variolous inoculation. It is, however, yet to be hoped, that the above sentence, so recently passed by the Court of King's Bench, which the Board of vaccine establishment has taken every method of promulgating, may produce considerable benefit. But if inoculation of small pox be permitted, the promiscuous intercourse of the infected with society at large ought to be as speedily as possible prevented, and a receptacle established, to which the diseased should be immediately removed; for the narrow alleys and confined courts in which most of the poor reside, must tend to concentrate contagion, to render it extremely virulent, and eventually to disseminate this disease under its most malignant form. * The Board selected Sophia Vantandillo as a proper example, on account of the extent of the mischief occasioned by her misconduct; and that this prosecution, followed by a lenient punishment, may prevent any further wilful exposure of inoculated persons, is its fervent wish. It at the same time prosecuted Mr Burnet, who inoculated the child of Sophia Vantandillo, and who has long circulated the most mischievous and offensive hand bills, offering to inoculate persons with small pox gratuitously, and stigmatizing vaccination as productive of the most loathsome dis eases. This practitioner, having suffered its parts, conducing uniformly to one main end, namely, the universal adoption of the practice introduced by the immortal Jenner. It entertains the confident expectation that so great a blessing will be no longer undervalued, and that the labours of the good and powerful will not be rendered impotent by the ignorant and the interested. It trusts that the wisdom of parliament will not be set at nought by the most unfeeling and worthless of the medical profession, and a disease even more destructive than the plague allowed to be fostered by them with impunity, and continually propagated among the unsuspecting multitude of the united kingdom. The whole of the expences incident to this establishment, for the year 1814, were defrayed by the vote of parliament which passed last year; but the Board regrets that, in conse quence of the recent prosecutions and convictions of the persons mentioned in this report, and the measures adopted for the more effectual extension of the practice of vaccination throughout the empire, an addition of £.500 to the annual grant will be necessary. judgment to go by default, has been Master of the Royal College of Sur recently sentenced by the Court of King's Bench to six months imprison geons. Henry Ainslie, M. D. James Haworth, M. D. Thomas Hume, M. D. Henry J. Cholmeley, M. D. Censors of the Royal College of Physicians. Henry Cline, William Norris, Governors of the Royal College of Surgeons. SOOT. SCOTTISH REVIEW. I. Biographical Account of the late JOHN ROBISON, L. L. D., F. R. S. Edin., and Professor of Natural Philoso phy in the University of Edinburgh. By JOHN PLAYFAIR, F.R. S. L. and E. (Published in the Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Vol. VII. Part II.) AT the time of the lamented death of Mr Robison, we attempted to satisfy the curiosity of our readers by a short sketch of his life; but we gladly embrace the opportunity of calling their attention to a finished narrative by a hand so masterly, and every way so well qualified to do justice to so important a subject. We feel ourselves the more called upon to analyse it copiously, as the learned work in which it is embodied cannot, from its nature, be very widely circulated among general readers. John Robison was born at Boghall, in the parish of Baldernock, near Glasgow, in the year 1739. His father, who had made a considerable fortune in trade, gave him a liberal education, and sent him to study in the University of Glasgow, at a time when Smith, Moore, and Simson, taught with such success their respective branches of education. Mr Robison always represented himself not to have made the proficiency which might have been expected under such masters; but his biographer apprehends that he did not here do himself justice, as he was always spoken of with respect by those who had studied along with him. He added, however, that he never found himself much interested in the pure mathe matics, till he discovered their appli. cation to natural philosophy. By the age of nineteen, his progress was considered so great, that Dr Smith recommended him as a temporary assistant to teach the class of natural philosophy. His parents were anxious to direct his views to the church; but notwithstanding the deep interest which he felt in the objects of that profession, his own views were turned into a different path. He felt anxious for some active theatre, in which he might exercise his genius for the physical and mathematical sciences; and, says his biographer," the influence of those indefinite and untried objects, which act so powerfully on the imagination of youth, directed his attention towards London." A brilliant prospect at first opened, of going to sea with the Duke of York as his instructor in nautical science. But the scheme on which this depended being abandoned, he was engaged to act in that capacity with the son of Admiral Knowles. Here he had an opportunity of combining the practical knowledge of seamanship, with his scientific attainments. He was soon fortunate in having an opportunity of witnessing the capture of Quebec, one of the most brilliant exploits in our naval and military annals.— The following anecdote is too interesting to be omitted. 