As my father had nothing to
support a large family but his daily labour, and the profits arising from a
few acres of land he rented, it was not to be expected that he could bestow
much on the education of his children: yet they were not neglected; for, at
his leisure hours, he taught them to read and write. And it was while he was
teaching my elder brother to read the Scottish catechism that I acquired my
reading. Ashamed to ask my father to instruct me, I used, when he and my
brother were abroad, to take the catechism, and study the lesson which he
had been teaching my brother; and when any difficulty occurred, I went to a
neighbouring old woman, who gave me such help as enabled me to read
tolerably well before my father had thought of teaching me.
Some time after, he was
agreeably surprised to find me reading by myself: he thereupon gave me
further instruction, and also taught me to write; which, with about three
months I afterwards had at the grammar-school at Keith, was all the
education I ever received.
My taste for mechanics arose from an
odd accident.—When about seven or eight years of age, a part of the roof of
the house being decayed, my father, desirous of mending it, applied a prop
and lever to an upright spar to raise it to its former situation; and, to my
great astonishment, I saw him, without considering the reason, lift up the
ponderous roof as if it had been a small weight. I attributed this at first
to a degree of strength that excited my terror as well as wonder: but
thinking further of the matter, I recollected, that he had applied his
strength to that end of the lever which was furthest from the prop; and
finding, on inquiry, that this was the means whereby the seeming wonder was
effected, I began making levers (which I then called bars); and by applying
weights to them different ways, I found the power gained by my bar was just
in proportion to the lengths of the different parts of the bar on either
side of the prop.—I then thought it was a great pity, that, by means of this
bar, a weight could be raised but a very little way. On this I soon
imagined, that, by pulling round a wheel, the weight might be raised to any
height by tying a rope to the weight, and winding the rope round the axle of
the wheel; and that the power gained must be just as great as the wheel was
broader than the axle was thick; and found it to be exactly so, by hanging
one weight to a rope put round the wheel, and another to the rope that
coiled round the axle. So that, in these two machines, it appeared very
plain, that their advantage was as great as the space gone through by the
working power exceeded the space gone through by the weight. And this
property I also thought must take place in a wedge for cleaving wood; but
then I happened not to think of the screw.
—By means of a turning lathe which my
father had, and sometimes used, and a little knife, I was enabled to make
wheels and other things necessary for my purpose.
I then wrote a short account
of these machines, and sketched out figures of them with a pen, imagining it
to be the first treatise of the kind that ever was written: but found my
mistake, when I afterwards showed it to a gentleman, who told me that these
things were known long before, and showed me a printed book in which they
were treated of: and I was much pleased when I found, that my account (so
far as I had carried it) agreed with the principles of mechanics in the book
he showed me. And from that time my mind preserved a constant tendency to
improve in that science.
But as my father could not
afford to maintain me while I was in pursuit only of these matters, and I
was rather too young and weak for hard labour, he put me out to a neighbour
to keep sheep, which I continued to do for some years; and in that time I
began to study the stars in the night. In the day-time I amused myself by
making models of mills, spinning-wheels, and such other things as I happened
to see.
I then went to serve a
considerable farmer in the neighbourhood, whose name was James Glashan. I
found him very kind and indulgent: but he soon observed, that in the
evenings, when my work was over, I went into a field with a blanket about
me, lay down on my back, and stretched a thread with small beads upon it, at
arms-length, between my eye and the stars, sliding the beads upon it till
they hid such and such stars from my eye, in order to take their apparent
distances from one another, and then, laying the thread down on a paper, I
marked the stars thereon by the beads, according to their respective
positions, having a candle by me. My master at first laughed at me, but when
I explained my meaning to him, he encouraged me to go on; and that I might
make fair copies in the day-time of what I had done in the night, he often
worked for me himself. I shall always have a respect for the memory of that
man.
One day he happened to send
me with a message to Rev. Mr John Gilchrist minister at Keith, to whom I had
been known from my childhood. I carried my star-papers to show them to him,
and found him looking over a large parcel of maps, which I surveyed with
great pleasure, as they were the first I had ever seen. He then told me,
that the earth is round like a ball, and explained the map of it to me. I
requested him to lend me that map, to take a copy of it in the evenings. He
cheerfully consented to this, giving me at the same time a pair of
compasses, a ruler, pens, ink, and paper; and dismissed me with an
injunction not to neglect my master’s business by copying the map, which I
might keep as long as I pleased.
