1890 LECTUEESHIP AT EDINBURGH 177 



Romanes wrote an article in the ' Nineteenth Century ' 

 describing his behefs on the subject. This theory was 

 Tery close to his heart, and perhaps no part of his work 

 was left unfinished with more keen regret. 



He planned a course of experiments on plants in 

 an alpine garden which, through the kindness of M. 

 Correvon, Professor of Botany at Geneva, he was able 

 to begin on a plot of ground near Bourg St. Pierre, on 

 the great St. Bernard. 



Other work diverted him a good deal from this, 

 but Mr. Eomanes had always large plans of work, 

 looking forward through a course of years. 



There were some experiments on the power dogs 

 possess of tracking by scent, in the autumn of 1886. 



With this year came the appointment to a Lec- 

 tureship in the University of Edinburgh on ' The 

 Philosophy of Xatural History.'^ This lectureship 

 Mr. Romanes held for five years, and he enjoyed the 

 fortnight's residence in Edinburgh it involved, and 

 the meetings with Edinburgh people. He gave to his 

 class a course on the History of Biology, and then 

 proceeded to take them through a course of lectures 

 on the Evidences of Organic Evolution, on the theo- 

 ries of Lamarck, of Mr. Darwin himself, and on post- 

 Darwinian theories. These lectures he worked up 

 into the three years' com-se he gave as Eullerian Pro- 

 fessor at the Royal Institution, with many additions 

 and alterations. The substance of them now appears 

 in ' Darwin and after Darwin,' parts i. and ii. A third 

 volume was to have been devoted to Physiological 

 Selection, and enough was prepared in the form of 

 notes to justify pubhcation. 



At the end of 1886 there fell on the Romanes 

 family a bitter sorrow. Of the Geanies ' brother- 

 hood,' the brightest and merriest, a remarkably hand- 

 some, joyous girl, absolutely unselfish and sweet, 



' Through the kindness of Lord Bosebery. 



