George Rolleston, Physician and Zoologist

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George Rolleston, physician and zoologist (1829-1881), large cartoon watercolor ink wash drawing signed "RPP 1881". The cartoon shows Rolleston collecting ancient skulls in Oxford. Commentary below notes that his scientific assement of their morphology and ends with, "Alas! Poor Yorick". George Rolleston was the first Linacre Professor of Anatomy and Physiology at the University of Oxford from 1860 until his death. He was a friend and protoge of T.H. Huxley and one of the organizers of the British Association meeting in Oxford. There, Huxley famously clashed with Bishop Wilberforce over evolution and Owen over ape brains. Rolleston also took part in the debate and arranged for Huxley's stay in Oxford. Rolleston was firmly in the Huxley camp during the acrimonious debate regarding Owen's mistaken claim that humans had parts of the brain that apes did not.

Paul D. Stewart / Science Source

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