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PRIESTLEY 
 
 IN 
 
 AMERICA 
 
 SMITH 
 
PRIESTLEY 
 
 IN 
 
 AMERICA 
 
 1794- 1804 
 
 BY 
 
 EDGAR F. SMITH 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA 
 
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 PHILADELPHIA 
 
 P. BLAKISTON'S SON & CO. 
 
 1012 WALNUT STREET 
 
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 Copyright, 1920, by P. Blakiston's Son & Co. 
 
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 PREFACE 
 
 The writer, in studying the lives of early Ameri- 
 ^ can chemists, encountered the name of Joseph 
 
 Priestley so frequently, that he concluded to in- 
 stitute a search with the view of learning as much 
 as possible of the life and activities, during his 
 exile in this country, of the man whom chemists 
 everywhere deeply revere. Recourse, therefore, 
 was had to contemporary newspapers, documents 
 and books, and the resulting material woven into 
 the sketch given in the appended pages. If noth- 
 ing more, it may be, perhaps, a connecting chapter 
 for any future history of chemistry in America. 
 Its preparation has been a genuine pleasure, 
 which, it is hoped by him whose hand guided the 
 pen, will be shared by his fellow chemists, and 
 all who are interested in the growth and develop- 
 ment of science in this country. 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 There lies before the writer a tube of glass, 
 eleven and one half inches in length and a quarter 
 of an inch in diameter. Its walls are thin. At 
 one end there is evidence that an effort was made 
 to bend this tube in the flame. Ordinarily it 
 would be tossed aside; but this particular tube was 
 given the writer years ago by a great-grandson of 
 Joseph Priestley. Attached to the tube is a bit 
 of paper upon which appear the words ''piece of 
 tubing used by Priestley." That legend has made 
 the tube precious in the heart and to the eye of 
 the writer. Everything relating to this wonderful 
 figure in science, history, religion, politics and 
 philosophy is very dear to him. On all sides of 
 him are relics and reminders of Priestley. Not 
 all, but many of his publications are near at hand. 
 After perusal of these at various times, and while 
 reading the many life sketches of Priestley, 
 there has come the desire to know more about his 
 activities during the decade (i 794-1804) he lived 
 
2 PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 in America. Isn't it fair to declare that the 
 great majority of chemical students think of 
 Priestley as working only in England, his native 
 land, and never give thought to his efforts during 
 the last ten years of his life? It has been said 
 that he probably inspired and incited the young 
 chemists of this country to renewed endeavor in 
 their science upon his advent here. There is no 
 question that he influenced James Woodhouse and 
 his particular confreres most profoundly, as he 
 did a younger generation, represented by Robert 
 Hare. Priestley again set in rapid motion chem- 
 ical research in the young Republic.^ He must 
 therefore have done something himself. What 
 was it? Is it worth while to learn the character 
 of this work? Modern tendencies are antagoni- 
 stic to the past. Many persons care nothing for 
 history. It is a closed book. They do not wish 
 it to be opened, and yet the present is built upon 
 the early work. In reviewing the development 
 of chemistry in this country everything, from the 
 first happening here, should be laid upon the table 
 for study and reflection. Thus believing, it will 
 not be out of place to seek some light upon the 
 occupation of the discoverer of oxygen after he 
 came to live among us — with our fathers. 
 
 1 Chemistry in Old Philadelphia, J. B. Lippincott Co., 
 Phila., Pa. 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 3 
 
 Noble-hearted, sympathetic Thomas E. Thorpe 
 wrote: 
 
 If, too, as you draw up to the fire 'betwixt the 
 gloaming and the mirk' of these dull, cold 
 November days, and note the little blue 
 flame playing round the red-hot coals, 
 think kindly of Priestley, for he first told 
 us of the nature of that flame when in the 
 exile to which our forefathers drove him. 
 
 * Right there, "the nature of the flame," is one 
 thing Priestley did explain in America. He discov- 
 ered carbon monoxide — not in England, but in 
 ' 'exile. "-^ It may not be an epoch-making observa- 
 tion. There are not many such and those who make 
 them are not legion in number. It was an inters 
 resting fact, with a very definite value, which has 
 persisted through many succeeding decades and is 
 so matter-of-fact that rarely does one arise to ask 
 who first discovered this simple oxide of carbon. 
 Priestley was a man of strong human sym- 
 pathies. He loved to mingle with men and ex- 
 change thoughts. Furthermore, Priestley was a 
 minister — a preacher. He was ordained while at 
 Warrington, and gloried in the fact that he was a 
 
 ^Correspondence of Priestley by H. C.Bolton, New York, 
 1892. 
 
4 PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 Dissenting Minister. It was not his devotion to 
 science which sent him ''into exile." His advan- 
 ced thought along political and religious lines, 
 his unequivocal utterances on such subjects, — 
 proved to be the rock upon which he shipwrecked. 
 It has been said — 
 
 By some strange irony of fate this man, who 
 was by nature one of the most peaceable 
 and peace-loving of men, singularly calm 
 and dispassionate, not prone to disputation 
 or given to wrangling, acquired the reputa- 
 tion of being perhaps the most cantanker- 
 ous man of his time 
 
 There is a wide-spread impression that Priestley 
 was a chemist. This is the answer which invari- 
 ably comes from the lips of students upon being 
 interrogated concerning him. The truth is that 
 Priestley's attention was only turned to chemis- 
 try when in the thirties by Matthew Turner, who 
 lectured on this subject in the Warrington Acad- 
 emy in which Priestley labored as a teacher. So 
 he was rather advanced in life before the science he 
 enriched was revealed to him in the experimental 
 way. Let it again be declared, he was a teacher. 
 His thoughts were mostly those of a teacher. 
 Education occupied him. He wrote upon it. 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 5 
 
 The old Warrington Academy was a ''hot-bed of 
 liberal dissent," and there were few subjects upon 
 which he did not publicly declare himself as a 
 dissenter. 
 
 He learned to know our own delightful Franklin 
 in one of his visits to London. Franklin was then 
 sixty years of age, while Priestley was little more 
 than half his age. A warm friendship imme- 
 diately sprang up. It reacted powerfully upon 
 Priestley's work as ''a political thinker and as a 
 natural philosopher." In short, Franklin ''made 
 Priestley into a man of science." This intimacy 
 between these remarkable men should not escape 
 American students. Recall that positively fas- 
 cinating letter (1788) from Franklin to Ben- 
 jamin Vaughan, in which occur these words: 
 
 Remember me affectionately to 
 
 the honest heretic Dr. Priestley. I do not 
 call him honest by way of distinction, for 
 I think all the heretics I have known have 
 been virtuous men. They have the virtue 
 of Fortitude, or they would not venture to 
 own their heresy; and they cannot afford 
 to be deficient in any of the other virtues, 
 as that would give advantage to their 
 many enemies Do not how- 
 ever mistake me. It is not to my good 
 
6 PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 friend's heresy that I impute his honesty. 
 On the contrary ' tis his honesty that has 
 brought upon him the character of heretic. 
 
 Much of Priestley's thought was given to re- 
 Ugious matters. In Leeds he acknowledged 
 himself a humanitarian, or 
 
 a believer in the doctrine that Jesus Christ 
 was in nature solely and truly a man, 
 however highly exalted by God. 
 
 His home in Leeds adjoined a "public brew 
 house." He there amused himself w^th experi- 
 ments on carbon dioxide (fixed air). Step by 
 step he became strongly attracted to experi- 
 mentation. His means, however, forbade the 
 purchase of apparatus and he was obliged to 
 devise the same and also to think out his own 
 methods of attack. Naturally, his apparatus 
 was simple. He loved to repeat experiments, 
 thus insuring their accuracy. 
 
 In 1772 he pubhshed his first paper on Pneuma- 
 tic Chemistry. It told of the impregnation of 
 water with carbon dioxide. It attracted attention 
 and was translated into French. This soda-water 
 paper won for Priestley the Copley medal (1773). 
 While thus signally honored he continued publish- 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 7 
 
 ing views on theology and metaphysics. These 
 made a considerable uproar. 
 
 Then came the memorable year of 1774 — the 
 birth-year of oxygen. How many chemists, with 
 but two years in the science, have been so fortu- 
 nate as to discover an element, better still proba- 
 bly the most important of all the elements! It 
 was certainly a rare good fortune! It couldn't 
 help but make him the observed among observers. 
 This may have occasioned the hue and cry against 
 his polemical essays on government and church 
 to become more frequent and in some instances 
 almost furious. 
 
 It was now that he repaired to London. Here 
 he had daily intercourse with Franklin, whose 
 encouragement prompted him to go bravely 
 forward in his adopted course. 
 
 It was in 1780 that he took up his residence in 
 Birmingham. This was done at the instance of 
 his brother-in-law. The atmosphere was most 
 congenial and friendly. Then, he was most 
 desirous of resuming his ministerial duties; 
 further, he would have near at hand good workmen 
 to aid him in the preparation of apparatus for his 
 philosophical pursuits. Best of all his friends 
 were there, including those devoted to science. 
 Faujar St. Fond, a French geologist has recorded 
 a visit to Priestley — 
 
8 PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 Dr. Priestley received me with the greatest 
 kindness . . . The building in which Dr. 
 Priestley made his chemical and philoso- 
 phical experiments was detached from his 
 house to avoid the danger of fire. It 
 consisted of several apartments on the 
 ground floor. Upon entering it we were 
 struck with a simple and ingenious appar- 
 atus for making experiments on inflamma- 
 ble gas extracted from iron and water 
 reduced to vapour. 
 
 If, only, all the time of Dr. Priestley in Birming- 
 ham had been devoted to science, but alas, his 
 '' beloved theology" claimed much of it. He 
 would enter into controversy — he would dissent, 
 and the awful hour was advancing by leaps and 
 bounds. The storm was approaching. 
 
 It burst forth with fury in 1791. The houses of 
 worship, in which he was wont to officiate, were 
 the first to meet destruction, then followed his own 
 house in which were assembled his literary 
 treasures and the apparatus he had constructed 
 and gathered with pains, sacrifice and extreme 
 effort. Its demolition filled his very soul with 
 deepest sorrow. Close at hand, the writer has a 
 neat little chemical balance. It was brought to 
 this country by Priestley, and tradition has it, 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 9 
 
 that it was among the pieces of the celebrated 
 collection of chemical utensils rescued from the 
 hands of the infuriated mob which sought even 
 the life of Priestley, who fortunately had been 
 spirited or hidden away by loyal, devoted friends 
 and admirers. In time he ventured forth into 
 the open and journeyed to London, and when qujet 
 was completely restored, he returned to one of his 
 early fields of activity, but wisdom and the calm 
 judgment of friends decided this as unwise. 
 Through it all Priestley was quiet and philosoph- 
 ical, which is evident from the following story: 
 
 A friend called on him soon after the riots 
 and condoled with him for his loss in gene- 
 ral, then mentioned the destruction of his 
 books as an object of particular regret. 
 Priestley answered, ''I should have read my 
 books to little purpose if they had not, 
 taught me to bear the loss of them with 
 composure and resignation." 
 
 But the iron had entered his soul. He could not 
 believe that in his own England any man would be 
 treated as he had been treated. His country was 
 dear to him. He prized it beyond expression, but 
 he could not hope for the peace his heart craved. 
 His family circle was broken, two of his sons hav- 
 
lO PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 ing come to America, so in the end, deeply con- 
 cerned for his Ufe-companion's comfort, the 
 decision to emigrate was reached, and their faces 
 were turned to the West. 
 
 In reviewing the history of chemistry the remark 
 is frequently heard that one blotch on the fair 
 escutcheon of French science was placed there 
 when the remorseless guillotine ushered Lavoisier 
 into eternity. Was not the British escutcheon of 
 science dimmed when Priestley passed into exile? 
 Priestley — who had wrought so splendidly I And 
 yet we should not be too severe, for an illustrious i 
 
 name— Count Rumford — which should have been 1 
 
 ours — was lost to us by influences not wholly 
 unlike those which gained us Priestley. Benjamin \ 
 
 Thompson, early in life abandoned a home and a 
 country which his fellow citizens had made intoler- , 
 
 able. I 
 
 . Read Priestley's volumes on Air and on Na- . i 
 tural Philosophy. They are classics. All con- ! 
 
 versant with their contents agree that the ; 
 
 experimental work was marvelous. Priestley's dis- • 
 
 covery of oxygen was epoch-making, but does | 
 
 not represent all that he did. Twice he just es- j 
 
 caped the discovery of nitrogen. One wonders ; 
 
 how this occurred. He had it in hand. The j 
 
 other numerous observations made by him ante- 1 
 
 date his American life and need not be mentioned i 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA II 
 
 here. They alone would have given him a per- 
 manent and honorable rank in the history of 
 chemistry. Students of the science should re- 
 serve judgment of Priestley until they have fami- 
 liarized themselves with all his contributions, 
 still accessible in early periodicals. When that 
 has been done, the loss to English science, by 
 Priestley's departure to another clime will be 
 apparent. 
 
 His dearest friends would have held him with 
 them. Not every man's hand was against him — 
 on the contrary, numerous were those, even 
 among the opponents of his political and theolog- 
 ical utterances, who hoped that he would not 
 desert them. They regretted that he had — 
 
 turned his attention too much from the lu- 
 minous field of philosophic disquisition 
 to the sterile regions of polemic divinity, 
 and the still more thorny paths of polemic 
 politics . . . 
 
 from which the hope was cherished that he would 
 recede and devote all his might to philosophical 
 pursuits. 
 
 A very considerable number ... of en- 
 lightened inhabitants, convinced of his 
 
12 PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 integrity as a man, sincerity as a preacher, 
 and superlative merit as a philosopher, 
 were his strenuous advocates and ad- 
 mirers. 
 
 But the die had been cast, and to America he 
 sailed on April 8, 1794, in the good ship Sansom, 
 Capt. Smith, with a hundred others — his fellow 
 passengers. Whilst on the seas his great prota- 
 gonist Lavoisier met his death on the scaffold. 
 
 Such was the treatment bestowed upon the 
 best of their citizens by two nations which 
 considered themselves as without exception 
 the most civilized and enlightened in the 
 world! 
 
 It is quite natural to query how the grand old 
 scientist busied himself on this voyage of eight 
 weeks and a day. The answer is found in his own 
 words : 
 
 I read the whole of the Greek Testament, and 
 the Hebrew bible as far as the first Book 
 of Samuel: also Ovid's Metamorphoses, 
 Buchanan's poems, Erasmus' Dialogues, 
 also Peter Pindar's poems, &c. . . . and 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 1 3 
 
 to amuse myself I tried the heat of the 
 water at different depths, and made other 
 observations, which suggest various experi- 
 ments, which I shall prosecute whenever I 
 get my apparatus at liberty. 
 
 The Doctor was quite sea-sick, and at times sad, 
 but uplifted when his eyes beheld the proofs of 
 friendship among those he was leaving behind. 
 Thus he must have smiled benignantly on behold- 
 ing the 
 
 elegant Silver Inkstand, with the following 
 inscription, presented ... by three 
 young Gentlemen of the University of Cam- 
 bridge: 
 
 ''To Joseph Priestley, LL.D. &c. on his 
 departure into Exile, from a few 
 members of the University of Cam- 
 bridge, who regret that expression of 
 their Esteem should be occasioned by 
 the ingratitude of their Country." 
 
 And, surely, he must have taken renewed cour- 
 age on perusing the valedictory message received 
 from the Society of United Irishmen of Dublin : 
 
14 PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 Sir, 
 SUFFER a Society which has been caluminated 
 as devoid of all sense of religion, law or 
 morality, to sympathize with one whom 
 calumny of a similar kind is about to drive 
 from his native land, a land which he has 
 adorned and enhghtened in almost every 
 branch of Hberal literature, and of useful 
 philosophy. The emigration of Dr. Priest- 
 ley will form a striking historical fact, 
 by which alone, future ages will learn to 
 estimate truly the temper of the present 
 time. Your departure will not only give 
 evidence of the injury which philosophy 
 and Hterature have received in your person, 
 but will prove the accumulation of petty 
 disquietudes, which has robbed your Hfe 
 of its zest and enjoyment, for, at your age 
 no one would wilhngly embark on such a 
 voyage, and sure we are, it was your wish 
 and prayer to be buried in your native 
 country, which contains the dust of your 
 old friends Saville, Price, Jebb, and Fother- 
 gill. But be cheerful, dear Sir, you are 
 going to a happier world — the world of 
 Washington and Frankhn. 
 In idea, we accompany you. We stand near 
 you while you are setting sail. We watch 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 1 5 
 
 your eyes that linger on the white cliffs and 
 we hear the patriarchal blessing which 
 your soul pours out on the land of your 
 nativity, the aspiration that ascends to 
 God for its peace, its freedom and its 
 prosperity. Again, do we participate in 
 your feelings on first beholding Nature in 
 her noblest scenes and grandest features, 
 on finding man busied in rendering himself 
 worthy of Nature, but more than all, on 
 contemplating with philosophic prescience 
 the coming period when those vast inland 
 seas shall be shadowed with sails, when the 
 St. Lawrence and Mississippi, shall stretch 
 forth their arms to embrace the continent 
 in a great circle of interior navigation: 
 when the Pacific Ocean shall pour into the 
 Atlantic; when man will become more 
 precious than fine gold, and when his am- 
 bition will be to subdue the elements, not 
 to subjugate his fellow-creatures, to make 
 fire, water, earth and air obey his bidding, 
 but to leave the poor ethereal mind as the 
 
 ■ sole thing in Nature free and incoercible. 
 
 Happy indeed would it be were men in power 
 to recollect this quality of the human 
 mind. Suffer us to give them an example 
 from a science of which you are a mighty 
 
1 6 PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 master, that attempts to fix the element of 
 mind only increase its activity, and that 
 to calculate what may be from what has 
 been is a very dangerous deceit. — Were all 
 the saltpetre in India monopolized, this 
 would only make chemical researches 
 more ardent and successful. The chalky 
 earths would be searched for it, and nitre 
 beds would be made in every cellar and 
 every stable. Did not that prove sufhci- 
 ent the genius of chemistry would find in a 
 new salt a substitute for nitre or a power 
 superior to it.* It requires greater genius 
 than Mr. Pitt seems to possess, to know 
 the wonderful resources of the mind, 
 when patriotism animates philosophy, and 
 all the arts and sciences are put under a 
 state of requisition, when the attention of 
 a whole scientific people is bent to multi- 
 plying the means and instruments of de- 
 struction and when philosophy rises in a 
 mass to drive on the wedge of war. A black 
 powder has changed the military art, and in 
 a great degree the manners of mankind. 
 Why may not the same science which pro- 
 
 *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. 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 1 7 
 
 duced it, produce another powder which, in- 
 flamed under a certain compression, might 
 impell the air, so as to shake down the 
 strongest towers and scatter destruction. 
 But you are going to a country where science 
 is turned to better uses. Your change of 
 place will give room for the matchless 
 activity of your genius ; and you will take a 
 sublime pleasure in bestowing on Britain 
 the benefit of your future discoveries. As 
 matter changes its form but not a particle 
 is ever lost, so the principles of virtuous 
 minds are equally imperishable; and your 
 change of situation may even render 
 truth more operative, knowledge more 
 productive, and in the event, liberty itself 
 more universal. Wafted by the winds or 
 tossed by the waves, the seed that is here 
 thrown out as dead, there shoots up and 
 flourishes. It is probable that emigration 
 to America from the first settlement down- 
 ward, has not only served the cause of 
 general liberty, but will eventually and 
 circuitously serve it even in Britain. What 
 mighty events have arisen from that germ 
 which might once have beeen supposed to 
 be lost forever in the woods of America, 
 but thrown upon the bosom of Nature, the 
 
1 8 PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 breath of God revived it, and the world 
 hath gathered its fruits. Even Ireland 
 has contributed her share to the liberties 
 of America; and while purblind statesmen 
 were happy to get rid of the stubborn 
 Presbyterians of the North, they little 
 thought that they were serving a good 
 cause in another quarter.- — ^Yes! the Volun- 
 teers of Ireland still live — they live across 
 the Atlantic. Let this idea animate us in 
 our sufferings, and may the pure principles 
 and genuine lustre of the British Constitu- 
 tion reflected from their Coast, penetrate 
 into ourselves and our dungeons. 
 Farewell — great and good man! Great by 
 your mental powers, by your multiplied 
 literary labours, but still greater by those 
 household virtues which form the only 
 solid security for public conduct by those 
 mild and gentle qualities, which far from 
 being averse to, are most frequently at- 
 tended with severe and inflexible patriot- 
 ism, rising like an oak above a modest man- 
 sion. — Farewell — but before you go, we be- 
 seech a portion of your parting prayer to the 
 author of Good for Archibald Hamilton 
 Rowan, the pupil of Jebb, our Brother, now 
 suffering imprisonment, and for all those 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 1 9 
 
 who have suffered, and are about to suffer in 
 the same cause — the cause of impartial and 
 adequate representation — the cause of the 
 Constitution. Pray to the best of Beings 
 for Muir, Palmer, Skirving, Margarott 
 and Gerald, who are now, or will shortly be 
 crossing, like you, the bleak Ocean, to a 
 barbarous land! — Pray that they may be 
 animated with the same spirit, which in the 
 days of their fathers, triumphed at the stake, 
 and shone in the midst of flames. Mel- 
 ancholy indeed, it is that the mildest and 
 most humane of all Religions should have 
 been so perverted as to hang or burn men 
 in order to keep them of one faith. 
 It is equally melancholy, that the most de- 
 servedly extolled of Civil Constitutions, 
 should recur to similar modes of coercion, 
 and that hanging and burning are not now 
 employed, principally, because measures 
 apparently milder are considered as more 
 effectual. Farewell! Soon may you em- 
 brace your sons on the American shore, 
 and Washington take you by the hand, and 
 the shade of Franklin look down with calm 
 delight on the first statesman of the age 
 extending his protection to its first philoso- 
 pher. 
 
20 PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 And how interestedly did America anticipate 
 the arrival of the world renowned philosopher is 
 in a measure foreshadowed by the following ex- 
 cerpt from the American Daily Advertiser for 
 Thursday, June 5, 1794: 
 
 Dr. Priestley, with about one hundred other 
 passengers, are on board the Sansom, which 
 may be hourly expected. 
 
