wish to avail themselves of it, to take the children recommended by themselves to their own respective places of worship, the motion was negatived by the casting vote of the Chairman, (a clergyman,) and in consequence the Old-Meeting Society immediately decided on establishing a school for themselves, April 1787. One of the first resolutions of their Committee was, that the number of boys and girls should for the present be limited to 20 each; and from that time to the present day the Institution has never ceased to increase both in numbers and in interest, so that it has now to boast a regular attendance of from 400 to 500 children, under the sole, gratuitous instruction and management of a numerous and respectable body of teachers, most of whom were educated in the establishment, and many of them are now become heads of families.Part of the funds for the building has been raised by voluntary contributions, so that the rental for Sunday and weekly purposes will compensate the Trustees for the amount they may have to advance; and a pleasing circumstance farther connected with it is, that the loan of £400 has been offered and accepted from the capital realized by the Society in their sick establishment, entirely appropriated to the schools.

To commemorate the erection of the building, the following inscriptions were engraved on strips of copper, rivetted together like the sticks of a fan, put into a bottle with an air-tight glass stopper, the remaining space was filled with dried pounded charcoal, and the bottle was then hermetically sealed and deposited in a cavity of the stone on a bed of dry sand:

1. This building was erected for the purpose of a Sunday-School.

2. A. D. 1820, in the 1st year of the reign of Geo. IV.

3. Estimated expense, £1000 British

currency.

4. Calculated to accommodate 600 pupils.

(Samuel Copland, 5. Architects, John Edge. 6. Pastors of the Meeting-House, Robert Kell,

The Rev. {Stephen Weaver Browne.

7. Treasurer, Thomas Lee. S Chapel Wardens, John Haughton,

Thomas Eyre Lee.

8. Principal promoter of the Institution, James Luckcock.

The stone was laid by the Rev. S. W. Browne, after having delivered the following Discourse on the spot to a very numerous and gratified auditory:

"The Almighty Creator of the universe has connected the discharge of the duties of life with the finest feelings of which we are susceptible, and the utility we are of to society is the purest glory we can offer to him. In the work in which we here engage, we may indulge a sentiment of complacency, since our efforts are made for the advancement of the virtue, and consequently of the happiness of that part of the moral world with which we are more immediately in contact. In our hands nothing can be more useful, nothing more honourable: it brings to the heart a delight better founded, and therefore far surpassing that of the conqueror, whose triumphs are founded on the miseries of inankind, and of which the acclamations stifle in some quarter or other curses deep, if not loud. The prosperities of wealth are generally purchased with restless toil and eager competition : sometimes a secret injustice, or an overweaning anxiety, destroys all their charm; the enjoyments of the voluptuous man, even when they ruin not his health, nor destroy his fortune, undermine his moral force, and prepare him for degradation; but the instruction of the poor in religion, in morals, in the useful arts of life, presents to the benefactor of his species a perennial source of unalloyed satisfaction. No tares are sown; the earth is not drenched with blood; no bad passions are excited or strengthened; the poor, on the contrary, are trained to the virtues of their stations, and raised to a participation of the daily and common comforts of existence, and society at large receives the benefit. What peace and security for heads of families to have the subordinate but indispensable duties of life discharged by those who are taught the responsibilities they incur, and who listen to the remonstrances of conscience! Avocations are every where to be found in the social state, in which the most attentive parents are continually obliged to confide to the care of servants, the children of their tenderest love, whose welfare is entwined with

every fibre of their frames. Can any confidence be more grateful than that of resting assured no depraved principles will be instilled into their minds; no deceit practised; no violations of duty hinted at or encouraged? How often do pecuniary trusts devolve to the care of those who are about our persons! How often must the daily expenses of life be committed to the discretion of domestics by those who cannot attend to the supply of the wants of the family in detail! In almost every agricultural or manufacturing undertaking, the character of the persons employed influences very considerably the prosperity of the employer. Scarcely any man who has various or important interests in life but will tell you a great part of the welfare or misery of society depends on those who have no property of their own, but who live entirely on the labour held out to them by others. By erecting, then, these schools of religious and moral discipline, we increase the usefulness of the lower orders of the community, by laying the foundation of that instruction necessary to enable them to provide for their wants with advantage to themselves and to the world, and initiate them into the duties and charities of life. O happy period, when the subordinate classes shall, from moral instruction, be convinced of their duties, and perform them with a willing heart!

