Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

GEORGE JOHN ROMANES (1848-1894)

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V23, Page 525 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

GEORGE See also:JOHN See also:ROMANES (1848-1894)  , See also:British biologist, was See also:born at See also:Kingston, See also:Canada, on the loth of May 1848, being the third son of the Rev . See also:George See also:Romanes, D.D., See also:professor of See also:Greek at the university of that See also:town . He was educated in See also:England, going in 1867 to Gonville and See also:Caius CoIIege, See also:Cam-See also:bridge . He See also:early formed an intimate friendship with See also:Charles See also:Darwin, whose theories he did much during his See also:life to popularize and support . When studying under See also:Sir J . Burdon See also:Sanderson at University See also:College, See also:London, in 1874-76, he began a See also:series of researches on the See also:nervous and locomotor systems of the Medusae andEchinodermata, which provided him with material for his Croonian lecture in 1876 . Subsequently he continued the inquiry, partly in See also:conjunction with Professor J . Cossar See also:Ewart, and the results were published in Jelly-See also:fish, See also:Star-fish, and See also:Sea-urchins (1885) . Meantime he had been also devoting his See also:attention to broader problems of See also:biology . In 1881 he published See also:Animal Intelligence, and in 1883 See also:Mental See also:Evolution in Animals, in which he traced the parallel development of intelligence in the animal See also:world and in See also:man . He followed up this See also:line of See also:argument in 1888 with Mental Evolution in Man, in which he maintained the essential similarity of the reasoning processes in the higher animals and in man, the highest of all . In 1892 he brought out an Examination of Weismannism, in which he upheld the theory of the hereditability of acquired characters .

In 1890 he See also:

left London and settled at See also:Oxford, where he founded a lecture similar to the " Rede " of Cam-bridge, to be delivered annually on a scientific or See also:literary topic . In 1893 he published the first See also:part of Darwin and after Darwin, a See also:work dealing with the development of the theory of organic evolution, and based on lectures, which he delivered as Ful]erian professor of See also:physiology at the Royal Institution in 1888-91; a second part appeared in 1895 after his See also:death, which occurred at Oxford on the 23rd of May 1894 . Romanes was awarded the See also:Burney See also:prize at See also:Cambridge in 1873 for an See also:essay on " See also:Christian See also:Prayer and See also:General See also:Laws." Five years later, under the See also:pseudonym " Physicus," he issued A Candid Examination of See also:Theism, in which he showed himself out of See also:accord with orthodox religious beliefs . In 1882 he published an See also:article on the " See also:Fallacy of See also:Materialism," and in his Rede lecture of 1885 he appeared as a monist . Subsequently his views again changed in the direction of orthodoxy, as is shown by his Thoughts on See also:Religion, written shortly before his death and published in 1895 . His Life and Letters, by his widow, appeared in 1896 .

End of Article: GEORGE JOHN ROMANES (1848-1894)
[back]
ROMANCE LANGUAGES
[next]
ROMANESQUE AND GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click and select "copy." Paste it into a website, email, or other HTML document.