298 Linnean Society. [May 24, 



coveries in the minute anatomy of Insects, and in the ])hysiology of 

 generation as observed in the Amphibia, are of the first importance, 

 and are acknowledged as such wherever these subjects are known 

 and investigated. These are matters which I may well leave ; nor 

 shall I encroach upon Mr. Bennett's province by speaking of the 

 events of his life. But there is one point in his character on which 

 I am anxious to dwell for a few moments, and on which few are 

 able to speak so decidedly as myself. I had known him from the 

 very commencement of his career. It was during the time that 

 I was occupied in lecturing on Comparative Anatomy at Guy's 

 Hospital, that I first met Newport at the house of a mutual friend, 

 and that some of his earliest papers on Insect Anatomy were shown 

 to me. I was even then delighted with their evident accuracy, the 

 elaborate minuteness of detail as well as the beauty of the illustra- 

 tions with which they were accompanied. I mention these circum- 

 stances only to show that I had known and estimated him from a 

 very early period. It happened that I had from that time very 

 frequent communication with him, and latterly, some of his most 

 important papers passed through my hands as Secretary of the Royal 

 Society ; and I had also the opportunity of witnessing many of his 

 experiments. Gentlemen, it has been said that his temper was 

 peculiar, and even that he was scarcely fair in acknowledging the 

 merits of those who laboured in the same field with himself. I can- 

 not hesitate to deny in general terms the latter accusation, and to 

 modify the former by the assurance that it was in great measure 

 from the want of knowing him thoroughly, and allowing for and 

 yielding to his peculiarities, that he so often came into painful 

 colhsion with his fellow-naturalists. I had occasion frequently to 

 differ from him : I never hesitated to tell him frankly of what I con- 

 sidered his faults, and to point out errors and suggest alterations in 

 his papers. I will not say that he always followed the proffered 

 advice, although he has done so even against his existing opinion ; 

 but he always received the suggestion in the most friendly manner, 

 and I never had a moment's misunderstanding with him. He loved 

 and followed science for her own sake ; and if occasionally he 

 appeared somewhat tenacious of his opinions and over- anxious for 

 his own fame, surely this was pardonable in one who gave up all 

 for the pursuit of knowledge, depriving himself without a murmur 

 of even the most common comforts, that he might devote himself the 

 more unreservedly to the one noble object of his life. He worked 

 for knowledge, and perhaps for fame ; but he never prostituted science 

 to gain, nor mingled ignoble motives with his pursuits. I was de- 



