570 



NA TURE 



[April 12, 1900 



till 1899, when he was compelled by ill-health to resign. 

 In 1869 his merits were recognised by admission to the 

 Fellowship of the Royal Society. He was likewise a 

 Fellow of the Linnean Society of London, of which body 

 he was Secretary from 1874 to 1880, while he subse- 

 quently served for many years on its Council, and at one 

 time as a Vice-President. In 1874 he was appointed Pro- 

 fessor of Biology at University College, London. In 1876 

 he was created a Ph.D. of Rome by the Pope, while in 

 1884 the degree of M.D. was conferred upon him by the 

 University of Louvain. Subsequently he was nominated 

 Professor of the Philosophy of Biology in the last-named 

 University. 



Although various scientific memoirs had previously 

 appeared from his pen, it was in 1870 that Dr. Mivart 

 made his first appearance as an essay-writer in popular 

 reviews; and from that date onwards communications 

 of this nature in the Quarterly, Fortnightly, and Con- 

 temporary Reviews, and the Nineteenth Century, have 

 made his name a household word. All these were 

 marked not only by conspicuous originality of view, but 

 likewise by a high degree of literary and controversial 

 merit. It is not, however, these communications that 

 it is our present intention to describe. With the appear- 

 ance, in 1 87 1, of" The Genesis of Species" (two editions 

 of which were issued during the first year of its existence). 

 Dr. Mivart may be said to have first come into prominent 

 public notice ; and the attention it attracted may be 

 gathered from the criticisms which it drew from Prof. 

 Huxley and other distinguished evolutionists. As is well 

 known, the author in this volume seeks to put natural 

 selection somewhat in the background as a factor in the 

 evolution of animal life, and to bring into prominence 

 the guiding action of Divine power. An advocate for 

 " creation," the author was careful to distinguish between 

 absolute and derivative creation ; stating that it was 

 with the latter alone that the evolutionist had to deal. 

 At the same time he laid stress on the opinion that while 

 man's body was the result of evolution, the origin of his 

 intellect must be sought elsewhere. 



The elaboration of his views as to the relationship 

 existing between human intellect and animal nature in 

 general was given first in " Nature and Thought ; an 

 Introduction to Natural Philosophy" (1882), and finally 

 in "The Origin of Human Reason" (1889), as well as in 

 various serial articles. 



But on these and kindred subjects Dr. Mivart could 

 not have spoken with authority unless he possessed an 

 accurate knowledge of the physical relationships between 

 man and the other Primates, as well as those between 

 the latter and the lower Vertebrates. And, in 1873, the 

 appearance (in Macmillan's " School Class Books ") of 

 " Lessons in Elementary Anatomy," and also of a 

 separate essay on " Man and Apes," showed how wide a 

 grasp the author had obtained of Vertebrate anatomy 

 generally, and of that of the Primates in particular. 

 Within such a small compass as the " Lessons," there 

 are few, if any, works where the student can gather such 

 an amount of information. 



Dr. Mivart's great interest in the Primates led to his 

 being asked to contribute the article " Apes " to the ninth 

 edition of the " Encyclopsedia Britannica" ; and the 

 excellence of that essay led, with the author's permission, 

 to the incorporation of its substance in "The Study of 

 Mammals," by Flower and Lydekker. To the same 

 great undertaking Dr. Mivart also contributed the articles 

 " Skeleton " and " Reptiles." The latter article showed 

 that, although the author devoted much of his attention 

 to the anatomy of Mammals, yet that other groups of 

 Vertebrates engaged a considerable portion of his ener- 

 gies. During the seventies, for instance, he published 

 in the Trans. Zool. Soc. a " Memoir on the Axial Skeleton 

 of the Strut hion/dae," a second on that of the Pelecanidae, 

 and a third dealing with the structure of the fins of the 



NO. 1589, VOL, 61] 



