ABSTRACT
That turbulent and ebullient Syrian Ahmad Faris al-Shidyaq, who was born in 1801 a Maronite Christian and died in 1887 a famous Muslim, tells us in the course of his entertaining if sometimes bitter description of a visit to England in 1848: ‘When I reached Penrith I enquired after the residence of Dr Nicholson and was directed to it, on account of his being re nowned in the town. When he saw me he gave me a great wel come and received me most hospitably in his home; he could not have done me more honour-may God reward him with good on my behalf.’ The gracious host was John Nicholson, country gentleman, son of Mark Nicholson of Thorpe in Cum-
John Nicholson had a son named Henry Alleyne Nicholson who grew up to become an eminent scientist and a Fellow of the Royal Society. Author of numerous textbooks and learned papers on geology and zoology, he occupied successively the Chair of Natural History in Toronto, St Andrews and Aberdeen. But before embarking upon so distinguished an academic career he practised for a time as a surgeon in Keighley, Yorkshire, and it was there that his wife gave birth on August 19, 1868, to the man-child whose life and works I now proceed to describe.
