Octobp:r 10, 1884.] 



SCIENCE, 



353 



was a great help : so, also, his independent but 

 moderate fortune, free from family demands ; 

 for he-was childless, and survived his wife. Of 

 a philosophical temperament, and quite exempt 

 from personal ambition, he might have been 

 expected to take life easily ; but noblesse oblige 

 ruled his spirit, and he gave himself with unre- 

 mitting and most 

 disinterested de- 

 votion to his cho- 

 sen line of work 

 from boyhood to 

 old age. He 

 never seemed to 

 select easy or 

 congenial work, 

 as he might have 

 done, but rather 

 took upon him- 

 self the harder 

 tasks. What- 

 ever he put his 

 hand to was 

 done faithfully ; 

 and , large as 

 were his under- 

 takings, he had 

 the rare merit 

 and good fortune 

 of having com- 

 pleted all that 

 he undertook. 

 Hardly ever had 

 a naturalist 

 such a well- 

 rounded life. 

 Thirt}' years 

 ago he gave 



to Kew his herbarium and library ; and there, 

 though living in London, he set up his study, 

 in near association with his colleague and 

 dearest friend, the director, in an apartment 

 which will seem desolate enough now that he 

 is gone. There he might be found at his work 

 from ten to four o'clock during five or six da}-s 

 of every week ; with the regularity of a bank- 

 clerk.' Neither biographical details nor an 

 analysis of the work of Mr. Bentham are here 



^yurxVA /yijz*&<&jt^ 



attempted. These may be deferred to another 

 occasion. But this simple tribute to a revered 

 memory ought not to close without a word 

 which may bring the reader nearer to the man. 

 It might be thought that because Bentham was 

 unusually reserved, and averse to popularity, he 

 was of a cold and unsympathetic nature. It was 



not so. Rather, 

 it was strvness, 

 and a desire to 

 save his time, 

 that kept him 

 aloof, and gave 

 him an air of 

 dryness. He 

 was fond of the 

 society of his 

 intimate friends 

 when the work 

 of the day was 

 over ; and his 

 attachments, if 

 not numerous, 

 were warm and 

 true. All who 

 really knew him 

 will remember 

 him as one of 

 the most kindly, 

 sweet-tempered, 

 and generous- 

 hearted of men. 

 The accompa- 

 nying likeness, 

 from one of the 

 few photographs 

 which were ever 

 taken of him, 

 represents Mr. Bentham at about the age of 

 fourscore. A. G. 



EDUCATION AT THE INTERNATIONAL 

 HEALTH EXHIBITION, LONDON. 



As a member of the general committee of 

 this exhibition, as well as of the chief educa- 

 tional juiy thereat, the present writer has been 

 requested by the conductors of Science to give 

 some account of the educational exhibits on 



