HALES, (STspimit,) 11 D. in biogra phy, an eminent natural philosopher and excellent parish clergyman, was sixth son of Thomas Hales, Esq. of Beckesbourn, in Kent, where he was born in 1677. At the age of nineteen he was entered a pensioner of Bene't College, Cambridge, of which he was elected a fellow in 1702. He afterwards proceeded M. A. and entered into holy orders. During his resi dence at Cambridge, he distinguished himself by his diligent researches into various branches of natural knowledge, particularly botany and anatomy. In these studies he had for an associate William Stukely, afterwards M. D. and an emi nent antiquary. A turn of novel and in genious experiments, and of mechanical inventions, early characterised Mr. Hales, and a contrivance for obtaining a prepa ration of the lungs in lead, with the con struction of a planetarium upon the New tonian system of astronomy, are mention ed among the products of his skill at this period. In 1710 be was presented to the perpetual curacy of Teddington, in Mid. dlesex. Not long after he vacated his fellowship by accepting the living of Port lock, in Somersetshire, which he ex changed for that of Farringdon, in Hamp shire. Ile then married the daughter of a clergyman, who died after two years, leaving no issue. Henceforth he lived entirely' as a single man, devoting himself entirely to science, and objects of public utility. In 1717 he was elected a mem ber of the Itoyal Society, and in the fol lowing year he read before that body an account of some experiments concerning the effect of the sun's heat in raising the sap in vegetables. The farther prose cution of these experiments gave rise to an excellent work, published in 1727, en titled " Vegetable Statics, or an account ,of some Statical experiments on the Sap of Vegetables ; being an Essay towards a Natural History of Vegetation : also, a Specimen of an attempt to Analyse the Air by a variety of Chemico-Statical Ex periments, which were read at several meetings before the Royal Society," 8vo. This piece is justly esteemed a model of experimental investigation. Haller cha racterizes it as " liber eximus, cusus pau cissimos habemus zmulos qui toties potius legi volet, quam decerpi." It begins by ascertaining the vast quantity of watery humour perspired by plants, sometimes equalling their whole weight in a single day. It then specifies the power with which they attract the nutricious juice through their capillary tubes, and consi ders the lateral motion of this juice from trunk to branches, and vice versa. It dis proves any proper circulation of this fluid, but establishes its ascent during the day, and descent during the night. The leaves are proved to be inspiratory organs, both of air and water. There are besides a number of curious remarks upon the ve getable system, as well as upon the con stitution of atmospherical air, into which he was one of the experimental enquir ers. His experiments upon air relate in deed solely to its generation and absorp tion, its elastic and non-elastic states, and do not proceed to the discovery of any of those species of air or gases, which have so much engaged the attention of modern philosophers, though they mani festly led to such discoveries. A second edition of this work appeared in 1731, and in 1733 he published, as a kind of sequel to it, his " Statical Essays, containing Ilwmastatics ; or an account of some Hy draulic and Hydrostatical experiments made on the Blood and Blood-vessels of Animals ; also, an Account of some Expe riments on Stones in the Kidneys and Blad der, Ike." In this he discussed some fun damental points relative to physiology, as the force and celerity with which the,blood is propelled in the arteries, its retarda tion in the capillary vessels, the area of the heart, and the weight of blood sus tained by it, the effects of respiration, and the alteration of air by breathing, &c. His enquiries concerning the urinary calcu lus relates to its chemical composition, and to the means of dissolving it ; of which, suggested by him, is fixed air, or that produced by sulphuric acid and fix ed alkali in a state of effervescence. He also proposes injections into the bladder, and gives a contrivance for that purpose.
This subject he afterwards pursued more particularly, and published an account of some experiments on Mrs. Stephen's ce lebrated medicines, in 1740. The repu tation of this worthy man kept pace with his useful labours. In 1732 he was ap pointed one of the trustees fbr settling a colony in Georgia ; and, in 1733, the University of Oxford presented him with the degree of D. D. He performed a va luable service to the health and morals of the poor, by printing, anonymously, " Friendly admonition to the Drinkers of Gin, Brandy, and other Spirituous Li quors," which has been several times re printed, and distributed gratis. In 1739 he printed " Philosophical Experiments on Sea Water, Corn, Flesh, and other Substances," 8vo. chiefly intended for the use of navigators. A paper on a si milar subject, and the solution of the stone in the bladder, obtained him, in the same year, the gold medal from the Royal So ciety. One of the most useful of Dr. Hales' inventions was that of ventilators for renewing the air in mines, prisons, hospitals, and holds of ships, which he disclosed to the Royal Society in 1741. Some years afterwards his machines were fixed on the Savoy and Newgate Prisons, to the great benefit of the persons con fined in them, among whom the progress of the gaol-fever was much diminished. His plans for producing a free circulation of air were also applied by him for the cleansing and preservation of corn ; for the former purpose he invented a ma chine, called a back-heaver, which he de scribed in the Gentleman's Magazine for 1745 and 1747. His attention to medical subjects was farther evinced, by a paper read before the Royal Society, in describ ing a method for conveying liquors into the abdomen after tapping ; by some ex periments and observations on tar-water ; and a detection of some fallacious boasts concerning the efficacy of a lithontriptic, called the liquid shell. A sermon, which he preached before the College of Phy sicians, in 1751, on Dr. Crown's founda tion, contains some curious physiological remarks relative to the benevolence of the Deity, as displayed in the human frame. His literary honours were aug mented in 1753, by his election as a foreign member of the French Academy of Sciences, in the room of Sir Hans Sloane.
Dr Hales, though he spent his time in retirement at Teddington, was not un known to many persons of rank, whom he visited, and received at his house with all the simplicity of his modest and unaf fected character. Frederick, Prince of Wales, honoured himself with frequent calls upon the philosopher, his neigh bour, whom he delighted to surprise in his experimental researches. At the death of that prince, he was, without any solicitation, made clerk of the closet to the Princess Dowager. It was hinted to him, that there was an intention of pre• senting him to the canonry of Windsor ; but he desired to be excused accepting a promotion, which might have brought with it obligations of spending his time, interfering with the plan which for so many years he had adopted. His parochi al duties, and the uninterrupted pursuitof his useful studies, continued to occupy him to an advanced period of life, during which he was never forsaken by his habi tual cheerfulness and serenity of mind, sustained by temperance, piety, and con scious worth. He seems to have passed through life without an enemy, and per haps the annals of biography cannot pro duce a character more marked by the union of blamelessness with active bene volence. Pope has recorded "Plain Par son Hales" as his model of sincere piety. Haller describes him as " pious, modest, indefatigable, and born for the discovery of truth." He died at Teddington, in Ja nuary, 1761, in his eighty-fourth year, and was buried under the tower of the church, which he had rebuilt at his own expense. The Princess of Wales erected a monu ment to him in Westminster Abbey, in the Latin inscription of which the reader will be surprised to find nothing recorded of him but that he was her chaplain. But the reception his works met with through out Europe, into the principal languages of which they were translated, will suffi ciently perpetuate his fame as a philoso pher.