Page:A Biographical Sketch (of B. S. Barton) - William P. C. Barton.djvu/15

Rh received the prize (the first having been lost.) It consists of a superb quarto edition of the works of William Harvey, elegantly bound and gilt: on the fly leaf of which is the following inscription in manuscript, and signed by the elder Dr. Duncan.

While Dr. Barton was in London in the first part of the year 1787, he published there a little tract, entitled "Observations on some parts of Natural History: to which is prefixed an account of some considerable vestiges of an ancient date, which have been discovered in different parts of North America." This is called Part I, and is inscribed to his eldest brother. It appears that he intended to have completed his work in one octavo volume, consisting of four parts on the subject of natural history; the first, as he observes in the preface, being a distinct work, having no connexion with that branch of science. This was the first work he ever published. Although in this little book the Dr. evinced much ingenuity and a laudable spirit of research in relation to the antiquities of his native country, the work is evidently the performance of a young writer, and, in fact, the author was then only in the twenty-second year of his age: besides, it was written under the pressure of bodily infirmity, occasioned by ill health, and amidst many discouraging circumstances. Indeed, he soon regretted the 'premature' publication of the work; for he candidly acknowledged its deficiencies, within a few months after its appearance. Speaking of it, in a letter of the 29th of Sept. 1787, addressed to his brother from Edinburgh, he said, "when you write to me, do give me your unreserved opinion concerning this premature performance let me however previously observe, that I am already