"A Sprig Of Acacia."

" A SPRIG OF ACACIA . "

ONCE more we are called upon to mourn the loss of a dear old friend , a Brother whose acquaintance we had enjoyed for the whole of the twenty-four years our paper has been in existence , and who at all times had a kindly word and a hearty greeting for us . Bro . Jabez Hogg P . G . D . has passed to his rest , full of years and distinctions , honoured and revered

by all who knew him—a friend and Brother in the truest sense . Our late Brother received the honour of appointment as Junior Grand Deacon from the Earl of Zetland , as long back as 1867 , and was one of the oldest Officers of Grand Lodge . He has been a warm supporter of the Institutions of

the Craft , and for many years acted as Hon . Surgeon Oculist to the two Schools , and no more kind , tender , or patient practitioner could be desired . In regard to his career outside the Craft we can hardly do better than quote the following , which appeared in the "Daily Telegraph" of Thursday : —

Popular science has lost an admirable expositor by the death of Mr . Jabez Hogg , M . R . C . S ., which took place somewhat suddenly on Sunday , at his residence , Palace Gardens Terrace , Kensington . It was only on the 16 th inst . that the " Sunday Daily Telegraph" referred to his most recent publication , that

of the fifteenth edition of his work on the "History , Construction , and Application ofthe Microscope , " the first issue of which dates back to the year 1854 . On that subject it has been for many years a recognised text-book , and by it probably Mr . Hogg will be best remembered . As science advances the importance of the unseen universe around us

grows , it is now known that in former days the surgeon ' s knife carried with it the invisible germs that produced hospital . fever , inflammation and gangrene , and the question was recently put to one of the bacteriologists of Guy ' s whether the microscope would have detected these bacteria . The answer was in the negative ; the magnifying lens only reveals their existence after culture . Mr . Hogg , while always trying

to peer deeper into the recesses of the infinitely little , was one of the first to recognise the principles of the germ theory of disease , on which he wrote a volume in 1873 , and to insist that it was in the organic life of drinking water that its most dangerous pollution was to be feared . Microscopy , however

, by no means exhausted his interests . His earliest publication was a "Manual of Photography , " in 1843 , followed some years later by the "Elements of Natural and Experimental Philosophy "; while in after years having obtained the diploma of the Royal College of Surgeons , he wrote a number of

treatises on opthalrmc surgery and the use of the opthalmoscope for the exploration of the interior of the eye . He studied medicine at Charing Cross Hospital , and for a quarter of a century was one of the medical officers of the Royal Westminster Opthalmic Hospital . The wide range of topics

m which he employed his pen was , in part , doubtless due to the manner of his education . His first school was that of Mr . Giles , the teacher of . Charles Dickens , and when Jabez Hogg entered it he found the future novelist installed as one of the older boys . From thence Hogg was transferred to the

Rochester Grammar School , leaving which he was apprenticed to a medical practitioner ; but it was some years later , after having tried his hand at journalism on the "Illustrated London News , " that he devoted himself to professional studies and secured his degree . He had quite early a great

faith in the ultimate applications of photography to journalistic illustrations . ' For fifty-one years he edited the "Illustrated London Almanac . " Possessing a facile pen and the gift of exposition , almost everything he wrote was a success . To the medical and scientific journals he was a voluminous

contributor on nearly every topic concerning public health . For some years he co-operated with Lord Shaftesbury in the movement to secure better housing for the London poor , and these efforts assisted in the promotion of the Artisans' Dwellings Act . Mr . Hogg was well known in Freemasonry , and

received from the Earl of Zetland many years ago the dignity of Grand Officer of Grand Lodge . Having been born on 4 th April 1817 , he had recently completed his eighty-second

year . He was twice married ; first to Mary Ann , daughter of the late Captain Davis ; and secondly to the youngest daughter of the late Captain James Read , A . D . C . to the Marquis of Hastings , Viceroy of India .

AS supplementing our brief notice of the death of the Provincial Grand Master of East Lancashire , we quote the following , in regard to the late Colonel Starkie ' s

Masonic career , from one of the principal papers of his Province . * Outside the range of politics and agriculture Colonel Starkie was one of the best know men in this county and adjacent counties , by virtue of his high position in the

"A Sprig Of Acacia."

