518 PEL 
feveral fevere (hocks during the dorms of the revolution ; 
and his tranquillity was all'o occafionally invaded by the 
claims of other perfons to his difcoveries, the injuftice of 
which deeply wounded him; but the metallic and car¬ 
bonic vapours to which he was fo much expofed in his 
experiments were the immediate caufe of the pulmonary 
affection that proved fatal to him. During the progrefs 
of it, he felt no diminution of his zeal for chemical 
fcience, and was often roufed from a fit of low fpirits by 
the fight of fome curious preparation. He had deter¬ 
mined upon a journey to his native place, which he flat¬ 
tered himfelf would reflore him to health, when, in July 
1797, he was carried off at the early age of thirty-fix, to 
the great regret of his friends, and the public. He had 
been made a member of feveral learned focieties, native 
and foreign, among which were the Academy of Turin, 
and the Paris and London Medical Societies. His works 
were publilhed cclledlively in two volumes, 8vo. Paris, 
1798 ; with an Eloge prefixed, from which the above ac¬ 
count is collected. 
PEL'LICAN (Conrad), a learned German divine of 
the reformed communion, was the fon of refpeflable but 
not opulent Catholic parents, and born at Ruffach in 
Alface, in the year 1478. His family furname was origi¬ 
nally Kin-finer (Skinner), which he changed to Pellican. 
Having been inftrudted in the rudiments of learning at 
his native town, he was fent by an uncle to the univerfity 
of Heidelberg, and fupported there for about lixteen 
months, when, the expenfe proving too heavy, ouryoung 
(Indent was obliged to return to his father’s houfe. He 
now for fome time gratuiloufly aflifted his old fchool- 
mafter, and gladly availed himfelf of the permiffion which 
was given him to read the books belonging to a neigh¬ 
bouring convent. Obferving his fondnefs for ftudy, the 
monks ufed all their arts to engage him to enter into 
their community; and by degrees made fuch an imprefliou 
upon his mind, that he took the habit in 1493, when he 
was in his fixteenth year, without the approbation or 
knowledge of his parents. In this convent he applied 
with unwearied diligence and diftinguiflied fuccefs to the 
lludy of the Latin and Greek languages, polite literature, 
philofophy, and divinity; and in the year 1496, he was 
fent for further improvement to the univerfity of Tu¬ 
bingen. Here he fpent between four and five years in 
attending the lectures of the different profeffors; and 
during this period, with incredible labour for want of 
proper books, which reduced him to the neceflity of con- 
ftrufting a grammar and diftionary for his own ufe, he 
made himfelf a tolerable proficient in the Hebrew lan¬ 
guage. In the year 1500, John Capnio, who then came 
to Tubingen, aflifted him in greatly improving his ac¬ 
quaintance with this tongue. In 1501, Pellican was or¬ 
dained prieft at Pfortzheim, and immediately returned to 
the convent at Ruffach. He had now acquired fo high 
a reputation for learning and knowledge, that in 1502 he 
was appointed profeffor of divinity in the convent be¬ 
longing to his order at Bafil. This fituation was pecu¬ 
liarly acceptable to him, as it proved the means of intro¬ 
ducing him to the acquaintance of the eminent literary 
characters who frequented that city; and alfoof the 
learned printers for whom it was famous, who engaged 
his affiftance in editing the complete works of St. Augul- 
tine and St. Chryfoftom. He contracted an intimacy, in 
particular, with the celebrated John Froben, who never 
fuffered him to be in want of uleful books. In the year 
1504, cardinal Raymund, the legate of pope Alexander 
VI. having been informed of the great merits of Pellican, 
and tried him by an examination which laded fome hours, 
created him licentiate in divinity ; and with this extra¬ 
ordinary diftinftion, that, when arrived at the age of 
thirty, he (hould fucceed to the title of doctor in that fa¬ 
culty, without going through any other forms. 
