26 LIFE OF TEGETMEIER 



was interested published a picture postcard 

 showing Newgate Prison at the time of its demo- 

 lition in 1903, and knowing Tegetmeier's interest 

 in the old place I sent him a copy. This he 

 returned to me bearing a X, and marked with 

 the following words : "X, door through which 

 prisoners were brought for public execution 

 on movable scaffold on wheels." 



The pursuit of his favourite hobby, soon to 

 become his chief occupation — natural history — was 

 undoubtedly not neglected during this interval, 

 and the following passage from the article in the 

 Taller is probably attributable to this period: 

 11 Among my other opportunities for the study of 

 natural history after the removal of the menagerie 

 from Exeter Change, first to the site of the 

 National Gallery and then to the Surrey Zoologi- 

 cal Gardens, was an exhibition in a long building 

 which stretched far across the ground now occu- 

 pied by the fountains of Trafalgar Square. This 

 was a wooden erection in which the skeleton of a 

 gigantic whale was exhibited. Since then I have 

 seen living whales in London. The enterprising 

 showman, Farini, imported one of large size 

 which was exhibited at the Aquarium. The poor 

 thing soon died, and I assisted the late Sir 

 William Flower in its dissection." This was in 

 September, 1877. 



Referring to this period he wrote: "My own 

 (subsequent) position in life was the result, 



