Edwin Ray Lankester

“ At the same time, Professor Metschnikoff's suggestion of a deliberate cultivation of an insect's disease-producing fungus, and the application of the cultivated fungus in quantity to places infested by these insects, is in the highest degree ingenious, and likely to give results the value of which will be estimated in thousands, of pounds, and so do something to persuade "practical" men that all science is deserving of their respect and encouragement.—Nature. ”

“ What is the good of prying into the anatomy of insects? It is all very well as an amusement, but serious persons can not be expected to assent to the devotion of endowments or state funds to such trivial purposes. Chemistry, geology, electricity, if you please, have their solid commercial value, but biology is an amusement for children and old gentlemen." Such is the opinion of many a "practical man," ignorant and short-sighted as the genus invariably proves itself.
Already the practical man may be told, in reply, that surgery is entirely reformed by our knowledge of the minuter fungi ”

“ The general result of the most accurate investigations of the beer-yeast fungus (Saccharomyces cerevisiæ) is entirely opposed to the notion that it can enter an insect's body and produce a disease. Beer-yeast is beer-yeast and appears always (or within experimental limits) to remain so. On the other hand, De Bary has made known the life-history of some simple fungi which destroy insects, and from Pasteur, Cohn, and others we know of diseases due to those simplest of fungi, the bacteria, which produce the most deadly ravages among insects. ”

“ The history of the changes of the eggs of fish on their way from simple homogeneity to the rich complexity of adult life is practically the same for all fish truly so called; and so we may say of insects—that one insect furnishes the history which is true of all. This, be it remembered, relates only to large and general features. But naturalists are acquainted with a number of strangely abnormal animals which will not enter into large groups and even defy classification, being neither "flesh, fowl, nor good red herring." These recalcitrant animals are not objectionable to the zoölogist ”

“ The poisonous properties of the flesh of crayfish might perhaps be considered as justly falling within the scope of the first chapter of Professor Huxley's treatise. As in the case of many mollusca and some true fishes, there appears to be a substance present which acts as an irritant poison upon the human organism, and to its action some persons are more liable than are others, while certain conditions of the crayfish seem to favor the development of a large amount of this poisonous body. ”

“ But the philosopher need not despair at the limitation of his field of labor; in relation to the human mind Nature is boundless; and, though nowhere inaccessible, she is everywhere unfathomable."
It is, then, with the object of arriving at a satisfactory conclusion as to the crayfish's place in nature, and to educe from the study of it such conclusions as may tend to throw light on the place in nature of other living things, that the reader is supposed to enter upon the consideration of the facts which Professor Huxley lays before him. ”

“ He imagines that the yeast-fungus enters the body of the insect on which it is sprinkled, and there produces a growth which is fatal to the insect's life. It is a well-known fact that insects are very subject to fungoid diseases, and it is also ascertained that the application of yeast to the plants frequented by such insects favors their acquisition of such disease. ”

“ It is exceedingly probable that we have here the true explanation of the value of the application of yeast to plants, etc., affected by insect-pests. If there are a few spores only of such parasites as the "green muscardine" about, the fluids of the yeast will serve them for nourishment and so cause the muscardine to spread until it comes into contact with the insects. There is no reason to suppose that the beer-yeast plant itself is capable of generating a disease in any insects ”

“ The paleontological evidence in favor of the hypothesis of Evolution forms the subject of the second and third lectures, and with great skill the opportunity is used in order to bring before an American audience in the most forcible way two very important and interesting American discoveries of recent date. America is, indeed, rapidly becoming the headquarters of paleontological research. ”

“ Nevertheless, if the naturalist is to study the growth from the egg of these animals, he must follow them to their native homes. Botanists have a great advantage over zoologists in the fact that most plants are readily transported from one locality to another, and can be cultivated in artificial climates produced in glass houses. We have at present no such skill in the treatment of animals, and accordingly the energetic Cambridge naturalists have risen to the necessities of the case. ”

“ At the present moment the energy of the Biological school, which has grown up in Cambridge within the last fifteen years, forms one of the most remarkable features among the many recent evidences of healthy life and of capacity for the performance of its great national duties which that time-honored institution has afforded. ”

“ Insect-pests are to be destroyed by poisoning them not with acrid mineral poisons which damage plants as well as the insects, but by encouraging the spread of the disease-producing bacteria which are known to be fatal to such insects. Professor Hagen, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, has called attention to the old practice of destroying greenhouse pests by the application of yeast. ”

“ Now, it is perfectly evident that if green muscardine spores could be produced in large quantity, or spores of similar disease-producing fungi, and applied to the ground and shrubs infested by insect-pests liable to harbor those fungi, we should have the best of all means for effecting the destruction of the insects, viz., a poison which once set at work would spontaneously multiply and spread its destroying agents around. ”

“ You may read any quantity of books, and you may be almost as ignorant as you were at starting, if you don't have, at the back of your minds, the change for words in definite images which can only be acquired through the operation of your observing faculties on the phenomena of Nature. ”

