WM. THOMPSON, ESQ. 
XXV 
Mr. Busk, of Greenwich, whose name ranks high, both as a naturalist and 
a surgeon, arrived, and the three medical gentlemen saw their patient so 
late as ten o’clock on Monday night. At eight o’clock next morning Dr. 
Lankester was summoned to his bed-side, and found on his arrival that he 
had breathed his last ! His death took place on the day he had intended 
leaving London on his route homewards. 
He died remote from home ; but it was consolatory to know that, 
during his brief illness, he had received every possible care and attention 
from the inmates of the house where he lodged, and was watched over 
by his kind and valued friends, Mr. Yarrell, Professor Edward Forbes, 
Dr. Lankester, and Mr. Busk. 
A letter from Dr. Lankester to a mutual friend reached Belfast on 
Wednesday evening, and announced the unexpected and melancholy 
event. The sensation which the intelligence excited it is impossible to 
describe ; the sentiments expressed in the following paragraph, taken 
from the Belfast Mercury, of February 21st, were universally felt: — 
(i Death of William Thompson, Esq., President of the Natural 
History and Philosophical Society of Belfast, &c. — A meeting of the 
above-named Society was held at the Museum, on the evening of Wednesday 
last, and before the members had separated, a letter had been received by one of 
them, announcing that their respected and distinguished President was no more. 
Next day, this melancholy event became generally known throughout town, and 
all seemed to feel that Belfast had lost one of the most eminent of her sons. In 
private life, our lamented fellow-townsman occupied a position no less honour- 
able than his standing in scientific circles. His kindness of heart, lofty princi- 
ples, and generous sympathies, made him universally beloved and respected.” 
Another of the Belfast Papers, established about a month afterwards, 
took occasion to introduce into its first number a review of the three 
volumes of the Natural History of Ireland, then published, and gave ex- 
pression to the following observations respecting the author : — 
“ It is to us a source of sad reflection that, at the very commencement of our 
career, we should have to perform the painful task of adverting to the loss of a 
fellow-townsman, whose untiring labours in the investigation of the Natural 
History of our country had earned for him a wide-spread fame, and whose spot- 
less life, dedicated to the advancement of every ennobling pursuit, had won the 
respect and love of all who enjoyed the high privilege of intercourse with him. 
The study ofNatfiral History has been justly recommended, as ‘an exercise for 
the mind, a suggester of thought, and the fountain of a high philosophy, pro- 
moting the great cause of humanity and love.’ Its effect on the subject of our 
brief memoir accords with the recommendation ; for seldom has any man en- 
joyed, within his own circle, more universal respect whilst living, and never w r as 
the loss of a fellow-citizen or friend more keenly felt. Many who owed their 
first acquaintance with him to the similarity of their tastes and pursuits, regard- 
ed him with a warmth of affection which even the ties of kindred seldom im- 
part ; and we do not believe that one human being entertained towards him a 
hostile feeling. The same gentleness of disposition which led him to regard his 
fellow-man with kindness, he also evinced towards the whole animal creation, 
as his writings amply testify.” — Belfast Mercantile Journal and Statistical 
Register, No. 1, March 30th, 1852. 
On the 21st of February, 1852, the Saturday succeeding Mr. Thomp- 
son’s death, a notice of the event appeared in the Athenceum and in the 
Literary Gazette. Each journal contains some information which the 
other does not ; both, therefore, are given, as conjointly they convey a 
correct idea of the opinion entertained of Mr. Thompson by men of 
