The History and Present State

Priestley continued experimenting, and soon he had written a manuscript titled The History and Present State of Electricity, with Original Experiments. In June of 1766 he was elected to the Royal Society, and his book on electricity was published in 1767. At this time, his experiments were primarily in physics. He had not yet developed the great interest in chemistry that was eventually to lead him to some very significant discoveries. 

Priestley, J., The History and Present State of Discoveries Relating to Vi-... 

This chapter discusses the history and present state of chemotaxonomy in view of our knowledge of the molecular phylogeny of plants. In the second part of this chapter, the possible evolution of secondary metabolism will be elaborated (for a review, see Wink, 2003, 2007). This analysis helps to understand the discrepancies between chemotaxonomy and molecular phylogeny (for a review, see Wink, 2008). 

I. The History and Present State of Electricity, with Original Experiments, 4 , London, 1767, 2 ed. enlarged, 4°, 1769 (ded. to James Earl of Morton, P.R.S.) in the Advertisement to the z ed. Priestley says he had learnt German, a language hardly known to English writers. 

III. The History and Present State of Discoveries relating to Vision, Light, and Colours, 2 vols. 4°, London, 1772 (dedic. to the Duke of Northumberland, Earl Percy, saying without that knowledge about which it is conversant, rank and fortune would be of little value 6 p. list of subscribers, with supplementary list, inch R. Watson, later Bishop of LlandafF, list of Priestley s books contin. pagin., 812 pp.). This book was not very successful he says he proposed to continue the series but in 1772 he began his experiments on gases which turned his attention into a different channel (see p. 249). 

An Essay on Respiration, Parts i and 2, Liverpool, 1804 (chemistry, 69 f.) An Account of the History and Present State of Galvanism, London, 1818 An Elementary System of Physiology, 3 vols., London, 1827 3 ed., 1836. 

Interestingly enough, for chemistry, one of the most thorough accounts of static electrical phenomena was that published by Joseph Priestley, The History and Present State of Electricity , London, 1767, in two volumes. It was an article in Encyclopaedia Britannica on the history of electricity by Tytler, copiously illustrated by diagrams of electrostatic machines, based in part on Priestley s volumes, that first stimulated Faraday to construct his first scientific instruments. 

At this time his interest in science deepened. During a visit to London an event occurred that became decisive in his life. He met Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) and was introduced to scientific society. Priestley was so inspired that he started to write The History and Present State of Electricity, which included original experiments and illustrations. This led to his election as a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1766. Priestley was 33 and his scientific career had begun. 

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