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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 philoso- 

 pher, with the temper as well as the capacity of a 

 sage, he possessed that happy union of strong but 

 disciplined imagination, 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 signalise 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 incalculable 

 extent the bounds of human knowledge. The modesty 

 of his nature making him averse to publish his specu- 

 lations, and the genuine devotion to the investigation 

 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 dis- 

 coveries, others have thought it becoming to post-date 



