10 DUBLIN UNIVERSITY 



high spirits and great bodily vigour. It delighted him to use a large 

 bow and arrow ; the bow was one that no other boy at the school could 

 bend. 



One cause of complaint, however, existed against him, and not 

 without reason. The worthy lady who at that time took especial charge 

 of the boarders' clothes, and who is yet living, could not infuse into 

 young Ball her own innate love of neatness in regard to dress. His 

 clothes were occasionally torn, and often soiled or dirtied, while he was 

 intent on obtaining some specimen, which to other eyes seemed worth- 

 less. A limestone quarry near Mr. White's residence was rich in 

 fossils, and these lured him in his play-hours to efforts which were 

 frequently damaging to his habiliments, and not at all conducive to 

 habits of personal tidiness. 



At the age of sixteen he left Ballitore and returned home to 

 Youghal. During the next few years his bodily frame was gradually 

 developing itself by active outdoor occupations, and his observant 

 powers were in constant exercise. Not, however, content with merely 

 observing, he recorded much that he saw, and sought to classify and ar- 

 range the multifarious objects which a sea-side residence brought under 

 his notice. . - 



His occupations were very diversified, including drawing, wood- turn- 

 ing, classical reading with a tutor, and physical science, so far as it could 

 be carried on in the observatory of Dr. Dartnel. He read much, and as 

 his memory was retentive, it is probable that the miscellaneous books 

 which then fell into his hands contributed largely to the varied charac- 

 ters of the information he possessed. 



It was during the years now spent at Youghal that a large amount of 

 his extensive zoological knowledge was acquired. He fought his way to 

 it alone and unaided, and through difficulties which would have deterred 

 one who was less in earnest. An early friend of his, and one whose 

 friendship throughout life has been " without variableness or shadow 

 of turning," Richard Dowden (Richard), of Cork, has kindly sup- 

 plied some memoranda, from which the following passage is extracted : — 



"Dr. Ball was a self-made naturalist ; he enjoyed no opportunities of 

 an assisting nature ; he had no one of any position in his science to ap- 

 plaud or sustain his exertions ; indeed, on the contrary, the only person 

 who gave attention to science, in Dr. Ball's contiguity, was interested 

 in natural philosophy, and rather contemned * the preparing of skeletons 



