142 



WILLIAM H. WOLLASTON, M.D., P.R.S, &c. 



Born August 6, 1766. Died December 22, 1828. 



William Hyde Wollaston was born at East Dereham, a village 

 sixteen miles from Norwich. His father was an astronomer of some 

 eminence, who in the year 1800 published an extensive catalogue of 

 the northern circumpolar stars. After a preparatory education, 

 Wollaston entered at Caius College, Cambridge, where he took the 

 degree of M.B. in 1787, and that of M.D. in 1793 ; soon afterwards 

 he became a Tancred Fellow. During his residence at Cambridge, 

 he devoted himself more to the study of astronomy than any other 

 science. 



On leaving Cambridge in 1789, he settled at Bury St. Edmunds, 

 and began to practise as a physician, but met with so little success, 

 that he soon removed to London. Shortly after his arrival, he 

 became a candidate for the office of Physician to St. George's 

 Hospital, but was defeated by the election of his principal opponent, 

 Dr. Pemberton. It is stated that this circumstance had such an 

 effect on Wollaston, that he declared, in a moment of pique, he 

 would abandon the profession, and never more write a prescription, 

 were it for his own father. This statement is, however, contradicted 

 in a biographical notice of him, contained in the reports of the 

 Astronomical Society, where it is affirmed that he continued to 

 practise physic in London to the end of the year 1800, 'when an 

 accession of fortune determined him to relinquish a profession he 

 never liked, and to devote himself entirely to science, 



On the 9th of May, 1793, Wollaston was elected a Fellow of the 

 Royal Society; and in June, 1797, appeared his first contribution to 

 the ' Philosophical Transactions,' being a paper ' On Gouty and 

 Urinary Concretions.' From this period until his decease, Wollaston 

 was a constant contributor to the ' Transactions,' as well as to 

 various scientific journals. His papers in the ' Philosophical Trans- 

 actions ' amount to thirty-nine, and, in addition to strictly chemical 

 subjects, include memoirs in astronomy, optics, mechanics, acoustics, 

 mineralogy, crystallography, physiology, and botany. 



On the 30th of November, 1804, he was elected Junior Secretary 

 to the Royal Society ; and on the death of Sir Joseph Banks, in 

 June, 1820, succeeded him in the President's chair, until the anni- 

 versary, November 30th of the same year, when he retired in favour 

 of Sir Humphry Davy, to whom, at the election, he gave the whole 

 weight of his influence. 



In the years 1804-5 Wollaston first made known to the world the 

 existence of the two metals, palladium and rhodium, which he found 



