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NATURE 



[May 31, 1888 



The anniversary meeting of the Royal Geographical Society 

 was held on Monday in the hall of the University of London, 

 General R. Strachey presiding. The report, which was read 

 by Mr. Clements R. Markham, having been adopted, General 

 Strachey was for the third consecutive year elected President of 

 the Society. The Founder's Medal for the encouragement of 

 geographical science and discovery was presented to Mr. 

 Clements R. Markham, who retires from the honorary secretary- 

 ship after twenty-five years' service, in acknowledgment of 

 the valuable services rendered by him to the Society during 

 that period. Lieut. H. Wissmann was awarded the Patron's 

 Medal in recognition of his great achievements as an ex- 

 plorer in Central Africa ; Mr. J. M'Carthy, Superintendent 

 of Surveys in Siam, the Murchi-on Grant ; Major Festing, the 

 Cuthbert Peek Grant, for his services as a cartographer on the 

 Gambia River and the country in the neighbourhood of Sierra 

 Leone. The Gill Memorial for 1888 was secured by Mr. Charles 

 M. Doughty. Various scholarships and prizes to students in 

 training colleges were also distributed. The President then 

 delivered his annual address, passing in review the chief 

 geographical events of the year. 



THE LINNEAN SOCIETY. 



'"THE hundredth anniversary meeting of this Society was held 

 "*• on Thursday last, 24th inst., at Burlington House, in the 

 library, the usual meeting-room being inadequate for the reception 

 of the large number of members present on this occasion. The 

 President, Mr. Wm. Carruthers, F. R.S., took the chair at three 

 o'clock, and was supported by the two former Presidents who 

 are happily still with us — Prof. Allman and Sir John Lubbock — 

 the Council of the Society, and many distinguished Fellows, 

 amongst whom we noted Sir Richard Owen, Sir Joseph Hooker, 

 Dr. Gunther, Sir Walter Buller, Prof. Duncan, Mr. Romanes, 

 Colonrl Grant, and amongst the visitors Dr. Henry Woodward, 

 F.R.S., and Mr. Studley Martin, a nephew of the founder. 



After preliminary business, H.M. the King of Sweden was 

 elected an honorary member. The Treasurer, Mr. Frank Crisp, 

 laid the last year's accounts before the mee'ing, and briefly 

 referred to the financial history of the Society during the century 

 now closed. The senior Secretary, Mr. B. Daydon Jackson, 

 presented an account of the Linneati collections from their 

 formation, their purchase by the founder of the Society, and 

 their possession by the Linnean Society. This was succeeded 

 by the President's annual address, which was largely devoted to 

 a review of the Society's past career. He spoke of the original 

 quarto Transactions, then of the octavo Proceedings, finally of the 

 Journal, of which forty-three volumes are extant. During the 

 past year seven parts of the Transactions and twenty of the 

 Journal had been issued, an amount equal to that published 

 during fifteen years in the early part of the century. 



A novel feature was then introduced, one of those intended to 

 mark the centenary of the Society. Prof. Thore Fries, the 

 present occupant of Linnseus's Botanical Chair at Upsala, 

 had been invited to pronounce a eulogium on his illus- 

 trious predecessor. As he was detained by his professorial 

 duties in his University, his essay wis read by the Pre- 

 sident. In it he spoke of the profound sleep of natural 

 science during the Middle Ag( s, and the hard struggle which had 

 to be fought before men of science could liberate themselves from 

 a narrow orthodoxy, or the fetters they had themselves forged by 

 attaching infallibility to Aristotle and classic authors. Linnaeus 

 bore an honourable part in placing the study of natural science on 

 a logical basis by his clear definitions, and admirable nomencla- 

 ture, and by the enthusiasm he was able to rouse in his disciples 

 for the same methods. England, unluckily for Sweden, became 

 his heir ; many consequently are the ties which unite the memory 

 of Linnaeus with this country, the strongest perhaps being the 

 Linnean spirit, the genuine spirit of freshness and enterprise in 

 which scientific research is carried on in England. 



