MILNE-EDWARDS, HENat, the most eminent living representative of the French school of natural history, was born at Bruges in 1800. His father was an Englishman. Milne-Edwards studied medicine at Paris, where he took his degree of .31.n. in 1823, but abandoned medicine to devote himself to natural history. He was first appointed professor of natural history in connection with the Lye& Henri Quatre, and afterwards to the Museum and the Faculte des Sciences, of which he is now president. In 1838, he wa.s elected a member of the Academy- of Sciences (section of Anatomy and Zoology); and in /854 was chosen a member of the Academie de Medecine. He is also a member of many other societies, French and foreign, and a commander of the Legion of Honor. Milne-Ed wards is distinguished for his extensive knowledge of comparative anatomy and physiology well as of zoology-. Passing over some of his early works, which, though valuable, are thrown into the shade by his later ones, we come to his Monograph on the Crustace,a (1837-41), which is universally regarded as of pre-eminent merit, not only for its rich ness of detail, but also for the value of the general doctrines relating to homologies, development, geographical distribution, and other points of the highest physiological interest. In 1840, an improved edition of his Elements of Zoology, a work in 4 vols., and
containing 600 illustrations, began to appear. In 184_1 he published his researches on the Compound Ascidian Mollusca, which have led to an entirely fresh appreciation of some of the most important points in the history of that group. such as, that propagation by gemmation, which had been previously supposed to be a zoophytic character, is equally true of the lower mollusea. In other departments of science, Milne-Edward has been equally successful; but it is to the invertebrate animals that his chief attention has been given, and in each of the three Cuvierian sub-kingdoms, Articulata, Mollusca, and Radiata, his researches have been so important, that what he has accomplished for either alone would suffice to establish for him a high scientific reputation. In 1856 Milne-Edwards obtained the Copley 3Iedal of the Royal society of London. His later works include Lectures on Physiology, and on the Comparative Anatomy of Mcn and Animals (1855-57); History of the Mammalia (1872, et seq.); etc.