possessed considerable repute as a teacher of the ancient languages,
and was considered at that period to be one of the best instructors of
youth in the North of England. Immediately on leaving Mr. Harrison's
academy at Manchester, Henry had the good fortune to become the private
secretary of Dr. Percival, a physician of great general accomplishments
and refined taste, whose example and judicious counsels were most
instrumental in guiding the tastes of his young companion, and in
establishing habits of vigilant and appropriate expression. In this
improving residence Dr. Henry remained for the space of five years;
he was then removed, in the winter of 1795-6, to the University of
Edinburgh, after having acquired some preliminary medical knowledge
at the Infirmary at Manchester. Prudential considerations compelled
him to leave the University at the end of a year, and commence general
medical practice in company with his father. A few years' experience,
however, showed the inadequacy of his delicate frame to bear up against
the fatigues of this branch of the medical profession, and he was
permitted, in the year 1805, to return to the University, at that
time adorned by the learning of Playfair and Stewart. So powerful was
the stimulus given to his mental powers during his residence at the
University, that he often declared that the rest of his life, active as
it was, appeared a state of inglorious repose when contrasted with this
season of unremitted effort. The period intervening between Dr. Henry's
two academic residences, although passed in the engrossing occupations
of his profession, to which was added the superintendence of a chemical
business previously established by his father, was yet marked by
several important contributions to science. In 1797 he communicated to
the Royal Society an experimental memoir (the first of a long series
with which he enriched the 'Transactions' of that body), the design
of which was to re-establish the title of carbon to be ranked among
elementary bodies, which had been denied by Austin, Beddoes, and other
eminent chemists. In this paper he subsequently discovered a fallacy
in his own reasoning, which he exposed before it had been detected
by any other chemist. In 1800 he published in the 'Philosophical
Transactions' his experiments on muriatic acid gas, and in 1803 made
known to the Royal Society his elaborate experiments on the quantity of
gases absorbed by water at different temperature and under different
pressures, the result of which was the establishment of the law that
"water takes up of gas, condensed by one, two or more additional
atmospheres, a quantity which would be equal to twice, thrice, &c. the
volume absorbed under the ordinary pressure of the atmosphere." In
1808 Henry was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, and in the same
year described in their 'Transactions' a form of apparatus adapted to
the combustion of larger quantities of gases than could be fired in
eudiometric tubes. This apparatus, though now superseded, gave more
accurate results than had ever before been attained. In the following
year (1809) the Copley gold medal was awarded to him for his valuable
contributions to the 'Transactions' of the Royal Society. For the
next fifteen years Dr. Henry continued his experiments on gases,
making known to the Society the results from time to time. In his
last communication, in 1824, he claimed the merit of having conquered
the only difficulty that remained in a series of experiments on the
analysis of the gaseous substances issuing from the destructive
distillation of coal and oil--viz., the ascertaining by chemical
means the exact proportions which the gases, left after the action of
chlorine on oil and coal gas, bear to each other. This he accomplished
by skilfully availing himself of the property (recently discovered
by Döbereiner), in finely divided platinum, of causing gaseous
combinations, and he was thus enabled to prove the exact composition
of the fire-damp of mines. All the experiments of Dr. Henry which have
been previously alluded to bore upon äeriform bodies; but although
these were his favourite studies, his acquaintance with general
chemistry is proved by his 'Elements of Experimental Chemistry,' to
have been both sound and extensive. This work was one of the first
on chemical science published in this country, which combined great
literary elegance with the highest standard of scientific accuracy. His
comparative analysis of many varieties of British and foreign salts
were models of accurate analysis, and were important in dispelling
the prejudices then popular in favour of the latter for economical
purposes. His 'Memoir on the Theories of Galvanic Decomposition'
earned the cordial approval of Berzelius, as being among the first
maintaining that view which he himself so earnestly supported.
It is greatly to be regretted that Dr. Henry did not contribute more
to the literature of science, as he appears to have been eminently
fitted, both by natural tastes and by after culture, to excel in this
particular respect; especially is it to be regretted that he did not
live to carry out the great literary project for which he had collected
materials--a history of chemical discovery from the middle of the last
century. He could have made it one of the most popular books in our
tongue.
