*r »»r*- T* 
 
 .■^^y'^/O!^ 
 
 ■^ . "^^1: 
 
 II 
 
 >J!?^;.V^^,/V-VV./- 
 
 ,V. 
 
 
 VW'VVK-: 
 
 'sm 
 
 ■ .^- 
 
 Mi 
 
 ryR^sm 
 
 
 l&^' 
 
 
 'm'^wmS^ 
 
 "^'W^r^-S 
 
 -Vi* 
 
 PM*^ 
 
 i^^ 
 
 .- .'i^"^5r'*^'WBSSi 
 
 
 tC^-^^'-'-^^^M 
 
 ■■V/^'>--rViri£^ ' 
 
 
 • ■ "f ' .\^T^r-.^ •- ^ 
 
 '^.^^Ji^ 
 
 
 ■^»^>\MK 
 
 .>:--- -^- ji 
 
 B^k^s' 
 
 ^BB^^kk^lBEr^fl 
 
 Wf^-'-Mi'4 
 
 
 %§;^ 
 
 ^^ 
 
 
 • o- -' 
 

 
A M K M () 1 11 
 
 OF 
 
 John Maclean, m.d., 
 
 IHK FIRST I'ROFESSOR OF CHEMISTRY IN THK 
 (■(II.I^EC.E OF NEW JERSEY, 
 
 HY HIS SON, 
 
 JOHN ISlJ^CLEAISr, 
 
 THE TENITI PRESIDENT OF THE COLLEGE. 
 
 IPor priT7-£Lte d-istrLTo-u-tioon. ci:l137-. 
 
 PRINCETON : 
 
 PRINTED AT THE "PRESS" OFFICE. 
 I 876. 
 
TO 
 
 (lEORGE MACINTOSH MACLEAN, M.D., PH.D., 
 AND 
 
 archibald maclean, esq., 
 
 the other surviving members of his 
 
 father's family, 
 
 this memoir is inscribed 
 
 by the writer, 
 
 in token of his love and respect 
 
 FOR THEM. - 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Tti preparing a history of the College of New Jersey, the writer was of neces- 
 sity led to speak of his own father, who for seventeen years was a Professor 
 in the College; and for a considerable portion of this time the only one, with 
 the exception of President S. S. Smith, who was Professor of Divinity and 
 Moral Philosophy as well as President. 
 
 While engaged on this work, the thought occurred to him, that he ought to 
 write a fuller account of his father than \\ould be suitable for the proposed history 
 of the College; and that was the origin of this memoir. 
 
 The things mentioned in this narrative are in some instances given rather 
 with respect to their connection with each other than to the order of their occur- 
 rence. 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 Dr. Maclean was born in the city of Glasgow, Scotland, on 
 the first day of March, 1771. His father, after whom he was 
 named, was by profession a surgeon, both in civil and military 
 service. His grandfather, the Rev. Archibald Maclean, was 
 minister of the Parish of Kilfinichen, which included the well 
 known Island of Iona. Upon retiring from the army, his father 
 practised surgery in the city of Glasgow, and resided there until 
 his death. He was pesent at the capture of Quebec from the 
 French, and he was the third man who succeeded in scaling 
 the famous heights of Abraham, then regarded as a formid- 
 able and natural defence of that city. A short time before 
 going with the British army to Canada, he married Miss 
 Agnes Lang-, of Glasgow, and their youngest child is the sub- 
 ject of this memoir. 
 
 In a Historical and Genealogical account of the clan 
 Maclean, published in London, in 1838, page 282, mention 
 Ms made of Ur. Maclean's going to America, and of his mar- 
 riage here. His mother's name is inaccurately given as Anne 
 
Lon^^, instead of A^nes Lang. This genealogical account 
 of the clan furnishes the data by which Dr. Maclean's lineage 
 can be traced back to Gillean, the founder of the clan in the 
 thirteenth century. 
 
 In early life he had the misfortune to lose both his pa- 
 rents, but had the happiness to have for his guardian George 
 Macintosh, Esq., a gentleman of rare worth, who took great 
 interest in his welfare, and made excellent provision for his 
 instruction, by sending him to the Glasgow Grammar School, 
 where he made rapid and real advancement, and then to the 
 University, which his intelligence and proficiency enabled him 
 to enter, while he was yet a lad between twelve and thirteen ; 
 no inquiry having been made in regard to his age. 
 
 For his good scholarship, and upon a public examination. 
 he obtained at the Grammar School several premiums, and 
 one or more after his admission to the University. The 
 prizes at the Grammar School were awarded on the calends 
 of October, in successive years, and each one consisted of a 
 Latin classic suited to the proficiency of the pupil. The pre- 
 miums assigned to the subject of this memoir were the "Ex- 
 cellentium Imperatorum Vitae" of Cornelius Nepos; the Com- 
 mentaries of Julius Caisar ; the works of Virgil and of Horace', 
 and Lucan's Pharsalia. This last was given by the Universit}', 
 and with the following certificate signed by the Humanity 
 Professor : 
 
 Joan: M'Lean, 
 
 Universitatis Glasguensis Aliiinnu> 
 Eleganlioris ingcnii dotes 
 Diligenter graviter exculcns, 
 
7 
 
 Hoc Pracmium Acadeniicum, 
 
 Enipt : pecuniis in liunc usum, 
 
 A P'ratibus 
 
 (icorgii Muirhead, quondam, L. H. P. 
 
 In hac Universitate, legalis, 
 
 Publice tulit, 
 
 Kal : Ipsis Mali, 1785, 
 
 (kili : Richardson, L. H. P. 
 
 Both in the Grammar School and in the University of 
 Glasgow, the course of instruction in the Greek language was 
 much more limited than the Latin curriculum. To this cause 
 are we to ascribe the fact that Dr. M. was not the proficient in 
 Greek that he was in Latin. Yet he never underrated the 
 great importance of a thorough knowledge of the Greek to a 
 liberally educated man, and especially to a minister of the 
 Gospel. He died before his eldest son, the writer of this 
 sketch, had fully attained the age of fourteen years ; but hav- 
 ing a hope that his son would, if spared to manhood, enter 
 the ministry, he urged him to devote himself earnestly to the 
 study of the Greek language. In a letter to him of the date 
 of the 7th of November, 1812, he thus writes: "When you 
 write to me again, which let it be soon, tell me what you 
 are studying. In the meantime, be sure to attend particularly, 
 to your Greek ; yet upon no account neglect your Latin. Be 
 assured, that notwithstanding what ignorant or lazy people 
 may say, it is a matter of great consequence for every gentle- 
 man, or professional man, to be a good classical scholar ; but, 
 besides, I have a particular end in view in making you one. 
 -See to it then, and be careful that you are well acquainted 
 with Prosody. I have known several good scholars, who, 
 from inattention to Prosody, have made themselves laughing 
 stocks to mere drivellers in classical literature." 
 
8 
 
 While a member of the University, his attention must have 
 been given to the careful study of Mathematics and Natural 
 Philosophy, and especially to the subject of Chemistry, for which 
 he seems to have had a special fondness, and to which, upon 
 leaving the University, he continued to devote throughout life 
 much time and close attention. At the University he was, 
 while yet a lad, a member of the Chemical Society, a club which 
 appears to have met at the University, with the permission of 
 the College authorities, if not under the oversight of the Pro- 
 . fessors. The members submitted, for the consideration of the 
 Society, papers and essays upon various matters connected 
 with the object of their association, and some of these papers 
 seem to have foreshadowed the eminence which the authors of 
 them attained in after life, as proficients in the art of Chemis- 
 try. The names of several of the members of this Society 
 are given in a note on page 6 of a "Memoir of Charles Macin- 
 tosh, PZsq., ¥. R. S.," by his son, George Macintosh. They 
 were as follows : Wm. Couper, Esq., Charles Macintosh, Esq., 
 Mr. Candlish (father of the Rev. Dr. Candlish. of the P>ee 
 Church of Scotland), Dr. Tilloch, editor of the Philosophical 
 Magazine, London, Dr. Crawford, Mr. John Wilson, of Hur- 
 let, near Glasgow, Major P^inlay, Royal P.ngineers, and Dr, 
 John Maclean, Professor of Chemistry in the College of New 
 Jersey. The last named was probably the youngest of them, 
 not being sixteen years of age, at the time here referred to. 
 There were other members besides those here named, and 
 among them were Mr. Cruikshank, Mr. Archer and Mr. Mon- 
 roe, of whom mention is made in one of Dr. Maclean's papers 
 read before the Society. 
 
 Mr. Charles Macintosh was four years older than his friend 
 Dr. Maclean. Some extracts from the essays read by Mr. 
 
Macintosh before this Society are given in his son's memoir of 
 him. Seven papers, if not more, written by Dr. Maclean, were 
 also read before it. One of these was on respiration, another 
 ow. fermentation, and another on alkalies. The subjects of the 
 others are unknown to the writer of this memoir. Dr. Mac- 
 lean's papers on fermentation and alkalies are now in the pos- 
 session of his son. Dr. George Macintosh Maclean. Some 
 suggestions, in advance of the science of that day, are made 
 in these two papers, e. g. 
 
 I. That pin\' air (oxygen) is the efficient cause of all fer- 
 mentation, and this in opposition to the opinion, first broached 
 by Mr. Henry, of Manchester, England, that fermentation is 
 due to the presence oi fixed air (carbonic dioxide). 
 
 Dr. Maclean further held, that water is the medium 
 through which pure air acts on the fermentable matter, and 
 that if the quantity of moisture is small, the septic power of 
 the air will be more or less impeded ; and, of course, the fer- 
 menting mass will be detained longer, in the different stages 
 of fermentation, than it would otherwise be. 
 
 This paper on fermentation, No. 5, has, in the handwriting 
 of the author, the date of the 29th of March, but the year is 
 not given. A reference in the paper to Dr. Wm. Irvine, of 
 Glasgow, who died in the summer of 1787, shows that it could 
 7iot have been written later than March of that year, at which 
 time Dr. M. was sixteen years of age. Most probably it was 
 written in March, 1786, when he was but fifteen. No allusion 
 is made to Dr. Irvine's decease, but certain remarks made by 
 him, a year previous to the writing of the article in question, 
 a,re given by Dr. Maclean. 
 
lO 
 
 2. In his paper on alkalies. No. 7, he objected to the 
 then prevalent division of sa!ts into simple and compound ; 
 the simple including alkalies and acids, and he inclined to the 
 belief that all alkalies were compounds. Shortly before this 
 BerthoUet had shown that aiiimoiiia, a volatile alkali, con- 
 tained nitrogen and hydrogen. 
 
 3. The paper on respiration, with some notes by Dr. 
 George M. Maclean, was misplaced or lost by the writer of 
 this memoir about thirty years ago. The design of the notes 
 was to point out the agreement of the views advanced in the 
 paper itself with those entertained by chemists and physicians, 
 at the time the notes were written, viz : in 1834-5. 
 
 After stating his objections to the various theories ad- 
 vanced on this subject. Dr. Maclean gave it as his own opin- 
 ion, that oxygen being absorbed by the blood in the lungs, is 
 conveyed by the blood through the body, and that in the 
 course of the general circulation it unites with carbon, form- 
 ing carbonic acid, which is giv^en off principalh' at the lungs, 
 but in part at the skin. Thus he accounted for the general 
 distribution of animal heat through the body. The increase 
 of heat in local inflammations, he supposed to be- due to the 
 enlargement of the blood vessels in the parts affected, more 
 blood than usual thereby flowing through them, and giving a 
 greater degree of heat. 
 
 The Lecturer on Chemistry, in the Universit}' of Glasgow, 
 at this time, was the above named Dr. William Ir\'ine, a lec- 
 turer and teacher of much note. He was Dr. Maclean's first 
 instructer in Chemistry, and he is spoken of in respectful 
 terms in one of Dr. M.'s papers read before the Chemical So- 
 ciety' of that institution. Although Chemistr\' was not 
 
1 1 
 
 included in the curriculum of studies assigned to the Arts, 
 yet there can be no doubt that Dr. Maclean attended the lec- 
 tures of Dr. Irvine, while yet a student in the department of 
 the Arts. In years 1786 and '8y he attended the lectures on 
 the Theory and Practice of Physics, and also on Anatomy, 
 Midwifery, and Botany, as appears from the following certifi- 
 cates given him by Dr. Alexander Stevenson: 
 
 " That Mr. John Maclean attended my lectures on the 
 Theory and Practice of Physic is certified by 
 
 Alex. Stevenson, M. D." 
 Also, 
 
 " That he attended t/iree courses of Anatomy under my 
 late colleague Mr. W. Hamilton ; besides, a course of Botany 
 and one of Midwifery. Alex. Stevenson. 
 
 Glasgow College, Sept. 20, 1790." 
 
 As it was his purpose to become a Surgeon rather than a 
 practitioner of Physic, it is highly probable that during the 
 years 1786 and '8y he also attended the lectures on surgery, 
 which, however, may have been given, and probably were, in 
 connection with those on Anatomy. 
 
 Leaving Glasgow, he repaired to Edinburgh, chiefly, it is 
 presumed, that he might have the privilege of attending Dr. 
 Black's course of lectures and experiments, which had se- 
 cured for him a very high reputation as a chemist and a 
 teacher, especially in Great Britain and Ireland. Dr. Black was 
 ^ pupil of the celebrated Dr. Wm. Cullen, when Dr. C. was 
 ■ tlje Lecturer on Chemistry in the University of Glasgow, and 
 the successor of Dr. Cullen in the University of Edinburgh. 
 ^How long Dr. M. remained at Edinburgh is not known. The 
 statement that he did pursue his studies at this city, for a Ion- 
 
I 2 
 
 g^r or sliortLT time, if the writer's memory does not fail him, 
 is made on the authority of a letter brought by Dr. Maclean 
 to America, but now lost. This letter was in the hands of 
 the late Rev. Dr. Samuel Miller, of Princeton, at the time he 
 wrote a brief notice of Dr. Maclean for the edition of Lem- 
 priere's Universal Biographical Dictionary, edited by Eleazar 
 Lord, Esq., and published in New York in 1825. The fact of 
 his studying at Edinburgh is mentioned in Dr. Miller's arti- 
 cle. The writer of this letter was Dr. Millar, of Glasorow. and 
 the writer of this memoir inclines to the opinion that the gen- 
 tleman here named was Richard Millar, M.D., Lecturer on 
 Materia Medica, and afterwards Professor of the same in the 
 University of Glasgow, from 1791 to 1834. Dr. Millar's 
 commendation of Dr. Maclean was in very strong terms. It 
 may, however, have been John Millar, Esq., Advocate and 
 Professor of Law in the University. This gentleman was on 
 terms of intimacy with Mr. George Macintosh and family. 
 
