384. | 
Anecdotes of Baron Bornf, the celebrated 
Bohemian Chymiji. 
From Townfon’s Travels in Hungary, 
4to, f. 410. 
HE Baron was born at Carlf- 
burg in Tranfylvania, of a 
noble family, came early in life to 
Vienna, and ftudied under the Jefu- 
its; who, no doubt, perceiving in 
himmore than common abilities,and 
that he would one day be an honour 
to their order, prevailed on.him to 
enter intoit; but of this fociety he 
was amember only for about a year 
and a half. He then left Vienna 
and went to Prague, where, as it is 
the cuftom in Germany, he ftudied 
the law. As foon as he had com- 
pleted his ftudies, he made a tour 
through apart of Germany, Hol- 
land, the Netherlands, and France ; 
and returning to Prague, he engag- 
ed in the ftudies of natural hiftory, 
mining, and their connected branch- 
es; and in 1770 he was received in- 
to the department of the mines and 
mint at Prague. As we learn from 
his letters, this year he made a tour, 
and vifited the principal mines of 
Hungary and Tranfylvania, and 
during it kept up a correfpondence 
with the celebrated Ferber, who in 
1774 publifhed his letters. It was 
in this tour that he fo nearly lof his 
life, and where he was {truck with 
that difeafe which embittered the 
reft of his days, and which was only 
rendered fupportable by a ftrong 
philofophic mind and active difpo- 
fition. 
It was at Felfo-Banya where he 
met with this misfortune, as appears 
from his eighteenth letter to Mr, 
Ferber. He defcended here into a 
mine where fire was ufed to detach 
the ore, to obferve the efficacy of 
this means, too foon after the fire 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 179): 
had been extinguifhed, and whilft 
the mine was full of arfenical va- 
pours raifed by the heat. “ My long 
filence,’’ fays he to his friend Fer- 
ber, “is the confequence of an un- 
lucky accident, which had almoft 
coit me my life. I defcended the 
great mine to fee the manner. of 
applying the fire, and its effects on 
the mine, when the fire. was hardly 
extinét, and the mine was full of 
{moke.”? How greatly he fuffered 
in his health by this accident ap- 
pears from his letter which we men- 
tioned when we fpoke of Tokay ; 
where it will be remembered he 
complained that he could hardly 
bear the motion of his carriage. — 
Upon this misfortune he haftened 
to Vienna. After this he was ap- 
pointed at Prague counfellor of the 
mines. In 1771 he publithed a 
{mall work of the Jefuit Poda, on 
the machinery ufed about mines; 
and the next year his Lithophylacinm 
Borneanum. This is the catalogue 
of his collection of foffils which 
he afterwards difpofed of to the 
Honourable Mr. Greville. This 
work drew on him the attention of 
mineralogifts, and brought him in- 
to correfpondence with the firft men 
in this line. He was now made a 
member of the Royal Societies of 
Stockholm, Vienna, and Padua; 
and in 1774 the fame honour was 
conferred on him by the Royal So- 
ciety of London. 
During his refidence in Bohemia, 
he did not apply himfelf to the bu- 
finefs of his charge alone; but his 
active difpofition induced him to 
feck for opportunities of extending 
knowledge, and of being ufeful to 
the world. He took a part in the 
work entitled Portraits of the Learned 
Men and Artifis of Bohemia and Mora- 
vias He was likewife concerned in 
the 
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