Dr. Samuel George Morton, one of the most eminent of our men of science, died suddenly in Philadelphia on the 15th of May. Mr. E. G. Squier, in announcing the occurrence to the Ethnological Society, said: "The name of Dr. Morton is best known to the world through those splendid monuments of scientific research, 'Crania Americana,' and 'Crania Egyptiaca', which attest alike his industry and zeal!—his patient analytical and comprehensive generalizing abilities, and his sound and impartial judgment. Besides these works, he was the author of numerous papers in scientific journals of this country and of Europe, as also of a number of pamphlets on various subjects connected with the studies in which he was engaged. Among these the 'Inquiry into the Distinctive Characteristics of the Aboriginal Race of America,' published in 1844, deserves to be specially mentioned as a comprehensive résumé of the general results of his inquiries. Dr. Morton had a wide practice in his profession, of which he was a distinguished member—a profession peculiarly subject to those interruptions and contingencies so unfavorable to philosophical investigation. Yet in the intervals of leisure which were afforded to him during hours snatched from sleep, he made those arduous researches of which we have the leading results in the works which I have enumerated. The facts and data upon which these researches were based, were collected with almost incredible labor, and at an expense which few students could afford, or affording, would have consented to incur. Dr. Morton's museum of Crania, presented by him to the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, of which he was a principal supporter and most active officer, comprised not less than 900 human skulls, and 600 of the inferior animals. These were collected from every quarter of the globe, and afford types of every race, and almost every family of men. The correspondence and general and special exertions, which the collection of such a museum involves, must have been immense; and we can but admire the untiring zeal and patient industry of the man who undertook and accomplished it. It is a brilliant example of what men may do if animated by a true spirit; and must afford encouragement to those engaged in cognate researches in a country like our own, where public aid is rarely extended to objects of this nature. As Americans we may take just pride in the reflection, that an American physician, by his individual exertions, with the aid of a few personal friends, made a Craniological Museum surpassing extent the united collections of half of Europe, and one which must now be consulted by every scholar before he can undertake to write upon the great questions involved in the natural history of man. In March last the Government of the United States placed in the hands of Dr. Morton the Crania collected by the American Exploring Expedition, with a view to their careful investigation at his hands; but the interesting results which we had every reason to expect from such investigation, have been cut short by his untimely death, which has also suddenly terminated a wide series of inquiries, instituted by the same active mind, looking to a work more comprehensive, if not more interesting and valuable than any which he had published before. Dr. Morton was essentially a man of no theories; he brought to the service of science an earnest love of truth in its simplest and severest form, and was always ready to yield his opinions to the rigid requirements of facts. Possessed of a high intellect and a generous disposition, he always assumed that those who differed most widely from him in their views, were animated by the same desire to arrive at truth, and dealt with questions of science as matters to be kept superior to all personal considerations and influences. He had, in short, a true appreciation of the dignity and aims of philosophy. In private life, and in his personal intercourse with men, Dr. Morton added lustre to his high character as a scholar and philosopher. Mild and courteous in his demeanor, devoted in his friendships, generous, upright, and true; as a husband, father, friend and citizen, he was a man in the noblest acceptation of the word—one whom, none knew but to esteem, and whose whole life as a model of virtue and excellence."
