MEAD. 151 nnd other close and confined places, would have shared the same fate with many otlier useful dis- coveries, which ignorance, jealousy, and often private interest, have stifled in their birth. But fortunately, our illustrious patron of science, being at first sight convinced of the advantages of his method, was determined to procure time and patience for a scheme of whose ultimate success he was confident: accordingly he engaged the Lords of the Admiralty to order a trial of the new machine to be made, at which he himself assisted with them, and with several fellows of the Royal Society, whom he had interested in the cause : he presented a memorial to that learned body, in which he demonstrated its simplicity and efficacy ; and also procured a model of it to be made in copper, which he deposited in their museum. At last, after a ten years' tedious solicitation, he obtained from the Lords of the Admiralty an order to Mr. Sutton to provide all the ships of his Majesty's navy with this useful machine. Y e believe that it has been since superseded by more recent inventions. Mead gradually felt that disposition to retire from the giddy whirl of professional routine which usually induces the v/ise to snatch, if possible, a short interval of repose and retrospection between the infirmities of age and the parting moments of existence. This period he partly occupied in the composition of his Mcdica Sacra, or Commentary on the more remarkable diseases of which mention is made in the Bible ; in which it v/as his object to reconcile the knowledge derived from actual ob- servation with the features of malady which are there delineated. He is of opinion that the de- al
