OBITUARY IsOTICE. 
61 
down from the boat iuto deep water by means of a rope-ladder. The 
pumps were worked uninterruptedly, as on the former occasion ; but they 
noticed that he remained below longer than previously (which, accordiui^ 
to his own statement, had been half an hour), and suddenly, to their 
horror, they observed his body floating at the surface of the water, a little 
distance from the boat. They got to him as quickly as possible, without 
ceasing pumping (so they declare), and on the removal of the helmet found 
him apparently dead. Without knowing in the least what to do, they took 
him on shore — some distance ; but, of course, it was all over then, if it 
had not been long before." The verdict, at the inquest, made it appear that 
water had got into the air-tube at the joint, which was not screwed up tight 
enough ; but this Mr. Colchester (and also Mr. Heinke) regarded as im- 
possible. iS^o water seems to have been found in the dress ; and the 
rising to the surface, with all the weights upon him, could only have occurred 
by the valves for the escape of the air being closed. There is a small escape- 
yalve in the helmet which is closed by a spring, and does not act until the 
pressure of the air is more than sufHcient to cause the diver to rise. The 
principal valve is in the breast of the dress, and is closed by a lever, re- 
quiring the action of the hand. Now it appears that Mr. Barrett had neg- 
lected the precaution (which is always made imperative) of attaching the 
life-line to his body, preferring, he said, to hold it in his hand. If by any 
chance he lost this rope, he would lose his means of communicating with 
the crew, and become entirely dependent on the air-tube. His only means 
of rising to the surface would be by closing the escape-valve, which he 
must have done for this purpose, perhaps, on finding that something had 
gone wrong. All the inquiries hitherto made have left a painful doubt, 
which time will scarcely remove. 
It has appeared desirable to give these particulars, because it looks like 
an instance of self-reliance carried too far, and a valuable life sacrificed, 
apparently, by the neglect of those precautions which any one less daring 
would have observed. The divers professionally emplo3'ed work four hours 
at a spell, often inside the hulls of vessels ; they are said even to have gone 
to sleep below ! The only casualties have been one or two apoplectic 
seizures, which have occurred to men in government works, who probably 
were not fitted for the occupation. 
Lucas Barrett was born in London, November 14, 1837. He was the 
eldest son of Mr. George Barrett, the iron-founder, whose works at the 
Record-Office and King's Cross Terminus are well known. He was sen I, 
in 1847, to Mr. Ashton's school, at Royston, Cambridge, and afterw ards 
to University College School, and in his holidays used to visit the British 
Museum, where he soon became known to the Natural History officers, 
by bringing fossils to be named, and A'oluntcering to assist in unpack- 
ing and sorting collections. In 1853, he went to Ebersdorf, near Lo- 
benstein, Voigtland, where he remained a year studying German and 
chemistry ; and making, in the course of it, a pedestrian tour in Bavaria, 
which deserves to be recorded, as having cost him only one shilling a 
day. In 1855, he accompanied Mr. M'Andrew in a yachting voyage 
to Norway and Finmark, and made some observations on the living Tere- 
hratulce, which were published in the Ann. Nat. Hist., and translated 
into the scientific journals of France and Germany. The same year he 
was chosen successor to Mr, M'Coy, as Curator of the Cambridge Uni- 
versity Museum, and was elected a Fellow of the Geological Society of 
London, although perhaps legally ineligible, being only eighteen years of 
age. In the following year he obtainecl leave of absence, and accompanied 
Mr. J. W. Tayler to Greenland, — an expedition attended with considerable 
