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enlarged edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica had
been published, when the editor turned his eyes
on Mr. Robison, as a person likely to give it lustre
from his scientific knowledge. He commenced his
contributions with the article "Optics," in 1793,
and contributed a variety of useful treatises, till the
completion of the work in 1801. His biographer
remarks, that "he was the first contributor who was
professedly a man of science; and from that time the
Encyclopædia Britannica ceased to be a mere com-
pilation." The observation must be received with
limitations in both its branches. To the Supplement
he contributed the articles "Electricity" and "Mag-
netism. " At the period while he was acquiring fame
by his physical researches, he chose to stretch his
studies into a branch of knowledge which he handled
with scarcely so much effect. Along with many
people, among whom we regret to find a philosopher,
a panic that the whole "system," as it was termed,
of society, was in progress of demolition by the
French revolution, seized on his mind. He strayed
from more accordant subjects to look for the causes
of all the confusion, and had the merit of attracting
some of the maddened attention of the period, by
finding an untrodden path, which led him farther
from the highway than any other speculator had
ventured. In 1797 he published Proofs of a Con-
spiracy against all the Religions and Governments
of Europe. This work is now forgotten; and it
will serve for little more than amusement to know,
that the crimes, so evidently prompted by forcibly
carrying the usages and exclusions of a dark age,
when the people respected them, into an age when
they were not respected, were traced to the ma-
chinations of the illuminati and freemasons. Pro-
fessor Robison had the merit of quoting authorities
not much read, and in the inflamed feelings of the
period the secrecy of the sources, instead of proving
a prima facie objection to the probability that a
tissue of open national outrages, prompted by passion,
and unguided by prearranged motive, could be the
consequence of what was so carefully concealed, or
rather overlooked, served to inflame the spirit of
mystery which other branches of literature were
then fostering; and the book was rapidly sold to the
extent of four editions, and was greedily read. In
an age which has acquired the power of influencing
masses of men by public opinions, secret tenets or
intentions do not acquire numerous followers. That
there were some grounds in opinion, and even in
intention, for many of the statements of Mr. Robison,
may be granted; but a few German enthusiasts,
pleased with mysticism, were the only conspirators,
and the appalling statements in the works which he
used as authorities were from men still more given
to credulity than the persons of whom they spoke
were to mystery.
In 1799 Professor Robison was employed in the
difficult task of preparing for the press the manuscript
lectures and notes of Dr. Black, who had just died.
"Dr. Black," says Robison's biographer, "had used
to read his lectures from notes, and these often but
very imperfect, and ranged in order by marks and
signs only known to himself. The task of editing
them was therefore difficult, and required a great
deal both of time and labour; but was at last accom-
plished in a manner to give great satisfaction."
Meanwhile, however, the discoveries of Dr. Black
had produced many alterations in chemistry, and the
science had assumed a new aspect. Among other
things, the new nomenclature of Lavoisier had been
almost universally received, and rendered any work
which did not adopt it antiquated and comparatively
useless. It was supposed that Robison, with some
labour, but without any injustice to the labours of his
friend, might have adopted it; but he preferred the
system in the original: a choice attributed by some
to respect for the memory of his friend, and by
others to prejudice. He sent a copy of his publica-
tion to the Emperor of Russia, and received in return
a box set in diamonds, and a letter of thanks.
Professor Robison had long intended to digest his
researches into a work, to be entitled "Elements of
Mechanical Philosophy, being the Substance of a
Course of Lectures on that Science." The first
volume of this work, containing "Dynamics" and
"Astronomy," he published in 1804; but he did not
live to complete it. In the end of January, 1805, he
yielded to the lingering disorder which had long
oppressed his body, before it enervated his mind.
His biographer gives the following account of his
character:—"He possessed many accomplishments
rarely to be met with in a scholar or a man of science.
He had great skill and taste in music, and was a
performer on several instruments. He was an
excellent draughtsman, and could make his pencil a
valuable instrument, either of record or invention.
When a young man, he was gay, convivial, and
facetious, and his vers de société flowed, I have been
told, easily and with great effect. His appearance
and manner were in a high degree favourable and
imposing: his figure handsome, and his face expres-
sive of talent, thought, gentleness, and good temper.
When I had first the pleasure to become acquainted
with him, the youthful turn of his countenance and
manners was beginning to give place to the grave and
serious cast which he early assumed; and certainly
I have never met with any one whose appearance and
conversation were more impressive than his were at
that period. Indeed, his powers of conversation
were very extraordinary, and, when exerted, never
failed of producing a great effect. An extensive and
accurate information of particular facts, and a facility
of combining them into general and original views,
were united in a degree of which I am persuaded
there have been few examples. Accordingly, he
would go over the most difficult subjects, and bring
out the most profound remarks, with an ease and
readiness which was quite singular. The depth of his
observations seemed to cost him nothing: and when
he said anything particularly striking, you never
could discover any appearance of the self-satisfaction
so common on such occasions. He was disposed to
pass quite readily from one subject to another; the
transition was a matter of course, and he had perfect-
ly, and apparently without seeking after it, that light
and easy turn of conversation, even on scientific and
profound subjects, in which we of this island are
charged by our neighbours with being so extremely
deficient. The same facility, and the same general
tone, were to be seen in his lectures and his writings.
He composed with singular facility and correctness,
but was sometimes, when he had leisure to be so,
very fastidious about his own compositions. In the
intercourse of his life he was benevolent, disinter-
ested, and friendly, and of sincere and unaffected
piety. In his interpretation of the conduct of others
he was fair and liberal while his mind retained its
natural tone, and had not yielded to the alarms of
the French revolution, and to the bias which it
produced."
Mr. Robison's various works, printed and un-
printed, were, after his death, put into the hands of
Professor Playfair; but that gentleman finding that
he could not devote his time sufficiently to them,
they were afterwards published, with notes, by Dr.
Brewster, in four volumes octavo, 1822. This work
consists of some manuscript papers on "Projectiles"