Edward Percival (Perceval) Wright (27 December 1834, Donnybrook – 2 March 1910) FRGSI was an Irish

ophthalmic surgeon Ophthalmology ( ) is a surgical subspecialty within medicine that deals with the diagnosis and treatment of eye disorders. An ophthalmologist is a physician who undergoes subspecialty training in medical and surgical eye care. Following a medic ...

botanist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

and

zoologist Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the Animal, animal kingdom, including the anatomy, structure, embryology, evolution, Biological clas ...

Family, education and career

He was the eldest son of barrister, Edward Wright and Charlotte Wright. One of his brothers was

Charles Henry Hamilton Wright Charles Henry Hamilton Wright (9 March 1836, Dublin – 22 March 1909) was an Irish Anglican clergyman. Biography Wright was the second son of barrister Edward Wright and his wife Charlotte. His older brother was Edward Percival Wright. He gradua ...

. Edward was educated by a private tutor, and was taught natural history by

George James Allman George James Allman FRS FRSE (181224 November 1898) was an Irish ecologist, botanist and zoologist who served as Emeritus Professor of Natural History at Edinburgh University in Scotland. Life Allman was born in Cork, Ireland, the son of Jam ...

. From 1852 he studied at

Trinity College, Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

, graduating BA in 1857. In that same year he became Curator of the University Museum at Trinity and, the following year, 1858, Lecturer in Zoology, a post which he held for ten years. At the same time he undertook medical studies and lectured in botany at the medical school of

Dr Steevens' Hospital Dr Steevens' Hospital (also called Dr Steevens's Hospital) ( ga, Ospidéal an Dr Steevens), one of Ireland's most distinguished eighteenth-century medical establishments, was located at Kilmainham in Dublin Ireland. It was founded under the terms ...

, Dublin gaining an

M.A. A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

(University of Dublin) in 1859 and an MA

Ad eundem degree An degree is an academic degree awarded by one university or college to an alumnus of another, in a process often known as incorporation. The recipient of the degree is often a faculty member at the institution which awards the degree, e.g. at ...

(

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

). He graduated M.D in 1862. Wright was also a founding editor of the Journal of Anatomy and Physiology in 1867. Wright next studied ophthalmic surgery in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, Paris and

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

. In Berlin he was taught by

Hermann Loew Friedrich Hermann Loew (19 July 1807 – 21 April 1879) was a German entomologist who specialised in the study of Diptera, an order of insects including flies, mosquitoes, gnats and midges. He described many world species and was the first specia ...

's pupil

Albrecht von Gräfe Albrecht von Graefe may refer to: * Albrecht von Graefe (ophthalmologist) (1828-1870), Prussian opthalmologist * Albrecht von Graefe (politician) Albrecht von Graefe (1 January 1868 – 18 April 1933) was a German landowner and right-wing ...

. He practised this profession both before and after becoming Professor of Botany at

, in 1869, a position he held until 1905, having previously assisted

William Henry Harvey William Henry Harvey, FRS FLS (5 February 1811 – 15 May 1866) was an Irish botanist and phycologist who specialised in algae. Biography Harvey was born at Summerville near Limerick, Ireland, in 1811, the youngest of 11 children. His father ...

in this post. He was also appointed

Curator A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...

of the

herbarium A herbarium (plural: herbaria) is a collection of preserved plant specimens and associated data used for scientific study. The specimens may be whole plants or plant parts; these will usually be in dried form mounted on a sheet of paper (called ...

. In 1872 he married Emily Shaw, second daughter of Colonel Ponsonby Shaw. The couple had no children.

Travel

Wright was a keen traveller spending most vacations on the continent of Europe collecting natural history specimens and in 1867 he spent six months in the

Seychelles Seychelles (, ; ), officially the Republic of Seychelles (french: link=no, République des Seychelles; Creole: ''La Repiblik Sesel''), is an archipelagic state consisting of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city, V ...

making large collections of the fauna and flora. Some animals, for instance the

Whale shark The whale shark (''Rhincodon typus'') is a slow-moving, filter-feeding carpet shark and the largest known extant fish species. The largest confirmed individual had a length of .McClain CR, Balk MA, Benfield MC, Branch TA, Chen C, Cosgrove J, D ...

were studied in depth. He spent the spring of 1868 in Sicily and the autumn of this year in dredging off the coast of Portugal. He joined

Alexander Henry Haliday Alexander Henry Haliday (1806–1870, also known as Enrico Alessandro Haliday, Alexis Heinrich Haliday, or simply Haliday) was an Irish entomologist. He is primarily known for his work on Hymenoptera, Diptera, and Thysanoptera, but worked on ...

on a later

entomological Entomology () is the scientific study of insects, a branch of zoology. In the past the term "insect" was less specific, and historically the definition of entomology would also include the study of animals in other arthropod groups, such as arach ...

expedition to

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

and two further natural history trips to

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

, then little known. "''I have still a strong harkening for Sicily were it but to set foot on the soil and breathe the air of it''". Haliday died shortly after the last trip and Wright became his entomological executor after a twenty-year friendship.

