I JOSEPH PRIESTLEY 13 



•uncharitableness towards his opponents than a 

 smith does towards his iron. But if the iron 

 could only speak! — and the priests and bishops 

 took the point of view of the iron. 



No doubt what Priestley's friends repeatedly 

 urged upon him — that he would have escaped the 

 heavier trials of his life and one more for the 

 advancement of knowledge, if he had confined 

 himself to his scientific pursuits and let his fellow- 

 men go their way — was true. But it seems to have 

 been Priestley's feeling that he was a man and 

 a citizen before he was a philosopher, and thaf 

 the duties of the two former positions are at 

 least as imperative as those of the latter. More- 

 over, there are men (and I think Priestley was 

 one of them) to whom the satisfaction of throwing 

 down a triumphant fallacy is as great as that 

 which attends the discovery of a new truth; who 

 feel better satisfied with the government of the 

 world, when they have been helping Providence 

 by knocking an imposture on the head; and who 

 care even more for freedom of thought than for 

 mere advance of knowledge. These men are the 

 Carnots who organise victory for truth, and they 

 are, at least, as important as the generals who 

 visibly fight her battles in the field. 



Priestley's reputation as a man of science rests 

 upon his numerous and important contributions to 

 the chemistry of gaseous bodies; and to form a 



