Page:Dictionary of National Biography. Sup. Vol I (1901).djvu/419

 religious toleration. In it he speaks of his poverty, due to persecution, which prevented his publishing two other works he had written: (1) ‘A Scourge of small Cords wherewith Antichrist and his Ministers might be driven out of the Temple;’ and (2) ‘A Declaration of certain False Translations in the New Testament.’ Neither of these books appears to have been published, nor is any manuscript known to be extant.

Busher's only published work was entitled ‘Religious Peace; or, a Plea for Liberty of Conscience, long since presented to King James and the High Court of Parliament then sitting, by L. B., Citizen of London, and printed in the year 1614;’ but no copy of this edition is known. It was, however, reissued in 1646 (London, 4to), with an epistle ‘to the Presbyterian reader’ by H. B., probably Henry Burton [q. v.] This edition was licensed for the press by John Bachiler, who was on that account ferociously attacked by Edwards (Gangræna, iii. 102–5). A reprint of this edition, with an historical introduction by Edward Bean Underhill (d. 1901), was issued by the Hanserd Knollys Society in 1846. Busher's book ‘is certainly the earliest known publication in which full liberty of conscience is openly advocated’ (, Milton, iii. 102). He was apparently acquainted with the original Greek of the New Testament, and his book is an earnest and ably written plea for religious toleration. It has been suggested that James I was influenced by it when he declared to parliament in 1614, ‘No state can evidence that any religion or heresy was ever extirpated by the sword or by violence, nor have I ever judged it a way of planting the truth.’

 BUSK, GEORGE (1807–1886), man of science, second son of Robert Busk (1768-1835), merchant of St. Petersburg, and his wife Jane, daughter of John Westly, customs house clerk at St. Petersburg, was born at St. Petersburg on 12 Aug. 1807. His grandfather, Sir Wadsworth Busk, was attorney-general of the Isle of Man, and the elder [q. v.] was his uncle.

George was educated at Dr. Hartley's school, Bingley, Yorkshire, where his passion for natural history was abundantly gratified, and he afterwards served six years as an articled student of the College of Surgeons under George Beaman, completing his medical education as a student at St. Thomas's and St. Bartholomew's hospitals. After being admitted a member of the College of Surgeons, Busk was appointed in 1832 assistant surgeon on board the Grampus, the seamen's hospital ship at Greenwich; thence he was transferred to the Dreadnought, which replaced it, becoming in time full surgeon. During his service he worked out the pathology of cholera, and made important observations on scurvy.

In 1855 he retired from the service, settled in London, and discontinued private practice in order to devote himself to scientific pursuits, at first principally to the microscopic investigation of the lower forms of life, and especially the Bryozoa ( = Polyzoa), of which group he was the first to formulate a scientific arrangement in 1856 for an article in the ‘English Cyclopædia.’ In 1863 he attended the conference to discuss the question of the age and authenticity of the human jaw found at Moulin Quignon. His attention being thus drawn to palæontological problems, he next year visited the Gibraltar caves in company with Dr. Falconer, and henceforth devoted much time and attention to the study of cave faunas, and later on to ethnology.

His public occupations were very numerous. He was nominated a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, when fellowships were first established by the charter of 1843, was elected a member of its council in 1863, and a member of its board of examiners five years after, becoming vice-president later on, and president in 1871. He was for upwards of twenty-five years examiner in physiology and anatomy for the Indian medical service, and afterwards for the regular army and navy. He held the Hunterian professorship for three years, and was a trustee of the Hunterian Museum. He was a member of the senate of the university of London, and for many years treasurer of the Royal Institution. He became later one of the governors of Charterhouse School, and was the first home office inspector under the Cruelty to Animals Act.

The Royal Society elected him a fellow in 1850, and he was four times nominated a vice-president, besides often serving on its council. He received the royal medal in 1871. He had been elected a fellow of the Linnean Society in December 1846, acted as its zoological secretary from 1857 to 1868, and, besides serving frequently on its council, was vice-president several times between 1869 and 1882. He joined the Geological Society in 1859, twice served on its council, and was the recipient of the Lyell medal in 1878, and the Wollaston medal in