Eminent Living Geologists : Rev. Onmond Fisher. 53 



•the proceeds of the Lyell Fund in 1887, and the Murchison Medal 

 in 1893, In 1878 he was appointed Honorary Fellow of King's 

 College, Loudon, and in 1893 Honorary Fellow of Jesus College, 

 Cambridge. In 1895 his portrait was painted by Mr. Coney. A copy 

 of the picture was subsequently made by Mrs. H. A. Morgan, and 

 accepted by the Society of Jesus College, in the hall of which College 

 it now hangs. The admirable photograph here reproduced was takea 

 by Mr. E. H. Lord of Cambridge in 1898. 



The " Physics of the Earth's Crust " with its appendix may be 

 said to consist of two distinct parts, a destructive part and a con- 

 structive part. In the first Mr. Fisher is chiefly occupied by 

 a criticism of the contraction theory from the point of view of its 

 insufficiency to account for existing elevations. If his assumptions 

 are all correct, there can be little doubt that he has proved his case, 

 whether the interior be wholly solid or partly liquid, and whether 

 the shrinking of the nucleus be due to loss of heat or loss of included 

 steam by means of volcanic eruptions. Of the other and more 

 valuable part, there is no need to insert any description here. 

 Mr. Fisher has himself given an exhaustive summary in his con- 

 cluding chapters for the benefit of non-mathematicians, and every 

 good textbook of geology contains some account of it. On re-reading 

 the book after the lapse of several years, the points which chiefly 

 strike one are perhaps the wonderfully close agreement between the 

 theory and the phenomena to be explained by it, and the ingenious 

 manner in which the physical objections to the existence of a liquid 

 substratum are encountered. 



It is impossible at the present time to make any estimate of the 

 permanent value of Mr. Fisher's work. There can be no doubt that 

 it is more highly appreciated in foreign countries than it is in 

 England ; for Mr. Fisher's views are generally regarded as un- 

 orthodox here, while abroad the balance is probably in their favour. 



It is unfortunate that English opinion as to the condition of the 

 earth's interior should be mainly led by a few mathematicians whose 

 chief interests lie elsewhere. No controversialist is bound, or can 

 be bound, to examine every criticism of his work, but so long as 

 careful and conscientious criticisms are left unanswered, the judg- 

 ment of others with regard to that work must be held in suspense. 

 Mr. Fisher's investigations cannot be brushed aside as of little or no 

 consequence. We may or may not believe in the practical solidity 

 of the earth's interior ; but, if we do consider this view as the more 

 probable, we cannot but feel that the objections which he has offered 

 require serious examination, and that our lines of communication for 

 further advances ai-e menaced until his attack is definitely repelled. 



In reflecting on Mr. Fisher's work as a whole, one cannot help 

 being struck by his self-sacrificing boldness. It is no light thing 

 for a thoughtful man to spend the better part of thirty years' leisure 

 in working out a theory the foundation of which may be swept away 

 by some future discovery. In such a position many of us would 

 guard our work with jealous watchfulness from all unfriendly glances. 

 But at fourscore years and more, Mr. Fisher welcomes criticism ; his 



