LINNEAN SOCIETY OF LONDON. 33 



Heteropoda, on Amphibia and Eeptilia, on Monotremes, on human 

 anatomy, on the comparative anatomy of vertebrates in general, 

 and, finally, on the comparative anatomy of vertebrates viewed in 

 relation to that of invertebrates. His celebrated text-book, 

 ' Grundziige der vergleichenden Anatomie,' was translated into 

 Frencli under the direction of Carl Vogt, in 1874, and into 

 English bv Professor E. Jeffrey Bell, in 1878. Of the English 

 rendering, one chapter was executed by Professor Ray Lankester, 

 who revised the whole, and also contributed an important preface. 

 In form this introduction can scarcely be called eulogistic. To a 

 large extent it is occupied by criticism of Gegenbaur's work, 

 against some parts of which serious objections are urged. It is 

 no uncommon fate, as we know, for books and the characters of 

 men to be "damned with faint praise," but in this instance, on the 

 contrary, the treatise is avowedly extolled by the very act of 

 fault-finding. Por, as the English professor explains, he would 

 never have been at so much pains to make the book accessible to 

 his own pupils had not its particular defects been overborne by 

 extraordinary merit on the whole. 



In an acutely discriminative essay on Gregenbaur's life and work. 

 Dr. Adolphe Kerana calls attention to an important service which 

 he rendered to the tlieory of evolution. One of the most for- 

 midable objections that theory has had to encounter consists, as 

 is well known, in the difficulty of conceiving a commencement for 

 organs which, like wit, are futile without finish, and which have, so 

 to speak, no motive for improvement until they have already been 

 improved. In this objection the resourcefulness of nature was 

 undervalued. Structures that have served a forsaken purpose 

 may be re-adapted to a new functioji. In Dr. Kemna's opinion it 

 was Gegenbaur's special merit to have perceived the fruitfulness 

 of this view, to have shown its application in various instances, 

 and to have pointed out the part played by proximity \\ ithin the 

 organism when one of its organs is bent on annexing the materials 

 of another. 



Gegenbaur's preat abilities I'eceived abundant recognition in 

 this country, the Linnean Society leading the way by electing him 

 a Foreign Member in 1877. This example was followed by the 

 Zoological Society in 1879, and by the Eoyal Society in 1884. 

 The Eoyal Society awarded him the Copley Medal in 1896. That 

 he edited the ' Morphologisches Jahrbuch ' continuously from its 

 inception in 1876 to the close of his life is a proof that his devotion 

 to science never flagged. 



Dr. Edward Hamilton, who died at his residence, 20 Eedcliffe 

 Gardens, South Kensington, on 3rd August, 1903, was one of 

 our senior Fellows, having been elected on 16th January, 1844. 



He was born in 1815, educated at Harrow and University 

 College, London, and was one of the first to practise homoeopathy 

 in London, being a pupil and friend of Dr. F. F. Quin. His 



linn. soc. proceedings. — session 1903-1904. d 



