Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 2.djvu/93

 Galton lived chiefly in London, and for the latter part of his life at Rutland Gate, going much into society, principally in literary and scientific circles. He was universally popular and an excellent conversationalist, with a very keen sense of humour. During the last four or live years of his life he became very infirm in body, although his intellect remained as clear as ever. He died on 17 Jan. 1911 of acute bronchitis at Grayshott House, Haslemere, a house he had taken for the winter months. He was buried in the family vault at Claverdon near Warwick.

On 1 Aug. 1853 Galton married Louisa Jane, daughter of (1774–1853) [q. v.], dean of Peterborough and previously headmaster of Harrow School. Mrs. Galton died on 13 Aug. 1897 at Royal after a long period of ill health; she had no children.

He left by will his residual estate, amounting to about 45,000l., for the foundation of a chair of eugenics in the University of London, and he wished Karl Pearson to be the first professor. The capital was to remain as far as possible untouched, and a laboratory was to be built from other sources. For the latter object a subscription has been started since his death.

Portraits of Galton by O. Oakley (ætat. 22, water-colour) and by Charles Wellington Furse in oils (1903) are in the possession of his nephew, Edward Galton Wheler, at Claverdon Leys, Warwick, and a copy of the latter by Francis William Carter hangs in the hall at Trinity College, Cambridge. There is a bronze bust of Galton by Sir George Frampton at University College, Gower Street, London. In 1908 he wrote an amusing work entitled 'Memories of my Life,' containing a complete list of his papers and books.



GALVIN, GEORGE. [See, 1860–1904.]

GAMGEE, ARTHUR (1841–1909), physiologist, born at Florence on 10 Oct. 1841, was youngest of the eight children of Joseph Gamgee (1801–1894) and Mary West. His father was a veterinary surgeon and pathologist whose researches, particularly on rinderpest, brought him recognition both in this country and abroad. (1828–1886) [q. v.] was an elder brother.

Gamgee spent his early boyhood in Florence, and there imbibed a lifelong love of art and literature. When he was fourteen his family returned to England and he entered University College school, London. Afterwards he proceeded to the University of Edinburgh, where he studied physics under [q. v. Suppl. II]. On taking his medical degree there he was appointed house-physician to the Royal Infirmary. Physiology, especially on its chemical side, early interested him; his inaugural thesis for the degree of M.D. was on the 'Contributions to the Chemistry and Physiology of Foetal Nutrition'; it obtained the gold medal in 1862.

From 1863 to 1869 Gamgee was assistant to Dr. Douglas Maclagan, professor of medical jurisprudence at Edinburgh, and was at the same time lecturer on physiology at the Royal College of Surgeons and physician to the Edinburgh hospital for children. But his interests were centred in research, and then and later he published various papers elucidating problems of physiological chemistry and of the pharmacological action of chemical bodies. The most interesting of these were on 'The Action of the Nitrites on Blood' in 1868, and on 'The Constitution and Relations of Cystine,' issued jointly with Professor James Dewar in 1871.

In 1871 Gamgee worked with Kühne at Heidelberg and with Ludwig at Leipzig, and in the same year he was acquitted M.R.C.P. Edinburgh, becoming F.R.C.P. in 1872. In the latter year he was also elected F.R.S. at the early age of thirty. In 1873 he was appointed the first Brackenbury professor of physiology in the Owens College, Manchester, now the Victoria University. He filled this post for twelve years, having Henry Roscoe, [q. v.], and [q. v.] among his colleagues, and he took his part with these men in making Owens College one of the most conspicuous scientific schools in the country. He worked with tireless enthusiasm as dean of the medical school, and sought with success to establish a working arrangement between the purely scientific and the applied aspects of medicine. A brilliant teacher, he left his impress on many men who have since distinguished themselves. In 1882 he was president of the biological section of the British Association which met at Southampton, and from 1882 to 1885 he was Fullerian professor of physiology at the Royal Institution, London. While in London he was admitted M.R.C.P. in 1885, and F.R.C.P. in 1896. 