140 CHARLES HEDLEY. 
THH AUSTRALIAN JOURNAL oF Dr. W. STIMPSON, 
ZOOLOGIST. 
With an introduction by CHARLES HEDLEY, F.L.S. 
x 
[Read before the Royal Society of N.S. Wales, July 1st, 1914. ] 
A notable pioneer in Australian marine zoology was Dr. 
William Stimpson, a native of Boston, U.S.A. and a pupil 
of Agassiz. Distinguished in his youth for his studies on 
the marine fauna of New England, U.S.A., he was appointed 
naturalist to a national scientific expedition to the Pacific, 
on the U.S.N. “‘Vincennes,’’ under the command of Oapt. 
John Rodgers. Thus he came to visit Australia. At the 
conclusion of his journey, he reported to Professor Dana 
that he had secured a collection of 12,000 species.’ 
As with Hooker, Darwin and Huxley, a voyage round the 
world brought him greater power and broader thought. To 
elaborate his discoveries and complete his life work, he 
settled down as Director of the Chicago Academy of 
Sciences. But in an instant a dreadful accident ruined his 
career and wasted all his talents and his industry. A great 
fire destroyed the city of Chicago in 1871. This conflagra- 
tion consumed the building of the Academy with all 
Stimpson’s scientific property. 
He lost not only his own library, collection, manuscripts 
and drawings, the labour of a lifetime, but also materials 
lent to him for study and description by other people and 
institutions. From this crushing misfortune he never 
recovered, his health broke down and he died the following 
year. 
1 The American Journ. Science Art., Ser. ii, Vol. xx111, Jan. 1857, p. 
136. Rathburn, Descrip. Cat. G. Internat. Fish Exhib. 1883. p. 21. 
