PRIESTLEY, JOSEPH, an English natural philosopher; born in Fieldhead, England, March 13, 1733. He was pas tor of an Independent church and while tutor in a seminary he published the "History and Present State of Electric ity," which procured his election into the Royal Society. It was here also that his political opinions were first mani fested, in an "Essay on Government." He went to Leeds, where he made those important discoveries with regard to the properties of fixed air, for which he re ceived the Copley medal of the Royal Society in 1772. In 1776 he communi cated to the same learned body his ob servations on respiration, in which he first experimentally ascertained that the air parts with its oxygen to the blood as it passes through the lungs. He next re moved to Birmingham, where he be came once more minister of an Independ ent congregation, and occupied himself in his "History of the Corruptions of Christianity." His sympathy for the
French Revolution led to the destruction of his house and library in 1791. Af ter this he removed to Hackney, where he succeeded Dr. Price; but, in 1794, compelled by incessant persecutions to fly his intolerant country, came to the United States and took up his abode at Northumberland, Pa. His works extend to between 70 and 80 volumes. Besides those before mentioned are: "Experi ments and Observations on Air"; "Lec tures on General History," on the "Theory and History of Language," and on the "Principles of Oratory and Criti cism"; "Hartleian Theory of the Human Mind"; "Letters to a Philosophical Un believer"; "History of Early Opinions Concerning Jesus Christ," etc. He died in Northumberland, Pa., Feb. 6, 1804.