
 him; he places this man in a country where animals, 
 birds, fishes, plants, and minerals are presented 
 successively before him. "Soon," he says, "this 
 man will begin to form a general idea of animated 
 matter; he will easily distinguish it from inanimate 
 matter, and in a very brief space of time he will 
 readily distinguish animated matter from vegetable 
 matter, and will naturally arrive at this first grand 
 division — animal, vegetable, and mineral; and he will 
 also have gained a clear idea of these three great 
 objects, so different from each other — earth, air, and 
 water; he will be enabled in a little time to form 
 a particular idea of the animals which inhabit the 
 earth, of those which exist in the water, and th< 
 which rise into the air, and consequently he will 
 
154 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 easily form for himself this second division — quad- 
 rupeds, fishes, "birds ; and the same in the vegetable 
 kingdom, with trees and plants, he will very readily 
 distinguish them, whether by their height, substance, 
 or general appearance." The following is what he 
 says on this matter : — 
 
 " This is what the simple inspection must necessarily 
 give him, and what, with very slight attention, he 
 cannot fail in recognising ; this is also what we ought 
 to regard as real, and respect as a division given by 
 Nature herself. Afterwards, let us put ourselves in 
 the place of this man, or let us suppose that he has 
 acquired the same amount of knowledge and experience 
 as we ourselves possess, he will come to judge the 
 objects of natural history by their relation with 
 himself; those which are the most necessary, the 
 most useful to him, will hold the first place. For 
 example, he will give the preference in the order 
 of animals to the dog, the ox, &c, and he will 
 always be better acquainted with those which will 
 be the most familiar to him, and afterwards he will 
 occupy himself with those which, without being 
 familiar, still inhabit the same localities, and the same 
 climate, as the deer tribe, the hare, and all wild animals, 
 and it will not be until he has acquired a thorough 
 knowledge of all these animals that his curiosity will 
 lead him to the research of those inhabiting foreign 
 climates, as the elephant, the dromedary, &c. The 
 same process will be gone through with regard to fishes, 
 birds, insects, shells, minerals, and in fact, all the other 
 productions of nature ; he will study them in proportion 
 
BTJFFON. 155 
 
 to the utility he may be enabled to derive from them ; 
 he mil consider them in measure as they present them- 
 selves more familiarly to his eyes ; and he will arrang 
 them in his mind relatively to this order of his know- 
 ledge, because such is, in fact, the order in which he has 
 acquired them, and according to which it is necessary 
 he should preserve them. This order, the most natural 
 of all, is that which we have believed it our duty to 
 adopt. Our method is not more mysterious than the 
 one we have just seen." 
 
 On reading this quotation we cannot but wonder when 
 we perceive to what lengths prejudice or prepossession 
 for a favourite doctrine may lead an author, and when 
 the period at which Buff on wrote these remarks is 
 taken into consideration, surprise will increase. AVhen 
 he wrote the foregoing more than half a century had 
 elapsed since Ray and Tournefort had published their 
 great works on method; the ideas of Bernard de 
 Jussien had begun to spread, and Iinnseus had given 
 to the world his " Fundamenta Botanica," the first 
 germ of a new philosophy of the science. 
 
 After the completion of his history of quadrupeds 
 in 1767, Buff on was interrupted in the progress oi 
 his labours by a severe illness, and therefore the 
 two first volumes of his " History of Bird-" did not 
 appear till the year 1771. In the composition of the 
 greatest part of these he was indebted to the labours 
 of M. G-ulneau de Montbeillard, who adhered s«» dnsely 
 to Buffon's mode of thinking and of expression that 
 the public could not perceive any difference between 
 the style of writing of the two. The four subsequent 
 
156 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 volumes were the joint production of both writers, and 
 each author prefixed his name to his own articles. The 
 three remaining volumes were written by Buffon himself, 
 with the assistance of the Abbe Bexon, who formed the 
 nomenclature, drew up most of the descriptions, and 
 communicated several important hints. 
 
 It was in the preparation of this that Buffon's pecu- 
 liar system of method which he pursued in the first 
 portion of his work, and of which we have already 
 spoken, began to undergo a change. As he advanced with 
 his work, he conformed himself more and more to the 
 ideas, and by the ideas to the language, of the natural- 
 ists. He felt more and more the necessity of ranging 
 objects according to their affinities, and as Cuvier has 
 well remarked, " On reaching his history of birds, he 
 tacitly submitted himself to the necessity under which 
 we all are, of classifying our ideas in order to our 
 obtaining a clear representative of the whole." 
 
 We may add that he did not wait till then. When, 
 after having described one after the other, and without 
 any methodical aim, the horse, ass, ox, sheep, goat, pig, 
 dog, cat, in fact all the domestic animals, he proceeds 
 to the wild animals, more than once, and evidently de- 
 signedly so, he places together kindred species. For 
 instance, he places deer near the roebuck, the polecat 
 near the marten. On coming to the monkeys he places 
 them all together, and even distributes them by distinct 
 groups according to very good characters. But it 
 certainly is above all in his " History of Birds," that, as 
 Cuvier remarks, his march becomes really and scientific- 
 ally methodical. 
 
BUFFON. 107 
 
 " In place," says Buff on himself, "of treal ing birds one 
 
 by one, that is to say, by distinct and separate species, 
 I will unite them several together in one grim-." 
 And this he does, for to each principal species, or lli.it 
 which he takes as a type, he adjoins all the Bpeci< 3, 
 whether of our own or foreign climates, which agree 
 with it ; by these means he forms regular groups, families 
 and genera, and he almost always respects the great and 
 true characteristics. 
 
 When we speak, then, of the ideas of Buff on regard- 
 ing method, we must take into consideration the epoch 
 in which he held them, and, if we may so express our- 
 selves, their date. No man, perhaps, more constantly 
 modified his thoughts than Buffon, because no man 
 more constantly elaborated them. An example of this 
 is before us — he commenced his labours by compara- 
 tively ridiculing method, and he ended by striking out 
 and pursuing a very good one of his own. 
 
 When Buffon commenced his great work he was no 
 more an anatomist than he was a zoologist ; he became 
 a zoologist later, but never an anatomist, strictly speak- 
 ing ; and yet, on the one hand, he did much for anatomy, 
 and on the other, he owed much to it. Buffon is the 
 first who ever joined the anatomical, thai is to say the 
 interior, description to the exterior description of the 
 species. He it was who called and inspired his friend 
 and fellow-labourer Daubenton, and by his hands laid 
 the first foundations of comparative anatomy, and 
 perhaps he understood better than Daul u 'i it <>n himself 
 all the bearings of the science. 
 
 In 1774 Button began to publish a supplemeul to hifl 
 
158 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 Natural History, consisting of the " History of 
 Minerals." These supplemental volumes, of which 
 the fifth, appeared in 1778, contain many curious 
 and valuable experiments, as well as much theory, too 
 much of it, however, too lax for the rigour of modern 
 science. The concluding volume may he considered 
 as a kind of philosophical romance. It comprehends 
 what the author fancifully denominates the " Epochs 
 of Nature," or those great changes in the state of the 
 earth which he supposes to have successively resulted 
 from his hypothesis of its original formation out of 
 the sun. Of these epochs he enumerates seven, of 
 which six are supposed to have been previous to the 
 creation of man. In the description of these epochs, 
 as to both their causes and effects, the author has 
 indulged the sport of fancy, and formed a sort of fairy 
 tale, which he rendered both instructive and amusing. 
 
 After he had completed his " History of Minerals," 
 Buff on had formed a design of composing a " History 
 of Vegetables," but this project was defeated by his 
 death, which occurred, as already stated, on the 16th 
 of April, 1778. His last words were spoken to his 
 son, and were, " Never quit the path of honour and 
 of virtue : it is the only way to be happy." 
 
 The works of Buffon, as a naturalist of the highest 
 order have now been before the public for nearly a 
 century. They have long ago passed the critical 
 ordeal, and it is pretty generally acknowledged that 
 while they contain much to praise, they are by no 
 means undeserving of reproach. The sentiments 
 which they promulgate, that have any relation to 
 
BUFF0N. L59 
 
 religion, are extremely erroneous. lie is a decided 
 enemy to the doctrine of final causes, and he refers 
 to unconscious nature every operation that ought to be 
 attributed to a designing, kind, and ever benevolent 
 Deity. He never 
 
 " Looks through nature, up to nature's God," 
 
 but perversely substitutes the effect for the cause, the 
 outcome of the divinity for the divinity itself. 
 
 His labours, however, afford ample proofs of the 
 power of genius, when directed by taste, and his 
 particular descriptions of animals often exhibit an 
 elegance of style which is to be met with in no other 
 work of its kind. He had a mind well calculated for 
 his task, and was indefatigable in his exertions to 
 procure information. He spared no pains or expense 
 to forward his undertaking nor any labour to complete 
 it. Inattention and idleness were equally unknown 
 to him. He never wasted the day in making resolu- 
 tions for the morrow, but by constant and well-regulated 
 exertion has left a striking example of what may be 
 done by a proper division of our time, a due observance 
 that no part of it passes unemployed, and a patienl and 
 steady perseverance in whatever we undertake. 
 

