Helsham, Richard

, doctor of physic, professor of that science and of natural philosophy in the university of Dublin, was author of a celebrated course of twenty-three lectures on natural philosophy, published after his death, in an octavo volume, by Dr. Bryan Robinson. These lectures were long in high estimation, passed through several editions, and are only superseded now from the necessity of keeping pace in such works with the progress of discoveries. They are clear and plain, though scientific. The author was intimate with Swift, and corresponded with him in his humourous way. He died Aug. 1, 1738, of an obstruction in the bowels, for which quicksilver having been in vain tried, he ordered that his body should be opened, when the cause of his death was ascertained to be three large excrescences, resembling the substance of the liver, which had accumulated in the bowels. ³