1893 PAPEES EEAD AT EOYAL SOCIETY 353 



of life and of death will never forget his saying one 

 day just after the attack of illness in December : ' I 

 have come to see that cleverness, success, attainment, 

 count for little ; that goodness, or, as F. (naming a 

 dear friend) would say, "character '," is the important 

 factor in life.' 



For in early days Mr. Romanes had attached, so it 

 seemed to some of those who knew him best, an undue 

 importance to intellect, to cleverness, to intelligence, 

 and the same person to whom he said the few words 

 just quoted had often discussed with him the relative 

 value of goodness and of intellect. 



By goodness is meant perfect and complete good- 

 ness, not such as that of which it has been said, ' It 

 is the business of the wise to rectify the mistakes of 

 the good.' 



And as weeks passed on he would often plan a 

 country house and a life in which ' good works ' were 

 to have a share. 



He had always had a high ideal of what Love and 

 Faith should bring about, and in the last months of his 

 life he said to one whom he dearly loved, ' Darling, 

 if you believe what you say you believe, why should 

 you mind so much ? ' With absolute resignation 

 he gave up all his ambitions, the old longing for 

 distinction, for greater fame, and yet he did not 

 lose for one moment the old interest in his scientific 

 work. 



Two papers of his were read at the Royal Society 

 in October 1893. The first described experiments 

 undertaken by Mr. Romanes, the primary object of 

 which was to ascertain whether seeds which had been 

 kept out of contact with air for a lengthy period of time 

 still possessed the power of germination. The method 

 adopted was as follows : a certain number of seeds 



A A 



