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that his fettlement met with much popular oppofition. Even a little rict took place in the church at his ordination; but he foon gained the affections of his flock by his good fenfe, his acknowledged worth, and his unwearied attention to all their wants, which he was ever ready to relieve to the utmoft extent of his abilities. So deeply rooted indeed was their regard for him at last, that, though it is now almoft half a century fince his relation to the parish of New Machiar ceased, his memory continues to be revered in that parish even at the prefent day; and the following anecdote evinces that it is not revered without reafon.

A man who, from being in decent circumftances, and a member of the kirk feffion (See PRESBYTERIANS, Encycl.), when Dr Reid was minifter, had become, in his old age, poor and infirm, obferved to the then minifter of the parish, that if he were able to go to Glafgow, and make his cafe known to his old friend and paftor, he was fure that he would get fomething done for him. This observation was reported to the Doctor, who inftantly recollected the man, though, in all probability, he had not thought of him for thirty years; and he fettled upon him an annual penfion of ten pounds, which was punctually paid as long as they both lived. The pride of science had not from the mind of this great man eradicated the amiable fympathies of humanity, nor had his philofophic fame made him over. look the unafpiring duties of the Chriftian paftor.

In the year 1751, about the beginning of the feffion or annual term, one of the profeffors of philofophy in King's College, Aberdeen, died; and his death being unexpected, prefented to the other members of that learned body fome difficulty in carrying on the ufual course of education for that year. At this our readers will not be surprised, when they reflect on the mode in which science was taught in that univerfity; for he who could with propriety be placed in the vacant chair, mutt have been qualified, without much previous preparation, to read lectures-on LOGIC, ONTOLOGY. PNEUMATICS, MORALS, POLITICS, MATHEMATICS, and NATURAL PHILOSOPHY (See GERARD, in this Suppl.). In fuch a place as Aberdeen, it is hardly to be fuppofed that there was a fingle man unemployed, fo completely mafter of all these branches of fcience, as to take up the class where it was dropt by the deceased profeffor, and carry it fuccessfully through that fcience, whatever it might be, in which, at his death, he chanced to be lecturing. It occurred, however, to the principal, and fome of the profeffors, that the minifter of New Machar was fully equal to the tafk; and the late Dr John Gregory, then profeffor of medicine, and the Rev. Dr Macleod, the prefent fubprincipal of King's College, were deputed to vifit Mr Reid, and equeft his immediate acceptance of the vacant profefforship. He yield. ed to the requeft not without fome hesitation, and was admitted profeffor of philofophy on the 22d of No. >vember.

He was now in the very fituation for which Nature feemed to have intended him. He had not only an opportunity, but it was his duty to cultivate the fcience to which his attachment was fo ftrong; and the duties of his office made him turn his attention more clofely than he had hitherto done to another fcience, in which he was defined to make a more confpicuous figure than he ever made even in his favourite mathematics.

It was during his profefforfhip in the univerfity of Bed Aberdeen that he wrote his "Effay on Quantity," which was published in the 45th volume of the Fhilofophical Tranfactions, and is perhaps the fineft fpeci men of metaphyfical mathematics, if we may use tuch an expreffion, that is extant in our own or in any other language (See QUANTITY, Encycl.). It was during the fame period that he published his "Inquiry into the Human Mind on the Principles of Common Senfe;" a work of unquestionable merit, which has contributed more than any other work whatever to give a rational turn to metaphyfical fpeculations. It was about this period that the degree of D. D. was conferred upon him by his mother college.

The well earned fame of Dr. Reid attracted the attention of the university of Glasgow to him as the fitteft person to fucceed the celebrated Dr Adam Smith; and he was admitted profeffor of moral philofophy in that univerfity on the 11th of June 1764. There his attention was not distracted by a multitude of sciences, which it was his duty to teach; and he had leifure to improve his metaphyfical fyftem, though he continued through life to amufe himfelf occafionally with mathematical fpeculations.

