July 7,, 1.904] 



NATURE 



3H9 



by Artaud, a painter largely employed. by the Non- 

 conformists of his day, and represents Priestley as he 

 appeared at the time of .his leaving England for 

 America. .The last portrait is by an American artist, 

 Stewart, and shows Priestley without his wig, and in 

 the costume he adopted at Northumberland. We have 

 in addition a reproduction of Williamson's statue 

 erected in Birmingham, and unveiled by Huxley in 

 1S74 on the occasion of the centenary of the discovery 

 of oxygen. Lastly, there is a copy of Drury's fine 

 statue which Leeds owes to the munificence and public 

 spirit of Colonel Harding. 



The Rev. Mr. Freeston, who is responsible for the 

 issue of the present edition, is, no doubt, a great 

 admirer of Priestley as one of the chief apostles of Non- 

 conformity, as the sturdy champion of Unitarianism 

 and the resolute defender of free inquiry and liberal 

 thought, and this circumstance may account for the 

 fact that, in his selection of the illustrations, the scien- 

 tific side of Priestley's activity receives practically no 

 recognition. Dr. Taylor, of Norwich, who became 

 head of the Warrington .\cademy, was no doubt an 

 eminent divine, but his connection with Priestley was 

 of the slenderest. Dr. .'\ndre\v Kippis was of some 

 assistance to him at times, especially in the earlier 

 period of his career. Dr. Price, whom he succeeded 

 at Hackney, and the Rev. Mr. Theophilus Lindsey 

 were almost life-long friends, and no doubt exercised 

 considerable influence on his fortunes. But so did 

 Josiah W'edgwood, James W'att, whose association 

 with Priestley gave rise to the famous Water Contro- 

 versy. Matthew Boulton, Keir, Withering, and other 

 members of the celebrated Lunar Society. There can 

 be little doubt that Priestley's career as a natural philo- 

 sopher, and, indeed, as a political writer and reformer, 

 was largely the result of his connection with Franklin, 

 {or whom he had the greatest admiration and affection, 

 and to W'hom considerable reference is made in the 

 ".Memoirs." Lord Shelbume, too, with whom 

 Priestley spent some of the most fruitful years of his 

 busy life, afforded him, in ample measure, time, 

 money and opportunity for the prosecution of his work 

 on pneumatic chemistry, and thereby contributed to 

 lay the foundation upon which his fame largely rests. 

 But although portraits of these persons are at least 

 as accessible as those of the worthy Nonconformist 

 divines mentioned above, and should, in all fitness, 

 appear in any edition of Priestley's " Memoirs " in 

 which portraits of his friends and co-workers are made 

 a distinctive feature, they are conspicuous by their 

 absence. 



The reproduction of the view of Priestley's birth- 

 place at Fieldhead, near Birstall, presumably made 

 from Mr. Buckton's photograph, is interesting and 

 pictorially unobjectionable, but that of the Nantwich 

 Meeting House, where Priestley officiated for about 

 three years, is simply hideous. The only thing that 

 can be said in its favour is that it is at least as meri- 

 torious as the architectural character of the building 

 it seeks to depict. Nor is the view of the Old .Academy 

 at Warrington much better. Priestley was, no doubt, 

 familiar with the old building on the banks of the 

 .Mersey, although his connection with it was as slender 

 NO. 1810, VOL. 70] 



as his association, \vit^ its first, head. Dr. John Taylor. 

 Most of. Priestley's life 'as a tutor 'at Warrington was' 

 sjient in the, Nevv .Academy, situated some distariaa; 

 from the building represented, and which', by the way," 

 the author of the, "History and Present State of 

 Electricity " and. of the ," Essay on the First. Principles 

 of Government, and on the Nature of Political, Civil 

 and Religious Liberty " would certainly not have re- 

 cognised as here shown, niaiijly hy reason of the im- 

 posing statiie of the stalwart, Cromwell and the large 

 incandescent electric lamp which bulks so largely in 

 the foreground.. The fact is, the view represents the, 

 Old .Academy as it exists to-day as the home of the 

 Warrington Society, to the praiseworthy zeal and 

 public spirit of which the old house has been rescued 

 from the oblivion which was overtaking it. 



We have no inclination to be hypercritical, but it is 

 surely desirable that in the re-publication of a work 

 which in its way may be reckoned as one of the classics 

 of scientific biography, and is now brought out 

 to commemorate the centenary of the death of its, 

 illustrious author, some effort should have been made 

 to make the appearance of the book more worthy of 

 its subject and of the occasion which has led to its 

 re-issue. T. E. Thorpe. 



.4 LAD\ ENTOMOLOGIST. 

 Eleanor Ormerod, LL.D., Economic Entomologists 

 -Autobiography and' Correspondence. Edited by 

 Prof. Robert Wallace, Professor of .Agriculture and 

 Rural Economy in the L'niversity of Edinburgh. 

 With portraits and illustrations. Pp. xx + 348; 

 plates XXX ; text illustrations 76. (London : Murray,. 

 1904.) Price 21X. net. 



THE narhe of Eleanor .Anne Ormerod will long be 

 remembered for her unflagging industry and 

 long-continued devotion to practical entomology, not 

 surpassed in their own lines of research by Caroline. 

 Herschel and Mary Somerville, with whom she may 

 most fitting'ly be compared. There can be no more fit- 

 ting opportunity than the present to recall her services 

 both to science and the world at large, when the 

 Linnean Society (formerly so exclusive that ladies who- 

 contributed papers were not even admitted to be pre- 

 sent when they were read) has just thrown open its 

 full membership to women. The Entomologicai 

 Society was never so exclusive ; and at one time Miss 

 E. A. Ormerod was one of the most regular attendants 

 at the meetings, sometirnes' accompanied by her sister 

 and fellow-worker, Georgiana E. Ormerod, and more 

 rarely by some other lady friend. 



By far the most interesting portion of this volume is. 

 the autobiography (occupying chapters i. ii., iv.-x.). 

 Next in importance are chapter iii., by Miss Diana. 

 Latham, referring to Miss Ormerod 's early life, and 

 chapter xi. by the editor completing (all too briefly) the 

 biographical sketch of Miss Ormerod 's life. A very 

 full account is given of her family, surroundings and 

 education, with reminiscences of coaching days, the 

 Chartist rising, and other matters which look like 

 ancient history now, besides occasional geological anrf 



