166 Short Account of the Life 



calmness of the sea, its high temperature, the nature of the 

 shore, on which one may advance at low water, as already 

 mentioned, to a very great distance, having the water 

 scarcely up to the knee ; the great abundance of these ani- 

 mals, and their varictv, are all favourable to researches of 

 this kind : they may be observed, described, and drawn in 

 their natural state, as the water does not rise above them to 

 the height of more than a few centimetres, or sometimes 

 only millimetres ; they may be seen in their state of con- 

 traction or extreme development ; one mav observe, also, 

 their progressive increase, and its boundaries : in a word, 

 there can be no doubt that a labour of this kind, undertaken 

 by one or more enlightened naturalists, would contribute, 

 in the most effectual, manner, to the advancement of this 

 part of natural history so little known, and which deserves 

 so much to be carefully examined. 



[To be continued.] 



XXV. Short Accnunt of the Life of the late 

 Dr. Priestley. 



Joseph Priestley, LL.D. F.R.S. and member of many 

 foreign literary societies, was born at Field Head, near 

 Leeds, in Yorkshire, on March 13, old style, in the year 

 1733. His mother died when he was very young; and his 

 father, who was engaged in the cloth manufactory, marry- 

 ing again, and having a large family, Joseph, when eight 

 years of age, was taken into the house of a near relation, a 

 lady eminent for piety and benevolence, who adopted and 

 educated him as her own son. 



He acquired the rudiments of the Latin and Greek lan- 

 guages under the instruction of Mr. Hague, a respectable 

 clergyman, master of a free grammar schocjl in the neigh- 

 bourl^ond, and during the vacations he applied to the study 

 of the Kebiew, Chaldee, and other orienial languages. By 

 the assistance ot Mr. Haggerston, who had been a pupil of 

 the celebrated Maclaurin, he made a considcraijle proliciency 

 in geometry, both speculative and practical algebra, and 

 natural philosophy. He acquired also some skill in modern 

 languages, in order to qualify himself for a merchant's 

 counting-house, the delicacy of his constitution rendering 

 it at one time doubtful whether he would be able to pursue 

 his studies for a learned profession. 



Ju his nineteenth year he entered as a student of divinity 



at 