“ It will be readily understood that if the history of growth from the egg can furnish a clew to the ancestral relationships of various animals, then the discovery of this history in the case of curious and abnormal animals must be especially important. The histories of whole groups of common animals will necessarily be very much alike, and there is no likelihood of one differing from another in essential respects. ”

“ The rationale of the demand for practical teaching in all branches of science—a demand to which it is exceedingly difficult to get those who have the direction of educational institutions in this country to accede—has never been stated with more simple force than in the above extract. ”

“ Already we see our way to avoiding some deadly diseases caused by these same bacteria now that we know them to be the active cause of such disease. Already silk is cheaper in consequence of our knowledge of the bacteria of the silk-worm disease; already better beer is brewed and better yeast supplied to the baker in consequence of Pasteur's discovery of the bacterian diseases of the yeast-plant; already vinegar-making, cheese-making, butter-making, winemaking, and other such manufacturing trades are on the way to benefit by like knowledge. ”

“ Insect-pests which have depopulated whole provinces, such pests as the phylloxera and the Colorado beetle, are about to receive a check at the hands of the same class of scientific students. The application of knowledge of natural facts is in this case a very remarkable one ”

“ THE English universities have at various times in their history been remarkable as centers of scientific investigation and progress. The Royal Society took its origin in Oxford about two hundred and forty years ago, and from time to time there have been brilliant groups of scientific investigators in either university who have, though separated by intervals of darkness, sufficed to maintain the character of these institutions as something more than schools of classical training or mathematical gymnastic. ”

“ Like those of reptiles, their bodies are comparatively cold, instead of being kept to a definite "blood-heat" (100° Fahr.) as are those of all other mammals. It had often been reported, and some kind of evidence had been given to support the statement, that these strange beasts lay their eggs like birds and reptiles, instead of retaining the egg-like structure within the body and allowing it there to develop to a certain condition of maturity as do all other hairy quadrupeds. ”

“ He does not hold the view that "you can go into the market and buy research, and that supply will follow demand, as in the ordinary course of commerce." His conviction is that "the best investigators are usually those who have also the responsibilities of instruction." Very valuable for other universities than that of Baltimore are Prof. Huxley's few words of advice on "buildings." "Get an honest bricklayer, and make him build you just such rooms as you really want, leaving ample space for extension." ”

“ It is these which he is most eager to study, and it is from them that he expects to obtain information which will clear up doubtful points in the scheme of relationships or pedigree which he has provisionally constructed on the basis of his acquaintance with less isolated forms. These exceptional forms of animal life are found in various parts of the world, and are often difficult of access. ”

“ I have bought a light buggy, and move about from station to station in search of kangaroo-drives. The kangaroos have decreased in number, owing to the drought in the last few years, and the place I am in now is, I believe, almost the only one where it is still possible to get a thousand kangaroos into a "yard" in one day. "Yarding" has been generally superseded by shooting. A camp of kangaroo-shooters will travel about on a run for months, being paid so much a scalp. ”

“ If American is similar to English experience, any other course will probably lead you into having some stately structure, good for your architect's fame, but not in the least what you want."
The South Kensington lecture contains some strong pleading for the study of Biology, as a subject of deep importance to the community. Among other illustrations of its importance it is urged that thereby alone are men able to form something like a rational conception of what constitutes valuable criticism of the teachings of biologists. ”

“ Strangely enough, America, which within the historic period is remarkable for the absence of indigenous horses, and the fertility within her borders of the wild-horses descended from domesticated ancestors of the Old World, is even more remarkable for having buried in her soil a greater number and variety of fossil horses than any that the Old World can show. ”

“ Thus the facts with regard to the growth of birds from the egg are, in regard to large features, the same which have been carefully ascertained with regard to the common fowl. The growth from the egg of ordinary hairy quadrupeds presents the same characters as that of the rabbit, the dog, and man. ”

“ Huxley politely abstains from proceeding further into detail.
The study of Biology which is here advocated is practical study of the actual phenomena presented by plants and animals.
"Nobody will ever know anything about biology, except in a dilettante 'paper-philosopher' way, who contents himself with reading books on botany, zoölogy, and the like; and the reason of this is simple and easy to understand. It is that all language is merely symbolical of the things of which it treats ”

“ Caldwell has found out all about the eggs of these animals and collected them in quantities. The Echidna lays a single egg y which she then carries about with her in a pouch formed by a fold of skin on the ventral surface of the body, similar to the kangaroo's pouch.
The duck-mole, on the other hand, lays two eggs at a time and does not carry them about, but deposits them in her nest, an underground burrow like that of the mole. Naturalists are awaiting with great interest Mr. Caldwell's account of what goes on inside these eggs while the young one is growing there ”

“ Caldwell has been no less successful, after much disappointment and persevering search. He has lately sent home a series of photographs showing groups of the black men and women whom he employed to catch the fish, standing by the river-side and holding each one in his arms a newly captured specimen, while some twenty or thirty more of the fish are heaped on the ground. ”