Quotes:Romanes, George John

Zirkoff, Boris

Romanes, George John. British biologist; b. at Kingston, Canada, May 20, 1848; d. at Oxford, May 23, 1894. Educ. at Gonville and Cains Coll., Cambridge. Early formed intimate friendship with Chas. Darwin, whose theories he popularized during his life. Studying under Sir J. Burton Sanderson at Univ. Coll., London, 1874-76, began research on nervous and locomotor systems of medusae and echinodermata, the results of which were published in his work on Jelly-fish, Starfish, and Sea-urchins (London: K. Paul, Trench & Co., 1885). Published, 1881, Animal Intelligence, and in 1883, Mental Evolution in Animals, tracing parallel development of intelligence in the animals and man. This was followed in 1888 by Mental Evolution in Man (London: Kegan Paul & Co.), maintaining essential similarity of reasoning processes in higher animals and man. Delivered, 1886-90, course of lectures at Edinburgh on “The Philosophy of Natural History,” and was Fullerian Prof, of physiology at Royal Institution, 1888-91. His Examination of Weismannism, 1892, upheld theory of the hereditability of acquired characteristics. Settled at Oxford, 1890, and founded a lectureship. Published, 1893, first part of his Darwin and after Darwin (second part publ. in 1895; third remains unpubl.).

Source: Boris de Zirkoff, «H. P. Blavatsky Collected Writings», vol. 7, p. 391