Masonic Order . Since 1870 he had ruled over the Province of East Lancashire as Provincial Grand Master , and under his sway the ranks of the Fraternity were increased and strengthened . He was initiated in a Liverpool Lodge of the West Lancashire Province , when a young man .

Afterwards he joined the Silent Temple Lodge , at Burnley , No . 126 , and since then he was a member of many Lodges , and in a large proportion of them ranked as Past Master . He was the first Worshipful Master of the East Lancashire Centurion Lodge , where he was installed in the Ardwick

Volunteer Drill Hall , after one of the most remarkable Lodge Consecration services that Manchester had hitherto witnessed , the late Colonel Shadwell Gierke and Bro . Philbrick , Q . C ,

being among the representatives from Grand Lodge who took part in it . The Abbey Lodge , Whalley , is another of which he was the first Master . In 1 S 63 , Colonel Starkie was invested as Provincial Senior Grand Warden of West

Lancashire ; in May 1866 , he obtained equal distinction in the Eastern Province of the county , and in 1868 was appointed Junior Grand Warden of England . In May 1870 he was installed Prov . G . M . of East Lancashire by the late Earl of Carnarvon , who was then M . W . Pro G . Master of

England . Colonel Starkie was a lover of Masonry , not for its mysteries , its ritual , and its festivals alone . He was devoted to the Order on the ground of charity more than for any other reason , and he had no sympathy with anything which tended to make membership subservient to personal

ambitions or individual gain . The Systematic Education and Benevolent Institution of the Province may be said to owe its existence to his exertions . It was always highly favoured at his hands . He liberally contributed to and incessantly appealed on behalf of its funds , with excellent

results , and he missed but one of its annual meetingsthough illness just recently . In the Royal Jubilee year , 1887 , the Brethren of East Lancashire presented to their Provincial Grand Master an oil portrait of himself , painted by Brother S . Hodges , of London , at a Provincial Grand Lodge held in the Free Trade Hall in Manchester . An illuminated address

accompanying it spoke of their grateful appreciation of the admirable , firm , and judicious manner in which he had discharged the onerous duties of his high office during seventeen years . It assured him that his fostering care had augmented the power of the Systematic Benevolent Institution , and increased the influence of the Province on the

Metropolitan Masonic Institutions to such an extent as to fulfil a desire he had himself expressed some years before , " That no child of a Freemason in this Province need experience the want of a good education , and that generous relief can be administered in all cases of distress or affliction . "

Colonel Starkie did not confine his Masonic career to the Craft . He was installed Grand Superintendent of Royal Arch Masons in the Province in 1871 , in succession to Bro . Stephen Blair , who had also preceded him as Provincial Grand Master . He was Deputy Provincial Grand Master of

Mark Masons of Lancashire for many years under the late Earl of Lathom , and was a Grand Officer of England in Mark Masonry . He reached high office in Knight Templary , and on the death of Lord Lathom was raised to membership of the Supreme Council of the 33 rd Degree Ancient and Accepted Rite .

r | IHE funeral of the late Bro . E . W . Archer took place on J _ Friday afternoon , 21 st inst ., at Hadleigh , with every manifestation of respect from the parishioners , who , with many others from the neighbourhood , assembled in large numbers in the Parish Church . At the conclusion of service

in the church , a procession was formed from the sacred building to the cemetery . First came the Urban District Council ; a large body of personal friends , tradesmen , and

others walked next ; then followed the Foresters , and members of the Virtue and Silence Lodge of Freemasons , of which the deceased was S . W . ; immediately afterwards came the officiating clergy , and the principal mourners .

M . Lemaitre has sounded the tocsin against Freemasonry . He considers the existence of this association—qui prof esse la plus brutale intolerance—is a standing menace to the country ' s institutions . French Freemasons number something slightly under 30 , 000 . M . Loubet , M . Charles Dupuy , and certainly

half the present Cabinet belong to the Brotherhood . Consequently M . Lemaitre is indignant at the cynicism of the Premier in instituting proceedings against the free and open League of the French Fatherland whilst himself a member of a secret illegal association . —Paris Correspondent ofthe " Sunday Special . "