PROCEEDINGS  OE  THE  GEOLOGICAL  SOCIETY. 
[May  1893, 
58 
appears  to  have  become  a  Fellow  of  this  Society,  before  be  was 
21  years  of  age.  Consequently,  although  not  the  oldest  Fellow  at 
the  time  of  his  death,  he  was  the  Father  of  the  Society  when  that 
event  occurred,  having  been  a  contributing  Fellow  for  64  years. 
In  early  life  John  Murray  developed  a  taste  for  travelling,  and 
when  21  years  of  age  visited  Belgium,  and  in  the  following  year 
France  and  Italy.  We  are  told  that  he  travelled,  note-book  in 
hand,  preserving  an  ample  record  of  places  and  events  ;  so  that,  in 
this  way,  at  a  comparatively  early  stage  of  his  career,  he  originated 
the  famous  series  of  handbooks,  which  for  many  years  enjoyed  almost 
a  monopoly  amongst  the  travelling  public — before,  in  fact,  he 
succeeded  to  his  father’s  business  in  1843. 
John  Murray  was  one  of  the  original  Fellows  of  the  Boyal 
Geographical  Society  ;  he  sat  on  the  Council  of  that  Societ}^  as  long 
ago  as  1850  and  subsequently.  He  was  of  frequent  assistance  to 
Murchison,  who  in  his  later  years  almost  made  that  Society  his 
home.  Murray  had  also  been  associated  with  the  Boyal  Agricultural 
Society  from  its  commencement,  and  had  arranged  with  Mr.  Philip 
Pusey,  fifty-four  years  ago,  the  terms  on  which  their  Journal  was 
originally  published. 
He  does  not  appear  ever  to  have  taken  an  active  part  in  the 
affairs  of  this  Society,  and  from  the  fact  that  no  cross  is  attached  to 
his  name  in  our  List  I  conclude  that  he  never  contributed  to  its 
publications.  Nevertheless  he  was  a  man  of  letters,  a  scholar  as 
well  as  a  publisher,  and  was  especially  interested  in  physiographical 
problems.  An  anonymous  brochure  entitled  ‘  Scepticism  in  Geology,’ 
published  in  1877,  is  attributed  to  his  pen.  This  work  to  a  certain 
extent  seems  to  have  reflected  the  views  of  Murchison,  since  it  was  a 
kind  of  protest  against  the  ultra-uniformitarianism  which  then 
prevailed.  The  Author  more  especially  opposed  the  fashion  of 
attributing  all  the  features  of  the  earth’s  surface  to  denudation, 
and  protested  strongly  against  Bamsay’s  theory  of  lake-basins. 
Mr.  Murray  died  in  London  on  the  2nd  April,  1892,  aged  84 
years.  At  his  funeral,  to  meet  the  convenience  of  personal  friends, 
among  whom  was  Mr.  Gladstone,  the  first  part  of  the  burial  service 
was  read  at  St.  James’s  Church,  Piccadilly,  whence  his  remains 
were  finally  transferred  to  AVimbledon. 
William  Peed  was  born  at  Malton,  in  Yorkshire,  on  the  21st 
December,  1810.  He  was  educated  at  Monkman’s  School  in  York, 
and  afterwards  at  Thornton,  near  Pickering.  After  having  been 
