Abstract
Surgeon Rear-Admiral Charles Marsh Bead-Nell, who died at Petersfield, Hampshire, on September 27, was president of the Rationalist Press Association, Ltd., and the author of several scientific books. Born at Rawalpindi in 1872, he was educated at Cheltenham College; and after studying medicine at Guy's Hospital he joined the Navy as a surgeon in 1896. He came to intellectual maturity while the great evolution controversy was still raging, and fell under the spell of Huxley. He became an ardent rationalist, and although service conditions somewhat restricted the propagation of his views, he frequently contrived to give lectures on evolution to the lsquo;lower deck’. On one occasion the commander-in-chief attended, and instead of administering the expected rebuke, he merely remarked that he had enjoyed the lecture very much; but, he added: “On second thoughts, Adam and Eve are good enough for me”.
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Surgeon Rear-Admiral C. M. Beadnell, C.B.. Nature 160, 598 (1947). https://doi.org/10.1038/160598a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/160598a0