42 HISrORr of the societt. 



bufinefs there was in the hands of a few eminent praditioners 

 who had been long eftablifhed ; fo that no opening was left for 

 a young man whofe merit was yet unknown, who had no 

 powerful connedtions to aflift him on his firft outfet, and very 

 little of that patient and circumfped adiyit.y ^by which a man 

 pufhes himfelf forward in the world. 



These confiderations feem to have made a very deep impref- 

 lion on his mind, and he wrote on the fubjedl of his future pro- 

 fpeifls with confiderable anxiety to his friends in Edinburgh. 



One of thefe friends was Mr James Davie, a young man 

 nearly of his own age, with whom he had early contracted a 

 very intimate friendlhip, that endured through the whole of his 

 life, without interruption, to the fnutual benefit of both. The 

 turn which both of them had for chemical experiments formed 

 their firft connedlion, and cemented it afterwards. They had 

 begun together to make experiments on the nature and produc- 

 tion of fal ammoniac. Thefe experiments had led to fome va- 

 luable difcoveries, and had been farther purfued by Mr Davie 

 during Dr Hutton's abfence. The refult afforded a reafon- 

 able expedation of eftablifhing a profitable manufadure of the 

 fait juft named from coal-foot. 



The projedl of this eftablifliment was communicated by Mr 

 Davie to his friend, who was ftill in London, and it appears to 

 have leffened his anxiety about fettling as a phyfician, and pro- 

 bably was one of the inain caufes of his laying afide all thoughts 

 of that profeffion. Perhaps, too, on a nearer view, he did not 

 find that the pradlice of medicine would afibrd him that leifure 

 for purfuing chemical and other fcientjfic objeds, which he 

 fancied it would do when he faw things at a greater diftance.^ 

 Whatever was the caufe, it is certain that foon after his return 

 to Edinburgh in fummer 1750, he abandoned entirely his views 

 of the pradlice of medicine, and refolved to apply himfelf to 



agriculture. 



The 



