in his father's library, acquired much miscellaneous knowledge, and before he was twenty gave proof of no small aptitude for antiquarian research in his ‘Topography and Natural History of Hampstead,’ Loncon, 1814; 2nd edit. 1818, 8vo.
On 14 Nov. 1815 Park was admitted a student at Lincoln's Inn, where he was called to the bar on 6 Feb. 1822, having practised for some years below it. He was initiated into the mysteries of conveyancing by Richard Preston [q. v.], and while still a student, published a learned ‘Treatise on the Law of Dower,’ London, 1819, 8vo, which was long a standard work.
As a jurist, Park belonged to the historical school; as a politician, he belonged to no party. In regard to law reform, codification was his especial aversion (cf. his Contre-Projet to the Humphreysian Code, and to the Project of Redaction of Messrs. Hammond, Uniacke, and Twiss, London, 1828, 8vo, and Three Juridical Letters [under the pseudonym of Eunomus]: addressed to the Right Hon. Sir Robert Peel in reference to the Present Crisis of Law Reform, London, 8vo). Park was a doctor of laws of the university of Göttingen, and in January 1831 was appointed to the chair of English law and jurisprudence in King's College, London. His health, however, was now thoroughly undermined, and he succumbed to a complication of maladies at Brighton on 23 June 1833.
Besides the works mentioned above, Park was author of: 1. ‘Suggestions on the Composition and Commutation of Tithes,’ 1823. 2. ‘An Introductory Lecture delivered at King's College, London,’ London, 1831, 8vo. 3. ‘Conservative Reform: a Letter addressed to Sir William Betham,’ London, 1832, 8vo. 4. ‘What are Courts of Equity?’ London, 1832, 8vo. 5. ‘The Dogmas of the Constitution: Four Lectures delivered at King's College, London,’ London, 1832, 8vo. 6. ‘Systems of Registration and Conveyancing,’ London, 1833, 8vo.
[Gent. Mag. 1786 pt. i. p. 440, 1832 pt. i. p. 329, 1833 pt. ii. pp. 84, 541; Marvin's Legal Bibliography; Brit. Mus. Cat.]
PARK, JOHN RANICAR (1778–1847), surgeon and theologian, only son of Henry Park [q. v.], was born at Liverpool in 1778, and educated, first at Warrington, then under a private tutor, and subsequently on the continent. He entered at Jesus College, Cambridge, graduated M.B. in 1813, and M.D. in 1818. He was licensed to practise by his university on 18 Nov. 1815, and a month later was admitted an inceptor candidate of the Royal College of Surgeons. On 30 Sept. 1819 he was made a fellow of that college, and in 1821 appointed Gulstonian lecturer. He was also a fellow of the Linnean Society. He died at Cheltenham on 14 Dec. 1847.
His professional works consist of: 1. ‘Inquiry into the Laws of Animal Life,’ 1812. 2. ‘Outlines of the Organs of the Human Body.’ 3. ‘The Pathology of Fever [Gulstonian Lectures],’ 1822. His subsequent writings were theological: 1. ‘Views of Prophecy and the Millennium.’ 2. ‘Concise Exposition of the Apocalypse,’ 1823. 4. ‘The Apocalypse Explained,’ 1832. 5. ‘An Amicable Controversy with a Jewish Rabbi on the Messiah's Coming,’ 1832. 6. ‘An Answer to Anti-Supernaturalism,’ 1844.
[Munk's Coll. of Phys. 1879, iii. 202; Smithers's Liverpool, 1825, p. 447; Brit. Mus. Cat.; Allibone's Dict. of Authors.]
PARK, MUNGO (1771–1806), African explorer, was born 10 Sept. 1771 at Fowlshiels, a farm on the estate of the Duke of Buccleuch near Selkirk. The son of Mungo Park and his wife, the daughter of John Hislop of Tennis, he was the seventh child in a family of thirteen. He was educated at home and at Selkirk grammar school, and in 1786, at the age of fifteen, was apprenticed to Thomas Anderson, surgeon, of Selkirk. In October 1789 he entered Edinburgh University, where he passed three sessions, employing his time in the study of medicine, and distinguishing himself by his application to botanical science. He procured his surgical diploma at Edinburgh, and proceeded to London in search of employment towards the end of 1791. Through his brother-in-law, James Dickson, who, after commencing his career as a working gardener, had established a considerable reputation in London as a botanist, he secured an introduction to Sir Joseph Banks [q. v.], then president of the Royal Society, and, through the latter's influence, was appointed assistant medical officer on board the Worcester East Indiaman. In February 1792 Park sailed for the East Indies, and after a successful voyage to Bencoolen in the Isle of Sumatra, he returned to England in the following year. While in Sumatra he continued his botanical studies, and wisely brought home certain rare plants for presentation to his patron, Sir Joseph Banks, in whose estimation he rapidly grew. During the two years following his return from Sumatra, Park chiefly resided in London. On 4 Nov. 1794 he read a paper before the Linnean Society on eight new species of fishes found in
