vi 



of the Rev. J. S. Henslow, then Professor of Botany to the University, 

 whom he accompanied on his botanical excursions with his pupils ; 

 and to the influence of these two botanists is to be attributed the 

 devotion of the chief part of Ball's scientific life to botany. In 1839 

 he came out twenty-seventh Wrangler in the Mathematical Tripos, 

 but his religion debarred his receiving a degree, as it had already 

 frustrated all hopes of a scholarship or fellowship. 



In 1845, after being called to the Irish Bar, wherein he never 

 practised, he revisited the Alps, and undertook a series of observations 

 on the Glaciers near Zermatt ; these he never published, regarding 

 them as only confirmatory of those previously obtained by Professor 

 James Forbes. 



Mr. Ball's next occupation was official. In 1846 he was appointed 

 an Assistant Poor Law Commissioner for Ireland, in view of the 

 distress caused by the ravages of the potato disease. The strain of 

 this work on his mind and body was so great that after a year of 

 arduous labour he was obliged to resign and seek abroad a restoration 

 of health. After two years he returned to the office with the 

 appointment of Second Commissioner, which he held till he entered 

 Parliament as Member for Carlow. In 1855 he became Under 

 Secretary for the Colonies, a post which he held for two years, 

 proving himself a most efficient and energetic official, and one having 

 the interests of science always at heart. Amongst other services to 

 science may be especially mentioned the organising the Palliser 

 Expedition, to ascertain the positions of practicable routes across the 

 Rocky Mountains of British North America. To this expedition he 

 had appointed as geologist and naturalist (with a staff of collectors), 

 Dr. now Sir James Hector, F.R.S., the present Director of Geological 

 and Meteorological Surveys in New Zealand. The principal results 

 were the survey of four passes, including that of the " Kicking 

 Horse," now crossed by the Canadian Pacific Railway, and the first 

 knowledge ever obtained of the geology of the vast regions of West 

 Canada and the Rocky Mountains. Mr. Ball also took an active part 

 in urging upon the Colonial Governments the importance of issuing 

 inexpensive floras of the British Colonies, which had been initiated by 

 the late Sir W. Hooker. 



In 1858 Mr. Ball's Parliamentary career ended with the expiration 

 of the Ministry, but happily there did not depart with it his influence 

 with future Governments ; for he had meanwhile formed political 

 friendships that lasted during his lifetime, and of which he freely 

 availed himself on many occasions in the interests of science. 



In 1858 he stood for Limerick, but was defeated. In the words of 

 an obituary notice in the ' Times,' "A cloud was then rising in the 

 horizon, which gravely disturbed the Catholic constituencies, though 

 the rest of the world knew little of it as yet. This was the Italian 



