ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. XXxiii 



guages that dealt with geological and palaeontological subjects. Not, 

 however, a thankless task ; for the book is in the hands of every 

 geologist — even though, with all his sifting, it was impossible to 

 avoid multiplying the apparent number of species, which, in different 

 books and in different countries, went by different names. This 

 record of scientific labour was recognized by the Scientific Society of 

 Haarlem, which awarded to Bronn a prize-medal. What is still 

 more important, it received the universal approval of geologists. 



In a later work, on the ' Laws of Development of the Organic 

 "World ' (1858), he again reverted to the questions discussed in the 

 ' History of Nature.' Eeasoning on the entrance, distribution, and 

 grades of life in the various formations, he arrived at the result that 

 there has been a gradual development from imperfect to more perfect 

 forms of life, modified, however, by external conditions of soil, light, 

 temperature, food, <fcc, so that the organisms formed by a certain 

 productive power only endured when capable of adapting themselves 

 to existing conditions. This power, which he recognized as a means 

 for the continuous production of individual and original species, was, 

 according to him, affected by the steady increase of dry land, which 

 helped to vary the conditions of existence so as to favour a various 

 and progressive organization. On the whole, then, the later opinions 

 of Bronn with regard to the development of life seem to have been of 

 a mixed character (now not uncommon among palaeontologists since 

 the publication of Darwin's great work), which, while it allows a 

 variation of species so excessive that it may even result in the 

 production of new genera, says, " Hitherto shalt thou come, and no 

 further." When leaders go so far, their successors are likely to go 

 beyond. Notwithstanding these differences of opinion, Bronn exe- 

 cuted the first German translation of Darwin's work on the ' Origin 

 of Species ' ; and, from personal intercourse with my late esteemed 

 friend, I can testify to his admiration of the wide range of know- 

 ledge, power of observation, and logical reasoning of the English 

 philosopher. 



Bronn's last work was ' The Classes and Orders of the Animal 

 Kingdom ' (' Klassen und Ordnungen des Thierreiches '), in which 

 palaeontology and modern zoology are combined in one system of 

 natural history. It was interrupted by his sudden death on the 

 5th of July, 1862, at the age of sixty-two. 



In 1851 Bronn was elected a Foreign Member of the Geological 

 Society, and in 1861 he was awarded the Wollaston Medal. Every 

 one who enjoyed the privilege of his acquaintance will remember 

 his amiability, earnestness, and candour. I, for one, shall never 

 forget the kindness with which he received a wandering geologist, 

 and, beguiling the time with pleasant conversation, showed him the 

 geological peculiarities of the neighbourhood of Heidelberg. 



Bertrand de Doue (Jacques Mathieu) was born on the 23rd of 

 October, 1776, at Le Puy Cantal, in the old province of Yelay. 



His father, who destined him for his successor in commerce, sent 

 him to England, where, having passed three years at school in 



