417 

 NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



WASHINGTON TEASDALE, 1830-1903. 

 At the ripe age of 73, whilst attending- the meeting of the 

 British Association at Southport in September, Mr. Washington 

 Teasdale, of Leeds, was seized with an illness which resulted in 

 his death a few days later. A familiar figure is thus removed 

 from the meetings of the various scientific societies, nc>t only in 

 his native city, but also from larger associations in different 

 parts of the country. He was principally interested in astronomy 

 and photography, in connection with each of which he devoted 

 much labour and research. He was one of the pioneers of 

 photography in this country, and it was to him and to Mr. 

 Ramsden that the credit was due of founding in Leeds what 

 was actually the first photographic society in the world. He 

 always retained his interest in photography, kept himself in 

 close touch with its progress, and familiarised himself with 

 every new process that was brought forward. His camera was 

 his invariable companion in his travels, and was constantly in 

 use. He was one of the first to adopt the modern method of 

 illustrating lectures by lantern slides, and has given several 

 hundred lectures on various scientific subjects to societies 

 throughout the country. Teasdale was a Fellow of the Royal 

 Astronomical Society and of the Royal Meteorological Society, 

 and founder and President of the Leeds Astronomical Society, 

 and also contributed to the welfare of the Leeds Naturalists' 

 Club and Scientific Association, the Leeds Institute, and the 

 Yorkshire Naturalists' Union, of which he was a member from 

 the first. Another of his hobbies was the microscope, and he 

 possessed an extensive and varied collection of slides. It is 

 indeed this science of microscopy which was his point of con- 

 tact with the scope of action of 'The Naturalist,' and as the 

 populariser of this instrument he did good yeoman service to 

 the naturalists of Yorkshire. He was what he himself called 

 a 'brass and glass man,' in contradistinction to the users of the 

 instrument, who were in similar parlance the ' slug and bug 

 men,' these being the two categories of individuals who in con- 

 junction formed the Royal Microscopical Society of London and 

 other societies of like aims. The accompanying illustration 

 shows Teasdale at work with his own invention, the Field 

 Naturalists' Microscope. It is from a photograph taken in 

 August last, lent by Mr. W. Denison Roebuck, who has also 

 kindly supplied most of the information in this notice. Not 

 being a great writer, we have little of Teasdale's work left to us 

 in a permanent form. But he appreciated and studied the 



1903 November i. CC 



