THE ANALYST 





MEMOIR OF SIR HANS SLOANE, Bart., 



FOUNDER OP THE BRITISH MUSEUM. 



A sketch of the useful life of this illustrious physician and 

 naturalist, cannot but be acceptable to our readers, at a time when 

 the proposed improvements in the British Museum, detailed in the 

 recent report of the committee of inquiry, form the general topic of 

 conversation in the scientific and literary circles of the day. It has 

 been compiled principally from contemporary writers whose authen- 

 ticity may be relied on. 



Sir Hans Sioane, Bart., was the son of Alexander Sloane, who 

 was placed at the head of a colony of Scots which James I. settled 

 in the north of Ireland, and the subject of this biographical sketch 

 was born, on the 16th of April, 1660, at Killileagh, in that dis- 

 trict. He discovered a strong inclination for natural history, even 

 in his infancy, and devoted those hours generally employed by 

 young persons in trifling pursuits, to the study of nature, and the 

 admiration of her multiform and attractive productions. At the 

 age of sixteen, he was seized with a spitting of blood, which inter- 

 rupted the regular course of his studies, and confined him to his 

 chamber for three years. He had already acquired enough of the 

 healing art to know that such a malady was not to be suddenly 

 cured ; and his prudence directed him to abstain from any stimulant 

 that might tend to increase the disorder. By a strict regimen 

 adopted at this time, and which he afterwards always observed, he 

 was enabled to prolong his life beyond the ordinary bounds assigned 

 to the age of man ; being himself an example of the truth of his 



