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MEMOIR of the LATE Dr. P. MARTIN DUNCAN, F.R.S. 



It is with great regret that we have to record the death of 

 Dr. P. Martin Duncan, which took place, after a long illness, at 

 Gunnersbury, on the 28th May last, in the 67th year of his age. 



Born in April, 1824, and educated at Twickenham College, 

 Dr. Duncan entered King's College, London, as a medical 

 student. He matriculated at the University of London in 1841, 

 taking Honours in Anatomy and Physiology in 1844, and the 

 degree of Bachelor of Medicine in 1846, in which year he qualified 

 as a Member of the Royal College of Surgeons. After passing 

 some time as assistant to Dr. Martin, of Rochester, he set up in 

 practice by himself at Colchester, of which city he was subse- 

 quently elected Mayor. 



Moving to London, he settled down at St. George's Terrace, 

 Regent's Park, having been appointed Professor of Geology at 

 King's College, a post which he held until the time of his death. 

 He was always a busy man, and, when not occupied in preparing 

 his lectures, devoted the whole of his leisure time to original 

 research, making a specialite of fossil Corals and Echinoderms. 

 On these subjects he published a considerable number of papers 

 in the 'Annals and Magazine of Natural History,' the ' Geological 

 Magazine,' the ' Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, 5 the 

 1 Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science,' the ' Philosophical 

 Transactions ' and ' Proceedings of the Royal Society,' and the 

 'Journal of the Linnean Society.' In the last-named (vol.xxiii.) he 

 published the latest and one of the most important of his papers, 

 namely, his " Revision of the Echinoidea," occupying four numbers 

 of the Journal. 



But he by no means worked in this single groove, his attain- 

 ments being of a comprehensive order, which fitted him, as 

 occasion required, to deal ably with a great variety of zoological 

 subjects. In 1878 he projected and edited a popular 'Natural 

 History,' which was issued in parts by Messrs. Cassell, the publica- 

 tion of which, in six quarto volumes, was not completed until 1883. 

 In this work he was materially assisted by the late Mr. W. S. Dallas, 

 the late Prof. W. K. Parker, Prof. Boyd Dawkins, Dr. James 

 Murie, Dr. H. Woodward, Prof. Seeley, Messrs. H. W. Bates, 

 R. B. Sharpe, and other well-known specialists. The share 



