Having lately, during an enforced period of restraint from active occupation, had leisure to look back upon the events of a somewhat busy life, it occurred to me that besides the administration, in succession, of two large public museums, and some original scientific investigation, the results of which can be of interest only to the very few, there have been occasions which have involved a contact with wider and more varied circles.

Though the records of these occasions have doubtless been mainly of passing or local concern, it is possible that something may be found among them worth placing in a more accessible and permanent form than in the scattered journals or pamphlets in which they can only be found at present.

Such of these essays and addresses as seemed suitable for republication in the present collection mainly group themselves under three distinct branches of the many into which the intellectual and educational activity of our age is manifested.

1. Those which are here placed first are, more closely than any others, connected with the practical work of my life,--the advancement of scientific knowledge through the development of museums. Here I cannot refrain from expressing my deep sense of the loss this cause has recently sustained by the premature death of Dr. Brown Goode, Director of the United States National Museum. Fortunately for science he was able to formulate his latest views “On the Principles of Museum Administration” in an elaborate paper contributed to the Newcastle-on-Tyne meeting of the “Museums Association” and published in the report for 1895.

2. The essays on general Biological questions treat very considerably of a subject of even wider interest,--the permanence or transmutation of species, especially in its bearing upon the doctrine of evolution. It might be thought that nothing more need now be said upon this subject, but it is certain that there is still much misapprehension in relation to it; and it may be interesting to some to know the arguments which have been brought forward at various stages of the great controversy by one whose scientific life began before the publication of the _Origin of Species_, and to whom it has fallen to present the principal problems connected with it in various aspects and to various classes of intelligence and education. If some of the essays may not be upon the level of our present knowledge as to facts, the principal lines of thought which run through them are not materially changed by the additions made to that knowledge, and so it has been thought best to leave them as originally written, except for an occasional verbal alteration. The dates at which they were first published should, in all cases, be carried in mind. Sometimes a repetition of ideas or even of verbal expressions found elsewhere may be met with, but these have been allowed to stand, so that each essay may be complete in itself.

3. Upon the third subject, the main point of which is the advocacy of a more systematic study of Anthropology in this country, there has been, as it seems to me, less advance than in either of the other two; and in putting forth its claims for greater recognition I felt for a long time as one crying in the wilderness. I am glad, therefore, to have the opportunity of bringing much which has been said in some of these addresses once more before the notice of those who may have opportunities of forwarding the work, and also acknowledging various recent signs of progress, among which may be mentioned the establishment of a Professorship of this subject by the University of Oxford.

4. The short sketches of some of the personal characteristics of the contemporary naturalists of our country who have been most prominent in advancing the branches of science to which the essays of the first three sections are devoted form a not unnatural sequel to them.

In conclusion, my best thanks are offered to the various institutions and persons who have kindly given permission for the republication of the essays, the source of which is in every case acknowledged; but I may especially mention the Council of the Royal Society in respect to the biographical notices from their Proceedings; the Council of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, for various addresses published in the reports of their meetings; the Council of the Royal Institution and of the Royal Colonial Institute, for lectures given before them and published in their Proceedings; the proprietors of the _North American Review_ and of _Chambers’s Journal_, for articles contributed originally to those periodicals; and Messrs. A. and C. Black and Messrs. Macmillan and Co. Ltd., for illustrations of the articles on “Whales,” and on “Fashion in Deformity.”

W. H. F.

26 STANHOPE GARDENS, LONDON, _Easter 1898_.

MUSEUMS

ESSAY PAGE

1. MUSEUM ORGANISATION.--Presidential Address to the British Association for the Advancement of Science. Newcastle-on-Tyne Meeting, 11th September 1889 1

Choice of subject--Museums of the Ancients and of the Middle Ages--The terms Natural History and Naturalist--Definition of a Natural History Museum--Subdivisions of the sciences represented in a Natural History Museum--Objects of museums--Research and instruction--Methods of arranging specimens for study and for public exhibition--Labels--Guide-books and catalogues--Biological problems of the day--Evolution of organic beings--Natural Selection--Survival of the Fittest--Difficulties arising from the imperfection of our knowledge.

