BROWN 343 tween 1802 and 1815, by Horsfield in Java, and those collected by Salt in Abyssinia, by Oudney and Clapperton in the interior of Af- rica, and by Christian Smith at the mouth of the Congo. He was appointed in 1827 keeper of the botanical department of the British museum, and retained that position until his death. Brown waa the first English botanist to make an extensive application of the natural system of Jussieu. Vegetable physiology is indebted to him for several important discov- eries. He first spoke of the peculiar movement of the molecules of pollen in plants, which is known by his name ; and was the first to de- monstrate that these molecules, on quitting the anthers, penetrate through the style down to the ovule below. On the death of Bishop Stanley in 1849, he was elected president of the Linnaaan society. Humboldt styles him " the greatest botanist of our age." BROWN, Sir Samuel, an English engineer, born in London in 1776, died March 15, 1852. He entered the navy at the age of 18, was made commander in 1811, and retired as captain in 1842. He brought into use both chain cables and iron suspension bridges, making the chains of long bars of flat or round iron pinned to- gether by short links and bolt pins. BROWN, Samuel, a Scottish chemist and poet, born at Haddington, Feb. 23, 1817, died in Edinburgh, Sept. 20, 1856. In 1832 he en- tered the university of Edinburgh, devoting himself chiefly to chemical studies. He began his public career in 1840 by delivering a course of lectures on the philosophy of the sciences. He early became interested in the nature of atoms and the laws of atomic action, contend- ing that chemical substances usually considered simple are transmutable into each other. In 1843, believing that he was prepared to prove the isomerism and transmutability of carbon and silicon, he became a candidate for the chair of chemistry in the university of Edinburgh ; but upon finding his proof incomplete, he with- drew. Subsequently he occupied himself with constant experiments upon his favorite sub- ject, and at his death believed that he was on the point of a complete demonstration. In 1849 he delivered in Edinburgh a series of lectures on the history of chemistry, and in 1850 ap- peared his " Tragedy of Galileo." Two vol- umes of his essays and lectures were published in 1858, entitled "Lectures on the Atomic Theory, and Essays Scientific and Literary." BROWN, Tarleton, an American soldier, born in Barnwell district, S. C., in 1754, died in 1846. He served throughout the revolutionary war, obtained the rank of captain, and left interesting "Memoirs" of his experience, containing much original information concerning the events of the time in the two Carolinas (privately print- ed, New York, 1862). BROWN, Thomas, commonly called "Tom," an English satirist, born in Shropshire in 1663, died in 1704. He was educated at Ox- ford, became for a short time master of the free school at Kingston-upon-Thames, and was for the rest of his life a " Grub street wri- ter," indolent and fond of low society. He wrote a great deal in prose and verse, chiefly satirical and personal pieces. The highest as well as the lowest characters were the objects of his satire, which is sharp, though coarse and indecent. His first pamphlet, " The Reason of Mr. Bayes changing his Religion," published in 1688, was a personal attack on Dryden, who had become a convert to the Roman Catholic faith a little before. He also wrote "Short Epistles out of Roman, Greek, and French Authors" (1682), and "The Salamanca Wed- ding " (1693). An edition of his works in three volumes appeared in 1707-'8. BROWN, Thomas, a Scottish philosopher, born at Kirkmabreck, near Dumfries, Jan. 9, 1778, died at Brompton, near London, April 20, 1820. He was educated with great care by his mother. In his 15th year he was presented by Dr. Currie, the biographer of Burns, with the recently published first volume of Dugald Stewart's work on the philosophy of the hu- man mind, which he read with admiration, though he criticised it with acuteness ; and the next winter, while attending Stewart's lec- tures, he made known to the philosopher an objection to one of his theories a circumstance that led to a lifelong friendship between them. Brown studied and practised medicine, and divided his leisure between the pursuits of po- etry and philosophy. He published in 1798 his " Observations on the Zoonomia of Dr. Darwin," which contains the germ of his theory of causation and of the principles by which he was guided in his later philosophical inquiries. He contributed several articles to the early numbers of the "Edinburgh Review," one of which was on the " Philosophy of Kant," a sub- ject of which, however, hehad little knowledge. In 1803 he published a collection of his poems in two volumes, many of which had been writ- ten while in college, and which exhibited rather a taste than a talent for poetry. A local con- troversy induced him to publish a defence of Hume's theory of the relation between cause and effect. This work was pronounced by Mackintosh the finest model of philosophical discussion since Berkeley and Hume. It was enlarged in subsequent editions, and published in 1818 under the title of " An Inquiry into the Relation of Cause and Effect." In 1808-'9 he lectured on moral philosophy in the university of Edinburgh during the temporary absence of Stewart, at whose request he was in 1810 ap- pointed adjunct professor of moral philosophy. As a philosopher he was in general opposed to the theories of Reid and Stewart. During the later years of his life he published " The Para- dise of Coquettes," and several other poems, but they added nothing to his reputation, which rests chiefly upon his " Lectures on the Philosophy of the Human Mind," first pub- lished after his death (4 vols. 8vo, Edinburgh, 1820), and several times republished.
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