The philosophy of evolution : (an Actonian prize essay) / by B. Thompson Lowne.

  • Lowne, B. Thompson (Benjamin Thompson), 1839-1925.
Date:
1873
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The philosophy of evolution : (an Actonian prize essay) / by B. Thompson Lowne. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    In 1837, Hannah Acton of Euston Square, in memory of her late husband Samuel Acton, invested one thousand pounds in order to carry out her husband’s wish, that “ The Royal Institution of Great Britain should be enabled to extend and diffuse useful knowledge,” with the condition that a prize of one hundred guineas should be given every seven years for the best essay “ illustrative of the Wisdom and Beneficence of the Almighty, in such department of science as the Committee of the Royal Institution should select,” leaving it in the dis- cretion of the same Committee to withhold the prize if no essay be presented entitling its author, in their opinion, to such a reward. At the last septennial period the prize was withheld; and hence two prizes were offered for the two best essays pre- sented in 1872. The present essay was one of those selected by the Committee at that time. The other successful essay was written by the Rev. George Henslow.