October 20, tgio] 



NATURE 



501 



thanked the Ministry of Public Instruction, and 

 greeted all who took part in the commemoration in 

 lionour of Filippo Cavolini. Commander Rodino 

 presented a welcome from the municipality of Naples, 

 <ind thanked the Italian Sovereign, patron of the 

 commejiioration. Prof. Paladino spoke on behalf of 

 tlie Royal Academy of Sciences and Letters, recalling 

 at len}<th the personality of Cavolini as citizen and 

 man of science. Prof. Camerano, rector of the Turin 

 L'nivcrsitv, made an appropriate speech, and Prof. 

 Apathy, representing the Hungarian University of 

 Kolozsvar, offered the greetings of the foreign men 

 of science. Dr. F. S. Monticelli, ordinary professor 

 of zoology at the Naples University, then delivered a 

 speech in which, having alluded to the life of Cavolini, 

 and summarily traced his scientific work, he con- 

 cluded : — " Filippo Cavolini was a biologist in the 

 true and modern sense of the word, both in observa- 

 tion and in e.xperiment ; his work marked a new 

 direction in the study of life, a direction that has 

 been corroborated in later times, a direction which 

 Cavolini, in his day, professed and practised." 



" The perusal of his works, which will be re-edited b\' 

 the committee, fully proves that a century ago he, 

 precursor of the present time, experimented on the 

 same lines as those of the present day. This man, 

 to whom, with patriotic pride, we must accord the 

 honour of the scientific discoveries which he first re- 

 vealed, well merits the remembrance of his fellow- 

 citizens in to-day's centennial festivities, in order that 

 they, not forgetting our ancient culture, should recol- 

 lect that in times less fortunate for Italy's destiny, 

 Filippo Cavolini, honouring his country, maintained 

 his country's name in science." 



The rector afterwards held a reception in the great 

 academic hall. In the evening the Society of 

 'Naturalists received the delegates in the Galleria \'it- 

 toria. The following day the delegates and congress- 

 ists were invited bv the committee to join an excur- 

 sion bv steamer to Capo Posillipo, to the Villa de 

 Mellis, once Cavolini 's property. President Monti- 

 celli, in the presence of a large gathering, consigned 

 to the representative of the municipality a commemo- 

 rative marble tablet, which had been fixed to the house 

 in which the great naturalist achieved his work. 



JOHN WILLIS CLARK. 

 Tl) V the death of John Willis Clark, on October lo, 

 ■'--' the University of Cambridge has lost one of its 

 best known and best loved members. Failing health 

 had quite recentlv induced him to send in his resigna- 

 tion of the office of registrary of the University, as 

 from the end of September. The interval allowed by 

 statute for filling up this important post is only 

 fourteen days, and it thus happened that his successor 

 was elected on October 12, the day before his funeral 

 took place. 



J. \V. Clark was to an exceptional extent a product 

 of Cambridge, and the circumstances of his birth and 

 training combined to give him, from early youth, an 

 Intimate knowledge of the University. He was born 

 HI Cambridge on June 24, 1833. His father, the Rev. 

 \V. Clark, fellow of Trinity College, was professor of 

 anatomy from 1817 to 1866. His uncle, Robert Willis, 

 fellow of Gonville and Caius College, held the Jack- 

 sonian professorship of natural experimental philo- 

 sophy from 1837 to 1875. J. W. Clark was thus 

 brought up in an environment which made him fami- 

 liar with the University at an age when his contem- 

 poraries in academic standing of later vears had not 

 yet commenced their acquaintance with Cambridge. 

 He was educated at Eton, and from there proceeded 

 to Trinity College, of which he became a scholar, and 

 NO. 2138, VOL. 84] 



later a fellow, having obtained a first class in the 

 classical tripos of 1856. 



On the death of Prof. Clark, in 1866, a professor, 

 ship of zoology and comparative anatomv was founded, 

 and the firsc occupant of the chair was Alfred Newton. 

 Ai: about the same time the zoological specimens 

 which had been contained in the museum of anatomv, 

 some of them dating from the time of Sir Busick 

 Harwood, professor of anatomv from 1785 to 1814, 

 were placed in a museum of their own, reinforced by 

 die collections of the Cambridge Philosophical Society. 

 J. W. Clark was the first superintendent of the new 

 museum of zoology, and he acted in that capacity 

 from 1866 to 1891, when he resigned the office on 

 being elected registrary. During his tenure of the 

 superintendentship, his own efforts, combined with 

 those of Prof. Newton and Prof, (later Sir George) 

 Humphry, gave the museum a character which was 

 eminently suited for the instruction of students of 

 zoology, and made it an educational instrument of the 

 greatest value. Throughout these vears Clark was on 

 terms of intimate friendship with Prof, (later Sir 

 William) Flower, at that time conservator of the 

 museum of the Royal College of Surgeons. A series 

 of specimens illustrating the comparative anatomv of 

 vertebrates was formed by a mutual arrangement be- 

 tween the two museums, of such a nature that, for 

 instance, the limb-bones of one side of a particular 

 animal found their way into the museum of the 

 College of Surgeons, and those of the other side into 

 the Cambridge comparative series. Clark was fully 

 impressed with the importance of illustrating the 

 structure of animals in his scheme of exhibits, and 

 the collection over which he presided was distinguished 

 by possessing preparations both of vertebr._^l:es and 

 invertebrates, which placed it far in advance of the 

 majority of provincial museums. 



During the whole of his period of office at the 

 museum. Clark had, however, wider duties to per- 

 form. He found time to act as secretary to the 

 Museums and Lecture Rooms Syndicate, a body which 

 is charged with the care of the buildings, and, to a 

 large extent, with the finance of the scientific and 

 other departments. This was a highly critical period 

 in the history of natural science in the University, 

 since it coincided with the remarkable growth of 

 scientific studies which was so marked a feature of 

 Cambridge at that time. Clark's wise and capable 

 management of affairs, and in particular the interest 

 he took in supervising the planning and erection of 

 the buildings required to provide accommodation for 

 the new studies, have earned for him the well-deserved 

 gratitude of all who have had the scientific interests 

 of the University at heart. 



The duties in connection with the museum and with 

 the growth of the scientific departments generally 

 would have been enough to find full scope for the 

 energies of an ordinary man. But this was only one 

 side of Clark's remarkable character, and some of 

 his most notable achievements lay in entirely different 

 directions. His highly valued services to the Univer- 

 sity as a member of innumerable syndicates and 

 boards must be passed over without comment. The 

 work bv which he is best known to many students 

 was connected with the history of the University. 

 The monumental "Architectural History of the 

 University of Cambridge," by the late R. Willis and 

 ]. W. ^Clark, was published in 1886, in four large 

 volumes. It originated in a lecture given by Prof. 

 Willis in 1S54, and it was based in the first instance 

 on the materials which had been accumulated by him. 

 The work was taken over by Clark at Prof. Willis's 

 death ; and the volumes, as finally brought out by 

 him, are a mine of information in all matters con- 