 Dr. Maclean went also to London and Paris, in which cities 
 he had the best facilities for the prosecution of his studies in 
 chemistry and surgery. Returning to his native city, after an 
 absence, it is believed, of two or three years, from 1787 to 
 1790, he resumed here his studies for about a year, and then 
 engaged with much success in the practice of his chosen pro- 
 fession, while at the same time he continued his researches in 
 the department of Chemistry, and he was regarded by some 
 of his learned friends, scientists of that day, as having in Scot- 
 land no superior and scarcely an equal in the New or French 
 Chemistry. 
 
 At the time of his becoming a member of the Facult}' of 
 Physicians and Surgeons he was in the twent}'-first year of 
 his age. 
 
From the date, Sept. 20, 1790, of Dr. Stevenson's certifi- 
 cate, it is evident that it must have been given after Dr. Mac- 
 lean's return from Paris, and with a view to his engaging in 
 the practice of surgery at Glasgow ; and that his sojourn in 
 London and Paris must have occurred at the time suggested 
 above, viz : between 1787 and 1790. In one of his lectures 
 to his classes in the College here, he mikes men.tion of meet- 
 ing Dr. Crawford in London in 1790. This must have oc- 
 curred on his way from Paris to Glasgow. Dr. Crawford was 
 a member of the Chemical Society of Glasgow. 
 
 Dr. Maclean's diploma, authorizing him to practice surgery 
 and pharmacy, is of the date of August, 1st, 179 1. It is 
 signed by Dr. Robert Cleghorn, the President of the Faculty 
 of Physicians and Surgeons of the City of Glasgow, and by 
 the other officers. On the same day he was admitted a mem- 
 ber of the Faculty, and continued to be a member of it until 
 his death. 
 
 It was his happiness to have been a student in Paris at the 
 time Lavoisier, Berthollet, Fourcroy, and other eminent culti- 
 vators of chemical science were yet living and at the height 
 of their reputation ; and, no doubt, their teachings exerted a 
 powerful influence upon the scientific views and pursuits of 
 Dr. M. During his residence at Paris, Dr. Maclean became 
 such a proficient in the French language that he could read 
 and speak it with as much facility as he did the English. Not 
 only did Dr. Maclean embrace the new system of Chemistry, 
 _ as developed and taught by the French Savans of this period, 
 but he appears also to have entertained views on the compar- 
 >ative merits of the monarchical and republican forms of gov- 
 ernment, which eventually led him to emigrate to the United 
 States. 
 
14 
 
 In the party strifes of his adopted country, hj took but 
 Httlt^ interest, yet he was devoted to her welfare, and earnestly 
 desired her success in the war of i8 12-14, before the close of 
 which he ended his earthly career. The writer, then a lad of 
 twelve, w^as quite an ardent Federalist ; and, offended at hear- 
 ing his father spoken of as a Democrat, he mentioned the cir- 
 cumstance to him, who blandly remarked that he was a Brit- 
 ish but not an American Democrat, and added, that being by 
 birth a foreigner, he deemed it his duty not to take an active 
 part in any merely political contests. 
 
 His coming to America was not the result of a sudden im- 
 pulse, but of a deliberate conviction that he ought to come. This 
 is evident from a letter, of the date of Sept. 21, 1794, to Mrs. 
 George Macintosh, of Dunchattan, Glasgow, in a collection of 
 letters WTitten by the w^ell known Mrs. Grant, of Laggan, and 
 published under the title of " Letters from the Mountains." 
 London, 1807. Of these letters, 135 in all, five and twenty 
 were addressed to Mrs. Macintosh, an admirable lady, and one 
 whose mind, to use an expression of Mrs. Grant's respecting 
 her, was " so strong, and yet so tender." Mrs. Macintosh was 
 the daughter of the Rev. Charles Moore, of Stirling, Scotland, 
 and an aunt of General Sir John Moore. The following is an • 
 extract from the above mentioned letter of Mrs. Grant's : 
 
 " Did I tell you what pleasure it gives me to tind that your friend and favorite 
 l)r. Maclean had given u]) tliat wild scheme of going tt) America? I was fond 
 of that ccjuntry to enthusiasm, and spent the most delightful and fanciful period 
 of my life in it, for mine was a premature childhood. The place where I resided 
 was the most desirable in the whole continent, there my first perceptions of plea- 
 sure, and there my earliest habits of thinking were formed; and from thence I 
 drew that high relish for the sublime simplicity of nature which has ever accom- 
 panied me. This has been the means of jireserving a certain humble dignity in 
 all the difficulties I had had to struggle through. \'ct. from wliat I know of the 
 
I 
 
 
 
 alterations which the last twenty years have brought about in that country, and 
 the still greater difference which other views and associations have made on myself, 
 though I had it now in my power to return, my judgment would check my incli- 
 nation." 
 
 Although he did for a time yield to the wishes of his greatly 
 esteemed friends, and decided to remain in the land of his birth, 
 yet his final decision was, that it would be better for him to 
 settle in this country, the political sentiments of which were 
 fully in accord with his own : and in which he would have as 
 wide a field for scientific research and usefulness, as he could 
 possibly have anywhere else. 
 
 Before leaving Scotland for America, he had adopted, and 
 had had engraved upon his watch seal, a simple Scotch pebble, 
 the well known motto of "Ubi libertas, ibi patria," — andbeliev- 
 ing'that his idea of true liberty could be realized most readily 
 and happily under our Republican form of government he 
 determined to become an American citizen. Accordingly, he 
 left Scotland in April 1795, and arrived at New York, the same 
 or the following month. 
 
 Dr. Maclean's guardian, Mr. Macintosh, was a staunch loy- 
 alist, and an ardent supporter of the crown and throne ; yet 
 their different political creeds never interfered in the least with 
 the kind feelings and affectionate regards which they enter- 
 tained for each other: — the relations between them being like 
 that of father and son. They continued to correspond as long 
 as they lived ;.and the writer of this memoir, though quite a 
 child at the time, distinctly recollects the deep sorrow mani- 
 fested by his father, upon receiving the intelligence of Mr. 
 Macintosh's decease. As an expression of his love and respect 
 for his guardian Dr. Maclean named his third son George 
 Macintosh. 
 
i6 
 
 In a letter to her friend Miss Ourry, Mrs. Grant thus speaks 
 of this gentleman : " I should not conclude without telling 
 you, that Mr. Macintosh is a man worth taking a journey to 
 see, not of active benevolence only, but of restless, impetuous 
 benevolence. I will teach you to admire him at more leisure, 
 having no time now to do him justice." 
 
 At the funeral of Mr. Macintosh, and as expressive of Mr. 
 Macintosh's character, the Rev.Dr. Ritchie of Glasgow preached 
 a sermon from the words ** He hath dispersed, he hath given 
 to the poor, his righteousness endureth for ever, his horn shall 
 be exalted with honor," and in the course of his sermon he 
 quoted as applicable to him the words " When the ear heard 
 him, then it blessed him, because he delivered the poor that 
 cried and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him. 
 The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon him, 
 and he caused the widow's heart to sing for joy." Dr. R. had 
 previously said, " He was not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, 
 he believed its doctrines, he acted upon its laws." 
 
 Until Dr. Maclean's own decease, which occurred in Feb- 
 ruary 1 8 14, there was also an intimate friendship between him 
 and Charles Macintosh, Esq., the eldest son of his guardian, 
 who never forgot the family of his companion and friend ; but 
 on various occasions rendered them important services, in 
 attending to matters of business for their sakes. 
 
 Mr. Charles Macintosh while yet a youth was much devoted 
 to the study of Chemistry, in which he became a proficient, 
 and made several valuable discoveries in this Art, which he 
 turned to good account in the prosecution of his profession as 
 a manufacturer, on a large scale, of several valuable articles of 
 commerce. His knowledge, skill and success gave him both 
 
17 
 
 reputation and large wealth. He was made a Fellow of the 
 Royal Society, and took an active part in the proceedings of 
 the British Association for the advancement of science. In 
 the memoir of his life, by his son George Macintosh, not less 
 than twelve different inventions of his are mentioned : and some 
 matters, in which he anticipated the discoveries of home and 
 foreign chemists by several years, are also enumerated. The 
 well known Macintosh water-proof cloth was this gentleman's 
 invention. 
 
 With Dr. Maclean, or about the same time, there came to 
 this country his friend Dr. and Mrs. John C. Millar, and 
 among a very few memoranda, left in a note book by Dr. 
 Maclean, there is the following entry respecting a seal of Dr. 
 Millar's given to him by Mrs. Millar. 
 
 " Algernon Sidney wrote in the album of the University 
 of Copenhagen, and signed these lines, which may be consid- 
 ered as a summary of his principles : 
 
 " Manus haec, inimica tyrannis, 
 
 Ense petit placidam sub libertate quietem." 
 
 N. B. Sub libertate quietem is the motto on the seal 
 given me by my esteemed friend Mrs. Millar, the daughter of 
 Dr. Cullen. It belonged to her husband Dr. John C. Millar, 
 who, like myself, was an exile." This last remark confirms 
 the opinion expressed above, that Dr. Maclean's political 
 principles had much to do in bringing him to America. His 
 friend, Dr. Millar, went to the then Western States, with the ex- 
 pectation of settling in some one of them, if he should find a 
 suitable opening ; but having been seized with a fever he was 
 cut off shortly after his arrival in this country. His widow, 
 Mrs. Millar, it is the impression of the writer, returned to 
 
i8 
 
 Scotland. Her father, the eminent Dr. W'm. Cullen, of Kdin- 
 burcrh, died four or five \'ear.s before Mrs. Millar came witli 
 her husband to the United States. 
 
 Soon after his arrival in New York, in the spring of 1795, 
 Dr. Maclean went to Philadelphia, and haxing letters to some 
 of the most eminent physicians there, he called upon them, 
 presented his letters and was most kindly received. Learnin^^ 
 from these letters and from personal interviews with him, his 
 great predilection for the subject of Chemistry, and his supe- 
 rior attainments in this science, Dr. Benjamin Rush, at that 
 time at the head of the medical faculty of Philadelphia, ad- 
 vised his settling at Princeton, which seemed to afford the 
 most favorable opportunity for turning to account his knowl- 
 edge of Chemistry, and also for his engaging in the practice of 
 his profession as a surgeon and physician. 
 
 Satisfied that the course indicated b}- his Philadelphia 
 friends was a wise one, he came to Princeton ; and, shortly 
 after, entered with much success on the practice of physic and 
 surgery, in connection with the leading physician of the place, 
 Dr. Ebenezer Stockton, who proved himself to be a most true 
 and valuable friend to Dr. M., and also to his family, both be- 
 fore and after Dr. Maclean's decease, for more than forty - 
 years. The business partnership between them continued for 
 only two years, it having been brought to a close by the ap- 
 pointment of Dr. Maclean, in 1797, to the Professorship of 
 Mathematics and Natural Philosophy in the College, which 
 made it necessary for him to give up the practice of his pro- 
 fession as a physician and surgeon. While so employed he 
 performed two or three surgical operations not usual in a 
 country practice, and which, in one of our large cities, would 
 
19 
 
 have secured for him an opening to both reputation and 
 wealth. An Enghsh gentleman, by the name of Palmer, with 
 whom he was on terms of great intimacy, often urged his re- 
 moval to Philadelphia, where instead of making a bare sup- 
 port for himself and family, he might be sure of obtaining an 
 ample return for the services he rendered. But his preference 
 for the quiet and regularity of an academic life induced him to 
 remain at Princeton, until the summer of 1812, when in con- 
 sequence of certain contemplated changes in the College 
 Faculty, he tendered his resignation, and shortly after ac- 
 cepted an invitation to the chair of Natural Philosophy and 
 Chemistry, in the College of William and Mary, Williams- 
 burg, Virginia. 
 
 Upon his coming to Princeton, in the early summer of 
 1795, he delivered in the College, at the request of the Presi- 
 dent, Rev. Dr. Samuel Stanhope Smith, a short course of lec- 
 tures on Chemistry, which produced so favorable an impression 
 in regard to his ability as a lecturer, that at the next meeting 
 of the Trustees he was chosen Professor of Chemistry and 
 Natural History, with the understanding that he was at liberty 
 to continue his profession as a physician. The Commence- 
 ment this year occurred on the 30th of September, and his 
 election on the day following, t'/s-., the ist of October, 1795. 
 
 Upon the decease of Dr. Walter Minto, the Professor of 
 Mathematics and Natural Philosphy, who died October, 1796, 
 Dr. Maclean, at the request of the Trustees, assumed, for the 
 next College term, the duties of his late colleague, so far as 
 the instruction in Natural Philosophy was concerned — Presi- 
 dent Smith at the same time taking charge of the mathemati- 
 eal department. This arrangement was made at a special 
 
20 
 
 meeting of the Board, held in November of the same year, 
 1796. At the next statsd nueting, Tuesday, the iith of 
 April, 1797, Dr. Maclean was chosen Professor of Mathe- 
 matics and Natural Philosophy, and his salary was fixed at 
 two Jill ?idrcd and fifty poll fids, proc. ^^$666.66 a \'ear — and it 
 was " ordered, that Chemistry and Natural History be taught 
 as branches of Natural Philosophy." At this time the in- 
 struction in all these branches was given only to the members of 
 the Junior and Senior classes. The arrangement here spoken 
 of continued until the year 1804, when, in consequence of the 
 large increase in the number of students, the Rev. Andrew 
 Hunter, of New Jersey, a Trustee of the College, was chosen 
 Professor of Mathematics and Astronomy, and for four years 
 he taught these branches. Upon the resignation of Professor 
 Hunter, in 1808, Dr. Maclean, at the desire of the Board, 
 again took upon himself the entire charge of the scientific de- 
 partment of the College, and continued in charge thereof 
 until the date of his resignation, in September, 1 81 2. For 
 some years previous to his resignation, his salary was $1,250 
 a year, together with the use of a house on the College 
 grounds. During a part of the time, if not for the whole of 
 it, that he was the sole Professor of Mathematics, Natural 
 Philosophy, Chemistry and Natural History, he was assisted 
 in teaching the elementary parts of Mathematics by one of 
 the College Tutors. Whatever changes were made in the 
 College curriculum, or in the provisions for conducting it. Dr. 
 Maclean never ceased, during his connection with the College, 
 to be its Professor of Chemistry, and from the time of his ap- 
 pointment as Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philoso- 
 j)h\' he gave himself wholly to the serx'ice of the Institution. 
 
