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WILLIAM HENRY, M.D., F.R.S., &c. 



Born December 12, 1774. Died September 2, 1836. 



Dr. William Henry, the distinguished chemical philosopher, was 

 born at Manchester. His father, Mr. Thomas Henry, was a zealous 

 cultivator of chemical science. The earliest impressions of Henry's 

 childhood were, therefore, such as to inspire interest and reverence 

 for the pursuits of science; and he is said, when very young, to 

 have sought amusement in attempting to imitate, with such means 

 as were at his disposal, the chemical experiments which his father 

 had been performing. A severe accident which occurred in early 

 life, by disqualifying him for the active sports of boyhood, also con- 

 tributed to determine his taste for books and sedentary occupations. 

 This injury, occasioned by the fall of a heavy beam upon his right 

 side, was of a very serious nature, and materially checked his 

 growth ; it left as its consequence acute neuralgic pains, which 

 recurred from time to time, with more or less severity, during the 

 remainder of his life. 



Dr. Henry's earliest instructor was the Rev. Ealph Harrison, who 

 possessed considerable repute as a teacher of the ancient languages, 

 and was considered at that period to be one of the best instructors 

 of youth in the North of England. Immediately on leaving Mr. 

 Harrison's academy at Manchester, Henry had the good fortune to 

 become the private secretary of Dr. Percival, a physician of great 

 general accomplishments and refined taste, whose example and 

 judicious counsels were most instrumental in guiding the tastes of 

 his young companion, and in establishing habits of vigilant and 

 appropriate expression. In this improving residence Dr. Henry 

 remained for the space of five years ; he was then removed, in the 

 winter of 1795-6, to the University of Edinburgh, after having 

 acquired some preliminary medical knowledge at the Infirmary at 

 Manchester. Prudential considerations compelled him to leave the 

 University at the end of a year, and commence general medical 

 practice in company with his father. A few years' experience, 

 however, showed the inadequacy of his delicate frame to bear up 

 against the fatigues of this branch of the medical profession, and he 

 was permitted, in the year 1805, to return to the University, at that 

 time adorned by the learning of Playfair and Stewart. So powerful 

 was the stimulus given to his mental powers during his residence 

 at the University, that he often declared that the rest of his life, 

 active as it was, appeared a state of inglorious repose when con- 

 trasted with this season of unremitted effort. The period interven- 

 ing between Dr. Henry's two academic residences, although passed 

 in the engrossing occupations of his profession, to which was added 

 the superintendence of a chemical business previously established 



