LZ Caen ITA

4

Obituary.

its.-mólt Sérdenth: ſSüeht by thoſe who were the beſt able to judge of his

“‘guatifcat ns. ¿Hé was- the friend and the confidential phyfician of

y UME; of. whoſe illneſs and death, he’ gave an account in a

lIerrer. ts Dr.“ABAM::SMÍTH, Which has been long ſince béfore the pub-

2A ere was mndeed, ſomething congemal in the tempers and cha-

-_ racers Of the tWo° philoſophers, TOE and BLacKk. Only, BLacx, with perhäps more of fcientific ardour, ſeems to have had leſs than Hume, of the ambition of fame, and of a philofopher’s vanity.

Since, Within theſe Iſt twenty years, chemiſtry became ſo popular a ftudy, and had its ſphere ſo vaſtly expanded; BLacxK had'the pleaſure-of Knowing, that he was univerſa illy regardéd as the moſt eminent of che- miſts, the fatherof whatever diſcoveriés lad the moſt enlarged and exalted the fcience. His diſciples, young men Who reſorted to Edinburgh, from äll guarters, diffuſed his fame‘and his doctrines over Europe, and‘throughout the world. The Engliſh chemiſts highly reſpected the accuracy of his ‘“EXpeFimenits, and thét enlargement of his ſcientific views. LAVOISIER Tearcéêly dared to think his own diſcoveries ſure, tillthey had obtained the approbation of. BLACK. MOVEUAHIN: tovíolate thoſe laws which honour has preſcribed, in regard

7&0„epltolaty- ihftercöurſe, by publiſhing„without BLacxK?s permiſſion, ar privitéttetter, n° which the Scottiſh philoſopher politely expreſſed his ‘gonépal approbation öf the LAvoISIEKIAN experiments„and ERSOS ſo as theſe had been at that time condudted. «Mlle the French PÞP eS eagerly propagated their- theory, and _ rope 5120-Prance, in chemiſtry, that triumph whäach in the explanation df thie Îgnetary” loÿements, NEWTON had Vindicated tó Britain; all Europe awäited: the deciſion of BLAaCx: and ſuch was«the general Cot :“ffidepee În Pis philófophical integrity and-pénetration, that no doubt was Dit: ¿the- part which. BLA4cxK ſhould take, would be that wineh“allthe; Chémical’ philoſophers in Europe, w ould be inclined AA «péétfi Îy#6,‘follow. Tt was com paratively little that BERGMAN and “SCHEELE‘coûld-‘be underſtood to have done: for, their experiments did “not; hke thoſe of BLACK, pervade the whole of chemical ſcience. When at laſt BLacK?s explanations of the phænomena‘to his‘pupils, evinced That he beliéved LAavy.o1s1ER to have not incorreêtly interpreted nature; then, and onlythen, was La vo1s1ER?s dottrine conſidered to be not theory, but demonſtrated ſe IENGE.

Whule. the progreſs of lite, and‘the ſevere“ impreſſion vf ſucceſſive years, rendered hi1s health continually more frail; ſtudents reſorted with increaſing eagerneſs to hear his leétures, and to learn from him the art of making experiments with the genuine attention'6f true ſcience. It was thought, that each ſucceſſive year might be-his laſt: and his words were liſtened to, as thoſe of a prophet or an angel,‘which would be heard”

As long as he continued to teach; his lectures were heard as

nv more. 1nfinÆely intereſting, on account of that dignified modeſty of ſcience*in which they were uttered, and that preciſion and minuteneſs of ex-

pe ment which. they diſplayed.

Je enjoyed one pleáſure, in which no man of intelligénce and virtue can well help envying him. He ſaw, that thoſe lectures which he had been, for a courſe of thirty years, accuſtomed to deliver, had contributed, to an amount even above calculation, to improve Fe arts O: UTE, ind to augment the opulence of men in general, in'his own country, in Britain, a 1 all Euròpe, throughout the w hole world: ſince the improvements of

hich he was the author, extended their influence to all domeſtic life, S all obſervation of nature, to all. the agricultural añd economical arts.

Another number may Schibit that ſkêtch of his charaéter, which the feelings of: nature make one of the moſt reſpectful and aîfettionate of his addmirers, incapable to introduce in this place, C:

The anxious vanity of the Frenchman even

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