CROSSE, ANDREW, a remarkable experimenter on electricity, b. at Fyne court, in the Quantock hills, Somersetshire, June 17, 1784, was educated at Bristol and Brasenose college, Oxford, and in 1805-6, settled on his paternal estate, where he began to devote himself to the study of electricity. Happening on one occasion to examine a cavern near his residence, he found reason to conclude that the crystallizations on the walls and roof were partially, at least, the effect of the operation of this subtle agency. In 1807, he commenced experiments with the view of forming artificial crystals by elec tricity. He took home some of the water which dropped from the roof of the cave, and exposed it to the action of it voltaic battery for ten days, when he found crystals of car bonate of lime forming on the negative platinum wire. 0.'s endeavors to form crystals of various sorts were very successful. After 30 years of quiet research, during which period he remained totally unknown to the learned world, he obtained no less than 24 minerals, crystals of quartz, arragonite, carbonates of lime, lead, and copper, besides more than 20 other artificial minerals. Explaining his discoveries at the meeting held by the British association for the advancement of science, at Bristol in 1836, he received high praise from its most distinguished members. On this occasion, he also expressed his belief that every kind of mineral would yet be formed by the ingenuity of man. But
his most startling discovery occurred a few months after. While experimenting with some highly caustic solutions, out of contact with atmospheric air, there appeared, as if gradually growing from specks between the poles of the voltaic circuit, certain animals of the genus acaras. C. never affirmed that he had developed animal life out of inor ganic elements, but simply that under certain physical conditions he could make acari appear, and not otherwise. The " discovery" made a great noise at the time. The possibility of the fact was, of course, denied by all those persons who "take the high priori road," and have made up their minds as to what facts alone are possible; but Faraday declared that he had seen, during the same year, similar appearances in his own electrical experiments. C. was accused of "impiety," and of being "a reviler of our holy religion," and although a very pious man, was actually compelled to defend himself against such pitiable charges. It is humiliating to state that, in spite of his defense, various honors to which he was justly entitled, were lost to C. in consequence of his discovery. C. also invented a method of purifying sea-water by electricity, improved wines, spirits, and cider by the same process, and showed that it might be usefully applied to vegetation. He died July 6, 1855. An excellent memoir of him was published by his widow (1857).