'He happened to be on duty in the boat in which General Wolfe went to visit some of his posts, the night before the battle, which was expected to be decisive of the fate of the campaign. The evening was fine, and the scene, considering the work they were engaged in, and the morning to which they were looking forward, sufficiently impressive. As they rowed along, the General, with much feeling, repeated nearly the whole of Gray's Elegy, (which had appeared not long before, and was yet but little known,) to an officer who sat with him in the stern of the boat; adding, as he concluded, that " he would prefer being the author of that poem to the glory of beating the French tomorrow.' 99 By Admiral Knowles Mr Robison was was recommended to Lord Anson as a proper person to take charge of Harrison's time-keeper on a voyage of trial to the West Indies. The service was performed in the most correct manner, and afforded decided proof of the utility of the instrument. But circumstances were not favourable for Mr Robison reaping the reward to which he was thus entitled. Lord Anson was ill, Admiral Knowles in opposition, and the Lords of the Admiralty and Members of the Board of Longitude paid no attention to the claim of an unprotected young On this conduct Mr Playfair passes the following temperate and dignified censure. man. The picture which his letters to his father present, at this time, is that of a mind suffering severely from unworthy treatment, where it was least suspected. Men in office do not reflect, while they are busy about the concerns of nations, how much evil may be done by their neglect to do justice to an individual. They may be extinguishing the fire of genius, thrusting down merit below the level it should rise to, or prematurely surrounding the mind of a young man with a fence of suspicion and distrust, worse than the evils which it proposes to avert. Like other kinds of injustice, this may, however, meet with its punishment; though the victim of unmerited neglect may remain for ever obscure, and his sufferings for ever unknown, he may also emerge from obscurity, and the treatment he has met with may meet the eye of the public. It is probable that the member of these Boards most conspicuous for rank or for science, would not have been above some feeling of regret, if he had learnt that the young man whose petitions he disregarded, was to become the ornament of his country, and the ill treatment he then met with, a material fact in the his tory of his life.' It was probably very fortunate, however, for Mr Robison, that he was disappointed in this object of his ambition, which was merely to be purser in a ship of war, a situation both inadequate and unsuitable to him. Disgusted with the sea, he now turned his views towards the church, and repaired to Glasgow to prosecute his studies. His original pursuits, however, still engrossed him, and the state of things was such as to make them more than ever the objects of his attention. Dr Black was just unfolding those chemical discoveries, which have changed the aspect of that science; and Mr Watt was constructing his improved steam engine. Such society gave new animation to Mr Robison's zeal; and he devoted himself to study with an intensity of application, which he had never before experienced. On the removal of Dr Black to Edinburgh, he succeeded him as professor of chemistry. The friendship of Admiral Knowles towards Mr Robison had been uninterrupted, and now manifested itself anew. Having been invited by the Empress of Russia to assist in placing her navy on an improved footing, he invited Mr Robison to accompany and co-operate with him. The situation being congenial to his favourite pursuits, and accompanied with handsome prospects of emolument, he readily accepted it. The task was found more difficult than had at first been supposed; but Mr Robison's talents were highly esteemed at St Petersburgh, and he was solicited to accept the situation of mathematical professor in a great naval institution at Cronstadt. His lectures here were greatly admired; as few individuals ever combined such depth of science with such opportunities of practical observation in these arts. Meantime, his country felt anxious to recall one from whom it derived so much honour. The death of Dr Russell left vacant the chair of Natural Philosophy in Edinburgh. Although the situa-, tion was one of moderate emolument, it might be reckoned brilliant, from the individuals with whom it associated him, and from the opportunity of teaching his favourite sciences in so celebrated and frequented a school. He did not, therefore, hesitate to reject even the additional offers made by the Empress, with the view of retaining him in Russia, and he left that country in June 1774. The Empress was so far from feeling dissatisfaction at this step, that she settled a pension upon him. The manner in which the class of natural philosophy was taught by Mr Robison, is described by Mr Playfair in a very interesting and discriminating manner. 'Mr Robison was admitted at Edinburgh the 16th September 1774, and gave his first course of lectures in the winter following. The person to whom he succeeded had been very eminent and very useful in his profession. He possessed a great deal of ingenuity, and much knowledge, in all the branches of Physical Science. Without perhaps being very deeply versed in the higher parts of the mathematics, he had much more knowledge of them than is requisite for explaining the elements of Natural Philosophy. His views in the latter were sound, often original, and always explained with great clearness and simplicity. The mathematical and experimental parts were so happily combined, that his lectures communicated not only an excellent view of the principles of the science, but much practical knowledge concerning the means by which those principles are embodied in matter, and made palpable to sense. 