Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 18.djvu/230

 in 1821. He married in 1809 a daughter of J. Francis-Louis Latour, esq., of Madras, and was succeeded by his son, Walter Minto Farquhar, M.P. for Hertford, who was born 26 Oct. 1809, graduated at Christ Church, Oxford, and died 18 June 1866 (, Alumni Oxon.)

[Gent. Mag. 1830; Ann. Reg. 1830.]  FARQUHAR, WALTER (1738–1819), physician, born in October 1738, was son of the Rev. Robert Farquhar, minister of Garioch in Scotland, and descended from Sir Robert Farquhar, knt., provost of Aberdeen in 1646. He was educated first at King's College, Aberdeen, where he remained four years, and took the degree of M.A. Here he also commenced the study of medicine under Dr. Gregory, but left in 1759 for Edinburgh, where, as well as at Glasgow, he continued his medical studies. Without graduating in medicine Farquhar entered the army medical service, being appointed to the 19th regiment, and took part in Lord Howe's expedition against Belle Isle in 1761. His regiment being afterwards stationed for a long time at Gibraltar, he obtained leave of absence, and spent nearly a year and a half in France, attending the hospitals at Paris and elsewhere. For several months he lived with and studied under Claude Nicolas le Cat, a celebrated anatomist and surgeon at Rouen. Farquhar returned to Gibraltar, but considerations of health led him to leave the army and settle in London, where he commenced practice as an apothecary. In this he was very successful, and his practice gradually became that of a physician. After obtaining the degree of M.D. from Aberdeen, 29 Jan. 1796, he was admitted fellow of the College of Physicians of Edinburgh, 3 May 1796, and licentiate of the London College, 30 Sept. in the same year (, Coll. of Phys. 1878, ii. 461). He was created a baronet 1 March 1796, and being shortly afterwards appointed physician in ordinary to the Prince of Wales, he rapidly took a high place in the profession, and had among his patients many persons of rank and influence. In 1813 he partially withdrew from practice, and died on 30 March 1819 in London.

Farquhar was considered a very able and successful physician, while his high personal character won and secured for him many friends, but he is not known to have made any contributions to medical science or literature. His portrait, by H. Raeburn, was engraved by W. Sharp. He married in 1771 Ann, widow of Dr. Harvie, a physician, and daughter of Alexander Stephenson of Barbadoes, by whom he left a family. His second son was Sir Robert Townsend Farquhar [q. v.], governor and commander-in-chief of the Mauritius.

[Authentic Memoirs of Physicians and Surgeons, 2nd ed. 1818; Foster's Baronetage, 1882; Betham's Baronetage.]  FARQUHARSON, JAMES (1781–1843), scientific writer, son of John Farquharson, excise officer at Coull, Aberdeenshire, was born in that parish in 1781. After attending the parochial school at Coull he proceeded to King's College, Aberdeen, where he graduated M.A. in 1798, and in the same year was appointed schoolmaster of Alford, Aberdeenshire. He soon afterwards commenced his courses as a student of theology, and received license as a preacher. On 17 Sept. 1813 he was ordained minister of Alford. His leisure was devoted to theological and scientific study. As a meteorologist his attainments were of a high order. He was also well skilled in botany, chemistry, zoology, and the kindred branches. Living in a rural parish, he was enabled to give special attention to agriculture. In 1831 he published a learned and ingenious essay, ‘On the Form of the Ark of Noah.’ This was followed by another treatise in which he gave an account of the animals designated in the Old Testament by the names of Leviathan and Behemoth. In 1838 he published at London ‘A New Illustration of the Latter Part of Daniel's Last Vision and Prophecy,’ 4to. He also communicated several valuable papers to the ‘Philosophical Transactions’ of the Royal Society. Of these some are on the aurora borealis, the appearances of which he studied closely for many years. In 1823 he published in the ‘Edinburgh Philosophical Journal’ a far more accurate description of the aurora than had previously appeared; and in the ‘Philosophical Transactions’ for 1829 he confirmed his views by new observations—showing that the arrangement and progress of its arches and streamers are exactly definite in relation to the lines of the earth's magnetism, and that there exist such close relations between the streamers and arches as to prove that they are in fact the same phenomenon. He also inferred, from his own observations, that the elevation of the aurora is far less than had been generally supposed, being confined to altitudes not extending far beyond the region of the clouds; and in a paper in the ‘Philosophical Transactions’ for 1830, besides detailing new proofs of its intimate connection with the magnetic needle, he showed that it was produced by the development of electricity by the condensation of watery vapour. In the volume for 1839