14 



NA TURE 



[May 3, 190a 



own original contributions may be little in amount or im- 

 portance, but his example and his enthusiasm, together 

 with his political activity and his social rank, combine to 

 make him a force in the land, which powerfully aids 

 any good cause which he espouses. The death of 

 the Duke of Argyll is thus an event which must be 

 chronicled with sincere regret in the pages of a scientific 

 journal. 



It was through geology that the Duke first came 

 practically in touch with science, and it was in geological 

 pursuits and criticisms that he found the most congenial 

 employment of his leisure moments. It is just half a 

 century since, on a visit to his property in the. Island of 

 Mull, he found that one of his tenants had gathered a 

 number of fossil leaves and plants from the rocks of the 

 neighbourhood. At once appreciating the geological 

 significance of these remains, he investigated their mode 

 of occurrence, and recognised their association with 

 sheets of lava and volcanic ashes. The plants were 

 pronounced by Edward Forbes to be probably of Miocene 

 age, and thus was securely laid the first stone of the 

 edifice that has since been reared in illustration of the 

 volcanic history of the Inner Hebrides. It is matter for 

 regret that the Duke never followed up this important 

 discovery. 



Other geological fields attracted him, where he found 

 ampler material for the exercise of that critical acuteness 

 and the display of that forensic style of argument which 

 made his writings so lively and so pungent. He had 

 imbibed his earliest ideas of geological causation in the 

 school of the cataclysmists, and to these ideas he adhered 

 to the last. When the earlier views of Hutton and 

 Playfair with regard to the denudation and sculpture of 

 the land were revived and began to spread among the 

 younger men, the Duke raised his protest against them, 

 and poured on them the contempt and ridicule which 

 they seemed to him to deserve. As they grew in ac- 

 ceptance, both in this and other countries, and as their 

 advocates increased in number and in confidence, his 

 vehemence of declamation seemed to augment in pro- 

 portion. 



Nor was this the only line along which the modern 

 tendency in geological speculation seemed to the Duke 

 to be running in an entirely wrong direction. When he 

 began to interest himself in these questions, Agassiz' 

 doctrine, that not only Britain but a large part of Europe 

 was once buried under land-ice, had not been generally 

 accepted. The geologists of this country preferred to 

 account for the phenomena by supposing that the land 

 had been submerged in a sea across which floating ice 

 drifted. The Duke of Argyll was never able to accept 

 the modern doctrine, except in a limited degree. He 

 admitted the former existence of local valley-glaciers, 

 but could not recognise the force of the evidence ad- 

 duced to show that not only the valleys, but the sur- 

 rounding hills had once been over-ridden by a vast sheet 

 of ice. 



The rise of the modern school of evolution afforded the 

 Duke full scope for the exercise of his acute reasoning 

 power and keen critical faculty. In article after article, 

 address after address, and volume after volume, he sub- 

 jected the doctrines of that school to the closest scrutiny. 

 It may be freely admitted that he detected here and 

 there a fallacy, and pointed out a conclusion different 

 from, but not less probable than, that which his opponents 

 had drawn. But perhaps his most valuable service lay 

 in that border-land of philosophy and science in which 

 he specially loved to exercise his thoughts and his pen. 

 Even when men of science differed widely from his 

 his conclusions, they could not but admit that in his 

 " Reign of Law " and his " Unity of Nature," he showed 

 the wide range of his reading, the clearness and vigour 

 of his reasoning powers, the force and eloquence of 



NO. 1592, VOL. 62] 



hi§ style, the grasp he had of some of the more difficult 

 scientific problems of his day, the strong bent of his 

 nature towards metaphysics, and, above all, the lofty tone 

 of his sentiments in regard to the moral nature and 

 destiny of man. 



The Duke of Argyll was essentially a man of action, ta 

 whom the stir of conflict and the stimulus of controversy 

 were not uncongenial. Even in his scientific discussions 

 he could not always quite forego the style in which he 

 vilipended the opposite party in the House of Lords or in 

 the public prints. He seemed sometimes hardly to 

 realise the full extent and meaning of the evidence which 

 he was criticising. In conversation, indeed, he might 

 appear for a time to be impressed by the force of this 

 evidence, and be willing to admit that the truth might, 

 perhaps, lie somewhere between his own views and those 

 to which he was opposed. But the force of early con- 

 viction or prepossession would, in the end, be too strong 

 for him, and possibly the next morning his opposition 

 would be found to be as complete and confident as ever. 

 Unflinching and resourceful as an antagonist, enforcing 

 with almost passionate enthusiasm what he held to be the 

 truth, independent and self-reliant alike in his opinions 

 and his actions, dignified and courteous after the manner 

 of an older time, he formed altogether a striking and 

 picturesque personality. 



But the energy of the doughty debater was combined 

 with much personal kindliness even towards those from 

 whom he most seriously differed. Above all the other 

 features of his character there shone out an intense love 

 of nature and an eager desire to know more of her 

 processes and laws. Year after year the Duke would 

 spend weeks at a time in his yacht among the Western 

 Isles, which he loved with all the enthusiastic devotion of 

 one who was born and spent his youth among them. 

 He was familiar with that western coast from one end to 

 the other, under every change of sunlight and shadow. 

 He had sketched every peak and crag and island, and 

 he delighted to recall from his sketch-books the charm 

 with which these scenes had fascinated him. To all 

 their obvious attractions for the ordinary visitor his 

 geological knowledge enabled him to' join the fresh 

 interest which is given to them by an acquaintance with 

 the history of their remote past. In this way he kept 

 himself in touch with some of the aspects of nature that 

 most vividly appealed to his imagination. His poetic 

 temperament found refreshment in these frequently re- 

 newed sojourns amid the varied scenery of the West of 

 Scotland. As shown by his published writings, his wide 

 acquaintance with modern English poetry furnished him 

 with many an apt quotation and allusion. Tennyson's 

 poetry seemed to be particularly familiar to him, inscv- 

 much that a casual citation of a line or expression 

 from that poet by one of the company would some- 

 times lead the Duke to quote from memory the whole 

 passage. i 



As the head of a great historic clan, the Duke of 

 Argyll was a true Scot, who had studied his country's 

 history both geological and political, and had made him- 

 self personally acquainted with a large part of its surface. 

 The geological problems that more particularly engaged 

 his attention were largely those which his own Highland 

 hills and glens had suggested to his mind. Now and then, 

 m the midst of an eager conversation, a Scottish word 

 or expression would come most readily to his lips as 

 conveying the meaning he wished to express. Of his 

 general services to the country at large this is not the 

 place to speak. But we may confidently anticipate that 

 when some future historian shall review the various 

 forces which have furthered the advance of science in 

 this country during the Victorian age, a well-marked 

 place will be assigned to the services rendered by the 

 Duke of Argyll. A. G. 