 
 
 
 Fg!^^^3 S^-fl^W^^t^MW 
 
 
 
 SIR CHARLES LYELL, BART. 
 
 his distinguished Scottish geologist 
 was born at Kinnordy, Forfarshire, 
 November 14th, 1797. His father, 
 Charles Lyell, was a man of literary 
 and scientific pursuits, and it may 
 fairly be inferred that the bent of 
 the mind of his son was somewhat 
 inclined by his own studies, he being 
 an ardent botanist and also trans- 
 lator of the " Vita Nuova ' and the 
 "Convito' of Dante. The subject of our sketch was 
 the eldest of ten children, two brothers andseven sisters, 
 who all lived to grow up. 
 
 In a characteristic autobiography of his boyish 
 days, which he wrote for the " instruction and amuse- 
 ment' 1 of his wife, who was a daughter of the cele- 
 brated Leonard Horner, he thus records his entrance 
 into life. Premising that his mother was a Yorkshire- 
 woman, the daughter of a Mr. Thomas Smith, of Maker 
 Hall, Swaledale, gifted with strong practical common- 
 
 160 
 
SIR CHARLES LYELL, HART. 16-3 
 
 sense, and a tender anxiety for the welfare of her 
 numerous family, he goes on to say: — 
 
 "The front of heaven was not full of fiery shapes 
 at my nativity, but it was a remarkable winter and 
 spring, so warm that my mother slept all night with 
 her bedroom windows open — which no doubt portended 
 something remarkable in the bairn ; and sure enough 
 he was pronounced to be the loudest and most indefatig- 
 able squaller of all the brats in Angus, and while he 
 kept others awake all night by his noise, thrived the 
 while most vigorously. Besides this, it was more than 
 twelve months before I cut a single tooth ; and some old 
 woman in Southampton, finding that my gums were 
 very hard, and that I could eat very well, very con- 
 siderately tried to persuade my mother that her first- 
 born would never have any teeth ! ' 
 
 From his boyhood young Lyell had a strong inclina- 
 tion for natural history, especially entomology, a taste 
 which he was able to cultivate in the New Forest, 
 to which his parents and family had removed shortly 
 after his birth. He was educated chiefly at Midhursi 
 and then at Exeter College, Oxford, where he graduated 
 B.A. in 1819, and M.A. in 1821. While at the 
 University he had the advantage of listening to the 
 geological lectures of Dr. Buckland, which first opened 
 out to him a course of study which ultimately became 
 the passion of his life. On taking his degree in L82J 
 he came to London and entered Lincoln's Inn, and in 
 1825, after a delay caused by a chronic weakness of 
 the eyes, he was called to the bar, and was attached 
 to the western circuit for about two years. In the 
 
164 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 previous year, however, he made a tour on the Con- 
 tinent, which gave the bias to his mind, and led him to 
 adopt the science of geology as a profession. During 
 the whole of this time, though not neglecting the 
 study of the law, he was slowly gravitating towards the 
 life of a student of science. In 1819 he had been elected 
 a member of the Linnsean and Greological Societies, 
 communicating his first paper, "On the Marls of 
 Forfarshire," to the latter society in 1822, and acting 
 as one of the honorary secretaries in 1823. In that 
 year he went to France, with introductions to Cuvier, 
 Humboldt, and other men of science, and in 1824 
 made a geological tour in Scotland in company with 
 Dr. Buckland. 
 
 Soon after the opening of King's College, London, 
 he was appointed Lecturer on Greology; and the dis- 
 courses which he delivered in this capacity were of so 
 original and philosophical a character as to impress 
 his pupils with respect for the then young branch of 
 science, the rapid growth of which was being watched 
 by many with feelings of contempt on the one hand 
 and fear and jealousy on the other. 
 
 In 1826 he was elected a fellow of the Eoyal 
 Society, from which in later years he received both 
 the Copley and Royal medals ; and in 1827 he finally 
 abandoned the legal profession and devoted himself 
 entirely to geology. 
 
 Before his appointment as Lecturer on Greology at 
 "King's College, however, Lyell's active mind had been 
 busy in drawing out the plan of his famous work on 
 the " Principles of Greology," the first volume of which 
 
SIR CHARLES LYELL, BART. 165 
 
 appeared in 1830, the second in 1832, and the third in 
 1833; but before the work was completed, a Beoond 
 edition of the earlier volumes was called for and 
 produced. The subsidiary title, "An Attempt to 
 Explain the Former Changes of the Earth's Surface by 
 Reference to Causes now in Operation," gives the key- 
 note of the task to which Lyell devoted his life, 
 and in pursuance of which he made geological 
 tours over large portions of the Continent, and in later 
 years to Madeira and to the United States and Canada. 
 
 Now that geology has become an established science, 
 and to show the difficulties which it had to encounter 
 before it was admitted as one at all, and also to prove 
 the soundness of the premises upon which Lyell based 
 his opinions, we cannot do better than give the opening 
 paragraphs of the work just mentioned. TVe quote 
 from the first edition, published by John Murray, two 
 volumes 8vo, 1830. The work has neither preface nor 
 introduction, but boldly commences at Chapter 1. In 
 it the author says : — 
 
 " Greology is the science which investigates the suc- 
 cessive changes that have taken place in the organic 
 and inorganic kingdoms of nature; it inquires into 
 the causes of these changes, and the influence which 
 they have exerted in modifying the surface and 
 external surface of our planet. 
 
 " By these researches into the state of the earth and 
 its inhabitants at former periods, we acquire a more 
 perfect knowledge of its present condition, and more 
 comprehensive views concerning the laws now govern- 
 ing its animate and inanimate productions. W hen we 
 
166 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 study history, we obtain a more profound insight into 
 human nature, by instituting a comparison between the 
 
 present and former states of society 
 
 " Greology is intimately related to almost all the 
 physical sciences, as is history to the moral. An 
 historian should, if possible, be at once profoundly 
 acquainted with ethics, politics, jurisprudence, the 
 military art, theology ; in a word, with all branches of 
 knowledge whereby any insight into human affairs, or 
 into the moral and intellectual nature of man, can be 
 obtained. It would be no less desirable that a geologist 
 should be well versed in chemistry, natural philosophy, 
 mineralogy, zoology, comparative anatomy, botany — in 
 short, in every science relating to organic and inorganic 
 nature. With these accomplishments the historian and 
 geologist would rarely fail to draw correct and philoso- 
 phical conclusions from the various monuments trans- 
 mitted to them of former occurrences. They would know 
 to what combination of causes analogous effects were 
 referable, and they would often be enabled to supply 
 by inference, information concerning many events 
 unrecorded in the defective archives of former ages. 
 But the brief duration of human life, and our limited 
 powers, are so far from permitting us to aspire to such 
 extensive acquisitions, that excellence even in one 
 department is within the reach of few, and those 
 individuals most effectually promote the general 
 progress who concentrate their thoughts on a limited 
 portion of the field of inquiry. As it is necessary that 
 the historian and the cultivators of moral and political 
 science should reciprocally aid each other, so the 
 
SIR CHARLES LYELL, BART. 1'iT 
 
 geologist and those who study natural history or 
 physics stand in equal need of mutual assistance. A 
 comparative anatomist may derive some accession of 
 knowledge from the bare inspection of the remains oi 
 an extinct quadruped, but the relic throws much greater 
 light upon his own science, when he is informed to what 
 relative era it belonged, what plants and animals weiv 
 its contemporaries, in what degree of latitude it once 
 existed, and other historical details. A fossil shell may 
 interest a conchologist, though he be ignorant of the 
 locality from which it came ; but it will be of more 
 value when he learns with what other species it was 
 associated, whether they were marine or fresh-water, 
 whether the strata containing them were at a certain 
 elevation above the sea, and what relative position they 
 held in regard to other groups of strata, with niany 
 other particulars determinable by an experienced 
 geologist alone. On the other hand, the skill of the 
 comparative anatomist and conchologist are often 
 indispensable to those engaged in geological research, 
 although it will rarely happen that the geologist will 
 himself combine these different qualifications in his own 
 person. 
 
 "Some remains of former organic beings, like the 
 ancient temple, statue, or picture, may have both their 
 intrinsic and their historical value, while there are 
 others which can never be expected to attract atten- 
 tion for their own sake. A painter, sculptor, or 
 architect would often neglect many ourioufl relies 
 of antiquity as devoid of beauty and uninstruotive 
 with relation to their own art, however illustrative 
 
168 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 of refinement in some ancient nation. It lias 
 therefore been found desirable that the antiquary 
 should unite his labours to those of the historian, 
 and similar co-operation has become necessary in 
 geology. The field of inquiry in living nature being 
 inexhaustible, the zoologist and botanist can rarely be 
 induced to sacrifice time in exploring the imperfect 
 remains of lost species of animals and plants, while those 
 still existing afford constant matter of novelty. They 
 must entertain a desire of promoting geology by such 
 investigations, and some knowledge of its objects must 
 guide and direct their studies. According to the differ- 
 ent opportunities, tastes, and talents of individuals, they 
 may employ themselves in collecting particular kinds of 
 minerals, rocks, or organic remains, and these, when well 
 examined and explained, afford data to the geologist, as 
 do coins, medals, and inscriptions to the historian. 
 
