Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 35.djvu/119

Macintosh solvent action of naphtha on india-rubber, he took out a patent in 1823 (No. 4804) for making waterproof fabrics by cementing two thicknesses together with india-rubber dissolved in naphtha. Works were started in Manchester for carrying out the invention, Messrs. Birley supplying a portion of the requisite capital, and in 1825 Thomas Hancock took out a license under the patent, which eventually led to a partnership with the Manchester firm [see ]. Many practical difficulties had to be overcome, but the material soon came into use, and as early as April 1824 Macintosh was in correspondence with Sir John Franklin on the subject of a supply of waterproof canvas bags, air-beds, and pillows for use on an arctic expedition. The early difficulties in introducing 'macintoshes,' owing to the ignorance of the tailors and their unreadiness to follow Macintosh's advice in making up waterproof garments, are amusingly described by Hancock (Narrative, p. 52, &c.) Eventually the manufacturers took the work of making the garments into their own hands. The trade fell off considerably upon the introduction of railways, when travellers were not so much exposed to the weather as in stage-coaches. In 1836 Macintosh won an action for an infringement of the patent by Everington & Son, a firm of silk mercers, in Ludgate Street, of which Wynne Ellis [q. v.] was a member. Several of the most eminent scientific men of the day gave evidence at the trial, which excited much interest. The proceedings, reported in full in the 'Mechanics' Magazine,' xxiv. 529, &c., comprise a complete history of the invention. The works at Manchester were gradually enlarged, and the manufacture of all kinds of india-rubber articles was undertaken. The concern is still carried on.

Macintosh's connection with the manufacture of india-rubber was almost accidental, and has somewhat obscured his fame as a chemist. His discoveries in that branch of science led to his election in 1823 as a fellow of the Royal Society. He died at Dunchattan, near Glasgow, on 25 July 1843. He married in 1790 Mary Fisher, daughter of Alexander Fisher of Glasgow, merchant.

 MACINTOSH, DONALD (1743–1808), Scottish nonjuring bishop, born in 1743 at Orchilmore, near Killiecrankie, Perthshire, was son of a cooper and crofter. After attending the parish school, and acting for some time as a teacher, he went to Edinburgh in the hope of bettering his fortune. In 1774 he was acting as one of Peter Williamson's penny postmen; he next found employment as a copying clerk, and was subsequently tutor in the family of Stewart of Gairntully. For some years from 1785 he was employed in the office of Mr. Davidson, deputy-keeper of the signet and crown agent. On 30 Nov. 1786 he was elected to the honorary office of clerk for the Gaelic language to the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, and held it until 1789. In 1789 Bishop Brown of Doune, the sole representative of the nonjuring episcopal clergy of Scotland, fixed on Macintosh as his successor, ordaining him deacon in June 1789, and thereafter priest. He appears to have had no fixed residence, but moved from place to place, as a missionary or untitled bishop of Jacobite episcopacy, till he finally settled in Edinburgh. He made an annual tour through the Perthshire highlands as far north as Banff, administering the sacraments and religious instruction among the scattered remnant who owned his pastoral authority. In 1794 Macintosh unsuccessfully raised an action in the court of session against the managers of the fund for the relief of poor Scottish episcopal clergymen, who had deprived him of his salary (9l. a year). In 1801 he was chosen Gaelic translator and keeper of Gaelic records to the Highland Society of Scotland, with a salary of 10l. The catalogues of Gaelic MSS. belonging to the Highland Society, and others given in vol. iii. of the London Highland Society's 'Ossian,' pp. 666-73, were compiled by Macintosh, who also transcribed some of the manuscripts. He died unmarried at Edinburgh on 22 Nov. 1808 (Scots Mag. lxx. 968), the last representative of the nonjuring Scotch episcopal church, and was buried in the Greytriars churchyard. His library of books and manuscripts, numbering about two thousand volumes, he bequeathed to the town of Dunkeld. The bequest was accepted, and the library is still maintained in Dunkeld under the name of The Macintosh Library, to which numerous additions have from time to time been made. None of Macintosh's manuscripts, however, appear to have found their way to Dunkeld, and their fate is unknown.

Macintosh was compiler of a modest little volume entitled 'A Collection of Gaelic Proverbs and Familiar Phrases;. . . with an English Translation. . . illustrated with Notes. To which is added The Way to Wealth, by Dr. Franklin, translated into Gaelic,' 12mo, Edinburgh, 1785, which, though in several respects defective, was a valuable contribution to Celtic literature, 