P R I 



Priestley, visits frorr. Dr. Priestley ; and Dr. Priestley assures us, 

 Dr. that he never in any way aided his patron in his poli- 

 v- " -Y"*' tJ ca ] views. 



The diminution of income which attended this event, 

 was made up by very considerable presents from Mrs. 

 Rainer ; and by means of a subscription, he had an an- 

 nuity of some considerable amount secured to him. 



Having removed to Birmingham in 1780, he was 

 soon after unanimously appointed to the principal dis- 

 senting congregation in that town. Here he published 

 the last three volumes of his Experiments on Air, and a 

 variety of papers on the same subject in the Philosophi- 

 cal Transactions. These peaceful pursuits, however, 

 were disturbed by his passion for theological and poli- 

 tical controversy. His History of the Corruptions of 

 Christianity, and his History of Early Opinions con- 

 cerning Jesus Christ, together with his exertions re- 

 specting the repeal of the corporation and test acts, in- 

 volved him in controversies which, if they did not dis- 

 turb the tranquillity of his mind, must at least have in- 

 terrupted his philosophical pursuits. 



His Familiar Letters to the Inhabitants of Birming- 

 ham had excited considerable irritation from the ironi- 

 cal style in which they were written ; and his answer 

 to Mr. Burke's work on the French revolution brought 

 down upon him in the House of Commons the thunders 

 of this great man's eloquence. The press teemed with 

 attacks upon him ; and in this state of excitement the 

 anniversary of the capture of the Bastile was celebrat- 

 ed at Birmingham on the 14th July, 1791- Although 

 Dr. Priestley declined joining the party, yet the tide 

 of popular feeling set strongly against him, and during 

 the disgraceful riots which ensued, his church and house 

 were burned, his library, apparatus, and manuscripts 

 destroyed, and he himself was forced to seek for safety 

 in flight. The houses of several of his friends were 

 nlso burned down, and his son escaped from death only 

 through the care of a friend who kept him in conceal- 

 ment for several days. 



After the storm which thus threatened him had 

 blown over, he took up his residence at Hackney, and 

 in a short time he succeeded his deceased friend Dr. 

 Price, in the meeting-house at that place. The re- 

 sources of his mind, and the active pursuits of science, 

 restored to him for a while that tranquillity which had 

 been so unexpectedly disturbed ; but his opinions had 

 excited against him such a crowd of enemies, that he 

 saw no hope of enjoying permanent comfort by con- 

 tinuing in this country. The lioyal Society declined 

 admitting him to their meetings, and he was obliged 

 to withdraw his name from its list of members. His 

 sons had renounced their native country and emigrated 

 to France, and their father, finding himself thus desert- 

 ed, even by his own family, resolved upon leaving 

 England. He accordingly embarked for America, in 

 April, 179, and went to reside in the town of North- 

 umberland in Pennsylvania. He was offered the pro- 

 fessorship of chemistry in Philadelphia, soon after his 

 arrival ; but he declined engaging in any public em- 

 ployment. 



Even in America Dr. Priestley was viewed with a sort 

 of suspicion and distrust which it is not easy to explain ; 

 and it was not till the administration of Jefferson, who 

 treated him with kindness, that all disquietude on 

 that head was removed. The death of his youngest 

 son, and of his wife, and other domestic calamities, 

 embittered the rest of his life, and a complaint in his 

 digestive organs began gradually to undermine his 



P R I 



constitution. In January, 1804, the disease had got be- 

 yond the reach of medical skill, and on the 6th of Fe- 

 bruary, 1804, he expired, in the 71st year of his age. 



An account of Dr. Priestley's chemical discoveries 

 will be found in our article CHEMISTRY, vol. V. and 

 under ATMOSPHERE, vol. III. p, .00, &c. 



The following is a list of his papers in the Pki'oso* 

 phical Transactions: 



1. Account of rings, with all the prismatic colours x 

 made by electrical explosions on the surfaces of pieces 

 of metal. Phil Trans. 1768, p. 68. 



2. Experiments on the lateral force of electrical ex- 

 plosions. Id. 1769, p. 57. 



3. Various experiments on the force of electrical 

 explosions. Id. 1769, p. 63. 



4. An investigation of the lateral explosions, and of 

 the electricity communicated to the electric circuit, in 

 a discharge. Id. 1770, p. 192. 



5. Experiments and observations on charcoal. Id. 

 1770, p. 211. 



6. Observations on different kinds of air. Id. 1772, 

 p. 147. 



7. An account of farther discoveries on air. Id. 

 1775, p. 384. 



8. An account of Henley's electrometer. Id. 1772, 

 p. 359- 



9. On the noxious quality of the effluvia of putrid 

 marshes. Id. 1774, p. 90- 



10. On respiration and the use of blood. Id. 1776, 

 p. 226. 



11. Experiments relating to phlogiston, and the 

 seeming conversion of water into air. Id. 1783, p. 390. 



12. Experiments and observations relating to air 

 and water. Id. 1785, p. 279. 



13. Experiments and observations on the principle 

 of acidity, the composition and decomposition of water, 

 and phlogiston. Id. 1778, p. 147, 313; 1789, p. 7. 



14. Experiments on the phlogistication of spirit of, 

 nitre. Id. 1789, p. 139- 



15. Experiments on the transmission of the vapour 

 of acids through a hot earthen tube, and farther obser- 

 vations relating to phlogiston. Id. 1789, p. 289. 



16. Observations on respiration. Id. 1770, p. 106. 



17. Farther experiments relative to the decomposi- 

 tion of dephlogisticated and inflammable air. Id. 

 1791, p. 213. 



For farther information respecting the life and writ- 

 ings of Dr. Priestley, see Memoirs of Dr. Joseph Priest- 

 lei/, in 2 vol. Svo. ; and Dr. Thomson's Biographical 

 Account of Dr. Priestley, in the Annals of Philosophy, 

 vol. i. p. 81. 



PRIME NUMBERS. See NUMBERS, Vol. XV. p. 

 412. 



PRINCE OF WALES'S ISLAND, or PULO PENANG, is 

 an island separated from the west coast of the Malay 

 peninsula by a strait about two miles in bresidth. The 

 bland, which is of an irregular quadrangular shape, is 

 about five leagues long and seven or eight broad, and 

 contains about 100 square miles. An elevated range 

 of hills passes through the heart of the island, diminish- 

 ing in size as they go southward, and sending out nu- 

 merous streams, which water the island. The Flag- 

 staff-hill is estimated to be 2500 feet above the sea. 

 Upon it the thermometer seldom rises above 74, and 

 never above 78, and falls to 66, while, in the plains, 

 it ranges between 76 and 90. 



The soil is commonly a light black mould, mixed with 

 gravel, clay, and sometimes sand. The forests which 



i s i an d. 



