June 17, 1922] 



NA TURE 



787 



llis wide knowledge, not only of psychology but of 

 human nature, gained b\' investigation of various types 

 of natives, his interest in the minds of all with whom 

 lie came in contact, together with a broad sympathy 

 and charming manner, rendered him peculiarly fitted 

 lor this delicate and highly important work. His 

 success was very great, and he kept in touch with as 

 many of his old patients as was possible, and as their 

 letters prove, they regarded him with intense gratitude 

 and affection. The experience thus gained enabled 

 him to produce his later important works, such as 

 " Instinct and the Unconscious," and his lectures and 

 papers on dreams. He accepted many of Freud's 

 conclusions, but carried them to a very different issue 

 in the light of his own observations during his military 

 service. 



From the foregoing it is evident that the mind and 

 sympathies of Rivers were not only continually be- 

 coming more intensive, but were simultaneously 

 broadening ; he regarded all human conditions as the 

 appropriate study of psychology and ethnology. 

 This is illustrated by his last phase, when friends in 

 London, knowing his interest in labour conditions, 

 invited him to stand as Labour candidate for Parlia- 

 ment for the University of London. He agreed to 

 do so, as he felt that his special knowledge might be 

 of use under the present critical conditions ; it was 

 not political influence that attracted him, but merely 

 a desire to give his best to his fellow-men ; to quote 

 his own words : "To one whose life has been passed 

 in scientific research and education the prospect of 

 entering practical politics can be no light matter. 

 But the times are. so ominous, the outlook, both for 

 our own country and the world, so black, that, if others 

 think that Lean be of service in political life, I cannot 

 refuse." 



It seems almost superfluous to point out what a 

 loss the death of Dr. Rivers is to psychology and 

 ethnology. His keen critical mind and his insistence 

 on scientific method were of inestimable importance 

 to these young sciences ; he, more than any one else, 

 was establishing ethnology as a scientific discipline. 

 It is impossible to indicate what his death means to 

 his many friends. A. C. Haddon. 



Dr. William Carruthers, F.R.S. 



Dr. William Carruthers, who died on June 2 

 at the age of ninety-two years, was a familiar 

 figure in the botanical world in the latter half of 

 the last century. He was born at Moffat, Dumfries, 

 in 1830, and educated at Edinburgh with the view of 

 entering the Presbyterian ministry, but decided in 

 favour of a scientific career. In 1859 he was appointed 

 assistant in the Department of Botany of the British 

 Museum to J. J. Bennett, who had recently succeeded 

 Robert Brown as Keeper of the department. In 1871 

 Dr. Carruthers followed Bennett in the Keepership, 

 which he held until his retirement in 1895. His tenure 

 of office was marked by a great development of the de- 

 partment. The removal of the natural history collec- 

 tions to the new museum in the Cromwell Road in 1881 

 afforded a unique opportunity for improvement and 

 expansion ; and the arrangement and equipment of 

 the suite of galleries assigned to botany, including the 



NO. 2746, VOL. 109] 



great herbarium and the excellent botanical library, 

 approached through a fine exhibition gallery, are a 

 lasting memorial of Dr. Carruthers's knowledge and 

 skill. The development of the Cryptogamic Herbarium, 

 with the help of Mr. George Murray, and of the special 

 British Herbarium, based on the collection of his chief 

 assistant. Dr. Henry Trimen, the arrangement of the 

 valuable collection of original botanical drawings and 

 manuscripts, the planning of the exhibition galleries, 

 and the initiation of a series of botanical monographs, 

 such as Crombie's Enumeration of the British Lichens 

 and Lister's Monograph of the Mycelozoa, may be 

 recalled as incidents of his tenure. A fuller apprecia- 

 tion of these activities by another colleague, Mr. James 

 Britten, will be found in the Journal of Botany, 1895. 



Those who worked under Dr. Carruthers cherish 

 pleasant recollections of the association. Always kind 

 and sympathetic, he allowed his assistants full scope 

 in the various sections of which they were placed in 

 charge, and himself set an example of courtesy and 

 helpfulness to visiting students and the casual inquirer. 

 He had a strong sense of justice, and was prepared to 

 uphold his views. Sundry hatchets, now happily 

 buried, could testify to his capacity as a fighter. 



Elected Fellow of the Linnean Society in 1861 (he 

 has missed by one point the position of father' of the 

 Society), for more than forty years Dr. Carruthers 

 took an active interest in its affairs. From 1886 to 1890 

 he was president, and his term of service included 

 the centenary celebration in 1888. He took a great 

 personal interest in Linnaeus, and older fellows will 

 remember the meticulous care with which he worked 

 up the subject of the portraits of Linnaeus for a presi- 

 dential address. His doctorate, Ph.D. of Upsala 

 University, was conferred on the occasion of the bicen- 

 tenary celebration of the birth of Linnaeus in 1907, 

 at which Dr. Carruthers represented the Society. 

 In 187 1 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, 

 and in the same year was appointed consulting botanist 

 to the Royal Agricultural Society, a position which 

 he held until 19 10. His yearly reports and other 

 communications to this Society form a valuable con- 

 tribution to the economic side of botany dealing with 

 diseases of crops, pasture grasses, the purity and 

 germinating capacity of seed, and the like. In this 

 connection he established in his own house a seed- 

 testing laboratory. Dr. Carruthers was also a Fellow 

 of the Geological and Royal Microscopical Societies, 

 and served as president of the latter ; he was also 

 president of the Biological Section of the British 

 Association (1886) and of the Geologists' Association 

 (1876). 



The chief contributions made by Dr. Carruthers to 

 pure science were in palaeobotany, more especially the 

 study of the carboniferous flora. The most productive 

 period of these researches was in the 'sixties and 

 'seventies, and his monograph on the fossil Cycadean 

 Stems of the Secondary Rocks of Britain (published in 

 the Transactions of the Linnean Society, 1870), from 

 which the genera Williamsonia and Bennettites date, 

 remains a classic. Though his scientific work began 

 almost coincidently with the appearance of the " Origin 

 of Species," he was not attracted by the Darwinian 

 theory, which he considered was not supported by the 

 testimony of palaeobotany. Dr. Carruthers was also 



