= Ray_Lankester =

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= Ray_Lankester =
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Introduction
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Sir Edwin Ray Lankester (15 May 1847 - 13 August 1929) was a British
zoologist.

An invertebrate zoologist and evolutionary biologist, he held chairs
at University College London and Oxford University. He was the third
Director of the Natural History Museum, London, and was awarded the
Copley Medal of the Royal Society.

Life
======================================================================
Ray Lankester was born on 15 May 1847 on Burlington Street in London,
the son of Edwin Lankester, a coroner and doctor-naturalist who helped
eradicate cholera in London, and his wife, the botanist and author
Phebe Lankester. Ray Lankester was probably named after the naturalist
John Ray: his father had just edited the memorials of John Ray for the
Ray Society.

In 1855 Ray went to boarding school at Leatherhead, and in 1858 to St
Paul's School. His university education was at Downing College,
Cambridge, and Christ Church, Oxford; he transferred from Downing,
after five terms, at his parents' behest because Christ Church had
better teaching in the form of the newly appointed George Rolleston.

Lankester achieved first-class honours in 1868. His education was
rounded off by study visits to Vienna, Leipzig and Jena, and he did
some work at the Stazione Zoologica at Naples. He took the examination
to become a Fellow of Exeter College, Oxford, and studied under Thomas
H. Huxley before taking his MA.

Lankester therefore had a far better education than most English
biologists of the previous generation, such as Huxley, Wallace and
Bates. Even so, it could be argued that the influence of his father
Edwin and his friends were just as important. Huxley was a close
friend of the family, and whilst still a child Ray met Hooker,
Henfrey, Clifford, Gosse, Owen, Forbes, Carpenter, Lyell, Murchison,
Henslow and Darwin.

He was a large man with a large presence, of warm human sympathies and
in his childhood a great admirer of Abraham Lincoln. His
interventions, responses and advocacies were often colourful and
forceful, as befitted an admirer of Huxley, for whom he worked as a
demonstrator when a young man. In his personal manner he was not so
adept as Huxley, and he made enemies by his rudeness. This undoubtedly
damaged and limited the second half of his career.

Lankester appears, thinly disguised, in several novels. He is the
model for Sir Roderick Dover in H. G. Wells' 'Marriage' (Wells had
been one of his students), and in Robert Briffault's 'Europa', which
contains a brilliant portrait of Lankester, including his friendship
with Karl Marx. (Lankester was one of the thirteen people at Marx's
funeral.) He has also been suggested as the model for Professor
Challenger in Arthur Conan Doyle's 'The Lost World', but Doyle himself
said that Challenger was based on a professor of physiology at the
University of Edinburgh named William Rutherford.

Lankester never married. In 1895, he was charged with disorderly
conduct and resisting arrest while in the company of a group of female
prostitutes on the street, but was acquitted. (It is incorrect, as has
been alleged, that the charge concerned homosexual offences.) He died
in London on 13 August 1929.

A finely decorated memorial plaque to him can be seen at the Golders
Green Crematorium, Hoop Lane, London.

Career
======================================================================
Lankester was appointed Jodrell Professor of Zoology and Comparative
Anatomy and curator of what is now the Grant Museum of Zoology at
University College London from 1874 to 1890, Linacre Professor of
Comparative Anatomy at Merton College, Oxford, from 1891 to 1898, and
director of the Natural History Museum from 1898 to 1907. He was a
founder in 1884 of the Marine Biological Association and served as its
second President between 1890 and 1929. Influential as teacher and
writer on biological theories, comparative anatomy, and evolution,
Lankester studied the protozoa, mollusca, and arthropoda. Lankester
was elected an International Honorary Member of the American Academy
of Arts and Sciences in 1902, and an International Member of both the
United States National Academy of Sciences and the American
Philosophical Society in 1903. He was knighted in 1907, awarded the
Copley Medal of the Royal Society in 1913, and the Linnean Society of
London's Darwin-Wallace Medal in 1908.

At University College London, one person who attended his class was
Raphael Weldon (1860-1906). Another interesting student was Alfred
Gibbs Bourne, who went on to hold senior positions in biology and
education in the Indian Empire.

