Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 58.djvu/49

 1822–4, and into German by K. Karmarsch and F. Heeren in 1843. In 1822 Ure was elected F.R.S. In 1829 he published a ‘New System of Geology,’ in which he points out the importance of chemistry and physics to the geologist, but which is chiefly devoted to a criticism of the Huttonian and Wernerian theories, and to the advocacy of the orthodox system of chronology. In 1830 Ure resigned his professorship and went to London, where he practised as an analytical and commercial chemist until his death. In 1834 he became unofficially attached to the board of customs as analytical chemist, receiving two guineas for each analysis performed. He was also requested by the board to investigate methods of estimating the quantity of sugar in sugar-cane juice, and received 800l. for two years' work on this subject.

In 1835 he published his ‘Philosophy of Manufactures,’ in which he deals with the condition of factory workers, and in 1836 ‘The Cotton Manufactures of Great Britain …;’ subsequent editions of both these books, edited by Peter Lund Simmonds, appeared in 1861. In 1839 he published a ‘Dictionary of Arts, Manufactures, and Mines,’ of which a fourth edition appeared in 1853. The book was re-edited by Robert Hunt (1807–1887) [q. v.] in 1860 and 1867, and by Hunt and F. W. Rudler in 1875–8. It was translated into German by K. Karmarsch and F. Heeren in 1843–4 (Prague, 3 vols. 8vo).

In 1843 he published as a pamphlet ‘The Revenue in Jeopardy from Spurious Chemistry,’ in which he attacks William Thomas Brande [q. v.] and Thomas Graham [q. v.] with regard to certain analyses.

Besides the books mentioned, he published ‘A New Systematic Table of the Materia Medica’ (Glasgow, 1813) (, Bibl. Brit.), and a pamphlet on ‘The General Malaria of London’ in 1850. He was an original member of the Royal Astronomical Society and an honorary member of the Geological Society. The Royal Society's ‘Catalogue’ gives a list of fifty-three papers by Ure dealing with physics, pure and applied chemistry. He will be remembered chiefly by his inauguration of popular scientific lectures, and by his popular scientific works, which, in spite of a somewhat inflated and diffuse style, are clear and interesting.

Ure died on 2 Jan. 1857, and was buried in Highgate cemetery. There is a portrait of him by Sir Daniel Macnee [q. v.] in the South Kensington Museum. Ure's eldest son, Alexander Ure, F.R.C.S., was surgeon at St. Mary's Hospital, London, and died in June 1866 (, Dict. of Biogr.; see also Roy. Soc. Cat.)

[Obituaries in Gent. Mag. new ser. 1857, i. 242; Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, 1857, vol. xiii.; Proceedings of Glasgow Philosophical Society, iv. 103; Dr. Ure, a slight sketch reprinted from the Times and … other periodicals (privately printed, 1875); Ure's own books and scientific papers; Addison's Roll of Glasgow Graduates; Calendar of Anderson's College, 1878–9; Roy. Soc. Cat.; Brit. Mus. Cat.; Cat. of the National Gallery … at South Kensington, 1884.] 

URE, DAVID (d. 1798), geologist, born at Glasgow, was the son of a weaver in that city. His father dying while he was still young, he was compelled to labour at his trade for the support of his mother. Resolving to enter the ministry, he obtained an education at the city grammar school, and afterwards at the university of Glasgow, where he graduated M.A. in 1776. His industry was great; he worked at his trade almost all night, studying his books while toiling at the loom. At the university he was a great favourite with the Greek professor, James Moor [q. v.] Dissuaded by him from wasting his energies on the first objects of his enthusiasm, perpetual motion and the philosopher's stone, he turned his attention to the undeveloped science of geology. While a student in divinity he was for some time assistant schoolmaster at Stewarton, and afterwards he taught a subscription school in the neighbourhood of Dumbarton. On 11 June 1783 he was licensed to preach by the presbytery of Glasgow, and afterwards became assistant to David Connell, minister of East Kilbride in Lanarkshire. During his residence in the parish he made careful researches into its history, and devoted himself more especially to the study of its mineral strata. He published the results of his labours in a volume entitled ‘The History of Rutherglen and East Kilbride’ (Glasgow, 1793, 4to), a work worthy especial notice as containing one of the first attempts to deal with the geological features of a small district in a scientific manner. On the death of Connell on 13 June 1790, Ure had some expectation of being appointed his successor, but, finding the parish not unanimous, he set off for Newcastle on foot, and acted for some time as assistant in the presbyterian church in the town. He remained there until he attracted the attention of Sir John Sinclair (1754–1835) [q. v.], who employed him in preparing the first sketches of the agricultural surveys of the counties of Roxburgh, Dumbarton, and Kinross for his ‘Statistical Account of Scotland.’ Ure's treatises were published separately by the London board of agriculture, the first two in