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he entered the military service of the East India Company. Ha- 
ving considerable abilities as a surveyor, and being desirous of 
travelling, he soon got an appointment, and was sent to survey the 
province of Malwa, where he prosecuted his instructions under a 
burning sun, with great accuracy and constancy of purpose. He 
procured at his own expense the most costly instruments, and un- 
dertook several surveys in the Himalaya Mountains, suffering every 
vicissitude of heat, cold, hunger, and all the ills which could beset 
a traveller, with a degree of cheerfulness which was remarkable ; 
but a residence of thirty years in India, passed chiefly in the endu- 
rance of these hardships, laid the foundation of that decay of health, 
which has lately brought him to a premature grave. 
Captain Alexander Gerard was well known in the East as a sci- 
entific traveller, having, in company with his brother, the late Dr. 
James Gerard, penetrated the Himalaya Mountains through seve- 
ral passes before unknown to Europeans. While contributing, by 
his maps, to benefit geographical science, he never lost sight of 
what was novel and interesting in the geology, botany, and zoology 
of these stupendous regions, and various occasional papers have 
appeared from his pen, comprising valuable information on these 
subjects. We owe to this enterprising officer and indefatigable 
barometrical observer, our first knowledge of the structure of that 
portion of the Himalaya Mountains which forms the upper region 
of the Valley of the Sutlej, and is chiefly primitive. In this north- 
west extremity of India, on the frontier of China, he ascended to 
the astonishing height of 19,411 feet, on the mountain Tahigang, 
the summit of which he estimated at 22,000 feet above the sea. 
A small collection of geological specimens made by him has 
been recently laid before this Society ; it was formed in the district 
of Speetee, in Chinese Tartary, at the elevation of from 12,000 to 
19,000 feet above the level of the sea, and between the latitudes 
31° 30” and 32° 30” north, and longitude 77° and 79° east. On 
the confines of Chinese Tartary, at the height of 16,200 feet, he 
found a region of limestone containing Ammonites. The same shells 
occur nearly at the same height near the Niti and Manna Passes. 
In Thibet he observed millions of organic remains, lying at extra- 
ordinary altitudes, and forming vast and rocky cliffs. At the eleva- 
tion of 17,000 feet were seen detached fragments of rocks, bearing 