After Huxley the most important influence on his thought was August
Weismann, the German zoologist who rejected Lamarckism, and
wholeheartedly advocated natural selection as the key force in
evolution at a time when other biologists had doubts. Weismann's
separation of germplasm (genetic material) from soma (somatic cells)
was an idea which took many years before its significance was
generally appreciated. Lankester was one of the first to see its
importance: his full acceptance of selection came after reading
Weismann's essays, some of which he translated into English.

Ernst Mayr said "It was Lankester who founded a school of selectionism
at Oxford". Those he influenced (in addition to Weldon) included Edwin
Stephen Goodrich (Linacre chair in zoology at Oxford 1921-1946) and
(indirectly) Julian Huxley (the evolutionary synthesis). In turn their
disciples, such as E. B. Ford (ecological genetics), Gavin de Beer
(embryology and evolution), Charles Elton (ecology) and Alister Hardy
(marine biology) held sway during the middle years of the 20th
century.

Lankester was a comparative anatomist of the Huxley school, working
mostly on invertebrates. He was also a voluminous writer on biology
for the general readership; in this he followed the example of his old
mentor, Huxley.

He published over 200 papers during his career. For an overview of his
scientific work, see the obituary notice by Edwin S. Goodrich.

Invertebrates and degeneration
================================
Lankester's books 'Developmental history of the Mollusca' (1875) and
'Degeneration: a chapter in Darwinism' (1880) established him as a
leader in the study of invertebrate life histories. In 'Degeneration'
he adapted some ideas of Ernst Haeckel and Anton Dohrn (the founder
and first director of the Stazione Zoologica, Naples). Connecting
Dohrn's work with Darwinism, Lankester held that degeneration was one
of three general avenues that evolution might take (the others being
balance and elaboration). Degeneration was a suppression of form, "Any
new set of conditions occurring to an animal which render its food and
safety very easily attained, seem to lead to as a rule to
Degeneration". Degeneration was well known in parasites, and Lankester
gave several examples. In 'Sacculina', a genus of barnacles which is a
parasite of crabs, the female is little more than "a sac of eggs, and
absorbed nourishment from the juices of its host by root-like
processes" (+ wood-engraved illustration). He called this degenerative
evolutionary process in parasites 'retrogressive metamorphosis'.

Lankester pointed out that retrograde metamorphosis could be seen in
many species that were not, strictly speaking, degenerate. "Were it
not for the recapitulative phases of the barnacle, we may doubt
whether naturalists would 'ever' have guessed it was a crustacean."
The lizard 'Seps' has limbs which are "ridiculously small", and
'Bipes', a burrowing lizard, has no front limbs, and rear limbs
reduced to stumps. The Dibamidae are legless lizards of tropical
forests who also adopt the burrowing habit. Snakes, which have evolved
unique forms of locomotion, and are probably derived from lizards.
Thus degeneration or retrogressive metamorphosis sometimes occurs as
species adapt to changes in habit or way of life.

As evidence of degeneration, Lankester identifies the recapitulative
development of the individual. This is the idea propagated by Ernst
Haeckel as a source of evolutionary evidence (recapitulation theory).
As antecedents of degeneration, Lankester lists:
:1. Parasitism
:2. Fixity or immobility (sessile habit)
:3. Vegetative nutrition
:4. Excessive reduction in size
He also considered the axolotl, a mole salamander, which can breed
whilst still in its gilled larval form without maturing into a
terrestrial adult. Lankester noted that this process could take the
subsequent evolution of the race into a totally different and
otherwise improbable direction. This idea, which Lankester called
'super-larvation', is now called neoteny.

Lankester extended the idea of degeneration to human societies, which
carries little significance today, but it is a good example of a
biological concept invading social science. Lankester and H. G. Wells
used the idea as a basis for propaganda in favour of social and
educational reform.

Trouble at the Museum
=======================
In Lankester's time the Natural History Museum had its own building in
South Kensington, but in financial and administrative matters it was
subordinate to the British Museum. Moreover, the Superintendent (=
Director) of the NHM was the subordinate of the Principal Librarian of
the BM, a fact which was bound to cause trouble since that august
person was not a scientist. We can see that the conflict which took
place was one aspect of the struggle undertaken, in their different
ways, by Owen, Hooker, Huxley and Tyndall to emancipate science from
enslavement by traditional forces.