2. MODERN MUSEUMS. Presidential Address to the Museums Association. London Meeting, 3rd July 1893 30

The Museums Association--Cost of museums--Qualifications and remuneration of curators--Museum literature--The new Museum idea--Separation of specimens required for the advancement of science and for general instruction--The new Natural History Museums of London, Paris, Vienna, and Berlin--American museums--Plan for a model National Natural History Museum.

3. LOCAL MUSEUMS. From a Letter in support of the establishment of a County Museum for Buckinghamshire (24th November 1891), and an Address at the opening of the Perth Museum (29th November 1895) 54

Desirability of having museums in every county to preserve tangible records of local history, customs, and natural history--Necessity of provision for their permanent maintenance and for paid curators--Such museums should be formed in connection with technical schools and free libraries, and supported from the same sources.

4. SCHOOL MUSEUMS. Suggestions for the formation and arrangement of a Museum of Natural History in connection with a Public School. _Nature_, 26th December 1889 58

Subjects best adapted for School Museums--Zoology, Botany, Mineralogy and Geology--What kind of specimens are desirable--Every collection or series should be kept perfectly distinct--A permanent curator necessary.

5. BOYS’ MUSEUMS. _Chambers’ Edinburgh Journal_, April 1897 63

Natural History an absorbing passion with many boys--Often a passing phase, sometimes permanent--Natural History as a vocation--Love of collecting--Value as a means of education--Hints to beginners in forming museums--Personal experiences of the author.

6. THE BOOTH MUSEUM. Address at the opening of the Booth Museum, Brighton. 3rd November 1890 70

Formation and object of the Museum--The art of Taxidermy--Observation of bird life an unfailing source of pleasure, increasing with increase of knowledge--Such museums promote this knowledge and add to human happiness.

7. THE MUSEUM OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS OF ENGLAND. Presidential Address to the Anatomical Section of the International Medical Congress. London Meeting, 4th August 1881 74

John Hunter, the founder of the Museum--His collection purchased by Government and placed in the custody of the Royal College of Surgeons under certain conditions--Branches of Biology represented in the Museum--Foundation and present condition of each section--Value of the Museum to the surgical profession and the country--Its future maintenance assured by the munificent bequest of Sir Erasmus Wilson.

GENERAL BIOLOGY

8. INTRODUCTORY LECTURE TO THE COURSE OF COMPARATIVE ANATOMY. Royal College of Surgeons of England, 14th February 1870 97

The course intended to illustrate the Museum--John Hunter’s work as a comparative anatomist--The Museum teaches morphology--The study of morphology has led in succession to the ideas of (1) teleology or direct adaptation to purpose; (2) type or common plan; (3) descent from a common ancestor with modification, according to the great principle of orderly evolution--Reception and gradual recognition of the last hypothesis--Some objections to it answered--Explanation it affords of anatomical structures, otherwise accounted for with difficulty--Illustrations --Importance of discriminating essential or fundamental from adaptive characters--Classification--Wider knowledge of morphology the basis of an intelligent study of human anatomy.

9. RECENT ADVANCES IN NATURAL SCIENCE IN RELATION TO THE CHRISTIAN FAITH. Paper read at the Church Congress. Reading Meeting, 2nd October 1883 123

The doctrine of evolution as applied to the life of organic beings--Causes which led to the old belief in the fixity of species, and to the change of opinion upon the subject, now almost universal--Effects of this change of opinion upon our ideas in relation to Creation and the Origin of Man.

10. A PRACTICAL LESSON FROM BIOLOGICAL STUDIES. Reply to Working Men’s Address to the President of the British Association. Newcastle-on-Tyne, 14th September 1889 135

The survival of the fittest in the struggle for existence, one of the main causes of progress.

