WALTER KOLBEOOK GASKELL LANGLEY. 531 



whicli Shape the material, and this being Gasljeirs standpoint of view he skill- 

 fully worked with the tools of the morphologist as a physiologist. Be his genial 

 hypothesis, elaborate enough for a theory, right or wrong, lie has discovered and 

 elucidated many a feature both in vertebrates and invertebrates which without 

 bis tireless work would remain still neglected and unex]>lained. 



His book. " The Origin of Vertebrates," published in 1908, has made little im- 

 pression. Partly, it is to a great extent a reprint of numerous previous papers 

 and series of assays, partly because, instead of pleading, he did not present his 

 views and the long chain of argumentation in an easy manner. Lastly the idea 

 of our descent from " some Crustacean-like ancestors " was so subversive of all 

 the other rival hypotheses (one of whicli if assumed to be right implies that 

 all the others are wrong) that the unbiassed reader expects at least a clearly 

 summarizing explanation why Gaskell considered the older hypotheses not only 

 insufficient but wrong. 



He did not choose this line. He had too noble a character, the respecting 

 admiration of his many friends, ever ready to defend his own, willing to give 

 in to sound argument, but not to be suppressed. " By their fruits you shall know 

 them." 



In reviewing Gaskell's work one can not fail to be struck with the 

 carefulness and accuracy of his observations. But the bent of his 

 mind lay in the direction of generalization. A fact once definitely 

 ascertained v/as never viewed by him as an isolated phenomenon, it was 

 used as a basis for formulating some general rule. If he sometimes 

 generalized too hastily, it was but the defect of his virtue. The value 

 of his work was widely recognized. He was awarded a royal medal of 

 the Royal Society in 1889, and at various times was the recipient of 

 honors both at home and abroad. 



One or two further events of his life and some personal character- 

 istics remain to be mentioned. In 1878 he proceeded to the degree of 

 M. D. by thesis, but he did not at any time practice medicine. Two 

 or three years after this he began a lifelong part in the advanced 

 teaching of physiology in the university. His subjects were those on 

 which he had himself worked, viz, the heart, the nervous mechanism 

 of respiration, the sympathetic system, and, at a later date, the origin 

 of vertebrates. In 1883 he was appointed university lecturer. His 

 style was incisive, and he spoke on controversial points with a half- 

 suppressed enthusiasm which was eminently infectious. 



In 1888 he left Grantchester and took up his residence in Cam- 

 bridge. In the following year he was elected a fellow of Trinity Hall, 

 and was appointed praslector in natural science in the college. Living 

 in a town was not to his liking, and in 1893 he built a house (The Up- 

 lands) on a hilltop in Great Shelf ord, opposite that on which perched 

 Michael Foster's house. Here he remained for the rest of his life. 



Gaskell attended but little the congresses of scientific associations, 

 though he did not altogether shun them. He was president of Sec- 

 tion I of the British Association in 1896 at Liverpool, and attended 



