1800.] Obitua1 y» E 783

D 5 2 that excellent man, is here introduced.

Dr. BLack was the ſon of reſpectablè Scottiſh parents. He receivéd a liberal education in every branch of ſtudy, that could accompliſh the“,, character of the gentleman, or prepare him to do honaur to a learned“ and philoſophical profeſſion. He in due time öbtainéd the Gegr DOCTOR in medicine; and'was invited to a profeſſorſhip inthe dep of the medical ſtudies, in the univerſity of GLAasGo0W

About that time, great exertions were made to eſtabliſh at Edinburgh, a medical ſchool, which might vie with the ſchools of LexYTDEN, of PARIS, oFMOoNTPELIER, of PAvIA. CULLEN had béen ¡

3laſgow, or its neighbourhood, to the chair of a medical pro yrſhip, in the univerſity of EDINBURGH. BLACK was called from Glaſgow; Tome time after, to be a colleague with CULLEN, in the medjcal faculty 1ù the ſame univerſity, and to ſucceed him in the profeſſorſhip of chemiſtiy.

His reputation as a phyſician and a chemiſt, was already high.; But, the expectations which had been conceived of his diſplay-of ability, as a teacher.of chemeſtry 1n Edinburgh, were ſoon amply&fñAtified. Simplicity, clearneſs, and preciſion in lecturing; acéuracy ánd e in the exhibition of experiments; an ardent paſſion for the ſcie which he had devoted his exertions, happily tempered by an ine ſoundneſs of mind, and direéted by calm, philoſophic reaſon

intereſting light, that this very brief and imperfe&t memoir of the life of

artment

ited. from

n; ift guiſhed him above every other teacher of cCHEMTS/TRY thàt Scötland had as yet- ſeen. Chemiſtry had been hitherto valued at. Edinburgh,» for little elſe but the materials and the lights which it was gualified to af- ford to pharmacy. In the hands of BLACcKk, îit quickly bègan to aſſume the dignity of a great branch of phyſical ſcience, little léſs important than that to which the appellation of NATURAL PHILOSOPHY, had hitherto been excluſively confined. The ſtudents of cuEemMIsTRY be- eame continually more numerous at Edinburgh. It was regarded, as an- eſſential part of. liberal education in general, and no longer the mere technical and profeſſional accompliſhment of perſons who were pre- paring to engage in the practice of medicine. The diſciple, of Box K- HAAVE;, the rival of MacQuEeR; Dr. BLacK was'ſoon eſteemed bÿ thoſe who were the beſt able to judge of his merits, as a philoſophical chemiít, and a teacher of chemiſtry, ſuperior to every competiter in the ſame pur- ſuits.

His fame was diffuſed throughout EvuRoPe, by the importance of his ¿wo diſcoveries; that the fixed alkalis, in that which hadbeen hitherto thought their higheſt purity, were but‘combinätions of pure cauſtic alkali with a peculiar gas; and that heat, as in the produétion of cold by eVaporation, was capable of paſſing into a ſtate in which ir ſhould

undeniably continue to exiſt, yet ſhould not be perceptible, either by our feelings, or by the indications of our thermometers. Theſe diſ coveries naturally ld to the diſcovery of the exiſtence of all the different gaſſes before unknv and of the combination of heat and light with a

particular baſe in gas-oxygen, from which they ſeparated in combuſtion. The inaccurate, though multiplied experiments of Prieſtley are not to be compared with the preciſion, the elegance, the importance ot thoſe of BLACK. It is confeſſed, that.nothing but that exceſlive! modeſty of Judgment, which is ſometimes the moſt ſignally conſpicuous in men of the greateſt genius could have withheld BLacxk, after his fir diſ- coveries, from becoming the founder, of that ſyſtem, which has con- ferred immortality on the name of LavoIs1ER.

He joined, in the mean time, the diſcharge of the profeſſional duties af A phyſician, to the labours of an academical teacher of chegnuüſtry. Sis ſkill was great; his manners humane and gentle; kis mind ſuperior to every ſordid artifice, in the competition for medical praétice. Às a phy- fician, therefore, he was very highly eſteemed; and his advice was ever

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