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BRYCE, (the Rev.)
ALEXANDER, an eminent geometrician, was born in the year 1713, at Boarland
in the parish of Kincardine, and received the first rudiments of learning
at the school of Downe, Perthshire. He studied afterwards at the
university of Edinburgh, where his proficiency in mathematics and
practical astronomy, early attracted the notice and secured for him the
patronage of professor Maclaurin. At the particular request of that
celebrated man, he went to Caithness, in May 1740, as tutor to a
gentleman's son, but chiefly to construct a map of the northern coast; the
number of shipwrecks rendering this, at the time, an object of
considerable national importance. During a residence of three years, and,
in defiance of many threats from the peasantry, which made it necessary
for him to go always armed, who did not relish so accurate an examination
of their coast, from motives of disloyalty, or because they were afraid,
it would deprive them of two principal sources of income - smuggling and
plunder from the shipwrecks, he accomplished at his own expense, the
geometrical survey, and furnished "A Map of the North coast of
Britain, from Raw Stoir of Assynt, to Wick in Caithness, with the harbours
and rocks, and an account of the tides in the Pentland Firth." This
map was afterwards published by the philosophical, now the Royal, Society
of Edinburgh in 1744. Mr. Arrowsmith, it may be mentioned, has lately
pronounced it to be very accurate, after a minute examination, while
preparing materials for his large map of Scotland.
On his return to Edinburgh
in 1743, Mr. Bryce gave very efficient aid, with his friend the reverend
Mr. Wallace of Haddo's Hole church, in verifying the necessary
calculations submitted to them by doctor Webster, previous to the
institution, by act of parliament, of the fund for a provision for the
widows of the Scottish clergy; the regular increase of which since, and
its present flourishing state, form the best encomium of those who
laboured for its establishment.
In June, 1744, be was
licensed to preach, by the reverend Presbytery of Dunblane; and having
received a presentation by James, earl of Morton, to the church and parish
of Kirknewton, within the Presbytery of Edinburgh, he was ordained to
serve that cure, in August, 1745. From his knowledge of the inland
geography of Scotland, and line of the roads, he was enabled, this year,
to furnish the quarter-master general of the army of the Duke of
Cumberland with important information regarding the march of the forces,
in subduing the rebellion. In the winter of 1745, and spring of 1746, he
taught the mathematical classes in the university of Edinburgh, at the
desire, and during the last illness of Professor Maclaurin, who died in
June following. Mr. Bryce expressed his sorrow for the loss of his friend
in verse, of which the following is a specimen: -
Yon angel guards that wait
his soul,
Amaz'd at aught from earth so bright,
Find nothing new from pole to pole;
To show him in a clearer light.
Joyful he bears glad news *
on high,
And tells them through celestial space;
See Newton hastens down the sky,
To meet him with a warm embrace!
The list'ning choirs around
them throng,
Their love and wonder fond to show;
On golden harps they tune the song, -
Of Nature's laws in worlds below.
O Forbes, Foulks, loved
Morton, mourn;
Edina, London, Paris, sigh;
With tears bedew his costly urn,
And pray - Earth light upon him lie.
In the year 1750, having
occasion to visit Stirling, and knowing that, by an act of the Scottish
parliament, this borough had the keeping of the Pint Jug, the standard, by
special statute, for weight and for liquid and dry measure in Scotland, he
requested a sight of it from the magistrates. Having been referred to the
council house, a pewter pint jug, which had been kept suspended
from the roof of the apartment, was taken down and given to him; after
minutely examining it, he was convinced that it could not be the standard.
The discovery was in vain communicated to the magistrates, who were ill
able to appreciate their loss. It excited very different feelings in the
mind of an antiquary and a mathematician; and resolved, if possible, to
recover this valuable antique, he immediately instituted a search; which,
though conducted with much patient industry during part of this and the
following year, proved unavailing. In the spring of 1752, it occurred to
him, that this standard might have been borrowed by some of the braziers
or coppersmiths, for the purpose of making legal measures for the
citizens; and having learned that a person of this description, called
Urquhart, had joined the rebel forces in 1745, that his furniture and shop
utensils had been brought to public sale on his not returning; and that
various articles which had not been sold, were thrown into a garret as
useless, he obtained permission to inspect them; and to his great
satisfaction, discovered, under a mass of lumber, the precious object of
his long research. Thus was recovered the only legal standard of weight
and measure in Scotland; after it had been offered, in ignorance, for
public sale, and thrown aside unsold as trash, and long after it had been
considered by its constitutional guardians as irretrievably lost.
