St. George Mivart. 99 



Back-boned Animals) ' in 1881 ; and, similarly, while his book on the 

 Canidse followed a memoir by Huxley on the same subject, a close 

 parallelism between other writings by the two men is recognisable. 



Mivart was ever a controversialist in matters other than of philo- 

 sophic doubt, and a keen upholder of priority. In proof there may be 

 cited his share in defining the limitations of the term " Homology " in 

 1870, his justification of Owen's claims to have anticipated in 1848 

 the essence of the Weismannistic doctrines of the Immortality of the 

 Protozoa and the Germ Plasma ; and his defence of Buffon, when, in 

 his Address as President of the Biological Section of the British 

 Association, at its meeting of 1879, he sought to show that the claims 

 of this bold generaliser (a man after his own heart) were overshadowed 

 by those of Linnaeus, on account of the two men having entered the 

 world and achieved fame contemporaneously. 



Continuing to contribute popular articles on Natural History subjects 

 to the magazines throughout the 'eighties during which he published 

 (1876) his well-known work on 'Contemporary Evolution,' Mivart 

 produced both books and essays until writing became almost a mania, 

 pursued it would seem in some cases for mere effect. In 1892 he 

 produced a work entitled ' Birds : The Elements of Ornithology,' in 

 which he adopted the classification of Seebohm, which does not find 

 favour among working ornithologists, and stated contradictions which 

 a little more field natural history would easily have dispelled ; and in 

 1893 he published a book on ' Types of Animal Life ' really an ele- 

 mentary treatise on the Vertebrata, in which the object of the method 

 or arrangement is somewhat unintelligible and the head-lines are 

 misleading. In 1894 he essayed the task of dealing under one cover 

 with the elementary principles of all branches of science, including 

 history and mathematics, and in this book, termed ' Elements of 

 Science,' which he dedicated to his father, he attempted an impossible 

 task. Finally, in 1896, having during the preceding two to three 

 years published a series of papers on the Osteology of the Parrots, 

 which will be of great service to working zoologists, he produced a 

 richly illustrated monograph on the ' Lories,' en suite with that of 

 1890 on the Canidse, though much more thoroughly done and 

 reliable. 



With this memoir Mivart's career as a scientific worker ceased, but 

 he continued writing ; and as failing health overtook him he induced 

 the reproach of the Catholic Church, by entering into controversy with 

 Cardinal Vaughan, who, it is sufficient here to remark, anathematised 

 where he was unable to refute, and brought about an excommunication. 



Not content with this, Mivart, in the closing days of his life, 

 revived a novel written years before, and, under the title ' In Castle 

 and Manor,' completed it and secured its publication a week before 

 his death. 



G2 



