KIRWAN, ke;r'wan, (1733-1S12).
An Irish scientist. born in Cloughballymore, County Galway. Ile was educated at. Poitiers. France. and in the .Jesuit College at Saint-Omer, and was called to the Irish liar in 1766, but after two years' practice devoted himself to the study of the natural sciences, and was made a member of the Royal Society in 1780. For a series of papers read before the Royal Society lie received the Copley medal in 1782. and was present(d with a gold medal by the Royal Dublin Society for obtaining the Leskeyan minerals for the society's museum. Tie was one of the most brilliant sci entific thinkers of his time, and his publications were translated into several European languages. Besides valuable resealed-es in chemistry, he was the first to give in English an adequate treat ment to the suhje•t of mineralogy, and he pub lished advanced views regarding air-eurrents. His
Essay on Phlogiston and the Composition of Acids, published in 1787, wus answered by the French chemists Lavoisier, Monge, Berthollet, and others. In the second edition (1789) Kir wan defended the theories of the Stahlian School; but in 1791 lie adopted the views of his oppo nents. Despite many eccentricities in his man ners and habAs of living, his wide learning and conversational powers made him a delightful companion, and nearly all of the European schol ars were numbered among friends. Besides contributions on chemistry, mineralogy. and agri culture to the Proceedings of many scientific soci eties, he published Elements of Mineralogy (1784); An Estimate of the Temperatures of Different Latitudes (1787); (lcolonic°, Essays (1799); An Essay on the Analysis of Mineral Waters (1799); Logic!• (1807); and Metaphysi cal Essays (1811).