Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London - University Library

LIN]!fEAN SOCIETY OF LONDON. 35
Sphaeriidae and the supplementary Trichopterygidse, of which the
Eev. A. Matthews had left the unfinished MSS. at the time of
his death, but he had no time for original research owing to the
exigencies of his very large and widespread professional practice.
Mr. Mason was greatly respected in Burton-on-Trent and will
be much missed in many ways. The ' Lancet ' of November 13th,
1903, speaks of him as " a man of sterling qualities and excellent
intellectual gifts," but only those who knew him intimately can
bear testimony to the simple geniality of his character and his
true kindliness of heart. [W. W. Fo^vler.]
William PErr?rEY, A.L.S., who died in 1903, first appears in
the records of the Society at a very distant date. The minutes of
the meeting held March 18, 1856, giving a variant of his name,
say : " William Penny of Poole, in the County of Dorset, was
proposed as an Associate, and his Certificate signed Thos. Bell,
Pres*., James Salter, Eobert Bentley, was ordered to be suspended."
His election followed on the 3rd of June, but in the long subsequent
period during which he held the Associateship we do not
find that he ever contributed to the Transactions or the Journal.
The Eoyal Society Catalogue assigns but a single paper to his
name, and that an essay of very small extent, published in the
Pharmaceutical Journal for 1852, on " Similarity in the Medical
Properties of two Species of Cotyledon" Mr. Penney observes
that " it would be interesting to know whether the leaves of the
Cotyledon utnbilicits, or any other crassulaceous plant in this
country, possess the same property of removing corns " as that
attributed in Pappe's ' Prodromus ' to the South-African Cotyledon
orbicidata, Linn. We may well suppose that the youthful author's
own feet were at the time in too sound a condition to permit of
his solving the problem by a personal experiment. The medical
virtues of the plant in question are an accepted part of " folkmedicine."
Mr. Penney at the close of his life was still of Poole,
Dorset, as he had been at the time of his nomination.
Sir Waltee Joseph Sendall, G.C.M.G., Hon. LL.D. Edinb.,
was born at Norwich, on Christmas Eve, 1832, the youngest son
of the Eev. S. Sendall ; he was educated at Bury St. Edmunds
Grammar School, and Christ's College, Cambridge, where he was
in residence with Walter Besaut and C. S. Calverley (whose sister
he married). Sendall obtained a first class in the Classical Tripos
and was a Junior Optime in the Mathematical Tripos. He joined
the educational branch of the Ceylon Civil Service in 1859 ; in
1870 he became Director of Public Instruction there ; in 1876
General Inspector of the Local Government Board, in London, and
two years later its Assistant Secretary. Nominated in 1882
Governor of Natal, the appointment was opposed by the Colony,
and Sir Henry Bulwer was appointed in his place. In 1885 he
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