' have made them.' And painful as it is to think that in such an enlightened age as ours it should be necessary for a scientific explorer to parry the strokes of such vulgar spirits, it is nevertheless true that this excellent man had to declare, for the satisfaction of the public, that he was neither an atheist nor a ' materialist, nor a self-imagined creator, but a humble and lowly reverencer of that Great Being of whose laws his accusers seemed 'to have lost sight.'

After all there was no real foundation for this abuse. That the ova of the insects were derived from the atmosphere, or conveyed into the apparatus by some natural means, whatever fostering influences the electric fluid might be supposed to exert, was a point which Mr. Crosse did not positively dispute. He did not know how to reconcile that view with the precautions he had used, but the idea of an electrical creation was one which such a man could never have entertained. It is enough, however, to say that the more recent experiments of Professor Schulze, of which the biographer is not probably aware, have shown that where more stringent measures are taken to prevent the introduction of animal germs, the acari Crossii are not produced,

These were, perhaps, the most remarkable investigations in which Mr. Crosse engaged. He was a man, however, who carried on so large an electrical business that it would be impossible to describe his proceedings adequately, even if ampler details existed. Unfortunately, the philosopher wrote little, for his memory was so tenacious that he could recall all his experiments, and therefore seldom committed the particulars to paper. Amongst his numerous projects may be mentioned his attempts to employ electricity in the extraction of metals from their ores, not by operating upon them in a melted condition, as Mr. Napier's processes required, but through the medium of chemical action. He tried raw gold-gold in its native condition-and found that by connecting the mercury used for amalgamating the precious metal with the negative pole, and keeping up a gentle stream of the voltaic fluid for some hours, the work of separation was greatly facilitated. He tried copper also, and having devised an elegant and ingenious arrangement by which the metal was dissolved in sulphuric acid, and then transferred to the negative pole in a disintegrated state, he succeeded in obtaining it in a perfectly pure condition. The results, indeed, were so decisive that the only question appeared to be whether the expense of the battery would admit of its employment for such a purpose at large. That was always the difficulty with Crosse. Could he have invented a battery combining cheapness and power with durability, he might say with Archimedes, that he could move the world."

At another time he was engaged in inquiries respecting the influence of electricity on vegetation. This is a subject on which the most equivocal results have been obtained, one set of experiments contradicting another when brought into the court of science, just as witnesses are accustomed to do when brought into a court of justice. In some cases, however, Mr. Crosse appeared to elicit very striking conclusions. When potatoes were operated upon with a view to ascertain how far electricity was concerned in the production of their peculiar disease, it was found that a specimen planted in negatively electrified earth contracted the distemper, emitted a putrid smell, and was beset with the insects which are characteristic of the complaint. The positive potato escaped all these afflictions, but when removed from the earth it proved to be destitute of stem and root, and looked like a shrivelled apple. So far as his observations extended, Mr. Crosse inferred that negative electricity was hurtful to all vegetation, except that of the fungi, but that the positive fluid, on the contrary, was favourable to the interests of plants, probably because it attracted from the soil such particles as were nutritious, or repelled such as were unsuitable.

Then, too, Mr. Crosse applied himself to plans for purifying liquids by electrical means. He contrived an apparatus for converting sea water into fresh. A couple of metallic cylinders, placed in porous earthenware tubes, and duly connected by a copper riband, were plunged into a cask of brine (once distilled), and rendered it perfectly good and potable in the course of a single night. The liquid, thus rectified, was kept in an open cask for fourteen months, and at the expiration of that time was as sweet as at first. He also tried many experiments on the antiseptic properties of the electric fluid. Water which has been subjected to the current of a battery was found not only to preserve many substances, liable to decomposition, but it restored putrid pieces of meat to a sweet and inodorous condition :

"Milk has also been kept sweet for three weeks in the middle of summer by the application of electricity. On one occasion Mr. Crosse kept a pair of soles under the electric action for three months, and at the end of that time they were sent to a friend whose domestics knew nothing of the experiment. Before the cook dressed them, her master asked her whether she thought they were fresh, as he had some doubts. She replied that she was sure they were fresh; indeed she said she would swear they were alive yesterday. When served at table they appeared like ordinary fish, but when the family attempted to eat them they were found to be perfectly tasteless; the electrical action had taken away all the essential oil, leaving the fish unfit for food. However, the process is exceedingly useful for keeping fish, meat, &c., fresh and good for ten days or a fortnight."

Occupied with these and other pursuits, Mr. Crosse's time was busily and profitably spent. There were few idle hours in his history. He had scarcely any red-letter days in his calendar. Work, work, work, in some shape or another, was the burden of his Psalm of Life. Those who heard of him as an amateur electrician concluded that he must have plenty of leisure on his hands, and applied to him for information without recollecting that science often imposes severer labours upon her unsalaried servants than lucrative professions or highly-remunerated trades. It will be seen from the character of his experiments that Patience and Perseverance were two Virtues who must have presided in Mr. Crosse's laboratory. He thought nothing of undertaking operations which extended over many weeks, or even months. He speaks quite coolly of keeping up a constant electrical action, for a quarter of a year, upon fluids in a state of incessant ebullition, in order to see whether crystals would be formed in a boiling liquid, if never permitted to rest for a moment day or night; and what he describes, he did-watching the process himself with as much fidelity as any old alchemist when the gold was just expected to appear. At other times, vessels were put away in corners or cupboards, that their contents might undergo a sort of electrical gestation, lasting twelve or eighteen months; but, long as the period might be, the vigilance of the philosopher was rarely, if ever, at fault. He hung over a group of crystals, and noted their growing proportions, as a man might observe the gradual rise of some huge cathedral or Sydenham Palace. He soon discovered-for his peculiar studies taught him the fact with special force-that nature works with sublime slowness in most of her great operations. You cannot hurry her,' said he; and though from his mercurial disposition a certain amount of impatience might have been expected, never did explorer follow her movements, however tardy, with more respectful step, and in a less precipitate spirit, than Andrew Crosse. It was impossible to enter his house without perceiving at a glance that you were in the workshop of a philosopher. If those electrical posts in the grounds had not already served as signboards, the apparatus scattered about the mansion would soon have disclosed the occupation of its master. To an uninitiated visitor, the place might well look like a perfect chaos of instruments, troughs, gallipots, furnaces, crucibles, and other scientific gear. The rooms seemed always to be in a transition state, as if resolving themselves into electrical bureaux or chemical cabinets. Spite of the confusion attendant upon these repeated alterations, and even whilst the premises were partly rebuilding, the batteries were kept in continual play, and crystals were tranquilly elaborating in cupboard