"In casting my eyes around, I have here the satisfaction of seeing a great concurrence in this moral effort: trustees, subscribers, wardens of our chapel, and ministers of religion, we all co-operate in so useful an undertaking, and thus knit more closely together the bands which should endear us to each other. The fervour of divine charity suffers no selfish feelings to predominate, and unites the eager searchers after happiness at the foot of the throne of their Father and their God, where we offer on the same altar a common sacrifice of mercy.

"And thou! benevolent promoter of this Institution, and you young men knit together in brotherly society, with what pure satisfaction, with what sublime joy must your bosoms glow in contemplating this your own glorious work, a work the honour of the town and of your patriotism, a work con

nected with the Christian instructions of that temple erected to the majesty and supremacy of the one living and true God, and dedicated to his worship by the oldest Protestant Dissenting Society of Birmingham, and in view of which repose the ashes of your ancestors, and the ancestors of the fraternal society of the New-Meeting-House congregation; a work of which the perfume rises to heaven, and re-descends on your heads rich with the dews of the celestial benediction!

"And let all of us be animated by this consideration, that when the various interests which have engaged our affections and directed our efforts during this mortal state shall be losing their hold on us, of what avail will have been all our agitation, if no traces of utility shall have marked our passage on earth? If in our private life we have not attended to the happiness of those around us; if no hearts have beat with transport at our view; if in our public relation we have upheld no useful institutions, discharged no active duties; if by no effort we have contributed to the improvement and civilization of mankind, we must descend to the tomb without one applauding voice. Surely no human being, animated by human feelings, can contemplate such an end without shuddering: no gloom can equal that palsied life which knows not the god-like emotions of humanity. Better, far better, to be driven on, even by the impetuous workings of the soul, than, thus benumbed, to anticipate the nullity of the grave. Let us, then, redeem the time while in our power; let us, indeed, restrain the propensities of our nature ere they lead us into vices; but let the great, the noble and the good signalize the days of our abode on earth, that our career, distinguished by the love and service of mankind, may, amid all our imperfections, be remembered with delight, and held forth in the circle in which we move as a blessing to the world."

The perspective view of the building accompanying this communication may render it somewhat more acceptable to the public.*

JAMES LUCKCOCK.

See the Frontispiece to the present Number.

ART. I.-Two Essays: One upon Single Vision with Two Eyes; the other on Dew. A Letter to the Right Hon. Lloyd Lord Kenyon, and an Account of a Female of the White Race of Mankind, part of whose Skin resembles that of a Negro; with some Observations on the Causes of the Differences in Colour and Form between the White and Negro Races of Men. By the late William Charles Wells, M. D., F. R. S. L. and E. With a Memoir of his Life, written by Himself. London. Longman and Co. 1818. 8vo. pp. 439.

W

E must express our regret that the limits of the Monthly Repository forbid or delay our notice of many literary and scientific works possessing considerable merit. To the volume which forms the subject of this article we have long been desirous of inviting the attention of our readers; partly because these pages evince no ordinary talent, but chiefly on account of the instruction to be derived from the autobiography of the author.

The anonymous Editor informs ns that the writings of Dr. W. enumerated in the title have been selected for publication, either as the most interesting in themselves, or as affording the best exhibition of his character: some of them, it will be perceived, are on topics of Natural Philosophy and Natural History; while one discusses what may be termed a point of medical jurisprudence, and another treats of a very curious question in physiology. We should not have complained, had a few of Dr. W.'s biographical sketches and memoirs of his friends been substituted for "the Letter to Lord Kenyon:" these are dispersed through different volumes of the Gentleman's Magazine, and deserve, we think, to be laid before the world in a form more convenient and accessible.

