88 Obituary Notices of Fellows deceased. 



Needle, on the gardens in Lincoln's Inn Fields, Postal Reform (in 

 pointing out that while we can send a heavy book for a few pence, a 

 heavy letter is costly, and thus he anticipated the arrangement of 

 to-day), on Boehm's monument to Dean Stanley, and on the Cromer 

 waterspout. 



In private life no one was more beloved and esteemed. He was in 

 every sense a domestic man, finding the highest joys that life brought 

 him with his family and children. The same courtly bearing and high 

 tone, the same reverence for all that was good, was in private circles 

 mingled with the genial smile, the fascinating account of something 

 interesting or novel, and the respect and deference to others which 

 were part of his upright unselfish r.ature. Many a young naturalist 

 will gratefully remember the kind encouragement and valued advice 

 he was ever ready to offer, and the stimulus which the sympathetic 

 interest of a leader in the department gave him. 



In the busy life of Sir William and in the constant calls on brain 

 and nervous system strong though these were there came times 

 when a feeling of lassitude with headache, and spinal uneasiness, if not 

 prostration, showed that the indoor life and the strain of many duties 

 had told with severity both on the central nervous system and the 

 heart. His annual holiday sufficed in many cases to recruit his ener- 

 gies, especially when he visited Scotland and the charming home of 

 his friends, Mr. and Mrs. Drummond, of Megginch. There he met 

 other friends, such as Dean and Lady Augusta Stanley and Colonel 

 Drummond-Hay, of Seggieden, brother of Mr. Drummond. Moreover, 

 he was always interested in the splendid collection of birds made by 

 Colonel Drummond-Hay during his wanderings with the Black Watch, 

 and which is placed in Megginch Castle, while a more recent and ex- 

 quisite series of birds, like the former, mounted by himself, exists at 

 Seggieden. But at other times a more prolonged absence from per- 

 sistent work was necessitated. Thus ii was that he made a tour with 

 Lady Flower in Egypt during the winter of 1873-74; that he went 

 to Biarritz in 1892. 



Sir William had been in failing health for upwards of two years. 

 The symptoms of overwork, causing an affection of the heart, became 

 more pronounced after a journey to Scotland in the end of October, 

 1896, when he took a prominent part in the opening of the new Gatty 

 Marine Laboratory, St. Andrews. A respite from duty in the begin- 

 ning of the year 1897 became imperative, and this he took at Mara- 

 zion, on the south coast of Cornwall. The needful rest, the fresh air, 

 and the charming surroundings gradually restored him to a measure of 

 health, and he returned to the work of the Museum. He spent part of 

 the next winter abroad, but in 1898 he felt his health was no longer to 

 be relied on, and he resigned his post at the British Museum. Last 

 winter he resided at San Remo, returning home in May, 1899. Un- 



