CLOSE, MAXWELL HENRY (1822-1903), Irish geologist, was born in Dublin in 1822. He was educated at Weymouth and at Trinity College, Dublin, where he graduated in 1846; and two years later he entered holy orders. For a year he was curate of All Saints, Northampton; from 1849 to 1857 he was rector of Shangton in Leicestershire; and then for four years he was curate of Waltham-on-the-Wolds. In 1861, on the death of his father, he returned to Dublin, and while giving his services to various churches in the city, devoted himself almost wholly to literary and scientific pursuits, and especially to the glacial geology of Ireland, on which subject he became an acknowledged authority. His paper, read before the Geological Society of Ireland in 1866, on the “General Glaciation of Ireland” is a masterly description of the effects of glaciation, and of the evidence in favour of the action of land-ice. Later on he discussed the origin of the elevated shell-bearing gravels near Dublin, and expressed the view that they were accumulated by floating ice when the land had undergone submergence. He was for a time treasurer of the Royal Irish Academy, an active member of the Royal Dublin Society, and president in 1878 of the Royal Geological Society of Ireland. Astronomy and physics, as well as the ancient language and antiquities of Ireland, attracted his attention. He died in Dublin on the 12th of September 1903.
The obituary by Prof. G.A.J. Cole in Irish Naturalist, vol. xii. (1903) pp. 301-306, contains a list of publications and portrait.
CLOSE (from Lat. clausum, shut), a closed place or enclosure. In English law, the term is applied to a portion of land, enclosed or not, held as private property, and to any exclusive interest in land sufficient to maintain an action for trespass quare clausum fregit. The word is also used, particularly in Scotland, of the entry or passage, including the common staircase, of a block of tenement houses, and in architecture for the precincts of a cathedral or abbey.
The adjective “close” (i.e. closed) is found in several phrases, such as “close time” or “close season” (see [Game Laws]); close borough, one of which the rights and privileges were enjoyed by a limited class (see [Borough]); close rolls and writs, royal letters, &c., addressed to particular persons, under seal, and not open to public inspection (see [Record]; Chancery; [Letters Patent]). From the sense of “closed up,” and so “confined,” comes the common meaning of “near.”
CLOSURE (Fr. clôture), the parliamentary term for the closing of debate according to a certain rule, even when certain members are anxious to continue the debate. (See [Parliament]: Procedure.)
CLOT, ANTOINE BARTHÉLEMY (1793-1868), French physician, known as Clot Bey, was born at Grenoble on the 7th of November 1793, and graduated in medicine and surgery at Montpellier. After practising for a time at Marseilles he was made chief surgeon to Mehemet Ali, viceroy of Egypt. At Abuzabel, near Cairo, he founded a hospital and schools for all branches of medical instruction, as well as for the study of the French language; and, notwithstanding the most serious religious difficulties, instituted the study of anatomy by means of dissection. In 1832 Mehemet Ali gave him the dignity of bey without requiring him to abjure his religion; and in 1836 he received the rank of general, and was appointed head of the medical administration of the country. In 1849 he returned to Marseilles, though he revisited Egypt in 1856. He died at Marseilles on the 28th of August 1868. His publications included: Relation des épidémies de choléra qui ont régné à l’Heggiaz, à Suez, et en Égypte (1832); De la peste observée en Égypte (1840); Aperçu général sur l’Égypte (1840); Coup d’œil sur la peste et les quarantaines (1851); De l’ophthalmie (1864).