250 



his connexion with the great work he had so long and so ably- 

 directed, and with which his name will ever be most honourably- 

 associated, should cease. 



General Colby was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh ; 

 an Honorary Member of the Royal Irish Academy ; a Fellow of the 

 Geological, the Royal Astronomical, of the Geographical and Statis- 

 tical Societies, and was also connected with the Society of Arts, 

 either as Member or Proprietor, the Institution of Civil Engineers, 

 and the Royal Institution. He received the degree of LL.D from 

 the University of Aberdeen, and was a Knight of Denmark. 



He died at Liverpool on the 9th of October 1852, in the sixty- 

 ninth year of his age. 



John Dalrymple was born at Norwich in the year 1804, and was 

 the eldest son of the late William Dalrymple of that city, who 

 although restricted to a provincial sphere, obtained a high reputation, 

 and was known throughout Europe as one of the most successful 

 operating surgeons in this country. The subject of our memoir 

 entered the medical profession as pupil at the Norwich and Norfolk 

 Hospital under his father, who was Surgeon to that Institution. He 

 subsequently removed to the Borough Hospital, the schools of which 

 were at that time united ; and after completing his studies there, he 

 became a member of the College of Surgeons in 1827, after which 

 he commenced practice in the city. Mr. Dalrymple paid especial 

 attention to the practice of Ophthalmic Surgery, and in the year 

 1832 was elected Assistant- Surgeon to the Royal Ophthalmic 

 Hospital, where he contributed greatly, b}'- his talent and high pro- 

 fessional character, to raise that excellent charity to its present high 

 standing in public estimation. During the period of his residence in 

 the city he struggled against the disadvantage of almost continual 

 ill health, to lay the foundation of a profound knowledge of the 

 anatomy and diseases of that organ to which he had determined to 

 devote his principal attention, and hence, on his removal to the west 

 end of the town in 1839, he was well prepared for that great pro- 

 fessional success which shortly after flowed in upon him ; and from 

 that period until his death, his onward course was only interrupted 

 by the too frequent attacks of disease and his consequent general 

 enfeebled health. 



In 1843 Mr. Dalrymple was elected full surgeon to the Ophthal- 

 mic Hospital, and in the same year became a Fellov\^ of the Royal 

 College of Surgeons, In 1 849 he was compelled by the state of his 

 health to resign his appointment at the Ophthalmic Hospital, but 

 the Governors of this charity, anxious to retain at least his occasional 

 services, marked their sense of his high character and merits by ap- 

 pointing him Consulting Surgeon to the Institution. 



Whilst, however, he was earnestly engaged in the honourable 

 pursuit of professional fame, his hours of relaxation from that primary 

 object had been constantly devoted to the pursuits of science, and we 

 have had few more accurate and persevering investigators in 

 microscopic anatomy and physiology than he was. To the most 