 In an editorial of the same paper, printed about 
 the same date, there appeared the following 
 tribute : 
 
 It must afford the most sincere gratification 
 to every well wisher to the rights of man, 
 that the United States of America, the 
 land of freedom and independence, has 
 become the asylum of the greatest charac- 
 ters of the present age, who have been 
 persecuted in Europe, merely because they 
 have defended the rights of the enslaved 
 nations. 
 
 The name of Joseph Priestley wdll be long 
 remembered among all enlightened people; 
 and there is no doubt that England will 
 one day regret her ungrateful treatment to 
 this venerable and illustrious man. His 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 21 
 
 persecutions in England have presented to 
 him the American Republic as a safe and 
 honourable retreat in his declining years; 
 and his arrival in this City calls upon us 
 to testify our respect and esteem for a man 
 whose whole life has been devoted to the 
 sacred duty of diffusing knowledge and 
 happiness among nations. 
 The citizens of united America know well the 
 honourable distinction that is due to virtue 
 and talents ; and while they cherish in their 
 hearts the memory of Dr. Franklin, as a 
 philosopher, they will be proud to rank 
 among the list of their illustrious fellow 
 citizens, the name of Dr. Priestley. 
 
 . Quietly but with great inward rejoicing were 
 the travel- worn voyagers — the Doctor and his 
 wife — received on the evening of June 4, 1794, at 
 the old Battery in New York, by their son Joseph 
 and his wife, who had long awaited them, and now 
 conducted them to a nearby lodging house, which 
 had been the head-quarters of Generals Howe and 
 Clinton. 
 
 On the following morning the Priestleys were 
 visited by Governor Clinton, Dr. Prevost, Bishop 
 of New York and most of the principal merchants, 
 and deputations of corporate bodies and Societies, 
 
2 2 PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 bringing addresses of welcome. Thus, among the 
 very first to present their sympathetic welcome was 
 the Democratic Society of the City of New York, 
 which in the address of its President, Mr. James 
 Nicholson, made June 7, 1794, said: 
 
 Sir, 
 WE are appointed by the Democratic So- 
 ciety of the City of New York, a Com- 
 mittee to congratulate you on your arri- 
 val in this country: And we feel the most 
 lively pleasure in bidding you a hearty 
 welcome to these shores of Liberty and 
 EquaHty. 
 While the arm of Tyranny is extended in 
 most of the nations of the world, to crush 
 the spirit of liberty, and bind in chains 
 the bodies and minds of men, we acknowl- 
 edge, with ardent gratitude to the Great 
 Parent of the Universe, our singular felic- 
 ity in living in a land, where Reason has 
 successfully triumphed over the artificial 
 distinctions of European policy and bigotry, 
 and where the law equally protects the 
 virtuous citizen of every description and 
 persuasion. 
 On this occasion we cannot but observe, that 
 we once esteemed ourselves happy in the 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 23 
 
 relation that subsisted between us and the 
 Government of Great Britain^ — But the 
 multipHed oppressions which characterized 
 that Government, excite in us the most 
 painful sensations, and exhibit a spectacle 
 as disgusting in itself, as dishonourable to 
 the British name. 
 
 The governments of the old world present 
 to us one huge mass of intrigue, corruption 
 and despotism — most of them are now base- 
 ly combined, to prevent the establishment 
 of liberty in France, and to affect the total 
 destruction of the rights of man. Under 
 these afflicting circumstances we rejoice 
 that America opens her arms to receive, 
 with fraternal affection, the friend of li- 
 berty and human happiness, and that here 
 he may enjoy the best blessings of civilized 
 society. 
 
 We sincerely sympathize with you in all that 
 you have suffered, and we consider the 
 persecution with which you have been 
 pursued by a venal Court and an imperious 
 and uncharitable priesthood, as an illus- 
 trious proof of your personal merit, and a 
 lasting reproach to that Government from 
 the grasp of whose tyranny you are so 
 happily removed. 
 
24 PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 Accept, Sir, of the sincere and best wishes 
 of the Society whom we represent, for the 
 continuance of your health, and the increase 
 of your individual and domestic happiness. 
 
 To which Priestley graciously replied: 
 
 Gentlemen, 
 VIEWING with the deepest concern, as you 
 do, the prospect that is now exhibited in 
 Europe, those troubles which are the natu- 
 ral offspring of their forms of government 
 originating, indeed, in the spirit of liberty, 
 but gradually degenerating in tyrannies, 
 equally degrading to the rulers and the 
 ruled, I rejoice in finding an asylum from 
 persecution in a country in which these 
 abuses have come to a natural termination, 
 and have produced another system of li- 
 berty founded on such wise principles, as, 
 I trust, will guard it against all future 
 abuses; those artificial distinctions in so- 
 ciety, from which they sprung, being com- 
 pletely eradicated, that protection from 
 violence which laws and government pro- 
 mise in all countries, but which I have not 
 found in my own, I doubt not I shall find 
 with you, though, I cannot promise to be 
 a better subject of this government, than 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 25 
 
 my whole conduct will evince that I have 
 been to that of great Britain. 
 Justly, however, as I think I may complain 
 of the treatment I have met with in Eng- 
 land I sincerely wish her prosperity, and, 
 from the good will I bear both that country 
 and this I ardently wish that all former 
 animosities may be forgotten and that a 
 perpetual friendship may subsist between 
 them. 
 
 And on Monday, June, ii, 1794, having taken 
 the first opportunity to visit Priestley, the Tam- 
 many Society presented this address: 
 
 Sir, 
 
 A numerous body of freemen who associate 
 to cultivate among them the love of liberty 
 and the enjoyment of the happy Republican 
 government under which they live and who 
 for several years have been known in this 
 city, by the name of the Tammany Society 
 have deputed us a Committee to express 
 to you their pleasure and congratulations 
 on your safe arrival in this country. 
 
 Their venerable ancestors escaped, as you 
 have done, from persecutions of intolerance, 
 
26 PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 bigotry and despotism, and they would 
 deem themselves, an unworthy progeny 
 were they not highly interested in your 
 safety and happiness. 
 
 It is not alone because your various useful 
 publications evince a life devoted to litera- 
 ture and the industrious pursuit of knowl- 
 edge; not only because your numerous 
 discoveries in Nature are so efficient to the 
 progression of human happiness: but they 
 have long known you to be the friend of 
 mankind and in defiance of calumny and 
 malice, an asserter of the rights of consci- 
 ence and the champion of civil and religious 
 Hberty. 
 
 They have learned with regret and indigna- 
 tion the abandoned proceedings of those 
 spoilers who destroyed your house and 
 goods, ruined your philosophical apparatus 
 and library, committed to the flames your 
 manuscripts, pryed into the secrets of your 
 private papers, and in their barbarian 
 fury put your life itself in danger. They 
 heard you also with exalted benevolence 
 return unto them ''blessings for curses:" 
 and while you thus exemplified the un- 
 daunted integrity of the patriot, the mild 
 and forbearing virtues of the Christian, 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 27 
 
 they hailed you victor in this magnani- 
 mous triumph over your enemies. 
 
 You have fled from the rude arm of violence, 
 from the flames of bigotry, from the rod of 
 of lawless power : and you shall find refuge 
 in the bosom of freedom, of peace, and of 
 Americans. 
 
 You have left your native land, a country 
 doubtless ever dear to you — a country for 
 whose improvement in virtue and knowl- 
 edge you have long disinterestedly 
 laboured, for which its rewards are ingrati- 
 tude, injustice and banishment. A coun- 
 try although now presenting a prospect 
 frightful to the eyes of humanity, yet once 
 the nurse of science, of arts, of heroes, and 
 of freeman — a country which although at 
 present apparently self devoted to destruc- 
 tion, we fondly hope may yet tread back 
 the steps of infamy and ruin, and once 
 more rise conspicuous among the free 
 nations of the earth. In this advanced 
 period of your life when nature demands 
 the sweets of tranquility, you have been 
 constrained to encounter the tempestous 
 deep, to risk disappointed prospects in a 
 foreign land, to give up the satisfaction of 
 domestic quiet, to tear yourself from the 
 
28 PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 friends of your youth, from a numerous 
 acquaintance who revere and love you, 
 and will long deplore your loss. 
 
 We enter, Sir, with emotion and sympathy 
 into the numerous sacrifices you must have 
 made, to an undertaking which so emi- 
 nently exhibits our country as an asylum 
 for the persecuted and oppressed, and into 
 those regretful sensibilities your heart 
 experienced when the shores of your native 
 land were lessening to your view. 
 
 Alive to the impressions of this occasion we 
 give you a warm and hearty vv^elcome into 
 these United States. We trust a country 
 worthy of you; where Providence has un- 
 folded a scene as new as it is august, as 
 felicitating as it is unexampled. The 
 enjoyment of liberty with but one dis- 
 graceful exception, pervades every class of 
 citizens. A catholic and sincere spirit of 
 toleration regulates society which rises into 
 zeal when the sacred rights of humanity are 
 invaded. And there exists a sentiment of 
 free and candid inquiry which disdains 
 shackles of tradition, promising a rich 
 harvest of improvement and the glorious 
 triumphs of truth. We hope. Sir, that 
 the Great Being whose laws and works you 
 
PRIESTLKY IN AMERICA 29 
 
 have made the study of your life, will smile 
 upon and bless you — restore you to every 
 domestic and philosophical enjoyment, 
 prosper you in every undertaking, benefi- 
 cial to mankind, render you, as you have 
 been to your own, the ornament of this 
 country, and crown you at last with im- 
 mortal felicity and honour. 
 
 And to this the venerable scientist was pleased to 
 say: 
 
 Gentlemen, 
 
 I think myself greatly honoured, flying as I 
 do, from ill treatment in my native coun- 
 try, on account of my attachment to the 
 cause of civil and religious liberty, to be 
 received with the congratulations of "a 
 Society of Freemen associated to cultivate 
 the love of liberty, and the enjoyment of 
 a happy RepubHcan government." Hap- 
 py would our venerable ancestors, as you 
 justly call them, have been, to have found 
 America such a retreat for them as it is to 
 me, when they were driven hither; but 
 happy has it proved to me, and happy will 
 it be for the world, that in the wise and 
 benevolent order of Providence, abuses of 
 
30 PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 power are ever destructive of itself, and 
 favourable to liberty. Their strenuous 
 exertions and yours now give me that 
 asylum which at my time of life is peculiarly 
 grateful to me, who only wish to continue 
 unmolested those pursuits of various litera- 
 ture to which, without having ever entered 
 into any political connexions my life has 
 been devoted. 
 I join you in viewing with regret the un- 
 favourable prospect of Great Britain form- 
 erly, as you say, the nurse of science, and 
 of freemen, and wish with you, that the 
 unhappy delusion that country is now 
 under may soon vanish, and that whatever 
 be the form of its government it may vie 
 with this country in everything that is 
 favourable to the best interests of mankind, 
 and join with you in removing that only 
 disgraceful circumstance, which you justly 
 acknowledge to be an exception to the 
 enjoyment of equal liberty, among your- 
 selves. That the Great Being whose provi- 
 dence extends alike to all the human race, 
 and to whose disposal I cheerfully commit 
 myself, may establish whatever is good, 
 and remove whatever is imperfect from 
 your government and from every govern- 
 
» 
 
 PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 3 1 
 
 ment in the known world, is the earnest 
 prayer of, 
 Gentlemen, 
 
 Your respectful humble servant. 
 
 As Priestley had ever gloried in the fact that he 
 was a teacher, what more appropriate in this 
 period of congratulatory welcome, could have 
 come to him than the following message of New 
 York's teaching body: 
 
 The associated Teachers in the city of New 
 York beg leave to offer you a sincere and 
 hearty welcome to this land of tranquility 
 and freedom. 
 
 Impressed with the idea of the real importance 
 of so valuable an acquisition to the growing 
 interests of science and literature, in this 
 country, we are particularly happy that the 
 honour of your first reception, has fallen to 
 this state, and to the city of New York. 
 
 As labourers in those fields which you have 
 occupied with the most distinguished emi- 
 nence, at the arduous and important task 
 of cultivating the human mind, we con- 
 template with peculiar satisfaction the 
 auspicious influence which your personal 
 
32 PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 residence in this country, will add to that 
 of your highly valuable scientific and liter- 
 ary productions, by which we have already 
 been materially benefited. 
 
 We beg leave to anticipate the happiness of 
 sharing in some degree, that patronage of 
 science and literature, which it has ever been 
 your delight to afford. This will give 
 facility to our expressions; direct and en- 
 courage us in our arduous employments; 
 assist us to form the man, and thereby 
 give efficacy to the diffusion of useful 
 knowledge. 
 
 Our most ardent wishes attend you, good Sir, 
 that you may find in this land a virtuous 
 simplicity, a happy recess from the intrigu- 
 ing politics and vitiating refinements of the 
 European world. That your patriotic vir- 
 tues may add to the vigour of our happy 
 Constitution and that the blessings of this 
 country may be abundantly renmnerated 
 into your person and your family. 
 
 And we rejoice in believing, that the Parent 
 of Nature, by those secret communications 
 of happiness with which he never fails to 
 reward the virtuous mind, will here convey 
 to you that consolation, support, and joy, 
 which are independent of local circum- 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 33 
 
 stances, and ''Which the world can neither 
 give nor take away. 
 
 jj 
 
 Touched, indeed was Priestley by this simple, 
 outspoken greeting from those who appreciated 
 his genuine interest in the cause of education. 
 Hence his reply was in a kindred spirit: 
 
 A welcome to this country from my fellow 
 labourers in the instruction of youth, is, I 
 assure you, peculiarly grateful to me. 
 Classes of men, as well as individuals, are 
 apt to form too high ideas of their own 
 importance; but certainly one of the most 
 important is, that which contributes so 
 much as ours do to the cummunication of 
 useful knowledge, as forming the characters 
 of men, thereby fitting them for their several 
 stations in society. In some form or other 
 this has been my employment and delight; 
 and my principal object in flying for an 
 asylum to this country, "a land, " as I hope 
 you justly term it, ''of virtuous simplicity, 
 and a recess from the intriguing politics, 
 and vicious refinements of the European 
 world," is that I may, without molestation, 
 pursue my favourite studies. And if I 
 had an opportunity of making choice of an 
 
34 PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 employment for what remains of active 
 exertion in life, it would be one in which I 
 should as I hope I have hitherto done, 
 contribute with you, to advance the cause 
 of science, of virtue, and of religion. 
 
 Further, The Medical Society of the State of 
 New York through Dr. John Charlton, its Presi- 
 dent, said: 
 
 PERMIT us. Sir, to wait upon you with an 
 offering of our sincere congratulations, on 
 your safe arrival, with your lady and family 
 in this happy country, and to express our 
 real joy, in receiving among us, a gentleman, 
 whose labours have contributed so much to 
 the diffusion and establishment of civil 
 and religious liberty, and whose deep re- 
 searches into the true principles of natural 
 philosophy, have derived so much improve- 
 ment and real benefit, not only to the 
 sciences of chemistry and medicine, but to 
 various other arts, all of which are necessary 
 to the ornament and utility of human life. 
 
 May you, Sir, possess and enjoy, here, un- 
 interrupted contentment and happiness, 
 and may your valuable life be continued a 
 farther blessing to mankind. 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 35 
 
 And in his answer Dr. Priestley remarked: 
 
 I THINK myself greatly honoured in being 
 congratulated on my arrival in this country 
 by a Society of persons whose studies bear 
 some relation to my own. To continue, 
 without fear of molestation, on account of 
 the most open profession of any sentiments, 
 civil or religious, those pursuits which you 
 are sensible have for their object the ad- 
 vantage of all mankind, (being, as you 
 justly observe, "necessary to the ornament 
 and utility of human life") is my principal 
 motive for leaving a country in which that 
 tranquility and sense of security which 
 scientificial pursuits require, cannot be had; 
 and I am happy to find here, persons who 
 are engaged in the same pursuits, and who 
 have the just sense that you discover of 
 their truly enviable situation. 
 
 As a climax to greetings extended in the City 
 of New York, The Republican Natives of Great 
 Britain and Ireland resident in that city said, 
 
 WE, the Republican natives of Great Britain 
 and Ireland, resident in the city of New 
 York, embrace, with the highest satisfac- 
 
36 PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 tion, the opportunity which your arrival 
 in this city presents, of bearing our testi- 
 mony to your character and virtue and of 
 expressing our joy that you come among us 
 in circumstances of such good health and 
 spirits. 
 
 We have beheld with the keenest sensi- 
 bility, the unparallelled persecutions which 
 attended you in your native country, and 
 have sympathized with you under all 
 their variety and extent. In the firm 
 hope, that you are now completely re- 
 moved from the effects of every species of 
 intolerance, we most sincerely congratulate 
 you. 
 
 After a fruitless opposition to a corrupt and 
 tyrannical government, many of us have, 
 like you, sought freedom and protection 
 in the United States of America; but to 
 this we have all been principally induced, 
 from the full persuasion, that a republican 
 representative government, was not merely 
 best adapted to promote human happiness, 
 but that it is the only rational system 
 worthy the wisdom of man to project, or 
 to which his reason should assent. 
 
 Participating in the many blessings which the 
 government of this country is calculated to 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 37 
 
 insure, we are happy in giving it this proof 
 of our respectful attachment : — We are only 
 grieved, that a system of such beauty and 
 excellence, should be at all tarnished by the 
 existence of slavery in any form; but as 
 friends to the Equal Rights of Man, we 
 must be permitted to say, that we wish 
 these Rights extended to every human 
 being, be his complexion what it may. We, 
 however, look forward with pleasing antici- 
 pation to a yet more perfect state of 
 society; and, from that love of liberty 
 which forms so distinguishing a trait in 
 American character, are taught to hope 
 that this last — this worse disgrace to a free 
 government, will finally and forever be 
 done away. 
 While we look back on our native country 
 with emotions of pity and indignation at 
 the outrages which humanity has sustained 
 in the persons of the virtuous Muir, and his 
 patriotic associates; and deeply lament the 
 fatal apathy into which our countrymen 
 have fallen; we desire to be thankful to 
 the Great Author of our being that we are 
 in America, and that it has pleased Him, in 
 his Wise Providence, to make the United 
 States an asylum not only from the immedi- 
 
38 PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 ate tyranny of the British Government, 
 but also from those impending calamities, 
 which its increasing despotism and multi- 
 plied iniquities, must infallibly bring 
 down on a deluded and oppressed people. 
 Accept, Sir, of our affectionate and best 
 wishes for a long continuance of your 
 health and happiness. 
 
 The answer of the aged philosopher to this 
 address was: 
 
 I think myself pecuHarly happy in finding in 
 this country so many persons of sentiments 
 similar to my ow^n, some of whom have 
 probably left Great Britain or Ireland on 
 the same account, and to be so cheerfully 
 welcomed by them on my arrival. You 
 have already had experience of the dif- 
 ference between the governments of the 
 two countries, and I doubt not, have seen 
 sufficient reason to give the decided pre- 
 ference that you do to that of this. There 
 all liberty of speech and of the press as far 
 as politics are concerned, is at an end, and a 
 spirit of intolerance in matters of religion 
 is almost as high as in the time of the 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 39 
 
 Stuarts. Here, having no countenance 
 from government, whatever may remain of 
 this spirit, from the ignorance and conse- 
 quent bigotry, of former times, it may be 
 expected soon to die away; and on all 
 subjects whatever, every man enjoys in- 
 valuable liberty of speaking and writing 
 whatever he pleases. 
 
 The wisdom and happiness of Republican 
 governments and the evils resulting from 
 hereditary monarchical ones, cannot appear 
 in a stronger light to you than they do to 
 me. We need only look to the present 
 state of Europe and of America, to be fully 
 satisfied in this respect. The former will 
 easily reform themselves, and among other 
 improvements, I am persuaded, will be the 
 removal of that vestige of servitude to 
 which you allude, as it so ill accords with 
 the spirit of equal liberty, from which 
 the rest of the system has flowed; whereas 
 no material reformation of the many abuses 
 to which the latter are subject, it is to be 
 feared, can be made without violence and 
 confusion. 
 
 I congratulate you, gentlemen, as you do me, 
 on our arrival in a country in which men 
 who wish well to their fellow citizens, and 
 
40 PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 use their best endeavours to render them 
 the most important services, men who are an 
 honour to human nature and to any coun- 
 try, are in no danger of being treated hke 
 the worst felons, as is now the case in 
 Great Britain. 
 Happy should I think myself in joining with 
 you in welcoming to this country every 
 friend of liberty, who is exposed to danger 
 from the tyranny of the British Govern- 
 ment, and who, while they continue under 
 it, must expect to share in those calamities, 
 which its present infatuation must, sooner 
 or later, bring upon it. But let us all join 
 in supplications to the Great Parent of the 
 Universe, that for the sake of the many ex- 
 cellent characters in our native country its 
 government may be reformed, and the judg- 
 ments impending over it prevented. 
 
 The hearty reception accorded Dr. Priestley 
 met in due course with a cruel attack upon him by 
 William Cobbett, known under the pen-name of 
 Peter Porcupine, an Englishman, who after arri- 
 val in this country enjoyed a rather prosperous 
 life by formulating scurrilous literature — attacks 
 upon men of prominence, stars shining brightly 
 in the human firmament. 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 41 
 
 An old paper, the Argus, for the year 1796, said 
 of this Peter Porcupine: 
 
 When this poKtical caterpillar was crawling 
 about at St. John's, Nova Scotia, in support 
 of his Britannic Majesty's glorious cause, 
 against the United States, and holding the 
 rank of serjeant major in the 54th regiment, 
 then quartered in that land, "flowing with 
 milk and honey," and GRINDSTONES, 
 and commanded by Colonel Bruce; it was 
 customary for some of the officers to hire 
 out the soldiers to the country people, in- 
 stead of keeping them to military duty, 
 and to pocket the money themselves. 
 Peter found he could make a speck out of 
 this, and therefore kept a watchful eye 
 over the sins of his superiors. When the 
 regiment was recalled and had returned to 
 England — Peter, brimful of amor patriae, 
 was about to prefer a complaint against the 
 officers, when they came down with a 
 round sum of the ready rino, and a promise 
 of his discharge, in case of secrecy. — This 
 so staggered our incorruptible and inde- 
 pendent hero and quill driver, that he 
 agreed to the terms, received that very 
 honorable discharge, mentioned with so 
 
42 PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 much emphasis, in the history of his im- 
 portant Ufe — got cash enough to come to 
 America, by circuitous route and to set 
 himself up with the necessary implements 
 of scandal and abuse. 
 
