40 DUBLIN UNIVERSITY 



Council of all Societies save one or two. I argued that such a course 

 would conduce greatly to his own personal comfort, and would give him 

 leisure to work, with greater effect, in a narrower circle. But he re- 

 plied, that his being associated with so many bodies was in itself pro- 

 ductive at times of good results ; that it rendered mutual co-operation 

 more easy, and prevented the jarring of separate interests. The ar- 

 rangements made between the Royal Dublin Society and the Zoological 

 (adverted to hereafter) may, perhaps, afford proof that the opinion of 

 my lamented friend was not unfounded. 



Of all the Dublin Societies of which Dr. Ball was a member, the 

 Royal Zoological Society, founded in 1830, was that with which he was 

 most pre-eminently associated. It was there that he acted, for more than 

 twenty years, as an Honorary Secretary, devoting to it "a large portion 

 of valuable time, and the energies of a strong and cultivated under- 

 standing." 



He had able and influential coadjutors in the officers and Committee. 

 Gradually, as they saw that he laboured with singleness of purpose for 

 the interests of the Garden, and became assured by experience that his 

 plans were both judicious and comprehensive, they sanctioned his 'pro- 

 posed measures, and devolved on him their responsibility. • 



Seldom were they disappointed in the results : the work was not 

 only done, but done well, and in a way peculiar to himself. Every 

 part of the Garden bears witness to his ingenuity, and to his anxiety to 

 accomplish his object with the least possible expenditure. No less ob- 

 vious is the desire to make the collection not a mere show for visitors to 

 gaze at, but a school in which the elements of zoology might advan- 

 tageously be studied. 



The members of the Council of this Society refer affectionately to 

 Ball as one to whom they were indebted for much that has been of 

 service, — as the establishment, in 1844, of the weekly breakfast at the 

 Gardens, at which many of their plans are discussed, and the business of 

 the Society transacted, while at the same time a kindly and social en- 

 tercourse is maintained among the members who, for the time being, 

 have the guidance of its affairs. To his efforts they owed, in a great 

 degree, the splendid present of the Giraffe in 1847, from the Zoological 

 Society in the Regent's Park, London. To his untiring labours and 

 rigid economy they mainly attribute the preservation of the collection 

 in the Garden, during the dread visitation of the famine in 1 846 and 

 1847. 