For this pleasant employment,
my master gave me more time than I could reasonably expect; and often took
the threshing-flail out of my hands, and worked himself, while I sat by him
in the barn, busy with my compasses, ruler and pen.
When I had finished the copy,
I asked leave to carry home the map; he told me I was at liberty to do so,
and might stay two hours to converse with the minister.—In my way thither, I
happened to pass by the school at which I had been before, and saw a
genteel-looking man, whose name I afterwards learnt was Cantley, painting a
sun-dial on the wall. I stopt a while to observe him, and the schoolmaster
came out, and asked me what parcel it was that I had under my arm. I showed
him the map, and the copy I had made of it, where with he appeared to be
very well pleased; and asked me whether I should not like to learn of Mr
Cantley to make sun-dials? Mr Cantley looked at the copy of the map, and
commended it much; telling the schoolmaster, Mr John Skinner, that it was a
pity I did not meet with notice and encouragement. I had a good deal of
conversation with him, and found him to be quite affable and communicative;
which made me think I should be extremely happy if I could be further
acquainted with him.
I then proceeded with the map
to the minister, and showed him the copy of it. While we were conversing
together, a neighbouring gentleman, Thomas Grant, esq. of Achoynaney,
happened to come in, and the minister immediately introduced me to him,
showing him what I had done. He expressed great satisfaction; asked me some
questions about the construction of maps, and told me, that if I would go
and live at his house, he would order his butler, Alexander Cantley, to give
me a great deal of instruction. Finding that this Cantley was the man whom I
had seen painting the sun-dial, and of whom I had already conceived a very
high opinion, I told squire Grant, that I should rejoice to be at his house
as soon as the time was expired for which I was engaged with my present
master. He very politely offered to put one in my place, but this I
declined.
When the term of my servitude
was out, I left my good master, and went to the gentleman’s house, where I
quickly found myself with a most humane good family. Mr Cantley the butler
soon became my friend, and continued so till his death. He was the most
extraordinary man that I ever was acquainted with, or perhaps ever shall
see; for he was a complete master of arithmetic, a good mathematician, a
master of music on every known instrument except the harp, understood Latin,
French, and Greek, let blood extremely well, and could even prescribe as a
physician upon any urgent occasion. He was what is generally called
self-taught; but I think he might with much greater propriety have been
termed, God Almighty’s scholar.
He immediately began to teach
me decimal arithmetic, and algebra; for I had already learnt vulgar
arithmetic, at my leisure hours from books. He then proceeded to teach me
the elements of geometry; but, to my inexpressible grief, just as I was
beginning that branch of science, he left Mr Grant, and went to the late
earl Fife’s, at several miles distance. The good family I was then with
could not prevail with me to stay after he was gone; so I left them, and
went to my father’s.
He had made me a present of
Gordon’s Geographical Grammar, which, at that time, was to me a great
treasure. There is no figure of a globe in it although it contains a
tolerable description of the globes, and their use. From this description I
made a globe in three weeks at my father’s, having turned the ball thereof
out of a piece of wood ; which ball I covered with paper, and delineated a
map of the world upon it, made the meridian ring and horizon of wood,
covered them with paper, and graduated them and was happy to find, that by
my globe, which was the first I ever saw, I could solve the problems.
But this was not likely to
afford me bread; and I could not think of staying with my father, who, I
knew full well could not maintain me in that way, as it could be of no
service to him; and he had, without my assistance, hands sufficient for all
his work.
I then went to a miller,
thinking it would be a very easy business to attend the mill, and that I
should have a great deal of leisure time to study decimal arithmetic and
geometry. But my master, being too fond of tippling at an ale-house, left
the whole care of the mill to me, and almost starved me for want of
victuals; so that I was glad when I could have a little oatmeal mixed with
cold water to eat. I was engaged for a year in that man’s service; at the
end of which I left him, and returned in a very weak state to my father’s.
