VOL. L.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 125 



* every particle of vapour is endued with a portion of electric fire ; and there is 



* no other sufficient cause assigned for their ascending.' Dr. D.'s design is there- 

 fore first to attempt to show that another theory, founded on principles better 



heart and arteries is produced by the immediate stimulus of the blood. After quitting Cambridge, 

 and having prepared himself for his intended profession of the practice of madicine, by an atten- 

 dance on the lectures of Dr. Hunter, in London, and a course of Studies at Edinburgh j he first at- 

 tempted to fix himself as a physician at Nottingham, but being disappointed of his hopes of practice 

 in that place, he repaired to Litchfield in 1756", where he settled for many years in considerable 

 practice. In 1757 he married Miss Howard, of Litchfield, who died in 1770, and by her had three 

 sons, the eldest of whom died at E.dinburgh in 1778, whilst he was prosecuting with the utmost 

 assiduity his medical studies in that university ; the second an attorney at Derby, who died about 

 '2 years before his father; the third son a physician, in great reputation at Shrewsbury, who married 

 the daughter of the ingenious Mr. Wedgewood, so celebrated for his improvements in the porcelain 

 manufacture, and to whose politeness we have been indebted for some particulars concerning the late 

 Dr. D. Soon after the decease of his wife. Dr. D. commenced his laborious work, the Zoonomia, 

 (which however was not published till 1794) or the laws of organic life; in the first part of this 

 work, the author treats of physiology and pathology ; in the second, or the practice of physic. His 

 observations on the animal economy, though not always accurate, are always ingenious; but his 

 arrangement of diseases is founded on distinctions by no means obvious, and therefore not likely to 

 be of that use which the author intended to those who study medicine as a science, or practise it as 

 an art. 



About 1780 he married the widow of colonel Pole. Soon after his marriage with this lady, he 

 removed to Derby, where he resided till within a few months of his death. Besides the Zoonomia, be- 

 fore mentioned. Dr. D.'s other prose works are Phytologia, in 1800, containing in the 1st part, a multi- 

 tude of curious experiments and observations in natural history, and organized matter ; the second part 

 treating on the economy of vegetation, and, the 3d on agriculture and horticulture. And a Treatise on 

 Female Education, written for the use of the two Miss Parker's (his natural daughters) whom he had 

 established as conductors of a ladies school at Ashborne. He had moreover a principal concern in 

 the System of Vegetables and Families ef Plants, translated fiom the Latin of Linneus, and pub- 

 lished by a society at Lichfield, in 4 vols. 8vo. His poetical works consist of his Botanic Garden, or 

 the Loves of the Plants, in 2 vols. 4to. the 2d vol. published first in 1 790, and the 1st vol. in 179 1 • And 

 his Temple of Nature. So that there are three eminent points of view in which the literary character 

 of Dr. D. more particularly presents itself: first, as a medical philosopher; secondly, as a philoso- 

 phical agricultor; and thirdly, as a poet : in every one of which, if his merit was not of the first 

 rank, he was at least very acute, ingenious, and plausible. Besides his three grand works, he was 

 the author of numerous other small pieces, in the Philos. Trans, and elsewhere. Thus, next to 

 medicine and poetry, mechanics, botany, and other branches of natural history engaged his attention ; 

 he not only pursued these studies with ardor himself, but zealously encouraged them in others. Soon 

 after he settled at Derby, he instituted a philosophical society and library, both of which were in a 

 flourishing condition at the time of his decease. Dr. D, was above the middle stature, gross and 

 corpulent in his person ; his features coarse, and his countenance heavy; if not quite void of anima- 

 tion, it certainly was by no means expressive. In his gait and dress he was rather clumsy and 

 slovenly. 



Besides the printed works already mentioned. Dr. D. left various MSS. now in the possession 

 of his son Dr. Darwin, of Shrewsbury, consisting of essays written when young, some poetical com- 

 positions, letters, &c. but none of them (it would appear) sufficiently finished or interesting for 

 publication. 



