BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 



by gastric fever, which confined him to the house for some 

 months. 



With regard to work at the Palace he goes on to say: — " I 

 was, as well as Sir Joseph Paxton, disappointed at the 

 result of our exertions to render that noble building one 

 of educational greatness ; alas ! amusements such as Punch 

 and Judy, tight-rope dancing, round-abouts, etc., set all 

 other considerations at naught." 



I can well understand the above remarks when I find 

 that, after all the labour and money which was expended 

 on the Natural History department in the south transept 

 of that Palace, the large groups of animals and figures, to 

 the preparation and arranging of which my father devoted 

 so much time, were by degrees destroyed by the gardeners 

 who had introduced live plants among them. These 

 Vandals, having no other thought but the preservation of 

 their plants, watered not only plants, but figures and 

 stuffed animals, all at the same time. This of course 

 hastened their decay. The laborious, though unsatisfactory, 

 work of trying to preserve the Natural History specimens 

 continued up to 1859. At the death of Mr. John Thomp- 

 son, the Superintendent of the Zoological Gardens, Dr. P. 

 L. Sclater, the then newly-appointed secretary, in course 

 of conversation with Mr. Henry Walter of The Times, 

 remarked that they (the Society) were seeking a new man 

 for the post. Mr. Walter at once recommended my father, 

 who was immediately communicated with, and in August 

 1859 appointed Superintendent at a salary of £200 per 

 annum and residence. 



Since taking up his abode in the Gardens he became a 

 walking Zoological Encyclopaedia. Judging from the mass 

 of correspondence, alone, which has come into my posses- 

 sion, it is evident that, notwithstanding his onerous and 

 responsible duties in looking after the keepers, animals, 



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