Natural history and scientific zoology

Wright had very varied natural history interests and in 1854 founded the

Natural History Review ''The Natural History Review'' was a short-lived, quarterly journal devoted to natural history. It was published in Dublin and London between 1854 and 1865. The ''Natural History Review'' included the transactions of the Belfast Natural History a ...

which he edited. He contributed articles on Irish birds, fungi parasitic upon insects, mollusc collecting, Irish filmy ferns, the flora of the

Aran Islands The Aran Islands ( ; gle, Oileáin Árann, ) or The Arans (''na hÁrainneacha'' ) are a group of three islands at the mouth of Galway Bay, off the west coast of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, with a total area around . They constitute the histo ...

, Irish sea anemones, sponges, and sea slugs. More scientific work followed. In 1857 he joined

on a speleological excursion to

Mitchelstown Mitchelstown () is a town in County Cork, Ireland with a population of approximately 3,740. Mitchelstown is situated in the valley to the south of the Galtee Mountains, 12 km south-west of the Mitchelstown Caves, 28 km from Cahir, 50& ...

Caves in County Galway to study the

Cave insects Cave-dwelling insects are among the most widespread and prominent troglofauna (cave-dwelling animals), including troglobites, troglophiles, and trogloxenes. As a category of ecological adaptations, such insects are significant in many senses, ecolo ...

. One, ''Lipura wrightii'' was subsequently named for him. With Dr

Théophile Rudolphe Studer Théophile Rudolphe Studer (27 November 1845 – 12 February 1922) was a Swiss ornithologist and marine biologist. From 1871 to 1922 he was a curator of zoological collections at the museum of natural history in Berne. In 1874–1876 he took part ...

he reported on the corals (Alcyonaria) of the

Challenger expedition The ''Challenger'' expedition of 1872–1876 was a scientific program that made many discoveries to lay the foundation of oceanography. The expedition was named after the naval vessel that undertook the trip, . The expedition, initiated by Wil ...

producing a report in 1889. Also in the 1850s an exceptional assemblage of

Upper Carboniferous Upper may refer to: * Shoe upper or ''vamp'', the part of a shoe on the top of the foot * Stimulant Stimulants (also often referred to as psychostimulants or colloquially as uppers) is an overarching term that covers many drugs including those ...

fossil amphibians (these are very rare only two other occurrences are known worldwide) were discovered in coal measures at Jarrow Colliery,

Castlecomer Castlecomer (Irish: ''Caislean an Chumai'' meaning "the castle at the confluence of the waters") is a town in the north of County Kilkenny, Ireland. It is positioned at the meeting of N78 and R694 roads about north of Kilkenny city. At the ...

. They were described by Wright with

Thomas Henry Huxley Thomas Henry Huxley (4 May 1825 – 29 June 1895) was an English biologist and anthropologist specialising in comparative anatomy. He has become known as "Darwin's Bulldog" for his advocacy of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. The storie ...

. His principal research was in marine zoology however and at the

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

meeting of the

British Association for the Advancement of Science The British Science Association (BSA) is a charity and learned society founded in 1831 to aid in the promotion and development of science. Until 2009 it was known as the British Association for the Advancement of Science (BA). The current Chie ...

in 1858, he, with Joseph Reay Greene, gave a report on the marine fauna of the south and west coasts of Ireland. He was one of the earliest workers in deep water

dredging Dredging is the excavation of material from a water environment. Possible reasons for dredging include improving existing water features; reshaping land and water features to alter drainage, navigability, and commercial use; constructing da ...

at (800–900 m) at Setubal Bay, Portugal. He also described a species of

copepod Copepods (; meaning "oar-feet") are a group of small crustaceans found in nearly every freshwater and saltwater habitat (ecology), habitat. Some species are planktonic (inhabiting sea waters), some are benthos, benthic (living on the ocean floor) ...

''Pennella'' in 1870, published on Irish

sponge Sponges, the members of the phylum Porifera (; meaning 'pore bearer'), are a basal animal clade as a sister of the diploblasts. They are multicellular organisms that have bodies full of pores and channels allowing water to circulate through t ...

s in 1869 and on algae. The alga ''Cocconeopsis wrightii'' (O'Meara, 1867) was named in his honour. Wright was the Secretary of the Dublin University Zoological and Botanical Association the

Royal Geological Society of Ireland The Royal Geological Society of Ireland traces its origin to the founding in 1831 in Dublin of the Geological Society of Dublin, under the leadership of William Buckland and Adam Sedgwick. Its initial membership included academics, aristocratics, ...

and a member of the

Dublin Microscopical Club Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

and president of the

Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland The Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland is a learned society based in Ireland, whose aims are "to preserve, examine and illustrate all ancient monuments and memorials of the arts, manners and customs of the past, as connected with the antiquit ...

