230 



NATURE 



[yan. 5, I 



Dickson, at the early age of fifty-one, comes upon us 

 with startling unexpectedness. Two days before Christ- 

 mas Prof. IJickson left Edinburgh, in his usual health 

 and vigour, for Hartree House, his Lanarkshire residence. 

 During the following days he spent much of his time in the 

 favourite pastime of curling, which he much enjoyed. On 

 Friday last, December 30, 1887, he was in exceptionally 

 good spirits on the ice ; his side was winning a close 

 match, and he entered keenly into the excitement of the 

 moment, when, without warning, he dropped dead in the 

 act of making a shot. 



Alexander Dickson was born in Edinburgh on February 

 21, 1836, the second son of David Dickson, of Hartree 

 and Kilbucho, extensive estates in Lanarkshire and 

 Peebles-shire, to which he afterwards succeeded, his elder 

 brother having predeceased his father. Educated when 

 a boy at home, he proceeded to the University of Edin- 

 burgh, where he graduated M.D. in i860, obtaining a 

 gold medal for a thesis on " The Development of the 

 Seed-vessel of Caryophyllacecer After graduating, he 

 soon abandoned medicine, and devoted himself to bota- 

 nical pursuits. During the year 1862 he acted as Deputy 

 Professor of Botany in the University of Aberdeen for 

 Prof. Dickie, then in bad health ; in 1866 he was ap- 

 pointed to the Chair of Botany in the University of 

 Dublin, vacant by the death of Dr. W. H. Harvey ; and 

 a year later he added to this appointment that of Pro- 

 fessor of Botany in the Royal College of Science for 

 Ireland. In 1868, on the death of Dr. G. W. Walker- 

 Arnott, he succeeded to the Chair of Botany in the Uni- 

 versity of Glasgow, which he held until 1879, when he 

 was appointed Professor of Botany in the University, and 

 Regius Keeper of the Royal Botanic Garden, in Edin- 

 burgh, upon the resignation of these offices by Dr. J. H. 

 Balfour. He held these appointments at the time of his 

 death. He received the honorary degree of M.D. from 

 the University of Dublin, and that of LL.D. from the 

 University of Glasgow, and was a member of various 

 learned Societies. Besides his scientific life he had 

 another important part to play as a laird with large 

 properties in three counties, and he was a model land- 

 lord. He had the highest ideas of the duties of his 

 position, and acted up to them. Money, time, and energy 

 were given with self-denying devotion to the improve- 

 ment of his farms and of the condition of his tenants, and 

 no better-ordered estates could be found than those 

 which he controlled. He was a Deputy-Lieutenant of 

 Peebles-shire, and took an active share in all the functions 

 which his position entailed. 



By the death of Alexander Dickson the botanical 

 world loses one of its best morphologists. He wore the 

 mantle of the old French school typified in Mirbel, 

 Richard, St. Hilaire, and Payer, of which Baillon is at 

 present the foremost French representative ; and at a 

 time like the present, when it is a fashion to decry mor- 

 phology, his loss falls all the more heavily. No botanist 

 in this country had so full and accurate a grasp of organo- 

 graphy. His published papers, numerous and valuable as 

 they are, afford but an imperfect idea, significant indeed, of 

 thewealth of his knowledge, and the keenness of his percep- 

 tion. Those who came in contact with him will remember 

 the fascination of his discourse, and the surprising variety 

 and aptness of the illustrations which he could bring up 

 one after the other to support his own views or confound 

 those of an opponent. In all his scientific work the strong 

 conservatism of his nature found expression. His cautious 

 and logical mind did not allow of his following with 

 enthusiasm rash speculations of the more ardent botanical 

 workers ; and the flood of literature on botanical subjects 

 which is poured out year by year had no terrors for him, 

 as he acted upon the principle, which many will agree is 

 a sound one, that, if you leave the literature until it is a 

 year or two old, what is worth reading sifts itself. The 

 soundness of his judgment upon scientific problems may 



in some measure be traced to the influence of the precept 

 and example of that glorious band of real teachers, which 

 at the time of his University career made Edinburgh a 

 centre of attraction in the intellectual world ; and a good 

 illustration of his force of mind is to be found in his 

 attitude towards the much-discussed question of the growth 

 of the cell-wall. Having satisfied himself that the apposi- 

 tion theory was a sufficient explanation, he consistently 

 opposed Nageli's intussusception theory during the years 

 when it was all but universally accepted ; and now the 

 botanical world has come round again to regard an appo- 

 sition theory as that which has the better basis in fact. 



All organographic questions had a peculiar interest for 

 Dickson. A considerable portion of his own work was 

 devoted to the elucidation of the true nature of the 

 flowers in Coniferce. As the result of his researches on 

 Dammara and observations on other ConifercE, he adopted 

 Baillon's view of the carpellary nature of the integument 

 in Ptniis, and, notwithstanding the defection by Stras- 

 burger, who originally supported this view, he continued 

 to maintain it. Phyllotaxis was a subject to which he 

 devoted great attention, and upon which he published 

 several important papers. Amongst his most valuable 

 researches are those on the embryogeny of Tropceoliim^ 

 in which he traced the history of the peculiar roots by 

 which the embryo is nursed in the seed ; and the records 

 of his embryological researches in Pingiiicula, Ruscus, 

 Zosfera, Phoenix, Delphinium, and other plants, are very 

 interesting and valuable contributions to knowledge. In 

 recent years he gave considerable attention to the con- 

 struction and development of pitcher-plants, and proved 

 the true nature of the parts of their complex organs ; and 

 the structure of the Hepaticce also engrossed him, one of 

 his last papers being upon some species of this group, in 

 which he joined issue with Leitjeb upon some funda- 

 mental points. In all his work there may be seen the 

 scrupulous accuracy and attention to detail which was a 

 leading feature in his character, and no man ever worked 

 with more care and jealous regard for truth and with a 

 more generous appreciation of the work of others. 



Amidst the work of his scientific life and the duties 

 connected with his estates he found time to cultivate the 

 artistic side of his nature, which was developed in no 

 ordinary degree. He was an accomplished and enthu- 

 siastic musician, and in later years found peculiar 

 pleasure in collecting Gaelic airs. At botanical excursions 

 to the Highlands he might be frequently found noting 

 down an air as it was droned by a gillie or whistled by a 

 herd, and he amassed a considerable number of these 

 airs, which at one time he thought of publishing. He 

 was also a very skilful draughtsman, and his drawings in 

 chalk on the slate were quite a feature of his lectures. 



In the discharge of every duty he was most conscien- 

 tious, and his unostentatious kindliness attracted everyone 

 who had dealings with him. Quiet and retiring in 

 disposition, he was endeared to all by the nobility of his 

 character and his sympathetic nature. As Professor his 

 students loved him : as laird his tenants loved him. It 

 has been said of him he could never lose a friend, for he 

 never could say an unkind word or omit to do a kind 

 action, and in this estimate all who knew him will concur. 

 The news of his death will be heard with sorrow by a 

 wide circle of friends, and bring sadness to many a heart 

 which will mourn for one who had fine generosity of 

 the kind that lets " not the right hand know what the 

 left hand doeth." 



NOTES. 

 The Municipal Council of Paris proposes to establish in the 

 Faculty of Sciences a new professorship devoted to the philo- 

 sophy of biology, and especially to the teaching of the doctrines 

 of Darwin. This distresses some of the older French zoologists, 