'Mr Robison, who now succeeded to this chair, had also talents and acquirements of a very high order. The scenes of active life in which he had been early engaged, and in which he had seen the great operations of the nautical and the military art, had been followed, or accompanied, with much study, so that a thorough knowledge of the principles, as well as the practice, of those arts, had been acquired. His knowledge of the mathematics was accurate and extensive, and included, what was at that time rare in this country, a considerable familiarity with the discoveries and inventions of the foreign mathematicians. "In the general outline of his course, he did not, however, deviate materially from that which had been sketched by his predecessors, except, I think, in one point of arrangement, by which he passed from Dynamics immediately to Physical Astronomy. The sciences of Mechanics, Hydrodynamics, Astronomy and Optics, together with Electricity and Magnetism, were the subjects which his lectures embraced. These were given with great fluency and precision of language, and with the introduction of a good deal of mathematical demonstration. His manner was grave and dignified. His views, always ingenious and comprehensive, were full of information, and never more interesting and instructive than when they touched on the history of science.His lectures, however, were oftes complained of, as difficult and hard to be followed, and this did not, in my opinion, arise from the depth of the mathematical demonstrations, as was sometimes said, but rather from the rapidity of his discourse, which was in general beyond the rate at which accurate reasoning can be easily followed. The singular facility of his own apprehension, made him judge too favourably of the same power in others. To understand his lectures completely, was, on account of the rapidity, and the uniform flow of his discourse, not a very easy task, even for men tolerably familiar with the subject. On this accourt, his lectures lectures were less popular than might have been expected from such a com-, bination of rare talents as the author of them possessed. This was assisted by a small number of experiments he introduced, and the view that he took of Natural Philosophy, which left but a very subordinate place for them to occupy. An experiment, he would very truly observe, does not establish a general proposition, and never can do more than prove a particular fact. Hence, he inferred, or seemed to infer, that they are of no great use in establishing the principles of science. This seems an erroneous view. An experiment does but prove a particular fact; but by doing so in a great number of cases, it affords the means of discovering the general principle which is com mon to all these facts. Even a single experiment may be sufficient to prove a very general fact. When a guinea and a feather, let fall from the top of an exhausted receiver, descend to the bottom of it in the same time, it is very true that this only proves the fact of the equal acceleration of falling bodies in the case of the two substances just named; but who doubts that the conclusion extends to all different degrees of weight, and that the uniform acceleration of falling bodies of every kind, may safely be inferred?' Soon after his arrival, Mr Robison became a member of the Philosophical, or, as it was soon afterwards termed, the Royal Society, whose transactions he enriched with several most valuable papers. His scientific activity was now turned into a dicertion not usual in this country. A mong that popular description of works known under the title of Encyclopædias, the Britannica, undertaken at Edinburgh, had always held the first place. Neither it, however, nor any works of that description hitherto published in Britain, had re ceived the contributions of respectable men of science, but had been left chiefly in the hands of more humble compilers. In the course of an extended edition of this work, Mr Robison became a regular contributor, and enriched it with a variety of valuable treatises. Mr Playfair mentions particularly the articles Optics, Telescope, Roof, Water-works, Resistance of fluids, Running of rivers, Electricity and Magnetism. This example was soon followed, and a complete change took place in the character of the work, which has ever since, and now more than ever, been supported by the contributions of the most distinguished men of science whom this country can boast of. Mr Robison now engaged in a work of a very different character. The French revolution engrossing universal attention, he undertook to explain its origin and phenomena by the proceedings of some societies of freemasons and illuminati in Germany. His work, published in 1797, was entitled "Proofs of a conspiracy against all the religions and governments of Europe." This publication at the moment excited universal interest, and, as Mr Playfair observes, "carried the name of the author into places where his high attainments in science had never gained admission for it." It has now sunk almost into oblivion; and there seems no doubt that the author very much exaggerated the power of those instruments to which he imputed that memorable catastrophe. Mr Playfair, in a man' ly and decided manner, declares his entire dissent from the opinions entertained in this work. The following observations are strongly marked by good sense. I do not mean to question the general fact, that there did exist in Germany a society having the vanity to assume the name just mentioned, and the presumption or the simplicity to |