Bryan Higgins

Alfred Webb

A Compendium of Irish Biography

1878

Higgins, Bryan, a distinguished physician and chemist, was born in the County of Sligo about 1737. After obtaining his medical degree he went to London, where he practised with considerable success. He early devoted his attention to chemistry, and opened a school for its practical study in Greek-street, Soho, London, in July 1774. In 1786 he published his best known work — Experiments and Observations on Chemical Philosophy. Between 1780 and 1790 he appears to have visited Russia, and enjoyed the favour of the Empress Catherine. In 1789 he obtained a patent for a cheap and durable cement. On his return from Russia he resumed his chemical lectures. Mr. Higgins died on his estate of Walford, in Staffordshire, in 1820, aged 83. His biographer, W. K. Sullivan, who gives a full analysis of his works, says: "He was rather a speculator than an experimentalist, and many of his views are, for their time, remarkable for their acuteness and generalizing character."

Sources

115. Dublin Quarterly Journal of Medical Science (8). Dublin, 1846-'77.

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