11. PALÆONTOLOGICAL EVIDENCE OF GRADUAL MODIFICATION OF ANIMAL FORMS. Lecture at the Royal Institution of Great Britain, 25th April 1873 138

The history of the order _Ungulata_, or hoofed animals, as traced through the Tertiary geological period, shows, as time advanced, a gradual differentiation from more generalised to specialised forms--The existing species are only survivors of large numbers which lived in former times, and are now isolated by the extinction of the intermediate forms.

12. A CENTURY’S PROGRESS IN ZOOLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE. Presidential Address in the Department of Zoology and Botany. British Association, Dublin Meeting, 15th August 1878 153

The last edition of the _Systema Naturæ_, revised by Linnæus, was published in 1766--The first portion of the work, devoted to the class Mammalia, examined, and the progress made in the knowledge of each order since that time reviewed--Observations on classification and zoological nomenclature.

13. THE ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. Address at the General Meeting of the Society, held in the Zoological Gardens, in celebration of the Fiftieth Anniversary of Her Majesty’s reign, 16th June 1887 171

Foundation and growth of the Society--Acclimatisation--Museum--Scientific meetings--Publications--Lectures--Menagerie--Recent improvements.

14. WHALES AND WHALE FISHERIES. Lecture at the Royal Colonial Institute, 8th January 1895 185

Fishes and whales--General characters of the latter--Sperm whale--Whalebone whales--Mode of capture--Whale fishery of the Basques in the Middle Ages--Greenland whale fishery--Southern whale fisheries.

15. WHALES, PAST AND PRESENT, AND THEIR PROBABLE ORIGIN. Lecture at the Royal Institution of Great Britain, 25th May 1883 209

Rudimentary organs giving indications of former conditions and origin--Hair--Organs of sight and smell--Teeth--Nature and use of baleen or whalebone--Fore-limbs--Hind Limbs--Geological history--All evidence in favour of derivation from land animals, probably through forms originally inhabiting fresh waters.

ANTHROPOLOGY

16. PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS TO THE DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY. British Association, York Meeting, 1st September 1881 235

Importance of the study of race--Natural classification of man--Causes of racial difference--Race a vague term--Craniometry --Necessity for larger collections and more workers.

17. PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS TO THE SECTION OF ANTHROPOLOGY. British Association, Oxford Meeting, 9th August 1894 249

History of the subject in England--Its scope and extent--Societies and collections--Systematic teaching--Anthropometry--Value in identification of individuals, especially as applied to criminals--Finger-marks--Ethnographic survey--Anthropological notes and queries--Our duty to posterity in collecting anthropological data.

18. THE CLASSIFICATION OF THE VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. Presidential Address at the Anniversary Meeting of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, 27th January 1885 274

The three principal types of man--1. Ethiopian, Negroid, Melanian, or black--2. Mongolian, Xanthous or yellow--3. Caucasian or white--Characteristics of each--Subdivisions--Position of the American and Australian races.

19. THE PYGMY RACES OF MEN. Lecture at the Royal Institution of Great Britain, 13th April 1888 290

Ancient belief in pygmy races--Size a characteristic of race--The smallest existing races--Andaman Islanders--Other Negrito people in the Eastern Archipelago and Mainland--Small races of Africa--Bushmen of South Africa--Negrillos of the forest region of Central Africa--Akkas.

20. FASHION IN DEFORMITY. As illustrated in the customs of Barbarous and Civilised Races, 1880 315

Origin of fashion--Fashion applied to domestic animals--Fashion in hair--Finger-nails--Tattooing--Noses--Ears--Lips--Teeth--Head--Historic references--Fashion in hands and feet--Action of the foot in walking--Pointed toes--High heels--Tight lacing.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES

21. BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF PROFESSOR ROLLESTON. _Proceedings of the Royal Society_, 1882 357

22. BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF SIR RICHARD OWEN. _Proceedings of the Royal Society_, 1894 363

23. REMINISCENCES OF PROFESSOR HUXLEY. _The North American Review_, September 1895 381

24. EULOGIUM ON CHARLES DARWIN. Centenary Meeting of the Linnean Society, 24th May 1888 390

MUSEUMS