Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 5 (1901).djvu/338

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THE ZOOLOGIST.

OBITUARY.


Eleanor A. Ormerod.

By the death of Miss Ormerod there has passed away a notable Englishwoman. She was not only recognized as a naturalist—being an entomologist of no inconsiderable attainment—but she was distinguished in the higher sense of rendering her science a practical value for the good of humanity. We know in many cases the absolute impossibility of bringing zoology into the domain of our national economy; we also clearly see the advisability of not seeking to do so on insufficient grounds; but it was the great work in the life of Miss Ormerod that she made her favourite science a blessing to the community. Unendowed, except by her singleness of purpose, she took up a work which appertains to a non-existent governmental department, and cheerfully devoted her talent and much of her means to the service of the agricultural and trading community. That this is no hyperbole, and that entomology may be made a factor in the welfare of our commercial life, is proved by the notices of her death in papers which have reached us, not only such as represent the agricultural interest, but others bearing such names as 'Mark Lane Express,' ' Meat Trades Journal,' ' Boot and Shoe Trades Journal,' &c. She may be said to have consecrated the study of insects in the economic and commercial instincts of our national life.

The lady who thus brought natural history to the aid of the democracy was well-born and carefully nurtured. She was the third and youngest daughter of the late George Ormerod, D.C.L., F.R.S., &c., the author of the 'History of Cheshire,' who belonged to the Lancashire branch of the Ormerods of Ormerod. Her mother was the eldest daughter of John Latham, M.D., F.R.S., Fellow and sometime President of the Royal College of Physicians. She may thus be said to trace her parentage from an aristocracy of intellect. Born on May 11th, 1828, she had