In the year 1773 appeared, in Lord Kames's "Sketches of the Hiftory of Man, a brief Account of Ariftotle's Logic; with remarks by Dr Reid." It would feem that he had entered upon this task rather reluctantly, and merely in compliance with the folicitations of his friend, the author of the Sketches. "In attempting (fays he) to give fome account of the analytics, and of the topics of Ariftotle, ingenuity requires me to confefs, that though I have often purposed to read the whole with care, and to understand what is intelligible, yet my courage and patience always failed before I had done. Why should I throw away fo much time and painful attention upon a thing of fo little use? If I had lived in thofe ages when the knowledge of Ariftotle's Organon intitled a man to the highest rank in philofophy, ambition might have induced me to employ upon it f me years of painful ftudy; and lefs, I conceive, would not be fufficient. Such reflections as thefe always got the better of my refolution, when the first ardour began to cool. All I can fay is, that I have read fome parts of the different books with care, fome flightly, and fome perhaps not at all. I have glanced over the whole often; and when any thing at tracted my attention, have dipped into it till my appetite was fatisfied."

Notwithstanding this modeft acknowledgment, we are not fure that any one of Dr Reid's publications does him greater honour than his very perfpicuous view of this ftupendous fyftem. Having ourselves occafionally looked into the writings of Ariftotle, we fhould not hesitate to fay, that it is by much the best analytis of thefe writings that we have anywhere met with, even though we could not corroborate our own opinion by that of other men much more converfant than we are with the oracular language of the tagyrite. But when it is known that the late Dr Doig of Stirling, to whom Greek was as familiar as his mother tongue, and an equally learned Doctor of Oxford, who has been reading Ariftotle ever fince he was fourteen years of age, agreed in opinion, that a more accurate view of his logic could not be given in the fame compass than had

been

Reid. been given by Dr Reid, we may furely affirm, with fome degree of confidence, that this fmall work adds much to the fame of our celebrated countryman. Though Dr Reid's health continued good, and his mental faculties unimpaired, till a very fhort time before his death, he ceafed for fome years to read lectures from his profefforial chair, employing that time in prepara. tions for eternity, and in fitting his lectures for the prefs. These were published in two volumes 4to: the the firft in 1785, under the title of " Effays on the In tellectual Powers of Man," dedicated to his friends Dr Gregory and Profeffor Stewart, both of the univerfity of Edinburgh; and the fecond in 1788, under the title of Effays on the Active Powers of Man," without any dedication or preface. He continued to enjoy the fame acquired by this work, as well as the affection of his friends and the reverence of the public, for eight years, dying at Glafgow in the end of September, or the beginning of October 1796, in the 87th year of He had been married, and he left behind him

his age.

one daughter.

To do juftice to the biography of fuch a man as this, we fhould here attempt to draw his intellectual character, and to appreciate the merits of his works; but to perform this task in a manner at all worthy of him, or we hope of ourselves, would require more room than our limits permit us to allot to any article of the kind; and our readers will be pleafed to learn, that they may confidently expect an account of his life, with a critique on his works, by a man better qualified to do juftice to both, than the writer of this fhort fketch pretends to be. His works are in the hands of the fpeculative public; and by that public will be duly valued, as long as found fenfe fhall be preferred to impious jargon. How long that may be, God only knows; but if any thing can guard the minds of our youth againft that fophitry of which the object is to attribute real agency to material fluids, and to reprefent the elective attractions of chemistry as perfectly fimilar to human voli tions, it will be the unbiaffed ftudy of Dr Reid's "Effays on the Intellectual and Active Powers of Man." They will there find metaphyfics divefted of mystery, and the profoundeft fpeculations rendered intelligible by the constant ufe of words in one determined fenfe. We think, indeed, that in this confifts the Doctor's chief merit; for, except when treating of our notions of power, he seems not to have added much to what certainly may be found in the writings of Locke.

Let not our readers fuppofe, that by this obfervation we wish to detract in the smalleft degree from our author's fame, or to leffen him by comparifon with the English philofopher. If on mere topics of fpeculative fcience, he appears to us to have thought as Locke thought, it is on the other hand certain, that the greater part of Locke's doctrines may be gleaned from the logical and metaphyfical writings of Bacon, Hobbes, and Des Cartes. Nor need this furprife any one; for he who reflects a moment on the fubject, muft perceive that fuch a coincidence of thought in metaphyfical feience is among men of eminence almost inevitable. Of mind and its powers-the fubject of that science-we neither know, nor can know any thing, but by patiently attending to the operations of our own minds, when we fee, hear, feel, think, reason, and will, &c. and it is obvious, that every man who is capable of such patient

attention, and does not labour under the bias of fome prejudice, muft view thefe operations in the fame way. The great fuperiority of Dr Reid over his predeceffors, in this department of fcience, appears to have been this, that he apprehended the operations of his own mind with a clearnefs, which gave to his language a precision and perfpicuity which the language of Locke certainly does not poffefs