About this time he drew up, at the requeft of the bifhop 
of Bafil, “ A Summary of Chriftian Doftrine,” in which 
he adhered to the Catholic creed, and ufed the language 
PEL 
of the fchools; but his mind was beginning to entertain 
doubts on the fubjects of indulgencies, purgatory, con- 
feflion, the eucharift, and the papal power. In the year 
1508, he was appointed to fill the divinity-chair at Ruf¬ 
fach ; and was afterwards defied fucceflively guardian of 
the convents belonging to his order at Pfortzheim and 
in that town. While he held thefe offices, he made him- 
felf mafter of the Chaldee dialed, and read with great at¬ 
tention the Targum of Onkelos on the Pentateuch, and 
various Jewi(h commentators on the Old Teftament writ¬ 
ings. In 1516, he was deputed by his province to at¬ 
tend a general congregation of the Minorite order at 
Rouen in Normandy; and he was afterwards their re- 
prefentative in a general congregation held at Rome. 
In 1519, to his great fatisfaflion, he was appointed 
guardian of the convent at Bafil, and renewed his learned 
connexions and intimacies in that place. By reading 
the writings of Luther, which were about this time 
brought to Bafil, the doubts which he had formerly be¬ 
gun to entertain refpefting fome of the leading tenets of 
the papal church, were ftrengthened and confirmed, and 
he gradually became an entire convert to the doftrine of 
that great reformer. Under the influence of this change 
in his principles, he delivered in the pulpit an expofition 
of the gofpel of St. Matthew, which lafted nearly eighteen 
months, and was attended by crowded auditories, among 
whom were fome of the moft learned men in Bafil, who 
heard him with the higheft fatisfadtion, and encouraged 
him to proceed with his plan. But by this condudt he 
exafperated the zealous adherents to popery ; and in the 
year 1523, when the provincial Satzgerus vifited the con¬ 
vent at Bafil, fome doftors of the univerfity, and canons 
of the great church, preferred a charge againft Pellican, 
his vice-guardian, and other members of the fraternity, 
that they were Lutherans, and encouragers of the books 
of that daring heretic. By their reprefentations the pro¬ 
vincial was determined to remove the accufed from their 
fituations; but he was prevented from taking that ftep 
by the interference of the fenate of Bafil, who confirmed 
them in their places, and appointed Pellican fellow-pro- 
fefforof divinity with Oecolampadius. Some time after¬ 
wards, however, in a general congregation of the Minorite 
order at Landfliut, on the reprefentation of Satzgerus, 
Pellican was removed from the office of guardian ; but he 
ft ill retained his poft in the univerfity, and filled the theo¬ 
logical chair alternately with his learned colleague. In 
the mean while, fome of his fellow-monks were fecretly 
employed in endeavouring to prejudice the citizens 
againft him; and they carried their hatred to fuch 
a length in the convent, that his life was in danger, and 
he was daily furnifhed with provifions by friends, that 
he might not prove the victim of apprehended attempts 
to poifon him. Thus circumftanced, his friends prevailed 
upon him toconfult his perfonal fafety; and in the year 
1526, on the Invitation of Zuinglius, he privately with¬ 
drew to Zurich, where he was appointed profeffor of di¬ 
vinity and of the Hebrew language. Upon this event he 
laid afide his cowl, and adopted the common drefs of ec- 
clefiaftics. To (how, likewife, that he finally renounced 
the papal communion, he followed the example of many 
of the other clergy who embraced the reformation, by 
taking to himfelf a wife. In the fame year, he edited a 
fecond imprefiion of the “ Biblia Hebraica, cum Com¬ 
ment. R. Abraam, Abenezra, et R. Salomonis, in Pro- 
phetas ;” and alfo'of the “ Sepher Michlol,” firft printed 
at Conftantinople. In the year 1528, he took part in the 
celebrated difputation at Bern, on the fubjeft of the eu¬ 
charift ; and publilhed a volume of the debates and 
fpeeches on that occalion. During the following year he 
commenced his public expofition of the books of the Old 
Teftament, which employed him till 1539, and exhibited 
proof of very laborious application, extenfive learning, 
aild, particularly, an intimate acquaintance with the Jew- 
i(h commentators, ancient and modern. This Expofition 
he afterwards publilhed, in four volumes folio; and then 
devoted 
