IV 



IT; any eminent Fellows, on the 7ih of Jnne, 1855. He served three 

 times on the Council, namely, in 1868-69, in 1874-75, and in 1881-82. 

 In his later years he gave up active practice ; but he retained his 

 faculties to the last, and he died, at the ripe age of 80, on the 2nd of 

 June, 1891. 



W. P. 



PETER MARTIN DUNCAN was born at Twickenham in 1824, and 

 received his early education in the Grammar School of that village, 

 once the home of Walpole and of Pope. He was afterwards placed 

 for a short time in a school in Switzerland. On his return to 

 England, he entered the Medical Department of King's College, 

 London, in 1842. Here he received his formal scientific training, 

 taking his degree of M.B. London in 1846, and in 1849 he was elected 

 an Associate of his College. After acting for a time as assistant to a 

 doctor at Rochester, he removed to Colchester, where a practice had 

 been purchased for him. Here he resided for many years, and pub- 

 lished his first scientific essay, which consisted of "Observations on 

 the Pollen-tube, its Growth, Histology, and Physiology" (1856). 

 But he did not at Colchester secure much time for original research, 

 for most of that which was lef b him by his profession was occupied 

 by work in connexion with the municipality. During his residence 

 he filled the office of Mayor, thus pi'oving that he had won the con- 

 fidence of his fellow-townsmen, while the admirable arrangement of 

 the local Museum, which under his direction was reorganised upon 

 lines far in advance of the time, is a sign of his interest in the educa- 

 tional institutions of the town. About 1860 he took a practice at 

 Blackheath, when he was able to spare more time for scientific work, 

 devoting himself to the study of fossil Corals ; and, as his interest 

 deepened in the problems which they presented to him, he was led to 

 abandon the lucrative prospects offered by his profession, and to 

 devote himself entirely to original research. In this he was no doubt 

 encouraged by the reception accorded to his first palasontological 

 papers, which were read in 1863, and gained for him recognition as a 

 most able palaeontologist. In the following year he was appointed one 

 of the honorary secretaries of the Geological Society, and two years 

 later, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. 



After leaving Blackheath, he settled near Regent's Park ; but he 

 was not long allowed to remain in retirement, for in 1870 he was 

 called to the Chair of Geology at King's College, and a Fellow- 

 ship followed in 1871. Shortly afterwards he accepted also the 

 Professorship of Geology at Cooper's Hill, both of which appoint- 

 ments he held till his death. He resigned the Secretaryship of the 

 Geological Society in 1870, after a seven years' tenure of office, and 

 in 1872 he was elected a Vice-President, and President in 1876 and 