 " It was long ere the distinct nature and legitimate 
 objects of geology were fully recognized, and it was 
 at first confounded with many other branches of 
 inquiry, just as the limits of history, poetry, and myth- 
 ology were ill defined in the infancy of civilization." 
 
 After the " Principles ' had passed through five 
 editions, a change was effected in the structure of the 
 work, certain chapters on geology, strictly so called, 
 being separated and reproduced in an amplified form 
 under the title of the " Elements of Geology," whilst 
 the remainder retained its old title.* Much of this may 
 
 * Between 1830 and 1872 eleven editions of this 
 remarkable work were issued, " each so much enriched, 
 
SIR CHARLES LYELL, HART. 169 
 
 be attributed to Ly ell's intimacy with the late Sir 
 Roderick Murchison, a journey with whom, taken 
 in 1828, was especially fruitful in results. This alone 
 "gave rise to two distinct papers on the volcanic 
 district of Auvergne and the Tertiary formation- of 
 Aix- en- Provence ; but it was apparently while examining 
 Signor Bonelli's collection of Tertiary shells at Turin, 
 and subsequently when (after parting with Murchison) 
 he studied the marine remains of the Tertiary rocks of 
 Ischia and Sicily, that Lyell conceived the idea of divid- 
 ing the Tertiaries into three or four principal groups, 
 characterized by the proportion of recent to extinct 
 species of shells. To these groups, after consulting Dr. 
 Whewell as to the best nomenclature, he gave the names 
 now universally adopted — Eocene (dawn of recent), 
 Miocene (less of recent), and Pliocene (more of recent) 
 Upper and Lower; and with the assistance of M. 
 Deshayes, who had arrived by independent researches 
 at very similar views, he drew up a table of shells in 
 illustration of this classification." 
 
 In the "Elements," therefore, he described those 
 monuments of ancient changes through which the earth 
 and its inhabitants have passed, whilst in the "Prin- 
 ciples' he confined himself to the study of those forces 
 
 says a writer in the " Encyclopaedia Britannica," " with 
 
 new material and the results of riper thought as to form 
 a complete history of the progress of geology during 
 that interval. Only a few days before his death Sir 
 Charles finished revising the twelfth edition, which 
 appeared in 1876." 
 
170 
 
 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 which are in constant operation 
 around us, and which help us, by 
 fair analogy, to interpret the re- 
 cords of the rocks. 
 
 In 1832, Lyell married, as has 
 
 been previously stated, Mary, 
 
 eldest daughter of 
 
 7\ Leonard Horner, 
 
 ■^ ; ^hv \ his "friend 
 
 and teacher." 
 
 Kn o w 1 e d y e 
 
 writes, 
 
 "Many have 
 
 felt the 
 
 charms of the presence of Miss Horner ; many 
 have felt the influence of the soul that shone out 
 in her face ; but few know how much science 
 directly owes 
 to her. In the 
 
 companion of his lif 
 sharing his labour, think- 
 ing his success her own, Charles 
 Lyell had an accomplished linguist 
 who braved with him the dangers 
 and difficulties of travel, no 
 matter how rough ; the ever 
 ready prompter when memory 
 failed, the constant adviser 
 in all cases of difficulty 
 Had she not been part 
 of him, she would her- 
 
SIR CHARLES LYELL, HART. 
 
 171 
 
 
 self have been better known to 
 fame." 
 
 In 1834, Lyell paid a visit to 
 Sweden and Denmark, the resnlt of 
 which was a paper of the utmost 
 scientific importance, afterwards read 
 before the Royal Society, "On the 
 Proofs of the Gradual Rising of Land in Certain 
 Parts of Sweden," and another, 
 presented to the Geological Society, 
 " On the Cretaceous and Tertiary 
 Strata of Seeland and Moen." 
 
 In 1837, Lyell again visited 
 Norway and Denmark, and four 
 
172 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 years afterwards lie spent upwards of twelve months 
 in the United States of America, Canada, and Nova 
 Scotia. This last journey, together with a second 
 one to America in 1845, when he visited Boston, Phila- 
 delphia, New Orleans, and the alluvial plains of the 
 Mississippi, gave rise, not only to numerous original 
 papers, but also to the publication of two works not 
 exclusively geological, " Travels in North America ' 
 (1845), and "A Second Visit to the United States" 
 (1849). 
 
 Concerning the first of these two works, a writer in 
 the "Edinburgh Review ,: says: — "These volumes 
 exhibit in a narrow compass more of the bright side 
 of the American character and institutions than we 
 have discovered in the panegyrics of the most ardent 
 democrats who have visited the land of liberty. This 
 effect is produced not only by the hopeful, good- 
 humoured, and unaffected tone in which the excellent 
 writer relates his adventures ; the occurrences themselv. is 
 tell their own favourable story." 
 
 Referring to the same work, the " North American 
 Review," the critical authority of the United States, 
 says : — " Although only a small part of these volumes 
 is made up from the materials of an ordinary book of 
 travels, yet as such it is none the worse because the 
 author came to inspect American rocks rather than 
 American manners. The remarks he does offer are so 
 sensible and discriminating, so evidently thrown out by 
 one who possesses that rare knowledge — how to observe, 
 and who thinks for himself, that we only regret they 
 are so few and cursory, and are a little provoked when 
 
SIR CHARLES LYELL, BART. 173 
 
 lie cuts short his observations upon the current topics 
 of the clay, and falls to 'napping the chuckie stanes' 
 again." 
 
 Commenting on the "Second Visit," another authority 
 of the time states : — 
 
 " We know of no books of modern travels so full 
 of agreeable and useful reading, so pregnant with 
 instruction respecting the geology and physical 
 geography of America, and so liberal and candid in 
 their judgments on all the social, political, and 
 religious questions which now everywhere agitate the 
 public mind. There is no object too low for our 
 author's notice, and none too high for his grasp. 
 Whatever warms the heart of the philanthropist, or 
 excites the zeal of the missionary, or perplexes the 
 genius of the statesman, or exercises the intellect of 
 the sage, calls forth all his powers of observation, 
 and rouses all Ins energies of thought. The condition 
 of the criminal and the slave, the educational instruc- 
 tion of the ignorant, the moral and religious training 
 of the people, the amelioration of the condition of the 
 poor, and the equalization of the political rights, 
 are all advocated with that earnestness and talent 
 which, seldom fail to advance the object at which 
 they aim." 
 
 Besides these transatlantic journeys Lyell undertook 
 numerous geological excursions at different times to 
 all parts of Great Britain and Ireland, also to Germany, 
 Spain, Belgium, Switzerland, Madeira, and Teneriffe. 
 These latter islands he visited in company with Mr. 
 George Hartung, of Konigsberg, and together they 
 
174 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 accumulated much valuable evidence on the age and 
 deposition of lava-beds, and the formation of volcanic 
 cones. He also revisited Sicily in 1858, when he 
 made such observations upon the structure of Etna 
 as entirely refuted the theory of "craters of elevation," 
 upheld by Yon Such and Elie de Beaumont. 
 
 In the month of September, 1848, Lyell received 
 the honour of knighthood. This was done principally 
 at the solicitation of Lord Lansdowne, who in a 
 letter to Lyell, dated September 11th, says: — "I 
 have thought it on consideration so fit in the dis- 
 tinguished situation you occupy, and with your scien- 
 tific reputation, that you should receive the distinc- 
 tion of knighthood, that I took it upon myself to 
 mention the subject to the Queen, and I have her 
 Majesty's authority to state that she will most willingly 
 confer it upon you, and she understands that is with- 
 out any solicitation on your part." 
 
 In 1863 Sir Charles published a most important 
 work, which took a large proportion of the public very 
 much by surprise, and creating as it did the sensation 
 of the season in the literature of science. This was 
 the " (reological Evidences of the Antiquity of Man, 
 with Remarks on Theories of the Origin of Species by 
 Variation. " In it the author brought forward a 
 great amount of research with regard to prehistoric 
 times. He had previously opposed the doctrine of 
 development, but in this remarkable work he gave 
 his adhesion to Darwin on the origin of species. A 
 fourth edition of this truly scientific work, enlarged 
 and greatly improved, appeared in 1873. 
 
SIR CHARLES LYELL, HART. 175 
 
 The "Antiquity of Man" marks a turning-point 
 in public opinion upon the much-vexed question of 
 the duration of the human race upon the earth. An 
 able writer thus writes of it in the " Annual Kegister ' 
 for 1863 :— 
 
 "Within the last few years the attention of 
 geologists has been called to discoveries of flint im- 
 plements and other vestiges of humanity in strata 
 containing the bones of extinct animals, such as 
 elephants and rhinoceroses, which had long been 
 supposed to belong to an epoch preceding the 
 appearance of man upon the earth. It is many years 
 since these phenomena have been noticed, and indi- 
 vidual geologists have drawn conclusions from their 
 attributing a greater antiquity to man than the six 
 thousand years commonly allowed. Philosophical 
 caution, however, prevented the great body of scien- 
 tific men from going over to this opinion, until lately, 
 when Mr. Prestwich, an eminent geologist, and Mr. 
 John Evans, a member of the Society of Antiquaries, 
 examined the gravel and sand pits at Abbeville and 
 Amiens, and the collection of M. Boucher de Perthes, 
 which that far-sighted savant had long been forming, 
 of objects discovered in those localities. The result 
 was the expression of a conviction that the flint tools 
 found in these pits had been deposited in the gravel 
 beds at their first formation, and not subsequently 
 introduced, and the conclusion followed that man 
 existed previous to the formation of these strata. 
 
