Account of George Pearfon, M. D. F. R. S. Zyjf 



in the Medical Commentaries for 1775. Si^vcral comftiuni- 

 cations on medical and philofophical fubje«5ls, fublequenlly to 

 this period, are inltrted in that annual work. 



In 1784 Dr. Pcaribn publifhed a treatife on the Buxton 

 waters, principally to make known his difcovcry that the 



f;as which iflucs from them fpontaneoufly is not, as was be- 

 ieved, tixcd air or carbonic acid, but phlogilticated air or 

 azotic gas. Dr. Saunders, in his late treatife on Mineral 

 Waters, has given due credit to the author for this dilco- 

 very, as well as for his able anaivfis in general. 



In the year 1788 Dr. Pearfon publifhed in fevcral jonr- 

 nals his account of the fait compofed of phofphoric acid 

 and foda, recommending it as a purgative which poifeifes no 

 difagreeable talle, and is equally mild with any other of the 

 cathanic falts. It is one of the articles in the Edinburgh 

 Pharmacopaeia of 1791, under the title of Soda Phoiphorata: 

 lince that lime it has been in general ufe. 



In the Philofojjhical Tranfadions for 1791 we find Dr. 

 Pearfpn's mafterly and at that time unrivalled anaivfis o( the 

 James's Powder. Inmienfe favings have been made by in- 

 dividu.ils fince^lhis difcovery, efpccially in the navy, to the 

 amount, as the late Dr. Johnfon, one of the Comiuilfioners 

 of the Sick and Hurt Office, aflTertcd, of feveral ihouland 

 pounds a vear. 



In the Philofophical Tranfaftionsfor 1793 is a paper enti- 

 tled. Experiments made with a View of decompounding Fixed 

 Air or Carbonic Acid, by Dr. Pearfon. In 1789 M. Lavoi- 

 fier (howed that carbonic acid might be compofed by uniting 

 carbon to oxygen : but the author in the prefent paper fays, 

 " • he honour of the firll analytical experiments on c^irbonic 

 acid is due to Mr. Tennant, F. R. S." who obtained phof- 

 phoric acid and carbon by paflRng phofphorus through red- 

 hot carbonate of lime, or liiarble powder. Whatever doubts 

 were entertained of this fa£t, as ftated by Mr. Tennant, they 

 were entirely removed by the decifive experiments of Dr. 

 Pearfon. 



In liie Philofophical Tranfac^ions for 1794 is inferted Dr. 

 Pearfon's pa[)er on the wax-like matter called white lack, in 

 which hcdifcovercd a new acid called by him laxic acid, ac- 

 cording to the new nomenclature of chemiils. 



In the fame work for 1795 is Dr. Pearfon's paper on the 

 fteel fuppofcd to be made direttly from the ore by the Hin- 

 doos, called ivoolz. 



In the following year is our author's paper on the com- 

 ofition of the hard and ftrong metals of the anticnls, which 

 le determines to have been copper united to tin, as dcmon- 

 T i ftrxtefi 



H 



