BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 
by gastric fever, which confined him to the house for some 
months. 
With regard to work at the Palace he goes on to say: — “ I 
was, as well as Sir Joseph Paxton, disappointed at the 
result of our exertions to render that noble building one 
of educational greatness ; alas ! amusements such as Punch 
and Judy, tight-rope dancing, round-abouts, etc., set all 
other considerations at naught.” 
I can well understand the above remarks when I find 
that, after all the labour and money which was expended 
on the Natural History department in the south transept 
of that Palace, the large groups of animals and figures, to 
the preparation and arranging of which my father devoted 
so much time, were by degrees destroyed by the gardeners 
who had introduced live plants among them. These 
Vandals, having no other thought but the preservation of 
their plants, watered not only plants, but figures and 
stuffed animals, all at the same time. This of course 
hastened their decay. The laborious, though unsatisfactory, 
work of trying to preserve the Natural History specimens 
continued up to 1859. At the death of Mr. John Thomp- 
son, the Superintendent of the Zoological Gardens, Dr. P. 
L. Sclater, the then newly-appointed secretary, in course 
of conversation with Mr. Henry Walter of The Times, 
remarked that they (the Society) were seeking a new man 
for the post. Mr. Walter at once recommended my father 
who was immediately communicated with, and in August 
1859 appointed Superintendent at a salary of £200 per 
annum and residence. 
Since taking up his abode in the Gardens he became a 
walking Zoological Encyclopaedia. Judging from the mass 
of correspondence, alone, which has come into my posses- 
sion, it is evident that, notwithstanding his onerous and 
responsible duties in looking after the keepers, animals. 
