known beyond the circle of literary and scientific men, among whom the volumes of memoirs are periodically distributed; nor will public attention, it is to be feared, ever be sensibly awakened to the untiring perseverance, and the restless searching after knowledge, which have so remarkably distinguished Dr. Dalton throughout his life, and of which these papers are the living evidence. They abound, indeed, with the fruits of those scientific investigations which are his constant employment. It is not a little curious that nearly all the experiments upon which Dalton's discoveries are founded have been made with an apparatus of the simplest-it might be said the rudest, description. Early in life he was as much restricted in the furniture of the laboratory as in his supply of books. When he came to Manchester, the College increased in some degree his resources; they were, however, of a very limited description, and he would make experiments at an expense of a few shillings upon which other individuals would expend pounds.* Dr. Dalton still abides by his early and simple modes of operation, but whilst the difficulties he here encountered and overcame may be remembered as an encouraging stimulus to the young enquirer, it must also be mentioned that his profound mathematical knowledge, constantly exercised in working out conclusions, enables him to attain by a few steps results at which others would arrive only by numerous experiments. For many years his time has been principally occupied in instructing young people, and persons whose minds have only been awakened in later life to the advantage of such studies as Mathematics, Natural Philosophy, and Chemistry; and as his laboratory is also his school, his attention to either individuals or classes of pupils has been divided between them and his chemical investigations. Many a time and oft has the writer of this memoir, driven beside his patience by the mysteries of mathematics, profanely ventured to waste in wonderment at the philosopher's movements time which ought to have been more productively spent: he can still vividly remember how insignificant appeared even to his untutored vision the apparatus by which the experiments of his instructor were made.

been the medium of communicating to the world his achievements in science The Society still flourishes under his supremacy, and whilst some discrimination is exercised in the admission of members, its portals are always open to those who feel a disposition to enlarge their own stores of information or possess the capacity to enrich those of others. The Transactions of this Society, of which there is a Second Series, possess great value.

* In this characteristic Dalton and Scheele stand alone. Dalton's early difficulties were diminished, however, from the fact of his being a skilful constructor of instruments.

The greatest of those discoveries of Dr. Dalton to which a full reference will hereafter be made the discovery, namely, of the atomic theory-first presented itself to the philosopher's mind in 1803 or 1804. In the latter year he made some general reference to it, and he also touched upon it in his lectures in this town. In 1807 he developed his views more fully in lectures delivered at Edinburgh and at Glasgow, before the members of the two Universities. The merit, however, was not immediately awarded to him, other men claiming at least to participate the honour. Among these was Higgins, Professor of Chemistry at Dublin, who, in his lectures, boldly declared that Dalton was indebted to him for a discovery which he was claiming as his own. Several persons maintained the pretensions of Higgins, and Sir H. Davy, visiting Dublin in 1808 or 1809, was so strongly possessed by him with their justice, that on his return to London, on the occasion of reading before the Royal Society a paper on oxymuriatic acid, be appended to it a note asserting that not Dalton but Higgins was the discoverer of the atomic theory.

This paper was of course published in the Society's Transactions, but the volume containing it not being as usual transmitted either to the only three Fellows then resident in Manchester, (Dr. Henry, his father, and the late Charles White, Esq., to whom Davy had long been in the habit of sending his own papers as soon as they were printed) or to Dalton, who had hitherto received copies of the papers from Sir Humphry himself, Dalton was wholly unaware of the authoritative sanction given to the pretensions of Higgins, of whose rivalry he was first apprised by Professor Leslie, on the occasion of a visit paid by him to Mr. Peter Ewart, of this town, soon after the publication of Davy's paper. A formal controversy afterwards occurred between Davy and Dr. Thomson, the latter advocating the claims of Dalton. He himself, however, never mingled in the strife, nor could he be prevailed upon, either then or at any subsequent period, to embark in any such disputation. He has invariably left his merits to the arbitrement of the world, his sole ambition appearing to be to extend the bounds of science, without giving one thought to the applause which may be awarded to the discoverer. In this case the world has now arrived at a correct conclusion; Dalton's merits are no longer in the balance; and Higgins is considered to have arrogated to the development of isolated facts praises that were due to the law whereon those facts were based. The injury which he had attempted, perhaps unwittingly, to inflict upon Dalton's fame, Sir Humphry Davy afterwards repaired. In the last course of lectures ever delivered by him at the Royal Institution, in 1813 or 1814, speaking of the discoveries

of modern times, he stated that the greatest step in science was the application of mathematics to chemistry, for which the world was indebted to Dalton.

In addition to the instruction privately afforded to pupils, Dalton has also for many years directed his great powers to the service of the public in lecturing. His first public course in this town was given in 1805, in the rooms of the Literary and Philosophical Society, and comprised twenty lectures on Experimental Philosophy. He also lectured at Leeds and Birmingham, and has since delivered several courses in Manchester on various branches of science. In recent years also he has lectured in the Mechanics' Institute, in the Pinestreet School of Medicine, and, on the latest occasion, in the Royal Institution of the town. It may, however, be asserted, that he has embarked in these pursuits rather from a love of knowledge and a desire for its diffusion, than from any attachment he entertains for the office of a public lecturer. It is always evident that the task is irksome to him. Rarely, however, does he perform it without taking at least one opportunity of inculcating a doctrine in which he himself appears to be a sincere believer, and which in his private intercourse he has very frequently advocated-namely, that greatness in any pursuit is to be attained by perseverance and industry, and is in a very small degree the result of superior original endowments. His own case is always brought in illustration of his opinion, and though claiming a very small modicum of reputation for himself, he invariably attributes its acquirement to the possession of these two qualities.* At the same time there is no affectation of self-disparagement on the part of Dr. Dalton. If led into a discussion on any branch of science or philosophy with which his name is connected, he never hesitates to explain where his own discoveries begin and end, and what portion of the ground has been trodden by others. He is equally superior to the arrogance of false applause, and that affectation of modesty which seeks whilst it seems to shun flattery. Dalton first lectured at the Royal Institution of London in the year 1804, and again upon solicitation in 1810, and subsequently he delivered lectures at Leeds and Birmingham.

