WELLS, Robert, printer, born in Scotland in 1728; died in London, England, in 1794. He removed to Charleston, South Carolina, in 1758, and established himself as a book-seller and publisher. He was the chief book-seller in the Carolinas for many years, and published a paper called "The South Carolina and American General Gazette." At the opening of the Revolution he resigned his business to his son John and returned to Europe. His estate was confiscated in 1782. Mr. Wells acquired a fortune in England, but lost most of it. While in Charleston he wrote and published a " Travestie of Virgil."--His son, William Charles, scientist, born in Charleston, South Carolina, in May, 1757; died in London, England, 18 September, 1817, was placed at school in Dumfries, Scotland, in 1767, and entered Edinburgh university in 1770, but returned to Charleston in 1771, and in 1775, refusing to sign the "Association," a patriotic paper, embarked for London. He then resumed medical studies at Edinburgh, and in 1780 received his degree. After a short service as surgeon of a Scottish regiment in Holland he went back to Charleston in 1781 to arrange his family affairs. There he was a printer, book-seller, and merchant, and wrote a paper to show that Whigs of rank that appeared in arms after being sent home on parole should be put to death. He also published about this time a description of Henry Laurens under the signature of " Marius." When the British evacuated Charleston in December, 1782, Dr. Wells accompanied them to St. Augustine, Florida, where he edited the first weekly paper in the province, was captain of a military company, and managed a theatre that was established by young officers for the benefit of loyalist refugees. In 1784 he established himself in practice in London, where in 1788 he was admitted as a licentiate of the College of physicians, in 1790 elected physician to Finsbury dispensary, and in 1800 a physician of St. Thomas's hospital. His reputation as a scientist rests principally on his celebrated "Essay on Dew and Several Appearances con-netted with It" (London, 1814), by which he is chiefly known. This was the first announcement of a comprehensive theory of dew, and its conclusions, which were drawn from a series of ingenious experiments, are accepted to-day with slight modifications. His experimental work on this subject was remarkable for patient research, close reasoning, and the simplicity of the means that he employed. He was the first to show the relation of radiation to the deposition of dew and to explain the true origin and nature of the latter, which had generally been misunderstood. His essay on "Single Vision with Two Eyes," which had appeared previously (1792), had gained him an election in 1793 to the Royal society of London, which in 1816 awarded him the gold and silver Rumford medals. He also was chosen to the Royal society of Edinburgh in 1814. In 1813 Dr. Wells read before the Royal society a paper in which, says Charles R. Darwin, "he distinctly recognizes the principle of natural selection, and this is the first recognition that has been indicated." A volume containing his essays and an autobiographical sketch appeared after his death (Edinburgh, 1818).