404 Linnean Society. [May 24, 



with the dictum of a great constitutional writer, that "if a resolu- 

 tion must at last be taken, there is none so likely to be supported 

 with firmness as that which has been adopted with moderation." 



The Secretary then proceeded to read the following Obituary 

 Notices of deceased Fellows ; — 



Golding Bird, Esq., M.D,, was born in 1815, at Downham in 

 Norfolk. His early education was conducted in the family of a 

 clergyman at Wallingford, with whom he remained till his twelfth 

 year. He was then removed to a private school in London. In 

 spite of discouragement from his instructor, he here manifested a 

 very decided taste for chemistry and botany. In 1829 he left school, 

 and was apprenticed to Mr. Pretty, a respectable medical practi- 

 tioner in London. In 1832 he entered at Guy's Hospital. His 

 talents and industry soon attracted notice ; one striking proof of this 

 is afforded in his having been requested by Sir A. Cooper to aid him 

 in the chemical portion of his great work on ' Diseases of the Breast.' 

 During his medical studies, he continued to work hard at chemistry 

 and botany, and gained the prize for the latter given by the Apo- 

 thecaries' Company. When he passed his Examination at the Hall 

 of Apothecaries, the Examiners took the unusual course of specially 

 recommending him to the authorities of the Hospital. In 1836 

 Dr. Bird was appointed Lecturer in Natural Philosophy to the Guy's 

 Hospital School of Medicine ; and before he was twenty-three he laid 

 the foundation of his ' Elements of Natural Philosophy,' one of our 

 best manuals, which has subsequently passed through four editions, 

 in preparing the last of which he had the valuable assistance of 

 Mr. Charles Brooke. He afterwards lectured on Medical Botany and 

 Chemical Pathology. Out of the latter lectures grew his work on the 

 ' Urinary Deposits,' the book on which his reputation as a medical 

 writer will rest, which has passed rapidly through three editions. 

 In 1838 Dr. Bird graduated (at St. Andrews) A.M. and M.D., and 

 was immediately elected Physician to the Finsbury Dispensary. In 

 1840 he was admitted Licentiate, and in 1 844 Fellow, of the College 

 of Physicians in London, having been appointed in 1843, when only 

 twenty-eight years of age. Assistant Physician to Guy's Hospital. 

 From this time his practice increased rapidly, soon becoming one 

 of the most extensive in London ; and probably few men ever more 

 completely acquired the love and respect of their patients. In 1848 

 he published a paper on the Diseases of Children in the Guy's 

 Hospital ' Reports ;' and from 1847 to 1849 delivered lectures before 

 the College of Physicians.on Materia Medica and Organic Chemistry. 



