1866. | (5983,..) 
ANNUAL RETROSPECT. 
THe year 1865 has been characterized by slow, steady progress, 
rather than by any brilliant achievements in science, and if we were 
to look for striking events in the record of the past year, we should 
be met by failure and death, rather than by notable successes or the 
birth of genius. 
The second failure of the attempt to lay the Atlantic cable, 
although the postponement of what appears to be a certain success, 
will serve to remind scientific men how slow and laborious must 
always be the conquest of the elements; and though we cannot say 
to the enterprising electricians, “go to the ant, thou sluggard,” 
still we must point to the humble little spider, which spins and 
spins its line, failing again and again in reaching the desired point, 
until perseverance triumphs and the goal is attained. 
And when we look at men instead of measures, how destructive 
do we find the scythe of time, or the ravages of disease, to have been 
during the past year. At once the names of Fitzroy, Hooker, 
Lindley, Falconer, Gratiolet, Siliman, Baikie, Tinné, Reeve, 
Woodward, Christy, and Waterton sound in our ears, and in every 
branch of science do we find a gap of greater or less proportions. 
To the memory of one of these chiefly—namely, the first, do 
we desire to pay a special tribute of praise, and it is deed a selfish 
feeling that prompts the distinction, for we feel that few men could 
have been spared with more serious consequences to their fellow- 
men. Already Admiral Fitzroy’s researches in Meteorology, and 
his practical application of the science, had effected an amount of 
good which it is impossible to estimate. Who can say how many 
lives he saved ? Who can tell how many more would have been 
spared had he continued to live? We have no wish to disparage 
the efforts of his successors who seek to follow in his wake: quite 
the reverse; we would have them profit by his example, and 
endeayour to develop the unfinished work of his hfe, But it is idle 
to attempt to hide the fact that his knowledge, acquired, no doubt, 
in a large degree by personal experience, has not survived him in 