Soon after I had recovered my
former strength, a neighbouring farmer, who practised as a physician in that
part of the country, came to my father’s, wanting to have me as a labouring
servant. My father advised me to go to Dr Young, telling me that the doctor
would instruct me in that part of his business. This he promised to do,
which was a temptation to me. But instead of performing his promise, he kept
me constantly at very hard labour, and never once showed me one of his
books. All his servants complained that he was the hardest master they had
ever lived with; and it was my misfortune to be engaged with him for half a
year. But at the end of three months I was so much overwrought, that I was
almost disabled, which obliged me to leave him; and he was so unjust as to
give me nothing at all for the time I had been with him, because I did not
complete my half year’s service; though he knew that I was not able, and had
seen me working for the last fortnight as much as possible with one hand and
arm, when I could not lift the other from my side. And what I thought was
particularly hard, he never once tried to give me the least relief, further
than once bleeding me, which rather did me hurt than good, as I was very
weak, and much emaciated. I then went to my father’s, where I was confined
for two months on account of my hurt, and despaired of ever recovering the
use of my left arm. And during all that time the doctor never once came to
see me, although the distance was not quite two miles. But my friend Mr
Cantley hearing of my misfortune, at twelve miles’ distance, sent me proper
medicines and applications, by means of which I recovered the use of my arm;
but found myself too weak to think of going into service again, and had
entirely lost my appetite, so that I could take nothing but a draught of
milk once a day, for many weeks.
In order to amuse myself in
this low state, I made a wooden clock, the frame of which was also of wood;
and it kept time pretty well. The bell on which the hammer struck the hours
was the neck of a broken bottle. Having then no idea how any time-keeper
could go but by a weight and a line, I wondered how a watch could go in all
positions, and was sorry that I had never thought of asking Mr Cantley, who
could very easily have informed me. But happening one day to see a gentleman
ride by my father’s house, which was close by a public road, I asked him
what o’clock it then was: he looked at his watch, and told me. As he did
that with so much good-nature, I begged of him to show me the inside of his
watch; and though he was an entire stranger, he immediately opened the
watch, and put it into my hands. I saw the spring-box with part of the chain
round it, and asked him what it was that made the box turn round; he told me
that it was turned round by a steel spring within it. Having then never seen
any other spring than that of my father’s gun-lock, I asked how a spring
within a box could turn the box so often round as to wind all the chain upon
it. He answered that the spring was long and thin, that one end of it was
fastened to the axis of the box, and the other end to the inside of the box,
that the axis was fixed, and the box was loose upon it. I told him I did not
yet thoroughly understand the matter:—‘Well, my lad,’ says he, ‘take a long
thin piece of whalebone, hold one end of it fast between your finger and
thumb, and wind it round your finger, it will then endeavour to unwind
itself; and if you fix the other end of it to the inside of a small hoop,
and leave it to itself, it will turn the hoop round and round, and wind up a
thread tied to the outside of the hoop.’ I thanked the gentleman, and told
him that I understood the thing very well. I then tried to make a watch with
wooden wheels, and made the spring of whalebone; but found that I could not
make the watch go when the balance was put on, because the teeth of the
wheels were rather too weak to bear the force of a spring sufficient to move
the balance; although the wheels would run fast enough when the balance was
taken off. I enclosed the whole in a wooden case very little bigger than a
breakfast teacup; but a clumsy neighbour one day looking at my watch,
happened to let it fall, and turning hastily about to pick it up, set his
foot upon it, and crushed it all to pieces; which so provoked my father,
that he was almost ready to beat the man, and discouraged me so much that I
never attempted to make such another machine again, especially as I was
thoroughly convinced I could never make one that would be of any real use.
As soon as I was able to go
abroad, I carried my globe, clock, and copies of some other maps besides
that of the world, to the late Sir James Dunbar of Durn, about seven miles
from where my father lived, as I had heard that Sir James was a very
good-natured, friendly, inquisitive gentleman. He received me in a very kind
manner, was pleased with what I showed him, and desired I would clean his
clocks. This, for the first time, I attempted; and then began to pick up
some money in that way about the country, making Sir James’s house my home
at his desire.