 " Many other prior discoveries of human bones and 
 remains in caves, in conjunction with those of elephants, 
 
176 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 hyaenas, and other extinct animals, were now recon- 
 sidered, and a large body of facts, hitherto slighted as 
 inconclusive, was brought into view. Sir Charles 
 Lyell's work reviews the facts and considers their bear- 
 ing, introducing also a discussion of the Darwinian 
 hypothesis, and a summary of the recent controversy 
 on the relation of the brain of man to that of the 
 quadrumana. The tardiness which geologists have 
 shown to embrace results which now seem so firmly 
 established, and the materials for arriving at which have 
 long been at hand, is a remarkable instance of scientific 
 caution, not to call it a strong prepossession in favour 
 of an assumed theory. The question must now be 
 considered as settled, to the extent that a far greater 
 antiquity must be assigned to man than has hitherto 
 been believed. How much greater that antiquity may 
 be than the indications at present discovered show, 
 remains for further inquiry." 
 
 In 1864 Sir Charles Lyell was created a baronet, 
 when the honour was conferred him as President at the 
 British Association, at Bath. 
 
 His services to the science of geology were now 
 universally acknowledged, both at home and abroad, and 
 he was a member of nearly every American and Conti- 
 nental scientific society. 
 
 During the latter years of his life, his sight, always 
 weak, failed him altogether, and he became very feeble 
 up to the time of his death, which took place on Feb- 
 ruary 22, 1875, he being then in his seventy- eighth 
 year. 
 
 This melancholy event, although not unexpected, was 
 
SIR CHARLES LYELL, BART. 177 
 
 rendered more so by a family bereavement which 
 occurred only a fortnight before in the sudden death 
 of his brother, Colonel Lyell, who had been almost 
 daily with Sir Charles for a considerable period prior 
 to his own unexpected and fatal illness. 
 
 Dr. Hooker, President of the Royal Society (after- 
 wards Sir Joseph Hooker, C.B.), wrote to his sister, 
 Miss Lyell, on the day of his death : — 
 
 " I have just heard the distressing news, and can 
 haidly yet say how much I feel it. My loved, my best 
 friend, for well nigh forty years of my life. To me 
 the blank is fearful, for it never will, never can, be 
 filled up. The most generous sharer of my own and 
 my family's hopes, joys, and sorrows, whose affection 
 for me was truly that of a father and brother combined. 
 I feel deeply for you all ; two such blows to you and 
 your sisters, and to Mrs. Lyell (his sister-in-law) surely 
 hardly ever came so rapidly, so remorselessly, as it 
 were. 
 
 " I have just headed a memorial to Dean Stanley, 
 praying that he may be interred in Westminster Abbey, 
 the Dean having volunteered his hearty assent, and 
 every influence in his power to have it granted. Sir 
 Edward Ryan first told me of it, and now joins with 
 me in the earnest hope that you will allow this tribute 
 to be paid to the most philosophical and influential 
 geologist that ever lived, and one of the very best of 
 
 men." 
 
 The following is the memorial referred to, and in 
 pursuance of which the body of Sir Charles Lyell was 
 placed in Westminster Abbey : — 
 
 N 
 
178 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 " "We, the undersigned Fellows of the Royal, the 
 Geological, and the Linnaean Societies, respectfully pray 
 that the remains of Sir Charles Lyell may be interred 
 in Westminster Abbey. For upwards of half a century 
 he has exercised a most important influence on the 
 progress of geological science, and for the last twenty- 
 five years he has been the most prominent geologist in 
 the world, equally eminent for the extent of his labours 
 and the breadth of his philosophical views." 
 
 The prayer of the memorial was immediately granted, 
 and the funeral was attended by an immense concourse 
 of public men, all his personal friends ; for by young 
 and old the veteran master of geology was deeply 
 loved and revered. 
 
 The late Dean Stanley conducted the service, and 
 on the following Sunday he also preached a funeral 
 sermon in the Abbey, from which we make the following- 
 extra ct : — 
 
 " Of him who is thus laid to rest, if of any one of 
 our time, it may be said that he followed truth with a 
 zeal as sanctified as ever fired the soul of a missionary, 
 and with a humility as child-like as ever subdued the 
 mind of a simple scholar. For discovering, confirm- 
 ing, rectifying his conclusions, there was no journey 
 too distant to undertake. Never did he think of his 
 own fame or name in comparison of the scientific results 
 which he sought to establish. From early youth to 
 extreme old age it was to him a solemn religious duty 
 to be incessantly learning, constantly growing, fearlessly 
 correcting his own mistakes, always ready to receivo 
 and reproduce from others that which he had not in 
 
SIR CHARLES LYELL, HART. 17!> 
 
 himself. Science and religion for him not only were 
 not divorced, but were one and indivisible." 
 
 He was buried in the nave of the Abbe}-, where 
 a gravestone of fossil marble from Derbyshire bears the 
 following inscription : — 
 
 CHARLES LYELL, 
 Baronet, F.R.S., 
 
 Author of 
 
 " The Principles of Geology." 
 
 Born at Kinnordy, in Forfarshire, 
 
 November 14, 1797. 
 
 Died in London, 
 
 February 22, 1875. 
 
 Throughout a Long and Laborious Life 
 
 He Sought the Means of Deciphering 
 
 The Fragmentary Records 
 
 Of the Earth's History, 
 
 In the Patient Investigation 
 
 Of the Present Order of Nature, 
 
 Enlarging the Boundaries of Knowledge, 
 
 And Leaving on Scientific Thought 
 
 An Enduring Influence. 
 
 " Lord, How Great are Thy "Works, 
 
 And Thy Thoughts are very Deep." 
 
 Psalm xcii. 5. 
 
 A marble bust by Theed, after the original one by 
 Gibson, is placed near the grave. 
 
 Miss Frances Power Cobbe, who had frequent 
 
180 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 opportunities of seeing Sir Charles Lyell in his latter 
 years, thus records her impressions: — 
 
 " The last of the elder generation of our great 
 men of science, Sir Charles Lyell leaves behind him 
 the memory of a character almost ideally representing 
 what such men should be ; so free from egotism, 
 vanity, or jealousy ; so ready to be pleased with every 
 innocent jest or amusement ; so ready to listen 
 patiently to the remarks of those infinitely below 
 his mental calibre ; and withal so affectionate and 
 tender of heart, that no child could be more simple : 
 and, on the other hand, so filled with reverent 
 enthusiasm for the glory and grandeur of the universe, 
 to whose study he devoted himself ; and so ready to 
 open his mind to each new truth, that no man could 
 better deserve the title of a true philosopher. Nor did 
 his philosophy, though it released him from some of 
 the bonds of early prejudice, ever lead him to renounce 
 those highest truths to which the lesser ones of science 
 lead up. It was his frequent observation that religious 
 sentiment deserved as much confidence as any other 
 faculty of our nature ; and in full faith and hope in 
 (rod and immortality, he passed calmly into the dark 
 valley of age and death." 
 
 To summarize the life and labours of Sir Charles 
 Lyell in their relationship to the science of geology 
 would be much the same thing as sketching the develop- 
 ment of the modern British school of the same science 
 during more than the past half century. The task 
 to which he devoted his greatest powers and noblest 
 energies was that of establishing the principles of the 
 
SIR CHARLES LYELL, BART. 181 
 
 science of geology on a sound and philosophical basis. 
 His guiding star pointed to the uniformity of the laws 
 of natnre — a belief which led him to argne that by 
 studying the changes which are being wrought upon 
 the surface of the earth by the silent action of forces 
 now in operation, we put ourselves in possession of a 
 key to the interpretation of those ancient records which 
 it is the special business of the geologist to decipher. 
 
 Prior to the death of Sir Charles Lyell, nearly all 
 the first generation of geologists had passed away — 
 Buckland, Conybeare, Sedgwick, Murchison, Phillips. 
 Prom the advent of the science knowledge has widened in 
 every direction ; larger views of nature and the universe 
 have gained belief everywhere, and geology has fully 
 shared in the general expansion. In this process it 
 cannot be questioned that no one had a greater share 
 than Sir Charles Lyell, for he was much more than 
 a mere geologist. He had a well- trained and scientific 
 mind, which enabled him to take large views of every 
 subject presented to his intellect, to see its various 
 bearings and its points of alliance or contrast with 
 other ranges of thought. All his work was done 
 leisurely, fully, and completely, in large books, and 
 not in fragments of essays and papers ; and every book 
 was absolutely finished up to the point which know- 
 ledge had reached when he put it forth. 
 
