February 5
Sir Arthur Keith (1866)
It was on this date, February 5, 1866, that Scottish anatomist and physical anthropologist Sir Arthur Keith was born in Aberdeen, the son of a farmer. After earning a Bachelor of Medicine Degree from the University of Aberdeen in 1888, Keith traveled as a physician on a gold mining trip to Siam (now Thailand), where he did his first field dissections and studies of primate anatomy. He was secretary of the Anatomical Society of Great Britain 1899-1902, Fullerian Professor of Physiology at the Royal Institution 1917-1923 and President of the Royal Anthropological Institute 1912-1914.
A prominent evolutionist in his time, Keith was one of many experts, lacking the tool of radiocarbon dating (not invented until the year of his death) taken in by the Piltdown fossil hoax. But his defense of Darwinism and his research and publication on the subject of primate and human evolution, put him in the front rank of his peers. He was knighted in 1921.
Keith once said, "This world of ours has been constructed like a superbly written novel: we pursue the tale with avidity, hoping to discover the plot." Although this sounds like Keith admitted a divine plan, he was among other memberships an Honorary Associate of the British Rationalist Press Association. Indeed, he admitted a sentimental regard for Christianity when he opined that the Bible was no better than any other guidebook: "The Bible remained for me a book of books, still divine — but divine in the sense that all great books are divine which teach men how to live righteously."
Keith died on 7 January 1955 in Downe, Kent, England. It was Sir Arthur Keith who said, "As long as man remains an inquiring animal, there can never be a complete unanimity in our fundamental beliefs. The more diverse our paths, the greater is likely to be the divergence of beliefs."
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Sir Hiram Maxim (1840)
It was also on this date, February 5, 1840, that English engineer and prolific inventor Sir Hiram Maxim was born in Sangersville, Maine. His first engineering work was in America, and he took out patents for such things as gas appliances and electric lamps. Maxim also invented a pneumatic gun, a smokeless gunpowder, a mousetrap, carbon filaments for light bulbs, a gun silencer and a flying machine.
But while visiting the 1881 Paris Electrical Exhibition, so the story goes, a man told him, "If you wanted to make a lot of money, invent something that will enable these Europeans to cut each other's throats with greater facility." It may be for that reason that Maxim is best remembered for the Maxim gun, the first self-acting machine gun, unlike the hand-cranked Gatling gun of American Civil War fame. The Maxim gun was adopted by the British Army in 1889 after an initial rejection, and variations were used by other European militaries.
Maxim was a naturalized British subject and was knighted in 1901 by Queen Victoria for his inventions. He died in London on 4 November 1916. Joseph McCabe, who knew Maxim, says that he was an aggressive Atheist. McCabe collaborated with the inventor on a collection of strong criticisms of religion called Li Hung Chang's Scrap-book.* Maxim knew the Chinese statesman and general to be just as strong an Atheist as he was himself.
* Sir Hiram S. Maxim, comp. and ed., Li Hung Chang's Scrap-book, London: Watts, 1913. Li Hung Chang lived 1823-1901. A Freethought Almanac Rant on Joseph McCabe can be found elsewhere on this site.
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