Sir Joseph Hooker then pronounced a eulogy on Robert 

 Brown, the greatest botanist of the present century. He 

 specially dwelt on the evidence afforded by the " Prodromus " 

 of his untiring industry, accuracy of observation and exposition, 

 -together with sagacity, caution, and soundness of judgment, in 

 which he has not been surpassed. Where others have advanced 

 beyond the goal he reached, it has been by working on the 

 foundations he laid, aided by modern appliances of optics and 

 physics. His memory was wonderful, he seemed never to 

 forget a plant he had examined ; and the same with his books — 



he could turn to descriptions for a statement or a figure without 

 needing a reference. The noble title conferred upon him by 

 Humboldt has been confirmed by acclamation by botanists of 

 every country, " Botanicorum facile princeps." 



Prof. Flower, C. B., F.R. S., delivered an address on Charles 

 Darwin, who, he said, had special claims on their considera- 

 tion, inasmuch as a large and very important portion of his work 

 was communicated to the world by papers read before the 

 Society and published in the Journal. His life was one long 

 battle against our ignorance of the mysteries of living Nature, 

 and he sought to penetrate the shroud which conceals the 

 causes of all the variety and wonders round us. His main 

 victory was the destruction of the conception of species as 

 being fixed and unchangeable beyond certain narrow limits, a 

 view which prevailed universally before his time. That other 

 factors had operated besides natural selection in bringing about 

 the present condition of the organic world was admitted even 

 by Darwin himself. His work, and the discussions which had 

 sprung from it, had marvellously stimulated research, and he 

 had shown by his life and labours the true methods by which 

 alone the secrets of Nature may be won. 



Prof. W. T. Thiselton Dyer spoke on George Bentham, who 

 presided over the Society from 1863 to 1874. A nephew of 

 Jeremy Bentham, and trained to some extent under him, he was 

 early imbued with a taste for method and analysis, and through 

 his mother's fondness for plants he was led to study them, 

 with marvellous results. The records of his life-work are 

 astonishing. Whilst President he delivered a series of masterly 

 addresses, and the latter part of his career witnessed the pre- 

 paration of the "Flora Australiensis " and a full share of the 

 "Genera Plantarum." He stood in the footsteps of Linnaeus, 

 and although the descent was oblique he inherited the mantle of 

 the master whose memory was that day commemorated. 



The President stated that the Council had decided to establish 

 a Linnean Gold Medal, to be presented to a botanist and a 

 zoologist in alternate years, but on this occasion it would be 

 awarded in duplicate. The medal bore on the obverse a profile 

 of Linnaeus, modelled from the bust in the library ; on the 

 reverse, the arms of the Society and the name of the recipient. 

 The President made the first presentation to Sir Richard Owen, 

 recounting the chief services he had rendered to zoology. Sir 

 Richard, with some emotion, expressed his high sense of the 

 honour conferred, and thanked the Fellows for their cordial 

 reception of him. The President then presented a similar 

 medal to Sir Joseph Hooker, with a like recapitulation of the 

 splendid services he had bestowed on botany. Sir Joseph 

 suitably replied, returning his cordial thanks for the distinction. 

 The remaining formal business included the announcement 

 of the newly-elected Councillors, and the re-election of the 

 officers— Mr. Wm. Carrathers, President ; Mr. Frank Crisp, 

 Treasurer; and Messrs. B. Daydon Jackson, and W. Percy 

 Sladen, Secretaries. 



The annual dinner was held at the Hotel Victoria, Northum- 

 berland Avenue, at seven o'clock. The President took the 

 chair, about sixty of the Fellows being present. In addition to 

 the usual toasts, that of "The Medallists" was given, and 

 replied to by Sir Joseph Hooker, who alluded to the fact that 

 he had personally known eight of the Presidents of the Society, 

 and that the founder himself induced his father, Sir William 

 Hooker, to take up the study of botany. As a proof of his close 

 connection with the Linnean Society, he added that his father, 

 grandfather, father-in-law, and uncle had all been Fellows. 



The final portion of the centenary celebration took place the 

 following evening, when the President and officers held a recep- 

 tion at Burlington House. A special feature was made of the 

 Linnean manuscripts and memorials, which were displayed in 

 glass cases with descriptions, a catalogue of them being also 

 distributed. Memorials of other distinguished naturalists were 

 also shown, conspicuously those of Robert Brown and George 

 Bentham, lent by Sir Joseph Hooker and M. Alphonse de 

 Candolle, of Geneva, a foreign member of the Society. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Cambridge. — The Rede Lecture on June 8, by Sir F. A. 

 Abel, will be upon applications of science to the piotection of 

 human life. It will be illustrated by experiments and the 

 exhibition of appliances. 



