THE FATAL ACCIDENT TO PROFESSOR WALLACE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 10419, 17 April 1897, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE FATAL ACCIDENT TO PROFESSOR WALLACE.

DANGERS OF THE BICYCLE. As Prof. Wallace was unaccompanied on his* last expedition, and his fall near Blctchington was unobserved, we can only conjecturo the circumstances. He had boen coming down hill, and either he lost his nerve from the extra speed, or tho machine was overthrown on a rough piece of road. Hβ was dashed against a stone bridgo, and never regained consciousness. The misadventure is one which might have occurred to the youngest and most expert rider, but the shock would probably havo been lighter, as the chances of recovory would certainly have been greater. The truth is that cycling, liko all other forms of athletic amusement, is not safe for persons who are getting on in middle life. They are boguilod, however, by the absenco of physical fatigue, and ignore the norvous strain imposed by a watchfulness which has become almost automatic. That is one of the ways in which this favourite pursuit does mischief. The other is still more serious. The movement is so easy, and the adjustment of balanco so nearly unconscious, that many riders grow carelo??. They escape the mental wcar-and tear, but, like Prof. Wallace, they suddenly como to grief. It is tho sumo with riding on horabitck. The hunting man who has "negotiated" a score of stiff fences in safety Is thrown out of his Raddle when he is jogging quietly home, become he has lot his horse put its foot in a rabbit-hole. The only rule for those who have passed the year* when their eyes are keen, their limbs supple and easily mendable, is to retire cheerfully from tho diversions for which they feel an unabated relish.

The Times, in its notice of the death of Professor Walluco, says:—William Wallace was the elder of two brothers, both of whom came from Scotland to Oxford; the younger, Edwin, entering Lincoln and becoming subsequently Follow of Worcester, wag cut short in a career of great promise by conmimption, William, tho older, went to Balliol and had a distinguished academical career, taking a lint class in Moderations, and again in the school of Lit). Hum. in 1867, obtaining theGaisford prize for Greek prose (1867), and the Craven Scholarship (1869). He became Fellow and tutor of Morton,, was repeatedly classical examiner, and in 1878 filled the office of Proctor. In 1882 ho was elected White's Professor of Moral Philosophy, in succession to Mr. T. H. Oreen. The life aad manners of the late professor were those of a student—and of a student of philosophy. His interests lay chiefly in his study and in his lecture room. Beneath a somewhat brusque and rustic exterior—indicated by the nickname ot "the Dorian," which was given to him as a Balliol undergraduate—there was concealed a nature of much genuine nobleness and a staunch uprightness of thought and speech, bo that he was a man whose acquaintances were numerous and friendly, but his intimates few and attached. As a teacher he was followed and highly esteemed, his lectures being at once clear and profound, and all his work being that of» master. As a writer he made for himself a considerable name ae tho interpreter of certain German schools of philosophy. Among his works may be named " The Logic of Hegel" (1874), "Epicureanism" (1880), "Kant" (1882), " Prolegomena to Che Study of Hejjol," and " Hegel'a Philosophy of Mind" (1894).