April 21, 1916] 



SCIENCE 



559 



itself. I believe that this analysis is the 

 justification of the course itself. It shows 

 the advantage of confronting in a series of 

 lectures the old classic data with the mod- 

 ern tendencies, all of which have to be 

 brought into agreement. The crisis of 

 transformism which Le Dantec announced 

 some eight years ago is very much more 

 acute and more in evidence now than it was 

 then. In making this analysis, I have been 

 able to furnish you in advance with an out- 

 line to the following lectures which together 

 will form four successive parts; first, a 

 rapid examination of data contributed to 

 the support of the transformist conception 

 by morphology in its different aspects 

 (comparative anatomy, embryology, pale- 

 ontology) ; second, the examination of the 

 principal dynamic explanations of trans- 

 formism, above all Darwinism and La- 

 marckism ; third, a study of the main prin- 

 ciples of genetics, and fourth, a few final 

 lectures in which we shall review all the 

 data. 



A course on evolution might seem a priori 

 a hypertrophy to a program of studies, and 

 in fact it is nothing but an extremely re- 

 stricted scheme for examining important 

 questions and the many investigations 

 which this line of study has brought forth. 

 All I can do, then, is to confine myself to a 

 general view of the question, limiting my- 

 self to facts and essential data. 



M. Caullekt 



SIR CLEMENTS R. MARKHAM 



Sir C. E. Maekham, the famous geographer 

 and explorer, who died in his London home, 

 January 30, from burns caused by the over- 

 throw of a candle, was in many respects a very 

 remarkable man and his services to his fellows 

 deserve to be widely known. He thought so 

 little of himseK that he did not trouble even 

 to have a correct notice in " Who's Who in 

 Science," nor did he talk or write of his own 



doings, so that, having survived most of his 

 contemporaries, few were aware how much 

 the modern world is indebted to him. Due to 

 his sagacity and enterprise was the introduc- 

 tion of the quinine-producing shrub in India 

 and the East; through his energetic work for 

 twenty-five years as secretary to the Eoyal 

 Geographical Society, and later as president, 

 there was a vast increase in geographical 

 knowledge and scientific exploration, whilst 

 his published books on many diverse subjects 

 were almost all on original ground. They 

 would form an excellent course of study for 

 any young man desirous to train mind and 

 judgment on a good foundation. Each is a 

 mine of careful research and accurate infor- 

 mation, with utmost simplicity in presenta- 

 tion. There is no writing for effect and no 

 seK-exploitation ; the narrative flows along 

 easily and the reader can enjoy it as evidently 

 the writer did. 



Born in 1830, the son of the Vicar of Still- 

 ingfleet, Yorkshire, he entered the navy in 

 1844 and began his adventures hunting Eiff 

 pirates in the Mediterranean. In 1850, when 

 the expedition in search of Sir John Frank- 

 lin's party was preparing, he applied to 

 join, and being refused on account of his 

 youth, it is said that he sat down on the 

 steps of the Admiralty and declined to move 

 until the decision was reconsidered. Leaving 

 in May, 1850, they returned in the autumn 

 of 1851, having explored 300 miles of coast 

 to about meridian 115 degrees on Melville 

 Island, and in "Franklin's Footsteps" (pub- 

 lished 1853), young Markham gave a spirited 

 account of all they had seen. After wintering 

 on Griffith Island, parties were sent in differ- 

 ent directions over the ice, dragging by hand 

 sledges with their limited provisions ; McClin- 

 tock's party covered 770 miles in 81 days, 

 going 300 miles in a direct line from their 

 ship. Markham was with a small party who 

 went 140 miles in 19 days with one sledge. 

 No wonder he spoke with genial scorn at a 

 recent British Association meeting, of the 

 modern polar explorer with every contrivance 

 for comfort. 



