106 Obituary Notices of Fellows deceased. 



HENRY HICKS. 1837-1899. 



DR. HENRY HICKS was born in 1837, at St. David's, Pembrokeshire, 

 where his father, Mr. Thomas Hicks, was a surgeon. After attend- 

 ing the Cathedral Chapter School of that place, he studied medicine 

 at Guy's Hospital, becoming a member of the Royal College of 

 Surgeons in 1862. Returning to St. David's, he practised there, but 

 almost immediately, through the influence of the late J. W. Salter, 

 was attracted to geology. His singularly acute eye made him most 

 successful in discovering fossils, and the older palaeontologist's enthus- 

 iasm over Hicks's finds was the best of stimulants. But at that date 

 geology was not favourably regarded in clerical and county circles 

 and to be suspected of it might have been injurious to the young 

 practitioner. So, as Hicks used to relate in later years, he had to 

 carry on geological investigation behind the screen of professional 

 duties, and his servant must have often wondered at his master's fond- 

 ness for leaving his carriage to walk home across the moor or along 

 the cliffs. But his important discoveries soon made his name known 

 far beyond St. David's, and in June, 1865, he read his first paper to 

 the Geological Society, a note on the genus Anopolenus, appended to 

 a shorter communication by Mr. Salter. This revealed his secret, 

 but as he did credit to St. David's, his scientific aberration was more 

 than condoned. His practice increased and was never neglected, 

 though every spare moment was devoted to geology, and before long 

 he was able to announce a great discovery, that of fossils in the red 

 flaggy Lower Cambrian rocks of St. David's, hitherto believed to be 

 totally barren. The paper by himself and Mr. Salter was read to the 

 Geological Society in June, 1867. At that time a Lingulella only 

 had been found in the lower beds, and very few fossils in the higher 

 divisions, but stimulated by this success and a grant from the 

 British Association, Hicks worked on so ardently, that by next year 

 he had discovered thirty species, mostly trilobites, in the Cambrian of 

 St. David's. He then proceeded to a thorough investigation of the 

 overlying beds with excellent results. But in 1871 he decided to quit 

 St. David's for the neighbourhood of London, and settled at Hendon 

 as a general practitioner. About six years later he found an opportunity 

 of restricting himself to mental diseases, and was head of a retreat 

 for ladies thus affected. This proved very successful, and was after- 

 wards transferred to Hendon Grove, which stands in spacious grounds 

 sloping down towards the Brent. In 1878 he took the degree of 

 M.D. at St. Andrews, and as his professional duties now were less 



