October 31, 1912] 



NATURE 



253 



THE UNVEILING OF A STATUE OF 

 PRIESTLEY AT BIRSTALL. 



THE merits of Joseph Priestley — theologian, 

 philosopher, social reformer, and man of 

 science — were recognised by some at least of his 

 contemporaries. He was on terms of friendship 

 with such men as Franklin, Wedgwood, Watt, 

 and Banks, and he enjoyed the patronage and 

 companionship of Lord Shelburne. In 1766 he 

 was elected a fellow of the Royal Society, and 

 seven years later the Copley medal was awarded 

 to him. 



To many of his fellow-countrymen, on the other 

 hand, Priestley was but a violent and obstinate 

 schismatic, intent only on undermining the estab- 

 lished order of things. It was indeed the in- 

 tolerant and cruel expression of this view by the 

 Birmingham mob that led him to emigrate to the 

 United States in the sixty-second year of his age. 



Such clouds, however, as once obscured Priest- 

 ley's fair fame have now entirely passed away, 

 and the services which he rendered to the national 

 life, whether as a pioneer of chemical science or 

 as an "honest heretic," are everywhere recog- 

 nised. Public memorials of the man and his work 

 have been erected in Birmingham, Warrington, 

 and Leeds, and recently another has been added 

 to the number. For the citizens of Birstall, in 

 the West Riding, where Priestley was born in 

 1733, have combined, with praiseworthy public 

 spirit and enthusiasm, to erect a statue of their 

 eminent townsman. 



This latest memorial was unveiled on October 12 

 by Sir Edward Thorpe, whose ready pen has 

 materially contributed to a just appreciation of 

 Priestley's character and work by this generation. 

 The ceremony was performed in presence of a 

 large and distinguished company, and general 

 satisfaction was expressed at the manner in which 

 the scheme for commemorating Birstall's most 

 famous son had been brought to a successful 

 issue. 



After the unveiling ceremony, the company 

 adjourned to the Temperance Hall, where an 

 address was delivered by Sir Edward Thorpe. In 

 an illuminating review of Priestley's life and the 

 various factors that shaped his career, emphasis 

 was laidon the influence of his early environment. 

 From his sixth year onward Priestley was en- 

 trusted to the care of his aunt, Mrs. Keighley, a 

 worthy, intelligent, and broad-minded woman, to 

 whose house the cultured people of the neiohbour- 

 hood were wont to resort. For a time ill-health 

 prevented the boy attending school with regularity, 

 and to a large extent he had to make his wav to 

 knowledge unaided. These circumstances, co- 

 operating with his natural keenness and diligence, 

 developed in young Priestley that mental activity 

 and independence which later were characteristic 

 of his attitude towards theological, philosophical, 

 political, and social questions. 



After a suitable training Priestlev entered the 



ministry, and worked successively at Needham, 



Nantwich, and Warrington. It was not until he 



went to Leeds in 1767 that he began those 



NO. 2244, VOL. 90] 



chemical investigations on which his fame chiefly 

 rests. It is indeed remarkable, as Sir Edward 

 Thorpe pointed out, that a man like Priestley, 

 without previous training, with domestic utensils 

 for his apparatus and tallow candles for his source 

 of heat, should have made the ereat discoveries 

 in pneumatic chemistry with which his name is 

 associated. 



The Priestley Statue at Birstall. Sculptor : Miss Darlingtott. 



It was, however, during his seven years at 

 Calne, in Wiltshire, under the patronage of Lord 

 Shelburne, that Priestley's best experimental 

 work was done. It must be admitted that he did 

 not at all realise the true significance of his in- 

 vestigations. The discovery of oxygen was 

 destined to revolutionise chemical science, and 

 yet Priestley himself, to the end of his days, 



