lege of Glasgow; and in 1760, he was transferred to the Chair of Natural Philosophy at the time he was residing at Toulouse in France. Professor Anderson, who clearly saw the intimate connection between Science and the Arts, and the great benefits which they mutually confer on each other, delighted in visiting the workshops of the artizans and mechanics, and giving them such information as was likely to benefit them in their respective arts, receiving in return a knowledge of these which he could not otherwise have obtained. The want of an experimental course of Natural Philosophy, to which the working classes, and indeed all those whose pursuits did not enable them to conform to the prescribed routine of academical study, was early perceived by him; and he accordingly added, to his customary course of lectures in Physics, which was strictly mathematical, one of a more popular nature, illustrated by experiments, according to the plan afterwards developed in his Institutes of Physics. This class continued to meet every session, upon the Tuesdays and Thursdays, during the rest of the Professor's life. Numbers availed themselves of the opportunity thus afforded them, for the first time, of obtaining a knowledge of science; and thus, within the walls of the College of Glasgow, there was a large class of operative mechanics and artizans, receiving instructions in science, which hitherto had been to them quite inaccessible as the pages of a sealed book. This class, which he called his Antitoga Class, received every encouragement from the Professor which it was in his power to afford. He began to collect for its use, an apparatus of his own, and specimens of Natural History, of which he afterwards formed a large collection. As an instance of his good sense, and his anxiety for the prosperity of this class, it may be stated, that a mechanic having complained to his assistant, that he had little time, after leaving his work, to change his dress before coming to the class, and having suggested the propriety of their being allowed to attend without such change, upon its being made known to him, it was at once acceded to. It was to be expected, that a man, endowed with such liberal and enlightened views, would, in all questions which might arise, take the popular side, and would not remain on the best of terms with his Brother Professors. For a time, all went well; and he was allowed to take the management of almost every thing connected with the Faculty of the College: but at length a dispute arose between the Professors and the Students about the election of their Rector, when, as was to be anticipated, Professor Anderson entered into the views of the Students. Soon after this, another dispute arose about the method of keeping the College accounts. He raised an action against his Brethren, which however he lost; but he had the satisfaction, before he died, of seeing the same Professors bring an action against the son and heir of their late Factor, for his mal-administration, and for the recovery of £10,000 which had been lost to the funds of the College. Morthland, the Factor's son, produced, in the law-suit, a superb silver bowl given to his father by the Professors, with an inscription in testimony of his faithful services as their Factor. This had been done at the time their minds were elated with the victory, as they then thought, they had obtained over the Professor; but a more circumspect scrutiny showed them, that they had been wrong, and he right. The Professors, however, were as unfortunate in this action as Professor Anderson was in his; and, notwithstanding the equity of their case, they did not succeed in obtaining restitution of the £10,000. From the period he had served in the defence of Stirling Castle, Professor Anderson had imbibed a strong predeliction for the military art, and for military men; and he therefore studied, and made considerable progress in military science. He planned and superintended the erection of the fortifications for the defence of Greenock, against the attempts of the celebrated French Captain, Monsieur Thurot; and which, owing to the extension of the town of Greenock, have been some time ago removed. He likewise fixed upon the best situation at Glasgow for a Powder Magazine, which is now, however, surrounded with houses and abandoned. He made experiments upon various kinds of shot and shells; and demonstrated the advantage of his perforated spheriod over a round shot. He likewise invented a Six-pounder Field-piece, the recoil of which was stopped by the condensation of common air, within the body of the carriage. This Gun he offered, under certain conditions, to the Duke of Richmond, then Master-General of the Ordnance, but it was rejected under rather unpleasant circumstances by the patriotic Duke. In the year 1791, the Professor went to France; and, disgusted by the refusal of the British Government, he carried the model of this Gun with him to Paris, and presented it to the National Convention. The governing party in France at once saw the benefit which would be derived from this invention; and they, therefore, ordered it to be hung up in their hall, with the following inscription over it— "The gift of Science to Liberty." Whilst he was in France, he got a Six-pounder made from this model, with which he made numerous experiments in the neighbourhood of Paris, at which the famous Paul Jones, among others, was present; and who gave his decided approbation of the Gun, as likely to prove highly useful in landing troops from boats, or firing from the round tops or poops of ships of war. It would appear that, like many other good and great men, the Professor had at first looked with enthusiastic hopes-never, alas! to be realized on the transactions at this time going on in France; and that he hailed, with ardour, the