169 



GRANT, ROBERT EDMUND, M.D. 



GRANVILLE, EARL. 



170 



many years ceased to practisd this branch of art. Mr. Grant was 

 elected A.R.A. in 1842 the year following the exhibition of his 

 equestrian portrait of her Majesty and R.A. in 1851. 



* GRANT, ROBERT EDMUND, M.D., a distinguished comparative 

 anatomist and zoologist, was born at Edinburgh on the llth of 

 November 1793, and is the seventh son of the late Alexander Grant, 

 Esq., writer to the Signet in that city. Dr. Grant received his early 

 education from a private tutor, and subsequently waa a pupil at the 

 High School, Edinburgh, where he remained five years. His favourite 

 studies as a youth, and in which he was most distinguished, were 

 Greek and Geometry. Ho early displayed a love of natural scenery 

 and objects, spending his school-boy vacations in pedestrian excursions 

 amongst the hills and valleys of Scotland. This love of travel has 

 never forsaken him, and it is recorded of him that " he had already 

 crossed the entire chain of the Alps seven times, and four times the 

 Apennines, and walked alone many thousand miles through Europe 

 before 1820. In 1808 he entered the literary classes of the University 

 of Edinburgh, and in 1809 he added to these the classes of chemistry 

 and anatomy. The four subsequent years were devoted to the more 

 especially medical classes, as he was now intending to make medicine 

 his profession. As a student he was distinguished for his devotion to 

 anatomical and physiological pursuits. In 1811 he joined the Medico- 

 Chirurgical Society of Edinburgh, and in 1S12 was elected president 

 of that society. He waa also a member of the Royal Medical Society 

 of Edinburgh, and in 1814 was made its president On the 3rd of May 

 1814 he obtained the diploma of tha Royal College of Surgeons of 

 Edinburgh, and in June of the same year he graduated as M.D. Hia 

 father having died, he now resolved on spending his patrimony in 

 improving his scientific and professional knowledge by travel. He 

 accordingly went to the continent, and visited Paris, Rome, Pisa, 

 Padua, the capitals of Germany, Prague, Vienna, and the universities 

 of Switzerland! After visiting the provincial schools of France, he 

 returned to Paris and London, and commenced the practice of his 

 profession in Edinburgh in 1820. 



In 1824 Dr. Grant joined Dr. John Barclay in a course of lectures 

 on Comparative Anatomy in Edinburgh. He thus realised one of the 

 great objects of bis life, that of becoming a teacher of the great science 

 of Comparative Anatomy, a profound knowledge of which he had 

 acquired by hi.s laborious studies on the Continent. He now 

 occupied himself with original researches upon the animals of the 

 coast* of Scotland, and spent his vacations in making these 

 researches. The results of his labours at this time were published 

 in the ' Transactions of the Wernerion Society,' and in the ' Edinburgh 

 New Philosophical Journal.' Amongst the more important of these 

 we may mention the following : ' On the Structure of the Eye of the 

 Sword-FUb,' < On tbe Anatomy of the Paca of Brazil,' On the 

 Structure and Function* of the Sponge.' This last was but the be- 

 ginning of a series of papers on the forms, structure, and functions of 

 the family of sponges, which constitute a series of the most remarkable 

 contributions to the science of comparative anatomy and zoology 

 produced during the present century. So complete are they that few 

 observations of any importance have been contributed to our know- 

 ledge of this family since. The family of Sertularian Zoophitea was also 

 carefully investigated by Dr. Grant, and interesting observations were 

 nude on the spontaneous motions of the ova of these animals, and on 

 their structure and modes of generation. These and other papers of 

 this time indicate not only considerable powers of observation, but 

 an extensive knowledge of what had been done by other writers, 

 more especially on the Continent. 



In 1827 Dr. Grant obtained admission as a licentiate of the Royal 

 College of Physicians of Edinburgh. This he did with the design of 

 continuing to practise his profession in Edinburgh; but a circumstance 

 occurred at this time which entirely changed his prospects and position 

 in life. The educational establishment now known as University 

 College was ntarted with the style and title of the London University. 

 Amongst other objects, this institution contemplated the granting of 

 medical degrees, and demanding of its graduates a much more 

 extended and complete course of education than is at present 

 required by any of the medical examining bodies. At that time 

 there was no professorship of comparative anatomy and zoology in 

 Great Britain, and they determined to institute a chair for teaching 

 these subjects : having done so, Dr. Grant was invited to fill the new 

 position. This post he accepted, and delivered his introductory 

 lecture on the 23rd of October 1828. From that time to thi*, 

 under all the changes of circumstances to which this institution has 

 been exposed, Dr. Grant has continued the earnest, simple-minded, 

 laborious, and eloquent expositor of the great principles of the sciences 

 ho has professed. Of the large staff of professors which were appointed 

 at the opening of the college, ho is the only one who has retained his 

 position. The courses of lectures on Comparative Anatomy and 

 Zoology are not compulsory on medical students, and therefore Dr. 

 Grant's lectures have not been largely attended ; but he has had the 

 gratification of giving instruction to many who are now eminent on 

 the subjects of his teachings ; and if his pecuniary emolument, from 

 the system adopted at the institution with which he is connected, has 

 been very far below his merits, he has had the satisfaction of spending 

 a laborious life in diffusing to the utmost of bis power the vast stores 

 of knowledge which he has accumulated. 