 This flea, this spider, this corporal, has dared 
 to point his impotent spleen at the memory 
 of that illustrious patriot, statesman and 
 philosopher, Benjamin Franklin. 
 
 Let the buzzing insect reflect on this truth — 
 that 
 
 "Succeeding times great Frankhn's works 
 shall quote, 
 "When 'tis forgot — this Peter ever wrote." 
 
 And the Advertiser declared: 
 
 Peter Porcupine is one of those writers who 
 attempt to deal in wit — and to bear down 
 every Republican principle by satire — but 
 he miserably fails in both, for his wit is as 
 stale as his satire, and his satire as insipid 
 as his wit. He attempts to ridicule Dr. 
 Franklin, but can any man of sense conceive 
 any poignancy in styling this great philoso- 
 pher, "poor Richard," or "the old light- 
 ning rod." Franklin, whose researches in 
 philosophy have placed him preeminent 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 43 
 
 among the first characters in this country, 
 or in Europe: is it possible then that such 
 a contemptible wretch as Peter Porcupine, 
 (who never gave any specimen of his philo- 
 sophy, but in bearing with Christian pati- 
 ence a severe whipping at the public post) 
 can injure the exalted reputation of this 
 great philosopher? The folly of the Editor 
 of the Centinal, is the more conspicuous, 
 in inserting his billingsgate abuse in a 
 Boston paper, when this town, particularly 
 the TRADESMAN of it are reaping such 
 advantages from Franklin's liberality. The 
 Editor of the Centinal ought to blush for 
 his arrogance in vilifying this TRADES- 
 MEN'S FRIEND, by retailing the scur- 
 rility of so wretched a puppy as Peter 
 Porcupine. 
 
 As to Dr. Priestley, the Editor was obliged to 
 apologise in this particular — but colours 
 it over as the effusions of genius^ — poor 
 apology, indeed to stain his columns with 
 scurrility and abuse, and after finding the 
 impression too notoriously infamous, at- 
 tempts to qualify it, sycophantic paren- 
 thesis. 
 
 The names of Franklin and Priestley will be 
 enrolled in the catalogue of worthies, while 
 
44 PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 the wretched Peter Porcupine, and his 
 more wretched supporters, will sink into 
 obHvion, unless the register of Newgate 
 should be published, and their memories be 
 raked from the loathsome rubbish as 
 spectres of universal destestation. 
 
 And the London Monthly Review (August lo, 
 1796) commented as follows on Porcupine's ani- 
 madversions upon Priestley: 
 
 Frequently as we have differed in opinion 
 from Dr. Priestley, we should think it an 
 act of injustice to his merit, not to say that 
 the numerous and important services 
 which he has rendered to science, and the 
 unequivocal proofs which he has given of at 
 least honest intention towards religion and 
 Christianity ought to have protected him 
 from such gross insults as are poured upon 
 him in this pamphlet. Of the author's 
 literary talent, we shall say but little: the 
 phrases, "setting down to count the cost" 
 — "the rights of the man the greatest 
 bore in nature" — the appellation of rigma- 
 role ramble, given to a correct sentence of 
 Dr. Priestley — which the author attempts 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 45 
 
 to criticise — may serve as specimens of his 
 language. 
 The pitiful attempt at wit, in his vulgar fable 
 of the pitcher haranguing the pans and 
 jordans, will give him little credit as a 
 writer, with readers of an elegant taste. — 
 No censure, however, can be too severe for 
 a writer who suffers the rancour of party 
 spirit to carry him so far beyond the 
 bounds of justice, truth and decency, as to 
 speak of Dr. Priestley as an admirer of the 
 massacres of France, and who would have 
 wished to have seen the town of Birming- 
 ham like that of Lyons, razed, and all its 
 industrious and loyal inhabitants butchered 
 as a man whose conduct proves that he 
 has either an understanding little superior 
 to that of an idiot, or the heart of Marat: 
 in short, as a man who fled into banishment 
 covered with the universal destestation 
 of his countrymen. The spirit, which 
 could dictate such outrageous abuse, must 
 disgrace any individual and any party. 
 
 Even before Porcupine began his abuse of 
 Priestley, there appeared efforts intended no doubt 
 to arouse opposition to him and dislike for him. 
 One such, apparently very innocent in its purpose, 
 
46 PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 appeared shortly after Priestley's settlement in 
 Northumberland. It may be seen in the Adverti- 
 ser, and reads thus: 
 
 The divinity of Jesus Christ proved in a 
 publication to be sold by Francis Bayley in 
 Market Street, between 3rd and 4th Streets, 
 at the sign of the Yorick^s Head — being a 
 reply to Dr. Joseph Priestley's appeal to 
 the serious and candid professors of 
 Christianity. 
 
 The New York addresses clearly indicated the 
 generous sympathy of hosts of Ameiicans for 
 Priestley. They were not perfunctory, but genu- 
 inely genuine. This brought joy to the dis- 
 tinguished emigrant, and a sense of fellowship, 
 accompanied by a feeling of security. 
 
 More than a century has passed since these 
 occurrences, and the reader of today is scarcely 
 stirred by their declarations and appeals. 
 Changes have come, in the past century, on both 
 sides of the great ocean. Almost everywhere 
 reigns the freedom so devoutly desired by the 
 fathers of the long ago. It is so universal that it 
 does not come as a first thought. Other changes, 
 once constantly on men's minds have gradually 
 been made. 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 47 
 
 How wonderful has been the development of 
 New York since Priestley's brief sojourn in it. 
 How marvelously science has grown in the great 
 interim. What would Priestley say could he now 
 pass up and down the famous avenues of our 
 greatest City? 
 
 His decision to live in America, his labors for 
 science in this land, have had a share in the as- 
 tounding unfolding of the dynamical possibilities 
 of America's greatest municipality. 
 
 The Priestley s were delighted with New York. 
 They were frequent dinner guests of Governor 
 Clinton, whom they liked very much and saw 
 often, and they met with pleasure Dr. Samuel L. 
 Mitchill, the Professor of Chemistry in Columbia. 
 
 Amidst the endless fetes, attendant upon their 
 arrival, there existed a desire to go forward. The 
 entire family were eager to arrive at their real 
 resting place — the home prepared by the sons 
 who had preceded them to this Western world. 
 Accordingly, on June i8, 1794, they left New 
 York, after a fortnight's visit, and the Advertiser 
 of Philadelphia, June 21, 1794, contained these 
 lines: 
 
 Last Thursday evening arrived in town from 
 New York the justly celebrated philoso- 
 pher Dr. Joseph Priestley. 
 
48 PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 Thus was heralded his presence in the City of his 
 esteemed, honored friend, Frankhn, who, alas! was 
 then in the spirit land, and not able to greet him 
 as he would have done had he still been a living 
 force in the City of Brotherly Love. However, a 
 very prompt welcome came from the American 
 Philosophical Society, founded (1727) by the 
 immortal savant, Franklin. 
 
 The President of this venerable Society, the 
 oldest scientific Society in the Western hemis- 
 phere, w^as the renowned astronomer, David 
 Rittenhouse, who said for himself and his 
 associates: 
 
 THE American Philosophical Society, held 
 at Philadelphia for promoting useful knowl- 
 edge, offer you their sincere congratulations 
 on your safe arrival in this country. As- 
 sociated for the purposes of extending and 
 disseminating those improvements in the 
 sciences and the arts, which most conduce 
 to substantial happiness of Man, the 
 Society felicitate themselves and their 
 country, that your talents and virtues, 
 have been transferred to this Republic. 
 Considering you as an illustrious member 
 of this institution : Your colleagues antici- 
 pate your aid, in zealously promoting the 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 49 
 
 objects which unite them; as a virtuous 
 man, possessing eminent and useful ac- 
 quirements, they contemplate with pleas- 
 ure the accession of such worth to the 
 American Commonwealth, and looking 
 forward to your future character of a 
 citizen of this, your adopted country, they 
 rejoice in greeting, as such, an enlightened 
 Republican. 
 
 In this free and happy country, those 
 unaUenable rights, which the Author of 
 Nature committed to man as a sacred 
 deposit, have been secured: Here, we 
 have been enabled, under the favour of 
 Divine Providence, to estabhsh a govern- 
 ment of Laws, and not of Men; a govern- 
 ment, which secures to its citizens equal 
 Rights, and equal Liberty, and which offers 
 an asylum to the good, to the persecuted, 
 and to the oppressed of other climes. 
 
 May you long enjoy every blessing which an 
 elevated and highly cultivated mind, a 
 pure conscience, and a free country are 
 capable of bestowing. 
 
 And, in return, Priestley remarked. 
 
 IT is with peculiar satisfaction that I re- 
 ceive the congratulations of my brethren of 
 
5© PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 the Philosophical Society in this City, on 
 my arrival in this country. It is, in great 
 part, for the sake of pursuing our common 
 studies without molestation, though for 
 the present you will allow, with far less 
 advantage, that I left my native country, 
 and have come to America; and a Society 
 of Philosophers, who will have no objection 
 to a person on account of his political or 
 religious sentiments, will be as grateful, as 
 it will be new to me. My past conduct, I 
 hope, will show, that you may depend upon 
 my zeal in promoting the valuable objects 
 of your institution; but you must not 
 flatter yourself, or me, with supposing, that, 
 at my time of life, and with the inconveni- 
 ence attending a new and uncertain settle- 
 ment, I can be of much service to it. 
 I am confident, however, from what I have 
 already seen of the spirit of the people of 
 this country, that it will soon appear that 
 Republican governments, in which every 
 obstruction is removed to the exertion of all 
 kinds of talent, will be far more favourable 
 to science, and the arts, than any mon- 
 archical government has ever been. The 
 patronage to be met with there is ever cap- 
 ricious, and as often employed to bear down 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 51 
 
 merit as to promote it, having for its 
 real object, not science or anything useful 
 to mankind, but the mere reputation of 
 the patron, who is seldom any judge of 
 science. Whereas a Public which neither 
 flatters nor is to be flattered will not fail in 
 due time to distinguish true merit and to give 
 every encouragement that it is proper to be 
 given in the case. Besides by opening as 
 you generously do an asylum to the per- 
 secuted and "oppressed of all climes," you 
 will in addition to your own native stock, 
 soon receive a large accession of every kind 
 of merit, philosophical not excepted, where- 
 by you will do yourselves great honour and 
 secure the most permanent advantage to 
 the community. 
 
 Doubtless in the society of so many worthy 
 Philadelphians, the Priestleys were happy, for 
 they had corresponded with not a few of them. 
 
 The longing for Northumberland became very 
 great and one smiles on reading that the good 
 Doctor thought 'Philadelphia by no means so 
 agreeable as New York . . . Philadelphia would 
 be very irksome to me . . . It is only a place 
 for business and to get money in." But in this 
 City he later spent much of his time. 
 
« PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA I 
 
 1 
 
 It was about the middle of July, 1794, that the j 
 
 journey to Northumberland began, and on ^ 
 
 September 14, 1794, Priestley wrote of North- ' 
 
 umberland "nothing can be more dehghtful, or i 
 
 more healthy than this place." j 
 
 Safely lodged among those dear to him one finds ' 
 
 much pleasure in observing the great philosopher's i 
 
 activities. The preparation of a home for him- ! 
 
 self and his wife and the unmarried members of i 
 
 the family was uppermost in his mind. But much j 
 
 time was given to correspondence with loyal | 
 
 friends in England. Chief among these were the j 
 
 Reverends Lindsey and Belsham. The letters to j 
 these gentlemen disclose the plans and musings of 
 the exile. For instance, in a communication to 
 
 the former, dated September, 14 1794, he wrote: , 
 
 The professor of chemistry in the College of 1 
 
 Philadelphia is supposed to be on his : 
 
 death-bed ... in the case of a vacancy, , 
 Dr. Rush thinks I shall be invited to 
 
 succeed him. In this case I must reside I 
 
 1 
 
 four months in one year in Philadelphia, i 
 and one principal inducement with me 
 to accept of it will be the opportunity I 
 shall have of forming an Unitarian Congre- 
 gation ... 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 53 
 
 And a month later he observed to the same 
 friend : 
 
 Philadelphia is unpleasant, unhealthy, and 
 intolerably expensive . . . Every day I 
 do something towards the continuation of 
 my Church History ... I have never 
 read so much Hebrew as I have since I 
 left England. .... 
 
 He visited freely in the vicinity of Northumber- 
 land, spending much time in the open. Davy, a 
 traveler, made this note: 
 
 Dr. Priestley visited us at Sunbury, looks well 
 and cheerful, has left off his perriwig, and 
 combs his short grey locks, in the true style 
 of the simplicity of the country . . . 
 Dined very pleasantly with him. He has 
 bought a lot of eleven acres (exclusively 
 of that which he is building on), which 
 commands a delightful view of all the 
 rivers, and both towns, i.e. Sunbury and 
 Northumberland and the country. It cost 
 him ioo£ currency. 
 
 It was also to Mr. Lindsey that he communi- 
 cated, on November 12, 1794, a fact of no little 
 
54 PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 interest, even today, to teachers of Chemistry in 
 America. It was: 
 
 I have just received an invitation to the 
 professorship of chemistry at Philadelphia . 
 . . when I considered that I must pass 
 four months of every year from home, my 
 heart failed me, and I declined it. If my 
 books and apparatus had been in Philadel- 
 phia, I might have acted differently, but 
 part of them are now arrived here, and the 
 remainder I expect in a few days, and the 
 expense and risk of conveyance of such 
 things from Philadelphia hither is so great, 
 that I cannot think of taking them back 
 . . . and in a year or two, I doubt not, 
 we shall have a college established here. 
 
 It was about this time that his youngest 
 son, Harry, in whom he particularly delighted, 
 began clearing 300 acres of cheap land, and 
 in this work the philosopher was greatly in- 
 terested; indeed, on occasions he actually parti- 
 cipated in the labor of removing the timber. 
 Despite this manual labor there were still hours of 
 every day given to the Church History, and to 
 his correspondence which grew in volume, as he 
 was advising inquiring English friends, who 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 55 
 
 thought of emigrating, and very generally to them 
 he recommended the perusal of Dr. Thomas 
 Cooper's 
 
 "Advice to those who would remove to 
 America — " 
 
 Through this correspondence, now and then, there 
 appeared little animadversions on the quaint old 
 town on the Delaware, such as 
 
 I never saw a town I liked less than Phila- 
 delphia. 
 
 Could this dislike have been due to the fact that— 
 
 Probably in no other place on the Continent 
 was the love of bright colours and extrava- 
 gance in dress carried to such an extreme. 
 Large numbers of the Quakers yielded to it, 
 and even the very strict ones carried gold- 
 headed canes, gold snuff-boxes, and wore 
 great silver buttons on their drab coats 
 and handsome buckles on their shoes. 
 
 And 
 
 Nowhere were the women so resplendant in 
 silks, satins, velvets, and brocades, and 
 they piled up their hair mountains high. 
 
56 PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 Furthermore — 
 
 The descriptions of the banquets and feasts 
 . . . are appalling. 
 
 John Adams, when he first came down to 
 Philadelphia, fresh from Boston, stood 
 aghast at this life into which he was sud- 
 denly thrown and thought it must be sin. 
 But he rose to the occasion, and, after 
 describing in his diary some of the "mighty 
 feasts" and '^ sinful feasts" . . . says he 
 drank Madeira "at a great rate and found 
 no inconvenience." 
 
 It would only be surmise to state what were the 
 Doctor's reasons for his frequent declaration of 
 dislike for Philadelphia. 
 
 The winter of 1 794-1 795 proved much colder 
 "than ever I knew it in England," but he cheer- 
 fully requested Samuel Parker to send him a 
 hygrometer, shades or bell-glasses, jars for elec- 
 trical batteries, and 
 
 a set of glass tubes with large bulbs at the 
 end, such as I used in the experiments I 
 last published on the generation of Air 
 from water. 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 57 
 
 Most refreshing is this demand upon a friend. 
 It indicates the keen desire in Priestley to proceed 
 with experimental studies, though surroundings and 
 provisions for such undertakings were quite 
 unsatisfactory. The spirit was there and very 
 determined was its possessor that his science 
 pursuits should not be laid totally aside. His 
 attitude and course in this particular were admir- 
 able and exemplary. Too often the lack of an 
 abundance of equipment and the absence of many 
 of the supposed essentials, have been deterrents 
 which have caused men to abandon completely 
 their scientific investigations. However, such was 
 not the case with the distinguished exile, and for 
 this he deserved all praise. 
 
 From time to time, in old papers and books of 
 travel, brief notes concerning Priestley appear. 
 These exhibit in a beautiful manner the human 
 side of the man. They cause one to wish that 
 the privilege of knowing this worthy student of 
 chemical science might have been enjoyed by 
 him. For example, a Mr. Bakewell chanced 
 upon him in the spring of 1795 and recorded: 
 
 I found him (Priestley) a man rather below 
 the middle size, straight and plain, wearing 
 his own hair; and in his countenance, 
 though you might discern the philosopher, 
 
58 PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 yet it beamed with so much simpHcity and 
 freedom as made him very easy of access. 
 
 It is also stated in Davy's ''Journal of Voyage, 
 etc."— 
 
 The doctor enjoys a game at whist; and al- 
 though he never hazards a farthing, is 
 highly diverted with playing good cards, 
 but never ruffled by bad ones. 
 
 In May, 1795, Priestley expressed himself as 
 follows: 
 
 As to the experiments, I find I cannot do 
 much till I get my own house built. At 
 present I have all my books and instru- 
 ments in one room, in the house of my son. 
 
 This is the first time in all his correspondence 
 that reference is made to experimental work. I^" 
 was in 1795. As a matter of course every Ameri- 
 can chemist is interested to know when he began 
 experimentation in this country. 
 
 In the absence of proper laboratory space and 
 the requisite apparatus, it is not surprising that 
 he thought much and wrote extensively on religi- 
 ous topics, and further he would throw himself into 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 59 
 
 political problems, for he addressed Mr. Adams 
 on restriction "in the naturalization of foreigners." 
 He remarked that — 
 
 Party strife is pretty high in this country, 
 but the Constitution is such that it cannot 
 do any harm. 
 
 To friends, probably reminding him of being 
 ''unactive, which affects me much," he answered: 
 
 As to the chemical lectureship (in Phila- 
 delphia) I am convinced I could not have 
 acquitted myself in it to proper advantage. 
 I had no difficulty in giving a general 
 course of chemistry at Hackney (England), 
 lecturing only once a week; but to give a 
 lecture every day for four months, and to 
 enter so particularly into the subject as a 
 course of lectures in a medical University 
 (Pennsylvania) requires, I was not pre- 
 pared for; and my engagements there 
 would not, at my time of life, have per- 
 mitted me to make the necessary prepara- 
 tions for it; if I could have done it at all. 
 For, though I have made discoveries in 
 some branches of chemistry, I never gave 
 much attention to the common routine of 
 
6o PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 it, and know but little of the common 
 processes. 
 
 Is not this a refreshing confession from the cele- 
 brated discoverer of oxygen? The casual reader 
 would not credit such a statement from one who 
 August I, 1774, introduced to the civilized world 
 so important an element as oxygen. Because he 
 did not know the ''common processes" of chemis- 
 try and had not concerned himself with the 
 "common routine" of it, led to his blazing the way 
 among chemical compounds in his own fashion. 
 Many times since the days of Priestley real re- 
 searchers after truth have proceeded without com- 
 pass and uncovered most astonishing and remark- 
 able results. They had the genuine research 
 spirit and were driven forward by it. Priestley 
 knew little of the labyrinth of analysis and cared 
 less; indeed, he possessed little beyond an in- 
 satiable desire to unfold Nature's secrets. 
 
 Admiration for Priestley increases on hearing 
 him descant on the people about him — on the 
 natives — 
 
 Here every house-keeper has a garden, out of 
 which he raises almost all he wants for his 
 family. They all have cows, and many 
 have horses, the keeping of which costs 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 6 1 
 
 them little or nothing in the summer, for 
 they ramble with bells on their necks in the 
 woods, and come home at night. Almost 
 all the flesh meat they have is salted in the 
 autumn, and a fish called shads in the 
 spring. This salt shad they eat at break- 
 fast, with their tea and coffee, and also at 
 . . , night. We, however, have not yet laid aside 
 our English customs, and having made 
 great exertion to get fresh meat, it will soon 
 come into general use. 
 
 Proudly must he have said — 
 
 My youngest son, Harry, works as hard as 
 any farmer in the country and is as atten- 
 tive to his farm, though he is only eighteen 
 
 • . . . Two or three hours I always work 
 in the fields along with my son . . . 
 
 And, then as a supplement, for it was resting 
 heavily on his mind, he added — 
 
 What I chiefly attend to now is my Church 
 History . . . but I make some experi- 
 ments every day (July 12, 1795), and shall 
 soon draw up a paper for the Philosophical 
 Society at Philadelphia. 
 
62 PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 Early in December of 1795 he entrusted a paper, 
 intended for the American Philosophical Society to 
 the keeping of Dr. Young, a gentleman from 
 Northumberland en route for Europe. Acquaint- 
 ing his friend Lindsey of this fact, he took occasion 
 to add — 
 
 I have much more to do in my laboratory, 
 but I am under the necessity of shutting up 
 for the winter, as the frost will make it 
 impossible to keep my water fit for use, 
 without such provision as I cannot make, 
 till I get my own laboratory prepared on 
 purpose, when I hope to be able to work 
 alike, winter and summer. 
 