The standard Stirling pint
jug is made of brass, in the form of a hollow truncated cone, and weighs
14 pounds, 10 ounces, 1 drop, and 18 grains, Scotch troy. The mean
diameter of the mouth is 4.17 inches. The mean diameter of the bottom 5.25
inches, and the mean depth 6 inches English. On the front, near the mouth,
in alto relievo, is a shield and lion rampant, the arms of Scotland: and
near the bottom another shield, and an ape, passant gardant, with the
letter S below, supposed to have been intended as the arms of Stirling.
The arms at present are a wolf. The ape must have been put on therefore
inadvertently by the maker, or the town must have changed its arms at a
period subsequent to the time when the standard was ordered to be made.
The handle is fixed with two brass nails; the whole is of rude
workmanship, and indicates great antiquity.
By an act of the Scottish
parliament, Edinburgh had the keeping of the standard ell; Perth the reel;
Lanark the pound: Linlithgow the firlot, and Stirling the pint jug; an
arrangement made by the legislature, in the view of improving the internal
commerce of the country, by checking the frauds which the traffickers of a
rude age may be supposed to have often attempted, and because the
commodities, to which these different standards referred, were known to
have been supplied in greater abundance by the districts and towns to
whose care they were respectively committed. Hence it may be inferred,
that Lanark was then the principal market for wool; Perth for yarn;
Edinburgh for cloth; Linlithgow for grain; and Stirling for distilled and
fermented liquors. The Stirling jug is mentioned in acts of Parliament as
being in the town before the reign of James II. in 1437: and the last
mention made of it is in the reign of James VI., in an "Act of
Parliament, 19 February, 1618, anent settling the measures and weights of
Scotland." No accurate experiments appear to have been afterwards
made with it for fixing the legal quantity of these measures and weights,
till the following by Mr. Bryce in 1762-3; a period of about one hundred
and thirty-five years!
Having been permitted,
after recovering the Standard jug, to carry it with him to Edinburgh, his
first object was to ascertain precisely, by means of it, the number of
cubic inches, and parts of a cubic inch, in the
true Scotch pint.
For this purpose the mouth
of the jug was made exactly horizontal, by applying to it a spirit level;
a minute silver wire of the thickness of a hair, with a plummet attached
to each end, was laid across the mouth, and water poured gently in, till,
with a magnifying glass, it was seen just to touch the wire: the water was
then carefully weighed in a balance, the beam of which would turn with a
single grain, when 96 ounces were in each scale. After seventeen trials
with clear spring and river water, several of which were made in presence
of the magistrates of Edinburgh, the content of the jug was found to
weigh, at a medium of the trials, 54 ounces, 8 drops, 20 grains, or 26,180
grains, English troy.
His next object was to
determine accurately, how many of these grains were contained in a cubic
inch of water. With this view, a cylindrical brass vessel was made with
great accuracy, by a scale of Bird, the celebrated mathematical
instrument-maker of London, to contain 100 cubic inches. This vessel was
filled several times with the same water as in the trials with the jug,
and its content was found to weigh 25,318 grains, English troy. This
number divided by 100, gives 253 18/100 grains, as the weight of a cubic
inch of water: therefore, 26180 divided by 153 18/100=103 404/1000, the
exact number of cubic inches, and parts of a cubic inch, in the standard
Scotch pint: 51 702/1000 cubic inches in the chopin: 25 851/1000 cubic
inches in the mutchkin; and so on, proportionally, in the other smaller
Scotch measures.
