V 



Fellow of the Antiquarian Society, and a member of the Zoological Society, 

 and of the Edinburgh Medical and Speculative Societies. 



Peter Hardy (born Dec. 17, 1813, died April 23, 1863) was the son 

 of an officer in the artillery, and the brother of Mr. T. Duffus Hardy of 

 the Record Office and Mr. William Hardy of the Duchy of Lancaster. 

 He was educated for an actuary, was placed in the Equitable Office in 1829, 

 was appointed actuary of the Mutual Assurance Office in 1837, and of the 

 London Assurance Office in 185Q. The details of his professional life, 

 active and well employed as it was, offer nothing to record. He distin- 

 guished himself in 1839 by the publication of a sound mathematical work 

 on interest, containing tables subdivided into quarter rates per cent. In 

 1840 he published a system of notation for life contingencies, which, besides 

 its ingenuity, was of a practicable character. In 1848 he was one of the 

 founders of the Institute of Actuaries. He was elected Fellow of the Royal 

 Society in 1839, immediately after the publication of his first work. 

 Mr. Peter Hardy possessed that talent for research which has contributed 

 to render both his brothers eminent in their several walks of life. His 

 walk, indeed, did not offer any opportunities ; but the taste found vent in 

 the collection of old books and the study of early printing. In this he 

 would have been eminent, had it been anything but an employment of 

 leisure. His library, very large for that of an actuary, contained rare 

 specimens, of which he knew the history and the literary value, 



John Taylor was born at Norwich, on the 22nd of August 1779, 

 and died in London on the 5th of April 1863. He was the eldest Of five 

 brothers belonging to a well-known and respected family in his native city. 

 In early youth Mr. Taylor showed a natural turn for mechanical contrivance, 

 and a decided bent towards the profession of an engineer ; but as his native 

 district afforded but little scope for engineering work. Tie was brought up 

 to land-surveying, as the employment within reach which seemed to fall in 

 most nearly with his natural taste. From this occupation, however, he 

 was called off at the early age of nineteen, to take the management of the 

 Wheal Friendship Mine in Cornwall. Inexperienced as he then was in 

 all that specially concerned mining work, he was, nevertheless, appointed 

 to that charge, in reliance on his ability to master the task he was to 

 undertake, and on his diligence and integrity in the performance of it. 



Soon after he became thus engaged, Mr. Taylor published, in the ' Phi- 

 losophical Magazine' (for 1800), an article "On the History of Mining in 

 Devon and Cornwall ;" and in succeeding years he communicated to the 

 world, in that and other journals, the results of his experience concerning 

 the operations and processes followed in mining, and the means of im- 

 proving them, and on the general economy of mines. 



But whilst his daily occupation was in directing practical work, it was 

 Mr. Taylor's constant aim to elevate the art of mining and place it on a 