 Dr. Young carried two papers to Philadelphia. 
 The first article treated of ''Experiments and 
 Observations relating to the Analysis of Atmos- 
 pherical Air," and the second "Further Experi- 
 ments relating to the Generation of Air from 
 Water." They filled 20 quarto pages of Volume 
 4 of the Transactions of the American Philosoph- 
 ical Society. On reading them the thought lingers 
 that these are the first contributions of the eminent 
 philosopher from his American home. Hence, 
 without reference to their value, they are precious. 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 63 
 
 They represent the results of inquiries performed 
 under unusual surroundings. It is very probable 
 that Priestley's English correspondents desired 
 him to concentrate his efforts upon experimental 
 science. They were indeed pleased to be informed 
 of his Church History, and his vital interest in 
 religion, but they cherished the hope that science 
 would in largest measure displace these literary 
 endeavors. Priestley himself never admitted this, 
 but must have penetrated their designs, and, 
 recognizing the point of their urging, worked at 
 much disadvantage to get the results presented in 
 these two pioneer studies. Present day students 
 would grow impatient in their perusal, because of 
 the persistent emphasis placed on phlogiston, 
 dephlogisticated air, phlogisticated air, and so 
 forth. In the very first paper, the opening lines 
 show this: 
 
 It is an essential part of the antiphlogistic 
 theory, that in all the cases of what I have 
 called phlogistic ation of air, there is simply 
 an absorption of the dephlogisticated air, or, 
 as the advocates of that theory term it, the 
 oxygen contained in it, leaving the phlogis- 
 ticated part, which they call azote, as it 
 originally existed in the atmosphere. Also, 
 according to this system, azote is a simple 
 
64 PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 substance, at least not hitherto analyzed 
 into any other. 
 
 No matter how deeply one venerates Priestley, 
 or how great honor is ascribed to him, the question 
 continues why the simpler French view was not 
 adopted by this honest student. Further, as an 
 ardent admirer one asks why should Priestley pen 
 the next sentence: 
 
 They, therefore, suppose that there is a 
 determinate proportion between the quanti- 
 ties of oxygen and azote in every portion 
 of atmospherical air, and that all that has 
 hitherto been done has been to separate 
 them from one another. This proportion 
 they state to be 27 parts of oxygen and 73 
 parts of azote, in 100 of atmospherical air. 
 
 Priestley knew that there was a ''determinate 
 proportion." He was not, however, influ- 
 enced by quantitative data. 
 
 Sir Oliver Lodge said^ — • 
 
 Priestley's experiments were admirable, but 
 his perception of their theoretical relations 
 
 Nine Famous Birmingham Men — Cornish Brothers, Pub- 
 lishers, 1909. 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 65 
 
 was entirely inadequate and, as we now think, 
 quite erroneous ... In theory he had no 
 instinct for guessing right ... he may 
 almost be said to have had a predilection 
 for the wrong end. 
 
 At present the French thought is so evident 
 that it seems incomprehensible that Priestley 
 failed to grasp it, for he continues — 
 
 In every case of the diminution of atmospher- 
 ical air in which this is the result, there 
 appears to me to be something emitted 
 from the substance, which the antiphlo- 
 gistians suppose to act by simple absorption, 
 and therefore that it is more probable 
 that there is some substance, and the same 
 that has been called philogiston, or the 
 principle of inflammability . . . emitted, 
 and that this phlogiston uniting with part 
 of the dephlogisticated air forms with it 
 part of the phlogisticated air, which is 
 found after the process. 
 
 Subsequently (1798), he advised the Society 
 that he had executed other experiments which 
 corroborated those outlined in his first two papers, 
 adding — 
 
66 PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 Had the publication of your Transactions 
 been more frequent, I should with much 
 pleasure have submitted to the Society a 
 full account of these and other experiments 
 which appear to me to prove, that metals 
 are compound substances, and that water 
 has not yet been decomposed by any process 
 that we are acquainted with. Still, how- 
 ever, I would not be very positive, as the 
 contrary is maintained by almost all the 
 chemists of the age. . . 
 
 And thus he proceeds, ever doing interesting 
 things, but blind to the patent results because he 
 had phlogiston constantly before him. He looked 
 everywhere for it, followed it blindly, and con- 
 sequently overlooked the facts regarded as most 
 significant by his opponents, which in the end led 
 them to correct conclusions. 
 
 The experimental results in the second paper 
 also admit of an interpretation quite the opposite 
 of that deduced by Priestley. He confidently 
 maintained that air was invariably generated from 
 water, because he discovered it and liberated it 
 from water which he was certain did not contain 
 it in solution. He was conscientious in his 
 inferences. Deeply did his friends deplore his 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 67 
 
 inability to see more than a single interpretation 
 of his results! 
 
 The papers were read before the American 
 Philosophical Society on the 19th of February, 
 1796. Their author as they appear in print, is 
 the Rev. Dr. J. Priestley. It is doubtful whether 
 he afhxed this signature. More probable is it 
 that the Secretary of the Society was responsible, 
 and, because he thought of Priestley in the role of a 
 Reverend gentleman rather than as a scientific 
 investigator. 
 
 Here, perhaps, it may be mentioned that the 
 first, the very first communication from Priestley's 
 pen to the venerable Philosophical Society, was 
 read in 1784. It was presented by a friend' — a 
 Mr. W. Vaughan, whose family in England were 
 always the staunchest of Priestley's supporters. 
 And it is not too much to assume that it was the 
 same influence which one year later (1785) brought 
 about Priestley's election to membership in the 
 Society, for he was one of ''28 new members" 
 chosen in January of that year. 
 
 There are evidences of marked friendliness to 
 Priestley all about the Hall of the Society, for 
 example his profile in Plaster of Paris, "particu- 
 larly valuable for the resemblance" to the Doctor, 
 which was presented in 1791; a second "profile 
 in black leather" given by Robert Patterson, 
 
68 PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 a President of the Society, and an oil portrait 
 of him from Mrs. Dr. Caspar Wistar. 
 
 His appearance in person, when for the first 
 time he sat among his colleagues of the Society, 
 was on the evening of February 19, 1796 — the 
 night upon which the two papers, commented upon 
 in the last few paragraphs were presented, al- 
 though he probably did not read them himself, 
 this being done by a friend or by the secretary. 
 Sixteen members were present. Among these 
 were some whose names have become familiar 
 elsewhere, such as Barton, Woodhouse and 
 others. Today, the presence in the same old Hall 
 of a renowned scientist, from beyond the seas, 
 would literally attract crowds. Then it was not 
 the fashion. But probably he had come unan- 
 nounced and unheralded. Further, he was speak- 
 ing at other hours on other topics in the city. 
 
 It is not recorded that he spoke before the philo- 
 sophers. Perhaps he quietly absorbed their re- 
 marks and studied them, although he no doubt 
 was agreeably aroused when Mr. Peale presented 
 
 to the Society a young son of four months 
 and four days old, being the first child 
 born in the Philosophical Hall, and re- 
 quested that the Society would give him a 
 name. On which the Society unanimously 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 69 
 
 agreed that, after the name of the chief 
 founder and late President of the Society, 
 he should be called Franklin. 
 
 In anticipation of any later allusion to Priest- 
 ley's sojourn in Philadelphia be it observed that 
 he attended meetings of the American Philo- 
 sophical Society three times in 1796, twice in 1797, 
 three times in 1801 and once in 1803, and that on 
 February 3rd, 1797, he was chosen to deliver the 
 annual oration before the Society, but the Com- 
 mittee reported that 
 
 they waited on Dr. Priestley last Monday 
 afternoon, who received the information 
 with great poHteness, but declined accept- 
 ing of the appointment. 
 
 This lengthy digression must now be inter- 
 rupted. It has gone almost too far, yet it was 
 necessary in order that an account of the early 
 experimental contributions of the exile might be 
 introduced chronologically. As already remarked, 
 Americans are most deeply interested in every- 
 thing Priestley did during his life in this country 
 and particularly in his scientific activities. 
 
 On resuming the story of the routine at North- 
 umberland in the closing months of the year 
 
70 PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 1795, there comes the cry from an agonized 
 heart, — 
 
 We have lost poor Harry ! 
 
 This was the message to a Philadelphia resident — 
 a friend from old England. The loss, for such 
 it emphatically was, affected the Doctor and Mrs. 
 Priestley very deeply. This particular son was a 
 pride to them and though only eighteen years old 
 had conducted his farm as if he had been bred a 
 farmer. 
 
 He was uncommonly beloved by all that 
 worked under him. 
 
 His home w^as just outside of the borough of 
 Northumberland. It was the gift of his father. 
 His interment in "a, plot of ground" belonging to 
 the Society of Friends is thus described by Mr 
 Bakewell: 
 
 I attended the funeral to the lonely spot, and 
 there I saw the good old father perform 
 the service over the grave of his son. It 
 w^as an affecting sight, but he went 
 through it with fortitude, and after praying, 
 addressed the attendants in a few words, 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 7 1 
 
 assuring them that though death had sepa- 
 rated them here, they should meet again 
 in another and a better hfe. 
 
 The correspondence to friends in England was 
 replete with accounts of lectures which were in 
 process of preparation. They were discourses on 
 the Evidences of Revelation and their author 
 was most desirous of getting to Philadelphia that 
 he might there deliver them. At that time this 
 City was full of atheism and agnosticism. Then, 
 too, the hope of establishing a Unitarian Church 
 was ever in Priestley's thoughts. How delightful 
 it is to read, February 12th, 1796— 
 
 I am now on my way to Philadelphia. 
 
 When he left it in 1794 he was rather critical of 
 it, but now after three days he arrived there. It 
 was 
 
 a very good journey, accompanied by my 
 daughter-in-law, in my son's Yarmouth 
 waggon, which by means of a seat con- 
 structed of straw, was very easy. 
 
 Yes, back again to the City which was the only 
 city in this country ever visited by him. Al- 
 though at times he considered going to New York, 
 
72 PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 and even to Boston, Philadelphia was to become 
 his Mecca. In it he was to meet the most con- 
 genial scientific spirits, and to the younger of 
 these he was destined to impart a new inspiration 
 for science, and for chemical science in particular. 
 At the close of the three days' journey he wrote — 
 
 I am a guest with Mr. Russell . . .We 
 found him engaged to drink tea with Presi- 
 dent Washington, where we accompanied 
 him and spent two hours as in any private 
 family. He (Washington) invited me to 
 come at any time, without ceremony. 
 Everything is the reverse of what it is with 
 you. 
 
 This was his first meeting with Washington. The 
 spirit of the occasion impressed him. The demo- 
 cratic behavior of the great Federalist must have 
 astonished him, if he ever entertained, as Lord 
 Brougham would have us believe, a hostile opi- 
 nion and thought him ungrateful because he would 
 not consent to make America dependent upon 
 France. 
 
 Priestley's eagerness to preach was intense, and 
 happy must he have been on the day following 
 his arrival, when his heart's wish was gratified. 
 He preached in the church of Mr. Winchester — 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 73 
 
 to a very numerous, respectable, and very 
 attentive audience. 
 
 Many were members of Congress, and according 
 to one witness — 
 
 The Congregation that attended were so 
 numerous that the house could not contain 
 them, so that as many were obliged to 
 stand as sit, and even the doorways were 
 crowded with people. Mr. Vice-President 
 Adams was among the regular attendants. 
 
 All this greatly encouraged the Doctor. His 
 expectations for the establishment of a Unitarian 
 congregation were most encouraging. He de- 
 clared himself ready to officiate every winter with- 
 out salary if he could lodge somewhere with a 
 friend. The regular and punctual attendance 
 of Mr. Adams pleased him so much that he re- 
 solved on printing his sermons, for they were in 
 great demand, and to dedicate the same to the 
 Vice-President. He was also gratified to note 
 that the "violent prejudice" to him was gradually 
 being overcome. Today we smile on recalling 
 the reception accorded the good Doctor in his 
 early days in Philadelphia. We smile and yet 
 our hearts fail to understand just why he should 
 
74 PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 have been so ostracised. To confirm this it may 
 be noted that on one occasion Priestley preached 
 in a Presbyterian Chapel, very probably in 
 Northumberland, when one of the ministers was 
 so displeased — 
 
 that he declared if they permitted him any 
 more, he would never enter the puplit 
 again. 
 
 And in 1794 on coming the first time to Philadel- 
 phia he wrote 
 
 There is much jealousy and dread of me. 
 
 How shameful and yet it was most real. Bake- 
 well narrates that 
 
 '' I went several times to the Baptist meeting 
 in Second Street, under the care of Dr. 
 Rogers. This man burst out, and bade 
 the people beware, for 'a Priestley had 
 entered the land ; ' and then, crouching down 
 in a worshiping attitude, exclaimed, 'Oh, 
 Lamb of God! how would they pluck 
 thee from thy throne!" 
 
 The pubhc prints flayed Rogers, and even the 
 staid old Philosophical Society indicated to him 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 75 
 
 that such conduct ill became a member of that 
 august body. Accordingly humiliated he re- 
 pented his error and in time became strongly 
 attached to Priestley, concerning whom he told 
 this story to a Mr. Taylor whose language is 
 here given: 
 
 The Doctor (Priestley) would occasionally 
 call on Dr. Rogers, and without any formal 
 invitation, pass an evening at his house. 
 One afternoon he was there when Dr. 
 Rogers was not at home, having been 
 assured by Mrs. Rogers that her husband 
 would soon be there. Meanwhile, Mr. ■ — , 
 a Baptist minister, called on Dr. Rogers, 
 and being a person of rough manners, 
 Mrs. Rogers was a good deal concerned lest 
 he should say something disrespectful to 
 Dr. Priestley in case she introduced the 
 Doctor to him. At last, however, she 
 ventured to announce Dr. Priestley's name, 
 who put out his hand; but instead of taking 
 it the other immediately drew himself 
 back, saying, as if astonished to meet with 
 Dr. Priestley in the home of one of his 
 brethren, and afraid of being contaminated 
 by having any social intercourse with him, 
 'Dr. Priestley! I can't be cordial.' 
 
76 PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 It is easy to imagine that by this speech Mrs. 
 Rogers was greatly embarrassed. Dr. 
 Priestley, observing this, instantly relieved 
 her by saying, and with all that benevolent 
 expression of countenance and pleasantness 
 of manner for which he was remarkable, 
 'Well, well. Madam, you and I can be 
 cordial; and Dr. Rogers will soon be with 
 us, Mr. — and he can converse together, so 
 that we shall all be very comfortable.' 
 Thus encouraged, Mrs. Rogers asked Dr. 
 Priestley some questions relative to the Scri- 
 pture prophecies, to which he made suitable 
 replies; and before Dr. Rogers arrived, Mr. 
 — was listening with much attention, 
 sometimes making a remark or putting in a 
 question. The evening was passed in the 
 greatest harmony, with no inclination on 
 the part of Mr. ■ — ■ to terminate the con- 
 versation. At last Dr. Priestley, pulling 
 out his watch, informed Mr. — that as it 
 was ten o'clock it was time that two old 
 men like them were at their quarters. The 
 other at first was not willing to beheve 
 that Dr. Priestley's watch was accurate; 
 but finding that it was correct, he took his 
 leave with apparent regret, observing that 
 he had never spent a shorter and more 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 77 
 
 pleasant evening. He then went away, 
 Dr. Priestley accompanying him, until 
 it became necesary to separate. Next 
 morning he called on his friend, Dr. Rogers, 
 when he made the following frank and 
 manly declaration: 'You and I well know 
 that Dr. Priestley is quite wrong in regard 
 to his theology, but notwithstanding this, 
 he is a great and good man, and I behaved 
 to him at our first coming together like a fool 
 and a brute.' 
 
 Many additional evidences might be introduced 
 showing that the Doctor was slowly winning his 
 way among the people. It must also be remem- 
 bered that not all of his associates were of the 
 clerical group but that he had hosts of 
 scientists as sincere and warm supporters. In 
 Woodhouse's laboratory he was ever welcome 
 and there must have met many congenial spirits 
 who never discussed politics or religion. This was 
 after the manner of the Lunar Society in Birming- 
 ham in which representatives of almost every 
 creed came together to think of scientific matters. 
 Hence, it is quite probable that Priestley's visit 
 to Philadelphia was on the whole full of pleasure. 
 
 He was also in habits of close intimacy with 
 Dr. Ewing, Provost of the University of Pennsyl- 
 
78 PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 vania, and with the Vice-Provost, Dr. John 
 Andrews, as well as with Dr. Benjamin Rush who 
 had long been his friend and with whom he 
 corresponded at frequent intervals after his 
 arrival in America. To him Priestley had confided 
 his hope of getting a college in Northumberland 
 and inquired, — 
 
 Would the State give any encouragement to it? 
 
 To Rush he also wrote excusing 
 
 my weakness (for such you will consider it) 
 when, after giving you reason to expect 
 that I would accept the professorship of 
 Chemistry, if it was offered to me, I now 
 inform you that I must decline it. 
 
 Now and then he also advised him of such 
 experiments as he was able to do; for example — 
 
 - I made trial of the air of Northumberland by 
 the test of nitrous air, but found it not 
 sensibly different from that of England. 
 
 In the leisure he enjoyed his figure was often 
 seen in Congress. He relished the debates which 
 at the time were on the Treaty with England. He 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 79 
 
 declared he heard as good speaking there as in the 
 House of Commons. He observed — 
 
 A Mr. Amos speaks as well as Mr. Burke; 
 but in general the speakers are more 
 argumentative, and less rhetorical. And 
 whereas there are with you not more than 
 ten or a dozen tolerable speakers, here 
 every member is capable of speaking. 
 
 While none of^the letters to Priestley's friends 
 mention a family event of some importance the 
 American Advertiser, February 13, 1796, announced 
 that 
 
 Mr. William Priestley, second son of the cele- 
 brated Dr. Joseph Priestley, was married to 
 • the agreeable Miss Peggy Foulke, a young 
 lady possessed with every quality to 
 render the marriage state happy. 
 
 This occurred very probably just before the 
 Doctor set forth from Northumberland to make 
 his first Philadelphia visit. It is singular that 
 little is said of the son William by the Doctor. 
 Could it be that, in some way, he may have offend- 
 ed his parent? In his Memorial Rush, writing in 
 the month of March, 1796, noted: 
 
8o PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 Saw Dr. Priestley often this month. Attend- 
 ed him in a severe pleurisy. He once in his 
 sickness spoke of his second son, William, 
 and wept very much. 
 
 Busy as he was in spreading his religious tenets, 
 in fraternizing with congenial scientific friends, 
 his thoughts would involuntarily turn back to 
 England : 
 
 Here, though I am as happy as this country can 
 make me . . .1 do not feel as I did in 
 England. 
 
 By May, 1796, he had finished his discourses, 
 although he proposed concluding with one empha- 
 tically Unitarian in character. This was expect- 
 ed by his audience, which had been quietly pre- 
 pared for it and received it with open minds and 
 much approval. 
 
 On his return to Northumberland he promptly 
 resumed his work on the "Church History," 
 but was much disturbed because of the failure of 
 his correspondents in writing him regularly, so he 
 became particularly active in addressing them. 
 But better still he punctuated his composition of 
 sermons, the gradual unfolding of his Church 
 History, and religious and literary studies in gene- 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 8l 'i 
 
 'i 
 
 ral, with experimental diversions, begining with the \ 
 
 pubHcation (1796) of an octavo brochure of 39 ; 
 
 pages from the press of Dobson in Philadelphia, \ 
 in which he addressed himself more especially to 
 
 Berthollet, de la Place, Monge, Morveau, Four- \ 
 
 croy and others on ''Considerations on the Doc- j 
 
 trine of Phlogiston and the Decomposition of j 
 
 Water." It is the old story in a newer dress. j 
 
 Its purpose was to bring home to Americans \ 
 
 afresh his particular ideas. The reviewer of the j 
 
 Medical Repository staff was evidently impressed ; 
 
 by it, for he said : i 
 
 I 
 
 It must give pleasure to every philosophical j 
 
 mind to find the United States becoming ^ 
 
 the theatre of such interesting discussion, j 
 
 and then adds that the evidence which was ! 
 
 weighty enough to turn such men as Black and : 
 
 others from the phlogiston idea to that of Lavois- j 
 
 ler — j 
 
 1 
 
 has never yet appeared to Dr. Priestley con- 
 siderable enough to influence his judgment, ; 
 or gain his assent. ; 
 
 Priestley, as frequently observed, entertained : 
 
 grave doubts in regard to the constitution of 
 metals. He thought they were "compounded" ; 
 
82 PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 of a certain earth, or calx, and phlogiston. Fur- 
 ther he believed that when the phlogiston flew 
 away, "the splendour, malleability, and ductility" 
 of the metal disappeared with it, leaving behind a 
 calx. Again, he contended that when metals 
 dissolved in acids the liberated ''inflammable air" 
 (hydrogen) did not come from the 'decompounded 
 water' but from the phlogiston emitted by the 
 metal. 
 
 Also, on the matter of the composition and 
 decomposition of water, he held very opposite ideas. 
 The French School maintained "that hydrogenous 
 and oxygenous airs, incorporated by drawing 
 through them the electrical spark turn to water, ^^ 
 but Priestley contended that "they combine into 
 smoking nitrous acid.'^ And thus the discussion 
 proceeded, to be answered most intelligently, in 
 1797, by Adet,^ whose arguments are familiar to 
 all chemists and need not therefore be here re- 
 peated. Of more interest was the publication 
 of two lectures on Combustion by Maclean of 
 Princeton. They filled a pamphlet of 71 pages. 
 It appeared in 1797, and w^as, in brief, a refutation 
 of Priestley's presentations, and was heartily wel- 
 comed as evidence of the "growing taste in Amer'ca 
 for this kind of inquiry." Among other things 
 
 ^ James Woodhouse — A Pioneer in Chemistry — J. C.Winston 
 Co., Phila.— 1918. 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 83 
 
 Maclean said of the various ideas regarding com- 
 bustion — ''Becker's is incomplete, Stahl's though 
 ingenious, is defective; the antiphlogistic is simple, 
 consistent and sufficient, while Priestley's resem- 
 bling Stahl's but in name, is complicated, contra- 
 dictory and inadequate." 
 
 Not all American chemists were ready to side 
 track the explanations of Priestley. The dis- 
 tinguished Dr. Mitchill wrote Priestley on what 
 he designated ''an attempt to accommodate the 
 Disputes among Chemists concerning Phlogiston." 
 This was in November, 1797. It is an ingenious 
 effort which elicited from Priestley (1798) his 
 sincere thanks, and the expressed fear that his 
 labours ''will be in vain." And so it proved. 
 Present day chemists would acquiesce in this 
 statement after reading Mitchill' s "middle-of-the- 
 road" arguments. They were not satisfactory 
 to Maclean and irritated Priestley. 
 
