that occurred from the commencement of the revolutionary war till the organization of our present form of government. Cotemporary with the termination of this latter event was the termination of his political life. The only appointment he ever held under the federal government, as an acknowledgment of all that he had contributed towards its establishment, was that of cashier of the mint of the United States.

He was president of the Philadelphia medical society; vice-president of the American philosophical society, and a member of many other learned and benevolent institutions both in America and Europe.

7

In the midst of his honours and usefulness, advanced in years, but in the meridian of his fame, he died, after a short illness, on the 19th April, 1813. From one extreme of the United States to the other, the event was deplored. Even Europe shed a tear of sensibility on his ashes, and the voice of eulogy was raised to his memory. For the man of genius and learning, science and active philanthropy, becomes deservedly the favourite of the civilized world.!

His person was above the middle size, and his figure slender, but well proportioned. His forehead was prominent, his nose aquiline, his eyes blue, and highly animated. His look was fixed, and his whole demeanour thoughtful and grave. I

He was temperate in his diet, neat in his dress, and sociable in his habits. In colloquial powers he had few equals. His conversation was an attic repast.

Considered in relation to the entire compass of his character; as a practitioner, a teacher, a philosopher, and a writer, Dr. Rush must be acknowledged to have been the most distinguished physician that America has produced.

His professional works are comprised in five volumes octavo.

RITTENHOUSE, DAVID, LL. D. F. R. S. a distinguished philosopher and astronomer, was born in Germantown, Pennsylvania, April 8, 1732.

During his residence with his father in the country, he made himself master of Newton's Principia. It was here likewise he became acquainted with the science of fluxions, of which sublime invention he believed himself for a while the first author; nor did he know for some years afterwards, that a contest had been carried on between Newton and Leibnitz, for the honour of that great dis

covery.

Thus at the age of twenty-three, without literary friends and without advantages, he became the rival of the two greatest mathematicians of Europe.

In this retired situation, he also planned and executed an orrery, by which he represented the revolutions of the heavenly bodies more completely than ever before had been done. This masterpiece of mechanism was purchased by the college of New-Jersey. A second was made by him, after the same model, for the use of the university of Pennsylvania, where it has commanded for many years the admiration of the ingenious and the learned.

In 1770, he removed to Philadelphia. His first communication to the philosophical society of Philadelphia, of which he was a member, was a calculation of the transit of Venus, June 3, 1769.

(This phenomenon had never been seen but twice before by any inhabitant of our earth, and would never be seen again by any person then living. On the 9th of November following, he observed the transit of Mercury. An account of these observations was published in the transactions of the society. /

In 1784, he assisted in determining the western limits of Pennsylvania, and the northern line of the same state in 1786.

In 1787, he assisted in fixing the boundary line between Massachusetts and New-York.

In 1791, he was chosen president of the philosophical society, as successor to Dr. Franklin, and was annually re-elected till his death. Soon after he accepted the chair he made to the society a donation of three hundred pounds.

From 1777 to 1789, he held the office of treasurer of Pennsylvania.

In 1792, he accepted the office of director of the mint of the United States, but his ill state of health induced him to resign it in 1795.

He died June 26, 1796, in the full belief of the christian religion, and in the anticipation of clearer discoveries of the perfections of God in the eternal world. He was a man of extensive knowledge, and was intimately acquainted with the French, German, and Dutch languages. His mind was the repository of all ages and countries./

The first four volumes of the transactions of the American Philosophical Society contain all of his mathematical and astronomical papers which have been published.

READ, GEORGE, one of the signers of the declaration of independence, was born in Cecil county, Maryland, in the year 1734. His father soon after removed to Newcastle county, Delaware, where he settled. He received his education under the care of the Rev. Dr. Allison, and at the age of seventeen, commenced the study of the law in the city of Philadelphia.

In the year 1753, he was admitted to the bar. In 1754, he settled in Newcastle, Delaware, and commenced the practice of the law. /

In 1763, he succeeded John Ross as attorneygeneral of the state. He held this office till he

was elected to congress in 1775, when he resigned it.

In 1765, he was elected a member of the assembly of Delaware, which station he continued to occupy for twelve years in succession.

In the mean time, however, he strenuously supported every measure, and was very conspicuous, by his personal exertions, in resisting every encroachment of British tyranny.

In 1774, he was elected by the general assembly of Delaware, together with Cæsar Rodney and Thomas M'Kean, Esqrs. to represent the state in the first congress, which met at Philadelphia. From this period he continued to represent the state of Delaware in congress during the whole of the revolutionary war.

On the 4th of July, 1776, he signed the declaration of independence.

In September, 1776, he was elected president of the convention, which formed the first constitution of Delaware.

In 1782, he was appointed one of the judges of the court of appeals, in admiralty cases, for the state of Delaware.

In 1787, he was a member of the convention which framed the constitution of the United States.

Mr. Read continued in the senate of the United States till September, 1793, when he was appointed chief justice of the supreme court of the state of Delaware. He performed the duties of this office with great ability and integrity, till the autumn of 1798, when his long life of public usefulness was terminated by a short and sudden illness.

In his person he was above the middle size, erect, and dignified in his demeanour.

RANDOLPH, PEYTON, first president of congress, was born at the seat of his ancestors, Virginia, about the year 1723. After receiving the honours of the college of William and Mary, he was sent to England, and there completed his legal education.

On his return to Virginia, he entered, at once, into practice in the general court, and in a few years rose to eminence in his profession.

His country soon appreciated his eminent talents, and when not more than twenty-five years of age, he was appointed king's attorney-general for the colony. He was in the same year, elected a member of the Virginia legislature, and shortly after, was placed at the head of the committee to revise the laws of the colony.

In 1764, when the resolution of the English house of commons, declaring their intention of imposing stamp duties upon the colonies, was received in America, he was a member of the house of burgesses, and on this occasion gave new proofs of his talents and patriotism.

Virginia, who as early as 1651, had, with arms in her hands, stipulated with the parliament of Great Britain for the exclusive right of laying her own taxes, was now among the first to resist this new and alarming attempt at encroachment upon the liberties of the people.

The house of burgesses immediately determined to send an address against it to the king, and he was appointed to draw it up; and is a paper written in a plain, but vigorous and manly style.

In 1766, he was appointed speaker of the house of burgesses. He now retired altogether from the bar, in order to devote himself solely to his duties as a legislator.

Previous to the year 1770, the English government had repealed all the duties which they had so recently laid, except that on the single article of tea. The Virginia legislature again displayed their firmness, by an explicit declaration, that they would