Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 2.djvu/37

 the University of Edinburgh at the tercentenary of Galileo at Padua (Dec. 1892), when he made a speech in Italian and received the honorary degree of doctor of philosophy. On 11 January 1896 he was made a baronet. The remainder of his life was passed chiefly at Falmouth, where he died on 21 May 1907.

He married on 4 Oct. 1855, at Lucknow, Bethia Mary, eldest daughter of Brigadier-general Andrew Spens, who was in command of the troops there; by her he had six sons and two daughters. His eldest son, Robert Andrew, born on 27 June 1856, died on 28 Dec. 1904. He was succeeded as second baronet by his eldest surviving son, Joseph, who joined the Royal Army Medical Corps.

Despite official and professional calls upon his energies, Fayrer was a prolific writer on Indian climatology, the pathology of Indian diseases, sanitation, and above all on venomous snakes. His great work on 'The Thanatophidia of India, the best book on the subject, published in folio in 1872 by government, was illustrated with admirable coloured plates from the life by native members of the Calcutta School of Art (2nd edit. 1874). The book embodies all Fayrer's experiments and researches, accounts of which were forwarded from India to Dr. F. C. Webb, who put them into literary shape. To Fayrer's inquiries is due the efficacious permanganate treatment of venomous snake-bites. But his main conclusions were that there is no absolute antidote, and that safety is only to be attained when the bite is in such a position as to make the application of a ligature between it and the heart possible, together with the use of the actual cautery. These opinions were somewhat modified after some later experiments by Fayrer, Brunton, and Rogers {''Proc. Boy. Soc.'', 1904, lxxiii. 323); it was there shown that recovery might be expected if a ligature were applied within half a minute or even a longer period after a bite, the site of the injury being then incised and solid permanganate of potassium rubbed in.

Of his other writings not already mentioned the following are the most important: To 'Quain's Dictionary of Medicine' (1882) he contributed articles on 'Effects of Venom' and 'Venomous Animals,' and to 'Allbutt's System of Medicine' (1894) those on 'Sunstroke,' 'Climate,' and 'Fevers of India.'
 * 1) 'Clinical Observations in Surgery,' Calcutta, 1863.
 * 2) 'Clinical Surgery in India,' 1866.
 * 3) 'Osteomyelitis and Septicaemia and the Nature of Visceral Abscess,' 1867.
 * 4) 'Fibrinous Coagula in the Heart and Pulmonary Artery as a Cause of Death after Surgical Operations,' 1867.
 * 5) 'Clinical and Pathological Observations in India,' 1873.
 * 6) 'On the Preservation of Health in India,' 1880 (new edit. 1894).
 * 7) 'Epidemiology of Cholera, 1888.
 * 8) 'Sir James Ranald Martin,' 1897.
 * 9) 'Recollections of My Life,' 1900.

Fayrer's portrait by Mr. Sydney P. Hall, in the Royal Medical College at Netley, was unveiled by Lord Wolseley.

 FENN, GEORGE MANVILLE (1831–1909), novelist, born in Pimlico on 3 Jan. 1831, was third child and the eldest of three sons of Charles and Ann Louisa Fenn. After a scanty education at private schools, Fenn studied at the Battersea Training College for Teachers under [q. v.] from 1851 to 1854, and became on leaving master of the small national school at Alford, Lincolnshire. After some employment as a private tutor, he moved to London in quest of work, and became a printer. Purchasing a small press at Crowle, Lincolnshire, he started 'Modern Metre,' a little magazine, entirely in verse, which was set up by himself, and ran from May to October 1862. In 1864 Fenn became part proprietor of the 'Herts, and Essex Observer,' published at Bishop's Stortford; but this venture proved no more successful. After endless disappointments, a short sketch entitled 'In Jeopardy' was accepted for 'All the Year Round' in 1864 by Dickens, and attracted the notice of other editors. Manuscripts were soon accepted by [q. v. Suppl. I] for 'Chambers's Journal' and by [q. v.] for 'Once a Week.' 'Readings by Starlight,' papers on working-class life, appeared in 1866 in the 'Star' newspaper under the editorship of Justin McCarthy, and were colleeted into four volumes in 1867. There soon followed 'Spots and Blots,' a similar series, in the 'Weekly Times' under Mr. (afterwards Sir John) Hutton. 'Hollowdell Grange,' Fenn's first boy's story, and 'Featherland,' a natural history tale for children, were both published by Messrs. Griffith & Farran in 1867; and from that date onwards he produced novel after novel, in magazine, newspaper, and volume form, with an industrious rapidity which few writers excelled. His separate books numbered more than 170. After 1881 his more successful works were books