fer, in the Gentleman's Magazine:-he carefully perused it, and immediately added that it was false in every respect. "It would have given me great pleasure," said he, "to have heard him recant, but I cannot with certainty say that I perceived the least disposition in him to do so; and even the expression, I consent to all,' was rather, perhaps, uttered from a wish to oblige me as his friend, or a desire to shorten the conversation, than from any change in his opinions. After having thus examined himself, however, for some minutes, he gave a sign of being ready, and received absolu, tion as I had proposed to him. I then left him: he shook my hand heartily upon quiting him, and said that he was happy he had

seen me."

It was the intention of this excellent priest to have visited him again in the evening, and to have passed the whole of the night in his room. On returning to the house, however, he was informed that the doctor's physicians had strictly prohibited his being seen by any of his friends that evening, in consequence of which M. St. Martin returned home with much reluctance; and on renewing his visit the next morning found he was just dead. A domestic of the catholic persuasion who lived in an adjoining house, and had been frequent in her inquiries concerning the doctor, knocked at his door as he was in the very act of dying; and his confidential ser, vant, terrified at the appearance of her master, readily opened the door and requested her to walk up stairs. She beheld him almost at his last gasp, and immediately repeated, according to the rites of her church, the Creed, Paternoster, and Ave Maria: Dr. Geddes just opened his eyes as she had concluded, gave her his benediction, and expired.' P. 524.

Mr. Good closes the Life with a well drawn, but we think too flattering, character of his friend; who, on the whole, was certainly an extraordinary man; and, among great eccentricities, possessed many virtues.

ART. XI.-Lectures on the Elements of Chemistry, delivered in the University of Edinburgh; by the late Joseph Black, M. D. &c. Now published from his Manuscripts, by John Robison, LL.D, &c. 2 Vols. 4to. 31, 3s, Boards, Longman and Rees. 1803.

WE introduce this work with peculiar satisfaction, and would recommend it, with an earnestness arising from a com. plete knowledge of its merits, to every philosophic inquirer, It is an admirable picture of scientific research, according to the plan proposed by Bacon, followed by Newton, and admitted by the best modern inquirers. The inductive reasoning is rigourously strict, the premises correctly stated, and the conclusion drawn with peculiar precision, The younger student may learn, from the professor's example, to reject fanciful analogies which have assumed the garb of demonstra

tion; to distrust even more pointed similarities, unless tried under different forms, in circumstances carefully varied, and accurately noticed. He may be convinced that truth rarely yields to common exertions, that it must be extorted by various means, and demonstrated by repeated examples. In this view alone, the volumes before us would be highly valuable; but they possess other merits.

The splendor of the discoveries which have enlightened modern chemistry has almost obscured the useful, but less brilliant, irradiations of our ancestors; and, in our admiration of Lavoisier, Guyton, and Berthollet, we have almost forgotten Stahl, Boerhaave, Margraaf, and Boyle. The new nomenclature has contributed to throw them further back into the shades of oblivion; and, as we have had occasion to remark, if this new language be exclusively taught, we shall lose the valuable experience of more than a century. It must, then, be no inconsiderable advantage, that, while the value of every modern discovery is justly appreciated, cach is connected with what former authors have attempted, and, in many respects, with what they have accomplished. The whole is brought forward in one view; and we have, at the same time, a connected system of both ancient and modern chemistry, in a form, and with advantages, far superior to those which any other work has offered. Dr. Black yielded slowly to the discoveries of the French chemists; and he yielded only after repeated trials and full conviction. At the same time, he warmly condemned the hasty conclusions of some authors; their random attempts without a determinate object; their experiments to support the most important doctrines, neither conducted with caution, nor varied with a guarded discrimination.

Dr. Black, if not strictly the parent of the modern doctrines, contributed greatly to expand the views of philosophers, and to direct them in the track which led to their discoveries. Hales knew that air was absorbed and again evolved in various processes; and Mayow, that this air, in different circumstances, varied in its properties. Dr. Black found, that, when air was separated from bodies, their qualities were changed; but that they regained their former properties on the re-union of the same principle. This was the case with calcareous earth, when fixed air was separated and again added. It is somewhat singular that he should not have combined this fact with the experiment of Hales, who showed that air was united to metals in their calcination. Phlogiston was, however, very generally believed to exist; and almost every fact seemed to unite in proving that this favourite

* Tenebræ per tantum lumen oborte. OVID.

principle was the cause of the metallic splendor and combus tibility. Besides, as fixed air rendered caustic lime mild, it could scarcely be supposed that an aerial fluid would give pungency or causticity. Dr. Black, too, made a most singular and truly important discovery, that heat may, in an inactive state, become a component part of bodies; in other words, that it may be latent, and again, on separation, re-assume its active properties. This step led to our present knowledge of the nature of calorie, and was, in every view, of the highest importance. It was the foundation of the whole of the present system, which, in the more essential points, is apparently irrefragable.

Dr. Black, it has been said, was indolent. Candid and open in his disposition, there were no concealments in his communications. What he discovered, he freely explained; but his discoveries were not numerous. He cautiously followed the labours of others, correcting, adding to, or confirming, their observations. His own remarks were scattered without a parent's fondness, and with little of parental anxiety. He lived free from controversy, calm, respected, and happy.

