574 OBiTTTJ^ia'Y". 



PROFESSOR ROBERT HARKNESS, F.R.S., F.G.S. 



Born 28th July, 1816. Died 4th October, 1878. 

 (With a Portrait.)^ 



Those who have taken an active part in geological science during 

 the last quarter of a century must have been profoundly impressed 

 by the large number of notable geologists who have passed away 

 within that period. 



But the cause may readily be discerned when we remember that 

 our science has only occupied a recognized position for about fifty 

 years, and that the young men, who were then its most active pro- 

 moters, have to a large extent fulfilled their allotted three-score 

 years and ten within this period, affording ample testimony to the 

 healthful nature of geological pursuits. 



In a few instances, we have lost from our front ranks men whom 

 we had hoped to see still in their accustomed places for years to 

 come ; but such special losses may have aiisen from overwork 

 hastened by organic disease ; and it is to be feared that this was 

 most probably the case with our late lamented friend Professor 

 Harkness. 



Born at Ormskirk, Lancashire, July 28th, 1816, Eobert Harkness 

 was sent at an early age to the High School, Dumfries, where under 

 Dr. Duncan's care he received his primary education. Subsequently 

 he entered (he University of Edinburgh, and here he seems to have 

 acquired his first love for geological science while attending the 

 lectures of Professor Jamieson and Professor James D. Forbes. 

 After the completion of his academic studies, he devoted himself 

 entirely to his favourite pursuits of chemistry and geology. 



Mr. Harkness's earliest researches seem to have been directed 

 to the investigation of that most attractive field of study to 

 geologists, the Carboniferous formation, his first paper being on 

 "The Climate of the Coal Epoch," read before the Manchester 

 Geological Society, in April, 1843. 



It is interesting to read the views of Harkness in this pajDer, 

 and to find them reiterated most remarkably by Professor T. Sterry 

 Hunt, twenty-four years later.^ 



Mr. Harkness writes : — 



" From the foregoing observations it is evident that from the 

 first dawn of animal life, and probably also during the countless 

 ages which preceded the creation of organized beings, till the period 

 when terrestrial animals were first called into existence, the earth 

 possessed a warmer and a much more equable climate than at 

 the present time. This equable climate appears to have resulted 



' For permission to reproduce ttiis likeness of the late Prof. Harkness, the Editor 

 is indebted to the kindness of the proprietors of The Illustrated London Neivs. 



2 See "The Chemistry of the PrimaBval Earth," a lecture by Professor T. Sterry 

 Hunt, F.E.S., F.G.S. , GJeol. Mag. 1867, Vol. lY. pp. 365-366. 



