The Project Gutenberg EBook of Priestley in America, by Edgar F. Smith

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Title: Priestley in America
1794-1804

Author: Edgar F. Smith

Release Date: March 6, 2007 [EBook #20751]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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PRIESTLEY

IN

AMERICA

1794-1804

BY
EDGAR F. SMITH
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA

PHILADELPHIA
P. BLAKISTON'S SON & CO.
1012 WALNUT STREET

COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY P. BLAKISTON'S SON & CO.

THE MAPLE PRESS YORK PA

PREFACE

The writer, in studying the lives of early American chemists,
encountered the name of _Joseph Priestley_ so frequently, that he
concluded to institute 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
nothing 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 development 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 wo