626 president's address. 



She was a vt-ry gifted woman, keenly interested in seienee. and with a memory 

 well stored with reeolleetions of old times. 1 regret now that I did not ask her 

 to give me some notes of her reminiscences of W. S. Macleay. She told me 

 that, when living at Ash Island, her sister and she used to come to Sydney for 

 periodical holidays; that W. S. Macleay used always to invite them to Elizabeth 

 Bay; and, because they were interested in entomology, that he used to take delight 

 in showing them the most attractive and beautiful specimens in his cabinets. 



We have portraits of Mr. Scott, and of Mrs. Forde, but I have not been 

 able to get one of Mrs . Morgan . Mrs . Forde, the last of the family, died on 

 November 24th, 1910, at Parramatta, at the advanced age of nearly fourscore. An 

 obituary notice of her, with references to her sister, will be found in the Society's 

 Proceedings, 1911, p. 9. 



Mr. Justice Therry (1800-74), of the Supreme Court of New South Wales 

 (1846-59), author of "Reminiscences of Thirty Years' Residence in New South 

 Wales and Victoria" (1863), thus refers to W. S. Macleay, in his book (p. 35). 

 — On a slope at the ea.stern [? southern] side of a very snug little bay, with a 

 lawn of English meadow-like verdure in front, stands the mansion of Mr. W. 

 fS.] McLeay — a name known to Europe for the scientific acquirements of its 

 occupant. As a botanist and entomologist, he holds a place in the foremost rank. 

 There, to the friends who visit him he pours forth, with a memory quite astonish- 

 ing, the stores of a varied and extensive knowledge from his encyclopaedic mind. 

 Those who have the good fortune to know this accomplislied sehnlar, will, like the 

 writer, regard their visits to Elizabeth Bay amongst the most agreeable reminis- 

 cences of New Soutli Wales." Some appreciative references to Alexander Macleay 

 are also contained in this book. 



Among the memorials of W. S. Macleay there is a pampldet, inscribed by 

 the author, entitled "Letter to the Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone. M.P.; with the 

 Address to the Jury by His Honor Mr. Justice Therry at the Opening of the 

 First Circuit Court, at Brisbane, Moreton Bay, May 13, 1850; and his Speech at 

 the Dinner given to the Judge and Members of the Circuit, by the Magistracy 

 and Gentry of the District" (8vo, Sydney, 1850). 



Dr. John Vaughan Thompson (1779-1847) was appointed De)mty Inspector- 

 General of Hospitals in Sydney on April 1st, 1836. Tlis naniu appears among 

 those of the gentlemen appointed "A Committee of Supeiintendence of tlie Aus- 

 tralian Museum and Botanical Garden," on June 14th, 1836, as printed in the 

 Sydney Gazette. Dr. Tiiompson was a distinguished zoologist. He was an army 

 surgeon, who, when stationed at Cork, in 1830, took to the study of marine In- 

 vertebrata by the aid of the microscope. "Thompson made three great discoveries, 

 which seem to have fallen in his way in the most natural and sini))le manner, but 

 must be regarded really as the outcome of extraordinary genius. He showed that 

 the organisms like Flustra are not hydroid Polyps, but of a more complex struc- 

 ture resembling Molluscs, and he gave them the name 'Polyzoa.' He discovered 

 the Pfntaerivua e-urnfiaeus, and showed that it was the larval form of the Feather- 

 Star Antedon (Comatula) . He upset Cuvier's retention of the Cirripedes among 

 Mollusca, and his subsequent treatment of them as an isolated class, by showing 

 that they begin life as free-swimming Crusta<-ea identical with the young forms 

 of other Crustacea." [Ray Lankcst^r, "The History and Scope of Zoology, p. 

 335, in his volume entitled "The Advancement of Science: Occasional Essays and 

 Addresses," London. 1890]. 



