Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 4.djvu/436

388 of the Human Mind, 4 vols., of which the Physiology is an abstract. The fame achieved by the Lectures when pub lished surpassed even what they had attained when delivered. It is no exaggeration to say that never before or since has a work of metaphysics been so popular. In 1851 the book had reached its 19th edition in England, and in America its success was perhaps greater. Since that time, however, its popularity has declined with almost equal rapidity; judgments on its merits are now as severe as they were formerly favourable, and the name of Brown may be said to be a dead letter in the annals of philosophy. It is interesting to inquire how far this extravagant laudation and neglect are justifiable ; and it is of importance to know exactly what were Brown s contributions to mental science, and how far his system is consistent and true.

1em 1em 1em 1em  BROWN,, a celebrated general in the imperial armies, son of Ulysses, Baron Brown and Camus, a colonel of cuirassiers, was descended of an ancient Irish family, and was born at Basel in 1705. After study ing at Limerick, Rome, and Prague he entered the army, becoming in 1723 captain in the rsgimeht of his uncle, Count George Brown, and in 1725 lieutenant-colonel. He served with great distinction in Corsica and Italy, and in 1739 was made field-marshal-lieutenant, and counsellor in the aulic council of war. After the death of the Emperor Charles VI. he became one of the foremost generals in the army of the Empress-Queen Maria Theresa, and gained a high reputation for military skill. On the outbreak of the Seven Years War, Count Brown, with the rank of field- marshal, assembled his army in Bohemia, and repulsed the Prussians at the battle of Lowositz. He was mor tally wounded at the great battle of Prague, and was carried into the town, where he expired on the 20th June 1757.  BROWN,, born at Utrecht, January 7, 1755, was the son of the Rev. William Brown, minister of the English church in that city. The father, having been appointed professor of ecclesiastical history at St Andrews, returned to Scotland in 1757, and his son was in due time sent to the grammar school of that city. At the age of twelve he entered the university, and after passing through the classes of divinity, removed in 1774 to the university of Utrecht, where he combined with the study of theology that of the civil law. In 1777 he was appointed to the charge of the English church in Utrechb, which had been previously held by his father and uncle. About 1788 he was appointed to the professorship of moral philosophy and ecclesiastical history in the university of Utrecht, to which was soon added the professorship of the law of nature. The war which followed the French Revolu tion finally drove Dr Brown from the place of his nativity. In January 1795 he made his escape to England. In London he experienced such a reception as was due to his literary talents and moral worth ; and in 1795 the magis trates of Aberdeen appointed him to the chair of divinity on the retirement of Dr George Campbell, and soon after he 