Abstract
BY the death on February 18 of Harold Hulme Brindley, science lost a great personality. He was born at Highbury on June 17, 1865, the son of the then recorder of Hanley. Educated at Mill Hill School, he entered St. John's College, Cambridge, in 1884. Here he shared in all undergraduate activities, rowing in the boats, lieutenant in the Volunteers, president of the Debating Society, finally taking honours in the Natural Sciences Tripos in 1888. Careless of examinations, he obtained inspiration by aiding Weldon and Bateson in a period which was largely devoted to measurements designed to ascertain the technique of natural selection. An article on variation in the number of joints in the cockroach's tarsus greatly influenced Bateson, for it showed perfection with no intermediates whether there were four or five joints, each a 'normal' form, a 'discontinuous and total variation'. The facts were contested, as in regenerationa four-jointed tarsus is common, but he maintained his position, findinga case of four-jointed tarsi on all six legs. This led him later to a study of regeneration in general, especially in insects and vertebrates. His experiments on the different instars of Lepidoptera were particularly interesting.
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GARDINER, J. Mr. H. H. Brindley. Nature 153, 309–310 (1944). https://doi.org/10.1038/153309a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/153309a0