LATE WILLIAM CURTIS. Vii 
himself as a physician at Barnstaple; and Mr. Curtis for 
the entire pursuit of the Natural History of his own country. 
It is certain, that up to the death of Mr. Curtis they kept 
up a friendly correspondence. [Mr. Wavell disposed of 
the old established Medical business in Gracechurch Street, 
to Mr. Cleaveland, who afterwards moved to the corner 
of Dowgate Hill and Cloak Lane, where he died. ] 
Thus unfettered, as to his pursuits, Mr. Curtis was left 
to the bias of his own mind ; and had his pecuniary con- 
cerns been flourishing, he would have earlier began the 
development of those plans, which had budded, and were 
ready to shoot forth ; but which were not only retarded, but 
almost stifled for want of means to bring them forth. At 
this momentous period of Mr. Curtis’s life, when he was 
anxiously enquiring into every branch of Natural History, 
bemg of an excellent temper, and a warm heart, he court- 
ed and was courted by almost every one of congenial 
habits about the metropolis, who had a turn for the same 
pursuits of life. He collected and studied all the useful 
works which had been written on the subject; was in 
constant communication with almost every scientific person 
throughout the country, and most of the distinguished 
foreign Naturalists of his time: thus gleaning from all, 
and not only storing his own memory, which was very 
retentive, with the most useful knowledge of his subject, 
but committing, in methodical order, every thing that 
could be of lasting use to himself and the science to 
paper. His facility of writing a short-hand freely, rendered 
this an easy task. 
We would at this period, from 1770 to 1780, draw the 
attention of the scientific student to the materials then in 
the power of Mr. Curtis to call in to his aid. Scarcely a well 
approved list of names existed; and the whole mass of in- 
formation was so unorganized, that in the present times it 
would not easily be believed. With the exception of the la- 
a2 