Mr. Bryce next applied the
Standard jug to fix the legal size of the different measures for grain;
which he compared with some of the English dry measures. By act of
parliament, 19 February, 1618, formerly mentioned, it is ordained, that
the wheat and pease firlot - shall contain 21 1/4 pints; and the bear
and oat firlot 31 pints of the just Stirling jug. Therefore, since
there are 103 404/1000 cubic inches in the standard Scotch pint, there
will be 2197 335/1000 cubic inches in the wheat and pease firlot; 549
3337/10000 in the peck; and 137 3334/10000 in the lippie - in the bean and
oat firlot, 3205 524/1000 cubic inches; 801 381/1000 in the peck; and 200
345/1000 in the lippie. The excess of a boll of bear above a boll of wheat
was found to be precisely 5 pecks bear measure, and 1 mutchkin, without
the difference of a single gill: or, a boll of bear is more than a boll of
wheat, by 7 pecks 1 1/2 lippie, wheat measure, wanting 1 gill.
The English corn bushel
contains 2178 cubic inches, which is less than the Scotch wheat firlot, by
19.335 inches, or three gills; so that 7 firlots of wheat will make 7
English bushels and 1 lippie. The English corn bushel is less than the
barley firlot, by 1 peck, 3 1/2 lippies nearly. The legal English bushel,
by which gaugers are ordered to make their returns of malt, contains
2150.42 cubic inches, which is less than the wheat firlot, 46.915 cubic
inches, or 1 chopin, wanting 1/2 gill; and less than the bear firlot by
1055.104 cubic inches, or 2 bear pecks, wanting 7 gills.
A Scotch barley boll
contains 5 bushels, 3 pecks, 2 lippies, and a little more, according to
the Winchester gallon.
A Scotch barley boll,
according to the legal measure, contains 6 bushels, wanting a little more
than 1/2 lippie.
A Scotch chalder, (16 bolls
of barley,) is equal to 11 quarters, 6 bushels, and 3 lippies, Winchester
measure.
A Scotch chalder of wheat
is equal to 8 quarters, 2 pecks, and 1 lippie, Winchester measure.
A wheat firlot made
according to the dimensions mentioned in the Scotch act of parliament,
1618, viz., 19 1/6 inches diameter, at top and bottom, and 7 1/3 inches in
height, Scotch measure, would be less than the true wheat firlot; (or 2
1/4 pints of the Standard jug) by a Scotch chopin: a chalder of
wheat measured with this firlot would fall short of the true quantity, 1
firlot, 2 pecks, or nearly 2 1/4 per cent.
A barley firlot made
according to the dimensions in the said act, viz., having the same
diameter at top and bottom as the wheat firlot, and 10 1/2 inches in
height, Scotch measure, would be less than the true firlot, (or 31 pints
of the Standard jug) by 5 mutchkins: and a chalder of bear, measured with
such a firlot, would fall short of the just quantity, 2 firlots, 2 pecks,
and nearly 2 lippies, or 4 per cent.
These very remarkable
mistakes must have proceeded from the ignorance or inaccuracy of the
persons authorized by parliament to make the calculations, and to
determine the exact dimensions of the firlot measure. For suppose a firlot
were made of the following dimensions, viz., 20 inches diameter, English
measure, at top and bottom, and 7 inches in depth, it would contain 21 1/2
pints (the true wheat and pease firlot) and only 1/5 of a gill more.
A firlot of the same
diameter as above, at top and bottom, and 10 1/4 inches in depth, would
contain 31 pints (the true bear and oat firlot) and only 2 gills more: but
if, instead of 10 1/4, it be made 10 1/5 inches in depth, it will be less
than 31 pints, (the true Standard measure) only 1/4 of a single gill.
By the greater of these
firlots were to be measured bear, oats, and malt; by the less wheat, rye,
beans, pease, and salt.
According to the act of
parliament in 1618, to which reference has been made, the Scotch pint
contains of the clear running water of Leith three pounds and seven
ounces, French troy weight, and this is ordained to be the weight of
Scotland; therefore, in the Scotch pound there are 7616 troy grains; and
in the Scotch ounce 476 troy grains; and so on proportionally, with regard
to the other Scotch weights.
In this way, by the
recovery of the standard Stirling pint jug, canons of easy application
resulted, for determining the just quantity of the measures, liquid and
dry, and also of the weights in Scotland, and therefore of great public
utility, by settling disputes and preventing litigation in that part of
the empire.
After having obtained the
above results by means of the Standard jug, Mr. Bryce superintended, at
the desire of the magistrates of Edinburgh, the adjustment of the weights
and measures, kept by the dean of Guild; and "for his good
services to the city," was made a burgess and Guild brother in
January, 1754.