21 
 
 not only in taking a large share in its teachings, but also an 
 active part in its government, and giving his assistance when- 
 ever it was needed. Soon after his appointment as Professor 
 of Chemistry, the following letter, written by the Rev. Dr. 
 Smith, was given to the public in " Wood's Newark Gazette 
 and New Jersey Advertiser," of the i ith of November, 1 795 : 
 
 " Mr. Woods : 
 
 Your inserting the following information in your Gazette will probably 
 be acceptable to the students of Physic, and in general to the lovers of Natural 
 Science throughout the State : 
 
 Princeton, October 26, 1795. 
 
 The Trustees of the College in this place, at their last meeting, appointed Ur. 
 John Maclean Professor of Chemistry, in which branch of science, he will give 
 an extensive course of lectures during the ensuing season. He will also lecture 
 on comparative Anatomy, provided a class can be obtained that may encourage 
 him to bestow the necessary pains. Dr. Maclean has studied Chemistry, Anato- 
 my, Midwifery and Surgery, at Glasgow, London and Paris. He brings with 
 him the highest recommendations from Europe, and from personal acquaintance 
 and from attending a short course of Chemical lectures, I can assure the public 
 that of that subject, and of the newest improvements that have been made in it, 
 he is a perfect Master. He has made it an object of cultivation, not only in ref- 
 erence to medicine, but particularly in its application to agriculture and manu- 
 factures, so useful in every country, but especially in a new one. Other young 
 men besides physicians, of a studious and inquisitive turn, may find great pleas- 
 ure and advantage in attending these lectures ; and students of medicine in the 
 State who wish improvement in these important branches connected with their 
 future professions, and seek it during the winter season in the neighboring cities, 
 may be saved a considerable expense by attending at Princeton. I am well as- 
 . sured from the abilities of the Professor, they cannot obtain it at present with more 
 advantage at any- place in America than in the College of New Jersey. 
 
 Samuel S. Smith, President of the College." 
 
 This is certainly a very high commendation of a man not 
 
 yet twenty-five years of age ; but it is in full accord with the 
 
 -statements in the numerous testimonials which he brought 
 
 with him from Scotland. From these testimonials it appears 
 
22 
 
 that witliin less than four )'cars from the time that he was h- 
 censed to practice pliarmac)\ he attained a high reputation 
 both as surgeon and a chemist. Some of the testimonials 
 have been lost, but not a few are still in possession of the 
 writer, which fully justify the commendations bestowed upon 
 him by President Smith. In a letter from Dr. James Towers 
 to Dr. Samuel L. Mitchell, of New York, Professor of Chem- 
 istry in Columbia College, the writer of the letter in speaking 
 of Dr. Maclean uses this language : 
 
 " This will be delivered to you by Mr. Maclean, Surgeon, a particular ac- 
 (juaintance of mine. He was educated at the school where we became ac- 
 quainted, and for some years past has practised in this City, and I am sorry at 
 his departure, as it deiMives us of one of our best informed members." 
 
 " You will find him in every respect the scholar and the gentleman : and as a 
 Chemist he has net left his equal in this place." (Glasgow). 
 
 Dr. James Towers, from whose letter this extract is given, 
 was at the date of the letter a member of the Faculty of 
 Physicians and Surgeons of the City of Glasgow, and he was 
 also an P^xaminer for the same ; and subsequently one of the 
 Medical Professors in the University : and his is one of the 
 names appended to the diploma authorizing Dr. M. to practise 
 Surgery and Pharmacy. 
 
 In a letter to Tobias Lear, PLsq., of Washington City, from 
 John Pattison, Esq., of Glasgow, the following passage occurs, 
 " He has practised in this City, for some time with great repu- 
 tation and has most ample certificates of his medical abilities, 
 and 1 have no doubt that he will prove a very valuable acqui- 
 sition to your Capital." P)r. Maclean upon leaving Scotland 
 thought of making Washington City the place of his residence. 
 
 Dr. James M. Adair of lulinburgh, a practical chemist of 
 much note, in a letter of March 24th. 1795. addressed to 
 
23 
 
 Robert Brooke, Esq., the Governor of Virginia, after request- 
 ing for Dr. Maclean the courteous attentions of both Governor 
 and Mrs. Brooke, adds, " You will particularly oblige me by 
 introducing him to Mr. Jefferson as a gentleman whose Chemi- 
 cal skill is likely to promote essentially the agriculture and 
 manufactures of the U. S." 
 
 In the beginning of the letter Dr. Adair mentions that his 
 friend Dr. Maclean, thinking on political subjects as his excel- 
 lency and he himself did, is determined to settle in America. 
 In a letter of the 4th of April, 1795. addressed to Mr. Laird, 
 Merchant residing in Georgetown, D. C., Mr. Alexander 
 Oswald of Glasgow says, " he has practised here with great 
 ability and reputation for some years." 
 
 In a letter from Messrs. lohn Youncj & Co., Merchants of 
 Glasgow, to their correspondents, Messrs. McLear, Cochrane 
 & Co., of Philadelphia, the writer says, " we beg leave to 
 recommend him to your civilities not only as our particular 
 friend, but as a young man of merit, and whose success in 
 whatever way he means to establish himself we have much at 
 heart." 
 
 Mr. Macintosh, the guardian of Dr. Maclean when a youth, 
 thus speaks of him in a letter of the date of July 29th, 1794, 
 addressed to Walter Colquhoun, Esq., Falmouth, Va. 
 
 " Give me leave to introduce to your acquaintance and friendship, the bearer 
 of this, Mr. John Maclean, Surgeon here, (Glasgow) — a very intimate and par- 
 ticular friend of mine and my family's, a young man of very eminent abilities in 
 his profession as a Surgeon, and as a Chemist. — Perhajis you may have known 
 hisfather Dr. John Maclean of this place. 
 
 'This young friend of mine, who is in very respectable i")ractise here, in his 
 
 line, has taken a Fancy to settle in America, and I hope he will do well 
 
 ^. . . . He is a young man of the strictest honour and integrity — of good parts 
 and knowledge, and for whom I ha\ e a very great regard and friendship, having 
 
24 
 
 known liim from his cradle. — And any service y(iU can (h) him, — or any civilities 
 you may show him, I shall consider just the same, as if done to a Son of my 
 own. — And it will give me pleasure if you put it in my power — to do the same 
 act of kindness to any friend of your house. 
 
 I again warmly recommend this young gentleman to your particular regard. 
 And lielicve me, Dear Sir, 
 
 Vour Most Obedient .Servant, 
 
 Gkorge M.\cintosh. 
 Dear Sir : Some occurrences prevented Mr. r»Iaclean from going to America 
 at the time he intended, and that the foregoing letter was wrote. I have now to 
 confirm what I formerly said. And again to recpiest your friendship and atten- 
 tion to Mr. Maclean, and you will thereby confer a singular favour on me. 
 Cilasgow, 30lh of March, 1795." 
 
 To these Icstimonial.s from individual gentlemen, we will 
 append a certificate fi'om the Faculty of Physician.s and Sur- 
 geons, which is as follows : 
 
 Facii-TY H.\ll, Glascow, March 30th, 1795. 
 
 We the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of (ilasgow, considering tlie char- 
 acter and abilities of Mr. John Maclean, Surgeon, now about to leave this coun- 
 try, and resolving that, besides the ordinary Diploma and Certificate of his admis- 
 sion as one of our number, we should give some authentic testimony of our esteem 
 for his character as a gentleman, and of our high opinion of his professional 
 knowledge and abilities, order this our resolution to be transcribed from our books, 
 and to be sul)scribed by our President and Visitor, in our name and by our 
 authority, as a certificate of this our high o])inion of Mr. Maclean's character and 
 abilities as above stated ; and as a testimony of our desire to promote the success ' 
 which such qualifications deserve in whatever part of the world he may happen 
 to reside. 
 
 (Signed) Jamks Jeffray, Pres. 
 
 [sKAi..] Wm. Cot^PER, Visitor. 
 
 Dr. Jeffray was at this time Professor of Anatomy in the 
 University of Glasgow : and Mr. Couper an eminent Surgeon 
 and Chemist of the City of Glasgow, and a competitor with 
 [)\'. Cleghorn for the chair of Chemistr\- in the University. 
 
25 
 
 At the beginning of his instructions, in thj department of 
 Chemistry, Dr. Maclean says that " Chemistry is the inv'estiga- 
 tion of the intimate and mutual action of bodies one upon 
 another : It discovers qualities peculiar to each substance." 
 The latter clause seems to have been added b\' Dr. M. to a 
 definition given by some one else. 
 
 The subjects handled are the following, viz. : 
 
 I. Caloric. 2. Light. 3. Electricity. 4. Oxvgcn. 
 
 5. y5?sci/i?, and under this head, Atmospheric Air, 
 
 Nitrou"^ Acid, Nitrous Gas, 
 Eudiometers and Nitric Acid. 
 
 6. Hydrogtu, Water, Ammonia, 
 
 Nitrate of Ammonia. 
 
 7. Sulphur, Sulphurous Acid, Sulphuric Acid, 
 
 Sulphuretted Hydrogen, Sulphuret (jf Anmi(,nia. 
 S. Phosphorus, Phosphoric Acid, Phosphorous Acid, 
 
 Phosphorated Hydrogen, Sulphuret of Phosj^horus. 
 9. Carbon, Carbonic Acid, Carbonate of Ammonia. 
 
 Fixed or Gross Oils, Lamp-black. 
 Circular Wicks or many small wick>. 
 Volatile or Aromatic Oils, Alcohol. 
 Ether, Sweet oil of wine. 
 Camphor, Camphoric Acid. 
 Resins, Caoutchouc, Copal. 
 Sugar, Pyromucous Acid. 
 • Oxalic Acid, Sugar Candy. 
 
 Vinous fermentation. Acetous Acid an 1 fermentation, 
 
 Acetic Acid. 
 Acetic Ether, Putrefactive fermentation. 
 Gum, Gum-resin, Starch. 
 N • Acids of different fruits, Pyroligneous Acid. 
 
 ' ■ Soft parts of animals. Portable soup. 
 
 ' Glue, Tallow, Formic Acid, Lactic and Saccholactic 
 
 Acids. 
 ^ o. Silex. 
 1 1 . Altimine, Pottery. 
 
26 
 
 12. Magnesia. 
 
 13. Lime. 
 
 14. Baryies. 
 
 15. Strontifes. 
 
 16. Potash, 
 
 17. .S'^^/f/, 
 
 18. Muria.'ii Aciil, 
 
 19. 
 
 Fluoric Acid. 
 
 20. 
 
 Boracic Acid. 
 
 21. 
 
 Arsenic. 
 
 22. 
 
 Molydemim. 
 
 23- 
 
 Tungsten. 
 
 24. 
 
 Cobalt, 
 
 25- 
 
 Bismuth. 
 
 26. 
 
 Xickel. 
 
 27- 
 
 Alanganese. 
 
 28. 
 
 Antimony. 
 
 29. 
 
 Alercury. 
 
 30- 
 
 Zinc. 
 
 31- 
 
 Tin. 
 
 32. 
 
 Lead. 
 
 ll>- 
 
 Iron, 
 
 34- 
 
 Copper. 
 
 35- 
 
 Silver. 
 
 36. 
 
 Gold. 
 
 37- 
 
 Platina. 
 
 
 (ieneral remarks on 
 
 Nitre, (iunpowdt-r, Pot and I'earl Asho. 
 Caustic lye, Cream of Tartar, Salt of Tartar. 
 Soaps, Bleaching, Glass. 
 Liver of Sulphur, Glauber salts. 
 Carbonate of Soda, Soap, Glass. 
 O-xygenated Muriatic Acid, Bleaching. 
 Different Muriates, Glazin^r eirthcrn ware, 
 Sejxaration of common salt fr')m \v.i;er> of S|)riiv. 
 and the Sea. 
 
 Sympathetic ink, -Ziffre, — Smalls, A/;me blue. 
 
 Ink, Pru>sian-blue, Tin-platr. 
 
 Metals, and on Chemical combinations. 
 
 Second Course. 
 Of Living or .Knimated bodies. 
 
 Of Vegetables. 
 Their structure and ori/anization. 
 
27 
 
 Of Vegetable Productions. 
 
 1 . Mucilage. 
 
 2. Sugar, Wine, Rum, \'inc^ar. 
 
 3. Man7ia. 
 
 4. Starch, Farina, Bread, Malt Liquors. 
 
 Gross or Fat Oils. 
 
 Volatile Oils. 
 Preparation of Cani])hor, of Resins, of Guinresins, \Vine, and Cider. 
 Composition of Vegetables. 
 Use of vegetable mould. 
 Formation of soil on rocks. 
 Use of plowing, fallowing, and farming land. 
 The preparation of scjil. 
 Food and stimulants for i)lants. 
 Possible to render rotation of crops unnecessary. 
 Notes on Tanning and Currying. 
 
 From the above enumeration it appears, that in his lectures 
 on Chemistry, Dr. Maclean gave attention to the relations it 
 sustains to Agriculture and Manufactures, as well as to those 
 which it has to Medicine. 
 
 Electricity, although treated of in its relations to Chemis- 
 try, was more fully handled as a distinct branch of Natural 
 Philosophy. The same remark is true of Light. 
 
 For ten or twelve years, Dr. Maclean's instructions in 
 Chemistry were given by lectures and experiments, without 
 the use of a text book, but upon the republication in this coun- 
 try, of Dr. Wm. Henry's " Epitome of Chemistry," edited with 
 notes, by Dr.B. Silliman, Yale College, in 1808, Drs. Maclean 
 and Silliman united in a recommendation of Mr. Henry's work, 
 -and adopted it as a text book, for their respective classes, using 
 it in connection with their lectures. Dr. Henry was a resident 
 of Manchester, England, a Fellow of the Royal Society, and a 
 member of several Philosophical Societies, in Great Britain 
 
 • 
 
2S 
 
 and on the Continent of Kurope. In 1819, an edition of Dr. 
 Henry's Klements of Kxperimental Chemistry, was repubHshed 
 in Philadelphia, from the eighth London edition, under the 
 supjrvision of Dr. Robert Hare, the eminent Professor of 
 Chemistry in the Medical department of the University of 
 Pennsylvania, and in 181 8 a successor uf Dr. Maclean in the 
 chair of Natural Philosophy and Chemistry in the CoUei^e of 
 William and Mary, Williamsburgh, Vir^^inia. 
 
