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120 the others being given to Wolfe, Amherst, and Stanwix. He opened his campaign by a movement on Fort Niagara, which was then one of the most formidable French posts. A landing was effected on 7 July, notwithstanding a harassing fire, and after a summons to surrender had been refused by Pouchot, the French commander, who had sent secretly for re-enforcements, Prideaux opened fire with his artillery. He repelled a sortie on 11 July, and on the 19th prevented a French schooner from landing re-enforcements that had been sent by Frontenac. On the evening of the same day, while he was busy in the trenches, he was killed by" the bursting of a coehorn, owing to the. careless- ness of an artilleryman. He was succeeded in the command by Sir William Johnson. As the elder lirother had been killed at Carthagena in 1741, Prideaux was his father's heir, and his son, John Wilmot, succeeded to the baronetcy in 1766.

PRIEST, Josiah, author, b. about 1790; d. in western New York about 1850. He was unedu- cated, and was a harness-maker by trade, but pub- lished several books, including Wonders of Na- ture" (Albany, 1S20); "View of the Millennium" (1S2N): "Stories of the Revolution "(1836); "Amer- ican Antiquities" (1838); and "Slavery in the Light of History and Scripture" (1843).

PRIESTLEY, Joseph, scientist, b. in Field- head, near Leeds, Yorkshire, England, 13 March, 1733; d. in Northumberland, Pa., 6 Feb., 1804 He was the eldest son of a cloth-dresser, and his mother dying when the boy was six years old, he was adopted by his aunt, Mrs. Keighley. The youth was sent to a free grammar-school, and at the age of sixteen had made considerable progress in the ancient languages. He had determined to become a clergy- man, and in 1752-'5 he was at the dissenting academy at Daventry. in Northamptonshire, where he wrote some of his earliest tracts. On attempting to enter the ministry he was rejected on account of his views on original sin, the atone- ment, and eternal damnation, which he main- tained openly. In 1755 he became an assistant in an obscure meeting-house at Needham market in Suffolk, but he failed to become popular. Three years later he went to Nantwich, in Cheshire, whi'iv he taught twelve hours a day. At this time lir wrote lii-- first book, "Rudiments of English Grammar" (London, 1761), and his "Course of Lectures on the Theory of Language and Univer- sal Grammar" (Warrington, 1762). In 1761 he removed to Warrington, in Lancashire, where the dissenters had established an academy, and for six years he was tutor there in the languages and belles-lettres. He preached continually during his residence in that place, and was ordained thrtv. During one of his visits to London he nn't I!, nja- min Franklin, and through his assistam < under- took the preparation of his "History and Present State of Electricity, with Original Experiments" (London, 1767). He received the degree of LL. IX from the University of Edinburgh, and was elected to the Royal society in 1766. In 1767 he removed to Leeds, where he was given charge of the Mill Hill chapel. He devoted himself closely to the study of theology, and began his investigations i <n gases, also publishing a fragmentary work on the " History and Present State of Discoveries relating to Vision. Light, and Colors" (2 vols., London. 1772). In 1769 he came into conflict with Sir Will- iam ISlackstone, author of the "Commentaries." pointing out inaccurate statements of historical facts in his work. Blackstone promised to cancel the offensive paragraphs in the future editions of his work, and the controversy came to an amicable conclusion. From 1773 till 1780 he was librarian or literary companion to the Earl of Shelburne. with whom he travelled on the continent, and spi-nt some time in Paris; on his return he had much leisure for scientific research, and was active in prosecuting his experiments. During these years he made his great discoveries in chemistry, and renewed his investigations on gases. Priestley was unacquainted with chemistry ; he had no appa- ratus. and knew nothing of chemical experiment- ing, but these adverse conditions may have been serviceable as he entered upon a new field where apparatus had to be invented, and the arrange- ments that he devised for the manipulation of gases are unsurpassed in simplicity and have been used ever since. The first of these discoveries was that of nitric oxide in 1772, the properties of which he ascertained and applied to the analysis of air. In 1774, by heating the red oxide of mercury, he made his discovery of oxygen, to which he gave the name of dephlogiseated air. He also showed its power of supporting combustion better, and animal life longer, than the same volume of com- mon air. By means of mercury which he used with the pneumatic trough to collect gases that are soluble in water, he further made known hy- drochloric acid and ammonia in 1774, and sulphur dioxide and silicon tetrafluoride in 1775, and in- tniilm-ed easy methods for their preparation, de- scribing with exactness the most remarkable prop- erties of each. He likewise pointed out the exist- ence of carburetted hydrogen gas. Priestley dis- covered nitrous oxide'in 1776, and, after he came to the United States, carbon monoxide in 177H. To him we owe the knowledge of the fact that an acid is formed when electric sparks are made to pass for some time through a given bulk of com- mon air. which afterward led to Cavendish's dis- covery of the composition of nitric acid. These farts are described in his "Experiments and Ob- servation Relating to Natural Philosophy, with a Continuation of the Observations on Air" (3 vols., London, 1779-'86). Meanwhile he wrote numerous theological works, and it has been said of Priestley that "he was fond of controversy, yet he never sought it, and if he participated in it, it was generally because it was thrust upon him, and he became the defendant rather than the assailant." In 1780 he took up his residence in Birmingham, where he had charge of an independent congregation. His collection of apparatus had incrca-.'d. and his income was now so good that he could prosecute his researches with freedom. In 1790 he enraged the people byhi^ " Familiar Letters to the Inhabitants of Birmingham" (Birmingham. 17'Jlh, and these were soon follow, 'd by -Letters to Rt. Hon. E. Burke, occasioned by his Reflections on the Revolution in France" |17!H). He now became the recognized champion of liberal thought, which made him the subject of severe condemnation at home. This feeling culminated on 14 July, 17111, the anniversary of the Fivm-h revolution, in