Several detached memoirs by
Mr. Bryce were published by the Royal Society of London; particularly
"An account of a Comet observed by him in 1766;" "A new
method of measuring the Velocity of the Wind;" "An Experiment to
ascertain to what quantity of Water a fall of Snow on the Earth's surface
is equal." His observations on the transits of Venus, 6th June, 1761,
and 3rd June, 1769, were considered by astronomers as important, in
solving the grand problem. In May, 1767, he was consulted by the trustees
for procuring surveys of the lines proposed for the canal between the
Forth and Clyde, and received their thanks for his remarks, afterwards
communicated to them in writing, on Mr. Smeaton's first printed report.
About this time, he was introduced to Stuart Mackenzie, lord privy seal of
Scotland, who, as a lover of the arts and sciences, highly respecting his
genius and acquirements, obtained for him soon after, the office of one of
his majesty's chaplains in ordinary; and, during the remainder of his
life, honoured him with his friendship and patronage.
He planned for that
gentleman the elegant observatory at Be1mont castle, where also are still
to be seen, an instrument contrived by him for ascertaining the magnifying
powers of telescopes, and a horizontal marble dial, made with great
precision, to indicate the hour, the minute, and every ten seconds. In
1770, his lordship having communicated an account or a phenomenon observed
by lord Charles Cavendish, doctor Habberden, and himself, viz., "that
a less quantity of rain (by a difference which was considerable) fell into
the rain gauges placed on the top of Westminster abbey and an adjoining
house than into those placed below," and for which they found it
difficult to account, Mr. Bryce sent to his lordship, on the 14th
December, an ingenious solution of the fact.
In 1772, he wrote
"Remarks on the Barometer for measuring Altitudes;" showing the
uncertainty and limited use of the instrument, as then commonly used for
that purpose, and the means by which it might be rendered more perfect and
greater precision attained. These remarks were sent to lord privy seal in
January, 1773. In a map of the Three Lothians engraved by Kitchen of
London, and published in 1773, by Andrew and Mostyn Armstrong, "the
scales of Longitude and Latitude are laid down agreeably to the
observations of the Rev. Mr. Bryce at Kirknewton manse." In April,
1774, in consequence of certain apparently insurmountable difficulties, he
was consulted by the magistrates of Stirling on the subject of supplying
the town with water: these difficulties he removed, by taking accurately
all the different levels; making the calculations for the size of the
leaden pipes and the reservoir, and fixing the situation for its being
placed. For this service he had the freedom of the town conferred on him.
In 1776, he made all the requisite calculations for an epitome of the
solar system on a large scale, afterwards erected by the earl of Buchan at
his seat at Kirkhill. In case of disputes about the extent of fields
exchanged by neighbouring proprietors, or the line of their marches, he
was generally chosen sole arbiter, and from his knowledge in land
surveying, and the confidence reposed in him, had it often in his power to
render them essential service. Mr. Bryce used to send various
meteorological observations and other detached notices to Ruddiman's
Weekly Magazine.
From the time of his
ordination in 1745, till his death on the 1st January, 1786, he
discharged with great fidelity, all the duties of his pastoral office; and
excelled particularly in that species of didactic discourse known
in Scotland, under the name of lecture. His lectures, however, were never
fully written, but spoken from notes; and he left no sermons for
publication.
In early life he composed
several songs, adapted to some of the most favourite Scottish airs, and
his stanzas, in "The Birks of Invermay," have been long before
the world. For about three years before his death, his greatest amusement
was in writing poetry, chiefly of a serious and devotional cast; which,
though not composed for the public eye, is read with satisfaction by his
friends, and valued by them as an additional proof of his genius, and a
transcript of that enlightened piety, uprightness of mind, and unshaken
trust in his Creator, which characterized him through the whole of life.
* A few days before his
friend's death, he saw him institute a calculation for ascertaining the
proportion that existed between the axis of the earth and the diameter of
its equator. It proceeded on data sent him by the Earl of Morton,
president of the Royal Society, consisting of observations made in Peru by
the French mathematicians, and communicated at London by Don Antonio, who
was taken prisoner at Cape Breton. The proportion ascertained was very
nearly that which Sir Isaac Newton had predicted; being as 221:222,
and afforded particular gratification. These are the news he is supposed
to bear. |
