February, 1918. The Irish Naturalist. 17 



EDWARD HULL 



M.A., LL.D., F.R.S. 



The death of Professor Edward Hull on October i8th, 1917, 

 in his eighty-ninth year, severs one more link with the 

 pioneers of geological science in the nineteenth century. 

 To the last he retained mental and considerable bodily 

 vigour, and he often recalled pleasant memories of his 

 public life in Ireland. His career and sympathies are well 

 represented in his " Reminiscences of a Strenuous Life " 

 (London : H. Rees, 1910), published when he was already 

 over eighty years of age. His works on " The Coal-fields of 

 Great Britain, with descriptions of the Coal-fields of our 

 Indian and Colonial Empire and of other parts of the 

 world " (fifth edition, 1905), and on " The Physical Geo- 

 logy and Geography of Ireland " (2nd edition, 1891) have 

 made his name known to man}^ who never enjoyed his 

 courteous friendship. His " Treatise on the Building and 

 Ornamental Stones of Great Britain and foreign countries," 

 published in 1872, has long served as a w^ork of reference 

 for architects and engineers. 



Edward Hull was born at Antrim on May 21st, 1829, 

 when his father was curate in charge of Antrim parish. 

 While at school at Lucan in Co. Dublin, it was proposed 

 that he should enter the ministry of the Church of Ireland, 

 and he attended in consequence a class in the Irish language, 

 as well as studying Hebrew and the more usual classics. 

 Perhaps we owe the discriminating Irish work of his daughter 

 Eleanor in some measure to this early range of study. But 

 Hull's attention became fixed on science through the 

 lectures of Surgeon Lover, who, in days that we are apt to 

 look on as dark ages for education, brought apparatus out 

 from Dublin and inspired the boys at Lucan with a love for 

 natural philosophy. A career in engineering was thus 

 opened, and again a brilliant teacher, Dr. Thomas Oldham, 

 at Trinity College, Dublin, directed the bent of a receptive 

 and industrious mind. As Hull writes with unaffected 

 gratitude, in place of enginecrinf^, " Providence had some- 