We have wandered from the work, while dwelling, with all the warmth of former friendship, on its author. We have wandered, too, from the editor, in contemplating the subject of his anxious attention; yet we need not stay to speak of his early connexion with Dr. Black-a connexion ripened, into sincere affection-nor of the difficulty of collecting the Sibylline leaves from which the professor usually lectured. He has, we believe, with honest zeal performed the office of a friend; and perhaps few could have succeeded so well in giving a connected view of Dr. Black's class. We have every reason to be satisfied with the state of the work before us; nor is it one of its least advantages, that we are led by the author in the steps which Dr. Black himself took in completing these discoveries.

The life of the doctor is written with the zealous warmth of affection, from information contained in the biographic sketch read to the Royal Society of Edinburgh by his friend and relation Dr. Adam Ferguson. It is, indeed, written like the French éloges, with too apparent an eagerness to praise; and the author not only oversteps the bounds of probability, but sometimes those of strict accuracy. Dr. Black was not always averse to hypotheses; but they were not incorporated into his system; they had no influence on his reasoning. One we particularly remember, viz. where he supposed his fixed air to be a compound of common air and phlogiston. That Dr. Black was ever a popular or a successful medical practitioner, we doubt. His caution, his hesitation, the phi

losophic coldness of his manner, would prevent his attaining either character; and we well recollect, that, on the death of Dr. Gregory, he was with some effort brought forward as a practical physician; yet, even then, either from disinclination, or other causes, he had but a temporary and inconsiderable share of occupation. Dr. Cullen was his early and constant friend; yet we suspect that he did not view him with complacency, as a chemical discoverer-the department in which he himself was anxious to shine; and many insinua tions against the doctrine of latent heat, might, we believe, be traced to that source. On the other hand, the biographer steps from his line, when, in praising Dr. Black's caution, modesty, and attention, he speaks with a little disapprobation of others who seise on general principles, and attempt to convey the force and effect of numerous facts in one proposition. That these remarks are aimed at Dr. Cullen, it is sufficiently obvious; but each author may have investigated truth in different ways. Dr. Cullen might seise, with boldness, a spectre; and, on the gradual introduction of light, determine whether he grasped a vapour or a goddess: Dr. Black, with more timid caution, might carefully examine whether it were a phantom or a reality; and yet each, in different ways, may be equally successful. Because one succeeds, it is not certain that the other must fail. Our biographer's observations relate to Dr. Black's medical lectures, where Dr. Cullen's happy boldness was more successful; while, in chemistry, the former attained a considerable degree of reputation by a contrary conduct.

Dr. Black was born at Bourdeaux. His father, an Irishman, but of Scottish descent, appears to have supported a character truly respectable, as a man of strict integrity, candour, benevolence, and ability. He was the friend of the president Montesquieu. Dr. Black was sent to Glasgow at the age of twelve; and, at an early period, engaged warmly in the study of chemistry and medicine. This ardour was fostered by Dr. Cullen, at that time beginning the career which he afterwards ran so successfully-a career that will soon be forgotten, as, among his numerous pupils, not one has been found to rescue his merits from oblivion. Mr. Black went from Glasgow to Edinburgh in 1751, and graduated there in 1754, regularly attending the lectures, without availing himself of the privileges he might have claimed from his previous studies. The first germ of his discoveries was published in his Thesis;' but his earliest ideas are to be traced in his

As nearly fourteen years have elapsed since his death, we thought ourselves justified in this remark. We find, however, on inquiry, that the doctor's family have received numerous offers of assistance, but do not seem inclined to communicate information to any one.

numerous memoranda, to the year 1752, and may have occurred earlier. These relate to the cause of the causticity of lime. In 1756 he was appointed professor of anatomy, and lecturer in chemistry, in the university of Glasgow, on the removal of Dr. Cullen to Edinburgh. This professorship he soon exchanged for that of medicine.

'His lectures, therefore, on the Institutes of Medicine, were his chief task. They gave the greatest satisfaction, by their perspicuity and simplicity, and by the cautious moderation of all his general doctrines. It required, however, all this perspicuity, and all this neatness in the manner of exhibiting simple truths, to create a relish for this great moderation and caution, after the brilliant prospects of systematic knowledge, to which the students had been accustomed from the doctor's celebrated predecessor. But Dr. Black had no wish to form a medical school, which should be distinguished by some all-comprehending doctrine. He contented himself with giving a clear and systematic account of as much of physiology as he thought founded on good principles, and a short sketch of such general doctrines as were maintained by eminent authors, but perhaps on a less firm foundation. Without this, he said that his students could not read their writings, which, in other respects, were highly valuable. He then endeavoured to deduce a few canons of medical practice; and concluded with certain rules, founded on successful practice only, but not so deducible from the previously delivered principles of physiology; observing that we should not despair of being able, on some future day, to proceed in the opposite direction, deducing the first principles entirely from the practice. It does not appear, however, that he had ever satisfied himself with his method of treating those subjects. He did not encourage conversation on those topics; and there are no remains of his medical lectures to be found among his papers. I owe the account now given of them to a respectable surgeon in Glasgow, who attended these lectures in the two last years of his professorship in that university.' P. xxix.

From his professorship having engaged so much of his attention-for the lectureship seems a subordinate office-Mr. Robison accounts for Dr. Black's not having followed with more ardour his chemical pursuits, and prosecuted more eagerly the discoveries so truly his own. We fear, however, that Dr. Black's mind was at no period very active. He smoothed the road which required too great labour to institute. He corrected what would have been too toilsome to create: no one's views were more clear, distinct, and philosophic: no one formed opinions more precise, or judgements more accurate and discriminated.

From the year 1759 to 1763, he brought to maturity his opinions respecting latent heat, the substance of which he read to a literary society at Glasgow in 1762;--a system not speculative only; not dry, barren, and inapplicable to the