 Sir Charles, in spite of his great age and pre- 
 eminent scientific acquirements, was singularly open 
 to fresh accessions of knowledge and fresh generalisa- 
 tions from the increasing store of facts ; and it is no 
 light testimony to the original soundness of his views, 
 
182 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 that they have easily admitted an assimilation of all 
 fresh discoveries and a re-adjustment to newly-accepted 
 theories. He was not only a keen investigator of 
 natural phenomena, he was also a shrewd observer 
 of human nature, and his interesting travels in America 
 are full of clever criticism and sagacious forecasts. His 
 mind, always fresh and open to new impressions, by 
 sympathy drew towards it and quickened the enthusiasm 
 of all who studied nature. Had he done nothing him- 
 self, he would have helped science on by the warmth 
 with which he hailed each new discovery. Professor 
 Hughes says, " How many a young geologist has been 
 braced up for new efforts by the encouraging words he 
 heard from Sir Charles, and how many a one has felt 
 exaggeration checked, and the faculty of seeing things 
 as they are, strengthened by a conversation with that 
 keen sifter of the true from the false ! " 
 
SIR RODERICK J. MURCHISON. 
 
 his eminent geologist was born at 
 Tarraclale in Ross-shire, N.B., Feb- 
 ruary 19, 1792. He was the eldest 
 son of a gentleman of ancient 
 Highland family, and was de- 
 scended from a small clan or sept 
 which for many generations lived in 
 the west of the comity, furnishing 
 factors for some of the larger land- 
 holders, occupants of farms among 
 the western sea-lochs, and even occasionally a parish 
 minister, a doctor, or a schoolmaster. His father 
 Kenneth Mnrchison, educated as a medical man, 
 acquired a competent fortune in India, and while still 
 in the prime of life returned to Scotland, where 
 marrying he purchased the estate of Tarradale, on 
 which he settled for a few years as a resident Highland 
 landlord. At the age of seven, young Murchison was 
 sent to the Grammar School at Durham, where he 
 remained for a period of six years, during which time 
 
 183 
 
184 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 he may be said to have received the only systematic 
 education he ever obtained. Being destined for the 
 army, he was next sent to the University of Edinburgh 
 for a few months, after which he was removed to the 
 Royal Military College at Great Marlow. With not 
 a little difficulty he succeeded in the rather indifferent 
 examinations of the time, and in 1807, being then only 
 fifteen years of age, he received a commission as ensign 
 in the 36th Regiment of Infantry. He joined the 
 army in the Peninsula under Lord Wellington, carried 
 the colours of his regiment and was present at the 
 actions of Roriea and Vimeiro, earning for himself the 
 reputation of an able officer. Many years afterwards 
 the Duke of Wellington said to him, " What, were you 
 that chubby-faced boy who held up the colours when I 
 halted the 36th after Yimeiro ? ' Subsequently under 
 Sir John Moore, he took part in the retreat to Corunna, 
 and took part in the final battle there. These six 
 months of active service formed the only part of his 
 military career in which he was exposed to the hardships 
 and dangers of actual warfare. After serving in Spain 
 and Portugal, he was removed to the staff of his 
 uncle — Sir Alexander Mackenzie — in Sicily. He also 
 served at the siege of Cadiz, and afterwards in Ireland 
 as a captain in the Enniskillen, or 9th Dragoons. The 
 defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo seeming to close the 
 prospect of advancement in the army, Murchison, after 
 eight years of service, quitted the military profession. 
 In the year 1815, he married the daughter of General 
 Francis Hugonen, of Nursted House, Hampshire, and 
 spent some time on the Continent, particularly in Italy, 
 
Sir Roderick J. Murchison. 
 

 
SIR RODERICK J. MURCHISON. 187 
 
 where the cultivated tastes of his wife were of signal 
 influence in instigating and developing his future 
 pursuits. He threw himself with all the natural 
 enthusiasm of his nature into the study of antiquities 
 and art, and for the first time in his life enjoyed the 
 pleasure of intellectual knowledge. 
 
 Of this period of his life, Professor Greikie, in his 
 biography of Murchison, tells a circumstance which, 
 while doubtless authentic, is nevertheless very surprising. 
 Having given up one fixed employment, the ex-captain 
 of dragoons began to look out for another. After the 
 fashion of that day, he seriously thought of becoming 
 a clergyman. " I saw," he wrote himself, " that my 
 wife had been brought up to look after the poor, was a 
 good botanist, enjoyed a garden, and liked tranquillity ; 
 and as parsons then enjoyed a little hunting, shooting, and 
 fishing, without being railed at, I thought I might slide 
 into that sort of comfortable life." For those who knew 
 Murchison in after years, it is almost impossible to grasp 
 the idea that he might have become a country parson 
 instead of a geologist. However, this was fortunately 
 not to be. As already mentioned, the newly-married 
 couple went abroad. This arrangement fell in admirably 
 with the plans of Mrs. Murchison, who had sagaciously 
 seen that her husband would be more likely to break off 
 from his useless life at home if he were thrown among 
 a new set of acquaintances and piu*suits on the Con- 
 tinent. She resolved to approach him at first from the 
 side of art. They posted slowly through France, 
 examining the picture galleries en route, spending the 
 summer in Switzerland and the winter in Genoa, whence 
 
188 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 in the spring of 1817 they departed for Rome. By this 
 time he had become a confirmed dilettante, and his 
 copious notes on pictures and works of art show that 
 he was most enthusiastic and active in his new-found 
 occupation. His criticisms on the works of the great 
 Italian masters alternate with observations on the Forum, 
 the tomb of Cecilia Metella, the baths of Caracalla, and 
 the Grotto of Egeria, and with anecdotes of Canova, 
 whose acquaintance he made. In these two years he was 
 sowing seed which would bear fruit afterwards. Through 
 art he owed his first introduction to an intellectual life ; 
 it was not art which was to be his future stimulus, but 
 it was for him the starting-point of a new career, and it 
 was the first step in the direction of the work and of 
 the honours which he was to achieve. Mrs. Murchison 
 had gained the first victory in her campaign, but it was 
 for a time obscured by intervening defeats. 
 
 On their return from Italy they discovered that the 
 Tarradale Estate had been sold, and they had no alterna- 
 tive but to take up their abode in an old mansion at 
 Barnard Castle. The only recreation for him here was 
 in the sports of the field, into which Murchison threw 
 himself with his usual indomitable energy. His wife 
 endeavoured, but unsuccessfully, to direct his mind into 
 the study of botany and mineralogy, and for some time 
 he enjoyed the reputation of having the finest stud and 
 being one of the hardest riders in the country. How 
 this period of his life closed will be best told in his own 
 words, written forty years afterwards. 
 
 " As time rolled on I got blasi and tired of all fox- 
 hunting life. In the summer following the hunting 
 
SIR RODERICK J. MURCHISON. L89 
 
 season of 1822 — 23, when revisiting my old frieixl 
 Morritt of Rokeb} r , I fell in with Sir Humphry Davy, 
 
 and experienced much gratification in his lively illustra- 
 tions of great physical truths. As Ave shot partridges 
 together in the morning, I perceived that a man might 
 pursue philosophy without abandoning field sports ; and 
 Davy, seeing that I had already made observations on 
 the Alps and Apennines, independently of my anti- 
 quarian rambles, encouraged me to come to London and 
 set to at science, by attending at lectures on chemistry, 
 &c. As my wife naturally backed up this advice, and 
 Sir Humphry Davy said he woidd soon get me into the 
 Royal Society, I was fairly and easily booked." 
 
 The enthusiastic fox-hunter then abandoned sport, 
 and casi in his lot with men of science.* He entered 
 upon his new life by attending the lectures at the Royal 
 Institution, among which was a course of geology. 
 From the Institution named he was led to meetings of 
 the Geological Society, " then held in little rooms in 
 Bedford-street, Covent Garden ; a society founded in 
 1807, and then composed of a small but most brilliant 
 
 * Sir Roderick used to tell an interesting anecdote 
 of the beginning of his scientific career. He was 
 attending the lectures of Dr. Brande, when one day the 
 lecturer's place was taken in his absence by a pale thin 
 lad, his assistant, who gave the lecture and experiments 
 in so admirable a manner as to be received at the end 
 with a hearty round of applause. The name of the 
 assistant was Michael Faraday, and this was his first 
 public appearance. 
 
190 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 body of orators and philosophers, and in which he was 
 destined to take a most important part for the next half- 
 century. Professor Sedgwick says that the " Geological 
 Society of London was, in its early days, composed of 
 robust, joyous, and independent spirits, who toiled well 
 in the field, and did battle and cuffed opinions with 
 much spirit and great good will ; for they had one great 
 object before them — the promotion of true knowledge — 
 and not one of them was deeply committed to any 
 sj-stem of opinions." The same author also speaks of 
 " the joyous meetings, and of the generous, unselfish, 
 and truth-loving spirit that glowed throughout the whole 
 body." 
 
 Such was the peculiar condition of " geological science 
 at the time, that a great work could be done by a man 
 with a quick eye, a good judgment, a keen notion of 
 what had already been done, and a stout pair of legs." 
 Murchison possessed all these advantages, and in addition 
 an orderly and methodical habit, which would have 
 insured success in most walks in life. 
 