His Financial Infirmities.

851

and cellar, just as they did in olden time, when there was neither man nor beast to break the silence of the infant world. It was only when the sixth or seventh furnace had been erected that the owner considered his house to be properly furnished.' Amongst these he would sometimes toil like a slave,' keeping his fires burning day and night, and half stewing' himself with the heat, which it was necessary to tend with no less care than a 'stoker and poker' bestows upon the railway engine intrusted to his charge.

These experiments could not of course be conducted without great expense. The cost of his apparatus alone must have amounted to many thousand pounds. Had his means been adequate to his wishes he would probably have constructed some monster batteries, capable of achieving electrical wonders, and of dazzling mankind by the brilliancy of their revelations. Having formed a water battery of sixty-three large zinc and copper cylinders, it is pleasant to observe how he fires up at the thought of the glorious exhibition which five thousand of such cylinders would afford, or even at the splendid exploits which might be expected from a single thousand of such plates. But-and there is ever a mournful but in the way of a grand scheme-the production of an apparatus on the giant scale first proposed would entail an outlay of five hundred pounds, and five hundred pounds was more than he could then well spare for the project. There was a time, indeed, when his expenditure on science and in farming operations had been so great that he made preparations for a retrenching trip to the Continent, where he intended to practise frugality for a few years. His rent-roll was far from contemptible, but unfortunately he was not clever as a landlord. His business habits were vastly inferior to his scientific qualifications. He belonged, as he said, to a family which had the knack of turning a guinea into a shilling. Or, to use the remark of Eagles, the Sketcher, when some one was praising the philosopher's performances on his lathe, Crosse could turn anything but a penny.' Add to this want of natural financial power-we presume no one will quarrel with the phrase, for are there not born bargaindrivers and instinctive money-makers to be seen on every side ?that the electrician was a man of unsuspecting character, confiding to a fault, and we may readily believe him when he says that, in building houses and improving farms, he suffered 'immense impositions, and was cheated tremendously."

His pursuits, too, were carried on amidst many difficulties, and in spite of much personal and family suffering. From the age of fifteen he was subject to nervous visitations of the most painful description. The fiercest toothache was, in his opinion,

a downright pleasure in comparison with these agonizing attacks. He consulted Sir Anthony Carlisle on the subject, when about the age of thirty, and was told that the evil was chiefly due to indigestion. 'Eat dry biscuits,' said the physician, and drink water alone.' This was a pretty prescription for a country squire, but it cost Andrew Crosse little heroism to comply with the advice, and to confine himself in a great measure to mere prison regimen. Some improvement ensued, but from time to time the enemy came down upon him in full fury, and then his sufferings were sad and crushing. Bodily pain, however, did not affect him so much as the loss of numerous relatives. Blows levelled at his affections told with fearful force upon the mind of this warm-hearted man. During one of his overwhelming afflictions, he writes, "I have given myself up entirely as a ' useless incumbrance upon earth, and bowed to my Maker, 'mentally speaking, in dust and ashes.' Every breeze of his mountain air became full of melancholy associations, and in a letter written in the latter years of his existence we find him declaring that he would not lead his 'unfortunate life' over again for all the blessings the world could bestow. Yet Crosse was not a gloomy, desponding man. On the contrary, he was naturally as buoyant and airy as the lark. His schoolboy love of frolic was never chilled by age, but sparkled in his eye as freely as the inspirations of philosophy. A heartier laugh than his never came from the lungs of a grey-haired sage. His widow describes him as the most uniformly joyous being she ever knew. His friend Kenyon hints that he is blessed with a glorious temperament, and reminds him that he could be happy in a prison with a magnifying glass, looking at a straw. But troubles came fast and thick upon him, and his path lay through thorns and briers, and all the gaiety of his disposition, and still more, the comfortings of his religion, were required to keep him from faltering by the way. Faith pointed him to the Future, and taught him that if sharp medicines are often administered to the soul, they come from the hand of a Good Physician, and are intended to purify and exalt.

It was in a spirit of true veneration, as well as of noble curiosity, that Crosse prosecuted his philosophical researches. He went to his laboratory, or manipulated with his implements, in the humble hope of benefiting his country, improving his own "understanding, and finding unspeakable consolation in the study "of the boundless works of his Maker. Often,' says he, have J, 'when in perfect solitude, sprung up in a burst of schoolboy 'delight at the instant of a successful termination of a tremblingly 'anticipated result. Not all the applause of the world could