Scotch chemist, born in Glasgow in 1778. He was educated at Glasgow University, prosecuted his medical studies at Edinburgh, and received his M.D. at Glasgow (1801); appointed to the chair of chemistry at the Andersonian University, Glasgow (1802); was the first astronomer to the Glasgow Observatory, which his efforts helped to establish (1809). The literary works for which he is chiefly distinguished are his Dictionary of Chemistry (1821) and his Dictionary of Arts, Manufactures and Mines (1839), many revised editions of which have been published since. He died in London on the 2nd of January 1857.
