\VM. THOMPSON, ESQ. 
XXI 
houses. Against one cottage I reckoned fifty of these, of ordinary size. 
Each abode with its appliances seemed a little paradise ; everything, too, 
being in that order which betokened in their owners, what above all 
things most delights me, a heart at ease. Such a sight strikes upon the 
inmost chord of a passing stranger’s heart, see it in what part of this 
world he may.” 
Appenzel, July 12th. — “ The eastern side of the mountain-chain which 
separates the canton of St. Gallen from Appenzel is a grain, fruit, and 
vegetable country. On the western side, where it slopes into a great table 
land, very many square miles in extent, it is meadow or pasture, unbroken 
by a single patch of grain, vegetables, or fruit. It seemed to me a prac- 
tical illustration of what should be done the whole world over, the ener- 
gies of every country being applied to whatever it could do best, and its 
surplus production exchanged with its neighbours.” 
The Zoological notes scattered through the journal are few in number. 
The botanical refer chiefly to the appearance of plants or trees in connex- 
ion with their altitudinal range or geographical distribution. 
The enjoyment which Mr. Thompson experienced in his tour to the 
iEgean, had, like all other earthly pleasures, a certain portion of alloy. 
In his case, this proceeded principally from his sensitiveness to sea-sick- 
ness when in the vessel, and from the heat and vermin in some localities 
on shore. But he always spoke in glowing terms of the beauty of the 
classic and historic scenes he had visited, and the kindness not only of his 
friend, Captain Graves, but of all the officers of the beacon. 
From 1841 to 1843, he was a frequent contributor to the Annals of 
Natural History, and he was steadily preparing his Report on the Inver- 
tebrate Fauna of Ireland. This was presented at the Cork meeting of the 
British Association, in August, 1843; and, to use the words of the Very 
Rev. the Dean of Ely, was “ remarkable for the minuteness and fulness of 
the information which it conveys.” * At the same meeting, Professor E. 
Forbes, who had returned to these countries, presented his valuable “ Re- 
port on the Mollusca and Radiata of the Aegean Sea.” 
The attendance of members and associates at the Cork meeting was un- 
usually small ; but those who compare the number and importance of the 
papers read in the Natural History section with those at other meetings, 
will find no inferiority there, and will naturally attribute a portion of the 
success of Section D. to the personal influence and character of Mr. Thomp- 
son, who acted as its President, and whose courtesy on the occasion was no- 
ticed by all. His own communications he compressed into the briefest 
possible space, so as to give time and opportunity for the reading of those 
contributed by other members. 
At intervals during the succeeding five years, he was engaged in pre- 
paring for the press his intended work on the Natural History of Ireland, 
and in writing, for the Annals of Natural History, the well-known series of 
papers on the Irish Fauna. But his labour was liable to many interrup- 
tions. Some of these were caused by visitors ; some by the arrival of 
new specimens, or the sending away of duplicates to other Naturalists ; 
but chiefly by the extensive correspondence in which he was engaged. 
His letters were in general very concise, and went at once right to the 
subject-matter, in the briefest terms. They often consisted of merely a 
message or a question, written on a scrap of paper, signed with his initials, 
* Vid. address of the Very Rev. Geo. Peacock, D. D., as President of the 
British Association at the York meeting, 1844. 
