I UNIVERSITY I 



PHILOSOPHERS 



OP 



THE TIME OF GEORGE III. 



BLACK. 



THE physical sciences have few more illustrious names 

 to boast than that of Joseph Black. With all the habits 

 and the disciplined faculties of a true philosopher, with 

 the temper as well as the capacity of a sage, he possessed 

 that happy union of strong but disciplined imagination, 

 with powers of close undivided attention, and ample 

 resources of reasoning, which forms original genius in 

 scientific pursuits ; and, as all these qualities may be 

 combined in an individual without his happening to sig- 

 nalise his investigations of nature by any discovery, we 

 must add that his life was crowned with the good fortune 

 of opening to mankind new paths in which both himself 

 and his followers successfully trod, enlarging to an in- 

 calculable extent the bounds of human knowledge. The 

 modesty of his nature making him averse to publish his 

 speculations, and the genuine devotion to the investiga- 

 tion of truth, for its own sake, rendering him most open 

 in his communications with all who were engaged in 

 the same pursuits, his incontestable claim to be regarded 

 as the founder of modern chemistry has been oftentimes 

 overlooked; and, while some have endeavoured more or 

 less obscurely to mingle themselves with his discoveries, 

 others have thought it becoming to post-date the new 



B 



