48 PKOCEEDINGS OF THE 



ori^anisation of the man whom the Linnean Society desires to 

 honour to-day. 



If we seek for causes — other than the central force arising from 

 the o-enius of the man himself, — which have helped on the 

 success of his every enterprise, a lifelong connection with uni- 

 versity teaching stands out as the most potent factor. Munich, 

 Kiel, Breslau and Berlin mark the stages in his academic career. 

 lie gave freely of his knowledge and experience, but no great 

 teacher gives without receiving back with ample interest. He 

 lived in a vitalizing atmosphere of intellectual progress and 

 untrammelled liberty of research : in it he taught and trained the 

 young and discovered how to remain young himself. He has ever 

 stood at the centre whence radiate the threads wl)ich are woven 

 into that wonderful network of intellectual energy that covers his 

 native land. Engler gathered the threads which concern his own 

 department of knowledge, he has long held and still holds them 

 with a masterhand. 



There is one more point to which I would briefly refer, — his 

 activity as a fieldworker. His holidays have always been spent 

 in the search for new material, fresh observations, and in seeing 

 for himself. They have carried him over most parts of Europe 

 and the Mediterranean, — from England to the Caucasus and 

 Greece, from the Baltic to the edge of the Sahara. At an age 

 when most people begin to look for rest and ease he journeyed to 

 the Karroo, the Falls of the Zambesi, Mount Kilimanjaro, to India, 

 Ceylon and Java, not for pleasure, but for continued work, for 

 new impressions and fresh ideas. At the present moment he is, 

 as I have said, in Africa. 



Next March Engler will complete his 70th year, and his 

 countrymen and colleagues all over the world prepare to do him 

 honour. I beg you. Sir, when you send the Linnean medal to 

 him, to express also the sincere wishes of this Society that our 

 distinguished Foreign Member of a quarter of a century's standing 

 may keep his birthday in unimpaired health, in undiminished 

 vigour and in readiness for another long period of fruitful labour, — 

 that he may long remain what he has ever been, the man of 

 thought and action. 



The General Secretary having laid before the Meeting certain 

 obituary notices of deceased Fellows and others, the proceedings 

 terminated. 