prospect of a nation rousing itself from the moral sleep in which that country had been for so many ages plunged, for he seems to have taken an intense interest in all that occurred, and to have lent his assistance in many things with pleasure and alacrity. He was present when Louis XVI. was intercepted in his flight, and brought back from Varrennes to Paris; and, on the 14th of July, on the top of the Altar of Liberty, and in the presence of half a million of Frenchmen, he sung Te Deum with the Bishop of Paris, when the King took the oath to the Constitution-amen being said to the ceremony, by the discharge of 500 pieces of artillery. About this time he translated his Essays on War and Military Instruments into French, and distributed a number of the copies in Paris. As the Emperor of Germany had drawn a military cordon around the frontiers of France, to prevent the introduction of French Newspapers into Germany, he proposed making small balloons of paper, varnished with boiled oil, and filled with inflammable air, to which Newspapers and Manifestos might be tied. This was accordingly practised, and when the wind was favourable for Germany, they were sent off, and descending in that country, were, with their appendages, picked up by the people. They carried a small flag or streamer, hearing an inscription, of which the following is a translation: "O'er hills and dales, and lines of hostile troops, I float majestic, And bidding them with arms their rights maintain." After his return from France, there is little to relate of any interest; his whole time being as usual taken up with the duties of his Professorship, and his favourite studies. He was the author of a great variety of articles for various periodical publications. He wrote an excellent article on Roman Antiquities, which is inserted in that very splendid book, General Roy's "Antiquities of the Romans in Britain." By his activity and influence, the collection of Roman Altars, and Legionary Stones, at present in the College, and which had been found in the tract of the Roman Wall, were procured, in obtaining which he spared neither trouble nor expense. These stones state the exact length of the wall between the Forth and Clyde, what extent of it each legion built, and the regular legions, as well as the auxiliary troops, which were in Britain at that time, and they confirm, very remarkably, the account given by Tacitus of the transactions of the Romans in Britain. He was in the custom of delivering his lectures quite extempore, a custom which is now, we suspect, but little practised; and, as a popular lecturer, he was quite unrivalled. His manner was easy and graceful, his command of language unlimited, and the skill and success with which his manifold experiments were performed could not be surpassed. He excited the interest, and attracted the attention of his pupils, by the numerous and appropriate anecdotes with which he illustrated and enlivened his lectures. Enthusiastic in his profession, his whole ambition and happiness consisted in making himself useful to mankind by the dissemination of useful knowledge; and nothing afforded him purer pleasure than hearing that any of his pupils had distinguished themselves in the world. His free and independent mind, his love of liberty, and the advancement of the human race, is shown in the whole history we have given of his life. It appeared, indeed, in all his actions. He even did not allow himself to lie under any obligation for pecuniary assistance afforded him in his youth; but paid his aunt, Mrs. Turner, the whole expense of his education with interest, soon after he was appointed a Professor. He died on the 13th January, 1796, and was buried in the Ram's Horn Churchyard of Glasgow, near his grandfather, who had been, in the year 1720, first Minister of that Church. The experience of many years having shown the advantages of the system of lectures which he had commenced, he, by his will, left, it may be said, almost the whole of his property of every sort, to the public, for the good of mankind, and the improvement of science. We do not mean here to enter upon any account of the Institution thus founded, and which exhibited so long the only example of a class for mechanics, as we have already given a detail of it in No. LXXII. of the present volume. But it is impossible, before concluding this notice of his life, not to repeat that Professor Anderson was undoubtedly the first to afford the means of education to the labouring classes; he undoubtedly began what Dr. Birkbeck had the honour to follow up, extend, and render more useful. GLASGOW, 17th August, 1825. X LIST OF THE ENGRAVINGS ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE THIRD VOLUME. Plan of the Axles and Waggon Wheels in use at Ayr Colliery, Portable Printing Press, ib. 17 ib. 33 ib. 49 ib. 65 81 ib. 97 113 Bramah's Press, Dixon Vallance's Improved Implements of Husbandry, Improved Copying Machine, Instrument for Measuring the Pressure of Steam, ib. 129 145 ib. 161 Boaz's Plan for Improving the Navigation of the River Clyde, Barlow's Instrument for correcting observations made by the Mariner's Paterson's Improved Blowing Engine, ib. 273 289 Experiments with Compressed Gas Apparatus.-By John Deuchar, Esq. 337 New and Commodious method of regulating the movements of Steam Vessels, 353 Dixon Vallance's Mode of applying the Lever to the Working of Machinery, MECHANICS' MAGAZINE, CONDUCTED BY A Committee of Civil Engineers and Practical Mechanics. "Science is descended from the infancy of the world; the inventors were the first propagators of human kind, as Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and divers others." No. LIX. Saturday, 12th February, 1825. Franklin. Price 3d. PLAN OF THE AXLES AND WAGGON WHEELS NOW IN USE AT AYR COLLIERY, PORTABLE PRINTING PRESS, &c. |