culations was, unfortunately, lost in an attempt to work coal and salt mines at Barrowstones, on the Duke of Hamilton's estate. He passed the last twenty years of his life wholly dependent on a small annuity granted him by his creditors, and died on the 17th of July, 1794. He was a fellow of the Royal Society, to whose Transactions he communicated several philosophical papers, besides being the author of two political pamphlets.

MUDGE, (JOHN,) son of the celebrated Rev. Zachariah Mudge, was born in Devonshire, in 1720, and practised as a physician, for many years, at Plymouth, where he died of the gout, on the 26th of April, 1793. He became very celebrated in his profession, both as a practitioner and writer, and was a fellow of the Royal Society, whose Transactions he enriched by an account of a mode he had discovered for improving the formation of reflecting telescopes. As a medical writer, he distinguished himself by the following publications:-Dissertation on the Inoculated Small Pox, &c.; A Radical and Expeditious Cure for a Recent and Catarrhous Cough, &c., which reached a third edition; a paper On Removing the only Defect in the Lateral Operation for the Stone, inserted in the Philosophical Transactions; and An Experienced and Successful Method of Treating the Fistula in Ano, inserted in the fourth volume of The Medical Memoirs.

WALMESLEY, (CHARLES,) was born in 1722, and educated for the Roman catholic church, in which he arrived at the dignity of bishop in his thirty-fifth year. He was also vicar apostolic of the western district, and a doctor of theology in the Sorbonne. He is entitled to notice, in this work, as the last survivor of those eminent mathematicians whose regulations of the chronological style in England, produced a change of the style in the year 1752. He was a fellow of the Royal Society, and contributed to the Philosophical Transactions some ingenious astronomical essays. He also published several separate works, both on mathematics and theology; among which are his Analyse des Mesures des Rapports

et des Angles, being an extension and explanation of Cotes's Harmonia Mensurarum ; Theoire du Mouvement des Aspides; De Inæqualitatibus Motuum Lunarium; and An Explanation of the Apocalypse. He died at Bath, where he had the misfortune to lose several valuable manuscripts during the time of the riots, in the year 1797.

RUSSELL, (PATRICK,) was born at Edinburgh, in February, 1726; and after having received both his classical and medical education in that city, joined his brother at the English factory in Aleppo, and succeeded him as physician there, in 1755. During his residence there, he was much respected, both for his abilities and behaviour, and was allowed, by the Bashaw of Aleppo, to wear a turban, a mark of distinction seldom conferred upon an European. In 1759, he wrote several letters respecting some remarkable shocks of an earthquake, at that time felt in Syria, which were published in the Philosophical Transactions for the following year. About 1772, he returned to England, and settled, as a physician, in London, where he remained till 1781, when he accompanied a younger brother to Vizagapatam, in the East Indies; and, in 1785, was appointed, by the governor of Madras, naturalist to the East India Company. In this capacity, he wrote a small work, illustrated with figures, on the serpent, in order to enable persons to distinguish between the poisonous and harmless species of that animal, copies of which were transmitted to all the subordinate settlements and military stations. In 1789, he returned to England; and, two years afterwards, published his Treatise on the Plague, in two volumes, quarto; a work which had been the result of his observations of that disease at Aleppo during the years 1760, 1761, and 1762. In 1794, he published a second edition of The Natural History of Aleppo, by Alexander Russell, to which he had made so many important additions, that it was looked upon almost as a new work. In 1796, the East India directors published, at their own expense, his work on Snakes; and also, in 1803, his work, in two volumes, folio, entitled Descriptions and Figures of Two Hundred Fishes, collected on the coast of

Ray and Dillenius. By this publication he gained considerable reputation, both in his own country and on the continent. It was considered, in every way, superior to the Flora Scotica of Mr. Lightfoot, and derived no small advantage from a comparison with Mr. Hill's attempt of the same kind. In 1783, his house being burnt down, he lost not only a considerable quantity of property, in default of insurance, but also all his collection of manuscripts, which he had intended to publish under the title of Fauna Britannica. He bore his misfortune with singular equanimity of mind; and, having removed to Jermyn Street, gave up practice, and devoted himself to his favourite subject of botany, to the time of his death, which occurred on the 23rd of May, 1793. He was, in 1761, admitted a fellow of the Royal Society, and of the Linnæan Society, in 1791; he also, for some time, took the lead in the affairs of the Apothecaries' Company, and was, for many years, their botanical demonstrator in the Chelsea garden. He corresponded frequently with Linnæus and Haller, who were both of much service to him in his studies, which were extended "not only to botany, in all its cryptogamic minutiæ, but to insects, shells, and other branches of British zoology."

