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National Institute , and that his researches Gaght now to be the principal object of © ur attention . And , as a naturalist he will probably appear most interesting to Europe and to posterity * He has himself said that * for
acquiring durable reputation , the works of science are as superior to all others , as the laws of nature are superior to the organization of societies ; and that of all the Statesmen who have been most powerful in Great Britain , none rivals in celebrity a
Bacon , a Newton , or a Boyle . The assertion is perhaps too strong ; yet it would have been happy if this maxim had been ever present to the mind of Priestley : but he is not the first great man ^ hose disposition was uncontroledj > y his judgment .
It is , however , important to remark tSiat his eccentric opinions had no effect on his conduct , and that all the events of his Ifife ( if we except the undeserved misfortunes which embittered his declining years ) were simple and unvaried . This
is sufficiently proved by the catalogue of his works : when you hear that he composed more than a hundred volumes , you will imagine that he mixed little with the wprld , ami that his history chiefly consists in the analysis of his works .
His father was a tradesman . His first tutor was a country , clergyman . After some years passed in study , he obtained a situation in a college called the Warrjngton academy . He afterward *
accepted the office of pastor of a dissenting church at Leeds , a town in the vicinity cf his native place . I ^ ord Shelburne , the Secretary of state , since Marquis of Lansdown , having heard of his merit , induced him to undertake the education
of his eldest « on , who was well known under the name of Lord Wycomb , and who has now succeeded to the title of his father . At the end of seven years he left the house of this nobleman , and resumed
the pastoral character amongst the dissenters at Birmingham , with whom he remained eleven years , until the time of those persecutions which compelled him to quit the place , and which soon deter mined him to seek a shelter in the United
States . This is a short , yet comprehensive account of his private life : the history of his writings is more important , and requires more ample detail tic began his literary i ^ tjejr with works *> f instruction . An Eng ^| £ | pP&inniar , the first of his prod ucti £ i ^ # j ^ # t ill used many schools in Gr ^^ Ml ^ - Wis *?*•" t orical and biogia ^ hk ^ ^ axts , which
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present to the eye in a commodious manner the origin and the fall of every state , and the period comprised in the life of every Celebrated man ., deserved universal reception . His lectures on history
indicate all the intelligence , all the knowledge requisite for studying with advantage the . revolutions of empires . His lectures oh oratory and criticism are accounted very useful directors for young people .
His first works on natural philosophy were likewise in the didactic form , the history of electricity , the history of optics > and the elements of perspective . At the interesting epoch when Franklin had just invested that noble branch of
philosophy with additional splendor , and had applied it with the boldest hand to practical purposes , appeared " the history of electricity ; that work , a clear and accurate summary of all that had hitherto been done , was translated into several
languages , and began to extend the reputation of Priestley in foreign countries . But quitting the ungrateful task of bringing to light the discoveries of other men , he soon took his station amongst original philosophers .
His inquiries concerning the different sorts of air have especially entitled him to this honor / Ind have established the most durable monument of his glory . It had long been known that air is emitted by various bodies , and absorbed by others in certain circumstances . It had
been observed that the air which is found at the bottom , of wells , and that which arises from liquors in a state of fermentation , extinguishes flame , and is de * structive to animals . In mines , also , a light air was known to exist , which commonly rises to the top of the vaults , and sometimes takes fire with a loud explosion : the first of these had been called
J ixed air , and the other inflammable air 9 we now distinguish them Sy the names of Carbonic acid gas and bydrogene gas . Cavendish had determined the specific weight of the ^ e airs ; Black had discovered that it is the fixed air which renders lime and alkalis effervescent ; and Bergmann had found out that it is of an acid
nature : such was the knowledge acquired when Priestley undertook this subject , and treated it with a felicity peculiar to himself . His dwelling at JLeedi * being near a brewhousc , he had the curiosity to examine the fixed * air exhaled by the beer in fermejua ' tiQ& ; the djejeterious power of
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Eulogy on Dr . Priestley . 211
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VOJL . I . Ft 4
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1806, page 217, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1723/page/49/
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