For his steadfast strength and courage
In a dark and evil time,
When the Golden Rule was treason,
And to feed the hungry, crime.
For the poor slave’s hope and refuge,
When the hound was on his track,
And saint and sinner, state and church,
Joined hands to send him back.
Blessings upon him!—What he did
For each sad, suffering one,
Chained, hunted, scourged and bleeding,
Unto our Lord was done.
JOHN G. WHITTIER,
_Secretary of the Convention in 1833,_
_which formed the American Anti-Slavery Society._
The sincere radical abolitionists, with whom Dr. Ross was labouring,
were despised, hated and ostracised by the rich, the powerful and the
so-called higher classes; but Dr. Ross always possessed the courage of
his opinions, and prefers the approval of his own conscience to the
smiles or favours of men. During the Southern rebellion he was employed
by President Lincoln as confidential correspondent in Canada, and
rendered very important services to the United States government. For
this he received the special thanks of President Lincoln and Secretary
Seward. When the war ended, with the downfall of the Confederacy, Dr.
Ross offered his services to President Juarez, of Mexico, and received
the appointment of surgeon in the Republican army. The capture of
Maximilian, and the speedy overthrow of the empire, rendered Dr. Ross’s
services unnecessary, and he returned to Canada and to the congenial and
more peaceful pursuits of a naturalist. The object of his ambition now
was to collect and classify the fauna and flora of his native country, a
labour never before attempted by a Canadian. He has collected and
classified five hundred and seventy species of birds that regularly or
occasionally visit the Dominion of Canada; two hundred and forty species
of eggs of birds that breed in Canada; two hundred and forty-seven
species of mammals, reptiles, and fresh water fish; three thousand four
hundred species of insects; and two thousand species of Canadian flora.
The _Montreal Herald_ of August 19, 1884, says:—“Dr. Ross has been a
member of the British Association of Science for the last fourteen
years, and of the French and American Associations for the past ten
years. The following brief sketch will, therefore, prove doubly
interesting in view of the approaching gathering of scientific men
(meeting of the British Association, Sept., 1884), in this city. He has
devoted special attention to the ornithology, ichthyology, botany and
entomology of Canada; has personally made large and valuable collections
of the fauna and flora of Canada; has enriched by his contributions the
natural history museums of Paris, St. Petersburg, Vienna, Rome, Athens,
Dresden, Lisbon, Teheran and Cairo, with collections of Canadian fauna
and flora. He is author of “Birds of Canada” (1872), “Butterflies and
Moths of Canada” (1873), “Flora of Canada” (1873), “Forest Trees of
Canada” (1874), “Mammals, Reptiles, and Fresh water Fishes of Canada”
(1878), “Recollections of an Abolitionist” (1867), “Ferns and Wild
Flowers of Canada” (1877), “Friendly Words to Boys and Young Men”
(1884), “Vaccination a Medical Delusion” (1885), and “Natural Diet of
Man” (1886). He received the degrees of M.D. (1855), and M.A. (1867);
and was knighted by the Emperor of Russia (1876), King of Italy (1876),
King of Greece (1876), King of Portugal (1877), King of Saxony (1876),
and received the Medal of Merit from the Shah of Persia (1884), the
decoration of honour from the Khedive of Egypt (1884), and the
decoration of the Académie Française from the government of France
(1879). He was offered (and declined) the title of baron by the King of
Bavaria, in recognition of his labours as a naturalist, and was
appointed consul to Canada by the King of Belgium and the King of
Denmark. Dr. Ross was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of
Literature and the Linnean and Zoological Societies of England; the
Royal Societies of Antiquaries of Denmark and Greece; the Imperial
Society of Naturalists of Russia; the Imperial Botanical and Zoological
Society of Austria; the Royal Academy of Science of Palermo, Italy; a
member of the Entomological Societies of Russia, Germany, Italy, France,
Switzerland, Belgium, Bohemia and Wurtemburg; member of the Hygienic
Societies of France, Germany and Switzerland; honorary member of the
Royal Canadian Academy of Arts, and member of the European Congress of
Ornithology. For several years past Dr. Ross has laboured with his
characteristic zeal and energy in behalf of moral and physical reform.
He is the founder (1880) of the Canadian Society for the Diffusion of
Physiological Knowledge, and enlisted the sympathy and active support of
the Archbishop of Canterbury, Earl Shaftesbury, the Archbishop of
Toronto, and two hundred and forty clergymen of different denominations,
and three hundred Canadian school-teachers in the work of distributing
his tracts on “The Evils Arising from Unphysiological Habits in Youth”;
over one million copies of these tracts were distributed among the youth
of Britain and Canada, calling forth thousands of letters expressing
gratitude from parents and friends of the young. Dr. Ross is one of the
founders of the St. Louis Hygienic College of Physicians and Surgeons,
in which he is professor of hygiene, sanitation and physiology. He is
always on the side of the poor and the oppressed, no matter how
unpopular the cause may be. He does his duty as he sees it, regardless
of consequences to himself. The philanthropic Quakeress, Lucretia Jenks,
thus speaks of Dr. Ross:—
No, friend Ross! thou art not old;
A heart so true, so kind, so bold,
As in thy bosom throbs to-day,
Never! never! will decay.
Some I know, but half thy years,
Are quite deaf to all that cheers;
They are dumb when they should speak,
And blind to all the poor and weak.
There are none I know, in sooth,
Who part so slowly with their youth,
As men like thee, who take delight
In helping others to live right.
LUCRETIA JENKS.
Rhode Island, 22, 11mo., 1885.
When Dr. Ross had attained his fiftieth birthday, he was the recipient
of many tokens of regard and congratulations from friends and
co-workers. From the poet Whittier the following:—
DEAR FRIEND—Thy fifty years have not been idle ones, but filled
with good works; I hope another half century may be added to
them.