 Before proceeding further, let us briefly survey the 
 position of geological science previous to this time. At 
 the commencement of the present century British geo- 
 logists were divided into two hostile parties, the one 
 being composed of the followers of Hutton, of Edin- 
 burgh, and also known as Yulcanists or Plutonists; 
 the others the followers of Werner, the eminent 
 mineralogist of Frieburg, generally termed Neptuuists. 
 
 Hutton's opinion was that the past history of the 
 earth is to be accounted for by an appeal to existing 
 causes, that the continents were first gradually destroyed 
 
SIR RODERICK J. MURCHISON. 19J 
 
 by aqueous denudation, and that out of their ruins were 
 slowly accumulated new continents, to be elevated in 
 their turn by violent convulsions. Thus there would 
 be periods of repose alternating with periods of dis- 
 turbance, one of each constituting a cycle of change. 
 He held that the flow of the rivers, the dasli of the 
 rain, the destructive action of the frost, and all the 
 other agents of changes going on at the present time, 
 were the causes of those which have taken place in 
 the earth, in all the time past of which evidence is 
 before the geologist. 
 
 " I do not pretend," wrote Hutton, " to describe the 
 beginning of things ; I take things such as I find them 
 at present, and from these I reason with regard to that 
 which must have been." These views, adopted subse- 
 quently by Lyell and his followers, did not take into 
 account either the whence or the whither, either the 
 beginning or end of the earth. They constitute the 
 essence of what Professor Huxley terms the uniformi- 
 tarian doctrine ; and be it remarked that this section 
 of the Huttonians disbelieves in the doctrine of alternate 
 periods of repose and convulsion, which is held by 
 another section, termed by Professor Huxley the 
 catastmphic. 
 
 On the other hand, Werner taught that the earth 
 "had been originally covered by the ocean, in which 
 the materials of the minerals were dissolved ; but < >f 
 this ocean he imagined that the various rocks were 
 precipitated in the same order in which he found those 
 of Saxony to lie. Hence, on the retirement of the 
 ocean, certain universal formations spread over the 
 
192 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 surface of the globe, and assumed at the surface various 
 irregular shapes as they consolidated." The important 
 principle which he enunciated was, that the rocks 
 lay in a certain order, and that they therefore had 
 been deposited at successive times. 
 
 When the chemical participation theory was rapidly 
 passing away in favour of the Huttonian views, Mur- 
 chison was abandoning his sporting proclivities, and 
 bracing himself for the life of science, in which after- 
 wards he so distinguished himself. The Wernerian 
 theory had indeed received its defeat from the researches 
 of "William Smith, " the father of English geology," 
 as he was called. His system of geological classifica- 
 tion was rapidly applied to very nearly all the countries 
 of Europe. Every year now tended to broaden the 
 base of the infant science of geology, and multiplied 
 its details. The rocks to which William Smith paid 
 most attention were those now known as the Secondary, 
 or Mesozoic rocks. 
 
 With regard to the strata newer than these, so far 
 back as 1766, Grustavus Brauder had figured an admir- 
 able series of shells foimd in the Eocenes of Hamp- 
 shire ; and at the beginning of the present century 
 in France the labours of Baron Cuvier, and others, had 
 raised from the dead, so to speak, the extraordinary 
 group of animals living in Eocene France. In Grer- 
 many, Groldfuss had been eagerly working at the 
 animals found in caves ; and his success had induced 
 Buckland to explore the hyaena den of Kirkdale, and 
 to ransack the other caverns of this country. When 
 the principle of the classification by fossils was fully 
 
SIR RODERICK J. MURCHISON. 193 
 
 recognized, it was seen that the strata were divisible 
 into three great groups characterized by certain per- 
 sistent forms of animal and vegetable life, inlo Primary 
 or Palaeozoic, Secondary or Mesozoic, and Tertiary or 
 Ivainozoic. The fauna and flora of the first being 
 much less like the productions now on the earth than 
 the second, and each being defined from the other 
 by great physical breaks, during which continents 
 had been submerged, and the depths of the sea had 
 become dry land. 
 
 It thus happened that when Murchison first applied 
 himself to the study of geology as the science of his 
 life, the Tertiary rocks were known to occupy the 
 eastern parts of England as far as the chalk ; the 
 Secondary rocks extended over the whole area from the 
 chalk downs westward to the line of the coal-measures; 
 while the Primary swept in a broad band obliquely 
 through England and into Wales, being represented by 
 the coal-measures and " Old Eed Sandstone." Below 
 these lay a geological terra incognita, embracing the 
 hilly districts of Wales and Cumberland and the High- 
 lands of Scotland, and termed, for want of a better 
 name, from its grey colour, Graywacke. It is obvious 
 that in this direction Murchison might expect greater 
 success than in any other, for the Tertiary strata 
 required a knowledge of the living forms which he did 
 not possess, and the Secondary were already explored. 
 
 "Engaged in the fascinating pursuit of the new 
 science were heroes as noble and knightly as the 
 fellowship of Arthur's Table Pound. There was the 
 eloquent, active, and humorous Buckland, fresh from 
 
 o 
 
194 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 his caves, ready to pick a bone with any one, posting 
 to and fro whenever he heard of any new find, and 
 breaking the monotony of Oxford lectures by a ride 
 across country with his students, or by stamping the 
 memory of Oxford or Kimmeridge clay in their minds 
 by leading them into quagmires. There were the 
 eagle-eyed Sedgwick, full of enthusiasm and not less 
 ready for the fray ; Wollaston, stern in his search for 
 truth ; the cautious Warburton ; the hasty Fitton ; 
 the critical Conybeare ; the shrewd Leonard Horner, 
 and others. They were men for the most part of 
 wealth and position, and with them were associated 
 the most distinguished philosophers of the time, 
 Whewell, Davy, Stokes, and others. All these were 
 men of wide and liberal minds, and naturally would 
 open to Murchison the society for which he was by 
 his own tastes peculiarly fitted. He could moreover 
 follow his new pursuit without sacrificing his out-door 
 exercises."* 
 
 He entered eagerly and yet with method into the 
 career before him. He first set himself to master 
 what books had to tell him of the rocks, and then he 
 proceeded on a tour along the south coast with his 
 wife, whom he left at Lyme Regis, to work quietly 
 at the fossils. He got as far west as Cornwall, where 
 he first saw the rocks of which he and Sedgwick 
 were afterwards to be the historians. On his return 
 he wrote his first scientific paper on the district 
 immediately round Nursted, which proved his 
 
 * Edinburgh Eeview, 1875. 
 
siK RODERICK J. MUKCRISON. 195 
 
 capacity as an observer. Soon afterwards he was 
 elected one of the honorary secretaries of the Geo- 
 logical Society. "Lyell, being then a law student 
 with chambers in the Temple, could only devote a 
 portion of his time to our science, and was glad to 
 make way as secretary for one who, like myself, 
 had nothing else to do but think and dream of geology, 
 and work hard to get on in my new vocation." In 
 1826 he was elected Fellow of the Royal Society, 
 not on account of his scientific work, but because he 
 was an independent gentleman with scientific tastes, 
 and with time and money to gratify them. In those 
 days the Royal Society w r as almost as much an aristo- 
 cratic as a scientific distinction. " This," he wrote 
 afterwards, " was perhaps the happiest period of my 
 life. I had shaken off the vanities of the fashionable 
 world to a good extent, w r as less anxious to know 
 titled folks and leading sportsmen, was free of all the 
 care and expense of a stable full of horses, and had 
 taken to a career in which excitement in the field 
 carried with it occupation, amusement, and possibly 
 reputation." 
 
 The summer following was spent in settling the age 
 of the coal-field of Brora, for which he prepared 
 himself by an extensive survey of the Yorkshire 
 Oolites, during which he made the friendship of 
 Professor Phillips, and his uncle William Smith. In 
 after years, Phillips often recurred to their first 
 meeting, and told how enthusiastic and methodical 
 Murchison was, and how in their boating and walking 
 he was led to see clearly, "that strata must alone be 
 
196 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 identified with their fossils." Being possessed with 
 this knowledge, he had no difficulty in proving, in a 
 comprehensive Memoir, that the coal of Brora belongs 
 to the same Oolitic group of rocks as those of York- 
 shire. To his meeting with Phillips and Smith may 
 fairly be assigned his first mastery of the principles of 
 geological classification, which he afterwards used with 
 such important results in the interpretation of the 
 Silurian, Devonian, and Permian rocks. 
 
 By the time Murchison had been three years at work 
 as a practical geologist, he had not only mastered what 
 was then known of the rocks of Great Britain, but he 
 had added to the general stock of knowledge by his 
 expeditions into Scotland. He had become one of the 
 leading members of the Geological Society, and one of 
 the most ardent and promising geologists of the day. 
 It was only natural that he should turn his newly- 
 acquired knowledge into account by similar expeditions 
 on the Continent. Accordingly, in the winter of 
 1828-29, we find him arranging the first of the 
 journeys which occupied him for the best part of the 
 next three years, the ground explored extending 
 through France to the shores of the Adriatic on the 
 one hand, and through Rhineland and Austria into 
 Hungary on the other. In this expedition he was 
 accompanied a certain way by Lyell. In June follow- 
 ing, Murchison, together with Professor Sedgwick again 
 visited the twisted and broken strata which compose the 
 Alps. They passed by Bonn and Grottingen, then 
 through Dresden to the Carinthian Alps, where they 
 were received bv the Archduke John, " the most scien- 
 
silt RODERICK J. MXJRCHISON. 197 
 
 tific prince in Europe." From thence they visited 
 Switzerland, ultimately returning to record their 
 observations in four Memoirs, which " are models of 
 rapid generalization and of keen and quick observa- 
 tion." 
 