In the general intercourse of society Dr. Henry was distinguished by
a polished courtesy, by an intuitive propriety, and by a considerate
forethought and respect for the feelings and opinions of others;
qualities issuing out of the same high-toned sensibility, that guided
his taste in letters, and that softened and elevated his whole moral
frame and bearing. His comprehensive range of thought and knowledge,
his proneness to general speculation in contradistinction to detail,
his ready command of the refinements of language, and the liveliness
of his feelings and imagination, rendered him a most instructive and
engaging companion. To the young, and more especially to such as gave
evidence of a taste for liberal studies, his manner was peculiarly
kind and encouraging. In measuring the amount and importance of his
contributions to chemical knowledge, it must be borne in mind, that
in his season of greatest mental activity, he never enjoyed that
uncontrolled command of time and that serene concentration of thought
which are essential to the completion of great scientific designs.
In more advanced life, when relieved from the duties of an extensive
medical practice and other equally pressing avocations, growing
infirmities and failing bodily power restrained him to studies not
demanding personal exertion, and even abridged his season of purely
mental labour. That amid circumstances so unfriendly to original
and sustained achievements in science, he should have accomplished
so much, bears testimony to that energy of resolve, that unsubdued
ardour of spirit which ever glowed within him, urging him steadily
onwards in the career of honourable ambition, and prompting exertions
more than commensurate with the decaying forces of a frame that had
never been vigorous. At intervals during his whole life, Dr. Henry
suffered severely from the effect of the accident already mentioned.
The paroxysms of intense neuralgic agony which attacked him, at length
caused the whole nervous system to be so irritated as to deprive
him of sleep, and cause his death in September, 1836, at the age of
sixty-one.--_Biographical Account of the late Dr. Henry, by his son,
William Charles Henry, M.D., F.R.S., &c._--_Encyclopædia Britannica_,
Eighth Edition.
SIR WILLIAM HERSCHEL, D.C.L., F.R.S., &c.
Born November 15, 1738. Died August 23, 1822.
Authentic particulars respecting both the early and private life of
this great astronomer are sadly deficient; his scientific works are,
however, of a world-wide reputation, and it is with these that we are
chiefly concerned. William Herschel was born at Hanover, and was one of
a numerous family, who supported themselves chiefly by their musical
talents. At the age of fourteen William was placed, it is said, in the
band of the Hanoverian regiment of Guards, which he accompanied to
England at a period variously stated from 1757 to 1759. On his arrival
he remained for some time at Durham, and was subsequently, for several
years, organist at Halifax, where he was also employed in teaching
music and studying languages. At length, about the year 1766, he found
himself in comparatively easy circumstances, as organist of the Octagon
Chapel at Bath. Here Herschel began to study earnestly the science of
astronomy; and feeling the necessity of obtaining a good telescope, the
purchase of which would be beyond his means, he determined to make one
himself. After many trials, he succeeded in 1774 in executing with his
own hands a reflecting telescope, and soon acquired so much dexterity,
as to construct instruments of ten and twenty feet in focal length.
In the year 1780 he contributed his first paper, 'On the Variable
Star in Cetus,' to the Royal Society; and on the 13th of March, 1781,
announced to the world his discovery of a supposed comet, which, on
further examination, proved to be a planet exterior to Saturn, now
named Uranus.[20] This fortunate success was the first addition to the
number of primary planets since a period of an immemorial antiquity,
and it speedily made the name of Herschel famous.
George III. took the new astronomer under his protection, and attached
him to his court, bestowing on him the title of astronomer to the
king, with a salary of 400_l._ a year. It is difficult to estimate the
amount of benefit thus conferred on astronomy by the award of this
pension; for nothing short of the entire devotion of a lifetime, could
have produced such results as we owe to Herschel. His contributions
to the 'Philosophical Transactions' alone amount to sixty-nine in
number, and may give some idea of the unwearied activity of the author;
they range over a period of thirty-five years, commencing in 1780 and
terminating in 1815. The numerous bodies which he added to the solar
system, make that number half as large again as he found it. Including
Halley's comet, and the four satellites of Jupiter and five of Saturn,
the number previously known was eighteen, to which Herschel added
nine--namely Uranus and six satellites, and two satellites of Saturn.
His discovery of the rotation of Saturn's ring, his measurements of
the rotation of Saturn and Venus, his observations of the belts of
the former, and his conjectural theory--derived from observation--of
the rotation of Jupiter's satellites, with a large number of minor
observations, prove that no one individual ever added so much to the
facts on which our knowledge of the solar system is founded. His
leading discoveries in siderial astronomy include--the discovery of
binary systems of stars, and the orbits of several revolving stars; the
discovery and classification of a prodigious multitude of nebulæ; the
law of grouping of the entire firmament, and its connection with the
great nebula of the Milky Way; and lastly, the determination of the
motion of our sun and system in space, and the direction of that motion.
