KARL ERNST VON BAER. 335 



any he had hitherto known. Under the auspices of the academy, he 

 made a number of journeys first to Lapland and Nova Zerabhi, and 

 later in the interests of the fisheries to the Volga, Lake Peipns, and 

 the Caspian Sea. He published full reports of all these explorations, 

 and remained a most active member of the Academy till 1862, when he 

 was made an honorary member. 



Von Baer was a strong believer in development, but an uncompro- 

 mising opponent of Darwinism, one of his last papers being a protest 

 against the assumed descent of Vertebrates from Ascidians. The 

 breadth of his culture, his great learning, his native simplicity of 

 character, are nowhere better shown than in the volumes of his col- 

 lected addresses, more popular essays and lectures. While, however, 

 he inclines to make knowledge accessible to all, he speaks with quiet 

 contempt of the dilettante science. Phytogeny, — if we may so call it, 

 — which threatens to drown all serious investigations under its fan- 

 tastic theories. 



A few men in every century leave the tide line of human knowl- 

 edge higher than they found it. Von Baer was one of these. Less 

 brilliant perhaps than Cuvier, he is equally identified with the theory 

 of types ; and the fame of Von Baer may even outrun that of his 

 great contemporai-y, since to embryology rather than to any other 

 science we may look for the elucidation of the prominent biological 

 problems of the day. 



Since the last Report, the Academy has received an acces- 

 sion of eighteen new members : three Fellows, A. Graham 

 Bell, B. H. Nash, W. E. Story ; seven Associate Fellows, 

 William Ferrel, J. L. Diman, Thomas Hill, George Mary 

 Searle, Henry Larcom Abbott, Nathaniel Holmes, Richard 

 Saltonstall Greenough ; eight Foreign Honorary Members, 

 Ei-nst Curtius, F. A. A. Mignet, James Paget, jNIark Pattison, 

 H. C. Rawlinson, A. P. Stanley, Alfred Tennyson, Viollet- 

 Le-Duc. On the other hand, by removal from the State or 

 by resignation, the following Fellows have abandoned their 

 membership : Francis Bowen, Edward C. Cabot, William 

 Ferrel, George S. Hillard, Ira Remson, William E. Story. The 

 list of the Academy corrected to June, 1877, is hereto added. 

 It includes 181 Fellows, 96 Associate Fellows, and 72 For- 

 eign Honorary Members. 



