114 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



Zoological Congress in 1898 he felt compelled to confess his dis- 

 appointment at the results of embryology in elucidating the question 

 of the origin of species. This speech, coming from the favourite 

 pupil and the successor of Balfour, will probably be found to have 

 had a far wider influence on biological research than has generally 

 been supposed ; the younger generation was stimulated to put out 

 tentacles into fresh and little considered avenues, while the elder no 

 longer tried to restrict but rather to encourage them. 



Sedgwick's attack " On the Inadequacy of the Cell Theory," and 

 his subsequent reply to his critic, now Prof. G. C. Bourne, met with 

 little favour at the time. He would have nothing to do with that 

 form of the theory which regarded the body of higher animals as a 

 cell-republic, the real vital units being the cells. The writer heard 

 his critics of every nationality at the International Congress of 1898, 

 and no terms of disapproval were too strong for them. He was 

 simply before his time, for the subsequent work of a young band of 

 researchers in developmental mechanics has gone far to confirm his 

 conclusions. He intended to enter the active field of research in 

 support of his views, but he gave up these ideas, as he got no 

 sympathy from those for whom he cared. 



In 1884, impelled by a sense of duty to the needs of English- 

 speaking students, he published (with the assistance of F. G. Heath-, 

 cote) an English translation of Claus' text-book, and in 1896, with 

 the same motive, he resigned active research in order to devote ten 

 years of his life to a further text-book. The result is to be seen in 

 the three volumes that have been published, the largest and most 

 comprehensive English text-book on the subject, and a monument to 

 the author's individual industry. His idea was to give a reasoned 

 narrative about each group, and to make his book at the same time a 

 work of reference by adding some account of each family and genus. 

 Such a scheme was found to be beyond the effort of a single in- 

 dividual, and J. J. Lister and A. E. Shipley were called upon to write 

 that part which relates to the Crustacea, Arachnida, and Insects. 

 The whole was to be completed by a volume on the more philosophical 

 and theoretical parts of the subject, but the exhaustion entailed by 

 Sedgwick's ten years' (1897-1907) tenure of a Tutorship of Trinity in 

 addition to his University work made him disinclined to commence. 

 He actually sketched out a scheme, but he felt that many authors 

 must be concerned, and he dreaded collaboration. 



Sedgwick's tenure of the Professorship at Cambridge was too 

 short for him to make any marked changes in the teaching. He was 