In the Elay on the Human Undertanding, the term idea fometimes fignifics a material fubftance, fometimes the qualities of that fubflance, fometimes the conception of thefe qualities, fometimes the power or faculty of the mind by which we conceive a thing, fometimes a perception of fenfe, and fometimes an intellectual no. tion. Hence the ambiguity of terms which runs thro' the whole of that immortal work, has furnished both the author's friends and his enemies with an opportu nity of attributing to him pernicious doctrines, which we are perfuaded he did not maintain, and which, we think, a patient analyfis of the effay muft convince every man that he did not maintain. From this ambiguity the writings of Dr Reid are perfectly free. His doc. trines, whether well or ill-founded, can never be mifunderftood by him who is defirous to understand them; and he who knows how much perfpicuity of style de pends upon accuracy of thinking, will not deem us enemies to his fame for having faid that his chief merit confifts in the precifion of his language.

He has been much cenfured by fome, and much applauded by others, for introducing the phrafe common fenfe into fpeculative philofophy, as the proper name of that faculty of the mind by which we apprehend firft truths; but he is on this account entitled neither to praife nor to cenfure. He adopted the phrase from others; and has proved, by the most unexceptionable authorities, both ancient and modern, that it may with great propriety be used as he has used it. Whether the adopting of it into works of fcience was neceffary, is another queftion, on which we have given our opi nion, elsewhere; it is fufficient in this place to vindicate his use of it, especially in his latter works, from ambiguity.

Candour obliges us to acknowledge, that he has ad. vanced fome doctrines which we cannot admit as true. Though not in general partial to Locke, he has adopted his notions refpecting our power of abftraction, with hardly any other variation than the fubftituting of the term conceptions for Locke's favourite phrafe ideas. He has likewife endeavoured to prove, that we may distinctly conceive what cannot poffibly exift. Thefe miftakes, for fuch they appear to us, we have pointed out elfewhere (See METAPHYSICS, Part I. Chap. iii. and iv. Encycl.); but they are infinitely more than counterba lanced by his clear, accurate, and fatisfactory difquifitions on our notions of active power. Had Dr Reid never written a fentence but the effay which treats of this de. licate and important fubject, he would have been entitled to a place in the very firft rank of useful meta. phyficians; for, previous to the appearance of his works, we had nothing written directly on power but contradiétory and unintelligible jargon. We recommend the ferious perufal of this effay, the first in his fecond vo lume, to fuch of our readers as fancy that they diftinét. ly conceive the powers of chemical agents, and that in. telligence and volition may refult from any mechanical organization,

and motion.

This John James Reiske muft not be confounded with Re John Reifke, rector of the college of Wolfenbuttel, who ran was alfo a learned man, and published various works*. REMONSTRANTS, in church hiftory, a title given to the ARMINIANS (See that article, Encycl.) by —— reafon of the remonftrance which, in 1610, they made. to the States of Holland, against the fentence of the fynod of Dort, which condemned them as heretics. Epifcopius and Grotius were at the head of the Re monflrants, whofe principles were firft openly patronifed in England by Archbishop Laud. In Holland, the patrons of Calvinifm prefented an addrefs in oppo fition to the remonstrance of the Arminians, and called it a counter-remonftrance. Hence the Dutch Calvin. ifts were termed Counter remonftrants. Much controverfy was carried on by these rival fects, which, on the fide of the Calvinifts, was extremely illiberal.

REMORA, or SUCKING FISH, a species of ECHENEIS (See Encycl.), M. Vaillant found, upon different parts of his enormous ray (See RAJA in this Suppl) about twenty fmall fucking fith, or remoras, taftened fo firmly, that they did not drop off when he was hoifted on board. Some naturalifts have faid, that the head of the fucking fifh is viscous on the lower part, and furnished with rough points fimilar to the teeth of a file; and, according to them, it is by means of these two qualities, its roughnefs and vifcofity, that it is enabled to adhere to other fish.

"Figure to yourself (fays one of them) a row of nineteen harp-edged and dentated lamina, placed crosswife, and iffuing immediately from the rim of the lower jaw, and you will have a juft idea of the part with which the remora makes itself fait."

