From The Quarterly Review. - result of antecedent conditions which had alone made them possible - if not indeed inevitable. The advance of our own age was prepared by the eminent naturalists of the eighteenth century; while the speculations of its philosophers, such as Kant, Goethe, and Lamarck, laid the foundations of much of that vivid interest in biological problems which has arisen in our THE century now drawing near its close can certainly be distinguished from all its predecessors by the great advance in the knowledge of living creatures the science of biology which it has witnessed. And not only is this scientific progress noteworthy, but hardly less so is the rapid diffusion of a taste for natural science which has taken place during the same generation. period. The interest felt in some of Linnæus, in 1735 and 1758, supplied the many problems which the contem- that feasible system of classification plation of nature suggests to intelligent and convenient nomenclature without minds, has indeed spread far and wide with an unprecedented rapidity. In the year 1800 few men or women in England knew or cared anything about zoology or botany, and only a very small circle of savants paid any attention to the novel organic remains that geology was bringing to light, and to those extinct animals which the genius of Cuvier was reconstructing and causing to live again before their mental vision. which it would be difficult to acquire, and impossible to retain in mind, a knowledge of any very numerous set of objects. Buffon (1707-1788) not only promoted a taste for natural history by his brilliant writings and the admirable anatomical descriptions of his collaborator Daubenton, but, by his startling speculations and hypotheses, co-operated with Kant, Goethe, and Lamarck in creating a keen interest in the problems of biology. In 1789 It is true that other sciences have Cuvier, as the outcome of indefatigable also made great progress during the labor, published an outline of his subnineteenth century. Astronomy has sequent " Règne Animal," and, availnot only been greatly advanced, but ing himself of the work of Linnæus, illuminated beyond all possible ex- promulgated a natural system of pectation by spectrum analysis; chem- zoological classification. In England, istry has been transformed; and the John Hunter 2 accumulated that wonknowledge of mankind gained through derful series of illustrations of comthe development of philology, ethnol- parative anatomy and physiology, ogy, and the successful prosecution of collected with untiring industry and historical and critical studies, cannot easily be over-estimated. We do not therefore claim for biology an absolutely more rapid advance than that which her sister sciences have made. Nevertheless it seems to us indisputable that the interest excited by discussions concerning the laws which regulate the world of life, has, in our time, been more keen, more universal, and more important in its consequences than that which any other science has called forth amongst us. This outburst of knowledge and this 11. The Life and Correspondence of William Buckland, D.D., F.R.S. By his Daughter, Mrs. Gordon. London, 1894. 2. The Life of Richard Owen. By his Grandson, the Rev. Richard Owen, M.A. London, 1894. prepared with great skill, which con- Finally, geology partly of stratified and partly of unstratified rocks, William Smith, in the last years of the eighteenth century, demonstrated the fact that definite and uniform relations existed between 2 He died in 1793. $ strata, by showing the distinctive na- yet a belief that, in ancient times, ture of the fossils they severally contain. cataclysms and convulsions, far exceeding anything known in the modern But with all this preparation, the world, had taken place, was generally state of natural science at the opening current amongst scientific men at the of this century was poor and mean in- beginning of this century. It was indeed compared with the wealth which deed reserved for the late Sir Charles we find existing towards its termina- Lyell to obtain a general acceptance tion. The increase in the number of of the doctrine that vast changes in known species has been enormous. the structure and animal population of Not only have many new kinds of the world took place during the same creatures been discovered and de- slow and gradual transformations of its scribed, but a multitude of previously surface, which we experience to-day. unsuspected relations between them Fossils, especially shells, had long been have also been detected. Among dis- recognized as remains of creatures coveries of this class are relations to which had once lived, and were therepast time (age as shown by fossils); fore so commonly regarded as evirelations to space (geographical and dences of the Noachian deluge, that bathymetrical distributions); relations Voltaire felt bound to assign them anto each other (as rivals and, indirectly, other origin, however absurd.1 Neveras benefactors as well as enemies); individual development (embryology), and the successive appearance of different forms of life, directly suggesting afresh the problem as to the origin of species a problem which occupied men's minds at least two centuries before Aristotle. For lack of knowledge of these various relations, the true value and significance of many zoological novelties were hidden from their discoverers. Thus, when Banks and Solander first became acquainted with the animal population of Australia, they might, had they understood the exceptional characteristics of the creatures there found, have imagined themselves visitors to some new planet. The real nature of the beasts of Aus-near the North Pole ! tralia did not reveal itself even to the None, even amongst the learned, mind of Cuvier, for he divided them amongst the previously known orders of mammals instead of recognizing that they form by themselves a very distinct yet most varied order to which the opossums of America, alone of all previously known beasts, also pertain. theless, a declaration that hyenas and tigers, elephants and rhinoceroses had, in former times, swarmed in England, would, as the event proved, have been met with incredulity, while an assertion that such animals had been gazed on by human inhabitants of Britain thousands of years ago would have been received with grave disapprobation. The assertion that crocodiles and large serpents, tortoises and turtles had