18 BIOLOOTCAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 



Dr. James Woodhouse [b. 1770, d. 1809] was author and ed- 

 itor of several chemical text-books and Professor of Chemistry in 

 the University, a position which he took'after it had been refused 

 by Priestley. He made experiments and observations on the 

 vegetation of plants, and investigated the chemical and medical 

 properties of the persimmon tree. He it was who first demon- 

 strated the superiority of anthracite to bituminous coal by reason 

 of its intensity and regularity of heating power.* 



The Rev. Ebenezer Kinnersley [b. in Gloucester, England, 

 Nov. 30, 171 1, d. in Philadelphia, July 4, 177S] survived the 

 Revolution, though, in his latter years, not a contributor to 

 science. The associate of Franklin in " the Philadelphia Ex- 

 periments " in electricity, his discoveries were famous in Europe 

 as well as in America. f It is claimed that he originated the 

 theory of the positive and negative in electricity ; that he first 

 demonstrated the passage of electricity through water ; and that 

 he first discovered that heat could be produced by electricity ; 

 besides inventing numerous mechanical devices of scientific 

 interest. From i753 to 177-^ '^^ ^^^ connected with the 

 University of Pennsylvania, where there may still be seen a 

 window dedicated to his memory. 



Having already referred to the history of scientific instruction 

 in America, J and shown tliat Hunter lectured on comparative 

 anatomy in Newport in 1754; Kuhn on Botany, in Philadel- 

 phia, in 1768, Waterhouse on natural history and botany, at 

 Cambridge, in 1788 ; and some unidentified scholars upon chem- 

 istry and natural history, in Philadelphia, in 1785, it would 

 seem unjust not to speak of Kinnersley's career- as a lecturer. 



who was so impressed that he at once addressed a letter to Edmund Hallej 

 in England, giving a full description of the construction and uses of God- 

 frey's instrument." 



* SiLLiMAN : American Contributions to Chemistry, p. 13. 



t See Priestley's History of Electricity. 



f P. 99, attte. 



