18G Bioijraphical Account of Dr. Wollaston, hij Dn. Tiiojias Thomson. 



Dr. Wollaston was one of seventeen children, all of whom lived to the 

 age of manhood. His mother was Althea Hyde, of Charterhouse Square, 

 London. He was born at East Dereham, a village about sixteen miles 

 from Norwich. After the usual preparatory education he went to Cam- 

 bridge, and entered at Caius College, where he made great progress. He 

 did not graduate in arts, but took the degree of M.B. in 1787, when he 

 was twenty-one years of ago. In 1793 he took the degree of M.D., 

 being of the age of twenty-seven. At Cambridge he resided till 1789^ 

 devoting himself chiefly to astronomy — a taste which be probably imbibed 

 from his father. He was chosen a fellow of Caius College soon after 

 taking his degree, and this fellowship he retained till his death. 



After acquiring the requisite preliminary knowledge, he settled at 

 Bury St. Edmunds, in Suffolk, as a physician. But his success as a 

 practitioner was so bad, that he soon after left that place and went to 

 London. Soon after, a vacancy occurred in St. George's Hospital, and 

 Dr. Wollaston and Dr. Pemberton started as candidates for the office of 

 physician. Dr. Wollaston was particularly ill qualified for canvassing, 

 and almost, as a matter of course, was unsuccessful. This want of suc- 

 cess he took so much to heart, that he renounced the practice of medicine, 

 and declared to his friends that he would never write another pi-escrip- 

 tion. Indeed, he never liked the profession; nor was it well suited to 

 his peculiar turn of mind. He turned his attention to science, and having 

 discovered a method of welding the grains of platinum into metallic bars, 

 became a manufacturer of this metal on an extensive scale, and gradually 

 acquired a handsome fortune. 



He has been accused of avarice, but apparently without reason. His 

 brother wrote him to request him to apply to the ministry of the time 

 being, for some situation (probably in the church) on which he had set 

 his heart. Dr. Wollaston replied that he had never applied for any thing 

 for himself, and could not think, therefore, of applying for another. But, 

 continued Dr. Wollaston, if the enclosed bill be of any service to you, you 

 are perfectly welcome to it. This enclosure was a bank bill for <£10,000. 



He was elected a member of the Eoyal Society in the year 1793, and 

 soon became one of the most active and distinguished members of that 

 scientific body. He and Davy became the two secretaries; and Dr. 

 Wollaston contributed no fewer than thirty-nine papers, which were pub- 

 lished in succession in the Philosophical Transactions; fourteen of these 

 were upon chemical subjects, ten on subjects connected with optics, the 

 remaining fifteen on miscellaneous subjects. 



Dr. Wollaston enjoyed uninterrupted health for many years; but 

 about two years before his death, which happened on the 22d of Decem- 

 ber, 1828, at the age of sixty-two, he was afflicted with a disease of 

 the brain. After death, it appeared that the portion of the brain from 

 wliich the optic nerve arises was occupied by a large tumor. In spite of 

 this extensive cerebral disease. Dr. Wollaston's faculties remained un- 

 clouded to the last. Ilis powers of vision were exceedingly perfect. I 



