ADDRESS. 5 
of Beckett, of Lowther, but the men I have referred to fitly illustrate the 
remarkable array of worthies whose careers have shed lustre upon the 
town in or near which they were born. Yet that illustration would be 
altogether incomplete if I failed to speak of one whose career and works 
alone would suffice to place Leeds in the foremost rank of those English 
towns which can claim as their own men whose course of life-and whose 
achievements have secured their pre-eminence among our illustrious 
countrymen. Needless to say that I refer to Joseph Priestley, born within 
six miles of Leeds, whose name holds rank among the foremost of success- 
_ ful workers in science ; who, by brilliant powers of experimental investi- 
gation, rapidly achieved a series of discoveries which helped largely to 
dispel the shroud of mystery surrounding the art of alchemy, and to lay 
the foundation of true chemical science. An ardent student of the classics, 
of Eastern languages, and of divinity, a zealous exponent of theological 
doctrines which marred his career as divine and instructor, he early 
displayed conspicuous talents for the cultivation of experimental science, 
which he pursued with ardour under formidable difficulties. His acquaint- 
ance with Franklin probably developed the taste for the study of electric 
science which led him to labour successfully in this direction; and the 
publication, in 1767, of his valuable work on ‘The History and Present 
State of Electricity, with Original Experiments,’ secured for him a pro- 
minent position among the working Fellows of the Royal Society. His 
_ connection with Mill Hill Chapel, in 1768, appears to have given rise 
accidentally to his first embracing the experimental pursuit of what 
formerly was termed pneumatic chemistry, the foundation of which had 
been laid by Cavendish’s memorable contribution, in 1766, to the ‘ Philo- 
sophical Transactions,’ on carbonic acid and hydrogen. Priestley’s first 
publication in pneumatic chemistry, on ‘impregnating Water with Fixed 
Air’ (carbonic acid), attracted great attention ; it was at once translated 
into French, and the College of Physicians addressed the Lords of the 
Treasury thereon, pointing out the advantages which might result from 
_ the employment, by men at sea, of water impregnated with carbonic acid 
gas, as a protective against, or cure for, scurvy. 
Six years later Priestley investigated the chemical effects produced 
on the air by the burning of candles and the respiration of animals, 
and, having demonstrated that it was thereby diminished in volume and 
deteriorated, he showed that living plants possessed the power of 
rendering air, which had been thus deteriorated, once more capable 
of supporting the combustion of a candle. At about this time 
Priestley received very advantageous proposals to accompany Captain 
Cook upon his second expedition to the South Seas; but when 
about to prepare for his departure he learned from Sir Joseph Banks 
that objections against his appointment, on account of the great latitude 
of his religious principles, had been successfully urged by some ecclesiastic 
member of the Board of Longitude. In 1773 the Royal Society awarded 
