WM. TIIO.Ml'SON, KSQ. 



houses Against one cottage I reckoned fifty of these, of ordinary size 

 Jb-ach abode with its appliances seemed a little paradise ; everything, too' 

 being in that order which betokened in their owners, what above all 

 things most delights me, a heart at ease. Such a sight strikes upon the 

 inmost chord of a passing stranger's heart, see it in what part of this 

 world he may. ^ 



Appenzel, July 12th.-" The eastern side of the mountain-chain which 

 separates the canton of St. Gallen from Appenzel is a grain, fruit, and 

 vegetable country. On the western side, where it slopes into a great table 

 land, very many square miles in extent, it is meadow or pasture, unbroken 

 by a single patch of grain, vegetables, or fruit. It seemed to me a prac- 

 tical illustration of what should be done the whole world over, the ener- 

 gies of every country being applied to whatever it could do best, and its 

 surplus production exchanged with its neighbours " 



The Zoological notes scattered through the journal are few in number. 

 ihe botanical refer chiefly to the appearance of plants or trees in connex- 

 ion with their altitudinal range or geographical distribution. 



Ihe enjoyment which Mr. Thompson experienced in his tour to the 

 ^gean, had like all other earthly pleasures, a certain portion of alloy 

 lnhiscase,_this proceeded principally from his sensitiveness to sea-sick- 

 ness when m the vessel, and from the heat and vermin in some localities 

 on shore. But he always spoke in glowing terms of the beauty of the 

 classic and historic scenes he had visited, and the kindness not only of his 

 Iriend, Captain Graves, but of all the officers of the Beacon. 



From 1841 to 1843, he was a frequent contributor to the Annals of 

 Natural History and he was steadily preparing his Report on the Inver- 

 tebiate Fauna of Ireland. This was presented at the Cork meeting of the 

 British Associatioii, in August, 1843; and, to use the words of the Very 

 Kev. the Dean of Ely, was "remarkable for the minuteness and fulness of 

 the inforniation which it conveys." * At the same meeting, Professor E 

 i^orbes, who had returned to these countries, presented his valuable " Re- 

 port on the Mollusca and Radiata of the ^gean Sea." 



The attendance of members and associates at the Cork meetin- was un- 

 usuaUy small ; but those who compare the number and importance of the 

 papers read in the Natural History section with those at other meetin-s 

 will find no inferiority there, and will naturally attribute a portion of the 

 success of Section D. to the personal influence and character of Mr Thomn- 

 spn, who acted as its President, and whose courtesy on the occasion was no- 

 ticea by all. His own communications he compressed into the briefest 

 possible space, so as to give time and opportunity for the reading of those 

 contributed by other members. ^ 



At intervals duringthe succeeding five years, he was engaged in pre- 

 paring for the press his intended work on the Natural History of Ireland 

 and 111 writing for the Annals of Natural History, the well-known series of 

 papers on the Irish Fauna. But his labour was liable to many interrup- 

 tions. Some of these were caused by visitors; some by the arrival of 

 new specimens, or the sending away of duplicates to other Naturalists ; 

 but chiefly by the extensive corres],ondenee in which he was engajred 

 His letters were in general very concise, and went at once rig-ht to the 

 subject-matter, m the briefest terms. They often consisted of merely a 

 message or a question, written on a scrap of paper, signed with his initials, 



* Vu/ address of the Very^ev. Geo. Peacock, D. D.. as President of thr 

 British Association at the York meeting, 1814. 