There was trouble from the moment Lankester put forward his
candidature for the office vacated by Sir William Flower, who was on
the point of death. The Principal Librarian, Sir Edward Maunde
Thompson, the palaeographer, was also the Secretary to the Trustees,
and hence in a strong position to get his own way. There is good
evidence that Thompson, an efficient and authoritarian figure,
intended to take control of the whole Museum, including the Natural
History departments. In the absence of Huxley, who had led most of the
battles for over thirty years, it was left to the younger generation
to struggle for the independence of science, Mitchell, Poulton, and
Weldon were his main supporters, and together they lobbied the
Trustees, the Government and in the press to get their point over.
Finally Lankester was appointed instead of Lazarus Fletcher (a
relative nonentity).

Lankester was appointed in 1898, and the outcome was inevitable. Eight
years of conflict with Maunde Thompson followed, with Thompson
constantly interfering in the affairs of the museum and obstructing
Lankester's attempt to improve the museum. Lankester resigned in 1907,
at the direction of Thompson, who had discovered a clause in the
regulations which allowed him to call for the resignation of officials
at the age of 60. Lazarus Fletcher was appointed in his stead. There
was a vast clamour in the press, and from foreign zoologists
protesting at the treatment of Lankester. That Lankester had some
friends in high places was shown by the Archbishop of Canterbury
offering him an enhanced pension, and the knighthood that was bestowed
on him the next year.

The issues raised by this affair did not end there. Eventually the NHM
gained, first, its administrative freedom, then finally there was a
complete separation from the BM. Today the British Library, the
British Museum and the Natural History Museum all occupy separate
buildings, and have complete legal, administrative and financial
independence from each other.

Rationalism
=============
Lankester had close family connections with Suffolk (the Woodbridge
and Felixstowe area), and was an active member of the Rationalist
group associated with the circle of Thomas Huxley, Samuel Laing and
others. He was a friend of the Rationalist Edward Clodd of Aldeburgh.
From 1901 to his death in 1929 he was Honorary President of the
Ipswich Museum. He became convinced of the human workmanship of the
(now unfavoured) 'Pre-palaeolithic' implements and rostro-carinates,
and championed their cause at the Royal Society in 1910-1912. Through
correspondence he became the scientific mentor of the Suffolk
prehistorian James Reid Moir (1879-1944). He was a friend of Karl Marx
in the latter's later years and was among the few persons present at
his funeral.

Lankester was active in attempting to expose the frauds of
Spiritualist mediums during the 1920s. He was an important writer of
popular science, his weekly newspaper columns over many years being
assembled and reprinted in a series of books entitled 'Science from an
Easy Chair' (first series, 1910; second series, 1912).

Publications
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His professional writings include the following:

* 'A Monograph of the Cephalaspidian Fishes' (1870)
* [https://archive.org/details/b21950428 'On comparative longevity in
man and the lower animals'] (1870)
* [https://archive.org/details/contributionstod00lank 'Contributions
to the Developmental History of the Mollusca'] (1875)
*
[https://archive.org/details/lankester-1877-quarterlyjournal-171877lond
Notes on the embryology and classification of the Animal Kingdom:
comprising a Revision of Speculations relative to the Origin and
Significance of the Germ-layers] Quarterly Journal of Microscopical
Science Vol 17 Pages 399-454 (1877)
* (1880)
* [https://archive.org/details/Lankester1881 'Limulus an Arachnid']
Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science Vol 21 Pages 504-548 (1881)
* [https://archive.org/details/advancementofsci00lank 'The Advancement
of Science'] (1889), collected essays
* 'A Treatise on Zoology' (1900-09), (editor)
** [https://archive.org/details/treatiseonzoolog0101lank Part 1,
fascicle 1: Introduction and Protozoa] (1909) by S.J. Hickson, J.J.
Lister, F.W. Gamble, A. Willey, H.M. Woodcock, W.F.R. Weldon and E.
Ray Lankester
** [https://archive.org/details/treatiseonzoolog0102lank Part 1, fasc.
2: Introduction and Protozoa] (1903) by S.J. Hickson, J.J. Lister,F.W.
Gamble, A. Willey, H.M. Woodcock, W.F.R. Weldon and E. Ray Lankester
** [https://archive.org/details/treatiseonzoolog02lank Part 2: The
Porifera and Coelentera] (1900) by E.A. Minchin, G. Herbert Fowler and
Gilbert C. Bourne ('Introduction' by E. Ray Lankester)
** [https://archive.org/details/treatiseonzoolog03lank Part 3: The
Echinoderma] (1900) by F.A. Bather, J.W. Gregory and E.S. Goodrich
** [https://archive.org/details/treatiseonzoolog04lank Part 4: The
Platyhelmia, Mesozoa, and Nemertini] (1901) by W. Blaxland Benham
** [https://archive.org/details/treatiseonzoolog05lank Part 5:
Mollusca] (1906) by Paul Pelseneer
** [https://archive.org/details/treatiseonzoolog0703lank Part 7, fasc.
3: Appendiculata--Crustacea] (1909) by W.T. Calman
** [https://archive.org/details/treatiseonzoolog09lank Part 9, fasc.
1: Vertebrata Craniata] (1909) by E.S. Goodrich
* [https://archive.org/details/extinctanimals1905lank 'Extinct
Animals'] (1905)
* [https://archive.org/details/cu31924009162359 'Nature and Man']
(1905) (Romanes Lecture for 1905)
* [https://archive.org/details/kingdomofman00lankrich 'The Kingdom of
Man'] (1907)
* [https://archive.org/details/sciencefromeasyc00lankrich 'Science
from an Easy Chair'] (1910)
* [https://archive.org/details/b29813153 'Great and Small Things']
(1923)
* 'Fireside Science' (1934)
* Lankester, R. (1925) 'Some diversions of a Naturalist', Methuen
& Co, Ltd., London. pp. 220.
The 'Lankester Pamphlets' are held at the National Marine Biological
Library at the Marine Biological Association in Plymouth. These
consist of 43 volumes of reprints, with an author index.

