346 



NATURE 



\7uly 25, 1878 



man engaged to work the wings is an acrobat of effective mus- 

 cular power. The experiment will very likely take place at 

 Enghien, on the lake, where the balloon will be retained by a 

 small floating buoy. 



We have received a " Catalogue des Ouvrages d'Astronomie 

 et de Meteorologie," found in the principal libraries of Belgium, 

 prepared at the Royal Observatory of Brussels. It extends to 

 upwards of 630 pages, and will be found of great service to 

 those interested in astronomy and meteorology. The publisher 

 is Hayez, of Brussels. 



In our report last week (p. 323) of the Physical Society 

 meeting of June 22, in Mr. W. Baily's paper, the expression 

 A cos 9 should be A cos 2fl, so that the equation to the ellipse 

 of polarisation would be 



I + A cos 2fl + B sin 2$ = r~'{i - (As + B')} 

 The author of the paper on Complementary Colours was Mr. 

 John Gorham, not Graham. 



The additions to the 2k)oIogical Society's Gardens during the 

 past week _ include a Macaque Monkey (Macacus cynomolgus) 

 from India, presented by Mr. Enoch ; a Rhesus Monkey {Maca- 

 acus erythrocus) from India, presented by Miss Davis ; a Cape 

 Zorilla {Ichonyx zorilla) from Africa, presented by Mrs. J. J. 

 Monteiro; a Common Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus), European, 

 presented by Mr. G. D. Careless ; three Alligator Terrapins 

 (Chelydra serpentina) from North-America, presented by Mr. J. 

 H. Thompson, C.M.Z.S. ; a Chimpanzee {Troglodytes niger) 

 from West Africa, a Golden-headed Marmoset {Midas chryso- 

 mtlas) from Para, two Egyptian Flamingos {Phaenicopterus an- 

 iiquorum) from North Africa, deposited ; an Eland {Oreas 

 cannd) born, five Amherst Pheasants ( Thaumalea amhersticr), an 

 Argus Pheasant {Argus giganleus) bred in the Gardens. 



JOSEPH BLACK "^ 



'T'HE study of the history of a science is of great 

 -■■ importance not only from a psychological point 

 of view, but also as throwing light on the present 

 position of the science. In science, as in other natural 

 products which have grown, we find survivals which 

 can only be understood when the development is 

 known. Such historical studies may very conveniently 

 be associated with the biographies of the great scientific 

 leaders under whom progress has been made, and whose 

 individual mental peculiarities have left permanent im- 

 pressions. I intend on this occasion to direct your atten- 

 tion to the life and work of Dr. Joseph Black both because 

 he was one of the first to give to chemistry the direction 

 which it still preserves, and because his life is of special 

 interest to us as Edinburgh students of chemistry. 



Joseph Black was bom at Bordeaux, in 1728. His 

 father, John Black, was a native of Belfast, a member of a 

 Scottish family settled in Ireland. His mother belonged 

 to the family of Gordon, of Halhead, in Aberdeenshire, 

 and was a cousin of Dr. Adam Ferguson. In 1740 he was 

 sent home and educated at the Grammar School of 

 Belfast. In 1746 he 'matriculated at the University of 

 Glasgow, where he remained till 1750, studying in the 

 faculties of arts and medicine. He then removed to 

 Edinburgh, where he graduated as doctor of medicine in 

 1754. In 1756 he was appointed Professor of Anatomy 

 and Lecturer on Chemistry in the University of Glasgow. 

 He soon exchanged with a colleague the duty of teaching 

 anatomy for that of physiology, and continued to lecture 

 on physiology and chemistry till 1766, when he was 

 called to Edinburgh to succeed his friend and teacher. 

 Dr. Cullen, in the Chair of Chemistry. He died Novem- 

 ber 26, 1799. Such is a brief sketch of his quiet and 



P,%^r"'**^D°^ lecture to the Edinburgh University Chemical Society, by 

 i'rof. Crum Brown, F,R.S. ■" / 



uneventful life. His contemporaries Dr. Robison and Dr. 