Reike. organization, or any combination whatever of matter REISKE (John James), a molt profound fcholar and fagacious critic, was born in 1706 at a small town of the duchy of Anhalt. After ftruggling with fome difficulties in his fchool education, in which, however, he, by perfeverance, obtained confiderable advantages, he went, in 1733, to Leipfic; where he continued, for the fake of ftudy, five years. Here he accomplished himfelf in Arabic, and tranflated and publifhed a book from that language. In order to profecute his ftudy of Arabic with greater effect, he travelled on foot, and with many difficulties, to Leyden. Here he was employed in arranging the Arabic manufcripts, for which, however, he received a very fcanty compenfation; and here also he translated from the German and French, into Latin, various effays fent him by Dorville, whom he had vifited in his journey, and who afterwards in ferted these papers in the Mifcellanea Critica. Dorville was fo well pleafed with his kill and diligence, that he employed him in more important concerns. At his defire, Reifke translated the whole of the Chariton from the Greek, and the Geography of Abulfeda from the Arabic, into Latin. At Leyden he continued for the fpace of eight years; where a ftorm of jealoufy and calumny, excited against him by the younger Burman, finally induced him to change his relidence. This was principally owing to the freedom he used with respect to the edition of Petronius, edited by the younger Burman at Leyden; however, before he quitted it, he took the degree of doctor of phyfic, which was given him in a manner which did him the highest honour. He then vifted different parts of Germany, till he at length fettled at Leipfic a fecond time. Here, for twelve years, notwithstanding he was made profeffor of Arabic, he experienced all the inconveniences of poverty, and was obliged to undergo a great deal of drudgery for bookfellers, and the editors of periodical publications, to procure a fubfiftence; at this period, in particular, the Acta Eruditorum were greatly indebted to him. Amidft all these hardships, however, he found opportunity to write, and to publifh, his Animadverfiones in Auctores Graces, in five volumes; a work of extraordinary learning and merit. In 1758, by the death of Haltaufius, he obtained a fituation at once honourable and lucrative, which placed him above want, and enabled him to follow his favourite purfuits at eafe. He was made rector of the academy at Leipfic, in which office he continued till the time of his death. In 1764, he married Erneftina Chriftina Muller, a woman of wonderful attainments, whofe knowledge was hardly inferior to his own, and particularly in Greek literature. She af fifted him in all his literary labours, and efpecially in his immortal work of the "Edition of the Greek Ora tors." Thus, in the manner moft grateful to himself, Reifke confumed the remainder of his life, which continued till 1774, when he died poffeffed of the higheft reputation. The number of works which he fuperintended and published is very great; but it will be fufficient to name those which are most fought after and efteemed. Thefe are, the " Remarks upon Greek Authors," before mentioned. An Edition of the Greek Orators," in 12 vols 8vo, which was finifhed by his widow. "Dionyfius Halicarnaffenfis," in 7 vols. "Plutarch's Works," in 9 vols. "Theocritus, &c. &c."

This defeription (fays Vaillant) is exact as far as relates to the figure and number of the dentated lamina; but it places them on the lower part of the head, whereas they are, in reality, on the upper. Accordingly, when the remora fixes itfelf, it is obliged to turn upon its back, with its belly upward.

If the two white fish, however, that pofted them-. felves on the arms of the ray, and ferved him as pilots, be of the remora fpecies, as he is inclined to think, the lamine by which that variety adheres to other fishes must be on the lower part of the body, fince the two pilots continued in their natural polition, and had no occafion to turn over to fix themfelves at their poft.

REPÈTEND, in arithmetic, denotes that part of. an infinite decimal fraction, which is continually repeated ad infinitum. Thus in the numbers 2 13 13 13 &c. the figures 13 are the repetend, and marked thus 13.

REPUBLICANS, the name given by Vaillant, with fome propriety, to a kind of birds which were ob. ferved in South Africa, both by him and Paterson, to inhabit apparently the fame enormous neft. Cutting one of thefe netts in picces with a hatchet, he percei ved that the principal and fundamental piece confiited of a mafs of Arong coarse grafs (called by the Hotten-; tots Bofmen's grafs), without any mixture, but fo compact and firmly knit together as to be impenetrable to the rain. This nucleus is the commencement of the ftructure; and each bird builds and applies to it its par ticular neft. But thefe cells are formed only beneath and around the mafs; the upper furface remains void,` without, however, being ufelefs; for, as it has a pro-)

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