abounded in the valley of the Thames, was hardly less startling than a statement that huge reptilian monsters, like the Iguanodon, had, at an earlier period, ranged over the Weald of Kent, or that, at a much later one, laurels, magnolias, and vines had flourished then suspected that the transitory stages of the development of the embryo of a higher animal, such as an ape, could show any resemblance to those of an inferior animal, such as a fish, or to more ancient forms of life now extinct. The embryological discoveries of Bacr were not made till our own age. Speculations as to the natural production of new species, though they had been from time to time made public ever since Bacon, never produced much im 1 As that they had fallen from the hats of pil grims to Rome, or that they were relics of such pilgrims' repasts. pression till Lamarck in 1802 startled | vicinity of a geological paradise - the Europe with his hypotheses. But picturesque valley of the Axe. From even then such views came into the this rich treasury of fossils his father, world almost still-born, and more than forty years elapsed before any widespread interest could be excited on this subject in England, such as was produced by the publication of the once famous "Vestiges of Creation." The lives of Dean Buckland and Sir Richard Owen (1784-1892) embrace more than the whole of this scientifically progressive period. In aiding that progress, they both-though in diverse ways and different degrees effectively and harmoniously co-operated. It is well therefore that the histories of their lives should appear simultaneously towards the end of the century they illustrated. The volume containing the life of Buckland is due to the filial piety of his daughter, Mrs. Gordon. It graphically depicts the main and many minor facts of the career of a learned, enthusiastic, and very industrious man, whose character was marked by a quaint and striking individuality. It is copiously illustrated, and contains a great variety of anecdotes, some of which, however, as well as several of the more or less humorous sketches, it would, we venture to think, have been better to omit. The other work, in two volumes, the biography of Owen, is a very excellent one. It is full of interesting details, due to the vast accumulation of letters and diaries the aged anatomist left behind him, and which must have caused his biographer a very embarras de richesses. The work contains many admirable illustrations, including two remarkably life-like portraits of Sir Richard Owen. His grandson has performed with excellent taste the task he undertook, though it may be regretted that he was not an eye-witness of, or actor in, the more important matters which he records. the rector of Templeton, who had himself a taste for geology, encouraged him to collect specimens almost from his infancy. One of his earliest and most intimate companions, W. D. Conybeare (afterwards Dean of Llandaff), tells us : Young Buckland could not take a stroll in the neighboring fields without stumbling on lias quarries, and finding, on ascending every hill, that its summit consisted of an entirely dissimilar formation - chertsand. At Lyme Regis, also, Ammonites and Belemnites were forced on his attention by urchins of the place who traded in them. Such scientific seed was sown on no barren soil. At Oxford, again, where he had the opportunity of learning from Townsend (the friend and fellow-laborer of William Smith, the father of English geologists), he at once availed himself of his good fortune, and the fruit of his very first lesson in field geology was the nucleus of what is now the Oxford Geological Museum. In childhood Owen had no similar advantages; but he had hardly obtained his medical diploma, at the age of twenty-two, when he was led by Abernethy to undertake the arrangement of the Hunterian Collection, then recently acquired by the College of Surgeons. At the age of twenty-six, another enormous advantage came in his way. He became a fellow of the newly established Zoological Society, and very soon a member of its council. Thus he was enabled to study and dissect a great variety of rare animals. He eagerly and most indefatigably availed himself of this opportunity, and the results of his labors - which in 1831 amounted to eight important papers on the anatomy of various mammals, birds, and reptiles are to be read in that society's "Proceedings and Transactions." The successful careers of both Dean Buckland and Sir Richard Owen were On the incidents of the lives of Dean much facilitated by exceptional advan- Buckland and Sir Richard Owen we do tages which came early within their not propose to dwell. For details of reach. Buckland was born in the the kind we must refer our readers to "Science with Practice "" was a motto congenial to his mind, and his discov ery of the value of coprolites as a fertilizing agency was an achievement which entitles him to rank among the pioneers of English farming. their recently published biographies, | In 1824 he secured a royal charter which should find a place in the library for the Geological Society, and became of every one interested in natural its first president. The British Assoscience. It is rather our object to call ciation was brought into existence by attention to the parts they severally the Rev. W. Vernon Harcourt at York played in helping forward that great in 1831; but the first meeting next scientific progress which, as we have year, at Oxford, for which Buckland said, has characterized the present cen- was chosen president, ensured the subtury. We must, however, add that to sequent success of the association. know Owen as a scientific man only, That very important institution, the was to know him very imperfectly. School of Mines in Jermyn Street, was He was fond of society, a good conver- also due to Buckland's initiative. He sationalist, an eager reader of litera- had long urged that such an establishture, devoted to music, and a frequent ment was necessary for a mining and visitor to the theatre. Such character- manufacturing country, but he was istics are well portrayed in his grand- careful that a place of such practical son's interesting volumes, but we have utility should also serve as a museum no space to cite the passages here, to promote purely scientific ends. An though to the fidelity with which they enthusiastic farmer, he helped forward, represent the social and artistic sides by every means