XXVI LIFE OF ALBANY HANCOCK. 



Slowly-increasing debility of frame, with dyspnoea and 

 cough on exertion,, rendered application to his work too 

 onerous to be continued; even thought on the objects of his 

 study could not be long kept up. Change of air and rest at 

 Sir W. Gr. Armstrong's hospitable seat at Cragside benefited 

 him from time to time, but he declined more and more through 

 the summer and autumn,, owing to dropsical symptoms 

 supervening, and died tranquilly on the 24-th of October, 1873, 

 deeply regretted by all who knew his worth. 



Albany Hancock kept up a correspondence with most 

 of the leading Naturalists, as his numerous letters and 

 presents of books and pamphlets testify ; with Darwin, Owen, 

 Huxley, Hooker, Sharpey, Forbes, Phillips, Allman, Busk, 

 and several other distinguished Naturalists of Great Britain ; 

 with Cohen of Breslau ; Suess of Vienna ; Kelaart of Ceylon ; 

 Agassiz of the United States; Lacaze-Duthiers of Paris; 

 Loveii of Stockholm ; Bergh of Copenhagen ; and others of 

 the Continent of Europe. 



He was not without special honours in his own counti-y 

 or from abroad. He was elected, in 1845, a corresponding 

 member of the Manchester Natural History Society, and in 

 1862 a Fellow of the Linnean Society. In 1858, as already 

 stated, he was awarded a Royal medal of the Royal Society 

 of London,' and declined tin- honour of the Fellowship. In 

 1865 he was elected a member of the Imperial and Royal 

 Zoologico-Botanical Society of Vienna, and in 1869 a 

 Correspondent of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Phila- 

 delphia, U. S. A., and particularly of the Conchological Section 

 of that Academy. 



He never betrayed the least vanity at being- thus distin- 



. / O 



gnished, but bore his honours meekly, and never alluded to 

 his success ; indeed he rarely mentioned it or his honours 

 to anyone, and his diplomas were carefully put away, so as not 

 to attract attention ; but he failed not to experience within 

 himself the natural gratification of finding that lie had not 

 worked in vain to extend the boundaries of human knowledge, 

 and that his labours were appreciated by those who alone 

 were competent to estimate their value. 



Albany Hancock, gifted with a large ;md well-constituted 

 brain, and trained, as few are, both as a lawyer and a close 

 observer of Nature, was a person of philosophic mind ; quick 

 and accurate in perception, careful in weighing evidence, 

 correct in judgment, careful and powerful in generalizing, 

 and, withal, modest and unassuming 1 . No one could be long 

 in his genial company without feeling that he was in the 

 presence of a superior person. He was fond of intellectual 



