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PHILIP HENRY GOSSE. 



On Thursday, the 33rd of August, Philip Henry Gosse departed this life at St. Mary- 

 church, near Torquay, Devonshire. He was born at Worcester on the 6th of April, 

 1810, and early displayed a taste for Natural History. In 1827 he was engaged as clerk 

 in the extensive mercantile house of Messrs. Slade, Elson, Harrison & Co., of Carbonear, 

 Newfoundland. In June, 1835, he removed with his friend, Mr. G. E. Jacques (now 

 living at Oowansville, P.Q.), to Lower Canada. He bought a farm one mile east from 

 Waterville on the River Coaticook. During the summer he cultivated his land, and in 

 the winter he taught the Compton village school. At this time he collected the materials 

 for his first work, The Canadian Naturalist. The rough life of a Canadian farmer in a 

 comparatively new settlement was ill-suited to this young man of refined tastes, and the 

 " noisy politics" and "martial alarms" of the times must have jarred on his ear, attuned 

 as it was to the music of nature. Then, too, che people of the neighbourhood were not 

 of a class to appreciate his studies. They were wont to speak of him as "that crazy 

 Englishman who goes about picking up bugs." It was well for him that, as a naturalist, 

 to use his own words, he could find " gratification in any scene and at any season," and 

 that in Mr. Jacques, in whose house he boarded, he had a congenial friend. In Chapter 

 VIII. of his work he draws a gloomy picture of an Eastern Townships' farmer's life, but 

 in the preface (which breathes the modesty and piety which characterised him through 

 life) he says : " During a residence of some years in the Lower Province the author has 

 felt it to be no common privilege to be able to solace himself by these simple but enchant- 

 ing studies, . .' . and even now the recollection of those pleasant scenes sheds forth 

 a lustre which gilds the edge of many a dark cloud," 



In March, 1838, Mr. Gosse left Compton and settled in Alabama for about six 

 months. His observations at this period afforded the subject matter of his Letters from 

 Alabama, chiefly relating to Natural History. He returned to England in the spring of 

 1839, and published The Canadian Naturalist during the summer. On the 10th of 

 August, 1844, he sailed for Jamaica to study the Natural History of that island. After 

 a residence there of two years he went back to England, and published the result of his 

 investigations under the title of The Birds of Jamaica, A Naturalist's Sojourn in Jamaica, 

 and An Atlas of Illustrations. 



Prom January, 1852, to the time of his death, Mr. Gosse's residence was at St. 

 Marychurch, where he had a delightful residence, which he named "Sandhurst." 

 Attached to this were extensive conservatories, including a vinery, fernery, orchid 

 houses, etc. 



Eor some years he was engaged in preparing works for the S. P. C. K. After that 

 he devoted himself to the microscopic study of the British Rotifera. In 1856 he was 

 elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. He was an indefatigable worker, usually in his 

 study by 4 o'clock in the morning in the summer, and by 6 o'clock in the winter, and 

 producing on the average two works in the year. His books must number about forty, 

 and among the scientific papers of the Royal Society upwards of fifty are from the pen of 

 Mr. Gosse. 



Among his works are : Tenby, a Seaside Holiday ; The Aquarium; Actinologia 

 B riiannica ; a history of the British Sea Anemones and Corals; The Wonders of the Great 

 Deep; The Romance of Natural History ; Life in its Lower, Intermediate and Higher 

 Forms; Land and Sea, and A Year at the Shore. 



Always of a religious turn of mind, he delighted in Sacred History and Biblical 

 studies, and a number of works of a sacred and historical character proceeded from his 

 pen. The last of these, published in 1884, was entitled, The Mysteries of God, a Series 

 of Expositions of Holy Scriptures. 



One cannot often point to a life more pleasantly and usefully spent than that of 

 Philip Henry Gosse. 



THOMAS W. EYLES. 



