SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



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The Right Hon. Thomas Henry Huxley. — ■ 

 Born at Ealing, in 1S25, the late Professor Huxley, 

 as he is still best known, died at Eastbourne, 

 on June 29th, 1895, after an illness of upwards of a 

 year's duration. Huxley's name is, and will be in 

 time to come, so well known, not only to the 

 scientific world but to the general public, that it 

 would be a work of supererogation to describe the 

 past work of one so familiar to us. His bold 

 honesty of character and fearless assertion of his 

 opinions have done possibly as much as any other 

 cause to advance natural science to its present 

 strength of position in the public estimation. 

 When he was a youth he and others of his time 

 had to do battle with a many-headed hydra of 

 prejudice, to overcome the sneers and fears of an 

 insufficiently educated public, which insisted on its 

 early teachings being left undisturbed. This is not 

 the place, even if it were proper, for us to enter 

 fully into those prejudices, for we doubt if they 

 have all disappeared, and it is useless to cause pain 

 unnecessarily. The fight so gallantly fought by 

 the little band, which numbered in it Darwin, 

 Tyndall and Huxley, who had to overcome the 

 errors of a century of centuries, can never be 

 understood by many who now accept their 

 teachings as matters of course. The odium they 

 suffered, the contumely they met, and the contempt 

 hurled at them has had no more effect in stopping 

 their teachings than to steady them for a- time and 

 prevent their being too lightly accepted. The 

 experiences of these great men, now passed away, 

 shows how certain is the truth to endure, when 

 disinterestedly and honestly told by able masters. 

 A remarkable instance is Huxley of self-edu- 

 cation, for although his father was a schoolmaster, 

 he practically directed his own education, slowly 

 but surely absorbing knowledge, rarely forgetting 

 a fact when he had assured himself of its trust- 

 worthiness. An independent thinker, Huxley had 

 the fine faculty of applying such knowledge as he 

 attained to its very best use ; always comparing, 

 collating and analysing his facts until he had 

 evolved from them a theory which usually stood 

 the test, for him as severe as the assayer's 

 crucible. His system of teaching was marked by 

 simplicity and conciseness. His sureness of his own 

 knowledge gave him a certain strength as a pro- 

 fessor which exercised power over his pupils. His 

 clearness of insight ahead of his time was remark- 

 able, and years ago he forecast many events which 

 are now with us. Among Professor Huxley's 

 qualifications and many honours, he was a 

 Privy Councillor, LL.D., Ph.D., D.C.L., M.D., 

 F.R.C.S. Eng., a Past-President of the Royal 

 Society, and member or honorary member of 

 a long list of the leading societies of the world. 

 It would be puerile to deny that as a leader of 

 modern thought in sociology, as well as natural 

 science, Huxley will hold his influence for years to 

 come. His knowledge of biological subjects was 

 closely approached by that of his fellow-creatures, 

 and their present condition of civilization. He had 

 a contempt for all superstition, hypocrisy and 



conventional service of any kind ; he was, in fact, 

 the apostle of realism and common sense. He had 

 but one steadfast object in life — the elucidation of 

 truth and its diffusion as widely as was humanly 

 possible. We even now know some of the results 

 of his life's work and their influence on the intellect 

 of mankind, but how much more will they be felt 

 in another generation or more. J. T. C. 



Charles Cardale Babington, M.A., F.R.S., 

 Fellow of St. John's College, Professor of Botany 

 at Cambridge, died at his residence there on 

 July 22nd, 1895, after a protracted illness. 

 He graduated in 1830, was elected to the 

 chair of botany in 1861. He was eighty- 

 six years of age at the time of his death. 

 Pie was a son of the late Rev. Joseph Babington, 

 and grandson of Mr. Thomas Babington, of Roth- 

 ley Temple, Leicestershire. Born at Ludlow, he 

 was educated at St. John's College, Cambridge, 

 was appointed Professor of Botany in the Uni- 

 versity, and elected to a Professorial Fellowship 

 at St. John's College, in October, 1S82. He 

 was well known as a naturalist and antiquarian. 

 Among his works were " Flora Bathoniensis," 

 "The Flora of the Channel Islands," a " Manual 

 of British Botany," "Flora of Cambridgeshire," 

 as well as a " History of the Chapel of St. John's 

 College, Cambridge," which he published in 1874. 



Ernest Henri Baillon, whose death is an- 

 nounced, committed suicide very sadly by bleeding 

 from the arm. He was one of the most distinguished 

 of French botanists, and perhaps quite the most 

 prolific author of works in that science of the last 

 quarter of a century. He was born at Calais, 

 November 30th, 1827. He prosecuted medical studies 

 at Paris. In 1855 he received the double degree 

 of doctor of medicine and of the natural sciences. 

 In 1864 he was appointed Professor of Medical 

 Natural History to the F acuity of Paris, and soon 

 afterwards Professor of Hygiene to the Central 

 School of Arts and Manufactures. He was decor- 

 ated with the Legion d'Honneur on August 17th, 

 1S67, and promoted to Officer, July 13th, 1SS8. 

 His chief publication was " Histoire des Plantes," 

 which has been partly translated into English, a 

 vast undertaking in twelve fully-illustrated volumes, 

 the publication of which commenced in 1S66, and 

 concluded only three years ago. His next great 

 work was a " Dictionnaire de Botanique," which 

 he began in 1876 ; the first volume appeared in 

 1878, and the fourth in 1SS5. These are works of 

 great value and research. He published a number 

 of monographs and studies on various natural 

 orders and groups of plants, particularly on the 

 orders Aurantiacea;, Euphorbiaceac, and Capri- 

 foliacea;. Most of these appeared at first in his 

 journal " Adansonia," which appeared periodically 

 for many years. 



Among other deaths during the past month are 

 to be numbered those of Professor Daniel 

 C. Eaton, another well-known botanist and 

 authority upon ferns, who died at New Haven, in 

 the United States ; Professor Tietjen, of the Berlin 

 Observatory, who was for some time editor of the 

 "Berlin Astronomical Annals"; Professor G. F. 

 W. Sporer, of the Potsdam Observatory, and the 

 well-known Monsieur J. Deby, an authority on the 

 diatomacea;, whose magnificent collection of those 

 beautiful objects was some little time since 

 purchased for the Natural History Museum at 

 South Kensington. M. Deby was a well-known 

 Belgian naturalist, who was born at the royal 

 suburb of Lacken, near Brussels, in 1S26. 



