Biographical Notice of Arthur Atkin. 391 
to the task, and it was not without great private outlay that Pro- 
fessor Jameson raised it to its present state. In fact it may be 
said that the present Museum was founded, created, arranged, and 
exposed for public exhibition by the head and the industrious 
hands of Jameson alone.. Professor Jameson died in Edinburgh, 
at the age of eighty, on the 19th of April, 1854. 
The name of Arruur Arkin is associated with the earliest days 
of the existence of our Society. In that Charter which forms 
the basis of our constitution, his name occurs as one of the found- 
ers of this Society. e was born at Warrington, in Lancashire, 
on the 19th May, 1773. The grandson of John Aikin, D.D., 
eminent for his learning and abilities, he evinced at an early age 
a decided love for literature and science, and from his father de- 
rived a taste for zoology, for chemistry, and for English botany. 
An early acquaintance with Dr. Priestly, of whom he subsequently 
became a favorite pupil, and whom he assisted in the arrangement 
of a new laboratory, confirmed him in his predilection for chem- 
istry. In 1797 he published an account of a tour in North Wales, 
made in the previous year in company with his brother Charles 
and another friend, under the title of ‘Journal of a Tour in North 
Wales and part of Shropshire, with observations in Mineralogy 
and other branches of Natural History.’ At a subsequent period, 
in conjunction with his brother, he delivered lectures on Chemis- 
try and Chemical Manufactures, of which a syllabus appeared in 
1799. In 1807 he published ‘A Dictionary of Chemistry and 
Mineralogy,’ 2 vols. 4to; and in 1814, ‘An account of the most 
recent discoveries in Chemistry and Mineralogy.’ 
But before this time Arthur Aikin had become conspicuous as 
one of that distinguished band of scientific men who contributed 
to the formation of the Geological Society of London, and founded 
it in 1807; soon afterwards his knowledge of mineralogy and 
chemistry must have contributed to his being appointed one of 
the Secretaries of the Society. In the first volume of the first 
series of our Transactions, published in 1811, his name appears 
as one of the Members of Council. In the second volume, pub- 
in 1814, he appears as one of the Secretaries, as well as in the 
the first volume of the first series there is an interesting paper by 
him, entitled ‘Observations on the Wrekin and on the Great Coal 
Field of Shropshire ;’ and in the third volume is another with the 
title of ‘Some Observations on a Bed of Trap occurring in the 
Colliery of Birch Hill, near Walsall, in Staffordshire.’ These 
papers, like all those published by the Society at that period, were 
of a h more mineralogical character than those now consti- 
tuting the bulk of our publications. Paleontology had then made 
but little progress. Its value and importance in assisting our 
