Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review Volumes 32 and 33.djvu/640

 OBITUARY.

Dr. W. H. R. rivers, F.R.S.

By the untimely death of WiUiam Halse Rivers Rivers, M.D., F.R.S., which took place on 4th June at Cambridge after an operation, the cause of science has suffered a heavy blow, while his many friends and co-workers have lost one to whom they had often looked for sympathy, help and guidance, and never in vain.

Born in 1 864, Rivers was educated at Tonbridge and St. Bartholomew's Hospital, London. After taking his M.D. Lond., he was admitted a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians. For a time he was Lecturer on Psychology at Guy's Hospital, and in 1893 was invited by the late Sir Michael Foster to lecture at Cambridge on the psychology of the senses. In 1897 he was appointed University Lecturer in Physiological and Experi- mental Psychology. In 1907 the two subjects were separated, and Rivers became Lecturer on the Physiology of the Senses, but this appointment he resigned some years before his death. His work while he held these appointments had a profound effect on the development of psychological science, especially on the experimental side. He was elected to a Fellowship of St. John's College in 1902, and was appointed Praelector in Natural Sciences in 1919. This latter appointment brought him into closer touch with the younger members of the University, and laid the foundation of the extraordinary influence which he wielded over the development of their character and intellect. Outside the University Rivers was the recipient of many honours and the holder of many offices of importance. He was appointed Croonian Lecturer in the Royal College of Physicians