 In the other departments of Science, he relied chiefly upon 
 text-books, in conducting the studies of his pupils — adding such 
 remarks as he deemed requisite for the further elucidation of 
 the subjects therein handled. 
 
 The text-books in Mathematics appear to have been Thomas 
 Simpson's Algebra, also his Trigonometry, plain and spheri- 
 cal, Robert Simpson's PZuclid and his Conic sections, Play- 
 fair's Kuclid, Gibson's Surveying, Moore's Navigation. It is 
 not improbable that there were other works used in the course 
 of the ten or eleven years, that Dr. Maclean was Professor 
 of Mathematics, but of this the writer cannot speak with con- 
 fidence. 
 
 In Natural Philosophy, the treatise used as 3. ■ text-book for 
 some years at least, was Enfield's " Institutes of Natural Philos- • 
 ophy," London, 1799. Helsham's Natural Philosophy and 
 Nicholson's Introduction to Natural Philosophy, were also 
 probably used during a part of the time, inasmuch as they 
 were so used by his immediate predecessor, Dr. Minto. 
 
 In the various branches of Natural Philosophy much oral 
 instruction was given by Dr. M., and this accompanied b}' 
 numerous illustrations and experiments. His own library con- 
 tained most of the more valuable works on this subject, in both 
 the English and the French lanfruaee. 
 
29 
 
 The Philosophical apparatus of the College, for several 
 years after his appointment as Professor was upon a very limited 
 scale, and it often tasked the Professor's ingenuity to construct 
 articles of apparatus suited to his purpose. One or two of 
 these are still in the possession of the College, viz., a small 
 ealvanic batterv and a voltaic pile. Thes.' of course are now 
 of no value other than as showing the progress since made in 
 apparatus of this kind. 
 
 To what extent instruction was giv^en in Natural History, 
 the writer is unable to say : but more or less it was made a 
 subject of attention and study by the successive classes. And 
 to render the study more attractive to the pupils, especially in 
 the department of Zoology, a valuable cabinet was purchased 
 in 1802 by President Smith and the Professors, and offered to 
 the Trustees at cost. To enable the Trustees to purchase this 
 Museum, the Hon. p:iias Boudinot, LL.D., gave them a tract 
 of land in the State of New York, valued at ;^3,ooo. 
 
 In 1796, the year after Dr. Maclean bsgan his instructions 
 at the College, Dr. Priestley published a pamphlet entitled 
 " Considerations on the doctrine of Phlogiston and the Decom- 
 position of Water," which paper was reviewed, in " two lectures 
 on Combustion supplementary to a course of lectures read at 
 Nassau Hall," by Dr. Maclean. This review by Dr. M. was 
 published, and with the following advertisement prefixed. 
 " Owing to other engagements a part only of the first of these 
 lectures was read to the students. They are now printed to 
 .s:ave the young gentlemen the trouble of transcribing them. 
 ^ J. M. 
 
 P. S. // was not till after they were sent to the press, that I 
 7vas informed Mr. Aciet had published a )i answer to Dr. Priestley s 
 pamphlet!' 
 
30 
 
 Mr. Adet's was written in French, and was published in 
 Philadelphia, in 1797. about a week before Dr. Maclean's. 
 
 Mr. Adet was at this time the Minister of the French Gov- 
 ernment to this country : yet he modestly speaks of himself 
 in the title-page of his pamphlet as a Member of the Philo- 
 sophical Society of Philadelphia, &c. 
 
 Both these reviews of Dr. Priestley's article were adverse 
 to the opinions of Dr. Priestley, and to them he gave an earn- 
 est response in another paper, dedicated to his friend Samuel 
 Galton, PLsq., of Birmingham, P^ngland, and of the date of Feb. 
 1st, 1800. Thi paper which gave rise to these Reviews by 
 Mr. Adet and Dr. Maclean was of the date of June 15th, 1795. 
 and was inscribed to Messrs. Berthollet, De LaPlace, Monge. 
 Morveau, P^ourcroy, and Hassinfratz : — tJic si;nnviug ansi^'crcn 
 of Mr. Kinvan. 
 
 The discussion of the questions in these papers was con- 
 tinued for a time in the New York Medical Repository, by 
 Drs. Priestley, Maclean, Woodhouse and Mitchell. The last 
 named gentleman, one of the P^ditors of the Repository, en- 
 deavored to maintain a position intermediate between those of 
 Drs. P. and M., and Dr. Woodhouse of Philadelphia while 
 dissenting from the opinions of Dr. Priestley, on the main 
 matter in question took occasion to reflect with severity on 
 some of Dr. Maclean's views and experiments and his mode of 
 .stating them, which called forth from the latter a somewhat 
 sharp reply. Dr. Woodhouse having avowed his purpose not 
 " to be the first to drop the subject," in case Dr. Maclean, ad- 
 vancing nothing but what was founded upon his own experi- 
 ments, should again reply to Dr. Priestley, Dr. M. says in 
 answer. " It has been already intimated in my letter to Dr. 
 
Mitchell which you have seen, that it is my intention to repl\' 
 to Dr. Priestley ; and I cannot think that I will be deterred 
 from doing so, because you have threatened to be my impugn- 
 er : — on the contrary you are welcome to make whatsoever 
 observ^ations you may choose on my performance, and I see 
 no material objection to their being communicated to the 
 public under the cover of an address to me. — At the same time 
 be informed, you will write to one who so far from being a 
 punctual correspondent, even his friends complain that their 
 letters are unanswered ; so it is more than probable, he will 
 take no notice of your criticisms." 
 
 The opinions maintained by Dr. Maclean, and which are 
 those of Lavoisier and his co-laborators in Chemical Science, 
 have continued to hold their ground, with only such changes 
 as the progress of that science has suggested. 
 
 A copy of Mr. Adet's pamphlet and two copies of his own 
 were sent by Dr. Maclean to Dr. Robert Cleghorn, an eminent 
 physician of Glasgow, and at that time the Lecturer on Chem- 
 istry in the University of that City. Dr. Maclean also for- 
 warded to Dr. Cleghorn the numbers of the Medical Reposi- 
 tory containing his replies to Drs. Priestley and Woodhouse : 
 and from his wise and learned friend he received an admirable 
 letter in reference, more especially, to his continuing the con- 
 troversy in the Repository. 
 
 Dr. Cleghorn's letter is of the date of August i ith, 1800, 
 and with some omissions it is as follows : 
 
 I received the letter you mention, and I read it with satisfaction. Not knowing 
 the provocation you had received, or the character of your oi)ponent, I could not 
 judge of the propriety with which you held him up to contempt, which you do in 
 a^iiianner very marked tho' by no means intemperate. In the dispute your char- 
 acter as a Chemist and Philosopher has lost nothing; but still I wish you had not 
 
32 
 
 entered into il. Your tippiUKiit, to whom nc; tluul)L Science owes much, has long 
 been addicted to disputation in a manner more calcuhited to secure victory than 
 to promote truth ; and upon the subject of jihlogiston he either does not think at 
 all, or thinks with an obliciuity altogether i)eculiar. His conviction therefore i^ 
 in a good measure out of the ([uestion, nor do I think your students were in a 
 great risk of being perverted, at least if I may judge from our's. Some things 
 have been printed in the Monthly Magazine prefaced with great candor and pro- 
 fessing novelty, but I have heard of none who were ever staggered by Experi- 
 ments altogether devoid of precision, or inferences as loose as the premises were 
 unfounded. I am persuaded that the very circumstance of his now standing alone 
 will make him stand, and repeat the same unvarying objections that he has so often 
 given in every form, except that of plain deductions from precise Experiment-. 
 I hope you will withdraw from thi> field as soon as you can, and pnjsecute at 
 leisure those researches for which nature has qualified you beyond most men. 
 S(jme of them I imagine may lead you to results unknow n or imperfectly under- 
 stood at present, and I would not debase these, by sending them through such a 
 channel as you have sometimes employed, but publish them by themselves, notic- 
 ing as little as possible ephemeral authors, or disputes. By declining C(jntro- 
 versy, Newton shewed his superior sagacity. It interrupts, said that great man. 
 the tranquillity of mind most favourable to the finding of truth, and which is more- 
 QYer omni pretio majus. You will excuse this freedom in one w ho is your supe- 
 rior in years only, and I assure you it proceeds merely from the sincerity of my 
 re<rard and my desire to see your abilities bent towards the discovery of truth with 
 all their force undivided. We have here a profusion of literary news, as the 
 journals are innumerable and unfortunately like the Stage Coach which sets olT 
 whether there be anything in the inside or no. By the bye, your countryman 
 
 I'erkins, (i. e., if you be a citizen of America) is an arrant Charlatan 
 
 His tractors are bits of Brass and Iron. I had an ()i)i)ortunity of applying them 
 to the immortal Mr. Watt, and I found they benefitted the w ise no mm-e than the 
 ignorant." Of all the late publications, there is none which I wish to see so much 
 as the Encyclopedic Methodique by Guston. The little 1 liave seen is most admi- 
 rable, but I cannot get it. Perhaps you have been more fortunate .... 
 You may be thankful that my time is ended, otherwise you would have been 
 pestered longer by your sincere friend. l<- Cleghorn. 
 
 Not only did Dr. M. take in £,^ood part his friend's advice, 
 but he followed it ; so far at least as to withdraw from all 
 public controversy. 
 

 To Dr. Cleghorn's friendship, Dr. M. was indebted for other 
 favours : 77.C., for obtaining for him the degree of M.D. from 
 the University of Aberdeen ; at which University it was not 
 necessary for him to appear personally in order to receive the 
 degree, as was the case at Glasgow ; and also by bringing about 
 a change in the rules of the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons 
 of Glasgow, by which the widow of a member residing abroad 
 could establish her claim to the usual allowance granted to the 
 widows and children of deceased members ; and in virtue of 
 which Mrs. Maclean received, after the death of Dr. M., a 
 valuable annuity during the remainder of her life. 
 
 The kind offices of Dr. C. just mentioned are among the 
 
 matters spoken of in a letter of a previous date to that of the 
 
 one given above, and which was as follows: 
 
 Glasgow, March 9th, 1798. 
 My Dear Sir. 
 
 Different circumstances have hitherto prevented me from thanking you for 
 your last letter, and for the pamphlet, (his Lectures on Combustion,) which accom- 
 panied it. I have read it over with great pleasure, and in my opinion it does you 
 credit. I showed it to all your old friends, among others to P. Wilson, who 
 in return sends you a paper of his. I sent Dr. Rollo an account of two diabetic 
 patients, whose cases he has published in a work well worth your attention, and 
 I dare say you have seen it ; however, I send you a copy of my cases. 
 
 From the date of your diploma you will see that you have been a Physician 
 some time, as I took care to announce in the newspapers, but I had not sooner 
 an opportunity of sending out your commission. If it is intercepted I am to have 
 another without expense. Your business with the Faculty was not finally settled 
 till last month, when I paid up your quarter contribution till the date of a minute 
 (^f the P\aculty which I enclose along with the papers. The receipt from the 
 Collector I gave to Millar & Ewing, from whom I got the money for this and the 
 
 grdduation. On every occasion it will give me pleasure to 
 
 do anything for you in this country. 
 
 Everything is advancing rapidly to a great crisis; though of what kind, 
 heaven alone knows. We expect an invasion somewhere very soon, and volun- 
 
34 
 
 tary contributions are j^oing on everyw licrc lliri)UL,'1i tlic whole island to ])iovi<ie 
 the sinews of war. Eveiything is revolutioni/ing or revolutionized throughout 
 Europe. The Pope is annihilated; (Germany is dismembered, and the Swiss 
 oligarchies are following the fate of the Venetian. Till lately we looked at the 
 battle from afar, but now our peaceful shores are likely to be stained with much 
 blood. Political disputes become daily more and more bitter; — every one who 
 doubts Mr. Pitt's ability being marked as an Anarchist and an Atheist, while 
 those who believe in him are calletl slaves and .sycojihants. Sucli has always 
 been the humour of men before civil commotions — but why should I thus ser- 
 monize you who are without our vorte.x I The difficulty of continental inter- 
 course keeps us very much behind. A good deal is doing b\ the National Insti- 
 tute and the Ptjlytechnic School. 
 
 Vou have no doubt seen the exjierimenls on Alum, ))ro\ ing that it contains a 
 (juantily of potash or ammonia, as one of its ingredients ; and that the crystaliza- 
 tion is promoted as well by the acidulous sulphate of jiotash as by the carbonate, 
 nay better. Wiuv ol<l actpiaintance Mr. Macintosh i.s availing himself of this in 
 a work near (Glasgow ; \\ here copj^eras was formerly made, and where Alum is 
 now to l;e ])reparcd aNo. The same gentleman with Mr. Couper and two others 
 have taken a jiatent for bleaching by the oxymuriate of lime instead of pota>h. 
 The lime being stirred among water e.\p.)se.l ta oxymuriatic acid gas combine> 
 with it readily, becoming very soluble in water, and forming a bleaching liquor 
 equal to the old in every respect, superior in some, particularly in mellowing and 
 improving some colours injured b-y the other. 1 he exjieriment was begun and 
 completed by a very sensible bleacher named Tennant, and he imparted it to the 
 others, that they might assist him to make the most of it. (Ivirles (Macintosh) 
 is at present in Lancashire and meets with great encouragement. He asks the 
 profit on the saving of potash for the first six nionths. Your old friend C. Wilson, 
 has retired from business, having got home something considerable from the East 
 Indies. I am glad of this on his account but not on my own, as I have received 
 much friendship from him. ^'ours very sincerely. 
 
 RoUKRT Cl.KllHoRN. 
 
 The following;- letter from George Macinto.sh, K.scj., makes 
 mention of Dr. Cleghorn, and also shows that he also expected 
 that Dr. Maclean would make valuable additions to the stock 
 of Chemical knowledge : 
 
(-iLAbc;o\v, 6lh of Deccml^er, 1795. 
 My dkar John. 
 
