480 Obituary — Henri Milne Edicards. 



the Tendances de la Nature, in which he gave forth his opinions 

 on the vitality of diiferent parts of organisms. We have additional 

 evidence of the versatility of his genius about this period in further 

 Beclierclies sur les polypiers (eight memoirs, with Haime, 1848), 

 a paper on the mceurs de divers insects xyhpliages (1848), and a 

 report on piscicidture (1850). Elected an Associate, in 1854, of the 

 Academy of Medicine, in 1856 he visited London to receive from 

 the Eoyal Society the Copley Medal, in presenting which the 

 President declared that it would be a difficult task to name any one 

 existing naturalist who had prosecuted his researches with success 

 over so wide a range of investigation. On the death of Haime, in 

 that same year, Edwards completed the Histoire naturelle des Coral- 

 liaires ou Polypes, 3 vols, and atlas. On the 28th May, 1862, he 

 succeeded Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire as Professor of Zoology at 

 the Musee, of which shortly after he became Assistant-Director. 

 In 1867 appeared his Rapport stir les progres recents des sciences zoolo- 

 giques en France. The Lecons sur la pliysiologie et Vanatomie de 

 VSomme et des Animaux wei'e published between 1857 and 1881, in 

 fourteen volumes. They were dedicated to his relative M. J. Dumas, 

 and will always possess importance for the student from the immense 

 amount of details, accompanied by copious references to the labours 

 of others, which they contain in limited compass. On the appear- 

 ance of the last volume, a portrait-medal of the author was struck 

 by his pupils and admirers ; at the same time the Society of Sciences 

 of Holland designated him as the recipient of the Boerhave Medal, 

 given for the most valuable works in Natural History. Various 

 learned societies had enrolled Edwards among their members. 

 Crowned with the honour and success of a long life devoted to the 

 advancement of science, Henri Milne Edwards died at Paris on the 

 29th of July of the present year. The wide range of his knowledge 

 of zoology has rarely been equalled ; and it must be borne in mind 

 that he laboured when the study of zoology was scarcely settled on 

 a scientific basis. A glance at the Koyal Society's catalogue of 

 papers to 1868 will at once be convincing in regard to his work ; 

 106 papers are placed to his credit alone, while thirty appear 

 in connection with other well-known men of science. Generation, 

 changes of form, mode of growth, mechanism of respiration, forms 

 of blood -corpuscles, the nervous system, circulatory ai:iparatus, 

 geographical distribution, are among the subjects treated in the 

 side-walks as we may term them of his career. 



Personally, Milne Edwards was of a delicate constitution, and the 

 interest excited by his discoveries may be said to have prolonged 

 his life to the advanced age he reached. He was a good linguist, 

 his English and French being perfect. His love for France and its 

 people displayed itself in many instances of bravery and self-sacrifice 

 during the cholera epidemic of 1832 and the Franco- German war 

 which broke out in 1870. His rare qualities and generous nature 

 will be missed by many a student and confrere, while the scientific 

 world will mourn the loss of the remarkable powers of elucidation 

 and classification evidenced by his life-long labours. — T.N. 



