The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1882-09-01
A Distinguished Man Of Science.

A clear bright face, q keen, thoughtful
eye, bearing both his years and his learn
ing lightly asa flower" Sir John Lub-
buck hardly strikes you as man who
has invaded nearly every province of
human knowledge and swept the scien-
tifc world of its honors and decorations.
He is one of the greatest of London
bankers, but he is also much more. He
combines in more extraordinary way
than any person living what is scientific
and speculative with what is practical
and political In very different direc-
lions he has made his mark and achieved
solid success. The basis of his character
and work no doubt lies in its scientific
side. In the method, sagacity and pa
thence of his observations he evidences
the true spiritof the Baconian induction.
He cannot, as Bacon did in his day, take
all human knowledge for his province,
but no man better understands the rela-
tionships between various departments
of knowledge, or has made himself q
specialist in large number of them.
On one side of his character he is coun-
try gentleman, a patient thinker, plod-
ding investigator of minute phenomena.
Men of action and politics, who would
scorn to watch ants. and wasps and study
flint instruments, have rarely achieved
such brilliant and remarkable success
He is one of the best known members of
Parliament, holding one of the most
honorable of seats by the frmest of ten
ures. Few men have such a spotless,
honorable and disinterested character in
public and private life.
First of all, Sir John is banker, as
was his father before him. In several
respects he illustrates the doctrine of he
redity, as set forth by his late friend and
neighbor, Mr.. Darwin. Sir John Will
liam Lubbock was, in his day, a very re-
markable astronomer, not so much, as his
famous son explained to me, on the pop
ular observatory side" as on the high
mathematical side. He had also cele-
brated relative, DIR. Lubbock, of Norfolk,
who wrote ON the fauna of his country.
He had thus an ancestral fame to sus-
tain, both scientifically and socially. l
need hardly say that he is thorough
man of business. Nowhere has Sir John
made his great powers more felt than in
the region of banking. They say "every
man is debtor to his profession;" and
Sir John has acquitted this debt very
fully. He has made two great land
marks in the history of banking which
will always be associated with his name
One of these is the bank holiday; the
other, the institution of the clearing
house of country banks, by which the
benefits long known in the city of
London were extended to all parts of
the country. All the honors which the
banking world could confer upon him
have been literally bestowed. He is the
President of the Institute of Bankers,
with its two thousand members, and
holds the peculiar and remarkable posi-
ton of honorary Secretary of the Lon
don Association of Bankers. He is thus
the medium between the banks and the
Government, and the chosen exponent
of the views of bankers in relations to
government. Then, he has instituted
system of examination for bankers
clerks corresponding to the civil-service
examinations. Sir John was a member
of the International Coinage Committee
by Government, and he is the
author of great variety of papers in
financial literature = Whitehall ReUieav.