Joseph Black, John Robison 69 



Quebec. Robison took part in the war, and after his return 

 home was charged by the Board of Longitude to under- 

 take a journey to the West Indies for the purpose of 

 testing a chronometer constructed by John Harrison. A 

 few years later Robison accompanied, as private secretary, 

 Admiral Knowles to Petrograd, on his appointment as 

 President of the Russian Board of Admiralty. For a time 

 he also held the mathematical professorship attached to the 

 cadet corps of nobles at Petrograd. Before he went to Russia 

 Robison had occupied during four years the Chair of 

 Chemistry at Glasgow, and after his return home in 1773 he 

 became Professor of Natural Philosophy at Edinburgh. 

 When the Royal Society of Edinburgh received its charter 

 in 1783 he was elected secretary, and held this position until 

 within a few years of his death, which took place in 1805. 



Robison enjoyed a high reputation among his contem- 

 poraries, but we cannot assign any great advance in science 

 to him. He was a man of great learning and published 

 researches, which only just fell short of marking a distinct 

 step. He deserves to be remembered even if it were only 

 for his connexion with James Watt, who owed him much 

 assistance and encouragement. Robison was always inter- 

 ested in steam, and had, before Watt's improvement of the 

 steam engine, conceived the idea of applying the power 

 of steam to the propulsion of vehicles. 



David Brewster collated some of the manuscripts left by 

 Robison, and published them in a work of four volumes : 

 " Elements of Mechanical Philosophy." 



It appears from this work that Robison undertook 

 several researches, which he omitted to publish. Among 

 them was an experimental investigation on the law of action 

 of electrical forces. This, he states, was communicated to 

 a " public society " in 1769, some years before Cavendish 

 and Coulomb discovered the law of the inverse square. The 

 experiments which are described in the published work, 

 lead unmistakably to that law, but it is not stated whether 

 they were the original ones or were repeated and improved 

 upon later. Robison makes no claim in this respect, but 

 refers to Cavendish as having " with singular sagacity and 

 address, employed his mathematical knowledge in a way 



