claimed for the speculations of Mr. Darwin the thoughtful consideration 

 of all lovers of truth. Mr. Homer's death severed a link closely and 

 visibly connecting the geologists of today with the early masters of the 

 science in this country, and closed a long and honourable life, full of all 

 kindliness, and ever devoted to the welfare of his fellow men. 



g 



LUKE HOWARD was born in London in 1772, a date which carries us 

 back to the early years of the reign of George III., and opens a long vista 

 of history in which great political changes are rivalled by the grandest 

 discoveries of modern science. 



Luke Howard's parents, members of the Society of Friends, sent their 

 son to a country school in North Oxfordshire, where, as he was accus- 

 tomed to say in after life, " he learnt too much of Latin grammar and too 

 little of anything else." But having even then an observing eye, he began 

 to notice the appearances of the sky and forms of clouds ; and his inclina- 

 tion towards meteorology appears to have been fixed by his impressions of 

 the remarkable atmospheric and meteoric phenomena which, as those ac- 

 quainted with the history of meteorology will remember, characterized the 

 year 1783. 



From school young Howard went as apprentice to a chemist at Stock- 

 port, which was then a quiet country town. In this situation he devoted 

 his spare hours to the course of self-improvement which he had already 

 begun, and acquired that knowledge of French, botany, and the principles 

 of chemistry, which were so useful to him in after years. The quickening 

 effect produced on his mind by the works of Lavoisier he described as 

 "like sunrise after morning moonlight," an effect which has been felt by 

 many a student. 



In 1798 he entered into partnership with "William Allen, whose repu- 

 tation as a manufacturing chemist has long been recognized. This con- 

 nexion, however, was brought to an amicable close a few years later, 

 and Howard, taking as his portion the laboratory at Plaistow, applied 

 himself to the business therewith connected, and to his favourite scien- 

 tific pursuits. Making use of his observations of natural phenomena, he 

 wrote a paper " On the Modifications of Clouds," and read it at a meeting 

 of the Askesian Society, of which he and his friend Allen were members. 

 This paper, as he himself tells us, " the result of his early boyish musings, 

 enriched by the observations of many a walk or ride, morning and evening, 

 to or from his day's work at the laboratory," was published in 1803, and 

 made known the author's name and ability to a wider circle. The Aske- 

 sian was not a publishing Society ; otherwise Luke Howard might have 

 been better known than he is as a pioneer in departments of science besides 

 meteorology. " I know," writes one of his friends, " that one or more 

 of his papers related to atmospheric electricity, and another was an antici- 

 pation of the cell-theory, as regards the structure and functions of plants, 

 founded on microscopic investigations." 



