PRIEST'LEY, JOSEPH ( 1733-1804i .• An Eng lish clergyman and scientist. lie was born at Fieldhead. near Birstall, in Yorkshire, the son of Jonas Priestley, woolen cloth dresser. At six years of age. owing to his mother's death, he was adopted 'hy his father's sister. He gave every evidence of an aptness for languages, study ing Latin and Greek at school and Hebrew under a clergyman. Later he mastered Italian, French, and German himself, and ultimately ac quired Chaldee and Syriac. Ile also had a mathematical mind and was given to scientific research. He was up a Calvinist; but as lie grew older and began to think for himself he appears to have resented the Calvinist doctrine of original sin, which was synonymous with total depravity. In his twentieth year he was sent to the Non conformist Academy at Daventry, where he re mained three years. While there he joined freely in the theological discussions which pre vailed. and found himself on every occasion on the heterodox side of the questions at issue. He next announced himself a necessitarian and final ly became a Socinian and denied the divinity of Jesus Christ. Despite his unorthodox views, how ever, and a serious impediment in his speech, he sought the ministry. beginning at 22 years of age with a small congregation at Needham Mar ket. in Suffolk. While there, he wrote The Scripture Doctrine of Remission, which was pub lished in 17111. From Needham he went to Nant wich, and from there to Warrington. where he was appointed a teacher of languages and belles lettres in a Nonconformist academy, Here he married and spent six of the happiest year of his life. The University of Edinburgh gave him an honorary degree in recognition of his literary work and he became acquainted with Franklin and Price.
He now manifested another side of his nature. Chemistry was then unborn. hut Priestley, living next door to a brewery in Leeds, where he had removed to take charge of Mill Hill Chapel, be came interested in the production of carbonic acid and succeeded in forcing it into water. He also wrote a //ist,,ry of Electricity and afterwards published political tracts and papers, some of which were opposed to the Government's attitude toward the American colonies. In 1772 he be came librarian and "literary companion" to Lord Shelburne at a salary of £250 a year, and in 1774 he accompanied him on a Continental tour in France and Germany. About this time he wrote the Letters to a Philosophical ruhelierer and oth er works criticising the doctrines of Hume and others. He also made the discovery of oxygen
and other gases, which gave him his scientific reputation. In 1777 he published his Disquisi tion Relating to Matter and spirit. This led to the severance of his relations with Lord Shel burne, and in 1750 lie became the minister of a dissenting chapel at Birmingham. here he made the acquaintance of James Watt and Dr. Darwin, the grandfather of the famousauthorof the Origin of Species, and here be had his celebrated con troversy with Bishop Samuel Horsley, in which he was the recognized champion of Socinianism. His reply to Edmund Burke's Reflections on the French Revolution led to his being made a citizen of the French Republic and unhappily resulted in his house and chapel being burned by a mob and all his Woks, manuscripts, and scientific instru ments being destroyed. This occurred in 1791, and because of the attack he left Birmingham and took up ministerial work at Hackney, London. He• preached there for three years, and then, in 1794, remeved to America, whither his sons had emi grated the year before. He settled at Northum berland, Pa., and spent the rest of his life there. He preached and lectured occasionally, but his services were not in great demand and his ora torical powers were failing. He declined the offer of a. professorship of chemistry at Philadelphia, and later the principalship of the University of Pennsylvania. Most of his time was spent with his books and in scientific experiment, and he continued to write liberally till the hour of his death, although his later years were clouded by the physical infirmities of age. He (lied February 6, 1804.
Priestley was in many ways a remarkable man. He presented the unusual combination of theolo gian, scientist, and politician. His manifold and varied publications gave evidence of the scope of his genius. His pen was untiring. In religion and in politics be was a radical, but he was a sincere seeker after truth and a man of ished reputation and irreproachable moral char acter. His Theological and Miscellaneous Works and Memoirs and Corrempondenee were collected and edited by John T. Butt, the former in 26 vols. (London, 1817-32), the latter in 2 vole. (ib., 1831-32). The edition contains over one hun dred and thirty separate works, varying in size from short pamphlets to four-volume treatises, and the subjects treated of cover almost the whole ground of human knowledge and specu lation.