JOHN STEVENS HENSLOW 



1796 1861 



BY GEORGE HENSLOW 



An all-round man appointed Professor of Mineralogy at Cambridge in 

 1826, but succeeds Martyn in the Chair of Botany a year later 

 essentially an ecologist his famous teaching methods "practical 

 work" his wide interests country life the educational museum 

 village amenities. 



THE scientific career and parochial life of the late Rev. Prof. 

 J. S. Henslow, are described by my late uncle, the Rev. Leonard 

 Jenyns, in his Memoir 1 . I propose adding and illustrating some 

 of his more personal traits, habits and pursuits as a scientific 

 man, and to deal especially with his educational methods. His 

 studies in science were by no means confined to one branch, 

 thus Geology was first ardently pursued in conjunction with 

 Sedgwick. It was in a tour together in the Isle of Wight 

 in 1819, that they proposed establishing a "Corresponding 

 Society, for the purpose of introducing subjects of natural 

 history to the Cambridge students." The outcome of this idea, 

 which was subsequently abandoned, was the " Cambridge Philo- 

 sophical Society," of which " Henslow, B.A. was elected secretary 

 in 1 82 1 2 ." 



Conchology and Entomology claimed his attention ; one of 

 his first discoveries was the rare insect Macroplea equiseti, his 

 identical " find ' being figured in Curtis' British Entomology, 

 while he found the bivalve Cyclas Henslowiana, so named by 



1 Memoir of the Rev. John Stevens Henslow, M.A., F.L.S., F.G.S., F.C.P.S. 

 (J. Van Voorst, 1862). 



2 Memoir, pp. 17 ff. 



