Romanes, George John

Romanes, George John 

Born May 20, 1848, in Kingston, Canada; died May 23, 1894, in Oxford. British naturalist.

Romanes attended Cambridge University and studied theology. He later became interested in medicine. In 1875 he conducted experimental studies on the physiology of the nervous system of such invertebrates as jellyfish, actiniae, and echino-derms. Romanes wrote on evolution and zoopsychology. In 1886 he proposed a hypothesis on physiological selection, which stressed the role of physiological isolation in the divergence of species; this hypothesis supplemented Darwin’s theory on natural selection. Romanes published works on the evolution of the mental abilities of animals.

WORKS

In Russian translation:
Teoriia Ch. Darvina i vazhneishie iz ee primenenii. Moscow, 1899.