82 Biograp'iical Account of [Aug. 



of the lead-mines at Wanlockhead; and of the silver-mines at 

 Silver-Hills, West Linton. In these operations he embarked the 

 greater part of the capital he had previously acquired ; and unfor- 

 tunately neither of the concerns proved successful. He afterwards 

 for some time superintended the coal-works at Blackburn, near 

 West Calder; and in 177$ became overseer and factor at Gilmerton 

 Colliery, belonging to Mr. Baird, of Newbyth. Here he remained 

 above thirteen years. During this period his fame as a miner very 

 greatly increased ; so that he was consulted by most of the coal 

 proprietors in Scotland, whenever difficulties presented themselves 

 in the course of their mining operations- In this interval he brought 

 out his publications. In IJJJ, under the auspices of Lord Karnes 

 and Dr. Black, he published a description of the vitrified forts in 

 the north of Scotland, in a curious tract, entitled, " Letters 

 from the Highlands;"* and twelve years afterwards lie produced 

 his large work on the mineral kingdom ;f which, it is believed, 

 met with but little attention from the public at the time, but which 

 certainly laid the foundation for no small share of posthumous fame 

 to its author. 



About the year 1 7-H he left Gilmerton, and became engaged, 

 along with the late Dr. James Anderson, in conducting The Bee, 

 a periodical work then published at Edinburgh, and which acquired 

 considerable reputation. 



He afterwards spent nearly two years in travelling through Eng- 

 land with Count Zenobia. visiting all the great manufactures and 

 mines of that country ; and he was at last induced to go to Italy 

 with that nobleman. On his arrival he set on foot the working of 

 limestone, coal, and ironstone, on some of the Count's estates neaT 

 Verona. He was going on with these improvements, when he was 

 unfortunately seized with a typhoid fever, which proved fatal in the 

 end of the year 179/> when be had entered his sixty-eighth year. 



I cannot close this short notice without remarking, that the 

 merit of Williams, as an accurate observer, and original thinker, is 

 perhaps greater than many mineralogists are aware. While he 

 certainly had not even heard of the Wernerian doctrines, he pub- 

 lished, in 17^9, his opinion that " water has been the agent in the 

 formation of the strata ; and that all the phenomena which we 

 behold upon and within the superficies of our globe, have been 

 produced by water." He holds, that " it was water that brought 

 and poured the ingredients of all the mineral ores into the cavities 

 of the veins, while those ingredients were in a fluid state;" and 

 that " dykes " are cracks or fissures filled with heterogeneous 

 matters by water;— just the Wernerian doctrines of mineral veins, 

 and of the veins called " dykes." Further, lie observes, that 



* LPttrrs from the Highlands of Scotland, addressed to G. C. M. (George 

 Clerk Maxwell) Esq. By Joint William'., Mineral Surveyor. 4to. Kdin. 1777 

 Mr. Creech was (lie publisher, and has still »i>me copies in bis possession. 



+ The Natural Historj of the Mineral Kingdom, liy John Williams, M"inera,l 

 Surveyor, F.S.S, A, In two vols. B»o. Edin. 1789, 