Elasmobranch fishes, and the nature and homologies ofi 

 Vertebrate limbs generally. The first of these three is \ 

 an important contribution to our knowledge of the oste-i 

 ology of the Ratite Birds, being even at the present] 

 day an epitome of the greater portion of our information; 

 on this subject. And his devotion to Avian anatomy i 

 continued to occupy much of his attention even in hisi 

 later years, as is attested by his papers on the bony, 

 structure of certain Lories and Parrots which appeared? 

 in the Proc. Zool. Soc. for 1895 and 1896. In 1892 ap-i 

 peared a small volume on " The Elements of Ornith- i 

 ology," in which Dr. Mivart gives his views on the vexed i 

 question of Avian classification. In this he follows, to aj 

 great extent, the system proposed by the late Mr. Seebohm.] 



To revert to his favourite study of Mammals, in the] 

 sixties Dr. Mivart was much occupied with the anatomy ^ 

 of the Insectivora, the results of his work being published] 

 in the Journ. of Anatomy ajid Physiology for 1867 and \ 

 1868, and in the Proc. Zool. Soc. for 1871. Subsequently^ 

 his attention was turned to the Carnivora, and the yearl 

 1 88 1 was signalised by the appearance of his work, en-; 

 titled "The Cat ; an Introduction to the Study of Back-j 

 boned Animals, especially Mammals." To a great ex-i 

 tent this volume was modelled on the lines of Huxley's] 

 " Crayfish," published a year earlier. And it affords an- 

 admirable example of how the detailed study of one" 

 particular animal may be made the starting-point of a;; 

 general survey of its near and remote kindred. \ 



The study of the anatomy of the Cat naturally led Dr.| 

 Mivart to devote his attention to that of the other Carni-i 

 vora ; and in 1882 two papers dealing with the classifica-J 

 tion, distribution, and anatomy of the ^luroid Carnivora| 

 were published hy him in the Proc. Zool. Soc. Three| 

 years later (1885) these were followed by a memoir in thej 

 same serial, in which the Arctoid Carnivora were dealtj 

 with in a similar manner. The amount of detailed work| 

 in these three papers, and the elaborate manner in which ^ 

 it is classified and arranged, is worthy of all admiration,^ 

 and renders them a mine of information for thel 

 anatomist. Unfortunately the author paid no attention^ 

 to the palasontological aspect of the subject, and wasj 

 accordingly unaware how essentially false and misleading! 

 is the division of the Carnivora into the vEluroid, Cynoid,| 

 and Arctoid groups. . % 



After devoting so much time to the study of the firstl 

 and third of these groups, Dr. Mivart turned his attention | 

 to the third ; and in 1 890 three papers on the Canidae made| 

 their appearance in the Proc. Zool. Soc. In the same year| 

 the quarto "Monograph of the Cattidae" saw the light. { 



To this long list of literature, which only embraces ai 

 portion of Dr. Mivart's work, it must suffice to add that| 

 a small but useful little volume from his pen, entitledl 

 "Types of Animal Life,'' made its appearance in 1893. \ 



The result of all the work bestowed on the Carnivora^ 

 and Insectivora was largely to increase our knowledges 

 of the anatomy of these groups ; the most remarkable 1 

 feature connected with these investigations being the'i 

 care bestowed on the arrangement and tabulation of the J 

 data acquired. In this respect Dr. Mivart's work is a,^ 

 model for future investigators. ! 



As a lecturer. Dr. Mivart was frequently before the ■ 

 public, both at the Zoological Gardens and at the London | 

 Institution ; and he had that charm of manner and inton- J 

 ation which could surround with a halo of interest even| 

 the driest and apparently most unpromising subjects of: 

 zoological research. This charm of manner— largely duel 

 to a suave and old-fashioned courtliness which survives ; 

 only in a few instances at the present day-was equally | 

 conspicuous in the ordinary intercourse of life. And to| 

 all who enjoyed the privilege of his acquaintance and | 

 friendship, his cordial greeting— whether when acting ii^^ 

 the role of host, or at a casual meeting— will long survive* 

 as a pleasant memory of a remarkable and distinguished? 

 personality. R- L- 



