306 JVotices of Eminent Men deceased in Great Britain. 



An analysis of the arseniates of copper. — Observations on Dr. 

 James's powders, with a method of preparing a similar substance in 

 the humid way. — Observations and experiments upon oxygenated 

 and hyperoxygenated muriatic acid. — An analysis of corundum. — 

 Observations on the chemical nature of the humors of the eye. — 

 Inquiries concerning the nature of a metallic substance, under the 

 title of Palladium.— On the action of platinum and mercury on each 

 other. 



In the latter years of his life, whic^h could not have reached three- 

 score, he appears to have abandoned chemistry, and to have fallen 

 on speculations wholly unworthy of being noticed from this place. 



4. Mr. Smithson, then called Macie, and an undergraduate, had 

 the reputation of excelling all other resident members of the Uni- 

 versity in the knowledge of chemistry. He was early honored by 

 an intimate acquaintance with Mr. Cavendish; he was admitted into 

 the Royal Society, and soon after presented a paper on the very cu- 

 rious concretion frequently found in the hollow of bambu canes, 

 named, Tabasheer. This he found to consist almost entirely of si- 

 lex, existing in a manner similar to what Davy long afterwards dis- 

 covered in the epidermis of reeds and grasses. 



Mr. Smithson enriched our Transactions with seven other commu- 

 nications : — Alchemical analysis of some calamines. — Account of a 

 discovery of native minium.— On the composition and crystallization 

 of certain sulphurets from liuel Boys in Cornwall. — On the compo- 

 sition of zeolite. — On a substance procured from the elm-tree, called 

 Ulmine. — On a saline substance from Mount Vesuvius. — Facts rel-- 

 ative to the coloring matter of vegetables. 



He was the friend of Dr. Wollaston, and at the same time his rival 

 in the manipulation and analysis of small quantities. Aya&ri ^' sptg 

 Yik /SpoToiifi. ■ Mr. Smithson frequently repeated an occurrence with 

 much pleasure and exultation, as exceeding any thing that could be 

 brought into competition with it, — and this must apologize for my in- 

 troducing what might otherwise he deemed an anecdote too light and 

 trifling on such an occasion as the present. 



Mr. Smithson declared, that happening to observe a tear gliding 

 down a lady's cheek, he endeavored to catch it on a crystal vessel : 

 that one-half of the drop escaped, but having preserved the other 

 half, he submitted it to reagents, and detected what was then called 

 microcosmic salt, with muriate of soda ; and, I think, three or four 

 more saline substances, held in solution. * 