 In June 1798 a second letter was written by 
 Priestley to Mitchill. In it he emphasized the 
 substitution of zinc for "finery cinder." From 
 it he contended inflammable air could be easily 
 procured, and laid great stress on the fact that the 
 "inflammable air" came from the metal and not 
 from the water. He wondered why Berthollet 
 and Maclean had not answered his first article. 
 To this, a few days later, Mitchill replied that he 
 
§4 PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 felt there was confusion in terms and that the 
 language employed by the various writers had 
 introduced that confusion; then for philological 
 reasons and to clarify thoughts Mitchill proposed 
 to strike out azote from the nomenclature of the 
 day and take septon in its place; he also wished 
 to expunge hydrogene and substitute phlogiston. 
 He admitted that Priestley's experiments on 
 zinc were difhcult to explain by the antiphlogistic 
 doctrine, adding — 
 
 It would give me great satisfaction that we 
 could settle the points of variance on this 
 subject; though, even as it is, I am flattered 
 by your (Priestley's) allowing my attempt 
 'to reconcile the two theories to be ingenious, 
 plausible and well-meant . . . Your idea 
 of carrying on a philosophical discussion 
 in an amicable manner is charming' . . . 
 
 But the peace-maker was handling a delicate 
 problem. He recognized this, but desired that 
 the pioneer studies, then in progress might escape 
 harsh polemics. This was difficult of realization 
 for less than a month later fuel was added to the 
 fire by Maclean, when in writing Mitchill, who 
 had sent him Priestley's printed letter, he em- 
 phatically declared that 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 85 
 
 The experiment with the zinc does not seem 
 to be of more consequence than that with 
 the iron and admits of an easy explanation 
 on antiphlogistic principles. 
 
 And he further insisted that the experiments of 
 Priestley proved water to be composed "of hydro- 
 gene and oxygene." 
 
 Four days later (July 20, 1798) Priestley wrote 
 Mitchill that he had replaced zinc by red precipi- 
 tate and did not get water on decomposing inflam- 
 mable air with the precipitate. Again, August 
 23, 1798, he related to Mitchill 
 
 that the modern doctrine of water consist- 
 ing of oxygene and hydrogene is not well 
 founded . . . water is the basis of all 
 kinds of air, and without it no kind of air 
 can be produced . . . not withstanding 
 the great use that the French chemists 
 make of scales and weights, they do not 
 pretend to weigh either their calorique or 
 light; and why may not phlogiston escape 
 their researches, when they employ the 
 same instruments in that investigation?" 
 
 There were in all eight letters sent by Priestley 
 to Mitchill. They continued until February, 
 
86 PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 1799. Their one subject was phlogiston and its 
 role in very simple chemical operations. The 
 observations were the consequence 
 
 of original and recent experiments,, to 
 which I have given a good part of the 
 leisure of the last summer; and I do not 
 propose to do more on the subject till I 
 hear from the great authors of the theory 
 that I combat in America; 
 
 but adds, — 
 
 I am glad ... to find several advocates of 
 the system in this country, and some of 
 them, I am confident, will do themselves 
 honour by their candour, as we:ll as by 
 their ability." 
 
 This very probably was said as a consequence of 
 the spirited reply James Woodhouse^ made to the 
 papers of Maclean. As known, Woodhouse 
 worked unceasingly to overthrow the doctrine of 
 phlogiston, but was evidently irritated by Maclean, 
 whom he reminds — 
 
 You are not yet, Doctor, the conqueror of 
 this veteran in Philosophy. 
 
 ^ James Woodhouse — A pioneer in Chemistry — J. C. Wintson 
 Co., Phila. — 1918. 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AlVIERICA 87 
 
 This was a singularly magnanimous speech on 
 Woodhouse's part, for he had been hurling sledge- 
 hammer blows without rest at the structure 
 Priestley thought he had reared about phlogiston 
 and which, he believed, most unassailable, so 
 when in 1799 (July) Priestley began his reply to his 
 "Antiphlogistian opponents" he took occasion to 
 remark : 
 
 I am happy to find in Dr. Woodhouse one who 
 is equally ingenious and candid; so that I 
 do not think the cause he has undertaken 
 will soon find a more able champion, and I 
 do not regret the absence of M. Berthollet 
 in Egypt. 
 
 Noble words these for his young adversary who, 
 in consequence of strenuous laboratory work, had 
 acquired a deep respect and admiration for 
 Priestley's achievements, though he considered he 
 had gone far astray. 
 
 The various new, confirmatory ideas put forth 
 by Priestley need not be here enumerated. They 
 served their day. 
 
 Dr. Mitchill evidently enjoyed this controver- 
 sial chemical material, for he wrote that he hoped 
 the readers of the Medical Repository, in which 
 the several papers appeared, would 
 
88 PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 participate the pleasure we feel on taking a 
 retrospect of our pages, and finding the 
 United States the theatre of so much 
 scientific disquisition. 
 
 And yet, when in 1800, a pamphlet of 90 pages 
 bearing the title ''The Doctrine of Phlogiston 
 established, etc." appeared there was consterna- 
 tion in the ranks of American chemists. Wood- 
 house was aroused. He absolutely refuted every 
 point in it experimentally, and Dr. Mitchill 
 avowed — 
 
 We decline entering into a minute examina- 
 tion of his experiments, as few of his 
 recitals of them are free from the triune 
 mystery of phlogiston, which exceeds the 
 utmost stretch of our faith; for according 
 to it, carbon is phlogiston, and hydrogen 
 is phlogiston, and azote is phlogiston; and 
 yet there are not three phlogistons, but 
 one phlogiston 1 
 
 It was imperative to submit the preceding 
 paragraphs on chemical topics, notwithstanding 
 they have, in a manner, interrupted the chrono- 
 logical arrangement of the activities of the Doctor 
 in his home life. They were, it is true, a part of 
 that Hfe — a part that every chemist will note with 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 89 
 
 interest and pleasure. They mean that he was 
 not indifferent to chemistry, and that it is not to 
 be supposed that he ever could be, especially 
 as his visits to Philadelphia brought to his atten- 
 tion problems which he would never suffer to go 
 unanswered or unsolved because of his interest 
 in so many other things quite foreign to them. 
 However, a backward look may be taken before 
 resuming the story of his experimental studies. 
 It has already been said that the non-appearance 
 of letters caused him anxiety. For instance he 
 wrote Lindsey, July 28, 1796 — 
 
 It is now four months since I have received 
 any letter from you, and it gives me most 
 serious concern. 
 
 But finally the longed-for epistle arrived and he 
 became content, rejoicing in being able to return 
 the news — 
 
 I do not know that I have more satisfaction 
 from anything I ever did, than from the lay 
 Unitarian congregation I have been the 
 means of establishing in Philadelphia. 
 
 For the use of this group of worshipers he had 
 engaged the Common Hall in the College (Uni- 
 versity of Pennsylvania) . 
 
90 PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 But amidst this unceasing activity of body and 
 mind — very evidently extremely happy in his 
 surroundings — he was again crushed to earth by 
 the death of his noble wife — ■ 
 
 Always caring for others and never for 
 herself. 
 
 This occurred nine months after the departure of 
 Harry. It was a fearful blow. For more than 
 thirty-four years they had lived most happily 
 together. The following tribute, full of deep 
 feehng and esteem attests this — 
 
 My wife being a woman of an excellent under- 
 standing much improved by reading, of 
 great fortitude and strength of mind, and 
 of a temper in the highest degree affection- 
 ate and generous . . . Also excelling in 
 everything relating to household affairs, 
 she entirely relieved me of all concern of 
 that kind, which allowed me to give all my 
 time to the prosecution of my studies. 
 
 She was not only a true helpmate — courageous 
 and devoted — but certainly most desirous that 
 the husband in whom she absolutely believed 
 should have nothing to interrupt or arrest the pur- 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA QI 
 
 suits dear to him and in which she herself must 
 have taken great but quiet pride, for she was 
 extremely intelligent and original. Madam Belloc 
 has mentioned 
 
 It is a tradition in the family that Mrs. 
 Priestley once sent her famous husband to 
 market with a large basket and that he so 
 acquitted himself that she never sent him 
 again ! 
 
 The new house, partly planned by her, at the 
 moment well advanced and to her fancy, was not 
 to be her home for which she had fondly dreamed. 
 
 Priestley was deeply depressed but his habitual 
 submission carried him through, although all this 
 is pathetically concealed in his letters. 
 
 There were rumours flitting about that Priestley 
 purposed returning to England. That his friends 
 might be apprised of his real intentions the 
 following letter was permitted to find its way into 
 the newspapers: 
 
 Northumberland Oct. 4, 
 
 1796 
 My dear Sir, 
 Every account I have from England makes 
 me think myself happy in this peaceful 
 
92 PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 retirement, where I enjoy almost every- 
 thing I can wish in this life, and where I 
 hope to close it, though I find it is reported, 
 both here and in England that I am about 
 to return. The two heavy afflictions I 
 have met with here, in the death of a son, 
 and of my wife, rather serve to attract me 
 to the place. Though dead and buried, I 
 would not willingly leave them, and hope to 
 rest with them, when the sovereign dis- 
 poser of all things shall put a period to my 
 present labours and pursuits. 
 
 The advantages we enjoy in this country are 
 indeed very great. Here we have no poor; 
 we never see a beggar, nor is there a family 
 in want. We have no church establish- 
 ment, and hardly any taxes. This particu- 
 lar State pays all its officers from a treasure 
 in the public funds. There are very few 
 crimes committed and we travel without 
 the least apprehension of danger. The 
 press is perfectly free, and I hope we 
 shall always keep out of war. 
 
 I do not think there ever was any country in 
 a state of such rapid improvement as this 
 at present; but we have not the same ad- 
 vantages for literary and philosophical 
 pursuits that you have in Europe, though 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 93 
 
 even in this respect we are every day getting 
 better. Many books are now printed here, 
 but what scholars chiefly want are old 
 books, and these are not to be had. We 
 hope, however, that the troubles of Europe 
 will be the cause of sending us some libraries 
 and they say that it is an ill wind that blows 
 no profit. 
 
 I sincerely wish, however, that your troubles 
 were at an end, and from our last accounts 
 we think there must be a peace, at least 
 from the impossibility of carrying on the 
 war. 
 
 With every good wish to my country and to 
 yourself, I am, dear sir. 
 
 Yours sincerely, 
 
 J. PRIESTLEY. 
 
 Gradually the news went forth that the Doctor 
 contemplated a second visit to the metropolis — 
 Philadelphia, the Capital of the young Republic. 
 He wrote — 
 
 Having now one tie, and that a strong one, to 
 this place (Northumberland) less than I 
 have had I propose to spend more time in 
 Philadelphia. 
 
94 PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 As long as he was capable of public speaking it 
 was his desire to carry forward his missionary work, 
 
 but the loss of my fore teeth (having now 
 only two in the upper jaw) together with 
 my tendency to stammering, which trou- 
 bles me sometimes, is much against me. 
 
 Accordingly in early January of 1797 he might 
 have been found there. He alludes in his cor- 
 respondence to the presence in the city of C. 
 Volney, a French philosopher and historian, who 
 had been imprisoned but regained liberty on the 
 overthrow of Robespierre when he became pro- 
 fessor of history in the Ecole Normal. Volney 
 was not particularly pleased with Priestley's dis- 
 courses, and took occasion some weeks later to 
 issue 
 
 VOLNEY'S ANSWER TO PRIESTLEY 
 
 which was advertised by the Aurora as on sale by 
 the principal booksellers, price 6 cents. 
 
 He was exceedingly rejoiced at the flourishing 
 state of the Unitarian Society and the manner in 
 which its services were conducted. 
 
 On the occasion of his first discourse the English 
 Ambassador, Mr. Lister, was in the audience and 
 Priestley dined with him the day following. 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 95 
 
 Friends had prevailed upon Priestley to preach 
 a charity sermon on his next Sunday, in one of 
 the Episcopal churches, but in the end it was 
 ''delivered at the University Hall." 
 
 His mind was much occupied with plans for 
 controverting infidelity, 
 
 the progress of which here is independent of 
 all reasoning, — 
 
 so he published the third edition of his ''Observa- 
 tions on the Increase of Infidelity" and an "Out- 
 line of the Evidences of Revealed Rehgion." In 
 the first of them he issued a challenge to Volney 
 who was 
 
 much looked up to by unbelievers here. 
 
 Volney's only reply was that he would not read 
 the pamphlet. It was in these days that Priestley 
 saw a great deal of Thomas Jefferson; indeed, the 
 latter attended several of his sermons. The 
 intercourse of these friends was extremely valuable 
 to both. Jefferson welcomed everything which 
 Priestley did in science and consulted him much on 
 problems of education. 
 
 At the election in the American Philosophical 
 Society in the closing days of 1796 there was 
 openly discussed 
 
96 PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 whether to choose me (Priestley) or Mr. 
 Jefferson, President of the Society, — 
 
 which prompted the Doctor 
 
 to give his informant good reasons why they 
 should not choose me. 
 
 Naturally he listened to the poHtical talk. He 
 worried over the apparent dislike observed 
 generally to France. He remarked 
 
 The rich not only wish for alHance offensive 
 and defensive with England. . . . but 
 would have Httle objection to the former 
 dependence upon it, 
 
 and 
 
 The disposition of the lower orders of the 
 people. . . for the French. . . is not 
 extinguished. 
 
 He was much annoyed by Peter Porcupine. 
 The latter was pubHshing a daily paper (1799) 
 and in it frequently brought forward Priestley's 
 name in the most opprobrious manner, although 
 Priestley in his own words — 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 97 
 
 had nothing to do with the politics of the 
 country. 
 
 The Doctor advised friend Lindsey that 
 
 He (Porcupine) every day, advertizes his 
 pamphlet against me, and after my name 
 adds, ''commonly known by the name of 
 the fire-brand philosopher." 
 
 However, he flattered himself that he would soon 
 be back in Northumberland, where he would be 
 usefully engaged, as 
 
 I have cut myself out work for a year at 
 least. . . besides attending to my experi- 
 ments. 
 
 Mr. Adams had come into the Presidency, so 
 Priestley very properly went to pay his respects 
 and 
 
 take leave of the late President 
 (Washington) 
 
 whom he thought in not very good spirits, although 
 
 he invited^me to Mount Vernon and said 
 he thought he should hardly go from 
 home twenty miles as long as he lived. 
 
gS PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 Priestley's fame was rapidly spreading through 
 the land. Thoughtful men were doing him 
 honor in many sections of the country, as is 
 evident from the following clipping from a Port- 
 land (,Me.) paper for March 27, 1797: — 
 
 On Friday the twenty-fourth a number of 
 gentlemen, entertaining a high sense of the 
 character, abiHties and services of the 
 Reverend Doctor JOSEPH PRIESTLEY, 
 as a friend and promoter of true science 
 dined together at the Columbian Tavern, 
 in commemoration of his birth. The 
 following toasts were given. 
 
 1. That Illustrious Christian and Philoso- 
 pher, Joseph Priestley: May the world 
 be as grateful to him for his services as his 
 services are beneficial to the world. 
 
 2. May the names of Locke, Newton, Mont- 
 esquieu, Hartley and FrankHn be had in 
 everlasting remembrance. 
 
 3. The great gift of God to man, Reason! 
 May it influence the world in poUcy, in 
 laws, and in religion. 
 
 4. TRUTH: May the splendour of her 
 charms dissipate the gloom of supersti- 
 tion, and expel hypocricy from the heart 
 of man. 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 99 
 
 5. May our laws be supported by religion: 
 but may religion never be supported by 
 law. 
 
 6. White-robed Charity: May she accompany 
 us in all our steps and cover us with a man- 
 tle of love. 
 
 7. Christians of all denominations: May they, 
 ''love one another." 
 
 As it was a "feast of reason" the purest 
 philanthrophy dignified the conversation; 
 and moderation and temperance bounded 
 every effusion of the heart. 
 
 It was in the summer of 1797 that he carried 
 forward his work on Phlogiston, alluded to on p. 81. 
 He understood quite well that the entire chemical 
 world was against him but he was not able to find 
 good reasons 
 
 to despair of the old system. 
 
 It must be remembered that in. these days, also, 
 he had Thomas Cooper with him. With this 
 gentleman he discussed his scientific studies and 
 with him also he carried on many arguments upon 
 the burning subject of infidelity, about which he 
 continuously wrote his friends in this country and 
 in England. It was quite generally believed that 
 
lOO PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 Cooper was an infidel. Never, however, did 
 their intimacy suffer in the sHghtest by their 
 conflicting views. 
 
 The Church History continued to hold Priestley's 
 first thought. He was a busy student, occupied 
 with a diversity of interests and usually cheerful 
 and eager to follow up new lines of endeavor. The 
 arrival of vessels from the home country was 
 closely watched. Books and apparatus were 
 brought by them. While, as observed, he was 
 singularly cheerful and happy, he confessed at 
 times that 
 
 my character as a philosopher is under a 
 cloud. 
 
 Yet, this was but a momentary depression, for he 
 uttered in almost the same breath — 
 
 Everything will be cleared up in a reasonable 
 time. 
 
 Amid the constant daily duties he found real 
 solace in his scientific pursuits; indeed when he 
 was quite prepared to abandon all his activities 
 he declared of his experiments that he could not 
 stop them for 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA lOI 
 
 I consider them as that study of the works 
 of the great Creator, which I shall resume 
 with more advantage hereafter. 
 
 He advised his friends Lindsey and Belsham-— 
 
 I cannot express what I feel on receiving 
 your letters. They set my thoughts afloat, 
 so that I can do nothing but ruminate a 
 
 long time; but it is a most pleasing 
 melancholy. 
 
 Far removed from European events he was 
 nevertheless ever keen and alert concerning 
 them. Then the winter of 1797 appears to have 
 been very severe. His enforced confinement to 
 home probably gave rise to an introspection, and 
 a slight disappointment in matters which had 
 formerly given him pleasure. For example, he 
 puzzled over the fact that on his second visit to 
 Philadelphia, Mr. Adams was present but once at 
 his lectures, and remarks — 
 
 When my lectures were less popular, and he 
 was near his presidentship, he left me, 
 making a kind of apology, from the mem- 
 bers of the principal Presbyterian Church 
 having offered him a pew there. He seem- 
 
I02 PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 ed to interest himself in my favour against 
 M. Volney, but did not subscribe to my 
 Church History ... I suppose he was 
 not pleased that I did not adopt his dis- 
 like of the French. 
 
 When January of 1798 arrived his joy was 
 great. A box of books had come. Among them 
 was a General Dictionary which he regarded as a 
 real treasure. Reading was now his principal 
 occupation. He found the making of many 
 experiments irksome and seemed, all at once, 
 ''quite averse to having his hands so much in 
 water." Presumably these were innocent excuses 
 for his devotion to the Church History which had 
 been brought up to date. Furthermore he was 
 actually contemplating transplanting himself to 
 France. But with it all he wrote assiduously on 
 religious topics, and was highly pleased with the 
 experimental work he had sent to Dr. Mitchill 
 
 (p. 85). 
 
 He advised his friends of the ''intercepted 
 letters" which did him much harm when they were 
 published. They called down upon him severest 
 judgement and suspicion, and made him — 
 
 disliked by all the friends of the ruling 
 power in this country. 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 103 
 
 It may be well to note that these ''intercepted 
 letters" were found on a Danish ship, inclosed in a 
 cover addressed to 
 
 DR. PRIESTLEY, IN AMERICA 
 
 They came from friends, English and French, 
 living in Paris. They abounded 
 
 with matter of the most serious reflection 
 ... If the animosity of these apostate 
 • Englishmen against their own country, 
 their conviction that no submissions will 
 avert our danger, and their description of 
 the engines employed by the Directory for 
 our destruction, were impressed as they 
 ought to be, upon the minds of all our 
 countrymen, we should certainly never 
 again be told of the innocent designs of 
 these traitors, or their associates — ■ 
 
 The preceding quotation is from a booklet 
 containing exact copies of the "intercepted 
 letters." 
 
 In the first of the letters, dated Feb. 12, 1798, 
 the correspondent of Priestley tells that he had 
 met a young Frenchman who had visited North- 
 umberland 
 
I04 PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 and we all rejoiced at the aggreeable 
 information that at the peace you would 
 not fail to revisit Europe; and that he 
 hoped you would fix yourself in this 
 country (France). Whether you fix your- 
 self here or in England, (as England will then 
 he) is probably a matter of little importance 
 . . . but we all think you are misplaced 
 where you are, though, no doubt, in the 
 way of usejulness — 
 
 The editor of the letters annotates usejul- 
 ness thus: 
 
 Dr. Priestley is in the way oj usefulness 
 in America, because he is labouring there, 
 as his associates are in Europe, to disunite 
 the people from their government, and to 
 introduce the blessings of French anarchy. 
 
 These "intercepted letters" in no way prove 
 that Dr. Priestley was engaged in any movement 
 against his native land or against his adopted 
 country. However, the whole world was in an 
 uproar. People were ready to believe the worst re- 
 garding their fellows, so it is not surprising that he 
 should have declared himself ''disliked." 
 
 He alludes frequently to the marvelous changes 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA IO5 
 
 taking place in the States. Everything was in 
 rapid motion. Taxes were the topic of conversa- 
 tion on all sides. 
 
 To divert his philosophizing he busied himself 
 in his laboratory where many "original experi- 
 ments were made." He avoided the crowd. 
 There was too great a party spirit. Indeed, 
 there was violence, so he determined not to visit 
 Philadelphia. He sought to escape the ''ran- 
 corous abuse" which was being hurled at him- — 
 
 as a citizen of France. 
 
 One must read his correspondence to fully 
 appreciate Priestley during the early days of 1799. 
 What must have been his mental condition when 
 he wrote Lindsey — 
 
 As to a public violent death the idea of that 
 does not affect me near so much 
 
 and 
 
 I cannot express what I feel when I receive 
 and read your letters. I generally shed 
 many tears over them. 
 
 There was no assurance in financial and com- 
 mercial circles. The hopes of neither the more 
 
Io6 PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 sober, nor of the wild and fanatic reformers of 
 humanity could be realized, and they got into such 
 a war of hate and abuse that they themselves 
 stamped their doctrines false. 
 
 Priestley was out of patience with the public 
 measures of the country. He disliked them as 
 much as he did those of England, but added 
 
 Here the excellence of the Constitution pro- 
 vides a remedy, if the people will make use 
 of it, and if not, they deserve what they 
 suffer. 
 