Mr. Sheil, one of the most brilliant rhetoricians of the age in which he lived, has prematurely closed his remarkable career in a foreign land, and in a manner so sudden that the surprise which the event must occasion will be only exceeded by the deep affliction of his friends and the regret of the public. The Right Hon. Richard Lalor Sheil was a native of Dublin, born in the year 1793. His father, imitating the example of many Irish Roman Catholics of good family, sought in other countries that independence and those means of advancement which the penal laws, then in force, denied them in the land of their nativity. He resided for many years at Cadiz, and engaged in mercantile pursuits with more than ordinary success. Having amassed a competence, he returned to the county of Waterford, purchased an estate, and built a mansion. Unfortunately, he was again led into commercial speculation, which proved of a disastrous character, and he eventually died unable to bequeath to his son more than the means of acquiring a liberal education. That education, commenced at Stoneyhurst, was continued at Trinity College, Dublin, where the young Mr. Sheil, then remarkable for the precocity of his talents, graduated with much distinction, and at the age of twenty-one, in the year 1814, he was called to the Irish bar. In the profession of the law, though he attained the rank of Queen's counsel, he never enjoyed a lucrative practice. On remarkable occasions he held briefs and made showy speeches, but the attorneys had no confidence in his legal acquirements, and though the judges regarded affectionately his personal character and greatly admired his genius, yet his arguments were listened to with comparatively little attention. It was said, however, that he determined, if possible, to get on in the more arduous walks of the profession, and hoped for especial favor in the Rolls' Court, having married at an early age Miss O'Halloran, niece to Sir William MacMahon, (who then presided in that court), and niece also to Sir John MacMahon, who at that time was private secretary to the Prince Regent. But all this gossip of the "Four Courts" ended in nothing. Mr. Sheil, instead of an eminent lawyer, became a political agitator, and in the Roman Catholic Association reached a position second only to that of Mr. O'Connell. His speeches at public meetings in Dublin, the first of which was delivered by him at the early age of eighteen, attracted the admiration of all classes; his passionate tone delighted the vulgar, his wit and exquisite fancy charmed the most cultivated minds, while his perfect amiability of character, his high and generous nature, secured the friendship of every one who enjoyed the advantage of his acquaintance. With all this celebrity, however, he was not making a fortune, and when literature offered to him some of its rewards, he gladly contributed to the monthly periodicals of that day, producing at the same time the tragedy of Evadne, and many other dramatic works.
The Roman Catholic Relief Bill of 1829, when it became a law, opened to Mr. Sheil a new and more extended sphere of action; he was returned to Parliament for Lord Anglesey's borough of Milbourne Port, and soon became one of the favorite orators of the House. At first, there was some disposition to laugh at his shrill tones and vehement gesticulation, but Parliament soon recognized him as one of its ornaments. His great earnestness and apparent sincerity, his unrivalled felicity of illustration, his extraordinary power of pushing the meaning of words to the utmost extent, and wringing from them a force beyond the range of ordinary expression, much more than the force of his reasoning or the range of his political knowledge, obtained for him in Parliament marked attention, and, for the most part, unqualified applause. When he rose to speak, members took their places, and the hum of private conversation was hushed, in order that the House might enjoy the performances of an accomplished artist—not that they should receive the lessons of a statesmanlike adviser, or follow the lead of a commanding politician. Still, for twenty years, he held a prominent place in the House of Commons, though throughout a great portion of that period he represented very insignificant constituencies. Mr. Sheil was returned for Milbourne Port in 1830, having been an unsuccessful candidate for the county of Louth. In 1831, however, he got in for Louth; in 1832 was returned for Tipperary, without contest, and again in 1835; but in 1837 there was an opposition, against which he prevailed. His principal influence in that county, exclusive of the weight of his public character, is understood to have been derived from his second marriage with the widow of Mr. Edmund Power, of Gurteen, which took place in 1830. It will be remembered that the eldest son of that gentleman fell very recently by his own hand; and during his minority, whatever influence he might possess as a landlord was in a great degree at the command of Mr. Sheil, who continued to sit for Tipperary till 1841, though he encountered some opposition on accepting office in 1838. From, the general election in 1841 till the time of his departure for Florence in 1850, he represented, through the influence of the Duke of Devonshire, the small borough of Dungarvon, always of course supporting the most liberal section of the Whigs. Amongst his first appointments was that of Vice-President of the Board of Trade, in the last Melbourne Ministry, and then he became Judge Advocate General, which office he held only from June to September, 1841. On the return of the present Ministers he was appointed Master of the Mint, and in 1850, went out as British Minister to Florence. For many years past, his health had been declining, his fits of gout grew more frequent and severe, his speeches in Parliament, never very numerous, came at length to be few and far between; though his political friends regarded him with infinite favor, they began to think he might be just as useful to them in Florence as in London, especially as the Ecclesiastical Titles Bill was soon to be brought in; and although that appointment amounted to shelving for life a man not yet 60 years of age, though it was nothing less than an expatriation of the individual and an extinction of what might have been a growing fame, yet he submitted not merely with a philosophical indifference, but almost in a joyous spirit, feeling, or seeming to feel, that it was great promotion and a dignified retirement. He was old in constitution, if not in years, with powers better suited to the development of general principles than to that successful administration of details which a practical age demands. With Grattan, Flood, and Curran, he would have well co-operated from 1782 to 1800, but amongst the public men of England in the middle of this century he appeared grievously out of place, and he therefore was perhaps quite sincere in the expressions of delight with which he escaped from Downing-street to enjoy the fine vintages and bright sunshine of the south. He is stated to have expired at Florence on the 26th ult., owing to an attack of gout in the stomach.—London Times, June 3.
