BROOKS, CHARLES SHIRLEY. 



BUSK, GEORGE. 



At tbe London Institution Mr. Brayley has taken a part in the sys- 

 tem of lectures, both illustrative and educational, and in the expo- 

 sitions of the progress of science occasionally given at the soire'e*. 

 His cycle of educational lectures consists of physical geography and 

 the allied branches of terrestrial physics geology and palaeontology 

 mineraloey and crystallography and meteorology, with the branches of 

 terrestrial physics more particularly allied to that science. He has occa- 

 sionally delivered discourses on special subjects at the Friday-evening 

 meetings of the Royal Institution : in one, May 11, 1838 ('Phil. Mag., S. 3, 

 vol. xii., p. 533), ' On the Theory of Volcanos,' he showed that the ther- 

 motio theory of plutonic and volcanic action, indicated by Mr. George 

 Poulett Scrope, M.P., F.R.S., and explicitly proposed and developed 

 by Mr. Babbage and Sir John F. W. Herschel, must necessarily in- 

 clude, as an integrant part, contrary to an opinion of the latter, the 

 chemical theory on the same subject of Sir H. Davy, founded on his 

 disc >very of the metallic bases of the alkalies and alkaline earths. 

 This subject was resumed in a course of lectures on Igneous Geology, 

 also delivered at the Royal Institution, in 1842, as modified by the 

 subsequent researches of Mr. William Hopkins, F.R.S., of St. Peter's 

 College, Cambridge, on the state of the interior of the earth and the 

 effective thickness of its crust. 



He was the editor of the last genuine edition of Parkes's ' Chemical 

 Catechism' (1834), which, though now comparatively antiquated, is 

 still referred to with advantage, even by proficients in chemistry. In 

 another description of editing, Mr. Brayley has given assistance to 

 several in en of science, in conducting their works through the pres, 

 and assisting them to give perfect expression to their own views, 

 confided to him. Among these works may be particularised the 

 'Origines Biblicaa ' of Dr. Charles Beke, F.S.A. ; the 'Correlation of 

 Physical Forces' of Mr. Grove, F.R.S. (the first and second editions) 

 [GROVE, WILTJAM ROBERT] ; and the ' Barometrographia ' and ' Ap- 

 pendix ' of Mr. Luke Howard, F.R.S., the author of the ' Nomen- 

 clature of the Clouds ' universally employed, and of ' The Climate of 

 London.' 



Mr. Brayley was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society on the 1st 

 of June 1854 ; he is also a member of other scientific bodies in 

 England, metropolitan and provincial; a corresponding member of 

 the Society Naturae Scrutatorum of Basel; and a member of the 

 American Philosophical Societv. 



* BROOKS, CHARLES SHIRLEY, born in 1815, is the son of an 

 architect of eminence who built the London Institution and other 

 public edifices. He was educated at Islington by the Rev. J. T. 

 Bennett ; was articled to a solicitor at Oswestry ; and subsequently 

 acquired a more extended legal experience with a London solicitor. 

 Although passed with credit, and qualified to practise on his own 

 account, the profession was not to his taste ; and he was gradually led 

 forward by the encouragement of a favourable reception of contri- 

 butions to periodical works, to determine upon literature as the 

 business of life. He wrote some dramatic pieces which were success- 

 fully performed at the Haymarket, the Lyceum, and the Olympic 

 theatres ; and in time he came to occupy a responsible position as a 

 journalist. For five sessions he wrote for the 'Morning Chronicle' 

 that portion of its columns which required the most careful attention 

 and the most judicious treatment the summary of the debates. His 

 close habits of observation, and his lively treatment of subjects which 

 in unskilful hands would have become unattractive, recommended 

 him to an engagement upon the same paper, to investigate the con- 

 dition of the cultivators in the south of Russia, Asia Minor, and Egypt. 

