1 70 Accornii of the Life of the late Dr. Priest It?/. 



valuable apparatus and well chosen library, he returned to his 

 former pursuits. Bv nianv new experiments on the consti- 

 tution of airs he became more and more fixed in the belief 

 of the phlogistic theory, and in his opposition to the new 

 French svstem of chemistry, of which he lived to be the 

 sole opponent of note. The results of several of his inqui- 

 ries on these topics were given both in separate publications 

 and in the American Philosophical Transactions ; and it is 

 but fair to add, that the new theory is indebted to this op- 

 position for some of the strongest proofs on which it is 

 founded. 



Dr. Priestlev declined the offer of the chemical professor- 

 ship in the college of Philadelphia, which was made to him 

 soon after his arrival in America ; and likewise another offer, 

 of succeeding the late Dr. Ewing as principal of the same 

 college, in the spring of 1803; preferring a life of retire- 

 ment and leisure, that he micht devote himself entirely to 

 philosophical and theological inquiries. While he lived at 

 Northumberland he had the misfortune to lose an excellent 

 wife, and a beloved and dutiful son. These afflictions, 

 ihoutrh severely felt, he bore with becoming fortitude and 

 resignation. Till the vcar 1801 he had enjoyed uninter- 

 rupted cood health, having scarcely ever known wliat sick- 

 ness was; but at that period he was attacked at Philadelphia 

 by a constant indigestion, and difficulty of swallowing any 

 kind of solid food. From about the beginning of Novem- 

 ber 1S03 to the middle of January 1804 his complaint grew 

 more serious, and at one time he was incapable ot swallow- 

 jnc: any thing for thirtv hours. In the last fortnight of Ja- 

 nuary ills legs swelled nearlv to his knees, and his weakness 

 increasing very much, he expired on the 9th of February 

 following. 



As theolojry is entirely foreign to the object of the Phi- 

 losophical Magazine, we have not thought proper to say 

 anv thing in regard to Dr. Priestley's writings on that sub- 

 ject, which are very numerous, nor the theological disputes 

 in which he was engaged. His religious opinions are well 

 known to the public, and therefore it is the less necessary 

 for us to enter into any observations on them. The prin- 

 cipal part of his other works are : — ^The History and present 

 state of Electricity, with original Experiments, 4to : a fa- 

 miliar Introduction to the Study of Electricity, 8vo: the 

 History and present State of Discoveries relating to Vision, 

 Light, and Colours; two vols. 4to, with many plates : Ex- 

 periments and Observations on different Kinds of Air, and 

 other Branches of Natural Philosophy connected with the 

 6 Subject, 



