Dr. Barton's request for permission to withdraw it (Eulogium) to be enlarged and published separately was referred for consideration to the next meeting.

The request was granted at the next meeting, but nowhere among Barton's literary remains was the precious document to be found. Lost very probably—when it might have revealed so much.

Priestley's death was deeply mourned throughout the land. The public prints brought full and elaborate accounts of his life, and touching allusions to the fullness of his brilliant career. Such expressions as these were heard,—

As a metaphysician he stands foremost among those who have attempted the investigation of its abstruse controversies.

As a politician he assiduously and successfully laboured to extend and illustrate those general principles of civil liberty which are happily the foundation of the Constitution of his adopted Country,—

His profound attention to the belles-lettres, and to the other departments of general literature, has been successfully exemplified among his other writings, by his lectures on oratory and criticism, and on general history and policy,—

Of the most important and fashionable study of Pneumatic Chemistry he may fairly be said to be the father.

He was a man of restless activity, but he uniformly directed that activity to what seemed to him the public good, seeking neither emolument nor honour from men. Dr. Priestley was possessed of great ardour and vivacity of intellect.... His integrity was unimpeachable; and even malice itself could not fix a stain on his private character.

And what a splendid tribute is contained in the following passages from Cuvier:

Priestley, loaded with glory, was modest enough to be astonished at his good fortune, and at the multitude of beautiful facts, which nature seemed to have revealed to him alone. He forgot that her favours were not gratuitous, and if she had so well explained herself, it was because he had known how to oblige her to do so by his indefatigable perseverance in questioning her, and by the thousand ingenious means he had taken to snatch her answers from her.

Others carefully hide that which they owe to chance; Priestley seemed to wish to ascribe all his merit to fortuitous circumstances, remarking, with unexampled candour, how many times he had profited by them, without knowing it, how many times he was in possession of new substances without having perceived them; and he never dissimulated the erroneous views which sometimes directed his efforts, and from which he was only undeceived by experience. These confessions did honour to his modesty, without disarming jealousy. Those to whom their own ways and methods had never discovered anything called him a simple worker of experiments, without method and without an object "it is not astonishing," they added, "that among so many trials and combinations, he should find some that were fortunate." But real natural philosophers were not duped by these selfish criticisms.

Many encomiums like the preceding—yes, a thousandfold—could easily be gathered if necessary to show the regard and confidence held for this remarkable man to whom America is truly very deeply indebted.

Some years ago the writer paid a visit to the God's Acre of Northumberland. He arrived after dark and was conveyed to the sacred place in an automobile. Soon the car stopped. Its headlights illuminated the upright flat stone which marked the last resting place of the great chemist, and in that light not only was the name of the sleeper clearly read but the less distinct but legible epitaph:

Return unto thy rest, O my soul, for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee. I will lay me down in peace and sleep till I wake in the morning of the resurrection.

Pondering on these lines there slowly returned to mind the words of Franklin's epitaph,—Franklin, who, years before, had encouraged and aided the noble exile, who was ever mindful of the former's goodness to him:

The Body of Benjamin Franklin Printer (Like the cover of an old book Its contents torn out And stript of its lettering and gilding) Lies here food for Worms But the work shall not be lost For it will (as he believed) appear once more In a new and more elegant Edition Revised and corrected by The Author

And then, by some strange mental reaction, there floated before the writer the paragraph uttered by Professor Huxley, when in 1874 a statue to Priestley was unveiled in the City of Birmingham:

Our purpose is to do honour ... to Priestley the peerless defender of national freedom in thought and in action; to Priestley the philosophical thinker; to that Priestley who held a foremost place among the 'swift runners who hand over the lamp of life,' and transmit from one generation to another the fire kindled, in the childhood of the world, at the Promethean altar of science.



FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 1: Chemistry in Old Philadelphia, J. B. Lippincott Co., Phila., Pa.]

[Footnote 2: Correspondence of Priestley by H. C. Bolton, New York, 1892.]

[Footnote 3: Mr. Berthollet discovered that oxygenated muriatic gas, received in a ley of caustic potash, forms a chrystallizable neutral salt, which detonates more strongly than nitre.]

[Footnote 4: Nine Famous Birmingham Men—Cornish Brothers, Publishers, 1909.]

[Footnote 5: James Woodhouse—A Pioneer in Chemistry—J. C. Winston Co., Phila.—1918.]

[Footnote 6: James Woodhouse—A pioneer in Chemistry—J. C. Winston Co., Phila.—1918.]

[Footnote 7: See Chemistry in America, Appleton & Co. and Chemistry in Old Philadelphia, The J. B. Lippincott Co., Philadelphia, Pa.]

[Footnote 8: The original of this letter is now the property of Dr. C. A. Browne, New York. He graciously permitted it to be inserted here.]



Transcriber's notes: ====================

FORMATTING, fixed in text: ==========

A few inconsistencies in the layout and formatting of the book have been corrected (an extra blank line in a quoted paragraph, for example). Most notably, the "Hints Concerning Public Education" is an essay by Priestley quoted verbatim in the text. The original layout did not make a clear distinction between Smith's text and this quoted essay; I have remedied this with an indent for that section.

TYPOS, fixed in text: =====

It was an interesting fact (text reads inter-resting, broken across a line)

that germ which might once have been supposed (text reads beeen)

September 14, 1794 (text reads September, 14 1794)

the Doctor remained quietly at home (text reads quitely)

on behalf of the Northumberland Academy, praying legislative aid (text reads lesiglative)

science which has not waned in the slightest (text reads slighest)

he uniformly directed that activity (text reads uniformily)

from the rod of lawless power (text reads of of)

Almost all the fresh meat they have (text reads flesh meat)

diversions, beginning with the publication (text reads begining)

rather thoughtful disquisition on dreams (text reads disquisiton)

Footnote 6: J. C. Winston Co. (text reads Wintson)

APPARENT ERRATA, but could be as appearing in the original letters: =============== (left as-is in text).

conduct will evince that I have been to that of great {Great} Britain.

contributes so much as ours do to the cummunication {communication} of useful knowledge

sense of security which scientificial {scientific?} pursuits require

the same that has been called philogiston {phlogiston}

he would never enter the puplit {pulpit} again.

until it became necesary {necessary} to separate.

we all rejoiced at the aggreeable {agreeable} information

By civil fueds {feuds} exiled my native home

unless you were possessed of Aladin's {Aladdin's} lamp

THE END