142 Obituary. 



years the organ of the Medical Society, and he contributed papers 

 of a practically valuable kind both to this publication and to the 

 earlier Transactions of the Royal Society. In 1864 he was 

 appointed lecturer on surgery in the then recently established 

 Medical School of the University, having during the previous 

 year taken the degree of Doctor of Medicine. About the same 

 time he was appointed by the Government one of the official 

 visitors of Lunatic Asylums, and the opportunity the duties of 

 this office afforded him of studying mental diseases caused him to 

 become an authority in that branch of medicine. Indeed, as a 

 good "all-round" man in the medical profession, he could not well 

 be distanced, and his success in practice was commensurate 

 with his ability. He was a -diligent reader of medical books, 

 and he had collected together a very valuable library of 

 both standard authors and monograph writers. As a con- 

 sulting surgeon, therefore, he held a leading position. Like 

 many other old colonists, however, Dr. Barker did not die rich, 

 although he was at one time regarded as one of the very successful 

 of the early settlers in this part of the world. Perhaps he had not 

 the special faculty of thrift, which i3 necessary to the accumulation 

 of wealth ; and it is certain that, in the days of his prosperity, he 

 was as open-handed as he was warm-hearted. 



He was married in 1845 to Miss Scott, who came of an old 

 Midlothian family, and his domestic life was known to be a 

 happy one. He had a numerous family, and two of his sons chose 

 also the medical profession ; but they both died before him, and 

 at his death only a son and daughter survived him. 



Among the many good qualities of Dr. Barker the interest he 

 always took in the Boyal "Society of Victoria will be remembered 

 not the least when his name shall have been only an historical 

 memory. He died on the 30th of June, 1885. 



JONATHAN BINNS WEPJ3, C.M.G., J.P., <fcc. 



Me. J. B. Were, the third son of Nicholas Were, Esq., a landed 

 proprietor in Somersetshire, was born at Wellington, in that 

 county, on the 25th April, 180$. As a youth he entered the employ 

 of a leading commercial house in the seaport town of Plymouth, 

 with whom he continued for some years; but being possessed of an 

 enterprising spirit, and having the command of some capital, he 

 eventually determined to visit the colonies, in the hope that he 

 would there find a freer scope for the use of both the one and the 

 other. 



