Page:History of Bengali Literature in the Nineteenth Century.djvu/278

 254 BENGALI LITERATURE Among other European Missionary writers at Sriram- pur, the name of Rev. John Mack, unassuming as it is, is interesting to the student John Mack, 1797-1845. of the literary history of the time. He was born in March 12, 1797, a native of Edinburgh, his father having been a writer to the signet. He was educated at the Edinburgh Univer- sity and distinguished himself at the Baptist College at Bristol. On his visit to England during 1819-21 in search of funds and men for the proposed Serampore College, Ward selected Mack to be a Professor at the College, where the latter arrived in November 1821. Mack worked as a Professor for 16 years, succeeded Marshman in the charge of the College and raised it to be for some time a first-rate private educational institution in Bengal. Mack was highly proficient in Classics, Mathematics and Natural Science, and gave the first chemical lectures (in Bengali as well as in English) in Calcutta. He also shared the editorial management of the Friend of India at Srirampur from its commencement. He died of cholera in April 30, 1845. Mack’s only, and in certain respects noteworthy, contribution to Bengali consists of a treatise on Chemistry, the first of its kind in Bengali, named কিমিয়া বিদ্যার সার। শ্রীযুত জান মাক সাহেবের see রচিত হইয়া গৌড়ীয় ভাষায় অনুবাদিত হইল or the Principles of Chemistry by John Mack translated into Bengalee (Serampore Press. 1834). It is divided into 2 parts¹ the first part cover- ing about 337 pages, prefaced by His scientific writing. " ; রর an interesting introduction written তবে অনেক বিদ্যাতে সকলেই কি প্রকারে হঠাৎ পরিপক্ক হইতে পারিবেন । (বিদ্যাহ।রাবলীগ্রন্থ পাঠকেরদের প্রতি মেং ফিলিকৃস কেরী সাহেবের পত্রমিদং | ‘ The second part was never possibly published.