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SIR JOSEPH BANKS. 



IT is rare to observe a name among the active and 

 successful promoters of science, and which yet cannot 

 easily find a place in its annals from the circumstance 

 of not being inscribed on any work, or connected with 

 any remarkable discovery. Almost all the philosophers 

 of both ancient and modern times have left us writings 

 in which their doctrines were delivered, and the steps 

 made by their labours were recorded. The illustrious 

 exception of Socrates almost ceases to be one, from 

 the memory of his opinions being preserved by two 

 of his disciples in their immortal works ; and the im- 

 portant discoveries of Archimedes and of Pythagoras 

 are known distinctly enough in the books of ancient 

 geometry, to leave no doubt resting upon their claims 

 to the admiration and the gratitude of all ages. The 

 lost works of the ancient geometers evidently afford 

 no exception to the general remark, since they once 

 existed, and contained the discoveries of their authors. 

 It must, however, be observed, that the circumstance 

 of a cultivator of science having left no works to after 

 ages is merely accidental. He may have enriched philo- 

 sophy with his achievements, and yet never have record- 

 ed them himself. Thus, had Black only made the great 

 discovery of latent heat and specific heat, he would have 

 been justly considered in all times as one of the greatest 

 benefactors of natural science, and yet the history of 

 that splendid discovery would only have been found 

 in the memory of those who had heard his lectures ; 

 his only work being confined to the other discovery of 

 fixed air, and the nature of the alkaline earths. To 



