388 
published of the structure and functions of these remark- 
able and enigmatical bodies, while he insists on their 
value in affording characters for classification. His very 
instructive and expressive figures form part of the illustra- 
tions of Polyzoal morphology contained in the morpho- 
logical] atlas of Victor Carus. 
It was about this time that Busk undertook, for the 
Palzontographical Society, a monograph of the fossil 
Polyzoa of the Crag,—a task for which his knowledge of 
the recent species had eminently fitted him. But his 
geological work was by no means confined to researches 
among these lower forms of life. In 1864 he made a 
journey to Gibraltar along with Dr. Falconer, for the 
purpose of investigating the ancient fauna which had 
been preserved in the caves of that region. The results 
of the joint labours of the two explorers were embodied 
ina report read at the Norwich Meeting of the British 
Association in 1868, and more fully in a complete mono- 
graph on the subject subsequently published. Among 
other paleontological contributions may be mentioned 
his observations on certain points in the dentition of | 
fossil bears, as affording good diagnostic characters, and | 
on the relations of Ursus friscus to Ursus ferox; also 
his descriptions of three extinct species of elephant, the 
remains of which were collected by Capt. Sprat in the 
ossiferous caverns of Zebbung in the Island of Malta; | 
| that Museum the Hunterian Professorship of Comparative 
his report on the animal remains in the Brixham Cave ; 
and a report on the animal remains found by Col. Lane- 
NATURE 
Fox in the High and Low Terrace-gravels at Acton and | 
Turnham Green. All these communications bear evi- 
dence of his skill in recognising paleontological cha- 
racters and in detecting their relations with those of 
living forms, while his study of fossil mammals, and his 
comparison of these with existing species, suggested to 
him aningenious method of graphically representing the 
dimensions and proportions of mammalian teeth. 
It was somewhat later than this that his attention was 
largely given to ethnology, and the Anthropological So- 
ciety not only owes to his pen many valuable memoirs, | 
but bears evidence of judicious management and ad- 
ministrative capacity in his labours as its President and 
as a member of its Council. Along with Dr. Carpenter 
and Dr. Falconer he formed one of a Commission which | 
visited France in order to take part in the Conference 
which was held there for the purpose of inquiring into 
the circumstances attending the asserted discovery of a 
human jaw in the Gravel at Moulin Quignon, near Abbe- 
ville. Among his other anthropological work will be 
found many interesting comparisons of crania belonging | 
to various nations. These investigations were carried on 
chiefly by means of a systematic method of measurement, 
which he advocated as affording a uniform basis of com- 
parison, by which anthropological studies might be 
facilitated and the data of comparison rendered more 
definite and precise. 
At a time when the German language was much less 
understood in this country than it is at present, Busk 
performed an important service by giving to the English 
student an excellent translation from the German of 
Steenstrup’s famous treatise on the alternation of genera- 
tions, and, in collaboration with Huxley, a translation of 
Kolliker’s valuable manual of human histology. 
The last piece of work which devolved on him was the 
preparation of a Report on the Polyzoa collected during 
the voyage of the Challenger. The first part of this im- 
portant work was completed in 1884, and has been 
already reviewed in NATURE. It forms an admirable 
exposition of the additions made to our knowledge of 
these animals by the great exploratory voyage; and 
amply realises all that had been expected from one who | 
had made the Polyzoa the subject of so much careful and 
philosophic study. 
The second and concluding part of the Report he left 
behind him in a condition nearly ready for the press, and 
[August 26, 1886 
under the judicious supervision of the proofs by his eldest 
daughter—through whose loving care during his last 
months of suffering he was enabled to carry on his work 
to completion—is now quite ready for publication. 
The many-sidedness of Mr. Busk’s mind was one of 
the most striking features of his clear and comprehensive 
intellect, and naturally obtained for him distinctions and 
honours in many and various departments of science. He 
was early elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, of which 
he was afterwards nominated one of the Vice-Presidents, 
and on the Council of which he served on several occa- 
sions. He was more than once President of the Micro- 
scopical and Anthropological Societies, was Zoological 
Secretary of the Linnean Society, and would have been 
made its President were it not that, notwithstanding the 
warmly expressed solicitations of the Council of that 
body, he felt that the labour of the Presidential chair 
was greater than he believed himself justified in under- 
taking. 
In recognition of the eminence he had attained as a 
surgeon during the professional period of his life, and of 
the interest he had always continued to take in the wel- 
fare of his profession, he was elected in 1871 to the Presi- 
dency of the Royal College of Surgeons. He was one of 
the Trustees of the Hunterian Museum of the College, 
and continued for three years to hold in connection with 
Anatomy. He was a Member of the Senate of the Uni- 
versity of London, for many years Treasurer of the 
Royal Institution of Great Britain, and had more recently 
been nominated one of the Governors of :Charterhouse 
School. 
For his researches in zoology, physiology, and com- 
parative anatomy the Royal Society in 1871 awarded to 
him the Royal Medal, while for his palaontological re- 
searches he afterwards received from the Geological 
Society the Lyell and Wollaston Medals. 
On the passing of the Cruelty to Animals Act, intended 
to regulate the performance of experiments on living 
animals, he was appointed by Government inspector of 
the various medical schools and_ physiological labora- 
tories registered under that Act in England and Scotland ; 
and the judgment and skill with which he performed the 
difficult duties of the office bear ample testimony to the 
wisdom of his appointment. Abhorring the infliction of 
unnecessary pain, he saw that for the advancement of 
knowledge which might tend to the alleviation of human 
suffering such experiments were not only permissible but 
called for, while at the same time he set himself strenu- 
ously against the infliction of pain which might be 
avoided, and against the institution of experiments which 
did not hold out obvious promise of the results which 
alone would justify them. 
He was a genuine lover of Nature, deriving unalloyed 
pleasure from all that was beautiful in the external world ; 
and the writer of this notice can well remember the 
enthusiasm with which he would recall the vegetation of 
the lower reaches of the Thames—amid which his early 
work on board the Dreadnought lay—with its rich growth 
of Sagittaria, and Butomus, and Sedges, and picturesque 
water-weeds, long since swept away before the spread of 
manufactures and the encroachments of civilisation. 
Generous and liberal to his fellow-workers, with his rich 
store of material always at their disposition, hisloss will 
be long and deeply felt by the many who profited by his 
friendship. Free from all selfish and personal ambition, 
and pursuing his investigations for the sake alone of the 
| truths which might result from them, he cared little about 
asserting his claims to discovery, and would rest satisfied 
with the belief that, whoever may be the discoverer, 
human knowledge would be the gainer. 
And yet, though he had no ambitious longing for repu- 
tation, Busk was no cynic. He could appreciate the 
esteem of those whose esteem was worth having, and few 