(1900–02). He became a member of the

Royal Irish Academy The Royal Irish Academy (RIA; ga, Acadamh Ríoga na hÉireann), based in Dublin, is an academic body that promotes study in the sciences, humanities and social sciences. It is Ireland's premier List of Irish learned societies, learned socie ...

in 1857 and in 1883 he was awarded their prestigious

Cunningham Medal The Cunningham Medal is the premier award of the Royal Irish Academy. It is awarded every three years in recognition of "outstanding contributions to scholarship and the objectives of the Academy". History It was which was established in 1796 at t ...

for editing the society's ''Proceedings'' He died at Trinity College on 2 March 1910, and was buried at

Mount Jerome Cemetery Mount is often used as part of the name of specific mountains, e.g. Mount Everest. Mount or Mounts may also refer to: Places * Mount, Cornwall, a village in Warleggan parish, England * Mount, Perranzabuloe, a hamlet in Perranzabuloe parish, C ...

, Dublin.

Legacy

Wright is commemorated in the scientific name of a species of lizard, '' Trachylepis wrightii''.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . ("Wright, E.P.", p. 290).

Works

Partial list * (1855) Catalogue of British Mollusca. ''Natural History Review Society'' (Proceedings of Societies) 2: 69–85. * (1859) Notes on the Irish nudibranchiata. ''Natural History Review Society'' (Proceedings of Societies) 6: 86–88. * (1859) with Greene, J.R. 1859 Report on the marine fauna of the south and west coasts of Ireland. ''Report for the British Association for the Advancement of Science'' : 176–181 * (1860) Wright, E.P. 1860 Notes on the Irish nudibranchiata. ''Proceedings of the Natural History Society of Dublin'' 2: 135–137. * (1864) Translation of F. C. Donders's ''The Pathogeny of Squint'' (1864) * (1865) A modification of Liebreich's ophthalmoscope in ? * (1865) Notes on ''

Colias edusa ''Colias croceus'', clouded yellow, is a small butterfly of the family Pieridae, that is, the yellows and whites. Subspecies and forms * ''Colias croceus croceus'' * ''Colias croceus'' f. ''deserticola'' (Verity, 1909) * ''Colias croceus'' f. '' ...

''. ''Proceedings of the Dublin Natural History Society'' 5: 7–8. * (1866) with Huxley, T. H. On a collection of fossils from the Jarrow Colliery, Kilkenny ''Geological Magazine'', v. 3, p. 165–171. * (1867) with Huxley, T.H. On a Collection of Fossil Vertebrata from the Jarrow Colliery County Kilkenny Ireland. ''Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy'' Vol. 24 – Science. * (1867) Remarks on freshwater

rhizopods An amoeba (; less commonly spelled ameba or amœba; plural ''am(o)ebas'' or ''am(o)ebae'' ), often called an amoeboid, is a type of Cell (biology), cell or unicellular organism with the ability to alter its shape, primarily by extending and ret ...

''Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science'', new ser., v. 7, p. 174–175. * (1868) Notes on the bats of the Seychelles group of islands. ''Annals and Magazine of Natural History''. * (1868) Notes on Irish sponges. ''Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy'' 10: 221–228. * (1870). Six months at the Seychelles. ''Spicilegia Zoologica, Dublin'' 1, 64–65. * (1872) English translation and revision of

Louis Figuier Louis Figuier (15 February 1819 – 8 November 1894) was a French scientist and writer. He was the nephew of Pierre-Oscar Figuier and became Professor of chemistry at L'Ecole de pharmacie of Montpellier. Louis Figuier was married to French w ...

''The ocean world''. New York: D. Appleton.(Louis Figuier was a prolific writer on scientific and technological matters for the general public. Much of the scientific information in the novels of

Jules Verne Jules Gabriel Verne (;''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet, and playwright. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the ''Voyages extraor ...

was taken from his work. Wright's translations earned substantial

royalties A royalty payment is a payment made by one party to another that owns a particular asset, for the right to ongoing use of that asset. Royalties are typically agreed upon as a percentage of gross or net revenues derived from the use of an asset o ...

). * (1875) English translation and revision of Louis Figuier ''Mammalia, Their Various Forms and Habits'' London, Cassell & Company, Ltd. Reprinted until 1892. * (1877) On a new genus and species of sponge ''Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy'', ser. 2, v. 2, p. 754–757, pl. 40. * (1889) with Studer, T. ''Report on the Alcyonaria -Voyage of H.M.S. Challenger Zoology'' 31, i–lxxvii + 1.– 314. * (1896) The herbarium of Trinity College, a retrospect ''Notes from the Botanical School of Trinity College, Dublin'', 1, 1–14

References

External links

*
Geological Museum Trinity College
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wright, Edward Percival Irish ophthalmologists 1834 births 1910 deaths Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Burials at Mount Jerome Cemetery and Crematorium 19th-century Irish medical doctors 19th-century Irish botanists 19th-century Irish zoologists

Edward Edward is an English given name. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements '' ēad'' "wealth, fortune; prosperous" and '' weard'' "guardian, protector”. History The name Edward was very popular in Anglo-Sa ...