[32,4 
LIIl. Memoirs of the Life of Lewis BruGNnaTELLI, M.D. Pro- 
fessor of Chemistry in the University of Pavia, Member of 
the Imperial-royal Institute of Science, Literature and Arts 
of Milan, &c. Be. , 
Mooern Italy has produced few men whose lives have been 
more useful to society, or more interesting not merely to their 
own country but to the civilized world, than that of Dr. Lewis 
Brugnatelli, who presents an illustrious example of talents and 
industry attaining eminence in science, although unsupported 
either by personal wealth or powerful patronage. In any other 
country than Italy, the number and immense sale of his literary 
works on science would have procured him additional means of 
making chemical researches ; but unfortunately for writers in the 
Italian language, a work of merit is no sooner published in any 
of the principal cities, ‘than it is reprinted in all the adjoining 
states, and (in the commercial phrase) the market is often sup- 
plied with editions so shamefully incorrect, as to injure not merely 
the interest but also the honour of the original author. It is ne- 
cessary to consider well the fatal consequences of this state of 
things, in order to appreciate more adequately the zeal and in- 
defatigable exertions of the late chemical professor. 
Dr. Lewis Brugnatelli was born in Pavia in 1761; his parents, 
not being in very affluent circumstances, had destined him for a 
mercantile life before he had received the rudiments of a literary 
education : observing, however, the strong bent of his mind, they 
afterwards thought of making him an engineer; but this study, 
although scientific, was little congenial to his feelings, and he 
immediately applied himself with the most indefatigable zeal to 
the study of medicine and chemistry, in which his progress was 
so rapid, notwithstanding the extreme scantiness of his means, 
that he not only obtained the degree of Doctor of Medicine in 
Pavia, 1784, but was shortly after elected repeater of chemistry 
in the same university. By the death of Professor Leopoli he 
became pensioned repeater in the College of Ghislieri, and in 
1787 he was elected assistant to the chemical chair of Professor 
Leopoli, and afterwards to that also of Professor Brusati. During 
this interesting period he had given the most unequivocal evi- 
dence of his talents and skill both in chemistry and medicine. 
The science of analytical chemistry bad just come into existence ; 
curiosity and enthusiasm were awakened towards every thing that 
could be subjected to chemical action : a few chemical reagents 
had been discovered, and: our juvenile professor eagerly availed 
himself of their aid to investigate the nature and properties 
of the gastric juice. His experiments were made and published 
Vol. 53, No. 253. May 1819. xX the 
