IV LIFE AND WORKS OF COPE. 



and effectiveness of knowledge and ideas with Cuvier and 

 Owen. When we consider the short life of some of the 

 favorite generalizations of these great men he may well 

 prove to be their superior as a philosophical anatomist. 

 His work, while inferior in style of presentation, has an- 

 other quality which distinguishes that of Huxley — namely, 

 its clear and immediate perception of the most essential 

 or distinctive feature in a group of animals. As a natural 

 philosopher, while far less logical than Huxley, he was 

 more creative and constructive, his metaphysics ending in 

 theism rather than agnosticism. 



Cope is not to be thought of merely as a specialist. After 

 Huxley he was the last representative of the old broad- 

 gauge school of anatomists and he is only to be compared 

 with members of that school. His life-work bears the 

 marks of great genius, of solid and accurate observation as 

 well as of inaccuracy due to bad logic or haste and over- 

 pressure of work. Although the greater number of his 

 Natural Orders and Natural Laws will remain as perma- 

 nent landmarks in our science a large part of his syste- 

 matic work will require laborious revision and is thus far 

 from standing as a model to the young zoologist. 



In mere mass of production Cope's work was extra- 

 ordinary. He leaves twenty octavo and three great quarto 

 volumes of collected researches. By his untimely death a 

 wide gap is left which can never be filled by one man. 



Biographical. 



Edward Drinker Cope was born in Philadelphia, July 

 28th, 1840, of distinguished American ancestry. His great- 

 grandfather, Caleb Cope, was the staunch Quaker of Lan- 

 caster, Pa., who protected Major Andre from mob violence. 

 Thomas Pirn Cope, his grandfather, founded the house of 

 Cope Brothers, famous in the early mercantile annals of 

 Philadelphia. His father, Alfred, the junior member of 



