Obituary: — Mr. Atkinson, F.L.S. 395 



P.S. I felt much pleasure in perusing article XLIV. in your last 

 Number, and anxiously hope you will favour your astronomical readers 

 with a continued series of the Appendix to Encke. The next article, 

 entitled u Uber die Verausberechnung der Sternbedeckungen," must 

 excite the interest of every astronomer. Yours, &c. 



■ George Innes. 



OBITUARY: MR. JOHN ATKINSON, F.L.S. &C. 



Mr. John Atkinson was the sixth son of the late Rev. Miles Atkin- 

 son, B.A. vicar of Rippax, and incumbent of St. Paul's, Leeds. He 

 received his education at the Grammar School of Leeds, and at the 

 age of fourteen became a pupil of that eminent surgeon the late 

 Mr. Hey. Under such a preceptor, and aided by his own enthusiastic 

 devotion to his profession, he could not fail in acquiring that eminence 

 to which he subsequently attained. But it was as a Naturalist that 

 Mr. Atkinson was most known to the world. It is interesting to trace 

 the apparently accidental circumstances by which the mind is directed 

 to pursuits for which it appears to have been peculiarly formed. A 

 severe illness took Mr. Atkinson from Leeds to the retired village of 

 Rippax, his father's vicarage : here, an admirer of the beauties of na- 

 ture, his attention was attracted to her details j and he became en- 

 gaged in the study of the kindred sciences of Botany and Entomology 

 with that ardour which characterized all his pursuits. For some time 

 he laboured with no other book than Berkenhout's Synopsis, and 

 acquired an intimate knowledge of plants from studying them as pre- 

 sented by the hand of nature. On his removal to London to attend 

 the courses of lectures required for examination in his profession, 

 he made an acquaintance with several eminent Naturalists. He de- 

 voted the summer recesses to the cultivation of his favourite pursuits, 

 and acquired an extended and correct knowledge of Botany and En- 

 tomology. 



At a later period Mr. Atkinson devoted his attention to Ornithology 

 and Zoology in general: the study of these sciences was in a conside- 

 rable degree occasioned by his connection with the Leeds Philosophi- 

 cal and Literary Society, of which he was one of the earliest members, 

 and whose museum he founded by his munificent presents in every de- 

 partment of Natural History. His office of Curator, to which the whole 

 of not only the days but the nights he could spare from an extensive 

 practice were devoted, prevented his taking any prominent part in 

 the literary proceedings of the Society : the journals, however, record 

 some valuable communications. 



3 E 2 The 