Lectures
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In 1903 he was invited to deliver the Royal Institution Christmas
Lecture on 'Extinct Animals'.

External links
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*
[https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/%28SICI%291097-0185%2819990615%29257%3A3%3C90%3A%3AAID-AR5%3E3.0.CO%3B2-8
Richard Milner's biography of Lankester]
*
*
*
* [https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/creator/1242 Works by Ray
Lankester] at Biodiversity Heritage Library
*
'[https://catalog.lindahall.org/permalink/01LINDAHALL_INST/1nrd31s/alma99882973405961
Extinct Animals, by E. Ray Lankester]' (1905) - digital facsimile from
Linda Hall Library
*
'[https://catalog.lindahall.org/permalink/01LINDAHALL_INST/1nrd31s/alma991183643405961
The Kingdom of Man, by E. Ray Lankester]' (1907) - digital facsimie
from Linda Hall Library

;Individual works
* [https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/11154
'Developmental History of the Mollusca' (1875)]
* [https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/4740
'Degeneration: a chapter in Darwinism' (1880)]
*[https://archive.org/details/advancementofsci00lankrich 'The
Advancement of Science' (1890)]
*[https://archive.org/details/zoologicalarticl00lankrich 'Zoological
Articles contributed to the "Encyclopædia Britannica"' (1891)]
*[https://archive.org/details/kingdomofman00lankrich 'The Kingdom of
Man' (1907)]
*[https://archive.org/details/sciencefromeasyc00lankiala 'Science From
an Easy Chair' (1913)]
*[https://archive.org/details/sciencefrom00lankrich 'Science From an
Easy Chair: A Second Series' (1913)]
*[https://archive.org/details/diversionsofnatu00lankrich 'Diversions
of a Naturalist' (1915)]
*[https://archive.org/details/secretsofearthse00lankrich 'Secrets of
Earth and Sea' (1920)]
* 'A Treatise on Zoology' (1900-1909)
([https://archive.org/details/treatiseonzoolog01lankrich Volume 1],
[https://archive.org/details/treatiseonzoolog02lankrich Volume 2],
[https://archive.org/details/treatiseonzoolog03lankrich Volume 3],
[https://archive.org/details/treatiseonzoolog04lankrich Volume 4],
[https://archive.org/details/treatiseonzoolog05lankrich Volume 5],
[https://archive.org/details/treatiseonzoolog06lankrich Volume 6],
[https://archive.org/details/treatiseonzoolog07lankrich Volume 7],
[https://archive.org/details/treatiseonzoolog08lankrich Volume 8],
[https://archive.org/details/treatiseonzoolog09lankrich Volume 9])

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