"[1] He served as a secretary to the Royal Zoological Society of Ireland for two decades and was responsible for popularizing natural history through public educational outreach.

He returned to Youghal in 1824 to take up a post as a magistrate which involved travel and was sometimes dangerous, even escaping an assassination attempt, but aided his natural history specimen collecting.

He considered the work as "soul-subduing slavery" and pursued his natural history interests, actively associating with the local scientific circles.

Ball left the civil service in 1852 with a small pension, as it was deemed he spent too much of his time on scientific pursuits than was suitable for a public servant.

He also served as a secretary to the Royal Zoological Society of Ireland from 1837 to 1857 and was responsible for making the zoo more publicly accessible with a one-penny fee for Sunday Afternoons.

[6] On 30 March 1857 Ball died as a result of a ruptured aorta at his home at 3 Granby Row, Dublin.

a geologist and naturalist, Professor at Trinity College Dublin, and Sir Charles Bent Ball (1851–1916) BA, MB, M.Ch., FRCSI, a surgeon and botanist.

[8][5] Ball published just about 10 papers in all but was influential in his circle through his efforts to improve outreach and initiating public lectures, particularly at the Dublin Zoo, including many by himself.

It differed from the dredge net devised by Otto Friedrich Müller in the slit-like shape of the opening, which prevents much of the " washing out " suffered by the earlier pattern, and in the edges.