588 



OBITUARIES, FOREIGN. 



the author of several excellent religious works 

 of a practical character. He died in London. 



Jan, 7. KIDD, WILLIAM, an English natural- 

 ist, author, and lecturer, born at Hammersmith, 

 in 1803, and died thorn. In his boyhood Mr. 

 Kidd was apprenticed to a bookselling firm in 

 London, and subsequently himself became a 

 bookseller in Regent Street. After some years he 

 sold out his business and devoted himself exclu- 

 sively to natural history and the study of the 

 habits of animals. Possessing a most genial 

 and affectionate nature, he attracted to him 

 birds, beasts, and even fishes, and could cause 

 them to evince their affection for him in a most 

 remarkable manner. His aviary at Hammer- 

 smith was one of the finest in England, but was 

 unfortunately destroyed by fire, to his great 

 grief, t\vo or three years since. Mr. Kidd oc- 

 casionally lectured on natural history topics, 

 and his lectures, to which he gave the title of 

 " Genial Gossip," were very interesting from 

 their fulness of anecdotes and observation of 

 the domestic life of animals. He was also a 

 frequent contributor to the Gardener's Chronicle, 

 the National Magazine, and Recreative Science, 

 and for several years past had conducted a 

 journal of his own, which was highly prized 

 by naturalists, but his best title to a lasting rep- 

 utation will be found in his " Book of British 

 Song Birds," a work which, likelzaak Walton's 

 " Complete Angler," is of permanent and iini- 

 versal interest. 



Jan. 9. SKINNER, GEOBGE URE, an English 

 botanist, long resident in Mexico and Central 

 America, where he was engaged in commercial 

 pursuits, died of yellow fever at Aspinwall, at 

 the age of 62 years. Notwithstanding the ex- 

 tensive business of the house of Klee, Skin- 

 ner & Co., of Guatemala, in which he was a 

 partner, he found time to pursue his favorite 

 researches in the botany of Western Mexico 

 and Guatemala, more thoroughly than any pro- 

 fessed botanist, foreign or native, had done. He 

 had given special attention to the OrchidacecB, 

 which are so very abundant in those countries, 

 and Dr. Lindley speaks in the highest terms of 

 his assiduity and skill in the collection of these 

 plants. The genus TJroskinneria of the natu- 

 ral order Scrophulariacece was named for him by 

 Dr. Lindley, and Cattleya Skinneri among the 

 Orchids is a minor remembrance of him. 



Jan. 11. BAXTER, GEORGE, the inventor and 

 patentee of oil-color picture-printing, born in 

 Lewes, in 1805 ; died at the Retreat, Sydenham. 

 He settled in London about the year 1825, and 

 soon gained a high reputation as an artist in 

 oils. His process of oil-color printing was 

 very successful, and his pictures, some of which 

 were very fine, were in great demand. Among 

 the best of them, of which hundreds of thou- 

 sands were sold, were the miniatures of Queen 

 Victoria and Prince Albert, " The Descent from 

 the Cross," " The opening of the First Parlia- 

 ment of Queen Victoria," and "The Corona- 

 tion." For the last two he received the gold 

 medal of Austria. His best original production 



was a miniature drawing of " The Baptism of 

 the Prince of Wales," in which the likenesses 

 were excellent. 



Jan. 11. DONALDSON, Sir STUART ALEXAN- 

 DER, a colonial statesman, born in London in 

 1812, of a very intellectual family, and died at 

 Carleton Hall, Cumberland. At an early age he 

 travelled on the Continent of Europe, passed 

 two years in Mexico, and twice visited the 

 United States. In 1835 he emigrated to Syd- 

 ney, New South Wales, where for twenty years 

 he was the head of the firm of Donaldson & Co., 

 and agent for Lloyds'. In 1838 he was appoint- 

 ed one of the territorial magistrates, and was 

 consequently elected a member of the Council, 

 in which, and in the Assembly, he held a seat 

 from 1838 to 1859. In April, 1856, he formed 

 the first ministry at Sydney, responsible to the 

 local Parliament. He also held the office of a 

 member and vice-president of the Executive 

 Council, First Minister, and Colonial Secretary. 

 He had been appointed in 1855, by the Sardin- 

 ian Government, their Consul-General for 

 New South Wales, but this post he resigned on 

 taking office as Colonial Secretary. In 1859 he 

 returned to England, and in 1860 was knighted 

 for his services in the colony. 



Jan. 16. EXETER, BROWNLOW CECIL, second 

 Marquis and Earl of, Baron of Burghley, K. G., 

 P. C., and hereditary Grand Almoner of England, 

 an English nobleman, born at Burghley House, 

 near Stamford, July 2, 1795 ; died in the same 

 place. He was educated at Eton and St. John's 

 College, Cambridge, where he graduated M. A. 

 in 1814, and was created D. 0. L. in 1835. He 

 was appointed Lord-Lieutenant of Rutlandshire 

 in 1826, and of Northamptonshire in 1842; he 

 held the office of Groom of the Stole to the late 

 Prince Consort from September, 1841, to Janu- 

 ry, 1846, of Lord Chamberlain of the Queen's 

 Household from February to December, 1852, 

 and of Lord Steward of the Household from 

 February, 185 8, to June, 1859. He had been for 

 fifty years a leading patron of the turf, and bred 

 his own racing-stud, which won many races, 

 and was at one time the largest in the kingdom. 



Jan. 16. GUY, JOSEPH, an English author of 

 school text-books, born in 1784, died in Kent- 

 ish-town, London. His "Geography," " Spell- 

 ing-book," etc., were very popular a half cen- 

 tury since, but contained only a very small 

 amount of information. 



Jan. 17. FOOT, F. J., one of the senior geol- 

 ogists of the Irish branch of the Geographical 

 Survey of the British Islands, was drowned while 

 skating on Lough Key, in the north of Ireland. 



Jan. 17. SMITH, JAMES, F. R. S., a Scottish 

 geologist and author, born at Jordanhill near 

 Glasgow, in 1782; died there. He was educated 

 at Glasgow University, and was a magistrate 

 for Renfrewshire. He was a diligent student 

 of geology, and being of a religious turn of mind, 

 had given very careful attention to many vexed 

 questions in Biblical science. He was a very 

 frequent contributor to the transactions of va- 

 rious scientific societies, and the author of sev- 



