June i i, 19 jS] 



NA JURE 



^31 



cess in the most important nebula and clusters, and 

 the diagrams reproduced show the completeness of 

 the connection. The most conspicuous, as it is one 

 01" tlie most interesting instances, is that known as 

 the ■' cocoon " nebula, where the complex nebulous 

 structure lies concealed at the end of a long channel, 

 extending more than two degrees into the luminous 

 clouds. The author suggests that we have here to do 

 with an absorptive phenomenon, and certainly the 

 appearance warrants the suggestion. But such in- 

 stances, if less pronounced, are not rare, and there- 

 fore it is legitimate to imagine that the whole heavens 

 ar? more or less hidden by the results of processes 

 still in progress. In that case the Milky \yay itself 

 mav be regarded as a remnant of an earlier much 

 more extended universe. This hypothesis, as any 

 other we may form, may be quite misleading, 

 but into whatever errors our assumptions may con- 

 duct us, it is certain that the Milky Way offers a grand 

 and sublime problem, indicating the action of pro- 

 cesses and forces for the adequate description of which 

 we still lack rudimentary conceptions. V\'e stand face 

 to face with a great mystery without the partial un- 

 veiling of which our pictured scheme of the cosmos 

 must remain an imperfect patchwork. 



SIR JOHN EVANS, K.C.B., F.R.S. 



BY the death of Sir John Evans, British archjeology 

 has lost one who was amongst its foremost figures 

 for more than fifty 3"ears. The son of the late Rev. 

 A. B. Evans, D.D., he was born at Britwell Court in 

 1S23, educated at Market Bosworth School, and 

 entered the business of his maternal uncle, Mr. John 

 Dickinson, F.R.S., the founder of the famous paper 

 factory at \ash Mills. From school young Evans 

 brought with him a genuine love of classical litera- 

 ture and history, and presently he developed a no less 

 strong taste for science, whilst he at once showed 

 business capacity of no ordinary kind. Very soon 

 he directed his attention to geology. Practical reasons 

 may have hastened a natural tendency, as he was 

 led to this study by a dispute respecting the water 

 rights of his uncle's firm, and in a comparatively short 

 time he mastered the principles of that science. He 

 became an active member of the Geological Society, 

 of which he was elected president in 1874. 



Sir John Evans's scientific training had a very im- 

 portant bearing on his work as an archaeologist, and 

 in no little degree enabled him to make those great 

 advances in British archeology which that science 

 owes to him. Scientific method, combined with his 

 love of historical literature, gave him an equipment for 

 antiquarian studies possessed by but few of his con- 

 temporaries. Evans's interests were of the widest, 

 but in his early years they chiefly lay in the coins of 

 the ancient Britons. Though from Camden onwards 

 much had been written about them, Evans for the 

 first time coordinated the entire mass of material, and 

 worked out systematically the evolution of the British 

 types, as Lelewel had done for the Gaulish series and 

 partially attempted for Britain. When, in 1864, Evans 

 published his " Coins of the Ancient Britons," it was 

 at once recognised, not only as a masterly example of 

 learning and minute accuracy of detail, but also as a 

 model of method. He published a supplement to it 

 in 1890, and though his chronology, based on the time 

 supposed to be necessary for the degradation of the 

 original type of the gold stater of Philip H. of 

 Macedon, may not now commend itself, the book must 

 always remain one of our chief authorities for the 

 early history of this island. 



But his attention was not confined to the period 



NO. 2015, VOL. 78] 



between the occupation of south-eastern Britain by the 

 Belgae and the Roman conquest. He worked inces- 

 santly at the remains of prehistoric man both on the 

 Continent and in these islands, following the method 

 of the great Scandinavian archaeologists. The first 

 results of these labours were embodied in " The 

 .Vncient Stone Implements," &c., of. Great Britain, 

 published in 1S72 (second edition in 1897). Here, of 

 course, his geological knowledge came into play, more 

 especially in reference to the relics left by PaleEolithic 

 man in the fluviatile gravels of our own island. Yet 

 all this time he had been working incessantly at the 

 first beginnings of the use of metal, and the fruits 

 of his work in this all-important field were put forth 

 in " The Bronze Implements of Great Britain and 

 Ireland," in 1881. All his three great works are 

 largely based upon and illustrated from his own mag- 

 nificent collections in the several departments, though 

 these were but a fraction of his vast treasures, which 

 comprised a great series of Greek, Roman, English, 

 and other coins, medals, rings, enamels, and most 

 other classes of antiquities. .At a time when so many 

 objects which form an integral part of our national 

 history are constantly finding their way across the 

 .\tlantic, it is pleasant to think that the collections 

 amassed at Nash Mills are not to be dispersed under 

 the auctioneer's hammer. 



Besides his three master-works. Evans wrote in- 

 numerable papers in Arcliaeologia, the Numismatic 

 Chronicle, and various other journals, all of which 

 are distinguished by the same rigorous accuracy and 

 keen insight as his larger publications. It is hard for 

 us in this generation to realise clearly all that he did 

 to advance the study of archaeology in this country. 

 Though Worsaae and his school had already firmly 

 laid down the principles of archaeology in Scandinavia 

 when Evans began his career, in this country such 

 studies were almost entirely in the hands of the 

 Oldbucks and the Simpkinsons, whose fatuities, 

 credulities and wild speculations were scorned by 

 serious historians and mocked at by the general public. 

 Evans's strong common sense, his scientific training, 

 and his instinctive love of historical records soon made 

 him a powerful steam-hammer which pulverised 

 mercilessly the trivialities and inanities of the old 

 antiquarians. To his influence is due in no small 

 degree the hold which scientific archceology has been 

 able to get on the respect of men of science, historians, 

 and the general public. The fact that he was a most 

 successful man of business, and at the same time 

 took the lead in the public affairs of his county, con- 

 tributed in no small degree to this result. It was felt 

 by men of the world and men of science alike that if so 

 powerful and practical a mind could find its chief 

 interests in the pursuit of archceology, these studies 

 deserved better than to be the mere pastime of pedants 

 or enthusiasts. 



Evans's great characteristics were his strong 

 common sense, his courage, and his extraordinary 

 mastery of details, though the last became sometimes 

 even a weakness. Thus, whilst his books on the 

 Stone and Bronze ages are vast storehouses of facts 

 and minute and accurate details, he sometimes lost 

 sight of the general principles, and did not always 

 lay sufficient stress on the importance of associated 

 groups of objects to which the younger generation 

 attaches so much value. But make what deductions 

 we may, the fact remains that Sir John Evans must 

 always hold his place along with John Kemble, Wol- 

 laston Franks, Greenwell, and Boyd Dawkins in the 

 front rank of those who have set British archeology 

 on a scientific basis. Vigorous in defence of his own 

 views, yet from his innate love of truth ready to 

 modify them and accept those of others when hfs 



