250 
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES. 
severer form of his malady prevented all mental pursuits, and finally 
terminated his life on the 13th February, 1879, in the 72nd year of 
his age. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society, of the Royal Astro- 
nomical Society, of the Royal Microscopical Society, and of the 
Geological Society, and was for many years a Vice-President of this 
Society. Although a certain timidity of disposition prevented him 
from making original discoveries, few men were better acquainted 
with the whole range of scientific enquiry ; and his kind and generous 
disposition, as well as the means at his command, enabled him to 
liberally assist many who were pursuing the difficult path of original 
investigation. 
John Lister, M.D. 
It is a pleasure to express indebtedness to Mr. John Lister, M.A., 
of Sliibden Hall, for the following brief memoir of his father, one of 
a group of learned and industrious scientists who made a reputation 
for the town of Halifax when science was not so popular as it is to-day. 
John Lister, of Shibden Hall, M.D., J. P., was born in London, 
18th June, 1802, being the only son of Mr. John Lister, of Swansea 
and Stockwell, by Ann, his wife, daughter of Mr. Stephen Morris, of 
St, Marylebone. After attending the usual surgical and medical 
courses of practice and instruction at St. George's and the Middlesex 
Hospital, he was admitted a Member of the Royal College of Surgeons 
in the year 1826. The next year he made his first voyage as a ship- 
surgeon, on board of one of the East India Company's vessels, and 
continued in the service of the Company until the year 1832. In 
1833 he attended lectures and walked the hospitals in Paris, and in 
1842 was admitted to practice medicine by the London College of 
Physicians. In 1844 he married Louisa Ann, daughter of the late 
Major Charles Grant, of the Island of St. Vincent, in the West 
Indies. After his marriage he practised in London, and then at 
Sandown, in the Isle of "Wight. While residing at the latter place 
he formed a strong and steadfast attachment to the practical study 
of the science of geology, for which the island offers such abundant 
facilities. A long ramble, hammer in hand, round the chalk cliffs of 
the Culvers, or the greensand rocks of Dunnore, was to Dr. Lister 
supreme enjoyment, and he succeeded in making a valuable collection 
