glaciers to scientific periodicals. In 1846 he was made an assistant
poor-law commissioner, but resigned in 1847, and in 1848 stood
unsuccessfully as a parliamentary candidate for Sligo. In 1849 he was
appointed second poor-law commissioner, but resigned in 1852 and
successfully contested the county of Carlow in the Liberal interest. In the
House of Commons he attracted Lord Palmerston's attention by his abilities,
and in 1885 was made under-secretary for the colonies, a post which he held
for two years. At the colonial office he had great influence in furthering
the cause of natural science, particularly in connexion with equipment of
the Palliser expedition in Canada, and with Sir W. Hooker's efforts to
obtain a systematic knowledge of the colonial floras. In 1858 he stood for
Limerick, but was beaten, and he then gave up politics and devoted himself
to natural history. He was first president of the Alpine Club (founded
1857), and it is for his work as an Alpinist that he is chiefly remembered,
his well-known _Alpine Guide_ (London, 1863-1868) being the result of
innumerable climbs and journeys and of careful observation recorded in a
clear and often entertaining style. He also travelled in Morocco (1871) and
South America (1882), and recorded his observations in books which were
recognized as having a scientific value. He died in London on the 21st of
October 1889.

BALL, THOMAS (1819- ), American sculptor, was born at Charlestown,
Massachusetts, on the 3rd of June 1819. He was the son of a
house-and-sign-painter, and after starting, self-taught, as a portrait
painter he turned his attention in 1851 to sculpture, his earliest work
being a bust of Jenny Lind. At thirty-five he went to Florence for study;
there, with an interval of work in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1857-1865, he
remained for more than thirty years, being one of the artistic colony which
included the Brownings and Hiram Powers. He returned to America in 1897,
and lived in Montclair, New Jersey, with a studio in New York City. His
work includes many early cabinet busts of musicians (he was an accomplished
musician himself, and was the first in America to sing "Elijah"), and later
the equestrian statue of Washington in the Boston public gardens, probably
his best work; Josiah Quincy in City Hall Square, Boston; Charles Sumner in
the public gardens of Boston; Daniel Webster in Central Park, New York
City; the Lincoln Emancipation group at Washington; Edwin