THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE 



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scientific world at large. Never very I 

 robust in health, he accomplished sev- 

 eral long and laborious tasks and yet 

 rarely failed to place his time and en- 

 ergy at the disposal of those who made 

 demands on them. He was brought up ( 

 in a school of mathematics which put 

 ingenuity and brevity at a high pre- 

 mium, yet when faced with a difficult 

 problem he usually chose the direct 

 route towards the solution, often at the 

 cost of long and laborious calculations. 

 Even when deeply engrossed in the 

 work he was doing, he would lay it 

 aside at a moment 's notice to listen to 

 and discuss the problems of his friends 

 or pupils. And while acting as an 

 inspiration to many of his contem- 

 poraries, he never failed to impress 

 them with his modesty even when ex- 

 pressing his own opinion in his direct 

 but kindly manner. 



For many years Sir George Darwin 

 has been recognized as the leader — a 

 title he would have immediately dis- 

 claimed — in a subject which is perhaps 

 the most fascinating and the most 

 dangerous of all those which may oc- 

 cupy the thoughts of a scholar. Cos- 

 mogony is replete with unsolved prob- 

 lems and hypotheses may be multiplied 

 almost indefinitely. Almost any new 

 discovery or advance in our knowledge 

 of the physical world may have a bear- 

 ing on it. Sir George Darwin, whose 

 best known work lies in this field, never 

 allowed himself to be led much beyond 

 what he was able to establish by exact 

 methods. If he gave a theory of the 

 past history of the earth and its satel- 

 lite, he did not allow the reader to 

 imagine that he had solved the prob- 

 lem, but simply considered his work as 

 sufficient to make probable a possible 

 hypothesis. 



While his earlier interests were in 

 the direction of pure science, his asso- 

 ciation with Lord Kelvin led him to 

 the consideration of a practical prob- 

 lem. Tidal prediction is always im- 

 portant for a country with the mer- 

 cantile interests of Great Britain. Sir 



George Darwin had immense power in 

 dealing with long and intricate calcula- 

 tions, and his ability was nowhere bet- 

 ter employed when he drew order out 

 of chaos in furnishing methods which 

 could be used by a seaman to obtain 

 the tides of his port of call or by a 

 government in the formation of tide 

 tables for its coasts. This same facil- 

 ity and his gathered experience led to 

 his advice being continuously sought in 

 the discussion of meteorological rec- 

 ords. In geodetic problems he was one 

 of the chief advisers of the government 

 and was its representative in the inter- 

 national congresses which have been 

 held in Europe during the last fifteen 

 years. In all such matters the English 

 government asks for and acts upon the 

 opinions of its representative scientific 

 men, and Sir George Darwin took his 

 full share in these responsibilities. 



His most notable public function 

 was his presidency of the British Asso- 

 ciation during the memorable tour in 

 South Africa some seven years ago. 

 The sounds of the warfare in that 

 country had only just ceased and great 

 tact was needed to avoid any unpleas- 

 ant feelings either amongst the native 

 or white races. It is not too much to 

 say that the association could hardly 

 have made a better choice for its pre- 

 siding officer. In some forty speeches 

 all over the colonies, while avoiding 

 platitudes, he hit the right note, not 

 stirring up excitement and not sending 

 his hearers away without some thought 

 which characterized the occasion. The 

 same touch was visible in his final 

 public appearance as president of the 

 Mathematical Congress held in Cam- 

 bridge last August. None of those who 

 heard his tribute to Henri Poincare" on 

 that occasion realized that he himself 

 would so soon also depart. 



His numerous friends not only in 

 England and Europe, but also in this 

 country, will regret the passing, not 

 alone of the student, but of the wise 

 and kindly man whose humanity was 

 never lost in his scholarship. 