Herschel's magnificent speculations on the Milky Way, the constitution
of nebulæ, &c., first opened the road to the conception, that what was
called the universe was, in all probability, but a detached and minute
portion of that fathomless series of similar formations which ought
to bear the name. Imagination roves with ease upon such subjects; but
before Herschel's observations, even that daring faculty would have
rejected ideas which afterwards proved to be but sober philosophy.
These great and arduous enquiries occupied Herschel during nearly the
whole of his scientific career, extending to almost half a century,
and, excepting the continuation of his labours by his illustrious son,
Sir John, little has been added to our knowledge of 'the constitution
of the heavens' since his death.
As an optician, Herschel deserves equal notice for the wonderful
improvements which he effected in the dimensions and magnifying power
of telescopes, and by the skill with which he applied them to celestial
observations. The reflecting telescope was the one to the improvement
of which he so successfully devoted himself; and the real secret of his
success in this, was his astonishing perseverance; his determination
being to obtain telescopes of twenty feet focal length or more, and
of a perfection equal or superior to the small ones then in use. He
himself relates, that whilst at Bath he had constructed 200 specula of
seven feet focus, 150 of ten feet, and about 80 of twenty feet; a proof
of extraordinary resolution in a man of limited means, and at that time
engaged in a laborious profession.
Herschel at last succeeded in constructing his enormous telescope of
forty feet focal length, which he erected in the grounds of his house
at Slough. This instrument was begun in 1785, and finally completed on
August 28th, 1789, on which day Herschel discovered with it the sixth
satellite of Saturn; the diameter of the tube was 4 feet 10 inches, the
speculum having a useful area of 4 feet: the total cost was 4000_l._,
which was entirely defrayed by the liberality of George the Third.
After the award of the king's pension, Sir William Herschel fixed his
residence at Slough, near Windsor, his family consisting at first of
one of his brothers, and his sister, Miss Caroline Herschel, who was
his coadjutor and assistant in his computations and reductions, and
was also actively employed in astronomical observation, being the
discoverer of more than one comet. Herschel married a widow lady, Mrs.
Mary Pitt, and left one son, the present Sir John, whose name has long
been known to the public as one of the most active and successful
adherents of science that our day has produced.
Dr. J. D. Forbes thus sums up the philosophical character of Sir
William Herschel:--
"He united, in a remarkable degree, the resolute industry which
distinguishes the Germans, with the ardour and constancy which has
been thought characteristic of the Anglo-Saxon. From his native
country he brought with him the boldness of speculation which has
long distinguished it, and it is probable that he had also a vigorous
and even poetical imagination. Yet he was ever impatient until he had
brought his conjectures to the test of experiment, and observation
of the most uncompromising kind. He delighted to give his data a
numerical character, and where this was (by their nature) impossible,
he confirmed his descriptions by reiterated observation, in different
states of weather, with different telescopes, apertures, and magnifying
powers; and with praiseworthy fidelity he enabled his readers to form
their own judgment of the character of his results, by copious and
literal transcripts from his journals."
Herschel died peacefully at Slough, at the advanced age of
eighty-three, on the 23rd of August, 1822, only one year after the
publication of his latest memoir in the 'Transactions' of the then
recently formed Astronomical Society, of which he was the first
president.--_Sixth Dissertation, by James David Forbes, D.C.L., F.R.S.,
&c., Encyclopædia Britt._, eighth edition.--_English Cyclopædia._
London, 1856.--_Weld's Hist. of Roy. Society._
EDWARD CHARLES HOWARD, F.R.S.
Born May 28, 1774. Died September 28, 1816.
Mr. Howard was born at Darnell, in the parish of Sheffield, and
was the third brother of the twelfth Duke of Norfolk. His name has
become intimately connected with the manufacture of sugar, from the
many improvements which he introduced into the old processes for the
refinement of this most important article of commerce, and especially
by his invention of the vacuum-pan.
It is related, on the authority of the late Mr. C. Few, that Mr.
Howard's attention was drawn towards this subject by Mr. Charles
Ellis, who, on the occasion of an immense quantity of West India
sugar being in bond, and for which the revenue could find no market,
recommended Howard, whose talents as a practical chemist Mr. Ellis
was well acquainted with, to try and see if he could not relieve the
Government warehouses, by converting the raw sugar into some kind of
manure, and thus avoid the duty and render the article saleable. While
experimenting for this purpose, Mr. Howard accidentally discovered his
process of purifying sugar, for which, in conjunction with certain
sugar refiners, he took out patents, and ultimately realized a
considerable fortune.