 Your letter of the Sth of July I received, which afforded this family and 
 
 many more of your friends much satisfaction We were all glad 
 
 to hear that you met with such civilities in New \'ork and IMiiladelphia, and I am 
 niucli indebted to Mr. Ross for his attention. We are all particularly hapjiv, at 
 your appointment to the Professorship of Chemistry in the College of New Jer- 
 sey, — and on which I h( pe I may congratulate you, being a thing I am sure will 
 suit your genius and for which I am sure you are well qualilied ; and I doulitnol 
 of your making many useful and important discoveries in the line of your new 
 profession Dr. Hope is called to Edinburgh to be assist- 
 ant and siiccesscr to Dr. Black, and has left this College. The Medical Class is in 
 the meantime su] plied by Dr. CJeghcrn, who is a candidate and so is Dr. Couper. 
 It is yet uncertain who will succeed. It is the King"s presentation. I believe 
 
 the Professors are for Clegliorn Now John write me 
 
 often. You knew all this lamily is warmly interested in you, and be as [)ar- 
 ticular as you can. — Polly is in Edinburgh, Mrs. Mac, Eanny and Miss Grant 
 desire their best wishes. I am My Dear Jolin, yours, 
 
 Georgk Macintosh. 
 
 But it may be asked, how it came, that with all his marked 
 ability for scientific investigations, he did so little as a Dis- 
 coverer in his favourite department ? The answer to this 
 inquiry is a very simple one. Upon becoming Professor of 
 Mathematics and Natural Philosophy as well as of Chemistry 
 and Natural History, including the whole range of scientific 
 subjects connected with the department of the Arts, his time 
 was so occupied with the business of teaching day after day, 
 that he had little or no leisure for original research ; and not 
 even for a regular correspondence with his friends. Moreover 
 his share in the government of the College, and sundry inci- 
 dental duties, arising from the small number of College officers, 
 made such demands upon his time and attention as to forbid 
 ^his devoting himself to any continued series of original exper- 
 iments such as are essential to the advancement of science. 
 
36 
 
 Yet he kept himself fully posted with rei^ard to discoveries in 
 all departments of scientific research ; and when it was at all 
 practicable he repeated the experiments of the most distin- 
 guished philosophers of the day. 
 
 Althoui^h he made no further publication of his views than 
 such as resulted from the readin<^ to his classes of a course of 
 lectures accompanied with experiments and oral explanations, 
 yet it is by no means improbable, that he continued to hold an 
 advanced position among the cultixators of Chemical learning. 
 
 It is much to be regretted, that so man\- men, admirabl\' 
 qualified to enlarge the boundaries of knowledge, are com- 
 pelled to devote their time and strength almost exclusi\-eh' to 
 the instruction of }'outh in the mere elements of science, and 
 that in order to obtain a bare support for themselves and their 
 families, who, if posses.sed of means, and allowed to devote a 
 goodly portion of their time to scientific researches, and fur- 
 nished with suitable works and apparatus, and also the mate- 
 rials requisite for experimenting, would gladly and successfully 
 have given themselves to the advancement of knowledge as 
 well as to its diffusion. 
 
 Dr. Cleghorn's remarks respecting Dr. Perkins' " metallic 
 tractors," given above, were probably called forth b\- tlie- 
 following pas.sage in one of Dr. Maclean's letters to him. 
 
 •' Vou have doubtless heard of Dr. Perkins' famous Metallic points — thev cer- 
 tainly have aflorded relief in several cases of sujierhcial pain and intlaniniation. 
 But Dr. Mitchell of New York has found the same benefit from the use of other 
 hard jiointed substances. 1 have been told by a jTentleman from Maryland that 
 it is conmion in that country lo rub the blade of a knife »)ver a rheumatic joint : — 
 From the Philoso])hical transactions it seems that much i^ood has resulted from 
 rubbinrr with the hand, and every Scotchman has been relieved by scratchin>,r." 
 
 iM-om this last remark it appears that Dr. M. had not a 
 very high estimate of the \alue of Dr. Perkins' discoverv. 
 
37 
 
 From his correspondence with Dr. Cleghorn it appears that 
 before and after leaving Scotland, he made various experiments 
 with lime and sulphur, instituting first a series of experiments 
 for the separating of all crude substances from pot and pearl 
 ashes, by means of sulphur combined with lime. His experi- 
 ments, in the last mentioned case, were made before he left 
 Scotland ; but in the hands of the gentleman with whom his 
 papers on this subject were left, they were not repeated with 
 the hoped for success. After his arrival in America he did not 
 pursue the matter, partly for want of time, and also for want 
 of the requisite facilities. 
 
 With respect to the Medicinal use of lime and sulphur in 
 solution ; or to speak more exactly, of the SiilpJuirct of Lime 
 in solution he mentions to Dr. C. several cases of their efficacy, 
 in a variety of disorders ; and more especially of their effecting 
 an entire cure of certain cutaneous eruptions ; and these of a 
 severe character. One instance was that of his partner in the 
 practice of Physic and Surgery, who for two years suffered 
 from a severe sore on one of his lips, which he was apprehen- 
 sive would prove to be a cancer, but which was effectually 
 cured by taking internally, every day, for three months, a solu- 
 tion of the Sulphuret of Lime in water, and by washing the sore 
 with a portion of the same solution. Sulphur alone is not 
 soluble in water, but the sulphuret of lime is ; and he gives 
 this, as his reason for his preference of the sulphuret to the 
 simple sulphur in all cases, in which it is expedient to use 
 sulphur medicinally. 
 
 ' Although the copy of Dr. Maclean's letter, in which these 
 things are spoken of is without date, yet the following extract 
 from this letter, in another part of it, enables the writer to 
 
■ 38 
 
 determine the }'ear in wliicli it was w rittcn ; as in it mention 
 is made of the decease of his colleague Dr. Minto, and of his 
 own appointment to succeed this (gentleman, who died in the 
 Autumn of 1796. 
 
 "Since I wrote to you last I have received an(jthera|)poiiitment. Dr. Walter 
 Minto with whom I believe you were ac luiiinted, and who was our Professor of 
 Mathematics and Natural Philosophy, died ahor.t six monlh> a^o. I was a^ked 
 by the 'I'rustees of the College to teach the Natural Philo>o])hy, and at an adjourned 
 meeting in the Spring they ajipointed me without the smallest scjlicitation succes- 
 sor to Dr. Minto, althouj^di there were two candidates; one a prore>sor in Mary- 
 land ; and that I informed them, that I was not qualified to teach the Mathematics. 
 My salary is two hundred and fifty pounds a year, with permission to emj-Iov a 
 perscn to teach the Mathematics until I shall be able to do it." 
 
 Had the state of the Collei^e funds admitted of the expense, 
 it would have been better for the College and also for Dr. 
 Maclean himself that he should have continued to hold simph* 
 his appointment as Professor of Chemistry and Natural Histor\', 
 and that another person should been chosen Professor of 
 Mathematics and Natural Philosophy, or as was the case some 
 years after, there should have been established at this time a 
 distinct Professorship of Mathematics and Astronom\'. Such 
 an arrangement would have left the Professor of Chemistrs' 
 free to devote a considerable portion of his time to original 
 research in the domains of Chemistr\' and of Physics : — and that 
 too at a time when his ardor in this direction was unabated, 
 and the strength of his early manhood would have enabled 
 him to toil assiduously for the advancement of his favourite 
 study and of his own reputation. 
 
 On the 7th of November 1798, Dr. Maclean was united in 
 marriage to Phebe Bainbridge, eldest danghter of Absalom 
 Bainbridge, practitioner of Medicine, in the Cit\' of New York. 
 and a sister of Commodore William Bainbridge, U. S. N. 
 
39 
 
 Mrs. Maclean's mother was Mary Taylor, only daughter of 
 John Taylor, Ksq., of Middletown, N. J., a descendant of a 
 family settled in England, at the time of the Norman invasion. 
 See Burke's Landed Gentry, London, 1838. 
 
 In the \'ear 1798, occurred the femous rebellion of the 
 United Irishmen, and its defeat brought to Princeton two 
 remarkable persons : one, Mrs. Tone, the widow of Theobald 
 Wolfe Tone the leader of the rebellion ; and the other, Mr. 
 Robert Adrain, a )'oung Irishman of talent, and who had a 
 great fondness for Mathematical studies, and manifested unusual 
 skill in the handling of them. Havang taken an active part in 
 the uprising of his countrymen against the established gov- 
 ernment, he was compelled to leave Ireland : and this induced 
 him to seek a refuge in the United States. The yellow fever 
 being in New York at the timj of his arrival in that city, he 
 came to Princeton, and being a good classical scholar, he 
 readily obtained an appointment as teacher of the Grammar 
 school, then vacant ; and for two \'ears or more he here 
 taught and studied, and prepared the way for attaining the emi- 
 nence he afterwards reached as one of the foremost Mathema- 
 ticians of our land. From Princeton he removed first to York, 
 Pennsylvania, and afterwards to Reading in the same State ; 
 from w^hich latter place he was called to the Professorship of 
 Mathematics and Natural Philosophy in Queens (now Rutgers) 
 College, New Brunswick, N. J. From Queens College, Dr. 
 Adrain went to Columbia College, New York City, and after 
 some years returned to New Brunswick. 
 
 ' Dr.. Maclean, who knew h'm well, and w^as on intimate 
 terms with him, being asked his opinion of Mr. Adrain's fitness 
 for this position, said the only objection he had to recommend- 
 
40 
 
 ing Mr. A. was that he deemed it hardl)' becoming in him to 
 recommend one who, in the department of Mathematics, was 
 so superior to liimself. 
 
 In the summer of 1795, the year in which Dr. Maclean 
 arrived in America, Theobald Wolfe Tone left Ireland, with 
 his family, and came to this country. Soon after his arri\'al, 
 he leased or purchased a small farm in Princeton, or its vicinity. 
 He remained here howev^er only a short time, the wa}' having 
 been opened for his going to France, and taking part in the 
 efforts on foot for the liberation of Ireland from British rule. 
 His family accompanied him : but after the death of her hus- 
 band, Mrs. Tone, with her surviving child, returned, and again 
 made Princeton her temporary home. 
 
 The tragic death of her husband, and the defeat of his 
 enterprise in behalf of Irish Independence, served to enlist 
 the kind feelings of Dr. M. in behalf of Mrs. Tone and her son — 
 and hence there arose an intimacy between the two families, 
 which continued during life. 
 
 The following letter from Mrs. Tone to Dr. Maclean will 
 not prove uninteresting to such as ma\' be disposed to read 
 this Memoir : 
 
 ** At Mi>. Wade's, 162 (Ireeinvich St., New \'()rk. • 
 My Dear Sir : 
 
 I have just now l>een able to engage my ])a^^^age on the Brig, Three Appren- 
 tices, Captain Mariner, for Bordeaux. We are to sail next Sunday; the acconi- 
 ni:)dations are excellent. The Captain is a good man and a gentleman, his \\ife 
 a nice little French woman, and one of tlie owners of the shij) goes with us. So 
 all that promises well. I am just interrupted by your letter which 1 received with 
 l)leasure. I could scold you for saying that you could not make the time passed 
 with you agreeable enough. I assure you that I often recall the placid and 
 amiable days I Sjient at Princeton, and I shall ever remember them with kindly 
 :\.\u] affectionate regret. 1 scarcely think we shall ever meet again. .Since my 
 
41 
 
 return here, Dr. McNevin and Mr. Emmet have spoken much to me on the sub- 
 ject of William, (her only child). It is their opinion that his adopting a sea-faring 
 life as a profession is the only chance to save him. They were not aware what 
 a dreadful blow they gave me : but it is certainly always the best to know the 
 truth. I purpose passing the winter in the South of France. If that does not 
 succeed in restoring his health, and he is obliged to go to sea, I feel that my 
 travels will be as completely over as if he died, — but enough of this croaking. 
 
 I have received the medallion; it is elegant and grateful to my feelings. Wil- 
 liam is so pleased with his sword, he takes it to bed with him. Vou will see an 
 account of it in the i^aper to morrow, with the address to me and my answer. 
 You would have laughed at me, had you seen me when the committee waited on 
 me. I quite trembled and looked like a fool, and could not say a word ; and 
 under the idea that my answer was to appear I could hardly write plain English, 
 or common sense. Don't be so cruel as your countrymen, the reviewers, when 
 you read it. I assure you I thought of them \\ hen I wrote it. 
 
 Dr. Reynold has sent what he calls a justification of himself to Emmet and 
 McNevin. He accuses me of ha\ ing become English, and says, with her neza 
 connections she has adopted a nezu style. I su])pose he alludes to the English 
 gentleman I knew at Philadelphia: but I think I should be wanting to myself 
 even to ask his meaning. Indeed I was ashamed for him when I saw the account 
 he sent : but scandalous as it is, he only brings it to what he says he got for the 
 Books. So even by his own account, I was warranted in expecting their value, 
 till he told me how he disposed of them. He says, that I accuse him of having 
 received and secreted large sums from my brother .in-law, Wm. Tone, in the East 
 Indies. I wonder if his own conscience accuses him of it, for his letter is the first 
 I heard of the accusation. Indeed I heard of some copies of a Book written by 
 William, which arrived here after we had sailed for France, a circumstance I had 
 forgotten till his letter brought it to my mind, he slides over the affair of the 
 journals. I hoped to have seen Mr. Maclean, (Mr. Hugh Maclean, then of New 
 York,) before thn. I want to send you sa.na Irish History before I go. Unless 
 you point out some other way, I shall send them enclosed to Mr. Giftbrd, (the 
 Hotel keeper, in Princeton, at whose house the stages were wont to stop,) by the 
 mail, and write at the same time by post. 
 
 My best love to Mrs. Maclean and the little ones. 
 
 Believe me most affectionately yours, 
 
 M. Tone. 
 
 P. S. — I can get a letter from Captain Walsh to Mr. Bernard's nephew. Wil- 
 liam sends his love to you and all the family. If you are not to) lazy to write to 
 
42 
 
 inc a.;;ain, it will give mc imicli pleasure. Tell me truly what you think of Wil 
 liam and the sea." 
 
 Instead of ^oing to .sea as a business for life, he was ad- 
 mitted by Napoleon into the Militar}' School of France, and 
 entered the Army. But upon the downfall of the first L^mpire 
 he returned to America, and received from the United States 
 government a commission of Lieutenant in the artillery branch 
 of the service. 
 