 It was not long before Murchison again set out for 
 the Continent, partly to compare the fossils which he had 
 obtained in Grermany with those of the French collec- 
 tions, and partly " to frequent the society of scientific 
 friends." From Humboldt, who then happened to be 
 in Paris, he gained a considerable amount of information 
 as to the geological structure of the districts which were 
 the scenes of his travels. 
 
 In 1831 he was elected President of the Geological 
 Society, a dignity which he honourably earned by the 
 hard work of previous years. The debates of the Society 
 during his term of office were among the most brilliant 
 in London, and the audiences which attended them 
 included most of the eminent men of science in London. 
 
 He was no sooner installed as President, than, at the 
 instigation of Buckland, he set himself to work on the 
 solution of the problem offered by the rocks which cov< r 
 the greater part of Wales, then known obscurely as 
 Grraywacke. The important results of this resolution 
 are now matters of scientific history. In his expedition 
 he laid under contribution stores of knowledge accumu- 
 lated by local observers, which were freely placed at his 
 service. To one of these — the Rev. T. T. Lewis, of 
 Aymestry — he acknowledged himself indebted "for 
 much of his knowledge of the rocks and fossils of the 
 Upper Silurian Series, for that gentleman had already 
 
198 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 made out the arrangement of the rocks in this district, 
 and recognized their characteristic fossils before Mur- 
 chison had begun to study the subject." 
 
 The seven succeeding years were chieffy devoted to 
 the mapping of these newly-classified rocks, for which 
 Murchison proposed the name of Silurian, from his 
 having first of all worked at them in the country of 
 the Silures,* and in 1838 the results of his labours ap- 
 peared in a magnificent volume entitled " The Silurian 
 System," and which contained, in addition to almost 
 learned and comprehensive text, a geological map and 
 a series of plates of fossils, which at once established his 
 reputation as one of the first geologists in Europe. 
 
 In this great work the author freely availed himself 
 of the assistance of his friends, and in it the esj)ecial 
 knowledge required for the interpretation and descrip- 
 tion of the fossil remains was contributed by the 
 leading paleontologists of the day. It was a complete 
 work, designed and carried out in the most methodical 
 manner, exactly what might have been expected from 
 such an energetic man of business as the author was. 
 Agassiz described the fishes, Sowerby and Lonsdale the 
 corals and shells, Broderip and Phillips, Milne- 
 Edwards, and others, assisted in various important 
 
 * Siluria means simply, a district on the borders of 
 England and Wales, which was formerly inhabited by 
 a tribe of ancient Britons, whom Eoman authors speak 
 of under the name of Silures. Shropshire and Hereford- 
 shire, Montgomeryshire and Eadnorshire, may be taken 
 as the main part of this district. 
 
SIR RODERICK J. MURCHISON. U)9 
 
 departments. The work was appropriately dedicated to 
 his friend and fellow-traveller Sedgwick. Before the 
 publication of this truly great work, these Gray \va eke 
 rocks had generally been looked upon as a geological 
 chaos, but Murchison had now succeeded in mapping 
 off the order of their upper divisions, and in revealing 
 to his readers a series of changes in the fossil groups 
 of life, analogous to those which William Smith had 
 proved to exist in the secondary rocks. He had. 
 moreover, traced the flows of lava and basalt, and the 
 sheet of volcanic ash to the sites from which they were 
 poured forth ; and he had proved to what a thickness 
 the volcanic detritus had spread over the ancient 
 Silurian Sea. 
 
 Before the " Silurian System " was well out of his 
 hands, Murchison, in conjunction with Sedgwick, deter- 
 mined to make out the history of the rocks of Devon- 
 shire and Cornwall. Their labours resulted in the 
 proof that the massive slate rocks of the south-west of 
 England, and the irregular fossil coral reefs at Torquay, 
 Plymouth, and elsewhere, formed part of a group of 
 strata below the coal measures and later than the 
 Silurians. 
 
 After a hasty, but most successful tour in France, 
 Murchison determined to employ himself in an under- 
 taking more serious than anything he had previously 
 done. This was to strike across the Russian empire to 
 the Urals, and his plan was welcomed by the Russian 
 Government with promises of support. In the spring 
 of 1841, accompanied by M. de Verneuil, he bent his 
 steps towards the Neva. The Emperor himself took 
 
200 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 considerable interest in the expedition, and from that 
 time forward was numbered amongst Murchisons 
 illustrious friends. On being joined by Count von 
 Keyserling, deputed by the Russian Government to 
 attach himself to the expedition, they spent the next 
 five months in exploring Central and Southern Russia, 
 a work full of incident, the results of which were 
 subsequently detailed in " Russia and the Ural Moun- 
 tains"; a costly and elaborate work, in which are treated 
 not only the rocks of Russia, but also those of Scandi- 
 navia. His scientific merit was, through the produc- 
 tion of this work, now so thoroughly recognized 
 abroad, that it could no longer be ignored at home ; 
 and accordingly in 1846 he received the honour of 
 knighthood in consideration of his distinguished 
 services. Three years later he obtained the still higher 
 honour of the Copley Medal, from the Royal Society. 
 
 Murchison had now done the main g-eolo^ical 
 work of his life. There only remained to hiin the 
 consolidation of his conquests, and the application 
 of his classification to other regions. In 1854 the 
 first octavo edition of his popular work, " Siluria," 
 appeared, in which, as before, he availed himself 
 of the co-operation of all the best men in their 
 respective departments. 
 
 For thirty years Sir Roderick had been free from 
 the cares of public duty. It was now his fate to 
 be appointed Director-general of the Geological 
 Survey of Great Britain, and of the School of Mines ; 
 a position which he held till his death, to the great 
 advantage of the public service. The energy and 
 
SIR RODERICK J. MURCHISON. 201 
 
 business-like qualities of the new director-general 
 at once made themselves felt in the order and method 
 by which the survey was conducted, as well as in 
 the uniform system of the publication of the memoirs, 
 and the arrangement of the collections. His high 
 social position and personal influence with the 
 Ministry, gave a prestige to the department which 
 it had not possessed before, and prevented its dis- 
 memberment, or absorption into South Kensington. 
 By his rare tact he kept it during the whole of his 
 reign distinctively a school for geology and mining. 
 
 We must now refer to Murchison's connection with 
 the British Association. As head of the geological 
 and geographical sections, as general secretary, and 
 ultimately as president, he continued to fill a foremost 
 place in it till the end of his life. 
 
 His name also will ever be associated with the history 
 of exploration in Africa. While Livingstone, Burton, 
 Speke, Grant, Baker, and others were pursuing their 
 investigations, shut out from civilization, and thrown 
 upon their own resources, he in England was ever 
 looking after their interests with anxious solicitude. 
 Even when the wilds of Africa had closed over Living- 
 stone for years, he was the last to lose heart in the 
 success of the enterprise. 
 
 After the death of his wife in 1869, there is very 
 little left to record of Sir Eoderick Murchison. He 
 had reaped a rich harvest of honours. In 1860 he was 
 elected Corresponding Member of the French Institute ; 
 in 1864 he received the Wollaston Medal, and in 1866 
 he was created a baronet. In 1870 he founded, in 
 
202 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 
 
 conjunction with the Government, the Murchison 
 Professorship of Greology in the University of Edin- 
 burgh, and in the winter of that year was struck down 
 by paralysis. He rallied, however, sufficiently to 
 prepare his last Address in 1871, but as the autumn 
 came round he gradually became worse, until he could 
 no longer speak, and on the 22nd of October he quietly 
 and almost imperceptibly passed away, at the ripe age 
 of seventy-nine. 
 
 The honours which Sir Roderick Murchison won are 
 a great testimony to the scientific enlightenment of the 
 age. We have crowned Science Queen, and all her 
 servants form her court and wear the title she bestows. 
 And truly, a scientific man earns his honours more 
 nobly, and wears them more honourably, than those who 
 win them in political controversy or on the field of 
 battle. In future years he will be known as one of the 
 pioneers of that new order of renown which is won by 
 fruitful service rather than by destructive deeds. The 
 scientific theories which he was unable to admit gained 
 a rapid victory over those to which he clung ; he was 
 therefore rather the great authority of a transition time 
 than the prophet of the future ; but the very fact that, 
 after a long life spent in the service of science, he went 
 to his grave as fidl of honours as of years, is one more 
 illustrious proof that science has, in latter days, opened 
 for every one who chooses to study it, a new way to 
 fame and historical renown. 
 
 Pardon & Sons, Printers, Who- Office Covrt, Fleet Street, London, K.C. 
 
