SCIENTISTS OF NORTH LANCASHIRE AND VICINITY 151 



1900. Principal and Vice-Chancellor, Edinburgh University, 1903. He was 

 an admirable teacher and wrote many papers on anatomical subjects. 



Walker, A. (1 731-1821 ), b. Patterdale. The son of a woollen manufacturer, 

 he was self-taught, and eventually became a teacher of mathematics in Man- 

 chester. Later travelled in the north, giving lectures in physics, and finally 

 settled down to lecture in London. Services engaged by Eton, Westminster 

 and other public schools. Had an aptitude for mechanical invention, his 

 inventions including a machine for raising water, a machine for watering land, 

 rotatory lights for lighthouses, and methods of thermo-ventilation. 



WARD, Rev. J. C. (1843-1880), b. Clapham. Educated at the Royal School 

 of Mines, was appointed to the Geological Survey, and from 1869-77 was 

 engaged in a survey of the Lake District. In 1878 was licensed to the Curacy 

 of St. John's, Keswick. Pioneer in the use of the microscope for studying 

 the composition of rocks. Published a short manual on Geology and wrote 

 many papers for the Royal Society and the Geological Society. During 

 residence at Keswick lectured on Geology and took a leading part in the 

 foundation of the Cumberland Association for the Advancement of Literature 

 and Science. 



Watson, Richard, F.R.S., Bishop of Llandaff (1737-1816), b. Heversham, 

 Westmorland. Son of a clergyman. A Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge 

 (1760), he was elected to the Chair of Chemistry (1764), having ' never read a 

 syllable on the subject nor seen a single experiment.' After 14 months' study 

 started lecturing, his lectures being well attended, and nine years after the 

 appointment (1 769) he was elected F.R.S. for his publications on salt solutions. 

 In 1 771 became Regius Professor of Divinity, but continued to study and write 

 on chemistry. In 1 774 made a discovery which led to the black-bulb thermo- 

 meter. Bishop of Llandaff in 1782. Buried in Windermere Church where 

 there is a tablet to his memory. 



Weld, Father Alfred, S.J., F.R.A.S. (1823-1890), b. Leagram Hall, near 

 Preston, Lanes. Educated at Stonyhurst College. B.A. (Lond.), 1844. 

 Entered the Society of Jesus, 1 842. Director of the Stonyhurst Observatory 

 from 1 845 to 1 85 1 , and again from 1 856 to 1 860. As Director he gave a strong 

 impulse to development, initiating more systematic meteorological observations 

 in 1845, and, under the advice and with the assistance of General Sir Edward 

 Sabine, F.R.S., commencing the regular determination of the earth's magnetic 

 elements, both of which series of observations have been continued un- 

 interruptedly to the present time. It was owing to Father Weld's successful 

 work that Stonyhurst was recognised as a meteorological station in connection 

 with the Kew Committee. His scientific work at Stonyhurst came to an end 

 upon his being called to high office in his Order. Died at St. Aidan's College, 

 Grahamstown, Cape Province. 



Whewell, Wm., F.R.S. (1794-1866), b. Lancaster. The son of a master 

 carpenter. Educated Lancaster Grammar School and Trinity College, 

 Cambridge. He helped to introduce analytical methods of continental 

 mathematicians. Elected F.R.S. in 1820, having previously published works 

 on Mechanics and Dynamics. Occupied the Chairs of Mineralogy (1828-32) 

 and Moral Philosophy (1838-55), during which time he wrote a history and 

 a philosophy of the inductive sciences, and published in the Proceedings of the 