in his power, the deof his personality the present writer velopment of scientific agriculture. can, from his own experience, testify. Buckland, when only twenty-five years old, journeyed through the centre and north of England for the purpose of determining the then unknown extent of various strata, illustrating the results of his explorations by a large colored map. One of his memorable discoveries, later on, was that of the remains of hyænas in Kirkdale Cave. This cavern he explored in the belief that its contents had been washed into it by the Deluge; but he soon became convinced that it had been an abode such as that of the Cheirotheof hyænas, and that they had dragged rium. His industry was indefatigable, the bodies or carried the bones of other and he possessed the rare gift of makcreatures into their lair. That such ing his writings interesting by his was the case he proved by a true sci- power of drawing vigorous vivid picentific induction. Having caused a tures, and by his homely and familiar hyæna to be brought from Africa for illustrations. No less characteristic the purpose, he found that it cracked the marrow-bones of oxen and refused marrowless bones exactly as the ancient hyænas of the wilds of Yorkshire appeared to have done. Moreover the recent and ancient fractured bones were so wonderfully alike in their mode of fracture, that it was impossible to doubt that the same kind of animal had cracked both. In the same cavern he also found relics of tigers, boars, wolves, elephants, rhinoceroses, hippopotami, oxen, three species of deer, and various birds. Among his remarkable descriptions of extinct monsters may be specially mentioned those of the Megalosaurus and the Mosasaurus, and he was earnest in calling attention to the wonderful footsteps which remain as the solitary evidence of some past existences than his industry and literary gifts was his openness of mind. His readiness to accept newly discovered truth was well exemplified by his frank confession of error respecting the glacial theory, to which he was at first strongly opposed, but for which he afterwards gained converts. With Lyell, who, like Murchison, was his pupil, he had great weight, and his influence was thus indirectly extended from his contemporaries to his successors, for Lyell was, as we have said, the most influential uniformitarian geologist of our age. ... On those who came under his teaching | lence, but the way in which so many of Buckland created a deep impression, these memoirs have opened up new reIt is a splendid and his charm as a lecturer is said to gions of investigation. have extended to his conversation and record; enough, and more than enough, to justify the high place which Owen so long general personal character. He was occupied. It was not uncommon to naturally humorous. Once, when lechear our countryman called "the British turing on fossil footsteps, an auditor, Cuvier," and so far, in my judgment, the referring to his diagrams, said: "It collocation was justified, high as the praise seems, Dr. Buckland, from your drawit implies. ings, that all your animals walked in one direction." "Yes," was the reply, "Cheirotherium was a Scotchman, and he always went south." By his collections also, as well as by his teaching, he helped on his favorite science; and these, which were placed through his bequest to the university in the Oxford Museum, will continue to help it for many years to come. These words honor the memory of Sir Richard Owen, but they honor not less the man who wrote them. One of Owen's earliest memoirs was that on the Pearly Nautilus, by which his high rank as a naturalist and an anatomist became at once permanently established. Indeed no more excellent work of the kind has appeared from When Dean Buckland died in 1856, that period to the present day. At the Sir Richard Owen was at the height of same time he also instituted a new and his fame, and, for thirty years longer, since generally accepted classification his life was one of almost phenomenal of the class of cuttle-fishes - Cephaactivity. By a multitude of papers lopoda. His memoir on the very from 1831 to 1889, the great anatomist singular bird of New Zealand, the Apenriched English science; but it is teryx, was another striking work. Yet here only necessary to call attention to more remarkable was his discovery those of his works which were excep- that huge wingless birds—the various tional in value and most effectively species of Dinornis and their alliesaided scientific progress. Our task is had been formerly inhabitants of the greatly aided by the chapter contrib- same country. These gigantic birds, uted to his biography by Professor when considered in connection with Huxley. It is a very remarkable chap- the geographical distribution of the ter, nor do we recollect any previous cassowary, emu, ostrich, and rhea, led writing of its accomplished author to the conception of their having radiwhich more redounds to his credit. ated from an Antarctic continent, temThe tact and feeling with which it is written are admirable. With regard to Owen's philosophical position we shall have various observations to make later on, when we have to notice certain inevitable divergences of view which existed between the two anatomists. Respecting Owen's scientific work, Mr. Huxley expresses himself as follows: During more than half a century Owen's industry remained unabated; and whether we consider the quantity or the quality of the work done, or the wide range of his labors, I doubt if, in the long annals of anatomy, more is to be placed to the credit of a single worker. . . . Further, I think that Owen's monographic work occupies a unique position, if one considers, not merely its general high standard of excel perate in climate, as were the Arctic regions in their turn, when the home of vines and magnolias. But fossil remains of mammals from South America and Australia were not less fruitfully studied by him than were the bird-bones of New Zealand. He gave an admirable description of the gigantic sloth (Mylodon robustus) discovered near Buenos Ayres. How such a creature lived was a puzzle, and did puzzle many naturalists. Its teeth showed it to be a vegetable feeder, and it probably, like the small sloths of our own day, fed upon the leaves and twigs of trees. The sloths, however, hang suspended beneath tree-branches. Obviously that was impossible for a creature of the bulk of the hippopotamus ! |