Common readers will soon throw aside the Essay on Single Vision, and the Experiments and Observations on Several Subjects in Optics, which are of the nature of an Appendix to it: the problem is of very difficult solution;

VOL. XV.

2Q

nor can Dr. W.'s theory be understood without a repeated and laborious perusal of his Essay, assisted by a knowledge of the reasonings of the best authors in this department of Natural Philosophy. Concerning "an object at the concourse of the optic axes," he says, 45, 46,

It is seen single, because its two similar appearances, in regard to size, shape and colour, are seen by both eyes in one and the same direction, or, if you will, in two directions, which coincide with each other through the whole of their extent. It therefore matters not whether the distance be truly or falsely estimated; whether the object be thought to touch our eyes, or to be infinitely remote. And hence we have a reason, which no other theory of visible direction affords, why objects appeared single to the young gentleman mentioned by Mr. Cheselden, immediately after his being couched, and before he could have learned to judge of distance by sight."

Dr. Hartley examines "the circumstances of single and double vision" with reference to the doctrine of association:* by Dr. Reid the property is considered as original; + while Dr. Smith derives it altogether from custom, and Bishop Berkeley maintains a profound silence respecting the difficulty. The student will find his advantage in consulting these writers on the phoenomena of vision, together with some other authorities cited by Dr. Wells.t

His "Essay on Dew and several Appearances connected with it," is far more popular: this has been very favourably received by our author's learned contemporaries; § and posterity will ratify their approbation. A fairer example of the Inductive Method of Philosophy has seldom, if ever, been presented to the world. The important results of a series of nice and most laborious experiments, are here stated

The "Letter to Lord Kenyon," is, in effect, an appeal to the public on some matters in dispute between the College of Physicians in London and a certain description of applicants to be admitted Fellows of that body: for obvious reasons we shall not enter into the question, though we may be permitted to lament that the claims of several incorporated societies seem unfriendly to the general interests of science, and repugnant to the spirit of the age. This letter is written with considerable vigour and perspicuity: in the course of it, Dr. W. takes occasion to relate a few passages of his personal history, for the sake of illustrating his political character and opinions. What has principally interested us, however, is a charming eulogy* on a late illustrious Physician, Dr. Heberden-on a subject concerning which a great deal has been lately saidvoting by ballot-we agree with our author, who observes, (320, Note,)

Pp. 375-377.

infers from it that the blackness of the skin in Negroes is no proof of their forming a different species of men from the white race, and that great heat is not indispensably necessary to render the human colour black. Some extremely ingenious remarks follow on the varieties of colour in mankind.

We proceed to lay before our readers an abridgement of the memoirs of this learned Physician's life, written by himself.

WILLIAM, Second son of Robert and Mary Wells, both natives of Scotland, was born at Charlestown, South Carolina, in May 1757. His father, who was a man of observation and a scholar, though a tradesman, had carried thither those opinions respecting the kingly branch of the British constitution which used to be denominated Toryism. These opinions he early endeavoured to impress on his favourite child William. Fearing that the boy should become tainted with principles of an opposite stamp, which began, immediately after the peace of 1763, to prevail throughout America, he obliged him to wear a tartan coat and a blue Scotch bonnet, hoping by these means to make him consider himself a Scotchman. The experiment was completely successful.

