II. Minutes of the Life and Character of Joseph Bljck, 

 M. D. Addreffed to the Royal Society of Edinburgh. 



[Read Aug. 3. 1801.] 



THE merits of ftudious men are to be eflimated by the aids 

 they have given to the advancement of fcience, or the lite- 

 rary monuments they have left with pofterity ; but if the public 

 be gratified by their labours in thefe refpects, readers are gene- 

 rally willing alfo to be told, who and whence they were. 



Joseph Black, the perfon to whom thefe minutes relate, 

 fucceffively ProfefTor in the Univerfities of Glafgow and of 

 Edinburgh, Member of this Society, and of other royal and 

 public inftitutions in Europe ; having made important dif- 

 coveries, and having laid the foundations of many others, to- 

 wards erecting a fabric of fcience, which has fince been raifed to 

 a considerable height ; and having been himfelf diftinguifhed for 

 modefly and felicity of manners, as well as correclnefs of under- 

 ftanding, and ingenuity of refearch, — will, it is hoped, be thought 

 worthy of notice on thefe accounts. He was born on the banks 

 of the Garrone, in France, in the year 1728. His parents were 

 Irifh and Scots. His father, John Black, a native of Belfaft in. 

 Ireland, was fettled in the wine-trade at Bourdeaux. His mo- 

 ther was a daughter of Robert Gordon, of the family of Hal- 

 head in Aberdeenfhire, who was likewife fettled in the fame 

 trade, and at the fame place, and in confequence of his fuccefs,. 

 was enabled to purchafe, with additions, the eftate of his elder" 



brother^. 



