266 Literary and Philosophical Society, 



CHAPTER XL 



William Sturgeon and others, 



William Sturgeon, the electrician, as we may call him, 

 or physicist, was born in Lancaster, and spent his time 

 from 1838 to his death, December 8, 1850, in close relations 

 with the Society, and it was here that he collected his 

 works for publication. He was born in 1783, and as we 

 learn from a graphic account by Dr. Joule, was reared 

 under circumstances peculiarly suited to make a man 

 rough, selfish, and unintellectual. To keep his father, a 

 clever man but an idle shoemaker, poaching fish and rear- 

 ing gamecocks when starving the family, was the painful 

 work of the young Sturgeon, and to the very last he had 

 a life of labour and poverty. The work he did was never- 

 theless surprising, and we give here a full list of his papers, 

 although not done in any other case, because he was one 

 of those men too neglected, both by the higher class of 

 scientific men of the time and by the Societies in which 

 they were. It is sad to think that scientific men see no 

 better than the public where real merit exists — surely this 

 is nonsense, scientific men must see where science exists — 

 well let it be so then : they are not very well able to bring 

 forward those who are neglected, or are they willing if 

 able "i It is to be feared that they are as other men, self 

 being served first. It is true that at last he was seen by 

 men of scientific eminence, and notably by our President, 



