THE LATE DR. LANKESTER. 61 
RE NE HEI RS EE DEI YELL YEP SBT E TE BES TL PS, 
gratulate themselves on a degree of success very noticeable 
in the case of a purely scientific journal: the first 
number went through no less than four editions, and a posi- 
tion was rapidly obtained which the Journal has never since, 
we hope, been suffered to lose. 
Without at all pretending to offer any general estimate of 
the value of Dr. Lankester’s scientific work, there are a few 
points in this career of incessant and varied activity to which 
we should like to draw attention. 
In the first place, we cannot but notice how much of Dr. 
Lankester’s cultivation must have been the fruit of his own 
mental activity and energy. ‘The scientific education of a 
medical student in 1834 can have been little more than what 
he gave himself, and it is no small credit to the scientific 
workers of the last generation that their intellectual equip- 
ment was so complete as it was. In Dr. Lankester’s case the 
strongest stimulus was present in an ardent love of his sub- 
ject. He was a born naturalist, and not one of those whose 
love of natural objects is fostered by academical ambition, or 
merely a part of a general sympathy with intellectual pursuits. 
But while he was a diligent observer of nature he was also 
something beyond, and was never satisfied with the easy 
standard of excellence set up by those who pride themselves 
on the name of field naturalists. Much of his literary 
energy was spent in endeavouring to lead such persons, and 
especially the amateur users of the microscope, to a higher 
conception of the dignity of their favorite pursuit. This was 
clearly one of the chief ends which, as joint-editor of this Jour- 
nal, he set before him, and, we may be permitted now to say, 
with considerable success. A considerable part of the Journal 
was set apart for translations and abstracts of foreign memoirs, 
chiefly German, and English naturalists were thus made 
acquainted with the important results arrived at by Schwann 
and his successors, which had hardly then produced their full 
effect on English science. ‘The translations of German text- 
books, which occupy a large space in the list of Dr. Lankester’s 
writings, served an analogous purpose. 
It is impossible, however, to read the long catalogue of 
these works without perceiving that the production of many of 
them must have been due to circumstances rather than to pre- 
dilection; and while the energy which they display is astonish- 
ing, we may be tempted to regret that so much of it was thus 
directed. We cannot doubt that Dr. Lankester himself might 
sometimes have found more congenial occupation in strictly 
a I ae FE EE OS ES EL EEE I EEE ELEY CELE EY A 