 Adam Ferguson, give us some account of his manner of 

 life and study. He was minutely accurate and careful in 

 everything he did, and this punctiliousness and his feeble 

 health account for the small quantity of work of which 

 he has left a record. As a student he is said to have 

 kept two sets of note-books ; into one he entered obser- 

 vations, experiments, hints of experiments, extracts from 

 the works of others, in fact all the miscellaneous additions 

 to his knowledge. These he afterwards transcribed into 

 the other set, arranging them in order of subjects. " In 

 short," to quote Dr. Robison, " he kept a journal and 

 ledger of his studies and posted his books like a mer- 

 chant." It has occurred to me that possibly this mention 

 of Dr. Black's business-like habit may have been present 

 to the mind of Sir Walter Scott when describing the 

 interview of Francis Osbaldistone on his return from 

 Bordeaux, with his father. " — but what have we here ? 

 'Bordeaux founded, castle of the Trompette, palace of 

 Galienus,'— well, well, that's very right, too. This is a 

 kind of waste book, Owen, in which all the transactions 

 of the day, emptions, orders, payments, receipts, accept- 

 ances, drafts, commissions, and advices are entered 

 miscellaneously." "That they may be regularly trans- 

 ferred to the day-book and ledger," answered Owen ; " I 

 am glad Mr. Francis is so methodical." 



His style as a lecturer is well described by Dr. 

 Robison : — 



" He endeavoured every year to make his courses more 

 plain and familiar, illustrating them by a greater variety 

 of examples in the way of experiment. No man could 

 perform these more neatly and successfully. They were 

 always ingeniously and judiciously contrived, clearly 

 establishing the point in view, and never more than 

 sufficed for this purpose. While he scorned the quackery 

 of a showman, the simplicity, neatness, and elegance with 

 which they were performed were truly admirable ... his 

 students were not only instructed, lut (they knew not 

 how) delighted ; and without any effort to please, but solely 

 by the natural emanation of a gentle and elegant mind, 

 co-operating, indeed, with a most perspicuous exhibition 

 of his sentiments, Dr. Black became a favourite lecturer." 

 His private life was one of unvaried regularity and order, 

 and was brought to a fit close by his death, which is thus 

 described by Dr. Adam Ferguson. 



" His own constitution never was robust, and every 

 cold, or any approach to repletion, affected his breast so 

 much as to occasion a spitting of blood. This he guarded 

 against by restricting himself to a moderate or abstemious 

 diet. As his infirmities increased with age, he met them 

 with a proportionate attention and care, regulating his 

 food and exercise by the measure of his strength ; and 

 thus preventing the access of disease from abroad, he 

 enjoyed a health, which was feeble but uninterrupted, 

 and a mind undisturbed in the calm and cheerful use of 

 his faculties. A life so prolonged had the advantage of 

 present ease, and the prospect, when the just period 

 should arrive, of a calm dissolution. This accordingly 

 followed on the 26th of November, 1799, and in the 

 seventy-first year of his age, without any convulsion, 

 shock, agitation, or stupor, to announce or retard the 

 approach of death. Being at table with his usual fare — 

 some bread, a few prunes, and a measured quantity of 

 milk diluted with water, and having the cup in his hand 

 when the last stroke of his pulse was to be given, he 

 appeared to have set it down on his knees, which were 

 joined together, and in this action expired, without spilling 

 a drop, as if an experiment had been purposely made, to 

 evince the faciUty with which he departed. So ended a 

 life which had passed in the most correct application of 

 reason and good sense to all the objects of pursuit which 

 Providence had prescribed in his lot." . . . '' He had long 

 enjoyed the tender and affectionate regard of parents 

 whom he loved, honoured, and revered, with the delightful 