 The Constitution was a favorite instrument 
 with him. A most interesting lecture upon it 
 will be found among the Discourses which he pro- 
 posed delivering in Philadelphia. This never 
 occurred. 
 
 The Academy he expected to see in operation 
 failed for support. The walls were raised and he 
 feared it would go no further. The Legislature 
 had voted it $3000, but the Senate negatived this 
 act. He thought of giving up the presidency of it. 
 
 He wrote Dr. Rush that he was quite busy with 
 replies to Dr. Woodhouse's attack on his confirma- 
 tion of the existence of phlogiston, (p. 88). He 
 relished his discussions with Woodhouse and was 
 confident that eventually he would "overturn the 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 107 
 
 French system of chemistry/' He further re- 
 marked to Rush — 
 
 Were you at Uberty to make an excursion 
 as far as these hack woods I shall be happy 
 to see you, and so would many others. 
 
 But at that particular moment Rush was too 
 much engaged in combating yellow fever, which 
 again ravaged Philadelphia, and all who could, 
 fled, and the streets were ''lifeless and dead." 
 The prevalence of this fearful plague was a potent 
 factor in Priestley's failure to visit the City 
 during the year — the last year of a closing Century 
 which did not end in the prosperity anticipated for 
 it in the hopeful months and years following the 
 war. It seemed, in many ways, to be the end of an 
 era. Washington died December 14, 1799, and 
 the Federalists' tenure of power was coming to a 
 close. The Jeffersonians, aided by eight of the 
 electoral votes of Pennsylvania, won the victory, 
 amid outbursts of unprecedented political bitter- 
 ness. It was, therefore, very wise that the Doctor 
 remained quitely at home in Northumberland with 
 his experiments and Church History. 
 
 The new Century — the 19th — found our be- 
 loved philosopher at times quite proud of the 
 success he had with his experiments and full of 
 
I08 PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 genuine hope that ''phlogiston" was established; 
 and again dejected because of the "coarse and low 
 articles" directed against him by the prints of 
 the day. To offset, in a measure, the distrust 
 entertained for him because of the "intercepted 
 letters" he addressed a series of Letters to the 
 inhabitants of Northumberland and vicinity. 
 These were explanatory of his views. At home 
 they were most satisfying but in the city they 
 brought upon him "more abuse." And, so, he 
 translated a passage from Petrarch which read — 
 
 By civil fueds exiled my native home, 
 Resign'd, though injured, hither I have 
 
 come. 
 Here, groves and streams, delights of rural 
 
 ease; 
 Yet, where the associates, wont to serve 
 
 and please; 
 The aspect bland, that bade the heart 
 
 confide? 
 Absent from these, e'en here, no joys abide. 
 
 And these were incorporated in his brochure. 
 
 Having alluded to the Letters addressed to the 
 Northumberland folks, it may be proper to intro- 
 duce a letter which Priestley received- jfrom Mr. 
 Jefferson, whom the former was disposed to hold 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA IO9 
 
 as ''in many respects the first man in this 
 Country:" 
 
 Philadelphia, Jan. i8, 1800. 
 Dear Sir- 
 
 I thank you for the pamphlets (Letters) you 
 were so kind as to send me. You will know 
 what I thought of them by my having before 
 sent a dozen sets to Virginia, to distribute 
 among my friends; yet I thank you not the 
 less for these, which I value the more as 
 they came from yourself. 
 The papers of Political Arithmetic, both in 
 yours and Mr. Cooper's pamphlets, are the 
 most precious gifts that can be made to us; 
 for we are running navigation-mad, and 
 commerce-mad, and Navy-mad, which 
 is worst of all. How desirable it is that 
 you should pursue that subject for us. 
 From the porcupines of our country you 
 will receive no thanks, but the great mass 
 of our nation will edify, and thank you. 
 How deeply have I been chagrined and morti- 
 fied at the persecutions which fanaticism 
 and monarchy have excited against you, 
 even here! At first, I believed it was 
 merely a continuance of the English perse- 
 cution; but I observe that, on the demise 
 
no PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 of Porcupine, and the division of his in- 
 heritance between Fenno and Brown, the 
 latter (though succeeding only to the Fed- 
 eral portion of Porcupinism, not the An- 
 glican, which is Fenno's part) serves up for 
 the palate of his sect dishes of abuse against 
 you as high-seasoned as Porcupine's were. 
 You have sinned against Church and 
 King, and therefore can never be forgiven. 
 How sincerely I have regretted that your 
 friend, before he fixed a choice of position, 
 did not visit the valleys on each side of the 
 blue range in Virginia, as Mr. Madison 
 and myself so much wished. You would 
 have found there equal soil, the finest 
 climate, and the most healthy air on the 
 earth, the homage of universal reverence 
 and love, and the power of the country 
 spread over you as a shield; but, since you 
 would not make it your Country by 
 adoption, you must now do it by your good 
 offices. 
 
 Mr. Livingston, the Chancellor of New York, so 
 approved the ''Letters" that he got a new edition 
 of them printed at Albany. 
 
 The following letter to this same gentleman, 
 although upon another subject than the ''Letters" 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA III 
 
 is not devoid of interest. It has come into the 
 writer's hands through the kind offices of Dr. 
 Thomas L. Montgomery, State Librarian of 
 Pennsylvania : 
 
 Sir, 
 
 I think myself much honoured by your letter, 
 and should have thought myself singularly 
 happy if my situation had been near to 
 such a person as you. Persons engaged in 
 scientific pursuits are few in this country. 
 Indeed, they are not very numerous any- 
 where. In other respects I think myself 
 very happy where I am. 
 
 I have never given much attention to ma- 
 chines of any kind, and therefore cannot 
 pretend to decide concerning your proposal 
 for the improvement of the fire engine. It 
 appears to me to deserve attention. But 
 I do not for want of a drawing see in 
 what manner the steam is to be let into 
 the cylinder, or discharged from it. There 
 would be, I fear, an objection to it from the 
 force necessary to raise the column of 
 mercury, and from the evaporation of the 
 mercury in the requisite heat. I have 
 found that it loses weight in 70° Fahren- 
 heit. If the mercury was pure, I should not 
 
112 PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 apprehend much from the calcination of it, 
 though, as I have observed, the agita- 
 tion of it in water, converts a part of it 
 into a black powder, which I propose to 
 examine farther. 
 
 If travelUng was attended with no fewer 
 inconveniences here than it is in England, 
 I should certainly wait upon you and some 
 other friends at New York. But this, 
 and my age, render it impossible, and it 
 would be unreasonable to expect many 
 visitors in this hack woods. 
 
 I shall be very happy to be favoured with 
 your correspondence, and am, 
 
 Sir, 
 Yours sincerely, 
 J. PRIESTLEY 
 
 Northumberland April i6, 1799. 
 
 In this period Thomas Cooper was convicted of 
 libel. He was thrown into prison. Priestley 
 regarded him as a rising man in the Country.* 
 He said the act was the last blow of the Federal 
 party ''which is now broke up." 
 
 * See Chemistry in A merica, Appleton & Co. and Chemistry 
 in Old Philadelphia, The J. B. Lippincott Co., Philadelphia, 
 Pa. 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA II3 
 
 Priestley's daughter, in England, was ill at this 
 time. Her life was despaired of and tidings from 
 her were few and most distressing, but the Doctor 
 maintained a quiet and calm assurance of her 
 recovery. 
 
 Subsequent correspondence between Mr. Jef- 
 ferson and Priestley had much in it about the new 
 College which the former contemplated for the 
 State of Virginia. Indeed, the thought was 
 entertained that Priestley himself might become a 
 professor in it, but his advanced age, he contended 
 forbade this, although he was agreeable to the 
 idea of getting professors from Europe. 
 
 Here, perhaps, may well be included several 
 letters, now in possession of the Library of Con- 
 gress, which reveal the attitude of Dr. Priestley 
 toward President Jefferson, who was indeed most 
 friendly to him: 
 
 Dear Sir- 
 
 I am flattered by your thinking so favourably 
 of my pamphlets, which were only calcu- 
 lated to give some satisfaction to my sus- 
 picious neighbours. Chancellor Livingston 
 informs me that he has got an edition of 
 them printed at Albany, for the information 
 of the people in the back country, where, he 
 says, it is so much wanted. Indeed, it 
 
 8 
 
114 PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 seems extraordinary, that in such a coun- 
 try as this, where there is no court to 
 dazzle men's eyes a maxim as plain as that 
 2 and 2 make 4 should not be understood, 
 and acted upon. It is evident that the 
 bulk of mankind are governed by something 
 very different from reasoning and argu- 
 ment. This principle must have its in- 
 fluence even in your Congress, for if the 
 members are not convinced by the excellent 
 speeches of Mr. Gallatin and Nicolas, 
 neither would they be persuaded tho one 
 should rise from the dead. 
 It is true that I had more to do with colleges, 
 and places of education, than most men in 
 Europe; but I would not pretend to advise 
 in this country. I will, however, at my 
 leisure, propose such hints as shall occur to 
 me; and if you want tutors from England, 
 I can recommend some very good ones. 
 Were I a few years younger, and more 
 moveable, I should make interest for some 
 appointment in your institution myself; 
 but age and inactivity are fast approach- 
 ing, and I am so fixed here, that a remove is 
 absolutely impossible, unless you were pos- 
 sessed of Aladin's lamp, and could trans- 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA II5 
 
 port my house, library, and laboratory, 
 into Virginia without trouble or expense. 
 
 On my settlement here the gentlemen in the 
 neighbourhood, thinking to make me of 
 some use, set on foot a college, of which I 
 gave, them the plan, and they got it incor- 
 porated, and made me the president; but 
 tho I proposed to give lectures gratis, and 
 had the disposal of a valuable library at 
 the decease of a learned friend (new, near 
 so) , and had it in my power to render them 
 important service in various ways, yet, 
 owing I suspect, in part at least, to religious 
 and political prejudices, nothing more has 
 been done, besides marking the site of a 
 building these five years, so that I have told 
 them I shall resign . 
 
 I much wish to have some conversation with 
 you on social subjects; but I cannot expect 
 that the Vice President of the United States 
 should visit me in my shed at Northumber- 
 land, and I cannot come to you. I in- 
 tended on my settling here to have spent 
 a month or so every winter at Philadelphia, 
 but the state of the times, and various acci- 
 dents, have a little deranged my finances, 
 and I prefer to spend what I can spare on 
 
Il6 PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 my experiments, and publication, rather 
 than in traveUing and seeing my friends. 
 With the greatest respect, I am, 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 Yours sincerely, 
 
 J. PRIESTLEY. 
 
 Northumberland Jan. 30, 1800. 
 Dear Sir- 
 
 I enclose my thoughts on the subject you did 
 me the honour to propose to me. Your 
 own better judgment will decide concerning 
 their value, or their fitness for the circum- 
 stances of your College. This may require 
 a very different distribution of the business 
 from that which I here recommend. 
 I thank you for your care to transmit a copy 
 of my works to Bp. Madison. He, as well 
 as many others, speaks of the increasing 
 spread of repubhcan principles in this coun- 
 try. I wish I could see the effects of it. 
 But I fear we flatter ourselves, and if I 
 be rightly informed, my poor Letters have 
 done more harm than good. I can only 
 say that I am a sincere well wisher to this 
 country, and the purity and stabiHty of its 
 constitution. Yours sincerely, 
 
 J. PRIESTLEY. 
 
 Northumberland May 8, iSoo. 
 
priestley in america ii7 
 
 Hints Concerning Public Education 
 
 Persons educated at public seminaries are of 
 two classes. One is that of professional men, and 
 physicians and divines who are to be qualified for 
 entering upon their professions immediately after 
 leaving the college or university. The other is 
 that of gentlemen, and those who are designed 
 for offices of civil and active life. The former 
 must be minutely instructed in everything adding 
 to their several professions, whereas to the latter 
 a general knowledge of the several branches of 
 science is sufficient. To the former, especially 
 that of Medicine, several professors are necessary, 
 as the business must be subdivided, in order to 
 be taught to advantage. For the purpose of the 
 latter fewer professors are wanted, as it is most 
 advisable to give them only the elements of the 
 several branches of knowledge, to which they may 
 afterwards give more particular attention, as 
 they may have a disposition or convenience for it. 
 
 Lawyers are not supposed to be qualified for 
 entering upon their professions at any place of 
 public education. They are therefore to be con- 
 sidered as gentlemen to whom a general knowledge 
 is sufficient. It is advisable, however, that when 
 any subject, as that of Medicine, is much divided, 
 
Il8 PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 and distributed among a number of professors, 
 lectures of a more general and popular nature be 
 provided for the other classes of students, to 
 whom some knowledge of the subject may be 
 very useful. A general knowledge, for example, 
 of anatomy and of medicine, too, is useful to all 
 persons, and therefore ought not to be omitted 
 in any scheme of liberal education. And if in a 
 regular school of medicine any of the professors 
 would undertake this, it might serve as an useful 
 introduction to that more particular and accu- 
 rate knowledge which is necessary for practiced 
 physicians. 
 
 The branches of knowledge which are necessary 
 to the teachers of religion are not so many, or so 
 distinct from each other, but that they may all be 
 taught by one professor, as far as is necessary to 
 quahfy persons for commencing preachers. To 
 acquire more knowledge, as that of the scrip- 
 tures, ecclesistical history, etc. must be the busi- 
 ness of their future lives. But every person liber- 
 ally educated should have a general knowledge of 
 Metaphysics, the theory of morals, and religion; 
 and therefore some popular lectures of this kind 
 should be provided for the students in general. 
 
 One professor of antient languages may be suffi- 
 cient for a place of hberal education, and I would 
 not make any provision for instruction in the 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA IIQ 
 
 modern languages, for tho the knowledge of them, 
 as well as skill in fencing, dancing and riding, is 
 proper for gentlemen liberally educated, instruc- 
 tion in them may be procured on reasonable terms 
 without burdening the funds of the seminary with 
 them. 
 
 Abstract Mathematics, and Natural Philosophy, 
 are so distinct, that they require different teachers. 
 One is sufficient for the former, but the latter must 
 be subdivided, one for natural history, another for 
 experimental Philosophy in general and a third 
 for chemistry; in consequence of the great exten- 
 sion of this branch of experimental Philosophy of 
 late years. The botany, mineralogy, and other 
 branches of natural history are sufficiently distinct 
 to admit of different professors, nothing more than 
 a general knowledge of each of them, and direc- 
 tions for acquiring a more extended knowledge of 
 them is necessary at any place of education. 
 
 Two or three Schools of Medicine I should 
 think sufficient for all the United States for some 
 years to come, but with respect to these I do not 
 pretend to give any opinion not having sufficient 
 knowledge of the subject. Places of liberal edu- 
 cation in general should be made more numerous, 
 and for each of them I should think the following 
 professors (if the funds of the Society will admit 
 of it) should be engaged, viz. (i) For the antient 
 
I20 PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 languages. (2) The Belles Lettres, including uni- 
 versal Grammar, Oratory, criticism and biblio- 
 graphy. (3) Mathematics. (4) Natural history. 
 (5) Experimental Philosophy. (6) Chemistry, in- 
 cluding the theory of Agriculture. (7) Anatomy 
 and Medicine. (8) Geography and history, Law, 
 and general policy. (9) Metaphysics, morals, and 
 theology. 
 
 A course of liberal education should be as com- 
 prehensive as possible. For this purpose a large 
 and well chosen library will be of great use. Not 
 that the students should be encouraged to read 
 books while they are under tuition, but an oppor- 
 tunity of seeing books, and looking into them, will 
 give them a better idea of the value of them than 
 they could get by merely hearing of them, and 
 they would afterwards better know what books to 
 purchase when they should have the means and 
 the leisure for the perusal of them. A large col- 
 lection of books will also be useful to the lecturer 
 in bibliography and would recommend the semi- 
 nary to the professors in general, and make it a 
 desirable place of residence for gentlemen of a 
 studious turn. 
 
 2. In order to engage able professors, some 
 fixed salaries are necessary; but they should not 
 be much more than a bare subsistence. They will 
 then have a motive to exert themselves, and by 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 121 
 
 the fees of students their emoluments may be 
 ample. The professorships in the EngHsh uni- 
 versities, which are largely endowed, are sinecures; 
 while those in Scotland, to which small stipends 
 are annexed, are filled by able and active men. 
 
 3. It is not wise to engage any persons who are 
 much advanced in life, or of established reputation 
 for efficient teachers. They will not be so active 
 as younger men who have a character to acquire. 
 They will also better accommodate their lectures 
 to the increasing light of the age, whereas old 
 men will be attached to old systems, tho ever so 
 imperfect. Besides, they are the most expert 
 in teaching who have lately learned, and the 
 minutae of science, which are necessary to a teacher, 
 are generally forgotten by good scholars who are 
 advanced m life, and it is peculiarly irksome to 
 relearn them. 
 
 4. I would not without necessity have recourse 
 to any foreign country for professors. They will 
 expect too much deference, and the natives will 
 be jealous of them. 
 
 5. Three things must be attended to in the edu- 
 cation of youth. They must be taught, fed and 
 governed and each of these requires very different 
 qualifications. They who are the best qualified 
 to teach are often the most unfit to govern, and 
 it is generally advisable that neither of these have 
 
122 PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 anything to do with providing victuals. In the 
 English universities all these affairs are perfectly 
 distinct. The tutors only teach, the proctors su- 
 perintend the discipline, and the cooks provide 
 the victuals. 
 
 Philadelphia, Apr. lo, 1801. 
 
 Dear Sir- 
 
 Your kind letter, which, considering the nu- 
 merous engagements incident to your situa- 
 tion, I had no right to expect, was highly 
 gratifying to me, and I take the first oppor- 
 tunity of acknowledging it. For tho I 
 believe I am completely recovered from 
 my late illness, I am advised to write as 
 little as possible. Your invitation to pay 
 you a visit is flattering to me in the highest 
 degree, and I shall not wholly despair of 
 some time or other availing myself of it, 
 but for the present I must take the nearest 
 way home. 
 Your resentment of the treatment I have met 
 with in this country is truly generous, but 
 I must have been but little impressed with 
 the principles of the religion you so justly 
 commend, if they had not enabled me to 
 bear much more than I have yet suffered. 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 1 23 
 
 Do not suppose that, after the much worse 
 treatment to which I was for many years 
 exposed in England (of which the pamphlet 
 I take the hberty to inclose will give you 
 some idea) ■ I was much affected by this. 
 My Letters to the Inhabitants of Northum- 
 berland were not occasioned by any such 
 thing, tho it served me as a pretense for 
 writing them, but the threatenings of Mr. 
 Pickering, whose purpose to send me out of 
 the country Mr. Adams (as I conclude 
 from a circuitous attempt that he made to 
 prevent it) would not, in the circumstances 
 in which he then was, have been able to 
 directly oppose. My publication was of 
 service to me in that and other respects 
 and I hope, in some measure, to the 
 common cause. But had it not been for 
 the extreme absurdity and violence of the 
 late administration, I do not know how 
 far the measures might not have been 
 carried. I rejoice more than I can express 
 in the glorious reverse that has taken place, 
 and which has secured your election. This 
 I flatter myself will be the permanent es- 
 tablishment of truly republican principles 
 in this country, and also contribute to the 
 same desirable event in more distant ones. 
 
124 PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 I beg you would not trouble yourself with 
 any answer to this. The knowledge of 
 your good opinion and good wishes, is quite 
 sufficient for me. I feel for the difficulties 
 of your situation, but your spirit and 
 prudence will carry you thro them, tho 
 not without paying the tax which the wise 
 laws of nature have imposed upon pre- 
 eminence and celebrity of every kind, a 
 tax which, for want of true greatness of 
 mind, neither of your predecessors, if I 
 estimate their characters aright, paid with- 
 out much reluctance. 
 
 With every good wish, I am, 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 Yours sincerely, 
 
 J. PRIESTLEY. 
 
 P.S. 
 
 As I trust that Politics will not make you 
 forget what is due to science, I shall send 
 you a copy of some articles that are just 
 printed for the Transactions of the Philo- 
 sophical Society in this place. No. (5) p. 36 
 is the most deserving of your notice. I 
 should have sent you my Defence of Phlo- 
 giston, but that I presume you have seen it. 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 1 25 
 
 June, 1802. 
 
 To Thomas Jefferson, President of the United 
 States of America. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 My high respect for your character, as a 
 poHtician, and a man, makes me desirous 
 of connecting my name, in some measure 
 with yours while it is in my power, by 
 means of some pubHcation, to do it. 
 The first part of this work, which brought the 
 history to the fall of the western empire, 
 was dedicated to a zealous friend of civil 
 and reUgious liberty, but in a private sta- 
 tion. What he, or any other friend of 
 liberty in Europe, could only do by their 
 good wishes, by writing, or by patriot 
 suffering, you, Sir, are actually accom- 
 plishing, and upon a theatre of great and 
 growing extent. 
 It is the boast of this country to have a con- 
 stitution the most favourable to political 
 liberty, and private happiness, of any in 
 the world, and all say that it was yourself, 
 more than any other individual, that 
 planned and established it; and to this 
 opinion your conduct in various public 
 ofhces, and now in the highest, gives the 
 clearest attestation. 
 
126 PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 Many have appeared the friends of the rights 
 of man while they were subject to the power 
 of others, and especially when they were 
 sufferers by it; but I do not recollect one 
 besides yourself who retained the same 
 principles, and acted by them, in a station 
 of real power. You, Sir, have done more 
 than this; having proposed to relinquish 
 some part of the power which the constitu- 
 tion gave you; and instead of adding to 
 the burden of the people, it has been your 
 endeavour to lighten those burdens tho 
 the necessary consequence must be the 
 diminution of your influence. May this 
 great example, w^hich I doubt not will dem- 
 onstrate the practicability of truly repub- 
 lican principles, by the actual existence of 
 a form of government calculated to answer 
 all the useful purposes of government 
 (giving equal protection to all, and leaving 
 every man in the possession of every power 
 that he can exercise to his own advantage, 
 without infringing on the equal liberty 
 of others) be followed in other countries, 
 and at length become universal. 
 
