NA TURE 



169 



THURSDAY, JUNE 20, 1895. 



THE ATOMIC THEORY AND ITS AUTHOR. 

 John Da/ton and the Rise of Modern Chetiiistry. By Sir 

 Henry E. Roscoe, D.C.L., LL.D., F.R.S. Century 

 Science Series. Pp. 212. (London : Cassell and 

 Company, Ltd., 1895.) 



WE have read through this httlc boolc from beginning 

 to end with a great deal of pleasure. It tells the 

 story of a life which has already been told more than 

 once, but it tells it in a pleasant style, while at the same 

 time it is fairly complete and, what is equally important 

 in these days, not too long^. 



John Dalton was born at Eaglesfield, near Cocker- 

 mouth in Cumberland, in 1766, about .September 6 ; but 

 as no register containing a record of his birth has 

 been found, the exact date is not known. John is 

 supposed to have been the second son of his parents, 

 Joseph and Deborah Dalton, but, for the same reason, this 

 statement cannot now be verified. According to his own 

 account he attended the village schools in the neighbour- 

 hood, and was fortunate in attracting the notice of Mr. 

 Elihu Robinson, a Quaker like his parents ; but while 

 Joseph Dalton was but a humble hand-loom weaver, 

 Robinson was a man of independent means and con- 

 siderable scientific ability. Under the influence of Mr. 

 Robinson, John made such progress, especially in mathe- 

 matics, that at the age of twelve he set up school teaching 

 on his own account. When he was about fifteen he left 

 his native place, in order to join his elder brother Jonathan 

 in the conduct of a school at Kendal. Four years later, 

 in 1785, George IJewley, the proprietor of the school 

 retired from the management, and John became his 

 brother's partner. A quaint card, reproduced photo- 

 graphically in the book, announced to their friends and 

 the public that youth would be " carefully instructed in 

 English, Latin, Greek, and French, also writing, arith- 

 metic, merchants' accompts, and the mathematics." 



.■Ml this time John was diligently occupied in self- 

 improvement. His active mind, however, could not be 

 contented with mere acquisition of knowledge, and we 

 find that his first attempts at scientific investigations were 

 made here. Meteorological observations occupied him 

 in the first instance, and the requisite barometers and 

 thermometers were made with his own hands. This was 

 the beginning of the long series of daily observations 

 which were continued without a break until the evening 

 before his death in 1844. 



In 1793 Dalton left Kendal for Manchester, having 

 undertaken for the modest stipend of £,%o a year to 

 teach mathematics, mechanics, geomctr>', book-keeping, 

 natural philosophy, and chemistry, and we are told that 

 in 1794 he had twenty-four students in these subjects. 

 In this position of college tutor Dalton remained si.>c 

 years, and then resigned his post in order to obtain time 

 for his researches, supporting himself by private tuition. 

 When he left the college, he lived first in a house in 

 Faulkner Street, then with John Cockbain, a member of 

 the Society of Friends ; but, after a time, joined the 

 family of the Rev. William Johns, with whom he remained 

 nearly thirty years. It was here that his most important 

 NO. 1338, VOL. 52] 



original work in physics and chemistry was accomplished, 

 here he brought out his system of chemical philosophy, 

 and here he attained to that celebrity which brought him 

 honours from abroad, as well as the friendship of the 

 most distinguished of his own countrymen. 



To the pages of the book we must refer our readers for 

 many of the details of Dalton's subsequent career : how he 

 delivered courses of lectures in Edinburgh and (Glasgow 

 (1807), and twice at the Royal Institution in Albemarle 

 Street (1803-4 and 1809-10) ; how he was made a cor- 

 responding member of the French Academy of Sciences 

 (18 16), and a Fellow of the Royal Society (1822) ; how he 

 visited Paris (1822), and subsequently, after the death 

 of Davy, was elected a Foreign Associate of the 

 .•\cademy (1830) ; how he received honorary degrees 

 from many universities, among the rest, from Oxford 

 (1832); and, finally, was assigned a pension out of the 

 funds of the Civil List by King William the Fourth. 



Dalton died on July 27, 1844. Since 1837, when he 

 had a paralytic stroke, his vigour had very seriously 

 declined ; and of this decline it is obvious that he 

 was conscious. Old people are usually parsimonious, 

 especially if in their younger days they have been obliged 

 to practise economy. Dalton was no exception to this, 

 and an amusing account, which will not bear condensa- 

 tion, is given of a transaction of his with Dr. Lyon 

 Playfair, in January 1844, only a few months before his 

 death. 



Dalton seems to ha\e been a great smoker. In a 

 letter quoted on p. 166, he says (January 10, 1804) : 



" I was introduced to Mr. Davy, who has rooms adjoin- 

 ing mine in the Royal Institution. He is a very agreeable 

 and intelligent young man, and we have interesting 

 conversations in an evening. The principal failing in his 

 character is that he does not smoke." 



Wrapt as he «as from early youth in his scientific and 

 philosophical pursuits, it is perhaps not surprising that he 

 should have declared that his head was "too full of 

 triangles, chemical processes, and electrical experiments, 

 &c., to think much of marriage." Nevertheless, it appears 

 that the Quaker philosopher had at least one or two 

 affairs of the heart, and c\en when past the age of giddy 

 youth he seems to ha\e been accessible to the charm of 

 female beauty ; for in a letter in which he describes " the 

 belles of New Bond Street," he admits that he is "■ more 

 taken up with their faces than their dresses," and ends 

 with the remark, " I do not know how it happens, but I 

 fancy pretty women look well anyhow." 



Every one has heard of Dalton's peculiarities of vision. 

 It seems remarkable that he should have grown to man- 

 hood without becoming aware of his defect, but it appears 

 that it was not till about the age of six-and-twenty that he 

 found out that his notions of green and red were different 

 from those of other people. This evidently caused him 

 at first a good deal of perplexity, and brought down a 

 certain amount of " chaff," for he writes to his old friend 

 Elihu Robinson, that " the young women tell me they 

 will never suffer me to go iiTto the gallery of the meeting- 

 house with a green coat ; and I tell them I have no 

 objection to their going in with me in a crimson 1 that is, 

 (lark drab) gown." Dalton had a notion that his defect of 

 vision was due to the existence of a coloured medium in 

 one of the humours of the eye. It is almost needless to 



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