114 HlSrx^KYoJ the SOClEtl'. 



phyHcal fciehce,' and ligid adherents to fa<3, In exclufion of liy- 

 pothefis or vain conjecSlure. Both of confummate humanity and 

 candour. Black was ferious, but not morofe ; Hi^tton play- 

 ful, but not petulant. The one never cracked a joke, the other 

 never uttered a farcafm. Black was always on folid ground, 

 and of him it liiight be faid, Nil molitur ihepti, Hutton, whe- 

 ther for pleafantry or furious refle<5lion, could be in the air, fpe- 

 culate beyond the laws of nature, and treat the common notion 

 of body, with its magnitude and figure, as a miftake. In thefe 

 fpeculations Black never took any part, farther thari to be 

 diverted with any play of fancy, or refinement of thought, 

 which, he Well knew, in the cafe of his friend Hutton, did not 

 preclude the ufe of correal and fober reafon when the fubjedt 

 required it, or was within its cognifance. The refearches of 

 Hutton were unremitted, and his reference to the order and ar- 

 rangement of this, which he called a Living World, was judi- 

 cious and happy *. Unreal as corporeal fubjecfts were in his ap- 

 prehenfion, he eftabliftied a lucrative manufadure, on principles 

 of chemiftry, and was for many years of his life keenly employ- 

 ed in the pra<5\ice of agriculture. To this he was led by becoming 

 a proprietor of land on the death of his father, when he haftened 

 to Norfolk, where, he had foritnerly lived with a farmer, to ob- 

 ferve the hufbandry of that country. There he purchafed a 

 plough, hired a ploughman, and brought both on the poft-chaife 

 with him t& Berwicklhire. The neighbours were divened with 

 this aflbrtment of company and baggage, and no lefs with the 

 attempt which followed, to plough with a pair of horfes with- 

 out 



* He, Maa, bad carried His ftudi"es fb far as to ftbtalft a degree in medicine ; but 

 an attempt to confalt or fee him would baVe ^een iiiet ■With a laugh, or feme ludi- 

 crous fancj, to turn off the fubjeft. 



