December 5, 1895] 



NATURE 



105 



to this very settlement of the question. But the problem 

 win never be solved if the party of resistance are en- 

 couraged by being told that the acquiescence of the 

 country graduates is indispensable, and that a measure 

 brought in by the strongest Administration of the century 

 cannot be passed if a handful of malcontents oppose it." 

 With such expressions of opinion as these before us we 

 cannot doubt but that London will yet be roused to a 

 sense of what it will lose if advantage is not taken of the 

 present golden opportunity. 



HENRY SEEBOHM. 



THE death of Henry Seebohm was announced in one 

 of the " leading dailies " last week, as that of a 

 member of an eminent firm of steel-manufacturers. 

 Steel-manufacturer Seebohm was, no doubt, and his steel 

 was good ; but his name will be remembered as that of 

 an acute and hard-working naturalist long after the 

 quality of his steel is forgotten. 



Henry Seebohm was one of a family of Quakers of 

 Scandinavian origin, as the name shows, but settled 

 for several generations in England. He was born 

 in 1832, at Bradford in Yorkshire, and educated at 

 the Quakers' school in York. His father, who was a 

 practical man and thought everybody should begin at 

 the beginning, started him in life as a grocer's shop-boy, 

 in order that he might be taught to tie up paper-parcels 

 properly. After many vicissitudes in business, Seebohm 

 settled down as a maker of pot-steel at Rotherham, and 

 in due time achieved a handsome competence. From his 

 earliest days devoted to natural history and especially to 

 ornithology, Seebohm spent all his leisure in the study of 

 birds, and made short excursions into different parts of 

 Europe in order to obtain personal acquaintance with 

 some of the rarer species. It was not, however, until 

 about twenty years ago that his business pursuits per- 

 mitted him to devote much time to scientific work. In 

 1875, in company with his friend Mr. J. Harvie Brown, 

 he made his first great excursion to the valley of the 

 Lower Petchora in North-east Russia. Of the remark- 

 able ornithological discoveries effected on this occasion 

 an account was first published in The Ibis for 1876. 

 But a complete and most attractive narrative of the 

 whole journey was subsequently prepared by Seebohm, 

 and issued in 1880 under the title of " Siberia in Europe." 

 In 1877 a longer and more adventurous journey was 

 carried out into the J'ar East. On this occasion Seebohm 

 visited the valley of the Yenesay, and in 1882 published 

 his " Siberia in Asia " as a pendant to his former volume. 



After this Seebohm commenced to put together the 

 facts that he had accumulated, and the conclusions that he 

 had arrived at on his much-loved subject of British 

 birds. The first volume of his " History of British Birds 

 and their Eggs " was issued in 1882. In 1885 the sub- 

 ject was concluded by the issue of the third and fourth 

 volumes. It may be truly said that no other book of the 

 sort has been prepared on the base of such wide and 

 varied experiences. Having acquired from a brother 

 ornithologist a special collection of wading-birds, See- 

 bohm next turned his attention to this branch of 

 ornithology, which had also particular attractions for him 

 in connection with the migrant habits of this order, and 

 in 1888 issued a beautifully illustrated quarto work "On 

 the Geographical Distribution of Plovers, Sandpipers, and 

 Snipes," which was, in fact, a complete " Monograph" of 

 the birds of the order Limicola.\ He also wrote two 

 treatises on the "Classification of Birds," the last of 

 •which was only published in the present year. 



Seebohm was a most liberal contributor to the bird- 

 collections of the British Museum, and from time to time 



made many very handsome contributions to them. He 

 would purchase and present without the slightest hesita- 

 tion any specimens that came into the market, if he 

 thought there would be a difficulty in their acquirement 

 by the Museum. He gave to the Museum the whole of 

 his unrivalled series of eggs, and had it arranged along 

 with the rest of the collection of these objects under his 

 own personal supervision. He was also the compiler of 

 the fifth volume of the great catalogue of birds published 

 by the Trustees, which was issued in 1881. This related 

 principally to the thrushes — a group with which Seebohm 

 was specially familiar. In fact, he has long had in pre- 

 paration a complete monograph of this group of birds, 

 with coloured illustrations of every species, but has 

 unfortunately left it unfinished at his decease. 



Seebohm was elected a Fellow of the Zoological Society 

 and of the British Ornithologists' Union in 1873, ^"^ 

 from that date onwards was a leading spirit in the con- 

 duct of both these Societies, and a constant contributor 

 to their publications. He was never elected a Fellow of 

 the Royal Society, though put up as a candidate, and 

 very strongly supported. Unfortunately occult influences 

 interfered with his attainment of this honour. Seebohm, 

 though one of the kindest natures possible, was occasion- 

 ally a severe critic, and gave offence to sensitive indi- 

 viduals by stating the truth too plainly. The loss of an 

 only son some years ago was a sad blow to Henry 

 Seebohm ; but he recovered this shock to a great degree, 

 and returned to his usual pursuits. His last and fatal 

 illness was consequent, as he believed, on an attack of 

 influenza, which took place last spring. He died on the 

 26th ult., at his residence in South Kensington, where he 

 had got together a splendid ornithological library and an 

 almost unrivalled collection of British birds, leaving a 

 vacuum in the ranks of living naturalists which it will be 

 very difficult to fill. 



NO. 1362, VOL. 53] 



NOTES. 

 The first meeting of the General Committee formed for the 

 purpose of establishing a memorial to the late Prof. Huxley was 

 held on Wednesday, November 27, when it was resolved — " That 

 the memorial do take the form of a statue to be placed in the 

 Museum of Natural History, and a medal in connection with the 

 Royal College of Science ; and that the surplus be devoted to 

 the furtherance of biological science, in some manner to be 

 hereafter determined by the Committee, dependent upon the 

 amount collected." 



It will be remembered by our mathematical readers that a 

 Committee, including thenamesof many eminent mathematicians 

 in both hemispheres, was formed in 1893 to obtain funds for a 

 memorial to the renowned master of geometry — Lobatchefsky. 

 The report of the Committee on what has been done in the 

 matter has just been issued. The total sum received up to May 

 last was 9071 roubles (;i^i4i7), and when all expenses had 

 been pfld the amount available for the memorial was 8840 

 roubles (;^l38i). This sum enables the Committee to carry 

 out the double intention of founding an international prize for 

 geometrical works, especially for those belonging to non- 

 Euclidean geometry, and also to erect a bust of Lobatchefsky. 

 Six thousand roubles have been put by to found the prize, which 

 will consist of 500 roubles (nearly ;^8o), to be given every 

 third year for the best geometrical works or memoirs. The 

 memoirs may be written in Russian, French, German, English, 

 Italian, or Latin, and must be sent to the Physico- Mathe- 

 matical Society at Kazan, at least a year before the adjudication 

 of the prize. The first prize will be awarded on October 22 

 (November 3, new style), 1897. The sum remaining over and 



