ARTHUE LISTEE, 1830-1908. 



My father was the youngest of four sons of Joseph Jackson Lister, F.E.S. 

 The second was Joseph, afterwards Lord Lister, the founder of the modern 

 system of surgery, and past President of the Eoyal Society. There were 

 three daughters who all married and had children. 



The family had belonged on both sides, and for several generations, to the 

 Society of Friends. His mother was of Irish extraction, the daughter of 

 Anthony Harris, a sea captain, whose home was at Maryport, Cumberland, 

 and who owned and sailed his ship ; she had before her marriage been a 

 teacher at the Friends' School at Ackworth. I can remember her as a dear, 

 dignified old lady, dressed in the subdued, harmonious colours of the Quaker 

 garb, and muslin cap of the proper cut. I think I remember (I have 

 certainly been told of) her taking exception to some full " bell sleeves " of 

 one of my sisters as " superfluities." 



My grandfather I clearly remember as a benevolent-looking, handsome old 

 gentleman, clean-shaven except for short side whiskers. He was very active, 

 even in old age, and I can recall him in his Quaker coat, with the collar not 

 turned down, running backwards on the lawn of his garden while I, a small 

 boy, vainly endeavoured with my utmost efforts to overtake him. He had 

 entered his father's business of wine merchant in London, and quite early in 

 life found himself in a position of comparative affluence. His family was 

 brought up and he remained living, till his death, at Upton House, in the 

 parish of West Ham, then a rural suburb of London on the skirts of Hainault 

 Forest. 



It was at Upton that my father was born. There was a beautiful and 

 large garden attached to the house, with two very fine cedar trees beyond the 

 lawn. He employed part of his leisure with investigations on the optical 

 properties of different kinds of glass, and on combinations of lenses, which he 

 ground himself. This led to his discovery of the true principle on which 

 compound lenses should be constructed — an important step in the great 

 modern advance in microscopy. This discovery brought him into touch 

 with several of the foremost scientific men, both English and French, of 

 the day. Erof. Owen was a frequent visitor, and delivered acceptable 

 drawing-room discourses on matters zoological. I remember being introduced 

 to the great man in later years and the kindly interest he took in me as the 

 grandson and namesake of his old friend. Sir John Herschel and Edward 

 Forbes were also friends of the family. The meetings of the British 

 Association, then in its infancy, were frequently attended. 



So there was the breath of a larger and cidtivated world in the environ- 

 ment of the young people as they grew up, in addition to the strict religious 

 atmosphere which their parents, at any rate in matters of conduct and 



VOL. LXXXVIII. — B. C 