WEDGEWOOD, (JOSIAH,) was born in July, 1730. He was the younger son of a Staffordshire potter; and, being destined for the same business, learnt nothing more in the way of education than reading, writing, and arithmetic. But the great powers of mind which he possessed, gave him ideas superior to his station, and enabled him to make such improvements in that branch of business, to which he was brought up, as not only gained him a handsome fortune, but considerable reputation, also, in the scientific world. The Staffordshire potteries had produced no article superior to common earthenware, until the introduction of glazing, by two Dutchmen of the name of Euler, and the subsequent discovery, by a Mr. Astbury, of mixing calcined flint with the clay of Devonshire. A mechanic, of the name of Alsager, afterwards improved the construction of the potter's wheel, yet the Staffordshire was con

sidered much inferior in beauty to a French article, which, about, 1760, was imported into this country, in considerable quantity. A turn, however, was given to the market, in 1763, by Mr. Wedgewood's invention of a species of ware, which united so many excellencies for the table, that it was patronised by the queen and nobility, and, under the name of queen's ware, came into very general use. Its materials consisted of the whitest clays from Devonshire and Dorsetshire, mixed with ground flint, and coated with a vitreous glaze. A variety of subsequent experiments enabled the inventor to produce several other species of earthenware and porcelain, to which his own taste, and that of his partner, Mr. Bentley, imparted a classical elegance, that not only furnished models for a variety of articles in other materials, but exercised a considerable influence over the national taste. Nor was the fame of his potteries confined to England: services of queen's ware were to be seen on the tables of the remotest countries in Europe. Mr. Wedgewood also carried on the pursuits of science with success; and chemistry is indebted to him for the invention of a very useful hydrometer, adapted to the mensuration of high degrees of heat. Its principle is the property of very pure clays, when thoroughly dried, of undergoing contraction on exposure to fire, which continues in regular progression up to the highest heat procurable by furnaces. He wrote several papers on this subject, which were published in the Philosophical Transactions for 1782, 1784, and 1786. Mr. Wedgewood died, at his house in Staffordshire, to which he had given the name of Etruria, in January, 1795. His death excited universal regret in the neighbourhood, the population and wealth of which had been prodigiously increased by the fame of his potteries, and his own liberal promotion of all improvements which could tend to the advantage of the country. Good roads were constructed, through his means, in several parts of the potteries; and he had the chief share in the measure for carrying through parliament the act for the grand Trunk canal, connecting the Trent and the Mersey, in opposition to a powerful landed interest. For his private cha

racter, no eulogy seems too high, whilst his dealings with mankind, and his manners in society, were such as to bespeak him the gentleman, in the most dignified and estimable sense of the word.

BERKENHOUT, (JOHN,) was born at Leeds, in 1730; and, after having received the rudiments of education, went to Germany, for the purpose of studying the continental languages. He afterwards made the tour of Europe; and, on his return to Berlin, instead of going into trade, as his father had intended, became a cadet in the Prussian service. In 1756, on the breaking out of the war with France, he was appointed captain in an English regiment, in which he served till the peace of 1760; when, being of an active disposition of mind, and finding his half pay insufficient for his comfortable support, he went to Edinburgh, and commenced the study of medicine. While at the university, he published his Clavis Anglica Lingua Botanica; "a book," says Hutchinson, "of singular utility; being the only botanical lexicon in our language, and particularly expletive of the Linnæan system." About 1764, he removed to Leyden, and took there his degree of M.D. in the following year. On his return to England, he settled at Isleworth, in Middlesex; and, shortly afterwards, published his Pharmacopæia Medici, which reached a third edition in 1782. In 1778, he was sent, by government, with the commissioners, to America, and was, for some time, imprisoned at Philadelphia, on suspicion of having been sent as a spy by Lord North. For the dangers he had incurred, he was rewarded, on his arrival in England, with a pension, till the period of his death, which occurred in 1791. In addition to the works above-mentioned, he published Outlines of the Natural History of Great Britain and Ireland, a work which established his reputation as a naturalist, and was, for some time, out of print; An Essay on the Bite of a Mad Dog; Symptomatology, "a book," says Hutchinson, "which is too universally known to require any recommendation;" First Lines of the Theory and Practice of Philosophical Chemistry; A Continuation of Campbell's Lives of Admirals;

and Biographia Literaria, of which one volume only was published. He is said, also, to have been the author of several metrical and prose witticisms, and of a translation of Count Tessin's letters to the King of Sweden.

