Page:Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Vol 60.djvu/338

Rh For many years Gegenbaur was professor in Jena, where he was the close friend and associate of Ernst Haeckel, but in 1875 he accepted the invitation to the Chair of Anatomy in Heidelberg, and in view of the increased importance of his duties as a teacher of medical students, and therefore of human anatomy, though still continuing his researches on vertebrate morphology, he produced a large treatise on that subject, which has run through two editions. In this work he made the first attempt to bring, as far as possible, the nomenclature and treatment of human anatomy into thorough agreement with that of comparative anatomy, and to a very large extent the changes introduced by him have influenced the teaching of human anatomy throughout Europe and America.

There is probably no comparative anatomist or embryologist in any responsible position at the present day who would not agree in assigning’ to Gegenbaur the very first place in his science as the greatest master and teacher who is still living amongst us. He is not only watching in his old age the developments of his own early teachings and the successful labours of his very numerous disciples, but is still exhibiting his own extraordinary industry in research, his keenness of intellectual vision, and his unrivalled knowledge and critical judgment.

One of the Royal Medals is conferred on Sir Archibald Geikie, on the ground that of all British geologists he is the most distinguished, not only as regards the number and the importance of the geological papers which he has published as an original investigator, but as one whose educational works on geology have had a most material influence upon the advancement of scientific knowledge.

His original papers range over many of the main branches of geological science. His memoir upon the ‘ Glacial Drift of Scotland ’ (1863) is one of the classics in British geology. His work on the ‘Scenery of Scotland, viewed in connection with the Physical Geology ’ (1865) was the first successful attempt made to explain the scenery of that country upon scientific principles, and is still without a rival. His papers on the “ Old Red Sandstone of Western Europe ” (1878-79) gave for the first time a clear and convincing picture of the gi*eat lake period of British geology, founded upon personal observation in the field.

His many original contributions to the Volcanic History of the British Isles form a succession of connected papers, crowded with important observations and discoveries, and brilliant and fertile generalizations respecting the abundant relics of former volcanic