622 



M-CULLOCH. 



III. and other sovereigns. Under the new muni- 

 cipal act the town is governed by a mayor, twelve 

 aldermen and thirty-six councillors the corporate 

 body being styled "the " mayor, aldermen and bur- 

 gesses of the borough of Macclesfield." The town 

 is divided into six wards. A court leet for the 

 hundred and forest of Macclesfield is held, and a 

 court of record for the trial of civil causes, four 

 times a year. The reform bill also confers upon 

 Macclesfield, with the townships of Sutton and 

 Hurdesfield, the privilege of sending two members 

 to parliament Macclesfield consists of four prin- 

 cipal streets, diverging from the market-place. It 

 is supplied with water conducted in pipes from the 

 adjoining hills, and lighted with gas. The princi- 

 pal trade of the place formerly was the making of 

 twist buttons ; but this has been superseded by the 

 manufacture of silk in its various textures ; and 

 the magnitude and number of the factories exhibit 

 the extent to which this important and beautiful 

 branch of trade is carried on. Every variety of 

 silk article, from the narrowest ribbon to silk 

 handkerchiefs, satins, and gros de Naples, is manu- 

 factured here; there are also several cotton factories 

 at Macclesfield. The river Jordan, or Bollin, runs 

 through the lower part of the town, and, though 

 the stream is inconsiderable, it turns several mills. 

 The vicinity of Macclesfield yields abundance of 

 coal, slate and stone. A canal to the east of the 

 town gives a water communication with Manches- 

 ter, and, by means of the Grand Trunk canal, with 

 London also. A railway communication with 

 Stockport will afford still greater facilities of in- 

 tercourse with Manchester and Liverpool ; while 

 the railway to Crewe, and another through New- 

 castle and the Potteries, both of which branch at 

 Nether Alderley, about six miles hence, present 

 means of transit to other large towns. Population 

 of Macclesfield in 1801, 8743; in 1831,23,129. 

 United population of Macclesfield, Sutton, and 

 Hurdesfield, in 1841, 24,137. 



M'CULLOCH, JOHN, M.D. F.R.S., F.L.S., 

 and F.G.S., an eminent mineralogist, was born in 

 Guernsey, on the 6th of October, 1773. His 

 family was, as the name imports, Scotch ; their 

 estate and baronial castle were at Cardoness, on 

 the river Fleet, in Kirkcudbright. The first school 

 he was sent to was the grammar school at Plymp- 

 ton ; afterwards to one at Penzance ; and thence, 

 in 1787, to the grammar school at Lostwithiel, in 

 Cornwall, where he remained for three years. 

 From Lostwithiel he went, in 1790, to prosecute 

 his medical studies at Edinburgh, where he obtained 

 his diploma of physician at the early age of 

 eighteen. He resided five years at Edinburgh, 

 when, feeling that he was by far too young to be 

 likely to commence private practice with success, 

 he entered the artillery as assistant-surgeon. On 

 the 5th of April, 1803, he accepted the situation 

 of chemist to the ordnance, which was more par- 

 ticularly agreeable to him as it exempted him from 

 taking the routine duty in the colonies. In 1807 he 

 resided at Blackheath, and practised as a physician. 



About the year 1811, the surveys in Scotland 

 commenced, in which he was engaged. This com- 

 pelled him to give up both his profession and the 

 appointment under the board of ordnance. He 

 never resumed his practice, though he was fre- 

 quently consulted, and was ever ready to give his 

 advice when called upon. The first business on 

 which he was employed in Scotland, was in a search 

 for stones adapted to the use of the government 



powder-mills. The second business on which he 

 was employed, was an examination of the principal 

 mountains, with a view to the repetition of the 

 experiments that had been made at Schehallian on 

 the density of the earth. The third had for its 

 object the correction of the deviations of the 

 plumb-line on the meridian of the trigonometrical 

 survey. Whilst he was making these surveys, he 

 was also employed in geological observations, and 

 in collecting materials for a mineralogical map, as 

 well for his own amusement and instruction, as 

 with the hope that they would become useful to 

 the country at some future time. In 1826 he was 

 desired by goverment to complete the work he had 

 thus begun ; and this was the commencement of 

 the last and most important public work in which 

 he was engaged, the mineralogical and geological 

 survey of Scotland, which was continued every 

 summer from 1826 to 1832, when he completed it. 

 He received from government for this survey 

 7000 a sum, not by any means too large for the 

 services he rendered. Some of the fruits of his 

 separate surveys are before the public. The first 

 was " A Description of the Western Islands of 

 Scotland, including the Isle of Man," &c. 2 vols. 

 8vo., with 1 vol. 4to. of plates. London and 

 Edinburgh, 1819; Next, "A Geological Classifi- 

 cation of Rocks, with Descriptive Synopses, com- 

 prising the Elements of Practical Geology." Lon- 

 don, 1821, 1 vol. 8vo. Thirdly, " The Highlands 

 and Western Isles of Scotland, in a Series of Let 

 ters to Sir Walter Scott, bart." London, 1824, 4 

 vols. 8vo. Fourthly, " A System of Geology, with 

 a Theory of the Earth, and an Explanation of its 

 Connection with the Sacred Records." London, 

 1831, 2 vols. 8vo. In addition to these larger 

 works, which arose out of his employment, he 

 published an account of Blair and Dunkeld, anony- 

 mously, in 1823; and contributed many papers 

 both to the Edinburgh Encyclopedia, and to Brande's 

 Journal, on various subjects connected with Scot- 

 land generally, or its rocks and minerals ; besides 

 others on different topics. 



In 1821, Dr M'Culloch published a Treatise on 

 the Art of making Wines, which reached to a 

 fourth edition in 1829. Two other works of his 

 appeared in 1827 and 1828. The first is entitled, 

 " Malaria, an Essay on the Production and Propa- 

 gation of this Poison, and on the Nature and Lo- 

 calities of the places by which it is produced," &c. 

 1 vol. 8vo. London. The second is " An Essay 

 on the Remittent and Intermittent Diseases, in- 

 cluding generally Marsh Fever and Neuralgia," &c. 

 in 2 vols. 8vo. London. For some years, and till 

 his death, he filled the situation of lecturer on 

 chemistry and geology at the honourable East India 

 Company's military establishment at Addiscombe. 

 His appointment of physician in ordinary to 

 prince Leopold dates from 1820. He married in 

 the course of the summer of 1835, Miss White, 

 whose family resided near Addiscombe. He was 

 with her in Cornwall, on a visit to the Rev. John 

 Buller, at St Just, when he fell out of a pony 

 phaeton, by which, in addition to other injuries, his 

 right leg was so shattered, that amputation became 

 necessary. This accident terminated his life on the 

 21st August, 1835. Dr M'Culloch left a variety of 

 unpublished papers, and among others a large woik 

 on Natural Theology. He was steady in his at- 

 tachments, zealous to promote the interests of his 

 friends, and ever ready to aid those who needed 

 his assistance. He possessed very strong affections 