 In 1824 he prepared a work entitled, ** A System of In- 
 struction for the Cavalry of the United States," and in 1826 he 
 published his father's autobiography, with some account of his 
 own earlier years. In this year he also resigned his place in 
 the Army, and returned to private life. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Liston (afterwards Sir Robert and Lady Lis- 
 ten) of Scotland, came to the United States earl}- in the 
 spring of 1796, Mr. Liston having received from the English 
 Government the appointment of Envoy to this countr\'. They 
 were intimate friends of Mr. and Mrs. George Macintosh of 
 Glasgow, and particular acquaintances of Dr. Maclean, and 
 also of some of his mother's family. Mrs. Liston was a native 
 of Antigua, but had resided from infancy with relatives in 
 Glasgow. In 1799, the year after Dr. Maclean's marriage, they 
 visited Princeton, and this led to a friendly correspondence be- 
 tween them and Dr. M., on business and matters of courtes)-, 
 Mr. Liston being desirous to secure his kind offices in behalf 
 of a youth of Scotch parentage, about to enter the College, 
 from Alexandria, Va., and at another time in behalf of the Rev. 
 Robert Balfour, of Glasgow, whose friends wished to obtain 
 for him the degree of Doctor of Divinity. The degree was 
 conferred by this College, at the Commencement of 1802. 
 
43 
 
 Dr. Balfour became a minister of much note, and an extended 
 notice of him is given in Chambers' Biographical Dictionary. 
 
 Dr. Maclean's father, as mentioned in the beginning of this 
 Memoir, was an officer in the British Army at the capture of 
 Quebec, and was entitled to a large bounty in land for his 
 services, but did not pursue his claim, and never received the 
 grant. Availing himself of the opportunity presented by Mr. 
 Liston's sojourn in this country, he wrote to him and informed 
 him of the facts in the case. To his letter he recei\-ed the fol- 
 lowing reply : 
 
 Philadelj hia, 22nd of April, iSco. 
 My Dear Sir : 
 
 It would give me great pleasure to have it in my power to be of any service 
 to you in respect to the property to which you appear to have a claim in His 
 Majesty's American (U)minions. — I will take care to put the (Governor (jf Canada 
 on his guard against giving his sanction to any act thit might be calculated to 
 confirm the injustice you allude to. — And if, as I hope, I obtain leave to visit the 
 province in the course of the next summer, 1 will endeavour to obtain that in- 
 formation with regard to the lands set apart for such officers as have served in 
 America, as I find it impossible to procure in my present situation. 
 
 I beg you will believe me to be, with perfect truth and regard, my dear sir, 
 
 Your most faithful, humble servant, 
 
 ROH. LiSTON. 
 
 Mr. Liston's return to Scotland probably interfered with 
 his visiting Canada, as he had intended to do when he wrote 
 to Dr. Maclean. At any rate they had no further correspond- 
 ence on this subject, and Dr. Maclean, it is believed, made no 
 further effort- to establish his claim. 
 
 \ One of Mrs. Liston's letters is of the date June 30th, 1799, 
 arid the next, from Albany, of the date August 5th, of the same 
 year — is as follows : 
 
 "•I)EAR Sir : 
 
 I received your favour and feel myself much obliged by your kind offices in 
 my request to Dr. Smith. 1 am anxious Mr. Balfour should be put in nomination 
 
44 
 
 in September. \'()U will oMige nic by sayiiiL^, (for nicj \vlii\t i^ jjroper t > l)r. 
 Smith upon this occasion. 
 
 We have finished our excursion to the Lakes — George and Champhiin. Mr. 
 Liston has been here two days or three, only to dispatch the August Packet —it 
 goes off this morning, and in the afternoon we set out for Niagara. Betwixt 
 \\riting and packing I have scarcely this moment to command : but as you men- 
 tioned Sejitemljer, and it will be tlie first or second week of the month before we 
 return, I thought it proper to write however short. 1 must trust to your friendshij), 
 certain that it is in the best hands, and we must wait with patience the result. 
 
 Mr. Liston and the gentlemen leg their best respects, and join in kind re- 
 meml;rance to Mrs. Maclern. Believe me, sir, at all times 
 
 ^'our \ ery sincere and affectionate friend, 
 
 Henrietta Liston. 
 
 The <^entlemcii referred to were two friends of Mr. and Mr.s. 
 Li.ston, mo.st probabl}' attaches to the Mission. In Mr. Lis- 
 ton's letter of the 30th of June they are spoken of as Mr. 
 Thornton and Lord Henr}'. 
 
 Professor Silhman, Senior of Yale Colle<^e, in speaking of 
 men of note in Edinburg, whose acquaintance he made during 
 his residence of a few months in that cit\', writes thus of Mr. 
 and Mrs. Liston: 
 
 ".Among the celebrities of Edinburg, Mr. Liston (afterwards Sir Robert Lis- 
 ton) must not be forgotten. Probably he had no more to rlo with science than 
 the Earl of Moira ; for, unlike him, he had passed a public life, not iii the field, 
 l)ut accredited as a minister to most of the cabinets of Eurojie, and to that of the 
 United States. 
 
 He had had therefore an op])ortunity to study the >cicnce of government. 
 From Henry Thornton, Esq., M. P., I had brought a letter of introduction to a 
 venerable friend of his, Mr. R. S. Moncrieff; and he was on terms of intimacy 
 with Mr. Liston. Mr. Moncrieff, knowing that I bore a letter from Colonel 
 Pickering to Mr. Liston, proposed that we should ride out together on horseback 
 to Mr. Liston's residence at Milbourne, five miles from Edinburgh, in season for 
 breakfast. We were received by Mrs. Liston with great politeness, and then by 
 her husband, who was called in from the field, where he svas directing the agri- 
 cultural operations of spring. During tlie administration of ( ieneral Washington, 
 
45 
 
 Mr. Liston had been long resident minister of Great Britain at the American 
 court, which was then held in Philadelphia. They (Mr. and Mrs. Liston) both 
 retained the kindest recollections of their American residence, and Mrs. Liston 
 cherished a small American garden devoted to our trees, shrubs and plants, and 
 into that garden she admitted nothing that was not of trans-atlantic origin. I 
 looked with jieculiar interest to these natives of my country. We found tliese in- 
 teresting people living in all the simplicity and retirement of rural life. Their 
 house, a neat stone cottage, was of one story with a thatched roof, and had a few 
 handsome rooms. It was situated in the midst of a farm which Mr. Linton culti- 
 vated, not without personal toil. His person was tall and dignified, his manners 
 presented a model of graceful simplicity, and his conversation was highly intel- 
 ligent, instructive and agreeable. We took breakfast in a small octagonal apart- 
 ment resend:)ling a ship's cal)in, and lighted fiom above. Mrs. Liston did the 
 honours of the occasion with much dignity and affability. Their sentiments on 
 the United States, its affairs, its government and the prospect of the pre eminency 
 of its institutions were highly favourable. Mr. Liston was now in retirement and 
 appeared to be past sixty years of age. A revolution of parties having recently 
 taken place, and the party of Mr. Fox having come into power, allusion was 
 made to that fact, and to the probability that Mr. Liston would soon be called 
 again into public life, when he replied : 'if they want me, they know where to find 
 me,' and 1 believe (adds Dr. Silliman) he was soon after sent fm a foreign mis- 
 sion." — 
 
 In a letter to Dr. Maclean, of the date of Augu.st 4th, 1799, 
 from his cousin Miss Mary Maclean, of Glasgow, mention is 
 made of Mrs. Liston, as giving his friends in Scotland their first 
 information respecting his marriage, and as saying, "Mrs. 
 Maclean is a sweet gentle Girl, and resembles his mother." 
 Miss Maclean, the writer of this letter, was a first cousin of his, 
 a little older than he, a woman of superior intellect, his at- 
 tached friend and correspondent, to whom he was indebted for 
 •most of the information he received respecting his friends in 
 Stotland, and whose kindness to Dr. Maclean's family ceased 
 only at her death, which occurred in 1849. To Mary B. Mac- 
 lean and Agnes Maclean, daughters of Dr. M., she bequeathed 
 
46 
 
 the greater part of her small estate, and in case of their de- 
 cease to their surviving brothers. Not only so, but she ob- 
 tained for Dr. M.'s children, from his maternal relatives, two 
 or three valuable bequests, and aided Mrs. Maclean in present- 
 ing her claim for an annuity to the Faculty of Physicians and 
 Surgeons of Glasgow. 
 
 Miss Maclean had a sistej- and three brothers, all of whom 
 died before her, and unmarried ; and she appears to have al- 
 ways looked upon her cousin Dr. M. as a brother, as in the let- 
 ter here referred to she says this \\as the case, and assigns it 
 as her reason for urging him to write to her more frequently 
 than he had done. After mentioninij what Mrs. Liston had 
 said respecting Mrs. Maclean, she adds : 
 
 "Although I have not the smallest chance of ever beinj; personally ac(iuainte<l 
 with her, which 1 regret much. I shall ever feel myself warmly interested in her. 
 and in all your concerns,— and hearing of your Healili and happiness will at all 
 times yield me inexpressible pleasure: do I beseech you write me soon." — 
 
 "Who do you think was married the (jthcr day, but your old //vtv/t/ and flame, 
 Charlotte Grant, to a Mr. Smith, a manufacturer in (dasgow. Nephew to Mr. 
 Wardlaw. I dare say you may know liini. Mr. and Mrs. Macintosh (piite de- 
 lighted with the match. They both went to ihc North to the marriage; I am truly 
 pleased she has a home of lier own." 
 
 Miss Grant was a relative of the Rev. Mr. Grant of La*^- 
 gan, and the intimacy which sprang up between Mrs. Grant 
 and Mr. and Mrs. Macintosh was due to the ver\- kind atten- 
 tions paid by Mr. and Mrs. M. to Miss (^laiit. upon her first 
 going to Glasgow. 
 
 Miss M. concludes her letter thus : 
 
 "He sure to offer my best and kindest wishes to Mrs. McLean. I hope she 
 will have the goodness to entreat you to lay aside that lazy tit you have taken, and 
 unce more write me.'' 
 
 I shall ever remain your affectionate cousin, 
 
 M.ARV Mt:LE.-VN. 
 
47 
 
 At the time of Dr. Maclean's marriage, in 1798, the Col- 
 lege had no dwelling for a Professor's family, but in 1 800 the 
 Trustees ordered a building to be erected on the College 
 grounds for the accommodation of Dr. M. and his family, the 
 Dr. having engaged to pay a rent equal to the interest of the 
 money it should cost. Previously to the erection of this build- 
 ing, Dr. and Mrs. Maclean were kindly permitted to occupy a 
 number of rooms sufficient for their accommodation at that 
 time, in the dwelling house of their friend. Dr. K. Stockton ; 
 where they remained until their removal to the house erected 
 for them. On the 6th of March, 1802, the principal edifice of 
 the College — the one known as Nassau Hall — w^as totally de- 
 stroyed by fire, with the exception of the walls, which were of 
 stone and brick, the outer walls being of stone, the inner ones 
 of brick. This occurrence at one time seemed to threaten the 
 destruction of the Professor's house, but happily, the wind 
 shifting its course, the house escaped, and proved to be of use 
 not onlv in furnishin<r a residence for the Professor and his 
 small family, but also for a time a lecture or recitation room 
 for the students, and lodgings for two or three of them. 
 
 The burning of the main edifice, which was intentionally 
 set on fire, although embarrassing for a year or more to all 
 interested in the welfare of the institution, proved in the end 
 to be the occasion of its increase and of a success surpassing 
 anything in its previous history. Not only the special friends 
 of the College, but friends of learning and piety throughout the 
 country, came to the help of the trustees, and by the liberal 
 contributions received from the PLastern, Middle and Southern 
 States, they w^ere enabled to restore Nassau Hall to more than 
 its former state, and to erect two additional buildings, which 
 
48 
 
 furnished for that pLTi()d in its history ample accommodations 
 for its hbrary, its philosophical apparatus, its lectures and re- 
 citations, and for the boardin^^ of the students. 
 
 With the increase of means for the better accommodation 
 of students, came also a large increase in the number of stud- 
 ents ; viz., from lOO to 200. Additional professorships were 
 established. Instead of a President and one Professor, with two 
 or three Tutors, as was the case before the burning, the P'aculty 
 in 1804 consisted of the President,/^//;' Professors, and double 
 the usual number of students. Both before and after this en- 
 largement a teacher of French was engaged to teach such stu- 
 dents, as desired it, the French language. 
 
 This new arrangement relieved Dr. Maclean from the task 
 of instructing the classes in mathematics and astronomy, but 
 the increase in the numbers called in various ways for an in- 
 crease of the demands on his time. As Senior Professor he 
 had often much to do in looking after the discipline of the 
 institution and also its general interests. And, in fact, at this 
 time and for many years after, if not now, the duties of a Pro- 
 fessor, outside of the giving of instruction in his own particular 
 department, were more exacting and burdensome than those 
 pertaining to the matter of teaching, and left him but little 
 time for private study ; at least comparatively with what an 
 active mind would desire. 
 
 The sudden and great prosperity of the College here refer- 
 red to was followed, in the course of a few years, by a serious 
 disturbance, commonly called the rebellion of 1807, which led 
 to a suspension of the College exercises for a short time, and 
 to the expulsion of a number of the students, which circum- 
 .stances, together with the feeble health of the l^resident and 
 
49 
 
 the successive resignations of the more recently appointed Pro- 
 fessors, from one cause and another, led to an unfavorable 
 change in the condition of the College, and ultimately to an 
 entire reorganization of the Faculty, in the autumn of i(Si2, 
 when, as before mentioned. Dr. Maclean resigned his chair at 
 Princeton, and accepted the position of Professor of Natural 
 Philosophy and Chemistry in William and Mary College, Vir- 
 ginia. 
 
 The esteem in which Dr. Maclean was held as an instructer 
 in both these institutions, may be inferred from the following 
 extracts from various notices of him after his decease, and from 
 sundry letters addressed to him, upon his resigning the chairs 
 he occupied successively at Princeton and at Williamsburgh. 
 
 In President Fisher's Life of Benjamin Silliman, M.D., 
 
 LL.D., the first Professor of Chemistry in Yale College, the 
 
 following passage is given from Professor Silliman's Diary, 
 
 vol. I, pp. 109, 1 10 : 
 
 "Brief Residenck in Princeton. — At this celebrated seat of learning, an 
 eminent gentleman, Dr. John Maclean, resided as Professor of Chemistry, &c. I 
 early attained an introduction to him by correspondence, and he favoured me 
 with a list of books for the promotion of my studies ; amon^ them Chaptal's, La- 
 voisier's and Fourcroy's Chemistry, Scheele's Essays, Bergman's Works, Kirwan's 
 Mineralogy, &c. I also passed a few days with Dr. Maclean, in my different 
 transits to and from Philadelphia, and obtained from him a general insight into 
 my future occupation ; inspected his library and apparatus, and obtained his ad- 
 vice respecting many things. Dr. Maclean was a man of brilliant mind, with all 
 the acuteness of his native Scotland ; and a sparkling wit gave variety to his con- 
 versation. I regard him as my earliest master in chemistry, and Princeton as my 
 starting point in that pursuit : although I had not an opportunity to attend any 
 "IcQtures there." 
 
