WILLIAM, M.D. F.R.S., was a native of Cumberland, and born about the year 1712. Of the early part of the life of this philosopher we have had no opportunity of obtaining information. Being destined for the medical profession, after the previous studies in his own country, he repaired to Leyden to finish his education. This university was then in its highest splendour; Albinius in anatomy, Euler in mathematics, and the chair of medicine and chemistry was occupied by the all-accomplished Boerhaave. Having made at Leyden a long and happy residence, and taken his degree, he returned to his native country, and, in Whitehaven, married a lady of singular good sense, and possessing an address so versatile and superior as never failed to charm in whatever circle it was exerted. He was author of an inaugural dissertation De Praxi medica incunda, 4to, Lugd. Bat. 1737; of a treatise "On the Art of making Common Salt," printed at London, in 1748, in 8vo; which procured for him the addition of F.R.S.; a book now long out of print, but not out of recollection. He also published "An Enquiry concerning the mineral Elastic Spirit contained in the water of Spa in Germany;" and, lastly, a treatise, published in 1771, "On the Means of preventing the Communication of Pestilential Contagion." A trip to the Spas of Germany suggested to him the idea of analyzing the properties of the Pyrmont springs, and of some others, and actually led him to that train of disquisition, which terminated in the de-elementizing one of our elements, and fixing its invisible fluid form in a palpable and visible substance. That Dr Brownrigg was the legitimate father of these discoveries was not only known at the time to his intimate and domestic circle, but also to the then president of the Royal Society, Sir John Pringle; who, when called upon to bestow upon Dr Priestley the gold medal for his paper of "Discoveries of the Nature and Properties of Air," thus observed; "And it is no disparagement to the learned Dr Priestley, that the vein of these discoveries was hit upon, and its course successfully followed up, some years ago, by my very learned, very penetrating, very industrious, but modest, friend, Dr Brownrigg." To habits of too much diffidence, and to his scrupulousness of taste, the world has to attribute the fewness of his publications, and the difficulties which always impeded his road to the press. The writer of this article has grounds for saying, that a general history of the county of Cumberland was one of the doctor's literary projects, and that he had made several arrangements subservient to such an undertaking, particularly in the department of natural history. As a medical practitioner, his works were more numerous, and, if not equally celebrated, they were of a character more endearing within the sphere of their utility. His system of treating disease formed an epoch in the annals of medical practice. The poor and the rich had everywhere somewhat for which they thanked him; and health seemed only one of the blessings which he had to dispense. By these means the doctor passed into the summit of professional honour without rival or competitor, without controversy or detraction, but not without applications and requests from fellow students and followers from distant parts, from academies, societies, and universities, foreign and domestic, entreating permission to enrol his name among their respective communities. In his younger days, though the classics of Greece, Rome, and Britain, were present to his fancy, and enlivened and enriched his conversation, yet the Sacred Scriptures were the topics of his delight, and the objects of his veneration: and as his quotations of Virgil and Milton bore testimony to the elegance of his taste, and the fervour of his genius; so, when Job and Isaiah were brought forward, he shewed what his imagination would aspire at, in the ranges of sublimity. In the ordinary occurrence of good things, he never failed to give God the praise; and in the more solemn dispensations, he closed his observations or repressed his feelings, by a purpose of resignation to God's will. To his seat at Ormethington, near Keswick, he had retired about 20 years before his death, withdrawing himself as much from the practice of physic as his numerous connexions, his high character, and his friendly disposition would permit: and purposing to divide his time and his taste between the romantic scenery of this delicious spot, and his researches in natural philosophy. In this retirement he died at the venerable age of 88, lamented by the poor, to whom he was always a beneficent friend, and regretted by all. (Month. Mag.)