76 Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 



Owing to circumstances upon which it is needless here to 

 dilate, he quitted Tavistock in the year 1812 and came to 

 settle in London. On his removal he, together with his 

 brother Mr. Philip Taylor, engaged in a chemical manu- 

 factory at Stratford in Essex. The science of chemistry, which 

 had always been a favourite pursuit with him, now became 

 his profession. He was indefatigable in his private labora- 

 tory as well as in the manufactory. And he was in communica- 

 tion with the greatest chemists of the day, both English and 

 foreign. We have the highest authority for affirming that, up 

 to a certain period, he was regarded by them as one of the first 

 metallurgical chemists of this country*. 



Mr. Taylor's ardour in chemical discovery was stimu- 

 lated and encouraged by daily intercourse with his brother. 

 In conjunction with him, he made a series of experiments 

 upon the gas obtained from oil, with a view to test its illumi- 

 nating quality, and apply it to economical uses. These experi- 

 ments led to the invention of an apparatus for making and 

 distributing oil-gas. That pure and brilliant gas was intro- 

 duced into some towns and public buildings, especially Covent 

 Garden Theatre, and the Imperial Palace at St. Petersburg. Its 

 greater costliness, however, prevented its general adoption. 



But the increasing extent and importance of his mining 

 business compelled him to withdraw from all other pursuits, 

 and give himself up exclusively to the management of mines. 

 Those which he directed from 1799 to 1812 were, as we have 

 said, on the borders of Devonshire and Cornwall. To these were 

 now added the Consolidated Mines, and others in the latter 

 county. 



About the year 1820 he was requested to take the manage- 

 ment of the mineral property of the Duke of Devonshire in 

 Staffordshire, Yorkshire, and Ireland; in 1822 he undertook 

 the direction of Lord Grosvenor's mines in Wales, of the Mold 

 mines in the same country; and in 1823, of those in Cum- 

 berland belonging to Greenwich Hospital. 



Mr. Taylor was a member of many scientific and learned 

 societies, British and foreign. In 1825 he was elected a 

 Fellow of the Royal Society. He was one of the earliest 

 Fellows of the Geological Society, and in 1816 was appointed 

 its Treasurer, an office which he retained till 1844. 



Mr. Taylor was one of the earliest and most active members 

 of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. 

 The first meeting of the first Council of that body was held at 

 his house in Bedford Row, on the 26th of June 1832. 



* In 1823 he delivered a course of lectures on metallurgy at the London 

 Institution. 