Before he was eleven years old, William Wells, together with his elder brother, crossed the Atlantic, and both were placed at a considerable grammarschool at Dumfries, then kept by Mr. George Chapman. From this seminary he was removed, in the autumn of 1770, to Edinburgh, where he attended several of the lower classes of the University, and went also to the school of a drawing-master, in which he formed an acquaintance with two highly respectable individuals, who afterwards ranked among his most intimate friends. To Carolina he returned in 1771, and was soon placed as an apprentice with Dr. Alexander Garden, the chief practitioner of physic in Charlestown, and a well-known naturalist. With this gentleman he did not live on very friendly terms: his private studies, however, during his to have been apprenticeship, seem assiduous and successful. After he had resided with Dr. Garden somewhat more than three years, the American rebellion (so this writer calls it) first broke out in New England.

Mr. W.'s father, who, as we have

seen, was a steady loyalist, now found it prudent to return to Great Britain. His second son, being scarcely less obnoxious for his politics, formed the same determination. But the services of William Wells were at this time of considerable importance to his master, who therefore resisted the execution of his design. His mother, nevertheless, sent him off to England, about three months after his father had parted from her: and in this country he arrived in the autumn of the same year, 1775.

At the commencement of the following winter he entered on his regular medical education at Edinburgh, where he studied three sessions. He passed his preparatory trials for the degree of doctor in medicine in 1778, but did not at that time completely graduate. To qualify himself still better for the exercise of his profession, he soon afterwards attended a course of Dr. William Hunter's lectures in London, took instructions in practical anatomy, and for three months became a surgeon's pupil at St. Bartholomew's Hospital.

It was not Mr. W.'s fortune in the earlier stages of his life to continue long upon one spot. A surgeoncy in a Scotch regiment, in the service of Holland, being offered to him, he accepted the appointment. On this adventure he embarked in 1779, and for some time was pleased with the change of scene. But a violent quarrel breaking out between him and his commanding officer, by whom he appears to have been most harshly treated, he resigned his commission. Immediately afterwards he went to Leyden, and thence to Edinburgh, where, in the autumn of 1780, he received the honour of being made Doctor in Medicine.

Carolina having been lately conquered by the King's troops, the father of Doctor Wells requested him to go to that country to look after the family affairs, which were greatly injured by the war. Accordingly, he arrived thither in 1781, and entered on his new commission with considerable zeal and spirit. In consequence of some arrangements with his brother, he "became," to use his own words, a printer, a bookseller and a merchant;" besides which characters he sustained those of an officer of volunteers and an

agent for some of his father's friends in England. His time and attention were even still further divided. Circumstances arose which occasioned him to conduct a prosecution before a general court-martial of militia officers as Judge Advocate: in this capacity he was violently and rudely opposed by the counsel for the accused; but his natural firmness prevailed, and the sentence given by the Court was altogether in conformity to his advice.

Orders being received, from the commander-in-chief at New York, to evacuate the garrison of Charlestown, Dr. Wells embarked, in Dec. 1782, for St. Augustine, in East Florida, carrying with him, among other things, a printing press, and a considerable quantity of printers' types. The press, of course, had been taken to pieces: and no pressman or press-joiner could be found who was able to put it together again. In this dilemma the resources and the strength of Dr. W.'s mind did not fail him. By the assistance of" the Printer's Grammar" and its "rude cuts," and with a common Negro carpenter for a workman, he completely succeeded in replacing the different parts of his press, and began to publish a weekly newspaper in his brother's name; the first thing of the kind ever attempted in that country. But having still much leisure, he became a captain of volunteers, and accepted the management of a company of young officers, who had agreed to perform plays for the advantage of the poorest loyal refugees from Carolina and Georgia. He was himself one of the amateur actors, and made his appearance with success in two tragic characters.

When the preliminaries of peace were signed, he went, at his father's request, to Charlestown, being furnished with a flag of truce from General Tonyn. This, however, was found insufficient to protect the liberty of his person. Immediately on his arrival, he was arrested, upon a private suit, and, refusing to give bail, was committed to prison. Here he was detained upwards of three months, during which time he was robbed by another prisoner, and most grossly abused by the jailor, against whose treatment of him he remonstrated with effect. His firmness in not deserting the security of the flag of truce, occasioned this