 Another reason why I wdsh to prefix your 
 name to this work, and more appropriate 
 to the subject of it, is that you have ever 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA I27 
 
 been a strenuous and uniform advocate of 
 religious no less than civil liberty, both in 
 your own state of Virginia, and in the 
 United States in general, seeing in the clear- 
 est light the various and great mischiefs 
 that have arisen from any particular form 
 of religion being favoured by the State 
 more than any other; so that the profession 
 or practice of religion is here as free as that 
 of philosophy, or medicine. And now the 
 experience of more than twenty years leaves 
 little room to doubt but that it is a state, 
 of things the most favourable to mutual 
 candour, which is of great importance to 
 domestic peace and good neighbourhood 
 and to the cause of all truth, religious 
 truth least of all excepted. When every 
 question is thus left to free discussion, there 
 cannot be a doubt but that truth will 
 finally prevail, and establish itself by its 
 own evidence; and he must know little of 
 mankind, or of human nature, who can 
 imagine that truth of any kind will be ulti- 
 mately unfavourable to general happiness. 
 That man must entertain a secret suspicion 
 of his own principles who wishes for any 
 exclusive advantage in his defence or pro- 
 fession of them. 
 
128 PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 Having fled from a state of persecution in 
 England, and having been exposed to some 
 degree of danger in the late administration 
 here, I naturally feel the greater satisfac- 
 tion in the prospect of passing the re- 
 mainder of an active life (when I naturally 
 wish for repose) under your protection. 
 Tho arrived at the usual term of human 
 life it is now only that I can say I see 
 nothing to fear from the hand of power, the 
 government under which I live being for 
 the first time truly favourable to me. And 
 tho it will be evident to all who know 
 me that I have never been swayed by the 
 mean principle of fear, it is certainly a 
 happiness to be out of the possibility of its 
 influence, and to end ones days in peace, 
 enjoying some degree of rest before the 
 state of more perfect rest in the grave, and 
 with the hope of rising to a state of greater 
 activity, security and happiness beyond it. 
 This is all that any man can wish for, or 
 have; and this. Sir, under your administra- 
 tion, I enjoy. 
 
 With the most perfect attachment, and every 
 good wish I subscribe myself not your 
 subject, or humble servant, but your 
 sincere admirer. J. PRIESTLEY. 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 1 29 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 As there are some particulars in a letter I 
 have lately received frora Mr. Stone at 
 Paris which I think it will give you pleasure 
 to have, and Mr. Cooper has been so 
 obHging as to translate them for me, I take 
 the liberty to send them, along with a copy 
 of my Dedication, with the correction that 
 you suggested, and a Note from the latter 
 with which you favoured me concerning 
 what you did with respect to the constitu- 
 tion, and which is really more than I had 
 ascribed to you. For almost everything of 
 importance to political liberty in that in- 
 strument was, as it app'ears to me, sug- 
 gested by you, and as this was unknown to 
 myself, and I beHeve is so with the world 
 in genera], I was unwilhng to omit this 
 opportunity of noticing it. 
 
 I shall be glad if you will be so good as to 
 engage any person sufhciently qualified to 
 draw up such an account of the constitu- 
 tional forms of this country as my friends 
 say will be agreeable to the emperor, and 
 I will transmit it to Mr. Stone. 
 
 Not knowing any certain method of sending 
 a letter to France and presuming that you 
 do I take the liberty to inclose my letter 
 
130 PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 to Mr. Stone. It is, however, so written 
 that no danger can arise to him from it, 
 into whatever hands it may fall. 
 The state of my health, though, I thank God, 
 much improved, will not permit me to avail 
 myself of your kind invitation to pay you 
 a visit. Where ever I am, you may depend 
 upon my warmest attachment and best 
 wishes. 
 
 J. PRIESTLEY. 
 
 Northumberland Oct. 29, 1802. 
 
 P.S. 
 
 I send a copy of the Preface as well as of the 
 Dedication, that you may form some idea of 
 the work you are pleased to patronize. 
 
 Northumberland Jan. 25, 1803. 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 As you were pleased to think favourably of 
 my pamphlet entitled Socrates and Jesus 
 compared, I take the liberty to send you a 
 defence of it. My principal object, you 
 will perceive, was to lay hold of the oppor- 
 tunity, given me by Mr. B. Linn, to excite 
 some attention to doctrines which I con- 
 sider as of peculiar importance in the 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 131 
 
 Christian system, and which I do not find 
 to have been discussed in this country. 
 The Church History is, I hope, by this time 
 in the hands of the bookseller at Philadel- 
 phia, so that you will soon, if my directions 
 have been attended to, receive a copy of the 
 work which I have the honour to dedicate 
 to you. 
 With the greatest respect and attachment, I 
 am 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 Yours sincerely, 
 J. PRIESTLEY. 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 I take the liberty to send you a second defence 
 of my pamphlet about Socrates, on the i6th 
 page of which you will fina that I have 
 undertaken the task you were pleased to 
 recommend to me. On giving more atten- 
 tion to it, I found, as the fox did with 
 respect to the lion, that my apprehensions 
 entirely vanished. Indeed, I have already 
 accomplished a considerable part of the 
 work, and in about a year from this time I 
 hope to finish the whole, provided my 
 health, which is very precarious, be con- 
 tinued in the state in which it now is. 
 
132 PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 I directed a copy of the tract on phlogiston to 
 be sent to you from Philadelphia, and I 
 shall order another, which, together with 
 the inclosed papers, I shall be much ob- 
 liged to you if you will convey to Mr. 
 Livingston. Please also to cast an eye 
 over them yourself; and if you can with 
 propriety promote my interest by any rep- 
 resentation of yours, I am confident you 
 will do it. 
 
 When you wrote to me at the commencement 
 of your administration, you said "the only 
 dark speck in our horizon is in Louisiana." 
 By your excellent conduct it is now the 
 brightest we have to look to. 
 
 Mr. Vaughan having applied to me for a copy 
 of my Harmony of the Evangelists, which 
 was not to be had in Philadelphia, and 
 intimated that it was for you, my son, 
 whose copy is more perfect than mine, 
 begs the honour of your acceptance of it, 
 as a mark of his high esteem, in which he 
 has the hearty concurrence of 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 Yours sincerely, 
 J. PRIESTLEY, 
 
 Northumberland Dec. 12, 1803. 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 133 
 
 His European correspondents were informed 
 that he was much engaged with reHgious matters. 
 While his theological views were not received 
 very graciously yet he found 
 
 some young men of a serious and inquisitive 
 turn, who read my works, and are con- 
 firmed Unitarians. 
 
 In one of his communications to Lindsey, 
 written in April 1800, he expresses himself in the 
 following most interesting way relative to his 
 scientific engagements. American men of science 
 will welcome it: This is the message: 
 
 I send along with this an account of a course 
 of experiments of as much importance as 
 almost any that I have ever made. Please 
 to shew it to Mr. Kirwan, and give it either 
 to Mr. Nicholson for his journal, or to Mr. 
 Phillips for his magazine, as you please. I 
 was never more busy or more successful in 
 this way, when I was in England; and I 
 am very thankful to Providence for the 
 means and the leisure for these pursuits, 
 which next to theological studies, interest 
 me the most. Indeed, there is a natural 
 alliance between them, as there must be 
 between the word and the works of God. 
 
134 PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 He was now at work apparently in his own little 
 laboratory adjacent to his dwelling place. For 
 more than a century this structure has remained 
 practically as it was in the days of Priestley. In 
 it he did remarkable things, in his judgment; 
 thus refuting the general idea that after his arrival 
 in America nothing of merit in the scientific 
 direction was accomplished by him. The satis- 
 factory results, mentioned to Lindsey, were em- 
 bodied in a series of "Six Chemical Essays" 
 which eventually found their way into the Trans- 
 actions of the American Philosophical Society. It 
 is a miscellany of observations. In it are recorded 
 the results found on passing the ''vapour of spirit 
 of nitre" over iron turnings, over copper, over 
 perfect charcoal, charcoal of bones, melted lead, 
 tin and bismuth; and there appears a note to the 
 effect that in Papin's digester "a solution of 
 caustic alkali, aided by heat, made a liquor 
 silicum with pounded flint glass." There is also 
 given a description of a pyrophorus obtained 
 from iron and sulphur. More interesting, how- 
 ever, was the account of the change of place in 
 different kinds of air, "through several interposing 
 substances," in which Priestley recognized dis- 
 tinctly for the first time, the phenomena of gaseous 
 diffusion. There are also references to the ab- 
 sorption of air by water, and of course, as one 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 135 
 
 would expect from the Doctor, for it never failed, 
 there is once more emphasized ''certain facts 
 pertaining to phlogiston." His friends were quite 
 prepared for such statements. They thought of 
 Joseph Priestley and involuntarily there arose the 
 idea of phlogiston. 
 
 The little workshop or laboratory, in North- 
 umberland, where these facts were gathered, will 
 soon be removed to the Campus of Pennsylvania 
 State College. It will be preserved with care 
 and in it, it is hoped, will be gradually assembled 
 everything to be found relating to the noble soul 
 who once disclosed Nature's secrets in this simple 
 primitive structure, which American chemists 
 should ever cherish, and hold as a Mecca for all 
 who would look back to the beginnings of chemical 
 research in our beloved country. 
 
 How appropriate it would be coald there be 
 deposited in the little laboratory, the apparatus 
 owned and used by Priestley, which at present 
 constitutes and for many years past has formed 
 an attractive collection in Dickinson College, (Pa.) 
 There would be the burning lens, the reflecting 
 telescope, the refracting telescope (probably one 
 of the first achromatic telescopes made), the air- 
 gun, the orrery, and flasks with heavy ground 
 necks, and heavy curved tubes with ground 
 stoppers — all brought (to Dickinson) through the 
 
136 PRIESTLEY IN AJ^IERICA 
 
 instrumentality of Thomas Cooper, ''the greatest 
 man in America in the powers of his mind and 
 acquired information and that without a single 
 exception" according to Thomas Jefferson. 
 
 And how the Library would add to the glory 
 of the place, but, alas! it has been scattered far 
 and wide, for in 1816, Thomas Dobson adver- 
 tised the same for sale in a neatly printed pamphlet 
 of 96 pages. In it were many scarce and valuable 
 books. The appended prices ranged quite widely, 
 reaching in one case the goodly sum of two 
 hundred dollars! 
 
 And as future chemists visit this unique reminder 
 of Dr. Priestley it should be remembered that on 
 the piazza of the dwelling house there assembled 
 August I, 1874, a group of men who planned then 
 and there for the organization of the present 
 American Chemical Society. 
 
 The ''Essays," previously mentioned, will be 
 found intensely interesting but they are somewhat 
 difficult to read because of their strange nomencla- 
 ture. Here is Priestley's account of the method 
 pursued by him to get nitrogen: 
 
 Pure phlogisticated air (nitrogen) may be 
 procured in the easiest and surest manner 
 by the use of iron only — To do this I fill 
 phials with turnings of malleable iron, 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 137 
 
 and having filled them with water, pour it 
 out, to admit the air of the atmosphere, 
 and in six or seven hours it will be dimin- 
 ished. . . what remains of the air in 
 the phials will be the purest phlogisticated 
 air (nitrogen). 
 
 Among his contributions to the scientific 
 periodicals of the times there was one relating to 
 the sense of hearing. It is a curious story. One 
 may properly ask whether the singular facts in 
 it were not due to defects in Priestley's own organs 
 of hearing. The paper did not arouse comment. 
 It was so out of the ordinary experimental work 
 which he was carrying forward with such genuine 
 pleasure and intense vigour. 
 
 Strong appeals were steadily coming from 
 English friends that he return. While comment- 
 ing on the pleasure he should have in seeing them 
 he firmly declared that the step would not be wise. 
 In short, despite all arguments he had determined 
 to 
 
 remain where I am for life. 
 
 The prejudices against him were abating, although 
 he said 
 
138 PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 that many things are agamst me; and 
 though they do not shake my faith, they 
 try it. 
 
 There had gathered a class of fourteen young 
 men about him in the Northumberland home. 
 They had adopted his Unitarian ideas. To them 
 he lectured regularly on theology and philosophy. 
 Those must have been inspiring moments. It was 
 in this wise that the aged philosopher felt he was 
 doing good and was most useful. He said that 
 it was 
 
 a pretty good class of young men to lecture 
 to. 
 
 Much time was given to his English correspond- 
 ents. Them he advised of the rapid development 
 of the States. He sent to some pictures of the 
 country about him, and with much delight he 
 referred to the fact that Jefferson, whom he 
 ardently admired, was now, in the closing weeks 
 of 1800, the President, and his associate — Aaron 
 Burr, Vice-President. He announced to English 
 friends that the late administration, that of John 
 Adams, was 
 
 almost universally reprobated. 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 139 
 
 Mr. Jefferson, he insisted, "will do nothing 
 rashly,' ' 
 
 His being president may induce me to visit 
 the federal city, and perhaps his seat in 
 Virginia. 
 
 The seat of government, as may be inferred, had 
 been removed to Washington from Philadelphia. 
 But to the latter center, which still offered many 
 attractions, Priestley journeyed for the third time 
 early in 1801. He was not especially desirous of 
 making this third visit, but as his son and daughter 
 came down a distance of 130 miles on business, he 
 determined to accompany them. True, Congress 
 was no longer there, but there were many interest- 
 ing people about with whom he had great pleas- 
 ure. With Bishop White, who was most orthodox 
 and whom he saw frequently, he enjoyed much 
 ''Christian and edifying conversation." John 
 Andrews was another favorite. He was a violent 
 Federalist and informed Priestley that the latter 
 
 had done them (the Federalists) more 
 mischief than any other man, 
 
 yet these two noble spirits lived in amity, and 
 Priestley several times announced that Dr. 
 
I40 PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 Andrews was a Unitarian, which is not the thought 
 today in regard to the latter. 
 
 It was an eventful year — this year of 1801. 
 Much that was unexpected happened. It 
 brought joy and it brought sorrow. 
 
 Perhaps it would be just as well to note the 
 scientific progress of the Doctor during this year, 
 for he gave forth the statement that he had suc- 
 ceeded in producing air by freezing water. This 
 production of air was one of his earlier ideas 
 (p. 62), and now he wrote — 
 
 The harder the frost was the more air I 
 procured. 
 
 Further, he announced that on heating manganese 
 (dioxide) in inflammable air 
 
 no water is formed, 
 
 and what is rather astounding, he was certain that 
 azote consisted of hydrogen and oxygen. 
 
 To the Medical Repository, which he regarded 
 highly, there was sent a rather thoughtful 
 disquisiton on dreams. In it the idea was 
 expressed 
 
 that dreams have their seat in some region 
 of the brain more deeply seated than that 
 which is occupied by our waking thoughts. 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 141 
 
 A ^'Pile of Volta" had been sent out from 
 England. It amused him and he studied it care- 
 fully when he was led to remark upon the theory 
 of this curious process as follows: 
 
 The operation wholly depends on the calcina- 
 tion of the zinc, which suffers a great diminu- 
 tion in weight, while the silver is little 
 affected, and all metals lose their phlogiston 
 in calcination, therefore what remains of 
 the zinc in metallic form in the pile and 
 everything connected with that end of it, 
 is supersaturated with phlogiston. 
 
 More need not be quoted. It was phlogiston and 
 that only which occasioned the electric current. 
 It may properly be added that in this connec- 
 tion he wrote: 
 
 It is said the inventor of the galvanic pile 
 discovered the conducting power of char- 
 coal, whereas it was one of my first observa- 
 tions in electricity, made in 1766. 
 
 Some additional attention to air was also given by 
 him, and in so doing he reached the conclusion that 
 
 The diamond and charcoal of copper are, as 
 nearly as possible, pure phlogiston. 
 
142 PRIESTLEY IN AMEEICA 
 
 One wonders how he could so persuade himself, 
 for these bodies surely possessed weight. Why 
 did he not rely more upon his balance? 
 
 With Woodhouse he discussed the product 
 from passing water over heated charcoal. He 
 had been endeavoring to refute certain statements 
 made by Cruikshank. There is no question but 
 that he had carbon monoxide in hand, and had it 
 as early as 1799, and that he had obtained it in 
 several different ways. Observe this statement: 
 
 I always found that the first portion of the 
 heavy inflammable air, resulting from the 
 passage of steam over heated charcoal 
 was loaded with fixed air (CO2), but that 
 in the course of the process this dis- 
 appeared, the remaining air (CO) burning 
 with a lambent flame. 
 
 Scarcely had Priestley set foot in Philadelphia 
 on his third visitation than the Port Folio, devoted 
 usually to literature and biography, printed the 
 following unkind words: 
 
 The tricks of Dr. Priestley to embroil the 
 government, and disturb the religion of 
 his own country, have not the merit of 
 novelty. 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 143 
 
 To which the Aurora repKed: 
 
 When Porcupine rioted in the filth of a de- 
 bauched and corrupt faction in this city, 
 no person experienced so much of his ob- 
 scene and vulgar abuse as Dr. Priestley. 
 There is not a single fact on record or 
 capable of being shewn, to prove that Dr. 
 Priestley was guilty of any other crime 
 than being a dissenter from the church of 
 England, and a warm friend of American 
 Independence. For this he was abused by 
 Porcupine — and Denny is only Porcupine 
 with a little more tinsel to cover his dirt. 
 It is worthy of remark, that after a whole 
 sheet of promises of "literary lore" and 
 "products of the master of spirits" of the 
 nation — the first and second numbers of the 
 Portable Foolery, are stuffed with extracts 
 from British publications of an ordinary 
 quality. 
 
 The attack of the Port Folio was most ungrac- 
 ious. It may have been due to irritation caused 
 by the appearance of a second edition of 
 Priestley's "Letters to the Inhabitants of North- 
 umberland." Nevertheless the thoughtful and 
 dignined men of the City — men who admired 
 
144 PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 Priestley's broad catholic spirit and brave atti- 
 tude upon all debatable questions, men who 
 appreciated his scientific attainments, invited 
 him to the following subscription dinner, as an- 
 nounced in the Aurora, March, 6th: 
 
 At 4 o'clock in the afternoon about one hun- 
 dred citizens sat down to an elegant enter- 
 tainment prepared by Mr. Francis to 
 celebrate the commencement of the admin- 
 istration of Mr. Jefferson. The Governor 
 honored the company with his presence. 
 Several respectable Foreigners were invited 
 to partake of the festival ... A variety 
 of patriotic songs were admirably sung; 
 and the following toasts were drank with 
 unanimous applause. 
 
 1. The Governor of Pennsylvania 
 
 2. Dr. Priestley: The Philosopher and Phil- 
 anthropist . . 
 
 He was present and enjoyed himself, and sad 
 must it have been to read on March 30th: 
 
 Some weeks ago, Dr. Priestley having caught 
 cold by attending a meeting of the Philoso- 
 phical Society on a wet evening, was taken 
 ill of a violent inflammatory complaint which 
 rendered his recovery for a long time dubi- 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA I45 
 
 ous. We announce with sincere pleasure 
 the returning health of a man, whose life 
 hath hitherto been sedulously and success- 
 fully devoted to the interests of mankind. 
 
 He had, indeed, been very ill. The trouble was 
 pleurisy. Dr. Rush was his physician. By his 
 order the patient was bled profusely seven times. 
 During this trying and doubtful period there 
 came to him a cheery letter from President Jeffer- 
 son who had only learned of his illness. Among 
 other things the President wrote — 
 
 Yours is one of the few lives precious to 
 mankind, and for the continuance of which 
 every thinking man is solicitous. Bigots 
 may be an exception . . . But I have 
 got into a long disquisition on politics when I 
 only meant to express my sympathy in the 
 state of your health, and to tender you all 
 the affections of pubHc and private hospi- 
 tality. I should be very happy to see you 
 here (Washington). I leave this about 
 the 30th to return about the 25th of April. 
 If you do not leave Philadelphia before 
 that, a little excursion hither would help 
 your health. I should be much gratified 
 
 with the possession of a guest I so much 
 10 
 
146 PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 esteem, and should claim a right to lodge 
 you, should you make such an excursion. 
 
 But Priestley journeyed homeward on April 13th, 
 and en route wrote the following letter, addressed 
 to John Vaughan, Esq. 179 Walnut Street, 
 Philadelphia, Pa. : 
 
 April 17, 1801 
 Reading, Friday Evening 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 I have the pleasure to inform you, agreeably 
 to your kind request, that we are safely 
 arrived at this place, my daughter better 
 than when we left Philadelphia, and as to 
 myself, I feel just as well, and as able to 
 bear any fatigue, as before my late illness. 
 This, however, will always remind me of 
 your friendly attentions, and those of your 
 sister, if a thousand and other circum- 
 stances did not do the same, and of them 
 all I hope I shall ever retain a grateful 
 remembrance. 
 
 Along the whole road I am struck with the 
 marks of an astonishing degree of improve- 
 ment since I came this way four years 
 ago. I do not think that any part of 
 England is better cultivated, and at pres- 
 ent the wheat is in a very promising state. 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 147 
 
 I wish we may hear of that of England 
 promising as well. Three years of such a 
 scarcity is more than any country could 
 bear, and you will believe me when I say 
 that, if it was in my power, I would guard 
 it not only from famine, but from every 
 other calamity. 
 With my daughter's kindest remembrance, I 
 am, as ever 
 Dear Sir 
 
 Yours sincerely, 
 
 J. PRIESTLEY.i 
 
 Resuming his correspondence with his numerous 
 friends in England, he said: 
 
 My chief resource is my daily occupation. 
 
 He also wrote Dr. Rush his thanks for having 
 advised him to read Noah Webster's Pestilential 
 Disorders which follow the appearance of meteors 
 and earthquakes, taking occasion also to excuse 
 his opposition to blood-letting, — 
 
 I believe that I owe my life to your judicious 
 direction of it. I shall never forget your 
 
 ^ The original of this letter is now the property of Dr. C. A. 
 Browne, New York. He graciously permitted it to be inserted 
 here. 
 
148 PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 SO readily forgiving my suspicion, and my 
 requesting the concurrence of Dr. Wistar 
 after the third bleeding. It was his opinion 
 as well as yours and Dr. Caldwell's, that 
 my disorder required several more; and the 
 completeness of my cure, and the speediness 
 of my recovery, prove that you were right. 
 In the future I shall never be afraid of the 
 lancet when so judiciously directed. 
 
