
gi6 
of Sciences at Lifhon, fellow of the Linnzan 
Society, &c. (whofe death was announced 
nm our laft Number). -He was born in the 
yeat 1741. His father was a refpe€table apo- 
*@hecary at- Willington, in Shropfhire. After 
Zoing througn the common grammatical edu- 
€atlo oy and being initiated in the knowledge 
et pharmacy and medicine under his panes 
he was fent to the Univerfity of Edinburgh, 
where he ftudied the ufual time, and then 
took the degree of Do&tor of Phyfic in the~ 
year 1766.’ Not long after he left the Uni- 
verfity, he fettled at Staftord, where he mar- 
zied Mifs Cooks, the daugliter of an attorney 
of that place. Here he met with little en- 
couragement3 he therefore removed hence in 
1774 to Birmingham, where a vacancy had 
taken place in the medical profeflion by the 
death of Dr. Small, an ingenious and much- 
damented phyfician. The change was a very 
fortunate one for the DoGter; his abilities 
were {oon called inte action; and a few years 
atterwards, when the late Dr. Afh’s health 
Decame impaired, his pra€tice, both as to ex- 
tent and pioeeesess rivalled, if it did not 
farpats, that of any phyfician ont of London: 
Little qualified, either by conftitution of body 
or turn of mind, for general and focial inter- 
courfe with the Aoriae Ur. Withering devoted 
thofe hours which and after the bufinefs 
of the day was over to philofophical and fcien- 
tific purfuits. In the year 1776 be publith- 
ed, in 2 vols. 8vo;. the firft edition of his 
** Botanical Arrangement 3”? a work. which, 
at that time, could be confidered as little 
more thana mere tranflation from Linneus 
ot fuch genera and fpecies of plants as-are in- 
digenousi in Great Britain; andin which Ray’s 
Synopfis Methodica Stirpium Britannicarum, 
and Hudfon’s Flora Anglica, could not fail to 
afford him great affiftance; but, in the courfe 
of the two other editions of it (the laf& of 
which, in 4 vols. 8vo. was publithed 1796), 
this «6 ee een has ae fo much im- 
proved and enlarged, as to have become, in a 
great meafure, an original work 3 and cer- 
tainly, as a national Flora, it muft be allowed 
to be the moft elaborate and complete per- 
formance that any country can boat of. Juf- 
- tice, however, compels us to acknowledge, 
thatthe whole claim.of this excellence- does 
not belong to Dr. Withering. No -inconfider- 
able portion of it is due to his able coadjutors, 
among whom the names of Stokes, Wood- 
ward, Weliey, and Stackhoufe, ftand the moft 
confpicuous. Botany, however, did not en- 
grofs all our author’s attention: many. of his 
leifure-hours he devoted to chemiftry, and mi- 
mneralogy. Ja 1783 he tranflated Bergeman’s 
Sciasraphia Regni Mineralis, under the title 
of ‘* Outlines of Mincralogy;” and, before 
and fince that time, he addrefled to the Royal 
Society feveral communications relative to 
thofe branches of knowledge. Thus, in 
1773, we find inferted in the Philofophical 
Tranfactions his -experiments 6n different 
kinds of marle found in Staffordfhire. In the 
fame TranfaClions for 1782, his Analyfis, of 
% 
Account of Dr. Withering. 
the toad-ftone, a fofiil met with in Derbythire, 
In the fame work for 1734, his experiment 
onthe terra pondersfa. And lafly, in 1798, 
his analyfis of a hot mineral fpring in Por- 
tugal. ’ Aantal thefe diverfified purfuits he 
did not relax in his profefhonal ftudies. In 
1779, he publithed an account of the Scarlet 
fever and fore throat; and, 1785, appeared 
his account of the fox-glove; wherein he laid 
before the public a very fatisfa€tory body of 
evidence in favour of the diuretic virtues of 
this vegetable in various kinds of dropfies. 
Although | he was not. the difcoverer of this 
powerful reme ays yet he is entitled to the 
praife of-being the firft who taught the Fa- 
culty how-to prepare and manage its dofés, fo 
as to adminifter it with fafety, and generally 
with fuccefs. From early life Dr. Wither- 
ing was of a flender and delicate habit of body; 
and, not long after his firft eftablifhment in 
practice, he became fubje& to attacks of pe- 
ripneumony. By thefe repeated attacks his 
lungs were at length fo much injured, and 
his whole frame fo much debilitated, that he 
found it neceffary to repair to a warmer cli- 
mate. . Accordingly, in the autumn of 1793, 
he made a voyage to Lifbon, where he pafled 
the winter, returning to England the follow- 
ing fpring. Thinking he had received benefit 
from the climate of Portugal, he made a fee 
cond voyage to Litbon the following winter, 
and returned home again 1795. While he 
was in Portugal, he analyzed the hot mineral 
waters, called the Caldas. This analyfis was 
publifhed in the Memoirs of the Royal Aca- 
demy of Sciences at Lifbon; and fince in the 
Philofophical Tranfa&tions of the Royal So- 
ciety in London. After his return from hig 
laft voyage to Lifbon, his health remained 
in a very fluétuating ftate, fometimes fo to- 
lerable as to allow going out in a carriage; 
at other times, fo bad as to confine him to his 
room. : In this manner his. exiftence was 
protratted until the laft month, when he 
removed from Edgbafton Hall, where he had 
refided (under a “leafe granted by the late 
Lord Calthorpe) for feveral years, to a houfe 
formerly occupied by Dr. Prieftley, which 
he had recently purchafed, and had named 
the Larches.. To the diftinguifhed wzank 
which he held in the medical profeffion, Dr. 
Withering was raifed wholly by perfonal me- 
rit. . He poffeffed great clearnefs of difcern- 
ment, joined with a moft perfevering applica- 
tion. He was of a humane and mild difpofi- 
tion. With his family and amang his friends 
he was chearful and communicative ; but 
with the world at large, andeven in his pro- 
feflional charaéter, he was fhy and referved. 
He never prefcribed more medicine than ap- 
peared to be abfolutely neceflary, confulting 
by fuch conduc the intereft of the patient 
rather than the intereft of the apothecary. 
Hence he was not generally beloved by the 
fubordinate part of the profeffion. He has left 
behing him. a very valuable library, which 
devolves to his fon, who has been educated in 
his father’s profeffion. - 
“PROVINCIAL 
[December, ; 
