MEMOIR OF SIR J. G. DALYELL. xxxi 



a celebrated French oculist, to be allowed to make an artificial pupil for him, saying he con- 

 sidered his blindness a guarantee against other privations." 



In 1841, Sir John, by the death of his elder brother, Sir James 

 Dalyell, succeeded to the family title as sixth Baronet of Binns. He had 

 previously been honoured by her Majesty, in 1836, who in consideration 

 of hLs eminent merit had conferred upon him the dignity of knighthood 

 by letters patent. 



In 1847 appeared "Rare and Remarkable Animals of Scotland, re- 

 presented from living subjects : with Practical Observations on their 

 nature. London : John Van Voorst, Paternoster Row." 2 vols. 4to. 

 This expensive and beautifully got up work, contains no less than one 

 hundred and nine coloured plates. The rare animals described were ob- 

 tained chiefly from the estuary of the Forth, and belong to the zoophyte 

 division of natural history, the least satisfactorily explained of any. Sir 

 John, at the same time, is not quite satisfied that all of the species com- 

 prehended under this generic title are properly so. The treatise proceeds 

 from actual observation, extending over a protracted period. One of the 

 engravings represents an Actinia mesnmbryanthcnuon which had survived 

 for twenty years in his possession, and produced 334 young. The zoo- 

 phytes branch into innumerable resemblances of plants, trees and tlowers, 

 — and some of them are peculiarly rich in colour. In a Compendium, at 

 the close of the second volume, the author takes a retrospective view of 

 the facts which have been adduced from observation, and draws certain 

 " abbreviated general conclusions, explanator}' of their nature." 



This work was hailed with much enthusiasm by the scientific world. 

 Many of its details were either wholly new, or calculated to throw light 

 upon what had been guessed at by previous inquirers, while the errors of 

 others were satisfixctorily exposed. The hydraform zoophytes and the 

 Medusae were supposed to constitute two distinct classes in the Animal 

 Kingdom ; but the observations of Sir John proved that they were in 

 reality only difi'erent phases in the life of the same indiridnal.s. The re- 

 lationship thus demonstrated between polypes and jellyfish had an in- 

 terest beyond the mere fact, bearing as it did on other groups, and totally 

 upsetting the theory of Professor Steinstrup of Copenhagen, as to the 



