110 



KNOWLEDGE. 



[May 1, 1897. 



THE l y/^ ISCIEXCEl 



ilOF THEl fc^ 



BIOLOGICAL PROGRESS IN THE VICTORIAN 



ERA. 



By E. Lydekker, B.A.Cantab., F.R.S. 



THE reign of Her Majesty will be notable in future 

 generations for scientific discovery and progress, 

 and among the sciences that have advanced by 

 leaps and bounds during this lengthened period, 

 biology must surely occupy one of the most 

 prominent positions. Indeed, it is almost impossible for 

 workers at the present day to realize how imperfect was 

 our knowledge, and how comparatively few were our books 

 on biological subjects, in the year of grace 1H37. To give 

 any adequate idea of the amount of progress that has 

 been made in even one branch of this science during the 

 reign, would be manifestly impossible in an article of the 

 present length, and it is hence a matter of extreme 

 diflSculty to select points for special mention. 



Perhaps one of the best means for indicating progress 

 is to refer to some of the most notable works and serials 

 that have had their beginning during or shortly before 

 the present reign. And here it may be observed that at 

 the time of the Queen's accession, zoology was fettered by 

 the trammels of the " circular "or " quinary " system of 

 classification, which, although originated by W. S. 

 MacLeay, had been exempUfied with a marvellous power 

 of clever illustration by Swainson in two volumes published 

 in 1835 as a part of Lardner's " Cabinet Cyclopaedia." 

 It is scarcely too much to say that the science was not 

 thoroughly purged from the influence of this mischievous 

 teaching till the appearance of the " Origin of Species" 

 in 1859. 



To the present - day zoologist the British Museum 

 catalogues are absolutely indispensable, and he can hardly 

 imagine the possibility of working without them. Never- 

 theless, the first of these valuable publications appeared 

 in 1837, under the title of " List of Additions to the 

 Collections in the Year 1834," although it was not till 1843 

 that the first of the systematic catalogues was pubhshed. 

 Take, again, the Proceedings of thf Zoological Society, v/hioh 

 now form the most important zoological serial in the world. 

 These only commenced four years before the reign, and it 

 was not till much later that they obtained their present 

 size and importance. Of the publications of the Geological 

 Society, the Proceedings date no further back than 1834, 

 while it was not till 1845 that the first number of the now 

 familiar Quarterhj Jourmil saw the light. The publications 

 of the Entomological Society date almost from the acces- 

 sion, the first volume of the Transactions having appeared 

 in 188G. 



Although a couple of monographs appeared in 1832 and 

 1834, while the " Birds of Europe " is stated to have com- 

 menced in the former year, Gould's well-known magnifi- 

 cent series of faunistic works is practically a product 

 of the Victorian age. Much the same may be said of 



Yarrel's two great works on the British fauna, the first 

 edition of the "Fishes" having been published in 1836; 

 while Bell's "British Quadrupeds" has its "diamond 

 jubilee" during the present year. Even more striking is 

 the case when we turn to pala?ontology, as we find that 

 hopelessly obsolete work, Buckland's " Geology and 

 Mineralogy " coeval with the reign, while Owen's 

 " PaliBontology " did not make its appearance as a separate 

 volume till 1861, although issued two years previously in 

 the Enci/clnpcedia Britannica. It is hard, indeed, to con- 

 ceive how anyone could have acquired even the rudiments 

 of the science when works like these were not in existence. 



Of Owen's works the greater portion has appeared during 

 the reign, although his memoir on the mammary glands 

 of the duckbill bears the date 1832. This serves to 

 remind us that the history of the monotreme mammals 

 has been practically worked out during the same period, 

 the discovery that these animals lay eggs not having been 

 annoimced till the year 1884. Although, owing to his 

 persistent opposition to the doctrine of evolution, his 

 theories of the relationships of animals have not met with 

 acceptation, it is difficult to estimate the debt which 

 zoology and palaeontology owe to Owen for his work during 

 the reign. To him is due the honour of making known to 

 the world the former existence of the gigantic extinct moas 

 (Dinornithida) of New Zealand, and also of the wonderful 

 extinct marsupial fauna of Australia, while he was the 

 pioneer in the elucidation of the equally marvellous fossil 

 mammals of South America. Had these faunas not been 

 discovered and worked out, we should never have gained 

 our present ideas of the geographical distribution of 

 animals. To the same master of anatomy is due the first 

 description of the long-taOed Jurassic bird (Archaopteryx) 

 in 1862, the fossil being one of the most remarkable 

 " missing links" ever discovered — too late, unfortunately, 

 for Darwin's " Origin of Species." Although many of his 

 views are now proved to be erroneous, Owen also did much 

 for the extinct Mesozoic reptiles which he well christened 

 Dinosaurs, and his labours laid the foundation for almost 

 all subsequent work on fossil reptiles in general. 



The mention of Dinosaurs naturally leads on to Huxley, 

 who, although by no means essentially a palaeontologist, 

 was the first to point out the connection between that 

 extraordinary group of reptiles and birds, a line of investiga- 

 tion in which he was ably seconded by J. W. Hulke. The 

 life-work of Huxley was entirely produced during the 

 reign, and how much it contributed to systematic and 

 morphological zoology needs no mention here. One of his 

 most famous memoirs — on the structure of the palate of 

 birds — forms, to a great extent, the basis of the present 

 classifications of the group. But in popular estimation 

 Huxley's greatest claim to recognition is probably his 

 brilliant advocacy of the evolution theory. That doctrine 

 will ever remain the crowning biological achievement 

 of the record reign, and it is no disparagement to its 

 illustrious expounders — Darwin and Wallace — to say that 

 it was only through the unwearied labours of workers in 

 other branches of biology, during and previous to the early 

 part of the reign, that it was possible for them to have 

 weaved the scattered facts and observations into one 

 harmonious fabric. 



Although Darwin's name is, in popular estimation, more 

 intimately connected with the doctrine of evolution, that 

 of Mr. Wallace (happily still among us) has obtained a 

 well-deserved fame in connection with the geographical 

 distribution of animals, a branch of biological science 

 which may be said to be almost an exclusive product of the 

 Victorian era. It was in 1835, two years only before the 

 accession, that Swainson published his " Geography and 



