Mr. Ritter. 



102 GALVANIC DISCOVERIES, 



Mr. Ritter's him (he firft time. Moft of thefe experiments have never yet 



ficT e nt"y°ap" f " been made P ub]ic > and fevv philofophers have juftly appre- 

 preciated, ciated the value of thofe which have been given to the world. 



There are fome people, who, habituated folely to the linking 

 effects of grofler phyfics, fuppofe it impoffible for a young 

 philofopher to fee any thing more than themfelves in the 

 delicate phenomena of a more refined order of phyfical ex- 

 periments. What has greatly contributed to prevent Mr. 

 partly owing to Ritter from attaining the high reputation he deferves is his 

 his ftyle. ftyle, which, by endeavouring to give it preeifion, he has 



rendered obfcure ; but in converfation it is quite otherwife, as 

 here he combines the ftricleft logic with the greateft fimplicity 

 of expreffion. 

 Account of Mr. Ritter is one of thofe men, who owe every thing to the 



infpiration of genius, nothing to education. He was intend- 

 ed for a mechanical occupation, when the difcoveries of gaU 

 vani excited in him that innate tafte for the phyfical fciences, 

 which has carried him over every obftacle, and raifed him to 

 rank among the firft natural philofophers. Deftitute of every 

 fource for procuring himfelf the apparatus indifpenfable to 

 ordinary phyfics, but fwayed by the enthufiafm of inquiry, 

 he greedily feized the opportunity of obeying this impulfe by 

 purfuing a feries of experiments, that require only a fimple 

 and not a very expenfive apparatus. Europe has rung with 

 the fuccefs he has obtained within the feven years he has given 

 to his refearches. He muft have written much to procure 

 himfelf a large pile, and the moft neceflary books of natural 

 philofophy. 



Not lefs indefatigable as an experimenter than ingenious as 

 a theorift, he has committed to writing thoufands of experi- 

 ments, which his time divided between galvanic experiments, 

 application to other branches of phyfics, and the ftudy of 

 languages, has not yet allowed him to put in order for publi- 

 cation. But this (late of confiraint is about to be at an end. 

 The elector Bavaria, that enlightened prince, whofe philo- 

 fophical beneficence attracts to his dominions the moft dif- 

 tinguilhed men of fcience and learning throughout Europe, 

 has juft appointed Mr. Ritter a Member of the Academy of 

 Munich, with a falary of about 200l. a year. 

 He is compo- Mr. Ritter has been employed thefe fix months in COW* 



fing a fyftermuc p f Jn ^ a fyftematic work on galvanifra, but he does not think 



work, on gal- ' ° J ° . 



vanilin. • 