 [ The reader will doubtless pardon the writer for inserting, in a note, the next 
 two sentences; "Mrs. Maclean was a lovely woman, and made my visits at the 
 house very pleasant to me. She was the sister of Commodore Bainbridge, after- 
 
50 
 
 wards signalized by the capture of the British frii^ate Java, in the war of 
 1812-15. Mrs. Maclean gave me an introduction to the family of Commodore 
 Bainbridge in Philadelphia, in which I was an occasional visitor."] 
 
 Many year.s after Dr. Maclean's death, Dr. Silliman made 
 another, and his last, visit to Princeton ; and on this occasion 
 he said to the writer, upon visiting the chemical laboratory : 
 "It was in this room that I saw the first experiments in chem- 
 istry ever witnessed by me." 
 
 In an article, written for the American Edition of Lem- 
 priere's Biographical Dictionary, the Rev. Dr. Samuel Miller 
 says of Dr. Maclean : 
 
 "As a physician, a surgeon, a natural philosopher, a mathematician, and, 
 above all, a chymist. Dr. Maclean was very eminent. As a college officer he was 
 uncommonly popular and useful."' 
 
 The Rev. Dr. Archibald Alexander, in giving an account 
 of a visit made by him to Princeton in 1801, eleven years be- 
 fore he became a resident of this place, has this remark re- 
 specting Dr. M. : 
 
 "Dr. Maclean emigrated to .\merica in 1795, and became one of the most 
 popular professtjrs who ever graced the College. He was at home almost equally 
 in all branches of science. Chemistry, natural history, mathematics and natural 
 philosophy successively claimed his attention." 
 
 Upon the resignation of Dr. Maclean, the trustees of the 
 College of New Jersey passed the following resolution: 
 
 "Resolved, That the thanks of this board be given to Dr. John Maclean, for 
 the long, various and important services which he has rendered to this In>titution 
 as professor in the same. 
 
 "Ordered that the clerk wait on Dr. Maclean an<l give him a cojn- of this 
 resolution." 
 
 The Senior and Junior Classes, which two classes at that 
 time comprised the great body of the students, severally ad- 
 
51 
 
 dressed to Dr. M. letters expressive of their great respect and 
 esteem for him, and of their sincere regret at his leaving the 
 institution. The Senior and Junior classes of each successive 
 year were the only ones which were instructed by Dr. 
 Maclean. 
 
 Dr. Maclean, upon leaving Princeton for Williamsburgh, 
 deemed it inexpedient to take his family with him, as at this 
 very time, October, 1812, there was a large British fleet in the 
 contiguous waters, from which fleet frequent hostile excursions 
 were made to various places adjacent to the sea coast. At 
 Williamsburgh Dr. Maclean remained until the beginning of 
 the ensuing summer, or the close of the college year, when he 
 returned to Princeton. Some weeks before leaving Williams- 
 burgh on a visit to his family, he had a severe attack of bilious 
 fever, from which, however, he recovered sufficiently to be able 
 to travel in a stage coach as far as Princeton ; and he and his 
 friends hoped that the invigorating air of this place would 
 speedily restore him to his usually firm and vigorous health. 
 But these hopes were destined to a sad disappointment; and 
 when the time arrived for him to go back to William.sburgh 
 he was too feeble to do so, and he was compelled to send to 
 the Visitors of the College his resignation. The fever, indeed, 
 had been subdued, but it was followed by jaundice and by 
 dropsy, from the combined force of which he gradually sank, 
 until the 17th of the ensuing February, when he departed this 
 life. At of about the time that he sent his resignation to the 
 Visitors of the College, he wrote to his friend and colleague 
 there, Professor Ferdinand Stewart Campbell, who sent him 
 ^a long letter in reply, giving him information respecting the 
 affairs of the College, and also in regard to several of his ac- 
 
52 
 
 quaintanccs. The date of Professor Campbell's letter is Nov. 
 1st, 1813, and the first paragraph is as follows : 
 
 "My Dear Sir : 
 
 I would have answered yuur friendly letter immediately after its reception, 
 hut concluded to wait, until I could be able to give you some intelligence rela- 
 tive to the arrangements of the College. In the first place, however, I must ex- 
 press my unfeigned regret that it does not comjiort with your views to return to 
 Virginia: for here you had formed many ac(iuaintances, and ac(|uired friend>, 
 whose highest gratification would have been to see you j)ermanently settled 
 amongst them." 
 
 Professor Campbell was a brother of the poet Thomas 
 Campbell, author of the Pleasures of Hope and other well- 
 known works, if the writer's memor)' does not fail him, in re- 
 gard to what he heard on this head, sixty }'ears ago. lo in- 
 herit a valuable estate in Scotland, Professor Campbell took 
 the name of Stewart, which was previoush- his middle name. 
 
 In regard to Dr. Maclean's character, as a gentleman, a 
 scholar and a teacher, the testimony is uniform, that he held 
 an eminent rank among his cotemporaries. 
 
 The last public tribute to Dr. Maclean, as a cultixator and 
 teacher of chemical science, is in a recent essay by the younger 
 Professor Silliman of Yale College, in an article entitled 
 " American Contributions to Chemistry," and read at a meeting 
 held at Northumberland, Pa., on the 3 ist of July, i CS74. to cele- 
 brate the Priestley centennial of chemistry. Published in the 
 y\merican Chemist, for August and September, 1874, page J^. 
 
 " Chemistry prior to the Commencement of the Present Century. — Of the jnib- 
 lic seminaries of learning other than medical institutions, where Chemistry was 
 taught from a separate chair, and as a distinct branch of the College curriculum 
 of instruction prior to 1800, we find but one, and tliis distinction belongs to Na.s- 
 sau Hall, I'rinceton, New Jersey." 
 
53 
 
 " On the 1st of October, 1795, the day after the annual commencement in 
 that year, the trustees of that institution elected Dr. John Maclean Professor of 
 Chemistry. He was a yount; chemist of Scotland, fresh from the instruction of 
 Hope and Black and the French school. But it is only just to add, that Dr. 
 Maclean, on the death of his colleague in the chair of mathematics and natural 
 philosophy, assumed these duties in addition to those of chemistry. Dr. Maclean 
 ever deserves honourable mention as one of the earliest and most successful 
 teachers of our science in this country. Professor Silliman in his reminiscences 
 gratefully recognizes his obligations to Dr. Maclean and to Princeton. He says 
 (vol. I., page no, Fisher's Life) : ' I regard him as my earliest master in chem- 
 istry, and Princeton as my starting point in that pursuit.' Dr. Maclean, in 1812, 
 accepted the chemical chair in William and Mary College, Virginia. In Paris 
 Dr. Maclean learned to admire the antiphlogistic theory, as the ' new chemistry ' 
 of Lavoisier was then calletl, and which he taught and defended at Princeton. 
 In 1795 he published ' Two Lectures on Combustion, Supplementary to a Course 
 of Lectures on Chemistry, Read at Nassau Hall, Containing an Examination of 
 Dr. Priestley's Considerations on the Doctrine of Phlogiston and the Decomposi- 
 tion of Water.' These lectures display both ability and learning, and form an 
 interesting chapter in the history of phlogistic discussion." 
 
 " Dr. Maclean contributed several articles to the New York Medical Reposi- 
 tory, and his name is associated with that of Professor Silliman in editing the 
 tirst American P2dition of Henry's Chemistry, in 1808," 
 
 or rather, in a joint recommendation of -the work, and in 
 adopting it a.s the text-book on chemistry for their respective 
 classes. 
 
 Had Dr. Maclean recovered his health in the autumn of 
 1 81 3 he would in all probability have been invited to take 
 charge of the Albany Academy, in connection with his friend, 
 the Rev. Dr. James Carnahan, whose health forbade his con- 
 tinuing: in the active duties of the ministry. Several of its 
 leading friends were desirous to secure their services for 
 this institution, then just projected or established : but the 
 , death of Dr. Maclean, on the 17th of February, following 
 the removal of Dr. Carnahan to Georgetown. D. C, led 
 
54 
 
 them to make other arrangements for their new Academy. 
 To the hope or expectation that Dr. Maclean would make 
 his home in Alban)', reference is made in the following 
 letter from the Rev. Samuel Finley Snowden, by whom, when 
 he was Pastor of the Presbyterian church in Princeton, Dr. and 
 Mrs. Maclean were married, in the autumn of 1798. 
 
 "Accept, my dear Madam, the sincerest and tenderest condolence of your af- 
 fectionate friend, Mrs. Snowden, together with my own, in the severe affliction 
 with which the Ahiiighty has seen proper, in his wise and holy providence, to 
 visit you, in the death of your husband, so much esteemed and so greatly lamented 
 by us both. How delusive are the hopes of man I While we were flattering our- 
 selves that we should have both yourself and him and your lovely family nearer 
 still to us, {for we had heard, thai there 7C'as a proposal for the Dr.''s being settled 
 at Albany,) we received the very unexpected and painful intelligence of his re- 
 moval from this vale of sorrow. 
 
 Little can mortals do for the comfort of the bereaved. It is God only, who 
 can administer eftectual relief. Confidence in his care, as a reconciled Father in 
 Christ, will support the soul, and by drawing more closely the ties of aflection and 
 dependence convert afflictions into blessings. — I hope you enjoy that source of 
 consolation, which will last when all others fail. 
 
 If we can render you any service, it will aft'ord the greatest pleasure to do it. 
 We should be exceedingly happy to hear particularly from you. 
 
 Mrs. Snowden joins in love to you and the children. Samuel is re^iding at 
 Cazenovia. If he were at home, he would desire to be jiarticularly rememliered 
 to Master John. Mrs. Maclean, I remain, my dear Madam, 
 
 Your sinceire friend, 
 Samuel F. Snowden. 
 
 New Hartford, State of New York, May 6th, 1 8 14.'' 
 
 In June, 1799, Dr. Maclean was chosen a corresponding 
 member of " The Academy of Medicine of Philadelphia," of 
 which Society Dr. Philip S. Physick was at this time the Pre- 
 sident, and Dr. John C. Otto, the Secretary. 
 
 And in Januar}% 1805, Dr. M. was chosen a member of the 
 American Philosophical Society. The letter, a highh' compli- 
 
55 
 
 mentary one, informing him of his election, is signed by Dr. 
 Thomas C. James, the Corresponding Secretary. 
 
 In December, 1807, he was admitted to all the rights and 
 privileges of a citizen of the United States, pursuant to the laws 
 of the same, by the Circuit Court of New Jersey, in session at 
 New Brunswick. 
 
 There are two facts, in reference to Dr. Maclean, concern- 
 ing which there can be no question : 
 
 1st, As a teacher of chemistry, he had in his day no su- 
 perior in this country ; 
 
 2nd, That as a College officer no one was ever held in 
 higher respect and esteem by his pupils. 
 
 The testimonies cited in this memoir are sufficient to es- 
 tablish both these facts ; and if it were necessary, additional 
 testimony could be adduced in support of what is here claimed 
 for him. 
 
 It was thought and said by many that he was equally at 
 home in the various departments of science ; but he made no 
 such claim for himself; and although his talents were of an 
 order such as would have enabled him to excel in any branch 
 of study to which he might have devoted himself, yet to cer- 
 tain parts of the College course he gave no further atten- 
 tion than was sufficient to instruct his pupils thoroughly in 
 them. And in teaching, his aim was to make his pupils per- 
 fectly familiar with what they professed to study, rather than 
 to impart to them a smattering of a great variety of knowledge, 
 which could serve no other end than to render their studies of 
 thb least possible use to themselves or others. 
 >.• The following anecdote will serve to show the stress he 
 laid on perfect accuracy both in giving and receiving in- 
 struction : 
 
56 
 
 His classical teacher having left IVinceton, soon after the 
 writer's entrance upon the study of the Latin language, Dr. 
 Maclean directed his son to prepare and to recite to him a les- 
 son in Cordery's Colloquies, the book which the writer was 
 attempting to read, when his teacher left. He had scarcely 
 beeun to recite, before his father discovered his defective 
 
 o 
 
 knowledge of the grammar of the language, and at once the 
 order was to put aside "the Colloquies" and to take up the 
 grammar, wnth this injunction, "Preparv.- for a lesson just as 
 much as you please, but get every letter of it," — which itself 
 was the most instructive lesson he ever received from an)'one, 
 with respect to his studies. On one occasion, when his son 
 was repeating the different prepositions which govern the ab- 
 lative case of the gerund, Dr. M. thought that his son had 
 overlooked one of the prepositions in the book, and several 
 different times he sent him away to prepare the lesson more 
 perfectly. Finally satisfied that he had given all the preposi- 
 tions mentioned in the grammar, he brought to his father the 
 book itself and insisted that he was right ; to which his father 
 assented, with the remark that the defect was in the book 
 itself. 
 
 In family government he combined strict authority with 
 freedom of approach and even playfulness of manner, in his 
 intercourse with his children. He often took part in their 
 amusements, and encouraged them to engage in such innocent 
 sports as would serve to promote strength and activity of limb. 
 On one occasion some young robins having fallen from their 
 nest in a large willow tree, he said to his oldest son. then a lad 
 of about 9 or lo years of age : "if you will climb that tree and 
 put these young robins back in their nest. I will givT you a 
 
57 
 
 quarter of a dollar." The son did it, and from it learned a two- 
 fold lesson: one in climbing, and the other in the proper treat- 
 ment of innocent birds, both of which he turned to account in 
 after life ; and to the first of which some of his own pupils could 
 give ample testimony. 
 
 Dr. M. never made a public profession of his faith in Christ, 
 other than such an one as was involved in the baptism of 
 his children, and in his punctual attendance upon the public 
 services of the sanctuary, and in contributing to the support of 
 these services ; but towards the close of life there was w^ith 
 him a growing conviction of the unspeakable importance of a 
 vital union with Christ as the only Saviour of lost and guilty 
 men, and he cherished a hope, that through grace he was pre- 
 pared for his departure, which he saw was surely and gradually 
 approaching. Had he recovered his health, it was his purpose 
 to establish family worship and also to make an open avowal 
 of his faith in Christ. The Rev. Wm. C. Schenck, Pastor of the 
 church the public services of which Dr. M. and his family were 
 wont to attend, had several interviews with him during his last 
 illness, and in his funeral discourse spoke of them as furnish- 
 ing evidence that he had departed in the hope of a happy re- 
 surrection, through faith in Christ.. 
 