Howard's vacuum-pan was patented in 1812; it depends for its action
on the principle that liquids boil at temperatures dependent on the
pressures they have to sustain. Thus water, under the ordinary pressure
of the atmosphere (30 inches barometer), boils at 212° F., whereas
in vacuo it will boil at about 80°; consequently a comparatively
low temperature will effect the boiling of sugar-syrup in vacuo,
evaporation will proceed far more safely than in the old process of
heating the syrup in open pans, and the percentage of waste will be
greatly reduced, rendering the manufacture highly profitable in a
commercial point of view.
Mr. Howard died at the early age of forty-two, and was buried at
St. Pancras, Middlesex. He left one son, and a daughter, Julia, who
was married in the year 1829 to the Hon. Henry Stafford Jerningham,
afterwards Lord Stafford.
CAPTAIN J. HUDDART, F.R.S.
Born Jan. 11, 1740. Died August 19, 1816.
Joseph Huddart was born at Allonby in Cumberland. His Father, who was
a shoemaker and farmer, desiring to give his son the best education
in his power, sent him to a day-school kept by Mr. Wilson, the
clergyman of the village. Here young Huddart acquired a knowledge of
the elements of mathematics, including astronomy, sciences in which he
attained great proficiency in after life. When quite a boy, Huddart
gave indications of an original mind, combined with great industry and
unwearied patience. Having fallen in with a treatise by Mungo Murray
on ship building, he was so pleased with its clear directions, that
he set to work and succeeded, after immense labour and ingenuity, in
making a model of a seventy-four gun-ship, with ribs, planks, and bolts
complete. When engaged in herding his father's cows, he used to carry
out into the country a desk of his own manufacture, employing his time
in reading, and mathematical drawing and calculations.
As Huddart grew up he evinced a strong bias for a sea-faring life, and
an event occurred in 1756 which decided his future career. In that year
large shoals of herrings came into the Solway Firth, and the elder
Huddart took advantage of the circumstance to trade in conjunction with
a Herring Fishery Company, while his son took his place with others
in the boats, and soon displayed so much skill and ability in their
management that he became noted among his fellows for superiority of
knowledge in nautical matters. Young Huddart continued more or less
in this new employment until his father's death, in 1762, when he
succeeded to a share in the fishery, and at once took the command of a
sloop employed in carrying the salted herrings to Cork and other parts
of Ireland, for the supply of the West India markets.
These voyages gave him a thorough knowledge of St. George's Channel,
convinced him of the insufficiency of the charts then in use, and
ultimately led to his making a complete survey of that sea, and to
the subsequent publication of his own most valuable chart. In 1768
Huddart, with the assistance of his uncle, designed and built a vessel
for himself, and named it the Patience, every timber in it having been
moulded with his own hand. In this vessel he made his first voyage
to North America, and continued to sail in her until the year 1771,
when he was induced by Sir Richard Hotham, with whom he had become
acquainted, to enter the East India Mercantile Marine, in which service
he continued for many years, and realized a considerable independency.
Captain Huddart's scientific knowledge and high character introduced
him into the Trinity House as an Elder Brother, and also into the
Committee of the Ramsgate Harbour Trust, and into the London and East
India Dock Directions. At the Trinity House all inquiries relating to
lights, lighthouses and charts were chiefly referred to him, while the
lighthouses on Hurst Point were built under his superintendence and
immediate direction.
On retirement from the East India Company's service, Huddart engaged
again in his favourite pursuit of ship building, making many practical
experiments to determine the lines, which consistent with stability
and capacity for stowage would give to vessels the greatest velocity
through the water. But that which constitutes Captain Huddart's chief
claim on the gratitude of posterity are his great improvements and
inventions in the manufacture of Cordage; before his time nothing
worthy of the name of machinery had been applied to rope-making, and to
him was reserved the honour of bringing the wonderful power of Watt's
steam engine to bear upon this most important article of manufacture.
