MEMOIR OF SIR J. G. DAM I I.I. xxx j 



calibrated French ocolUt, to be allowed to make an artificial pupil for him, My ing be con- 

 hit blinJoeM a guarantee agaiaat other priraiin." 



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

 Dulyi'll. MK-roeded to tin- I'.miily title as sixth Baronet of Binns. He had 

 previously btvn honoured by her Majesty, in 183C, who in consideration 

 of his 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. 4 to. 

 This expensive and beautifully got up work, contains no lets) 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, ut 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 mcsambryanthemum which had survived 

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

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

 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, explanatory of their nature." 



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

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

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

 others were satisfactorily 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 different phases in the life of the same iiidiriditaU. The r<' 

 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 



