Ixxvili PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [May I9O4, 



Matthew Bell, one of the oldest Fellows of this Society, joined 

 our ranks as far back as 1845. He was born in 1817, and after 

 his education at Trinity College, Cambridge, passed his life quietly 

 but usefully at his home, Broom Park, Bishopsbourne, near 

 Canterbury. He filled the offices of Justice of the Peace and 

 Deputy-Lieutenant of the County of Kent, and was High Sheriff 

 in 1850. He was sometimes urged to enter Parliament and to 

 contest the old East-Kent division, but he preferred the leisure and 

 retirement of the life of a country squire. He took a share of the 

 county-business, and acted as Director and Trustee of various 

 societies and institutions. He was a liberal benefactor to all the 

 good works that went on around him. 



William Francis, although he never took an active participation 

 in the work of our Society, was a familiar friend of many of our 

 Fellows. Born in February 1817, he belonged to the heroic time 

 of geology, and was an eye-witness of the career of many of the 

 distinguished men by whom the success of our Society was early 

 assured. He received a large part of his education in France and 

 Germany, and acquired remarkable familiarity with the languages 

 of those countries. He took the degree of Ph.D. in 1842. His 

 scientific proclivities lay in the direction of chemistry and physics, 

 and he was one of the original members of the Chemical Society 

 In 1842 he founded the ' Chemical Gazette,' and nine years later 

 became one of the editors of the 'Philosophical Magazine' — a charge 

 which he continued to fill until the end of his long life. In 1859 

 he also became one of the editors of the ' Annals & Magazine of 

 Natural History.' His wide range of scientific attainments and his 

 sound judgment and great tact eminently fitted him for the editorial 

 duties which he so ably discharged. His qualifications for this work 

 were further augmented by his being during most of his life an 

 active partner in the widely-known printing firm of Messrs. Taylor 

 & Francis. He was elected into our Society in 1859. Some of 

 us well remember the warm friendship which existed between him 

 and our former Assistant-Secretary, Mr. Dallas, and the deep 

 interest which he took in the welfare of Mr. Dallas's family. 



Hugh Exton, M.D., was born at Huddersfield in January, 1833. 

 At first he was apprenticed to a medical man there, but afterwards 

 studied in London, and then at Leyden and Giessen. He went to the 

 Cape of Good Hope in the 'fifties,' settling in practice at Cape Town; 



