ELLIS, HENRY HAVELOCK , British psy chologist, was born at Croydon, Surrey, on Feb. 2, 1859. Both his father and maternal grandfather were sea captains, and much of his childhood was spent on the Pacific. After teaching for four years in New South Wales, he qualified for the medical profession at St. Thomas's Hospital, London. For a short time he engaged in general practice but very soon abandoned it for literary and scien tific work. The more popular researches of the Freudian school have to a considerable extent overshadowed the methods of Ellis, in which more emphasis is laid on biology and less on clinical ex perience. In the last century, moreover, the extension of his fame beyond medical circles was impeded by the repugnance aroused in the ordinary reader by the subject matter of his studies. Only of late has it become possible to adjudge his work without preju dicial heat.
Yet Ellis had the unusual advantage of being able to expound his scientific theories in a clear and often beautiful style. The patience of a Darwin was combined with the literary brilliance of a Huxley; even when he was unable to convince he was sure to amuse; and, especially in his occasional writings, he brought to the totality of human experience a generous sympathy, a sharp in telligence and a daring wit. Whatever his studies had been, he would certainly have won a reputation as a literary artist.
His works include: Studies in Psychology of Sex (7 vols., 1898 1928) ; Affirmations (18g8) ; The World of Dreams (191I) ; Impres sions and Comments (3 series, 1914-24) ; the Dance of Life (1923) ; Germinal, trans. from the Fr. of Emile Zola (1925) ; Sonnets, with Folk Songs from the Spanish (1925) ; Man and Woman (6th ed., 5926) ; The New Spirit (4th ed., 1926) ; A Study of British Genius (1927); Marriage Today and Tomorrow (1929). See also: D. Isaac Goldberg, Havelock Ellis: a Biographical and Critical Survey (1926) .