EDITORIAL. 
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under  very  different  circumstances,  Scotland  lost  one  of  her  brightest  sons. 
Hugh  Miller,  who  from  the  humble  ranks  of  the  quarry  men,  rose  to  an 
eminent  position  among  British  geologists,  and  who  has  done  so  much  to 
"  popularize  and  Christianize  science,"  whilst  under  the  influence  of  an  over- 
wrought brain,  died  by  his  own  hand.  Though  possessed  of  a  strong  frame 
and  large  brain,  they  were  insufficient  to  meet  the  exorbitant  demands  of 
an  unceasing  application.  For  some  time  before  his  death  his  nervous 
system  gave  indications  of  disorder,  and  had  he  been  as  familiar  with  its 
workings  as  with  those  strata  whose  history  he  has  written  with  so  much 
power,  he  would  have  perhaps  avoided  the  sad  catastrophe  which  termi- 
nated at  once  his  labors  and  his  life.  During  his  latter  days  he  became 
possessed  with  the  idea  that  his  museum  would  be  robbed,  and  provided 
fire  arms  to  repel  intruders  ;  horrible  dreams  disturbed  his  rest,  and  ina- 
bility to  get  refreshing  sleep  became  at  last  a  source  of  serious  anxiety,  and 
concentrated  in  self-destruction. — (Silliman.) 
His  works,  "  Foot-prints  of  the  Creator,  or  the  Asterolepis  of  Stromness," 
and  "  My  Schools  and  Schoolmasters,"  are  well  known,  and  he  had  just 
completed  his  "  Testimony  of  the  Rocks  "  the  day  before  his  death. 
Dr.  Andrew  Ure,  so  long  and  favorably  known  in  connection  with  tech- 
nical chemistry,  died  on  the  2d  of  January,  1857,  after  a  short  illness,  at 
the  age  of  seventy-eight.  Dr.  Ure  was  born  in  Glasgow  in  1778,  and  studied 
in  its  University.  He  afterwards  studied  in  Edinburgh  and  graduated  in 
medicine  at  his  native  city  in  1801.  In  1804  he  was  appointed  Andersonian 
Professor  of  Chemistry  and  Physics  in  Glasgow.  In  1809  he  was  attached 
to  the  newly  established  Glasgow  Observatory,  where  he  remained  several 
years.  A  series  of  valuable  papers  in  the  Journals  marked  his  progress 
from  year  to  year.  In  1818  he  described  the  Eudiometer  which  bears  his 
name.  In  1821  his  "  Dictionary  of  Chemistry  "  was  published.  In  1830 
Dr.  Ure  became  a  resident  of  London,  and  was  appointed  chemist  to  the 
Board  of  Customs  in  1834.  In  1835  he  published  « The  Philosophy  of 
Manufactures,"  and  in  the  next  year  "  The  Cotton  Manufacture  of  Great 
Britain."  His  celebrated  "  Dictionary  of  Arts,  Manufactures  and  Mines  " 
was  first  published  in  1837,  and  by  it  he  is  most  extensively  known  in  this 
country  from  an  American  reprint.  This  great  work  has  gone  through 
several  editions. 
Possessed  of  indefatigable  industry  and  enthusiastic  love  of  his  scientific 
labor,  Dr.  Ure  accomplished  an  amount  of  results  surprising  to  an  ordi- 
nary mind.  He  was  consulted  extensively  by  manufacturers  in  the  adap- 
tation of  processes  and  machinery  to  scientific  principles,  and  from  the 
observations  accumulating  from  this  source  no  doubt  arose  his  great  Dic- 
tionary of  Arts,  &c. 
Although  his  health  was  failing  during  his  three  or  four  last  years,  his 
faculties  were  bright  and  his  scientific  pursuits  were  kept  up  until  within 
a  few  days  of  his  death. 
Dr.  Ure  was  an  honorary  member  of  the  Pharmaceutical  Society  of  Great 
