1 18 Transactions of the [JT/nl'i! fSTi^^. 



Mr. Ward ; and it is now my painful duty to record the loss of 

 another of the associated founders of our Society, and to add to our 

 obituary the name of Joseph Jackson Lister. Full of years and 

 full of honour he rests from his labours ; and it is the consoling 

 testimony of the friends who witnessed the perfect calmness of his 

 departure that he enjoyed that peace of which it is enough to say 

 that it " passeth all understanding." 



During the past year we have lost four Fellows by death, viz. : — 

 Mr. Joseph Jackson Lister, F.E.S., Z.S. ; Mr. Henry Hall; Mr. 

 George Western, and Captain John Gould Noble ; also one Honorary 

 Fellow, Professor Purkinje, of Prague. We have lost six Fellows 

 by resignation. The number of Honorary Fellows has been in- 

 creased by two, and of Ordinary Fellows by twelve. At the present 

 time our total number is greater than in any preceding year, being 

 now 458. 



In a long letter received from Professor Lister to-day I am 

 furnished with important particulars regarding his late dear and 

 honoured father. This obituary notice, through the medium of our 

 Journal, will be placed in the hands of aU our Fellows. 



The points of special interest to our Society are naturally con- 

 nected with the improvements Mr. Lister effected in the micro- 

 scope; and owing to the admirable arrangement of his original 

 MSS. and letters, we have here, in his own words, a detailed 

 history of his experiments and discoveries from 1824 to 1837. 

 When he saw his principles of construction practically carried out, 

 he devoted his leisure to various investigations by aid of the instru- 

 ment he had so greatly improved ; and his well-known observations 

 " On the Structure and Functions of Tubular and Cellular Polypi 

 and Ascidife," beautifully illustrated by sketches from life under the 

 camera lucida, form a classical paper in the ' Philosophical Trans- 

 actions ' for 1834. 



Some important papers of Mr. Lister's, still unpublished, will. 

 we may hope, be given to the world. 



Our list of Honorary Fellows commenced with the names of 

 Professor Ehrenberg and the late Professor Purkinje, These distin- 

 guished philosophers were elected at the first anniversary meeting 

 of our Society in 1841. Professor Purkinje, of Prague, unhke his 

 illustrious compeer of Berlin, was not a contributor to our ' Trans- 

 actions ;' but his valuable physiological researches, continued 

 throughout a long and active life, place him among the most cele- 

 brated observers of modern times. He died on the 28th of July last, 

 in the eighty-second year of his age. 



Mr. Hall, Mr. Western, and Captain Noble, whose loss we also 

 deplore, took great interest in microscopical literature ; and Mr. HaU 

 will be especially remembered among the circle of his friends as 

 having zealously promoted microscopical investigation at Hackney. 