Captain Huddart's attention was first drawn towards the subject during
a voyage from India to China through the Straits of Sunda, where
the ship he commanded was frequently compelled to anchor. When the
anchor was weighed, the outer yarns of the cable were often found to
be broken, and on opening a piece of cable to find out the cause,
Huddart's attention was forcibly drawn to the fact that rope as then
manufactured, bore almost the entire strain on the outer yarns of the
strands, from the yarns being originally of the same length, and the
strand in the process of twisting becoming shortened. He determined to
remedy this, and ultimately constructed a machine which, by means of
what he called a register plate, gave to every yarn the same strain,
and its proper position in the strand which was compressed through a
tube into the desired form.
Government refusing to take up this valuable invention, a company was
formed by Huddart's friends for the manufacture of rope upon his new
principle. These gentlemen built a factory at Limehouse, which was
established under the name of Huddart & Co.
Captain Huddart now devoted himself to the further development of his
valuable invention; he contrived a registering machine whereby the
yarns were formed as they came out of the tar-kettle, the tar being
kept at the temperature (212-220° Fah.) he found by experiment to be
sufficient for the required purpose, without injuring by too great heat
the fibres of the rope.
He also constructed a laying machine, which gave the same length and
twist to every strand, and an uniform angle and pressure to the rope or
cable. These improvements involved the manufacture of much beautiful
machinery, which was made after Huddart's design and under his own
personal superintendance.[21]
Captain Huddart lived to an advanced old age, and even in his last
illness his disposition to inquire into causes and effects did not
forsake him, as his body gradually wasted away, he caused himself to
be weighed from time to time, noting thereby the quantity of moisture
which escaped by the breath and insensible perspiration. He died at
Highbury Terrace, London, at the age of seventy-six, and was interred
in a vault under St. Martin's Church, in the Strand.--_Memoir of Capt.
Jos. Huddart, by Wm. Cotton, D.C.L._ London, 1855.
EDWARD JENNER, M.D., L.L.D., F.R.S., &c.
MEMBER OF THE INSTITUTE OF FRANCE.
Born May 17, 1749. Died January 26, 1823.
Edward Jenner, who by his discovery of vaccination has pre-eminently
acquired a right to the title of the "Benefactor of Mankind," was
born at the vicarage house of Berkeley, in Gloucestershire, and was
the third son of the Rev. Stephen Jenner, rector of Rockhampton, and
vicar of Berkeley. Jenner's father died when he was only five years
old, leaving him to be brought up under the care of his uncle. At
eight years of age he was put to school at Wotton-under-Edge, from
whence he was removed shortly afterwards to the care of Dr. Washborn,
at Cirencester. Jenner early displayed that taste for natural history
which afterwards formed so marked a feature in his character. Before
he was nine years old he had made a collection of the nests of the
dormouse, and when at Cirencester used to spend his hours of recreation
in searching for the fossils which abound in that district.
After the completion of his scholastic education, Jenner removed to
Sudbury, near Bristol, where he acquired the elements of surgery and
pharmacy under Mr. Ludlow, an eminent surgeon in the neighbourhood.
Having completed his term with this gentleman, he went to London and
became a pupil of the celebrated John Hunter, in whose family he
resided for two years, laying the foundation of an intimate friendship
only broken by Hunter's death. Under the tuition of this distinguished
anatomist he acquired an almost unrivalled skill in minute dissections
and delicate injections of parts; and when, in the year 1771, Captain
Cook returned from his first voyage of discovery, the valuable
specimens of Natural History, which had been collected by Sir Joseph
Banks, were in a great measure arranged and prepared by Jenner, who
was recommended by Mr. Hunter for that purpose. In executing this
task, he evinced so much dexterity and intelligence, that he was
offered the post of Naturalist in the next expedition, which sailed in
1772. Jenner, however, refused the offer, and determined to fix his
abode at the place of his birth. He returned to Berkeley when about
twenty-four years old, and at once commenced practice as a country
surgeon. His first attempts were very successful; and as he added
to his professional skill the manners of a thorough gentleman, and
the information of a scholar, he became a welcome guest in the most
distinguished families. He was in the habit at this time of cultivating
the art of poetry, and used to send his compositions to his friends in
the ordinary interchange of literary correspondence. He was likewise
clever at an epigram or a ballad, and had a natural taste for music,
being able to play on the flute and violin, and sing his own verses
with considerable taste and feeling. Such was the attachment of
Jenner's friends to him at this period of his career, and so highly
did they value his amusing and interesting conversation, that, when he
had called at their houses, either as a visitor or in his professional
capacity, they would accompany him, on leaving, many miles on his way
home, and this too, often at midnight, in order that they might prolong
the pleasure derived from his company and conversation.