PRIESTLY. 157 



After his retirement, Ivory devoted himself entirely to his scientific 

 researches, living in or near London until his death. In 1814 he 

 had received the Copley medal for his communications to the Koyal 

 Society; in 1815 he became a Fellow of the same society. He was 

 also an honorary fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh ; an 

 honorary member of the Royal Irish Academy and of the Cambridge 

 Philosophical Society ; a corresponding member of the Institute of 

 France, of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Berlin, and of the 

 Royal Society of Gottingen. 



In the year 1831, in consideration of the great talent displayed 

 in his investigations, Ivory was recommended by Lord Brougham, 

 whom he had known in early life, to the notice of the King 

 (Wm. IV.), who, with the Hanoverian Guelphic Order of Knight- 

 hood, gave him an annual pension of 300Z., which he enjoyed during 

 the rest of his life; and in 1839 he received the degree of Doctor in 

 Laws from the University of St. Andrews. 



Mr. Ivory attained the age of seventy-seven before his death ; he 

 was essentially a self-taught mathematician, and spent most of his 

 leisure in retirement. He fathomed in private the profoundest 

 writings of the most learned continental mathematicians, and at a 

 period when few Englishmen were able to understand those difficult 

 works ; he even added to their value by many original contributions, 

 and must always be remembered with special interest when the sin- 

 gular destitution of higher mathematical talent, which had reigned 

 in this country for so long a period before his time, is considered. 

 English Cyclopaedia. London, 1856. Encyclopaedia Britannica. 

 Eighth Edition. 



JOSEPH PEIESTLY, LL.D. 



Born March 24, 1773. Died February 26, 1804. 



Joseph Priestly was the son of a cloth-dresser at Burstal-Field- 

 head, near Leeds. His family appear to have been in humble 

 circumstances, and he was taken off their hands after the death of 

 his mother by his paternal aunt, who sent him to a free school at 

 Batley. There he learnt something of Greek, Latin, and a little 

 Hebrew. To this he added some knowledge of other Eastern lan- 

 guages connected with Biblical literature ; he made a considerable 

 progress in Syriac and Chaldean, and began to learn Arabic; he 

 also had a little instruction in mathematics, but in this science he 

 did not make much proficiency. Indeed his whole education was 

 exceedingly imperfect, and, excepting in Hebrew and Greek, he 