 In a letter of Nov. 7, l8l2,to his oldest son, some fifteen months before his 
 death, he thus writes: "And now, my dear John, having done with business, let 
 me as one most solicitous for your welfare entreat you to pray to God every 
 morning and evening, read your Bible, attend church regularly, and pay respect 
 to your mother. If you do, it will be setting a good example to your younger 
 •' brothers, and be a source of happiness to yourself." 
 
 His feeble health for several months before his decease, his 
 
 ^. narrow circumstances, and the inadequate provision he was 
 
 able to make, for the keeping of his family together, and the 
 
58 
 
 education of six children, four sons and two daughters, natur- 
 ally gave him no little anxiety, notwithstanding his hope that 
 in the good providence of God they would receive, under the 
 guardianship of their excellent mother, a training that would 
 enable them to take care of themsel\-es and to be of use to 
 others. In this trying position, his mind must have been 
 greatly relieved by the following letter from his brother-in-law, 
 the late Commodore Wm. Bainbridge : 
 
 Navy \'ar(l, Charlestown, (Massachusetts), 7th of Fel)ruary, 1814. 
 My Dkar Sir : 
 
 It is with dee]) concein, that I learn by a letter from your wife to our sister 
 Mary, that your health is declining, instead of mending as I had ardently hoped. 
 I yet trust that it will be restored to you, having experienced myself most severe 
 bilious attacks, and having been left months afterwards in an alarming state of 
 threatening disease. I therefore consider myself from experience, although no 
 physician, a good adviser — and will offer you my opinion on your case. 
 
 Keep up your spirits, and as soon as the season becomes favourable for travel- 
 ling, direct your course for this place, where affection will receive you, and nurse 
 you, and united prayers be offered for your perfect recovery. The Hrst and great 
 consideration is the re-establishment of your health. After that desi(/cratnm \s 
 eflected, you need have no apprehensions for your future prospects. In the mean- 
 time, my dear friend, consider yourself at liberty to command pecuniary resources 
 from me — do not only look upon me as the Brother of your wife and the uncle 
 of your children, but as an affectionate and sincere friend. My family all unite 
 in great affection and best wishes to yours, and in fervent pravicr for the speedy 
 recovery of your health. Yours affectionately, 
 
 Dr. John Maci.kan, Wm. Hainhrid(;k. 
 
 Princeton, Xcw jersey. 
 
 This letter was penned ti/i days before the death of Dr. 
 Maclean and must ha\'e been received b}' Dr. M. within a day 
 or two after it was written, but he was too low to make to it 
 an\' repl}^ It assured him however, that as long as his brother- 
 in-law and friend li\'ed, and could look after the interests of 
 
59 
 
 his family, they would not suffer for want of means to main- 
 tain them, and so it turned out. Upon receiving information 
 of Dr. Maclean's death, he at once let his sister know that 
 while he must decline to act as one of the Executors of her 
 husband's small estate, he would remit a debt due to him by 
 Dr. M. and make her yearly a liberal allowance, towards the 
 support of herself and children : and for ten years he contin- 
 ued to them his most generous aid, until from their own sav- 
 ings and with the assistance of their father's friends in Scot- 
 land, provision was made for the education of them all : and 
 for this happy result they were indebted to no one so much as 
 to their mother, who, by her great care and prudent manage- 
 ment, was enabled to keep her entire family together ; and had 
 the pleasure to know, before her own departure from this life, 
 that all her children had or would receive the education, which 
 she and her husband were both desirous they should have. 
 
 Dr. Maclean died on Thursday, the 17th of February, 18 14, 
 and was buried on Saturday, the 19th, in the Princeton Ceme- 
 tery, his grave being contiguous to those of the College Presi- 
 dents and Professors who had preceded him to the tomb. 
 His wife survived him fourteen years. Her grave and those 
 of their two daughters, Mary Bainbridge and Agnes Maclean, 
 and of their son, Wm. Bainbridge Maclean, and of their grand- 
 son John Maclean, son of Dr. G. M. Maclean, are all in the 
 same plot with his own, — w^ith a few other relatives. 
 
6o 
 
 The following epitaph, written by the Rev. Dr. S. S. Smith, 
 then late President of the Collei^e, was inscribed upon the 
 marble slab above his grave. There are one or two slight 
 errors in regard to dates. 
 
 Laus Deo ()ptim(> Maximo. 
 
 Intra hoc Sepulcliriun 
 
 (lepositae sunt, spe resurrectionis heatac, 
 
 reliquiae Mortales 
 
 JOHANNIS MACLEAN, M.D. 
 
 viri admodum venerandi, omnil)Us dotibus animi jM-aeccllcntis, 
 
 qui 
 
 Glasguae Scotorum natus, C"al. Martii, anno MDCCLXXI, 
 
 in Americani niicjravit anno MDCCXCV. 
 
 Physicae Naturalis Scientia penitus instructus, 
 
 et 
 
 Arte Chemica praecipue florens, 
 
 earuni artium in Academia Nassovica Professor desi<rnatus est, 
 
 tertio Cal. Oct ejusdeni anni. 
 
 Professoribus ac juventute in Collegio 
 
 mire dilectus, atque observalus, 
 
 e vita eheu decessit, 
 
 omnibus plorandus, 
 
 Idibus Februarii, 
 
 MDCCCXIV. 
 
6i 
 
 A Tt'anslation. 
 
 To God, the Greatest and the Best, be Glory. 
 
 Within this tomb, in hope of a happy resurrection, 
 
 are deposited the mortal remains 
 
 of John Maclean, M.D. 
 
 a man to l)e held in great veneration, with all the 
 
 endowments of a superior mind, 
 
 who 
 
 K)X\\ at Glasgow, Scotland, on the Calends of March, A. D. 1771 
 
 removed to America, in the year 1795. 
 
 Thoroughly versed in the Science of Natural Philosophy, 
 
 and especially excelling in the Art of Chemistry, 
 
 he was chosen Professor of these Arts at Nassau Hall, 
 
 on the 29th of September of the same year. 
 
 Exceedmgly beloved and esteemed, by the 
 
 Professors and youth of the College, 
 
 he departed this life, 
 
 lamented by all, 
 
 on the Ides of February, 
 
 MDCCCXIV. 
 
62 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Dr. Maclean's birlh and lineage, . . . . . .5 
 
 His education and scholarship, ...... 6 
 
 His views respecting the study of (ireek and Latin, , . .7 
 
 The Glasgow Chemical Society, ...... 8 
 
 Papers read i)cfore this Society by iJr. M., . . . . -9 
 
 Attends Lectures on Anatomy, Theory and Practice of Phy^ic, <S:c.,at 
 
 the University of Glasgow, ...... 10 
 
 Repairs to Edinburgh, Drs. CuUen and Black, . . .11 
 
 Goes to London and to Paris, to prosecute his studies in these cities, . 12 
 
 Returns to Glasgow, . . . . . . . . 12 
 
 Made a member of the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons, . . 13 
 At Paris, when Lavoisier, Berthollet, F'ourcroy, and other eminent culti- 
 vators of Chemical Science, were at the height of their reputation, . 13 
 Dr. Maclean, a prohcient in the PVench language, . . .13 
 His purpose to leave .Scotland for this country given up for a time, 
 
 Mrs. Grant of Laggan, and Mrs. George Macintosh, . . -14 
 Dr. Maclean, a republican in sentiment, his guardian, Mr. Macintosh, 
 
 a staunch loyalist. — Their different views did not influence in the 
 
 least their friendly relations, . . . . .15 
 The generous and Christian character of Mr. Macintosh, extract from 
 
 Dr. Ritchie's discourse at Mr. M.'s funeral, . . .16 
 Intimate friendshii) between Dr. Maclean and hi> guardian's eldest 
 
 son, Chas. Macintosh, Ksq., . . . . . . 16 
 
 Remarks respecting Mr. C. M icintosh as a Chemist and a NLmufacturer. . 16 
 
 Dr. John C. Millar and Mrs. Millar, (Mrs. M. a daughter of Dr,Cullcn,) . 17 
 
 Dr. Maclean arrives at New York, in the Spring of 1795, . . . iS 
 
 He goes to Philadelphia, with letters to Dr. Rush and others, . . iS 
 Settles at Princeton, and here he engages in the practice of Physic and 
 
 Surgery, in connection with Dr. P2benezer Stockton, . . .18 
 At the request of Dr. S. .S. Smith, President of the C'ollege, he gives 
 
 to the students a short course of Lectures on Chemistry, . . K) 
 
 On the 1st (;f October, 1795, chosen Prcjfessor of Chemistry, . 19 
 Upon the decease of his colleague. Dr. Walter Minto, he was chosen 
 
 Professor of NLnthematic^ ami Nat. Philosophv, . . .20 
 
63 
 
 Dr. Smith's letter, announciiV:^ to the i)ublic Dr. Maclean's appoint- 
 ment a;s Professor of Chemistry, . . . . .21 
 
 The high commendation of Dr. Smith sustained by the testimonials 
 
 brought by Dr. M. from Scotland. Extracts from them, . . 22 
 
 Certificate given Dr. M. by the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of 
 
 Glasgow, in view of his leaving for America, . . . -24 
 
 A list of subjects handled by Dr. M., in his Lectures on Chemistry, . 25 
 
 Electricity and Light, alth nigh treated of in tlieir relations to Chemis- 
 try, more fully handled as distinct branches of Natural Philosophy, . 27 
 In other departments of Science. Dr. M., in the instruction of his 
 
 classes, relied chiefly on Text books. A list of these Textd^ooks, . 28 
 
 The Philosophical Apparatus of the College, . . . ■ ^9 
 
 Cabinet of Natural History, ...... 29 
 
 Review of Dr. Priestley's pxmjihlet entitletl " Considerations on the 
 doctrine of Phlogiston and the Decomposition of Water," by Dr. 
 M. — also M. Adet's review, . . . . . -29 
 
 Copies of these reviews sent to his friend Dr. Robert Cleghorn, Pro- 
 fessor in the University of Glasgow. Dr. C.'s letter to Dr. M., . 31 
 A letter of a previous date from Dr. C, in which he tenders his servi- 
 ces to Dr. M. in any matters of business or of friendship, . . ^3 
 A letter of the date of the 6di of December 1795, from Mr. Macintosh, 
 in which mention is made of Dr. Cleghorn. They both expect 
 Dr. M, to make valuable additions to the stock of chemical knowl- 
 edge. Reasons why these expectations were not realized, &c., . 35 
 Dr. Perkins' famous metallic points, . . . . -3^ 
 
 Various experiments with sulphur and lime : — their medical use men- 
 tioned in a letter to Dr. Cleghorn, . . . . -37 
 
 Dr. Maclean as Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy, . 38 
 
 His time would have been better employed, had the circumstances of 
 
 the College admitted of the appointment of an additicjnal Professor, . 38 
 
 Dr. Maclean's marriage, . . . . . . -38 
 
 Mention of Dr. Robert Adrain, the distinguished Mathematician, . 39 
 
 Mrs. Tone, wife of Theobald Wolfe Tone, the leader of the United 
 
 - Irishmen in 1795. A letter from Mrs, Tone to Dr. M., . . 40 
 
 Correspondence wdth Sir Robert and Lady Liston. Sir Robert was the 
 
 English Envoy to the United States. Mentioned by Dr. Silliman, . 42 
 
 Miss Mary Maclean, of Glasgow, a cousin of Dr. M. A brief notice 
 
 of her and of her great kindness to Dr. M.'s family, . . -45 
 
64 
 
 The erection of a h(juse on the College grounds for Dr. M., . , 47 
 
 The burning of the main College edifice. Its effect on the College, 47 
 
 Increase in the numbers of the students and of the teachers, . 48 
 This increase f(jllo\ved, in the course of a few years, by an almost 
 
 equally raj^id decrease, . . . . . .48 
 
 In the summer of 1812, Dr. M. resign-; his place in thi C>lle^e, an:l 
 accepts the position of Professor of Natural Philosophy und Chem- 
 istry, in Wifliam and Mary College, Virginia, . . .49 
 Extract from the Diary of the elder Professor Silliman, Yale, . . 49 
 Do. from an article written by the Rev. Dr. Samuel Miller, . . 50 
 Do. ** " " Rev. Archibald Alexander, . 50 
 The action of the Board, upon Dr. M.'s resignation, . . .50 
 Expressions of respect and esteem on the part of the students, . . 50 
 L'pon going to Williamsburg, Dr. Maclean left his family at Princeton, . 51 
 In the Spring of 1813, Dr. M. had a severe bilious attack, . . ■ S^ 
 Returns to Princeton. His ill health continues. Resigns his chair 
 
 in William and Mary College, . . .51 
 Extract fnnn Professor Campbell's letter to him, upon learning 
 that Dr. M. was constrained to resign, in consequence of the 
 
 state of his health, — a short notice of Professor Campbell, . -52 
 The last jjublic tribute to Dr. Maclean as a cultivator and teacher of 
 
 Chemical Science, by Professor B. Silliman, Jr., . . .52 
 The exi)ectation that Dr. M. would have gone to Albany to reside, 
 
 had he recovered his health, . . . . . -52 
 
 He remained at Princeton, and there departed this life, . . -53 
 
 Letter from the Rev. Samuel Finley Snowden, to Mrs. Ma-clean, . . -54 
 Remarks by the writer on the character of Dr. Maclean, as a man, a 
 
 scholar, a teacher, a college officer, and as the head of a family, . 55 . 
 
 His religious views and feelings, . . . . -57 
 
 A letter from his brother-in-law. Commodore Wm. Bainbridge, . , 58 
 
 Commodore Bainbridge's great generosity to his family, . . -5^ 
 
 Dr. Maclean's ileath and burial, . . . . . -59 
 
 His epitajih, by ex President S. S. Smith, in T>alin, . . .60 
 
 An English version of the epitaph, . . . . .61 
 
 ERRATA. 
 
 For " Thi^ letter, " page 30 read, The letter. For 1795, p^^ge 30, read 1796. 
 
^* 
 
 
 '•^HTt^* 
 
 'i^. 
 *,?'■»*; 
 
 
 , J 
 
 ^?Sfc*^^ii 
 
 -S.V„ 
 
 
 
 <3 
 
 ?*V 
 
 
 -^i^^3**»^<; 
 
 -•:-'*^/^'/>^ ' ' ^ v^ * ^^■' 
 
 ^^ .4«r54i^i^S^