 The results of a six months' tour were published iu letters in the 

 * Chronicle," and the Russian portion has been reprinted in Longman's 

 ' Traveller's Library.' During the last six years Mr. Brooks has been one 

 of the regular writers of ' Punch.' The constant labour of periodical 

 literature has not however diverted him from more ambitious efforts. 

 He is the author of a novel deservedly popular, ' Aspen Court.' This 

 production is evidently the work of a man of original thought and 

 large experience. The life of a London solicitor's office is presented 

 vividly, and, we should imagine, very truly. The close, sagacious, but 

 not unamiable head of the firm ; the idle and thoughtless articled 

 clerk who retains his position through his valuable family connection, 

 are striking features of a class. In the conduct of the story, the inte- 

 rest, though occasionally of an ultra-romantic kind, is well sustained, 

 and the characters boldly drawn. There is much playful satire of 

 prevailing follies, and a general tone of manly contempt for meanness 

 and profligacy. Amongst the crowd of writers of fiction Mr. Brooks 

 occupies a position which will necessarily incite him to higher aims. 



BRYDGES, SIR SAMUEL EGERTON, BART., was born November 

 30, 1762, at Woottou Court, Kent. His father was Edward Brydges, 

 Esq. of that place; his mother was the daughter and co-heiress of 

 the Rev. W. Egerton, LL.D., Prebendary of Canterbury, &c. Young 

 Brydges was educated first at Maidstone Grammar School, and after- 

 wards at the King's School, Canterbury, whence he proceeded to Cam- 

 bridge, entering at Queen's College in October 1780. He left the uni- 

 versity without taking a degree ; entered himself of the Middle Temple 

 in 17b2, and in 17&7 was called to the bar. He never practised how- 

 ever, but, having married in 1786, devoted himself to literature, and 

 especially to genealogical and bibliographical studies. His earliest ap- 

 pearance in print was as a poet, a volume of ' Sonnets and other Poems' 

 being published by him in 178*5. Soon after the death of the last 



Duke of Chandos, in 1790, his uncontrolled imagination, excited per- 

 baps by his somewhat superficial genealogical inquiries, a large share 

 of vanity, and a passion for titles, led him to stimulate his elder brother 

 the Rev. E. T. Brydges to prefer a claim to the barony of Chandos, 

 alleging his descent from the first Brydges or Bridges, who bore that 

 title. Litigation was protracted till June 1803 when the House of 

 Lords decided that the petitioner had not made out his right to the 

 bitle. Henceforth every thing which Sir Egerton Brydges wrote, was 

 more or less a wail for the lost dignity, and after the death of his 

 brother, he always wrote himself ' per legem Terns Baron Chandos.' 

 The worthlessness of his claim is amply shown in a 'Review of 

 the Chandos Peerage Case, adjudicated 1803, and of the pretension of 

 Sir S. E. Brydges, Bart., to designate himself Per legem Terra;, Baron 

 Chandos of Sudeley. By George F. Beltz, Esq., Lancaster Herald,' 

 8vo, 1834. By improvident expenditure in the purchase and im- 

 provement of the estate of Denton, Kent, Mr. Brydges had early 

 become involved in his pecuniary circumstances, and in 1810 he 

 removed to Lea Priory, the eeat of his son, where he amused himself 

 by setting up a private press, and superintending the printing of 

 various pieces in prose and verse of his own writing, and reprints of 

 scarce old books. After several unsuccessful efforts to get into par- 

 liament he was elected in 1811 for Maidstone, which place he repre- 

 sented till 1818. In 1814 he obtained a patent of baronetcy. On losing 

 bis seat in parliament he retired to the Continent, where he remained 

 till his death, which occurred at Compagne Gros Jean, near Geneva, 

 September 8, 1837. 



