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HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[Dec. 1, 1866. 



appointed Professor of Botany to Trinity College, 

 Dublin. The most important of his works are 

 " Phycologia Britannica," "Phycologia Australica," 

 "Flora Capensis," and "Nereis Boreali -Americana." 

 He also produced other useful books, and many 

 valuable contributions to periodical scientific litera- 

 ture. We could also add much concerning the 

 excellent personal qualities which endeared him to 

 all who knew him. May a double portion of his 

 spirit descend upon his successors ! 



Another good workman in Cryptogamic Botany 

 has been lost to us in Dr. B. K. Greville, who for 

 more than forty years contributed largely to our 

 literature in Fungi, Algge, and other of the lower 

 orders of plants. In 1823 the excellent " Scottish 

 Cryptogamic Flora" was commenced, and its faults 

 are those which are more to be attributed to the 

 imperfect condition of microscopes in those days 

 than to any shortcomings in the author. In 1824 

 bis " Flora Edinensis " was published, and during his 

 later years the earnest and indefatigable manner in 

 which he applied himself to the study of the Diato- 

 macese may serve as a lesson to more sluggisb 

 spirits. The facility with which Dr. Greville could 

 employ the pencil increased the value of his com- 

 munications, and enhanced his fame. Whoever has 

 had the opportunity of examining his drawings 

 prepared for the " Scottish Cryptogamic Flora," 

 and the " exquisite delineations of Diatoms which 

 were the work of forty years later in his life, will 

 admit that the power was not in the least diminished 

 by age. His large and valuable collection of Diato- 

 maceee, including the typical specimens, and a few 

 original drawings, have been added to the Botanical 

 Department of the Britisb Museum, where they are 

 associated with Professor Smith's Diatoms, and 

 constitute a rich and rare collection of these curious 

 organisms. 



On the Continent, Botanical Science has also 

 suffered many severe losses. Of these we may name 

 Dr. Camille Montagne, a most indefatigable French 

 Cryptogamist ; Don Vicenze Cutanda, Professor of 

 Botany in the University of Madrid ; Dr. Von 

 Siebold, the Japanese Traveller : Dr. Gasparrini, of 

 Naples ; Dr. Mettenius ; and Dr. Schlechtendal, for 

 many years associated with the " Botanische 

 Zeitung" and the "Linnsea." It is a fact worthy 

 of notice that the mortality amongst Botanists of 

 celebrity has been greater of late than amongst any 

 other scientific men. 



And, in conclusion, we cannot refrain from adding 

 another name — of one who, as an honest and 

 earnest worker, may well be placed in connection 

 with men of greater pretensions and wider fame. 

 To some, perhaps, the name of Bichard Beck is 

 unknown, or known only as a " maker of micro- 

 scopes." In such a character others may soon fill 

 his place ; but as a patient and unassuming labourer 

 with the microscope, he lived respected and died 



lamented. The contributions scattered through the 

 Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science represent 

 but a very small portion of his work, since one con- 

 tinually meets with acknowledgments by other 

 writers of valuable observations for which they 

 were indebted to him ; and when his labours 

 " ceased in death," the structure of spiders was a 

 subject to which he was devoting his energies. The 

 last communication which appeared in print under 

 bis name was " On the Poison Fangs of Spiders," 

 in this Journal (p. 201). It is well known that Mr. 

 Beck was a strong advocate for the examination of 

 objects by reflected light ; and no one acquired a 

 larger collection of apparatus and contrivances for 

 the observation of opaque objects tban himself, in 

 which direction mucb of his ingenuity was em- 

 ployed. Those who knew him best appreciated him 

 most, and amongst others the Quekett Microscopical 

 Club reserves to his memory an " empty chair." 



ANALOGY OF FOBM. 



THE study of Natural History is, I am led to 

 believe, pursued by different minds in different 

 ways. 



Some men observe and collect various animals, 

 plants, and stones, regarding them simply as certain 

 links in a systematic chain more or less artificial, as 

 individuals representing the abstract ideas wrapped 

 up in the Latin names which a Linnseus or a Cuvier 

 conferred upon them. They look but on the outer 

 crust or shell, as it were, without investigating the 

 organs and their functions. This I should call the 

 mechanical mode of study. 



Some men regard animals and plants only as far 

 as they are of service in commerce, as yielding 

 produce — in fact, as merchantable commodities ; 

 this I should call the utilitarian mode of study. 

 Some men, going further than either of these, 

 examine the works of nature, on the one hand, both 

 in their relation to classification and their mercantile 

 value ; but, on the other hand, they do not neglect 

 the study of the organisms as organisms — they 

 anatomatize the various parts, and inquire into 

 their functions. This I should call the practical 

 mode of study. 



Other men, however, look above and beyond all 

 of these. While acknowledging the value of system, 

 of agriculture and of anatomy, they regard the 

 study of animals and plants as tending to some- 

 thing higher, as a means to an end ; seeing in the 

 observing of the created works a method by which 

 they may contemplate the mind of the Creator; 

 passing from inquiring into the functions of organs, 

 to inquiring what are the laws which govern their. ; 

 eudeavouring to correlate the so-called vital forces 

 with the purely physical agencies ; ever striving to 

 obtain a glimpse, however faint, of the great purposes 