Mr. Richard Phillips, the well-known chemist, died suddenly in London on the tenth of May. He was in his seventy-fifth year, and at least fifty years of his life had been devoted to science. He was one of the founders of the Geological Society, a very old member of the Royal Society, and for many years a member of its Council. In the Transactions of that body will be found numerous papers by him on chemical subjects, and many of his discoveries were of great importance to the analytical chemist. He was editor of the Annals of Philosophy from 1812, and one of the editors of the Philosophical Magazine. He was appointed Lecturer on Chemistry at the London Hospital in 1817, and for many years was Lecturer on Chemistry at St. Thomas's Hospital, to which office he was appointed in 1832; and was among the earliest chemists to the Museum of Practical Geology.
His attention to Pharmaceutical Chemistry was very great; and the regular improvement which has marked during the period of more than twenty years the London Pharmacopœia has been largely due to his suggestions and criticisms. His first translation was published in 1824. He had been during the last twelve months busily engaged for the College of Physicians on the new edition of the Pharmacopœia,—and considerable progress had been made in the new translation. For many years Mr. Phillips had been in the habit of furnishing to the faculty and the druggists of the United Kingdom a translation of the Pharmacopœia, with appended notes, the value of which has been fully appreciated by those for whom it was intended. He was for the last two years the President of the Chemical Society—by all the members of which he was regarded with the highest consideration. In his "History of Chemistry," Dr. Thompson says—"Of modern British analytical chemists, undoubtedly the first is Mr. Richard Phillips, to whom we are indebted for not a few analyses conducted with great skill and performed with great accuracy." All the chemical articles in the Penny Cyclopœdia were by Mr. Phillips:—and scattered through the various scientific journals will be found papers on various chemical subjects and reviews of scientific works from his pen.
"Old Dowton," the celebrated comedian, is dead. He was born at Exeter in 1763, and consequently was in his eighty-eighth year. At sixteen he was apprenticed to an architect, but having performed successfully the part of Carlos, in "The Revenge," at a private theatre, he was induced to join a travelling company, and after completing a circuit, was engaged by Mr. Hughes, manager of the Plymouth theatre. His first appearance at Drury-lane was on the tenth of October, 1796, in the difficult character of Sheva, in Cumberland's comedy of The Jew. This had long been a favorite part of Bannister's—Elliston had also marked it for his own. Mr. Dowton stepped into the field, and, without taking the laurel from either, honorably shared it with both. His first appearance at Drury-lane was on the tenth of October, 1796, in this difficult character. He was hailed as a genuine actor, and crowned with applause. In 1805 he was engaged at the Haymarket, and on the fifteenth of August in that year revived for his benefit the warm-weather tragedy of the Tailors, which produced a memorable fracas. The principal roles in the burlesque were sustained by Dowton, Mathews, Liston, and Mrs. Gibbs, as Francisco, Abrahamides, Zachariades, and Tittilinda. The great success of Tom Thumb, in which Dowton played King Arthur very humorously, stimulated him to this attempt. His two principal Shakspearian characters were Sir John Falstaff and Dogberry. As Dr. Cantwell in the Hypocrite he was inimitable. His other best parts were Sir Anthony Absolute and Major Sturgeon. With the proceeds of his farewell benefit at Her Majesty's Theatre a few years since, an annuity was purchased, on which he has lived to a fine green old age, happy in the bosom of his family and a large circle of professional and private friends.