Obituary— Br. Thomas WricjJd, F.R.S. 93 



abundantly in North uniberland in all the beds which everybody 

 admits to be Tiiedian or Lower Carboniferous ? Almost all the 

 Carboniferous Limestone of North Northumberland is the represen- 

 tative of Phillips's Yoredale Series, and I have no doubt the Budle 

 Beds are much neai'er to the top than the bottom of the Carboniferous 

 Limestone Series. In Ireland the Fosiclonomya is a characteristic 

 fossil of certain black shales lying above the Carboniferous Lime- 

 stone, which were at one time regarded as Coal-measures, but whicli 

 are probably the representatives of the Yoredale Beds of England 

 (see Jukes's Manual, 3rd edition, pp. 591-2). I hope soon to show 

 that the Tuedian Beds and the Calciferous Sandstone of Scotland 

 represent in time not only the Lower Limestone Shale, but the 

 greater part of the Carboniferous Limestone also. 



20, Cumberland Street, W. Gunn. 



Edinburgh, Dec. 20, 1884. 



DR. THOMAS WRIGHT, F.R.S., F.R.S. E., F.G.S. 



Dr. Thomas Wright was boru in Paisley, Eenfrewshire, N. B., 

 November 9th, 1809. He was educated at the Paisley G-rammar 

 School, and before he completed its curriculum, was articled to his 

 brother-in-law, a surgeon and general practitioner, where he ac- 

 quired an elementary knowledge of the Natural Sciences, and showed 

 an early predilection for biological studies. 



Before the expiration of his articles his brother-in-law removed to 

 a practice in Ayrshire, which occasioned an interruption to his course 

 of study, and temporarily disarranged his pursuits. After a 

 futile attempt to enter into a manufactory, for which his scientific 

 tastes rendered him quite unfit, he rejoined his brother-in-law, and 

 having completed his articles, prepared himself for entering the 

 medical classes of the University of Glasgow. But acting upon the 

 advice of his friends, he proceeded to Ireland, and enrolled himself 

 as an anatomical student in the Eoyal College of Surgeons, Dublin, 

 where he rapidly acquired an extensive knowledge of anatomy, and 

 became an accomplished physiologist and pathologist. Later on he 

 was induced to study under Messrs. Kirby and Ellis, and soon be- 

 came their Assistant-demonstrator. On leaving Dublin he received 

 the highest credentials from those gentlemen, and was offered the 

 post of Demonstrator of their School, with the promise of the Chair 

 of Anatomy and Physiology if he remained. 



During the preceding winter, however, Dr. Wright had suffered 

 much from a dissecting wound which quite unfitted him for anato- 

 mical work, and compelled him to decline the offer so handsomely 

 made by Mr. Ellis. On recovering his health, he passed the College 

 of Surgeons, London, in 1832. and graduated as M.D., at St. Andrew's 

 University in 1846. Soon after passing the College he settled in 

 Cheltenham, whei'e his life has since been spent in the active practice 

 of his profession. He was for fifteen years Surgeon to the Cheltenham 



