OP THE LATE MB. WILLIAM STURGEON. 81 



tion of Jacobi's " Whole Galvanoplastic Art," and a new 

 edition of Barlow's " Treatise on Magnetism." His last 

 work, which was completed only a few weeks before his 

 death, was a compilation, in one large quarto volume, of 

 the whole of his published scientific papers, systematically 

 arranged, preceded by an able historical sketch of electro- 

 magnetism, from its commencement until the year 1823. 



That a man, whose whole life was spent in hard labour, 

 both mental and bodily, and in the anxieties and depriva- 

 tions incident to slender pecuniary resources, should have 

 attained to the age of even 67 years, is somewhat remark- 

 able, and shows, what other similar cases testify, how in- 

 timate a connexion subsists between the strength of the 

 mind and the stamina of the constitution. Or, rather, does 

 it not teach that the brain being kept under steady discipline, 

 and in constant active employment, reacts on the body so as 

 to produce a corresponding vigor in the functions by which 

 life is sustained? Mr. Sturgeon continued, with little in- 

 termission, in a course of assiduous industry until ten days 

 before his death, which took place at Prestwich, on Sunday, 

 December 8th, 1851. 



In considering the moral and intellectual qualities of this 

 eminent man, it is needful to recollect that from his birth 

 to 1820, an interval of 37 years elapsed, during which the 

 circumstances of his position precluded almost entirely the 

 cultivation of the higher faculties of the mind. Thus, to 

 were wanting all those advantages which belong so 

 eminently to early study ; such as the stimulus of first ideas ; 

 freshness and pliability of imagination ; the vigour and hope- 

 fulness of a mind unsoured with disappointment, and un- 

 clogged with the infirmities which begin to settle upon it 

 when the meridian of life is scarcely attained. That Mr. 

 Sturgeon succeeded at all with such a fundamental disad- 

 vantage, can only be attributed to the amazing elasticity and 

 sanguineness of his temperament. This quality, so essential 



