House rising again, whilst his Grace was re-conducted by the Serjeant at Arms from his chair to the door of the House.

"Lord Castlereagh rose and said:

6 Sir, in commemo

- a day on which we

ration of so proud and so grateful a day · have had the happiness to witness within these walls the presence of a hero never excelled at any period of the world in the service of this or of any other country, in commemoration of the eloquent manner in which that hero was addressed from the Chair, on an occasion which must ever be dear to Englishmen, and which will ever shed lustre on the annals of this House, I move, Sir, that what has now been said by the Duke of Wellington, in returning thanks to the House, together with Mr. Speaker's answer thereto, and the proceeding upon the above occasion, be printed in the votes of this day.'

"The Speaker having put the question, the same was agreed to, nemine contradicente.

"Thus ended the most dignified, and at the same time the most affecting proceeding, that we ever witnessed in Parliament."

For some years Lord Colchester's health had been gradually declining; at length it entirely gave way; and on the 8th of May, 1829, his Lordship died, at his house in Spring Gardens, in the seventy-second year of his age.

The only works of Lord Colchester, hitherto printed, are, "The Practice of the Chester Circuit," published in 1795, with a Preface, recommending those alterations in the Welch judicature which now appear likely to be carried into effect; and a pamphlet, containing six of his speeches on the Roman Catholic question, with Preliminary Observations on the state of that question as it stood in November, 1828, when that pamphlet was published.

Lord Colchester married, Dec. 29. 1796, Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Sir Philip Gibbes, Baronet; and has left two sons: Charles (born in 1798), a post-captain in the Royal Navy, now Lord Colchester; and Philip Henry (born after

his father's return from Ireland in 1802), a young barrister of great promise.

His Lordship's remains were interred privately in Westminster Abbey, by the side of those of his mother.

The "Gentleman's Magazine," and the "Parliamentary Register," have furnished the materials of the foregoing Memoir.

167

No. XI.

GEORGE PEARSON, M. D. F. R. S.

FEW men of the present age have contributed more highly to the progress of science, of chemistry in particular, as well as of the practice of medicine on sound principles, than the amiable individual who is the subject of the following biographical Notice, for which we are principally indebted to the pages "The Gentleman's Magazine."

of

Doctor Pearson was born in 1751, at Rotherham, in Yorkshire. His grandfather, Nathaniel, was for forty years Vicar of Stainton, in that neighbourhood; and died in 1767, at the age of 88. His uncle, George, after whom he was named, was a wine-merchant at Doncaster, for upwards of thirty years a member of the Corporation, and twice Mayor of the borough.*

Being intended for the profession of medicine, he studied at Edinburgh and Leyden, and settled in early life in the practice of his profession in London. He was some years after elected Physician to St. George's Hospital; became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1791, and was repeatedly chosen of the Council.

1

Of the benefits which, during his long and active life, Doctor Pearson conferred on medical and general science, the following extract from the Address of the President of the Royal Society, at the anniversary meeting of the Society on the 1st of December, 1828, gives an elegant and comprehensive view:

* The epitaphs of these individuals, at Stainton, may be seen in Hunter's "History of the Deanery of Doncaster," vol. i. p. 258.

"Another distinguished member of this Society has recently been taken from us by one of those accidents, common, indeed, to old age, yet of a nature to excite compassion, or feelings, perhaps, of a stronger cast. Dr. George Pearson was elected in June, 1791, and has enriched our Transactions with ten communications. The first, in the year of his admission, on Dr. James's antimonial powders. The composition of this celebrated febrifuge having been long withholden from the public, notwithstanding the sworn specification of its inventor, a great anxiety was naturally felt for discovering the secret. This Doctor Pearson effected; having proved by analysis, and by the re-union of the constituent parts, that antimony and phosphate of lime made up the whole mass. Some slight difference may still exist between the concerted medicine and any other that can be produced, arising probably from peculiar and possibly accidental and unimportant manipulations; but no doubt can be entertained as to the essential ingredients. The second, in 1792, on the composition of fixed air. The third, in 1794, on a peculiar vegetable substance, imported from China. The fourth, in 1795, on the nature and properties of Wootz iron and steel made in the East Indies. The fifth, in 1796, in a paper equally interesting to the natural philosopher and to the antiquary, since it ascertains the composition of metallic weapons belonging to times the most remote, and confirms the opinion, derived from classical authority, of their being made from an alloy of copper and tin. The sixth, in 1797, on the nature of gas produced by passing electric sparks through water. This communication must be highly estimated, since it tended, at that early period, strongly to confirm the great discovery of Mr. Cavendish- the decomposition of water; a discovery of the utmost importance, but requiring every possible confirmation, as it went in direct opposition to the decided opinions, to the prejudices, of many hundred years. We are become familiar with hydrogen, with oxygen, with the compound nature of liquids, and the changes of form produced on bodies by the agency of heat. The speculative philosophers of

antiquity, on the contrary, mistaking varieties of form for real differences of substance, arranged all physical nature under four classes, denominating solid bodies, or the principle of solidity, earth; liquid bodies, under a similar hypothesis, water; and the principle of elasticity, air; fire, or heat, occupied the fourth division: and to these was added a fifth, or quintessence, the substance endowed with consciousness, with thought, and with the power of originating motion. It is obvious that ice, water, and steam, to ratify this arrangement, must possess three distinct essences; yet such is the power of habitual attachment to opinions never before questioned, that had Mr. Cavendish, the scientific ornament of our country and of his age, lived some centuries before our time, he might, perhaps, have experienced a common fate with the philosopher who maintained the revolution of the earth, and the central position of the sun. The seventh, eighth, and ninth communications, in subsequent years, are strictly professional; and the tenth, in 1813, also medical, relates to a black colouring matter occasionally found in the bronchial glands. But Doctor Pearson has still farther claims on our respect and our regard. For a series of years he continued to diffuse, by his lectures, a knowledge of the new chemistry; instructing hundreds in the truths of science, as they became successively developed, in a manner not calculated to load the memory, but to invigorate the reasoning powers, in proportion as new facts were communicated and arranged. And to Doctor Pearson we are again indebted for rendering familiar in England the nomenclature of chemistry, first adopted in another country; an adaptation of words to things, of which it may be truly said,

Ος αν ειδη τα ονόματα, εισαται και τα πραγματα

A medium of communication adapting its plastic nature to the reception of new facts and of new arrangements, owing, perhaps, their existence to the facilities of their universal language."