Edward Drinker Cope was born at Philadelphia, Pa. After studying at several Continental Universities, especially at Heidelberg, he became first Professor of Natural Science at Haverford College, and later Professor of Geology and Mineralogy. He died at an early age in 1897. As a member of various geological expeditions and other surveys, he explored chiefly Kansas, Wyoming, and Colorado; and he published many most suggestive papers on the fossil vertebrate fauna of North America, and on classification especially of Amphibia and Reptiles.
Among works of a more general philosophical scope may be mentioned 'The Origin of the Fittest,' 1887, and his latest work, 'The Primary Factors of Organic Evolution,' 1896.
Albert von [Koelliker] became Professor of Anatomy at Würzburg. His earlier studies and discoveries contributed considerably to the systematic development of the cell theory. In 1844 he observed the division and further multiplication of the original egg cell. Next year he showed the continuity between nerve cells and nerve fibres in the Vertebrata; later, that the non-striped or smooth muscular tissue is composed of cellular elements. He demonstrated that the Gregarinæ are unicellular creatures. In 1852 he went with his younger friend Gegenbaur to Messina, where he studied especially the development of the Cephalopoda (cuttlefishes and allies); and he produced a magnificent work on Alcyonaria, Medusæ, and other allied forms. He elucidated the development of the vertebral column, especially with reference to the notochord.
In 1848 he founded, together with Th. von Siebold, the famous Zeitschrift für wissenschaftliche Zoologie.
A standard work on mammalian embryology is his 'Entwicklungsgeschichte des Menschen und der höheren Thiere,' a text-book of which the second edition appeared in 1879.
At the anniversary meeting of 1897 he received the Copley medal, the highest honour which the Royal Society can bestow.
Carl [Gegenbaur] was born on August 21, 1826, in Bavaria. He studied medicine and kindred subjects in Würzburg, and as a pupil of Johannes Mueller in Berlin.
In 1852 he went with Koelliker to Messina to study the structure and development of the marine fauna. Important papers on Siphonophora, Echinoderms, Pteropoda, and, later, Hydrozoa and Mollusca, were the result. Soon after his return he was offered the chair of Anatomy at Jena, and at this retired spot he produced his most important works, devoting himself more and more to the study of the Vertebrata. Since 1875 he has held the Chair of Anatomy at Heidelberg.
In 1859 he published his 'Principles of Comparative Anatomy'; but in 1870 he remodelled it completely, the theory of descent being the guiding principle. These 'Grundzüge' were followed by a somewhat more condensed 'Grundriss,' the second edition of which was published in 1878, and has been translated into French and English. In the meantime he had broken new ground by the development and treatment of certain problems concerning the composition and origin of the limbs, the shoulder-girdle and the skull, researches which are embodied in his 'Untersuchungen zur vergleichenden Anatomie der Wirbelthiere,' 1864-65-72.
In 1883 he brought out a text-book on human anatomy. This also marked a new epoch, because for the first time, not only the nomenclature, but also the general treatment of human anatomy, was put upon a firm comparative anatomical basis. The success of this work is indicated by the fact that it reached the sixth edition in 1897.