12 



tive nature of his studies upon some gold fish belonging to a 

 friend. His experiments with his famous tortoise, Timothy, also 

 came in for remark. 



Eegarding Gilbert White's influence, Mr. Martin pointed 

 out how much Darwin admitted owing to the naturalist of 

 Selborne. Many men of science had taken to editing his works, 

 down to Grant Allen, whose edition the Lecturer considered to be 

 the best. 



A good deal of the lecture was taken up with following out 

 points suggested by Gilbert White in his book. For instance, 

 his remarks on the sparrow led Mr. Martin into a short dis- 

 quisition as to the utility of that much-abused bird. In towns, 

 Mr. Martin thought, the sparrow's capacity as a scavenger made 

 it invaluable ; in the country, he left it as an open point 

 whether it did more harm than good. Then the author's 

 speculations on the relation between the animals of England 

 and America brought Mr. Martin out with maps and diagrams 

 to show that it was probable that in some prehistoric period 

 England, Europe, and America were all connected by a belt of 

 land that included Iceland. 



Another section that figured prominently in the lectui'e, 

 though Mr. Martin dealt with all incidentally, making no 

 attempt to group them, was a description, from the Lecturer's 

 point of view, of the topography and geology of the village of 

 Selborne. Into this subject he went minutely, pointing out 

 the objects of interest to be found in the village, and practically 

 telling his audience all that there was to be said about them. 

 In this task, evidently one greatly congenial to his tastes, Mr. 

 Martin was materially aided by his numerous excellent photo- 

 graphs. He warned intending hero-worshippers that a tablet in 

 Selborne Church saying that Gilbert White's tombstone " is the 

 fifth from this wall," was altogether misleading. By some mala- 

 droitness, the tablet has been put in the wrong wall. 



