PEIESTLEY 47 



industry. In the same year he presented a paper to the 

 Royal Society entitled " Observations on Different Kinds 

 of Air," which secured for him the Copley medal. 



Having published a method of preventing scurvy, a 

 proposition was made to Priestley that he should accom- 

 pany Captain Cook in his second voyage to the South 

 Seas. It was accepted, but not confirmed by the Board 

 of Longitude. On the Board were many clergymen, and 

 no doubt they were against Priestley's "religious principles." 



In 1772 Priestley was appointed librarian to Lord 

 Shelburne (afterwards Marquis of Lansdowne) at a salary 

 of 250 a year, a house, and an annuity for life. He 

 remained in the service of his lordship for seven years, 

 living sometimes at Calne, and sometimes in London ; 

 and during this time he travelled in Germany and Holland, 

 and in 1774 visited Paris, where he made the acquaintance 

 of Lavoisier and other French savants. Why Priestley 

 severed his connection with Lord Shelburne will never be 

 exactly known, but his lordship treated him with the 

 greatest kindness and consideration. 



The publication of Priestley's Disquisitions relating 

 to Matter and Spirit in 1777 brought him much odium 

 theologicum, because it was a powerful exposition of 

 materialism. Critics denounced him as an atheist, as 

 an infidel, and other epithets were hurled at him from 

 all parts of the country. It is probable that this denuncia- 

 tion was the cause of Priestley leaving the service of Lord 