A BOOK FOR ALL INTERESTED IN THE EDUCATION OF THE 
 
 PEOPLE. 
 
 FREE PUBLIC LIBRARIES, 
 
 THEIR ORGANISATION, 
 
 USES AND MANAGEMENT. 
 
 With Illustrations of Free Library Buildings, Ground Plans, 
 
 &c. &c. 
 
 BY 
 
 THOMAS GKEENWOOD, F.E.G.S. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 S I M PK I N, MARSHA LL, & C< 
 
 1886. 
 
Price 2s. Qd. ; by Post, 2s. 9d. 
 
 A TOUR IN THE STATES AND CANADA: 
 
 OUT AND HOME IN SIX WEEKS. 
 
 AN ILLUSTRATED AND COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE. 
 
 Showing how all the Principal Sights in the Chief Cities of the States and Canada may be 
 seen with great comfort and a very small outlay of either money or time. 
 
 By THOMAS GREENWOOD, F.R.G.S. 
 
 London: L. UPCOTT GILL, 170 STRAND, W.C. 
 
 What the PRESS says :— 
 
 The Times, July 21, 1883. 
 The traveller who has only six weeks to spare will rind some useful hints in Mr. Green- 
 wood's unpretentious " Tour in the States and Canada ; Out and Home in Six Weeks." 
 
 The Christian World, May 31, 1883. 
 Visits to Europe are now accepted as well nigh a necessary part of the training of our 
 transatlantic cousins ; but there is no corresponding rush of Europeans to the New 
 World, although there is much unquestionably to be gained from such a visit, in the 
 infusion of new ideas, well calculated to rid our countrymen of narrow insular prejudices. 
 With a view to removing some of the barriers which stand in the way of such intercourse, 
 Mr. Thomas Greenwood, whose experience well qualifies him for the task, supplies under 
 the title " A Tour in the States and Canada," some practical directions, which will be 
 found very serviceable to those whose engagements compel them to limit their holiday 
 excursion to a period of six weeks. The volume is published by Mr. Upcott Gill, and it 
 would be difficult to find a work in which an equal amount of trustworthy information is 
 brought together in so readable a style. 
 
 London Daily <')tr<>nirle, June 12, 1S83. 
 
 A plain matter-of-fact narrative ; but one that will prove of essential service to anyone 
 wishing to make a similar tour. No point seems to be overlooked, and the author 
 touches on many phases of industrial life in America, as well as those of a holiday 
 character. 
 
 Scotsman, June 26, 1883. 
 
 Mr. Greenwood's "Tour in the States and Canada," should be found of considerable 
 use to those who propose to imitate his example, and spend six weeks in travelling 
 through the Eastern States and Canada. Mr. Greenwood, by presenting this inf orma- 
 tion in a condensed and convenient form, gives the intending traveller an opportunity of 
 "posting himself up" beforehand, and has besides prepared tables of tariffs and 
 distances that will be found of much use. 
 
 Nottingham Daily Guardian, June 22, 1 
 Contains a good deal of valuable information. The rais< of the little volume is 
 
 to show business men with six weeks to spare that the time cannot be more profitably 
 spent than in a visit to the New World, and this lie well succeeds in doing. 
 
 Bristol Daily Times and Mirror, June 2, 1883. 
 This is the result of a " run over to the States " for six weeks, and the name of the 
 author is a sufficient guarantee that while so limning he has read much, or at any rate 
 has succeeded in getting together a quantity of valuable and interesting information, for 
 the benefit of those who may follow him." The New World, as he says, is naturally a 
 source of great interest to most English people, but in the way of the many, who would 
 like to see for themselves the state of things across the Atlantic,' there are many obstacles, 
 in the removal of which this little book materially assists. 
 
 Publisher's Circular, July 16, 18S3. 
 It is a comprehensive and well-arranged little book, full of really useful matter. 
 
 North Cheshire Herald, June 2, 1883. 
 
 One of the most interesting publications we have perused for some time is on the above 
 subject, from the pen of Mr.Thomas Greenwood. Our readers have from time to time 
 had an opportunity of judging with what felicity Mr. Greenwood enlists their interest, 
 and retains their attention until he has disposed of his subject. So it will be found in 
 " A Tour in the States and Canada," being a practical guide to seeing the leading eeu* 
 of those places in six weeks — an accomplishment plainly demonstrated by the author. 
 
 Bath Herald, June 16, 1883. 
 
 These are days of rapid movement, and the writer of this neat little volume undertakes 
 to show his readers how to enjoy a six weeks' scamper through the States and Canada. 
 He very carefully describes the hotel system of America, and the expenses a tourist will 
 
be put to, the things to be seen in the various towns, and gives a number of hints which 
 will be useful to the English visitor. He is quite right as to the interest and advantage 
 of a trip to America, however brief, and his pages will do as much to smooth difficulties 
 out of the way of the traveller as any volume we know. 
 
 Cook's Excursionist and Tourist A<lct rtisf-r, July 2, 1.SS3. 
 It is impossible to read the pages in Mr. Greenwood's book without being struck at the 
 pleasant, easy style in which they are written, and, at the same time, at the care and the 
 accuracy with which such important details as statistics are dealt with, where they come 
 in the path of the writer. Altogether, those who contemplate taking a tour in the States 
 will find this work an intelligent companion. 
 
 Literary World, July 6, 1883. 
 In this convenient little volume, the author endeavours to give practical and useful 
 information to the intending and possible traveller. 
 
 Stratford and South Essex Advertiser, June 8, 1SS3. 
 
 In a sketch of a mere holiday-run over a vast tract of country we cannot expect a 
 very profound study of the manners and customs of a people, but we may get a good deal 
 of useful information conveyed in a readable style. In this respect Mr. Greenwood is 
 decidedly successful. 
 
 Leamington Spa Courier, June 23, 18S3. 
 
 This work is designed for tourists in the "United States and Canada, and contains a 
 large fund of information, on such subjects as prices, distances, routes, hotel and 
 railway charges, which all persons visting America for the first time will find exceed ingly 
 useful. So far as we are aware, much of the information here given was not previously 
 accessible in a convenient form, and therefore the work merits special commendation. 
 Most of the chief features of all the large towns and cities of America are described, and 
 the scenery of the country on the chief railway routes is also touched upon. Altogether 
 it is a very useful handbook, and intending -visitors to America may consult it with 
 advantage. 
 
 The British Trade Journal, June 1, 1883. 
 
 This is an intelligent record of a brief sojourn in Greater Britain. The author visited 
 the leading cities in the States, kept his eyes and ears open, and gained a great deal of 
 information, which he has put together in a compact form. The chapters dealing with 
 the American manufacturing centres contain interesting matter. 
 
 The Warehouseman & Draper's Trade Journal, June 2, 1883. 
 In this little volume Mr. Greenwood has given the results of his experience during a 
 brief holiday in the United States and Canada, and has done so in a form specially useful 
 to those who may think of making a similar tour, as it contains a large amount of informa- 
 tion presented in an easy style, and a very practical manner. The book is well worth reading 
 by those who do not intend to cross the Atlantic. 
 
 The Country News and Chronicle [Stockport), 3\me 8, 1S83. 
 The work is written in a readable style, and contains in small compass a mass of 
 interesting information for those who have not yet had a voyage across the Atlantic. 
 
 The Cabinet Maker, June 1, 18S3. 
 
 A smart little volume .... It gives a most pleasant account of the States and Canada 
 as they present themselves to a "man on pleasure bent,'' who, by the way also ''had a 
 frugal mind." Mr. Greenwood has in this volume treated of things not usually observed 
 by the ordinary tourist, and his work is the more valuable in consequence. 
 
 The Field, July 14, 1883. 
 New York, Boston, Montreal, Quebec, Ottawa, Toronto, Niagara, Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit, 
 Chicago, Cincinnati, and Louisville, St. Louis and Pittsburg, the Oil Regions, Richmond, 
 Baltimore, "Washington, Philadelphia, and several manufacturing centres are here in turn 
 discussed in their superficial aspects, with advice on emigration, &c. The latter non- 
 descriptive part will probably be found of some use to those who want to know everything 
 before thev start. 
 
 The Queen, July 7, 1883. 
 
 In a moderate-sized volume the writer narrates his experience in a recent " run over the 
 States" giving his narrative that practical and suggestive turn which fits it to betaken in 
 hand as a general guide by any who may be meditating the same trip. His observations 
 on steamers, baggage, hotel life, railways, and kindred subjects are anion;;- the most useful 
 features of the book, and lie has instructive remarks to make concerning the principal 
 cities and places visited or likely to be visited by the ordinary excursionist across the 
 Atlantic. 
 
 The Colonies and India. 
 
 To a traveller who uses his eyes and exercises ordinary intelligence, as Mr. Greenwood 
 evidently did, a run to the States is a matter of vast importance, for it gives opportunity 
 for personal study of peoples and places, about which much that is wrong has been 
 written, mixed with much that is right. We can only hope that some day, when the 
 Canadian Pacific Railway is finished, Mr. Greenwood will tell us what there is to see on 
 the way to New "Westminster and Victoria, along the route of that railway. 
 
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