his work, to change his dress before coming to the class, and having suggested the propriety of the operatives being allowed to attend without such change, Mr Anderson, being apprized of the wish so expressed, at once acceded to it. His was a mind too strongly bent on mere usefulness, to regard empty form. Yet, as a lecturer, he is allowed to have himself exhibited a surpassing elegance of manner. His style was easy and graceful, his command of language unlimited, and the skill and success with which his manifold experiments were performed, could not be surpassed. He excited the interest, and attracted the attention of his pupils, by the numerous and appropriate anecdotes with which he illustrated and enlivened his lectures. Enthusiastic in his profession, his whole ambition and happiness consisted in making himself useful to mankind, by the dissemination of useful knowledge; and nothing afforded him purer pleasure than hearing that any of his pupils had distinguished themselves in the world. The only distinct work which he published in connection with his favourite science, was a valuable one, entitled, "Institutes of Physics," which appeared in 1786, and went through five editions during the next ten years.
At the commencement of those political changes in France, which ended in such unhappy results, Mr Anderson, as might have been predicated from his ardently liberal and enlightened character, was among those who sympathized most warmly with the proceedings of the emancipated people. Previous to that period, he had prosecuted a taste for the military art, and invented a species of gun, the recoil of which was stopped by the condensation of common air, within the body of the carriage. Having in vain endeavoured to attract the attention of the British government to this invention, he went to Paris, in 1791, carrying with him a model, which he presented to the national Convention. The governing party in France at once perceived the benefit which would be derived from this invention, and ordered Mr Anderson's model to be hung up in their hall, with the following inscription over it—"The gift of Science to Liberty." Whilst he was in France, he got a six-pounder made from his model, with which he made numerous experiments in the neighbourhood of Paris, at which the famous Paul Jones, amongst others, was present; and who gave his decided approbation of the gun, as likely to prove highly useful in landing troops from boats, or firing from the round tops or poops of ships of war. Mr Anderson, at this period, took a keen interest in the transactions which passed before his eyes. He was present when Louis XVI. was brought back from Varennes; and on the 14th of July, on the top of the altar of liberty, and in the presence of half a million of Frenchmen, he sang Te Deum with the bishop of Paris, when the king took the oath to the Constitution, amen being said to the ceremony by the discharge of five hundred pieces of artillery. As the Emperor of Germany had drawn a military cordon around the frontiers of France, to prevent the introduction of French newspapers into Germany, he suggested the expedient of making small balloons of paper, varnished with boiled oil, and filled with inflammable air, to which newspapers and manifestoes might be tied. This was accordingly practised, and when the wind was favourable for Germany, they were sent off, and descending in that country, were, with their appendages, picked up by the people. They carried a small flag or streamer, of which the following is a translation:—
O'er hills and dales, and lines of hostile troops, I float majestic,
Bearing the laws of God and Nature to oppressed men,
And bidding them with arms their rights maintain."
Mr. Anderson died, January 13th, 1796, in the 70th year of his age, and the 41st year of his professorship, directing, by his will, dated May 7th, 1795, that the whole