MASERES, (FRANCIS, Baron,) descended from a French family, which settled in England on the revocation of the edict of Nantes, was born on the 15th of December, 1731, in Broad Street, Soho, where his father practised as a physician. Having been educated at Kingston-upon-Thames, he removed to Clare Hall, Cambridge, where he graduated B. A. in 1752, M. A. in 1755, and obtained a fellowship. In 1758, he published A Dissertation on the Negative Sign in Algebra, containing a demonstration of the rules concerning it, in which he argued strongly against the received doctrine of negative quantities. Having removed to the Inner Temple, he was, in due time, cailed to the bar, and went the western circuit, where his practice was extremely limited. He was, however, in a short time, appointed attorney-general of Quebec, where he performed his duties with a strict regard to the interests of the province; and, on his return, he, in August, 1773, received the appointment, which he held till his death, of cursitor baron of the Exchequer. He also became agent to the protestant settlers in Quebec; and, in 1779, deputy-recorder of London. In the following year, he was elected senior judge of the sheriff's court in the same city, where he presided till 1822, when he resigned the office. In 1784, when Dr. Hutton was displaced from the Royal Society, he warmly espoused his cause; and, with a few others of the same party, retired with him from the institution, when he was deprived of his office of foreign secretary. In 1800, he published Tracts on the Resolutions of Affected Algebraic Equations, by Dr. Halley, Mr. Raphson, and Sir Isaac Newton; and continued to publish various works, till the period of his death, which took place at Reygate, Surrey, on the 19th of May, 1824. The most celebrated of the baron's writings is his Scriptores Logarithmici, which appeared at intervals, in six quarto volumes, between the years 1791 and

1807.

His other works relate principally to subjects connected with law, politics, or history. He also wrote numerous articles in the Philosophical Transactions, and A View of the Ancient Constitution of the English Parliament, for the second volume of The Archæologia. His character was highly estimable, though marked by a few peculiarities. He would live, sometimes the year round, at his chambers in the Temple; and, though he dined at Rathbone Place, where he had an establishment, he never slept there. He patronised literature with great liberality; and, on one occasion, advanced £1,500 to bring out some particular work. He was held in great esteem by the scientific world, and round his table were frequently to be found the first mathematicians of the day. He was of such an even temper, that a celebrated chessplayer declared he was the only man he had seen whose countenance did not indicate whether he was winning or losing, at that game; and so averse was he to a domatising spirit, that, after seeing Dr. Johnson, he expressed a wish that he might never be again in that mau's company."

WALKER, (ADAM,) the son of a woollen manufacturer, was born in Westmoreland, in 1731. Almost before he could read, he was put to his father's business, but this did not hinder him from indulging his taste for mechanics. During his leisure hours, he eonstructed models of corn mills, paper mills, fulling mills, &c., which he erected, in miniature, on a small brook near his home, and he is said to have built himself a hut in the neighbouring thicket, where he used to retire for the purpose of reading. At the age of fifteen, he became usher to a school at Ledsham, in the West Riding of Yorkshire; and, three years afterwards, was appointed mathematical tutor to the free school at Macclesfield. Here, also, he engaged in trade; but so unskilfully, or unsuccessfully, that he became bankrupt. A romantic notion now entered into his head of passing the remainder of his life as an anchorite, in one of the islands of Lake Windermere; and the ridicule of his friends alone deterred him from carrying his scheme into effect. moving to Manchester, he established

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there an extensive seminary; but the great success with which a lecture delivered by him, on astronomy, in that town, had been attended, induced him to give up his school. His reputation, as an astronomical lecturer, was soon extended, by his visits, in that capacity, to the principal cities and towns; and at length, in 1778, by the advice of Dr. Priestley, he took the Haymarket Theatre, in London, for the display of his abilities. His success was such as to induce him to settle in the metropolis; and, having taken a house in George Street, Hanover Square, he continued to read a course of lectures every winter; attending, at intervals, Westminster, Eton, Winchester, and other great foundation schools. lectures were accompanied by the exhibition of an eidouranian, or transparent orrery, in which, as in many others of his own invention, he displayed considerable mechanical skill. Several works also came from his pen, which amply sustained his reputation as a man of science, up to the period of his death, which took place on the 11th of February, 1821. His scientific writings are, A Treatise on the Cause and Cure of Smoky Chimnies; Philosophical Estimate of the Causes, Effects, and Cure of Unwholesome Air in Cities; A System of Familiar Philosophy in Lectures; A Treatise on Geography and the Use of the Globes; besides various papers in the magazines, Philosophical Transactions, Young's Annals of Agriculture, &c. Mr. Walker was also the author of Ideas suggested in an Excursion through Flanders, Germany, Italy, and France; and, Remarks made in a Tour to the Lakes of Westmoreland and Cumberland, in the Summer of 1791, to which is annexed a Sketch of the Police, Religion, Arts, and Agriculture of France, made in an excursion to Paris, in 1785.

WALES, (WILLIAM,) was born in 1734, and, in 1769, visited Hudson's Bay, for the purpose of making observations on the transit of Venus, an account of which he published. He was, in consequence, appointed to accompany Captain Cook in his two first voyages of discovery, of which he kept a journal, afterwards printed under the title of Astronomical Observations in