* Dalton's own words may be quoted on this subject. At the anniversary dinner of the friends of the Pine-street Medical School in October, 1833, the philosopher thus responded to a toast embodying his name:-" With regard to myself, I shall only say, seeing so many gentlemen present who are pursuing their studies, that if I have succeeded better than many who surround me, in their different walks of life, it has been chiefly, nay I may say almost solely, from unwearied assiduity. It is not so much from any superior genius that one man possesses over another, but more from attention to study and perseverance in the objects before them, that some men rise to greater eminence than others. This it is, in my opinion, that makes one man succeed better than another. That is all I shall say concerning myself."

When the first expedition to the polar regions under command of Captain, now Sir John, Ross, was fitted out by Government, Sir Humphry Davy addressed a letter to Dalton in which he stated that the Royal Society having been charged with the duty of soliciting some individual to accompany the expedition in the character of Natural Philosopher, and he being deputed by the Society to make the appointment, he had fixed upon him as the individual who was best qualified for the post, and whose high capabilities he desired to see exercised in a more extended field. In his reply to this flattering communication, Dalton stated that he was conscious of the honour intended in such an offer, and that if younger many considerations would have allured him to accompany the expedition, but considering his age, and the objects in which he was already embarked, he thought he could render greater service to science by remaining at home, and pursuing his own peculiar studies, than by accompanying the expedition.

Dalton was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in the year 1821 or 1822. He himself never sought that honour, and it was eventually conferred upon him by the sole solicitation of his friends, who, as the forms of the Society prescribe that a candidate must have expressed a desire to become a member, were compelled to exercise some skill in surmounting the difficulty. The Society waived the usual attendance for admission, and that ceremony was not performed till some years subsequently. Other marks of distinction have been conferred upon him. On the first opportunity he was admitted a corresponding member of the Institute of France, and a few years afterwards he was enrolled one of the Foreign Fellows, of whom the number is very limited. He is President of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society, which office he attained in 1817, after filling for many years the subordinate ones of Secretary and Vice-President. On his first election as President, a feeling very honourable to both individuals was manifested by himself and by Dr. Henry, many members being of opinion that the latter had a preferable title to the distinction, whilst Dr. Henry himself strenuously urged the claims of Dalton, and in fact secured his election. Dalton, on the other hand, was solicitous that the mantle should fall on Dr. Henry, and when elected he coupled with his acceptance of the office a stipulation (which, however, the members would not allow him to fulfil) that at the termination of his year he should vacate the chair. Dr. Dalton is also a member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, the Royal Academies of Science of Berlin and Munich, and of the Natural History Society of Moscow, an Honorary Member of the Royal Medical Society of Edinburgh, and of the Philosophical Societies of Bristol, Cambridge, Leeds, Sheffield and Yorkshire.

Notwithstanding the latter evidences of popularity, it may be asserted that until a recent period, if not to the present hour, a more correct estimate of our great countryman's merits has been entertained by foreigners than by ourselves. It is, indeed, notorious that his writings were read and prized on the continent, in France and Germany more especially, when even his own townsmen were in utter darkness respecting them; and there is a further corroboration of this opinion in the circumstances under which he visited France in the year 1822. He left England with only one introduction (from Mr. Kennedy, of this town) to Brequet, an eminent mechanician in Paris, and a member of the Institute, to whom he also carried, as his eredentials, a watch of his make. Brequet, who had some time previously sent to Dalton for his approval an instrument of his own invention for measuring degrees of temperature, heard the name of his distinguished visitor with the greatest delight, speedily made his arrival known to the savans of Paris, and on the following day Dalton received an invitation from the Marquis La Place. At his table he was introduced to all the leading philosophers of France, who one and all offered tribute to his great attainments. On the succeeding day he was invited to the Institute, and there honored in a manner becoming his character. During his stay he had daily intercourse with men of science, who paid to him the most unbounded attention. Gradually the same honors have been doled out to him at home. In 1826 George IV. having presented to the Royal Society the sum of one hundred guineas (intended to be paid annually) for the purchase of two gold medals to be awarded by the Council to such individuals as were most eminent for their scientific discoveries, the Council unanimously awarded the first to Dr. Dalton. Owing to the non-fulfilment of the royal intention till the reign of his present Majesty, (when the money was obtained by the intervention of his Royal Highness the Duke of Sussex) some delay occurred in the presentation of the medal, but it was eventually forwarded to Dalton, to whom the decision of the Council was communicated by Sir Humphry Davy. Thus tardy as has been the acknowledgment of his merits by the scientific world, his own townsmen, upon whom devolves the office of fostering and preserving his fame, have been still more remiss. Until but yesterday, indeed, it would be almost true to say, many of them were ignorant that they lived in the same locality with him. In the year 1833,

however, steps were taken to remove the imputation of neglect which rested upon us. Until that time the only memorial of Dalton was a portrait painted by Allen, who, though only an occasional resident in the town, felt that he should be honored in perpetuating the