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Mourn for the mighty dead, 

 Mourn for the spirit fled, 

 Mourn for the lofty head 



Low in the grave. — Dn. MACKAy, 



IT is customary with us at the close of tlie year 

 to look around our family circles, and note the 

 absent faces of old and familiar friends, or " nearer 

 still, and dearer ones," who have passed to their 

 last home since the previous Christmas gatherings 

 dispersed. As the present year draws near its close, 

 it may not be inopportune for us to note the vacant 

 chairs in the learned societies, w'hence death has 

 snatched many a veteran since our first number 

 appeared. As a nation we have suffered deeply in 

 the loss of men whose place it would be difficult to 

 fill. The majority of these have passed away in a 

 ripe old age, leaving to us the duty of cherishing 

 their memories, mourning their loss, and profiting 

 by their labours. 



Even while the odours of Christmas still lingered, 

 Avhile the holly was fresh and green, and before 

 the sound of festivities ceased, Ave learnt that 

 Dr. BALrouK Baikie would no more wander on 

 the banks of the Niger, since, in making prepara- 

 tions to revisit England, he was preparing for 

 another land, to which, towards the close of 

 September lie passed, to take his station in the 

 silent halls of death, from whence no visitor 

 returns. 



A still wider-known travelling naturalist, whose 

 loss other than naturalists deeply deplore, passed 

 from amongst us with the advent of May flowers. 

 Admiral Eitzkoy, E.R.S., was just completing 

 his sixtieth year. It was nearly thirty-five years 

 since he returned from the survey of the southern 

 coasts of South America, after whicli, with Mr. 

 Charles Darwin as naturalist, he again visited those 

 coasts, and performed the voyage of research for 

 which his name is most honoured by the student of 

 natural history. The voyage of the Beagle, under 

 the command of Captain Eitzroy, will long be 

 remembered as one of the richest in results of 

 the many voyages of exploration undertaken by 

 Englishmen. 



The month following left us to mourn the loss of 

 another explorer, at the advanced age of seventy- 

 eight years. This w^as Sir John Richardson, 

 C.B., E.R.S., who was three times engaged in an 



Arctic expedition; twice under the command o 

 Sir John Eranklin, and once after he had reached 

 threescore years of age. He first entered the navy 

 as assistant-surgeon in 1807, and for seven years 

 was engaged in fighting and buccaneering expedi- 

 tions. His scientific career commenced with the first 

 Arctic expedition in which he was engaged, and the 

 publication of the Appendix to Sir John Erankliu's 

 Narrative. "His scientific writings fill up some 

 twenty volumes, treating mainly of the zoology of 

 mammals, birds, and fishes, and most instructively 

 of the distribution of species." His most important 

 viork is the " Eauna Boreali- Americana," by which 

 he will hereafter be best known. 



In March Sir Robert H. Schomburgii was 

 numbered Avith the dead. Erom his earliest years 

 he was devoted to natural history. In 1831 he 

 surveyed the island of Anegada, in the West Indies. 

 In 1835 he undertook the exploration of Guiana, — 

 a journey rich in scientific results. During this 

 expedition he discovered that queen of floAvers, the 

 gigantic Water-lily {Fictoria regici). On his return 

 home, the Royal Geographical Society presented 

 him with their gold medal ; and in 1840 he returned 

 to British Guiana to make a survey for the British 

 Government. This work being completed, he 

 received the honour of knighthood. The concluding 

 portion of his career was spent as consul, first at 

 St. Domingo and afterwards in Siam. It is chiefly 

 as a naturalist that we include him in our brief 

 memento, in companionship Avith such kindred 

 spirits as Dr. Baikie, Admiral Eitzroy, and Sir John 

 Richardson. 



What can Ave say of Charles Waterton, for, 

 Avhether as a naturalist or a gentleman, it may be 

 long before we look upon his like again ? On the 

 25th of May, at the age of eighty-three years, his 

 "wanderings" came to a close; and the Squire of 

 Walton Hall no longer roamed amongst the denizens 

 of the paradise Avhich he had established for them. 

 " Walton Hall," says a contemporary, "was famous 

 throughout the North as a new paradise for animals, 

 and as showing, practically, Avhat might be the state 

 of things even now, Averc man not carnivorous and 



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