i88o.] PORTRAITS. 



399 



an induction coil, so as to disturb any magnetic or dia-mag- 

 netic sensibility, which it seems just possible that they may 

 possess. C. D. 



[During the latter years of my father's life there was a 

 growing tendency in the public to do him honour. In 1877 

 he received the honorary degree of LL.D. from the Univer- 

 sity of Cambridge. The degree was conferred on November 

 17, and with the customary Latin speech from the Public 

 Orator, concluding with the words : " Tu vero, qui leges na- 

 turae tam docte illustraveris, legum doctor nobis esto." 



The honorary degree led to a movement being set on foot 

 in the University to obtain some permanent memorial of my 

 father. A sum of about ;£"4oo was subscribed, and after the 

 rejection of the idea that a bust would be the best memorial, 

 a picture was determined on. In June 1879 he sat to Mr. 

 W. Richmond for the portrait in the possession of the Uni- 

 versity, now placed in the Library of the philosophical So- 

 ciety at Cambridge. He is represented seated in his Doctor's 

 gown, the head turned towards the spectator : the picture has 

 many admirers, but, according to my own view, neither the 

 attitude nor the expression are characteristic of my father. 



A similar wish on the part of the Linnean Society — with 

 which my father was so closely associated — led to his sitting 

 in August, 1 88 1, to Mr. John Collier, for the portrait now in 

 the possession of the Society. Of the artist, he wrote, 

 " Collier was the most considerate, kind and pleasant painter 

 a sitter could desire." The portrait represents him standing 

 facing the observer in the loose cloak so familiar to those who 

 knew him, and with his slouch hat in his hand. Many of 

 those who knew his face most intimately, think that Mr. 

 Collier's picture is the best of the portraits, and in this judg- 

 ment the sitter himself was inclined to agree. According to 

 my feeling it is not so simple or strong a representation of 

 him as that given by Mr. Ouless. There is a certain expres- 

 sion in Mr. Collier's portrait which I am inclined to consider 

 an exaggeration of the almost painful expression which 