 To Rush he confided his doubts about his paper 
 on Dreams. He cannot account for them, hence he 
 has offered merely an hypothesis, and continues — 
 
 I frequently think with much pleasure and 
 regret on the many happy hours I spent 
 in your company, and wish we were not 
 at so great distance. Such society would 
 be the value of life to me. But I must ac- 
 quiesce in what a wise providence has ap- 
 pointed. 
 
 His friends continued sending him books. And 
 how joyously he received them. At times he 
 would mention special works, as for example, — 
 
 Please to add Gate's Answer to Wall, and 
 Wall's Reply; Sir John Pringle's Discourses 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 1 49 
 
 and Life by Dr. Kippis; Chandler's Life 
 of King David; Colin Milne's Botanical 
 Dictionary, Botanic Dialogues, and other 
 books of Natural History; Kirwan's Analy- 
 sis of Mineral Waters; Crosby's History 
 of English Baptists. 
 
 In one of his letters he observed — 
 
 A person must be in my situation. . . to 
 judge of my feelings when I receive new 
 books. 
 
 Strangely enough a box of books was sent him to 
 Carlisle (Pa.) and had been there for two years 
 before he learned of it. 
 
 Perhaps a word more may be allowed in regard 
 to the paper on Pestilential Disorders by Noah 
 Webster. This was the lexicographer. Priestley 
 thought the work curious and important, but the 
 philosophy in it wild and absurd in the extreme. 
 And of Rush he asks — 
 
 Pray is he (Webster) a believer in revela- 
 tion or not? I find several atheists catch 
 at everything favourable to the doctrine of 
 equivocal generation; but it must be repro- 
 bated by all who are not. 
 
150 PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 Chemists will be glad to hear that 
 
 &•■ 
 
 The annual expense of my laboratory will 
 hardly exceed 50 pounds, and I think I may 
 have done more in proportion to my 
 expenses than any other man. What I 
 have done here, and with little expense, 
 will in time be thought very considerable; 
 but on account of the almost universal 
 reception of the new theory, what I do is 
 not, at present, attended to; but Mr. Watt 
 and Mr. Kier, as good chemists as any 
 in Europe, approve of my tract on Phlog- 
 iston, and truth will in time prevail over any 
 error. 
 
 And to another he said. 
 
 Having had great success in my experiments 
 in this country. . . I shall never desert 
 philosophy. 
 
 The following year (1802) had several points of 
 interest in connection with the good Doctor; for 
 one, who has followed his career thus far, will wdsh 
 to call him that. 
 
 Communications from the home country and 
 from France, while not so numerous, were yet 
 full of interesting news. His friend Belsham 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 151 
 
 brought out his Elements of Philosophy of the 
 Mind, and although Priestley paid it a most 
 gracious tribute he did not hesitate to suggest 
 alterations and additions of various kinds. His 
 dearest friend Lindsey fell seriously ill this year. 
 This gave him inexpressible anxiety and grief. 
 As soon as Lindsey was, in a measure, restored the 
 fraternal correspondence was resumed. 
 
 Much time w^as given by the Doctor to reading 
 and preparing for the press the volumes of his 
 Church History and Notes on the Scriptures. 
 The printing was to be done in Northumberland. 
 Some doubt was entertained as to whether he 
 would have funds sufficient to pay for the publica- 
 tion, and when the urgent letters from friends 
 tempted him to undertake a European trip he 
 generally replied that he was too far advanced in 
 life, that the general debility produced by perni- 
 cious ague rendered him unfit for extended travel, 
 and then he offset the disappointment by saying 
 that the expense of the voyage would more than 
 suffice for the printing of one of his proposed four 
 volumes of the Church History. This was a most 
 complete, interesting and instructive work. Even 
 today one profits by its perusal and an immense 
 fund of worthwhile information and knowledge 
 may be derived from even a cursory study of his 
 Notes on the Scriptures, 
 
152 PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 The monotony of village life was broken by 
 occasional letters from President Jefferson. These 
 were most affectionate and also illuminating on 
 national matters. Copies of these were sent to 
 English friends with the injunction not to show 
 them or permit them to fall into other hands. 
 
 Dr. Thomas Cooper was not with Priestley in 
 this year (1802), being detained at Lancaster 
 where the Assembly sat. Naturally Cooper made 
 himself conspicuous, and Priestley prophesied a 
 great future for him, providing that the jealousy 
 entertained for foreigners did not prove too serious 
 an obstacle. 
 
 Priestley took much pleasure at this period in 
 his garden, and wrote, 
 
 Plants, as well as other objects, engage more 
 of my attention than they ever did before 
 
 I wish I knew a little more botany ; 
 
 but old, as I am, I learn something new 
 continually. 
 
 Now and then he mentions a considerable degree 
 of deafness, and sent to Philadelphia for a speak- 
 ing trumpet, but cheerily adds, 
 
 I am, however, thankful that my eyes do not 
 fail me. 
 
\ 
 
 PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 1 53 
 
 Here and there occur plaints like these: 
 
 Though my philosophical labours are nearly 
 over, I am glad to hear what is passing in 
 that region in which I once moved, though 
 what I then did seems for the present to be 
 overlooked and forgotten. I am confi- 
 dent, however, as much as I can be of any- 
 thing, that notwithstanding the almost 
 universal reception of the new theory, which 
 is the cause of it, it is purely chimerical, and 
 cannot keep its ground after a sufficient scru- 
 tiny, which may be deferred , but which must 
 take place in time. I am glad to find that 
 Mr. Cruikshank in England, as well as 
 chemists in France, begin to attend to my 
 objections, though the principal of them 
 have been published many years; but, as 
 you say, many will not read, and therefore 
 they cannot know anything that makes 
 against the opinions they have once 
 adopted. Bigotry is not confined to theol- 
 ogy. 
 
 The experimental work for the year was not 
 very great. Probably this was the result of his 
 general physical weakness and in part it was due 
 to his preoccupation with literary labours. How- 
 
154 PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 ever, he did write out his results, obtained on heat- 
 ing ''finery cinders and charcoal" and thus empha- 
 sized the gaseous product of which he observes — 
 
 It cannot be denied, however, that this 
 gaseous oxyd of carbon (CO) is inflammable 
 . . . .and is essentially different from 
 all other oxyds, none of which are 
 combustible. 
 
 Along in the month of November he wrote a 
 vigorous protest against Cruikshank's explana- 
 tion of the mode of formation of carbon monoxide. 
 In this polemic he of course threw into prominence 
 his precious phlogiston, the presence of which 
 seemed unnecessary — but this was not so thought 
 by the Doctor, who also favored the Medical 
 Repository with observations on the conversion 
 of iron into steel, in which there is but a single 
 reference to phlogiston, but unfortunately this 
 single reference spoils the general argument and 
 the correct and evident interpretation of the 
 reaction. It reads as follows: 
 
 Iron is convertible into steel by imbibing 
 only phlogiston from the charcoal with 
 which it is cemented. 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 1 55 
 
 There are abundant correct observations. Their 
 interpretation sadly enough is very false, all 
 because of the persistent introduction of phlogiston 
 where it was not essential. 
 
 Priestley advised Rush that because of an un- 
 healthy season he had suffered very much from 
 ague, and said, — 
 
 Tho' I was never robust, I hardly knew what 
 sickness was before my seizure in Phila- 
 delphia, but the old building has since that 
 had so many shocks, that I am apprehen- 
 sive it will ere long give way. But I have 
 abundant reason to be satisfied, and shall 
 retire from life conviva satur. 
 
 Devotion to work was on the part of Priestley, 
 something marvelous. As his son and daughter- 
 in-law were drawn to Philadelphia in February, 
 1803, they carried their father with them. He was 
 rather indisposed to this, yet he disliked remaining 
 alone at home notwithstanding the printing of 
 the Church History required considerable per- 
 sonal attention. The marvelous part of it all 
 was that while in Philadelphia, on this his fourth 
 and last visit, while he fraternized with congenial 
 souls and even presented himself at various social 
 functions, he yet found leisure to print his little 
 volume entitled ''Socrates and Jesus Compared," 
 
156 PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 which gave much pleasure to President Jefferson, 
 so much indeed that he hoped Priestley would, — 
 
 take up the subject on a more extended 
 scale, and show that Jesus was truly 
 
 the most innocent, most benevolent, the 
 most eloquent and sublime character that 
 has ever been exhibited to man. 
 
 Jefferson's genuine approval of his effort was 
 balm to Priestley's soul. He, of course, wrote 
 Lindsey and Belsham about it; yes, copied the 
 letter of Jefferson and sent the same to them with 
 the comment, — 
 
 He is generally considered as an unbeliever. 
 If so, however, he cannot be far from us, 
 and I hope in the way to be not only almost, 
 but altogether what we are. 
 
 It was February 28, 1803, that the august mem- 
 bers of the American Philosophical Society 
 resolved : 
 
 That this Society will dine together on Satur- 
 day next, and that J. B. Smith, Wistar, 
 Williams, Hewson & Vaughan be a Com- 
 mittee to make the necessary arrangements 
 for that purpose and to request Dr. 
 Priestley's company, informing him that 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 1 57 
 
 the Society are induced to make the request 
 from their high respect for his Philosophical 
 Labours & discoveries, & to enjoy the more 
 particular pleasure of a social meeting — 
 The Dinner to be prepared at the City 
 Tavern or Farmer's Hotel. 
 
 It was this resolution which caused notices, such 
 as the following to go out to the distinguished 
 membership of the venerable Society — 
 
 Philadelphia, March 2, 1803 
 Sir: You are hereby invited to join the other 
 members of the American Philosophical 
 Society, in giving a testimony of respect, 
 to their venerable associate Dr. Joseph 
 Priestley, who dines with them on Satur- 
 day next at Francis' Hotel — Dinner on 
 table at 3 o'clock. 
 
 C. Wistar 
 J. Williams 
 J. R. Smith 
 T. T. Hewson 
 J. Vaughan 
 Committee 
 
 An answer will be called for tomorrow 
 
 morning. 
 DR. RUSH 
 
158 PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 It was a very dignified and brilliant company. 
 Law, medicine, theology, science, commerce re- 
 presented by very worthy and excellent gentlemen. 
 And, among them sat the modest, unassuming, 
 versatile Priestley. That he was happy in his 
 surroundings there is ample reason to believe. 
 He loved to be among men. He, too, was appre- 
 ciated and eagerly sought because of his winning 
 ways, his tolerance and liberality. He was 
 moderately convivial though 
 
 He said that one glass of wine at dinner was 
 enough for an old man, but he did not 
 prescribe his own practice as an universal 
 rule. 
 
 About eight weeks were spent in the City. On 
 return to the dear country home the doctor took up 
 his various duties and burdens, but the infirmities 
 of age were often alluded to by him, and they no 
 doubt delayed all of his work, which was further 
 aggravated by a dangerous fall on his left hip and 
 strain of the muscles of the thigh. He was 
 extremely lame and for some time went about on 
 crutches, which held him out of his laboratory. 
 To him this was very trying. But he persisted. 
 He was truly a splendid example for the younger 
 aspirants for scientific honors. During the year 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 1 59 
 
 he entered on a controversial article with his old 
 friend Erasmus Darwin upon the subject of 
 spontaneous combustion, and subsequently com- 
 municated to the Medical Repository an account 
 of the conversion of salt into nitre. He had posi- 
 tive knowledge of this fact for quite a little while, 
 and upon the occasion of a visit by Dr. Wistar, 
 told the latter concerning this with the request 
 that no mention be made of it, evidently that he 
 might have opportunity for additional confirma- 
 tion. However, very unexpectedly. Dr. Mitchill 
 published something of a similar character, there- 
 fore Priestley believing that he ought '' to acquaint 
 experimentalists in general with all that I know of 
 the matter," announced that in 1799 when ex- 
 perimenting on the formation of air from water, 
 
 having made use of the same salt, mixed 
 with snow, in every experiment, always 
 evaporating the mixture the salt was 
 recovered dry. I collected the salt when 
 I had done with it, and put it into a glass 
 bottle, with a label expressing what it was, 
 and what use had been made of it. 
 
 Subsequently he treated this salt, after many 
 applications of it, with sulphuric acid, when he 
 remarked — 
 
l6o PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 I was soon surprized to observe that red 
 vapours rose from it. 
 
 An examination of another portion of the salt 
 showed — 
 
 that when it was thrown upon hot coals 
 ... it burned exactly like nitre. 
 
 So it was a conversion of sodium chloride into 
 sodium nitrate. That this change must have 
 come from the snow with which it had been 
 dissolved, could not be doubted, and he further 
 observed — 
 
 Now in the upper regions of the atmosphere 
 . . . there may be a redundancy of 
 inflammable air . . . and a proportion 
 of dephlogisticated air. In that region 
 there are many electrical appearances, as 
 the aurora borealis, falling stars &c; in 
 the lower parts of it thunder and lighten- 
 ing, and by these means the two kinds of 
 air may be decomposed, and a highly 
 dephlogisticated nitrous acid, as mine 
 always was, produced. This being formed, 
 will of course, attach itself to any snow or 
 hail that may be forming . . . confirm- 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA l6l 
 
 ing in this unexpected manner, the vulgar 
 opinion of nitre being contained in snow. 
 
 This seems to be the last communication of this 
 character which came from the Doctor's pen. 
 
 He was in despair relative to the academy which 
 had ever been his hope for the College which in 
 his early years in Northumberland he prayed 
 might arise and in which he would be at liberty to 
 particularly impart his Unitarian doctrines. 
 
 An interesting item relative to the Academy 
 appeared in the Aurora for April ist, 1803. It 
 shows that State aid for education was sought in 
 those early days. It is a report, and reads — 
 
 A REPORT of the Committee to whom was 
 referred the Petition of Thomas Cooper, on 
 behalf of the Northumberland Academy, 
 praying lesiglative aid. The report states 
 that Thomas Cooper appeared before the 
 Committee and stated that upward of 
 $4000 had been expended on the building 
 appropriated to that institution. That 
 the debts due thereon amounted in the 
 whole to near S2000. That Dr. Joseph 
 Priestley had the power of disposing of a 
 
 very valuable library consisting of near 
 
 11 
 
l62 PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 4000 volumes of scarce and well chosen 
 books in various branches of literature 
 and science, to any public seminary of 
 learning in the United States, which 
 library, the said Dr. Priestley was desirous 
 of procuring as a gift to the Northumber- 
 land Academy, provided that institution 
 was likely to receive substantial assistance 
 from the legislature, so as to be enabled 
 to fulfil the purposes of its establishment. 
 
 That the Trustees would have no occasion to 
 ask of the legislature on behalf of that 
 Academy, a subscription greater than a 
 few individuals had expended, and were 
 still ready and desirous of contributing 
 thereto; and suggest it to your Committee, 
 that if out of the monies due from the 
 County of Northumberland to the State a 
 sufficient sum was granted to exonerate the 
 Academy from debt, no more would be 
 wanted in the future to effect the purposes 
 of that institution, than a sum equal in 
 amount to the value of the library proposed 
 to be furnished by Dr. Priestley; such 
 value to be fixed by a person appointed 
 for the purpose by the legislature. 
 
 The Committee was of the opinion that it 
 would be expedient for the legislature to 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 1 63 
 
 coincide with the suggestion of Thomas 
 Cooper and so recommended to the Legisla- 
 ture. Their report was adopted, 39 to 31. 
 It was strongly advocated by Jesse Moore, 
 Esq., General Mitchell and N. Ferguson 
 from the city. It was opposed by Jacob 
 Alter from Cumberland, who declared that 
 although there were a great many public 
 schools and colleges and places of that kind 
 scattered over the State, he never knew any 
 good they did, except to breed up a set of 
 idle and odious lawyers to plague the 
 people! 
 
 At this particular time there still existed con- 
 fiscated land from the sale of which revenue was 
 derived, and this income it had been agreed upon 
 should be devoted to the erection and support 
 of academies throughout the State. Later this 
 scheme was discontinued. But, Dr. Priestley 
 was not so enthusiastic as formerly. He was 
 occupied with the Church History, three volumes 
 of which were in print, and it was expected that 
 the fourth volume would follow shortly thereafter. 
 However, his health was precarious. He could 
 not eat meats, and lived chiefly on broths and 
 soups, saying,- — ' 
 
164 PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 The defect is in the stomach and Uver, and of 
 no common kind. If I hold out till I have 
 finished what I have now on hand, I shall 
 retire from the scene, satisfied and thankful. 
 
 This was written in August, and the Doctor 
 stuck bravely to his hterary labors. A few 
 months later he wrote Lindsey, — 
 
 I really do not expect to survive you. 
 
 Yet, he also entertained the thought that he 
 might, — 
 
 assist in the publication of a whole Bible, 
 from the several translations of particular 
 books, smoothing and correcting them 
 where I can. 
 
 January of 1804 brought him many interesting, 
 splendid and valuable books from friends in 
 London. He was overjoyed on their arrival. 
 Promptly he gave himself to their perusal because 
 his deafness confined him to home and his extreme 
 weakness forbade any excursions. Then the 
 winter kept him from his laboratory, and his 
 sole occupation was reading and writing. He 
 entertained a variety of plans, proceeding with 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 1 65 
 
 some but in the midst of these tasks of love — in 
 the very act of correcting proof, he quietly 
 breathed his last! It was Monday, February 6, 
 1804, that Thomas Cooper, the devoted friend of 
 Priestley, wrote Benjamin Rush:— 
 
 Dear Sir: 
 
 Mr. Joseph Priestley is not at present in 
 spirits to write to his friends, and it falls to 
 my lot therefore to acquaint you that Dr. 
 Priestley died this morning about no 'clock 
 without the slightest degree of apparent 
 pain. He had for some time previous 
 foreseen his dissolution, but he kept up to 
 the last his habitual composure, cheerful- 
 ness and kindness. He would have been 
 71 the 24th of next month. For about a 
 fortnight there were symptoms of dropsy 
 owing to general debility: about two days 
 before his death, these symptoms dis- 
 appeared, and a troublesome cough came 
 on perhaps from a translation to the chest. 
 Yesterday he had strength enough to look 
 over a revise of the Annotations he was 
 publishing on the Old and New Testament, 
 and this morning he dictated in good langu- 
 age some notices which he wished his son 
 Mr. Priestley to add to his unpublished 
 
1 66 PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 works. I am sure you will sincerely regret 
 the decease of a man so highly eminent 
 and useful in the literary and philosophical 
 world, and so much presumably your 
 friend. 
 
 Yes, the valiant old champion of a lost cause 
 was no more. Two days before his death ''he 
 went to his laboratory" — but, finding his weakness 
 too great, with difficulty returned to his room. 
 Loyal to his science to the very end! 
 
 To American chemists he appeals strongly 
 because of his persistent efforts in research. His 
 coming to this country aroused a real interest in 
 the science which has not waned in the slighest 
 since his demise. 
 
 When the sad news reached the Hall of the 
 American Philosophical Society, Dr. Benjamin 
 Smith Barton was chosen to eulogize Priestley. 
 This notable event took place on January 3rd, 
 1805. The Aurora reported: 
 
 Dr. Benjamin Smith Barton, one of the vice- 
 presidents of the American Philosophical 
 Society, having been previously appointed 
 by the society to deliver an eulogium to the 
 memory of their late associate, Dr. Joseph 
 Priestley, the same was accordingly de- 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 1 67 
 
 livered in the First Presbyterian Church 
 in this city, on Thursday the 3rd inst. be- 
 fore the society, who went in a body from 
 their hall to the church, preceded by their 
 patron, the governor of the state. In- 
 vitations were given on this occasion to the 
 Revd. Clergy of the city; the college of 
 Physicians; the Medical Society; the gentle- 
 men of the Bar, with the students at Law; 
 the trustees and faculty of the University 
 of Pennsylvania, with their students in the 
 Arts and in Medicine; the judges and 
 officers of the federal and state Courts; 
 the foreign ministers and other pubHc 
 characters then in the city; the mayor; 
 aldermen and city councils: the trustees 
 and session of the First Presbyterian 
 Church; the directors of the City Library; 
 the directors and Physicians of the Penn- 
 sylvania Hospital, of the Alms House, and 
 of the Dispensary; the proprietor and 
 Director of the Philadelphia Museum; and 
 the contributors towards the Cabinet and 
 Library of the Society. After the con- 
 clusion of a very interesting eulogium, the 
 society returned their thanks to the 
 orator, and requested a copy for the purpose 
 of publication. 
 
l68 PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 One's curiosity is quickened on thinking what 
 Barton said in his address. Search in many direc- 
 tions failed to bring forth the Eulogium. It had 
 been ordered to be printed in the Transactions of 
 the Society. This was never done. Bat there 
 was a minute (seven years later) in the meeting of 
 the Society (Nov. 6, 1812) to the effect that 
 
 Dr. Barton's request for permission to with- 
 draw it (Eulogium) to be enlarged and 
 published separately was referred for con- 
 sideration 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 
 jnuch. 
 
 Priestley's death was deeply mourned through- 
 out the land. The pubhc prints brought full and 
 elaborate accounts of his Ufe, and touching allu- 
 sions to the fullness of his brilHant 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 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 169 
 
 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 lit- 
 erature, 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 
 uniformity 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 in- 
 tegrity 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: 
 
lyo PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 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 hav€ 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 with- 
 out having perceived them; and he never 
 dissimulated the erroneous views which 
 sometimes directed his efforts, and from 
 which he was only undeceived by experi- 
 ence. These confessions did honour to 
 his modesty, without disarming jealousy. 
 Those to whom their own ways 
 and methods had never discovered any- 
 thing called him a simple worker of experi- 
 ments, without method and without an 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 171 
 
 object '4t is not astonishing," they added, 
 ''that among so many trials and combina- 
 tions, he should find some that were fortu- 
 nate." But real natural philosophers were 
 not duped by these selfish criticisms. 
 
 Many encomiums like the preceding — yes, a 
 thousandfold — could easily be gathered if neces- 
 sary 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, 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, — 
 
172 PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 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 
 
PRIESTLEY IN AMERICA 1 73 
 
 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 child- 
 hood of the world, at the Promethean 
 altar of science. 
 
DATE DUE 
 
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 APR ^ ^ 
 
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 GAYLORD 
 
 
 
 PRINTED IN USA 
 
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 92P932 
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 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES 
 
 0039195996 
 
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