THE 



GEOLOaiCAL MAGAZINE. 



NEW SERIES. DECADE V. VOL. II. 



No. IX. — SEPTEMBEE, 1905. 



OS,IC3-IIsr-A.L J^I^TIGLES. 



I. — Eminent Living Geologists : 



John Wesley Judd, C.B., LL.D., F.R.S., F.G.S. 



(WITH A PORTEAIT, PLATJE XXI.) 



JOHN WESLEY JUDD was born at Portsmouth February 18th, 

 1840. His father belonged to a branch of an old Kentish 

 family that had been settled for several generations in the Isle of 

 Wight. His mother was the daughter of a Scotchman who had 

 " come South " from the ancient kingdom of Fife. The Christian 

 name given to the subject of this sketch was the result of an attempt 

 on the part of his parents to find a compromise between the two 

 national religions in which they had been respectively brought up. 



As a boy Judd showed a strong predilection for the study of 

 science. His interest was first directed to astronomy, and having 

 made a telescope with cardboard tubes for himself, he spent many 

 of the night hours in observing celestial objects ; this pursuit led 

 him to devote much of his time to mathematical studies. At a later 

 date, however, geology began to attract his attention, and the 

 reading of Lyell's " Principles of Geology " appears to have 

 determined his devotion to that science. 



When only 4 years old the lad lost his mother, and before be 

 reached the age of 8 his father removed to London, having received 

 an appointment at Somerset House. The boy's school life, which 

 had commenced at Portsmouth, was continued at Camberwell, and 

 when the time for leaving school arrived his fondness for study led 

 him to adopt the teaching profession. In 1858 he entered a training 

 college at Westminster, but in the following year an opportunity 

 seemed to present itself for taking up more purely scientific work 

 than lies in the way of an elementary teacher. The newly-formed 

 Department of Science and Art instituted in 1859 an experiment in 

 the direction of securing teachers of science by awarding certificates 

 as the result of examination. Judd entered for these examinations 

 in the subjects of geology and mineralogy, and obtained first-class 

 certificates entitling him to teach these sciences. Unfortunately, 

 however, the demand at that time for scientific instruction was too 



DECADE V. VOL. II. NO. IX. 25 