One of the courses of his lectures delivered in the session of 1833-34 

 was published in extenao in the pages of the 'Lancet.' These lectures, 

 when published, constituted by far the best treatise that existed in our 

 language on the subject of comparative anatomy. In the department 

 of osteology it waa especially rich, and for the first time presented to 

 the English reader those theoretical viewa of the structure of the 

 vertebrate skeleton which have since become so widely extended and 

 adopted by British anatomists. 



In 1833 Dr. Grant delivered a course of lectures before the Zoological 

 Society of London on the Structure and Classification of Auimals. 

 In 1837 he was appointed Fullerian Professor of Anatomy and Phy- 

 siology at the Royal Institution of Great Britain, a triennial appoint- 

 ment, which he discharged with great satisfaction to the members. 

 He was subsequently appointed by the trustees under the will of tho 

 late Dr. Swiney to deliver a course of lectures on paleontology, an 

 appointment he has several times fulfilled. Ever anxious to spread 

 the great truths of his science, there are few institutions for the 

 diffusion of knowledge throughout the country iu which he has not 

 delivered courses of lectures on some department of comparative 

 anatomy and zoology. 



In zoology Dr. Grant has not confined his studies to recent animals, 

 and he has annually delivered a course of lectures on paleontology iu 

 University College. 



Since his appointment to the professorship in University College, 

 Dr. Grant haa contributed largely to the literature of zoology, although 

 the great demands made upon his time by his extensive courses and 

 his annual visits during his vacations to the museums of the Continent 

 have occupied the time which he would otherwise have undoubtedly 

 devoted to literature. The ' Transactions of the Zoological Society ' 

 for 1833 contain three memoirs, one on the nervous system of tho 

 Beroe pileiw, another on tho structure of the Loligopsia, and the third 

 on the anatomy of Sepiola, Dr. Grant was originally associated with 

 Dr. Todd as editor of the ' Cyclopaedia of Auatotny and Physiology," 

 and contributed to that work the articles 'Animal Kingdom,' 'Chylit'e- 

 rous System,' and ' Digestive Canal.' He also commenced iu 1835 a 

 great work entitled ' Outlines of Comparative Anatomy, presenting a 

 sketch of the present state of knowledge and of the progress of 

 discovery in that science, and designed to serve as an introduction to 

 Animal Physiology, and to the principles of Classification in Zoology.' 

 It is to bo feared from the length of time since the first part was 

 published that this work will now ever remain incomplete. 



Dr. Grant is a fellow of the Royal, Liuixcau, Zoological, Geological, 

 and Entomological societies. Whilst men of leas knowledge and less 

 merit have been distinguished and rewarded, Dr. Grant has been 

 remarkably overlooked. In his old pupils however he has firm frieuda 

 and admirers : they recently afforded their admired teacher a proof of 

 their regard by subscribing several hundred pounds, with a portion 

 of which they purchased him one of the most perfect microscopes that 

 could be constructed, and the rest was sunk for the purpose of affording 

 him a small annuity for tbe rest of his life.. We ore principally indebted 

 for this sketch to a biographical notice of Dr. Grant which appeared 

 in the ' Lancet' for December 21st, 1850, and to the list of his works 

 published in the 'Zoological and Geological Bibliography,' printed 

 by tho Ray Society. 



* GRANVILLE, GRANVILLE GEORGE LEVESON GOWEK, 

 EARL, eldest son of the first Earl Grauville, by the daughter of tho 

 fifth Duke of Devonshire. He was born May 11, 1815; educated at 

 Etou, and Christchurch, Oxford, where he took his degree in 1834. 

 In the following year he became attach^ to his father's embassy iu 

 Paris, which however he soon left, and in 1836 was returned to 

 parliament for the borough of Morpeth, and again in 1837 ; shortly 

 afterwards becoming Under-Seoretary for Foreign Affairs. In 1840 

 he was attached to the Russian embassy; but was again returned 

 to parliament in tho general election of 1841 for Lichfield. He 

 spoko very seldom, and made no impression on tbe House. From 

 this state of inactivity he was roused by the death of his father iu 

 1846, which event of course called him to the House of Peers. At 

 this time Lord John Russell's ministry was forming, and Lord Gran- 

 ville accepted office as Master of her Majesty's Buckhounds. This is at 

 once the key to Lord Granville's public position. Although a man of 

 undeniable business faculties, it is as a courtier and a gentleman that 

 he is best known ; and it is to graceful accomplishments that he owes 

 the chance of cultivating those more solid capacities which he has 

 since exercised. Mr. Milner Gibson found himself awkwardly placed 

 as Vice-President of the Board of Trade : he was too radical for the 

 government, whilst his views, necessarily compromised some little, were 

 not sufficiently bold for his constituents. He resigned, and Lord 

 Granville succeeded to the office ; applying himself diligently, mastering 

 details, and distinguishing himself for practical knowledge aa well as 

 by courtesy of demeanour. From holding this office, he became a 

 commissioner of railways, and a trustee of the British Museum ; and 

 he will always be creditably remembered for his share in the Great 

 Exhibition of 1851. He was a royal commissioner from the first ; 

 was Chairman of the Executive Committee, and contributed very 

 largely, by his amiability and excellent management, to that unex- 

 ampled cordiality and satisfaction which prevailed. When the com- 

 missioners and others were invited to Paris in return for similar 

 courtesies shown iu JLvudon, Lord Urauvillo accompanied them, 