Besides the works above enumerated, and several pamphlets on 

 population, wealth, &c., Sir Egerton Brydges wrote ' The Topographer,' 

 4 vols. 1789-90 (in which he was assisted by the Rev. Stebbing Shaw); 

 the novels of ' Mary de Clifford,' (1792) ; 'Fitz Albini,' a kind of 

 fictious autobiography (1798); 'Le Forester' (1802); 'Coningsby' (1819); 

 and ' The Hall of Hellingsey ' (1821) ; ' The Censuria Literaria,' a 

 bibliographical work of some value, 10 vols. 8vo, 1805-1809; 'The 

 British Bibliographer,' written in conjunction with Joseph Haslewood, 

 4 vols. 1810-12 ; ' Restitua, or Titles, Extracts, and Characters in Old 

 Books revived,' 4 vols. 1814-16; a new edition of ' Collins's Peerage,' 

 9 vols. 1812; 'The Ruminator,' and 'The Wanderer,' two serii-s of 

 essays, 1813, 1814 ;' Occasional Poems,' 1814; ' Bertrand, a Poem,' 

 1815 ; 'Excerpta Tudoriana, or extracts from Elizabethan Literature,' 

 2 vols. 1819; 'Res Literarise,' 3 vols. 1820-21; 'Letters from the 

 Continent,' 1821; 'Letters on Lord Byron,' 1822; 'Gnomica, or 

 Detached Thoughts;' ' Odo, Count of Lingen, a Poem ; ' 'Theatrum 

 Poetarum,' 1824; 'Recollections of Foreign Travel,' 1825; 'The 

 Lake of Geneva,' 2 vols. 1832; 'Imaginary Biography,' 2 vols. ; and 

 ' The Autobiography, Times, Opinions, and Contemporaries of Sir 

 Egerton Brydges, K.T.' (per legem Terrse) Baron Chandos of Sudeley, 

 &c., 2 vols. 8vo, 1834. 



* BUSK, GEORGE, a distinguished living surgeon and naturalist, 

 was born in Russia, with which country his family has extensive 

 commercial relations. At an early age he came to England, and was 

 educated for the medical profession. On passing the College of 

 Surgeons he was appointed house-surgeon on board the Dreadnought 

 Hospital ship in the Thames. He lived on board this ship for many 

 years, and in superintending the large number of cases brought before 

 him in this hospital he acquired the great surgical knowledge and 

 experience for which he is distinguished. On leaving the ship as house- 

 surgeon Mr. Busk was appointed surgeon, a position he still holds. 

 In his profession Mr. Busk has the reputation of a sound observer, 

 and a skilful operator. He has published many papers on surgical 

 subjects in the Transactions of the Medico-Chirurgical Society, and 

 other places. He has most successfully employed the microscope in 

 the investigation of pathological subjects. As illustrations of this 

 hia papers on the Guinea Worm and Hydatids in the Transactions of 

 the Microscopical Society may be referred to. He was one of the early 

 members of the Microscopical Society aud was chosen president of 

 that body during the years 1848 and 1849. 



Mr. Busk has devoted his leisure hours to the study of natural 

 history, and has made some most important contributions to various 

 departments of Zoology. One of the most complete and valuable of 

 his works is the Catalogue of the Marine Polyzoa contained in the 

 collections of the British Museum. This catalogue, which has already 

 extended to two volumes, contains figured illustrations of a large 

 number of new genera and species of this highly interesting family of 

 Molluscous animals. The drawings have been executed on stone by 

 Mr. Busk himself. He has also published several papers on the struc- 

 ture of the Jelly fishes nud other forms of the lower animals in the 

 Transactions of the Microscopical Society, and in the Quarterly 

 Journal of Microscopical Science, of which he is one of the editor?. 

 In conjunction with Mr. Huxley he translated Professor Kolliker's 

 work on Histology from the German for the Sydenham Society. He 

 also translated for the same society Wedl's Pathological Histology. 



On tbe appointment of Professor Owen as superintendent of the 

 natural history collections of the British Museum, Mr. Busk was 

 appointed Huuterian professor of Comparative Anatomy at the Royal 

 College of Surgeons of England. He is a Fellow and a member of 

 the Council of the Roynl Society, assistant Secretary of the Linnrean 

 Society, and one of the Court of Examiners of candidates for the 

 medical service of; i f East India Company. 



