76 NATURAL SCIENCE. marc... 



Of his purely anthropological works, special mention should be 

 made of the Crania Ethnica, in the preparation of which he secured 

 the co-operation of Dr. E. T. Hamy, the keeper of the ethnographical 

 collections in the Trocadero. It was also in conjunction with Hamy 

 that he projected a great series of works, Les Races Huinaincs, to which 

 he contributed the introductory volume in 1887, when he was 77 

 years of age. Ten years earlier he had written a popular work, 

 L'Esptce Hnmainc, of which an English translation appeared in 1879, 

 as a volume of the " International Scientific Series." 



As an anthropologist he conceded a very high antiquity to the 

 Imman species, and, like so many other Frenchmen, accepted with 

 little hesitation the evidence on which it has been sought to establish 

 the existence of " Miocene Man." On the other hand, he adhered 

 to a rigid monogenism, after the old controversy had lost to many 

 naturalists its former interest. It was a prominent feature in his 

 teaching that the differentiation of the several races of mankind 

 from a single species had been brought about by the varying 

 influences of the environment. In assigning to Alan liis systematic 

 zoological position, he held that too much weight had been given to 

 his structural resemblances to the lower animals, and too little to his 

 psychological differences ; hence, he held to the last that Man must 

 constitute by himself a distinct kingdom — the Rtgiie Humain. 



In 1852, Professor De Quatrefages was elected a member of the 

 French Academy of Sciences, replacing Savigny in the section of 

 zoology. In 1863 he was made an officer of the Legion of Honour. 

 But the highest recognition of his merit was reserved until 1879, 

 when he was elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Society. At 

 the second meeting of the Association Francaise pony VAvancement des 

 Sciences, held at Lyon in 1873, De Quatrefages presided, and 

 delivered an introductory discourse admirably suited to a time when 

 his country was emerging from the shadow of its great misfortune. 

 " Dans ce Siecle de la Science," said the President, " une nation ne 

 saurait etre grande et forte qu'en s'inspirant du genie du temps, en 

 s'impregnant de I'esprit scientifique." F. W. R. 



THOMAS ROBERTS. 

 Born 1856 — Died January 24, 1892. 



GEOLOGICAL science has suffered a severe loss by the death, at 

 the early age of 35, of Mr. Thomas Roberts, M.A., F.G.S. He 

 was educated at the University College, Aberystwyth, and there his 

 attention was attracted to Geology by Mr. F. W. Rudler, who, at the 

 time, occupied one of the professorial chairs. After a successful 

 career at this Welsh college, Mr. Roberts proceeded, in 1879, to 

 Cambridge, where he entered St. John's College. He took his B.A. 

 degree in 1882, being placed in the first class in the Natural Science 