Two large globular stones
stood on the top of his gate; on one of them I painted with oil colours a
map of the terrestrial globe, and on the other a map of the celestial, from
a planisphere of the stars which I copied on paper from a celestial globe
belonging to a neighbouring gentleman. The poles of the painted globes stood
toward the poles of the heavens; on each the twenty-four hours were placed
around the equinoctial, so as to show the time of the day when the sun shone
out, by the boundary where the half of the globe at any time enlightened by
the sun, was parted from the other half in the shade; the enlightened parts
of the terrestrial globe answering to the like enlightened parts of the
earth at all times. So that whenever the sun shone on the globe, one might
see to what places the sun was then rising, to what places it was setting,
and all the places where it was then day or night, throughout the earth.
During the time I was at Sir
James’s hospitable house, his sister, the honourable lady Dipple came there
on a visit, and Sir James introduced me to her. She asked me whether I could
draw patterns for needle-work on aprons and gowns. On showing me some, I
undertook the work, and drew several for her; some of which were copied from
her patterns, and the rest I did according to my own fancy. On this, I was
sent for by other ladies in the country, and began to think myself growing
very rich by the money I got for such drawings, out of which I had the
pleasure of occasionally supplying the wants of my poor father.
Yet all this while I could
not leave off star-gazing in the nights, and taking the places of the
planets among the stars by my above-mentioned thread. By this, I could
observe how the planets changed their places among the stars, and delineated
their paths on the celestial map, which I had copied from the above-
mentioned celestial globe.
By observing what
constellations the ecliptic passed through in that map, and comparing these
with the starry heaven, I was so impressed as sometimes to imagine that I
saw the ecliptic in the heaven, among the stars like a broad circular road
for the sun’s apparent course; and fancied the paths of the planets to
resemble the narrow ruts made by cart-wheels, sometimes on one side of a
plain road, and sometimes on the other, crossing the road at small angles,
but never going far from either side of it.
Sir James’s house was full of
pictures and prints, several of which I copied with pen and ink; this made
him think I might become a painter.
Lady Dipple had been but a
few weeks there when William Baird, Esq. of Auchmedden came on a visit; he
was the husband of one of that lady’s daughters, and I found him to be very
ingenious and communicative; he invited me to go to his house, and stay some
time with him, telling me that I should have free access to his library,
which was a very large one, and that he would furnish me with all sorts of
implements for drawing. I went thither, and stayed about eight months; but
was much disappointed in finding no books of astronomy in his library,
except what was in the two volumes of Harris’s Lexicon Technicum, although
there were many books on geography and other sciences. Several of these
indeed were in Latin, and more in French, which being languages that I did
not understand, I had recourse to him for what I wanted to know of these
subjects, which he cheerfully read to me; and it was as easy for him at
sight to read English from a Greek, Latin, or French book, as from an
English one. He furnished me with pencils and Indian ink, showing me how to
draw with them; and although he had but an indifferent hand at that work,
yet he was a very acute judge, and consequently a very fit person for
showing me how to correct my own work. He was the first who ever sat to me
for a picture; and I found it was much easier to draw from the life than
from any picture whatever, as nature was more striking than any imitation of
it.
Lady Dipple came to his house
in about half a year after I went thither; and as they thought I had a
genius for painting, they consulted together about what might be the best
way to put me forward. Mr Baird thought it would be no difficult matter to
make a collection for me among the neighbouring gentlemen, to put me to a
painter at Edinburgh; but he found, upon trial, that nothing worth the while
could be done among them: and as to himself, he could not do much that way,
because he had but a small estate, and a very numerous family.
Lady Dipple then told me that
she was to go to Edinburgh next spring, and that if I would go thither, she
would give me a year’s bed and board at her house, gratis; and make all the
interest she could for me among her acquaintance there. I thankfully
accepted of her kind offer; and instead of giving me one year, she gave me
two. I carried with me a letter of recommendation from the lord Pitsligo, a
near neighbour of squire Baird’s, to Mr John Alexander, a painter in
Edinburgh, who allowed me to pass an hour every day at his house, for a
month, to copy from his drawings; and said he would teach me to paint in
oil-colours if I would serve him seven years, and my friends would maintain
me all that time; but this was too much for me to desire them to do, nor did
I choose to serve so long. I was then recommended to other painters, but
they would do nothing without money; so I was quite at a loss what to do.
In a few days after this, I
received a letter of recommendation from my good friend squire Baird, to the
Rev. Dr Robert Keith at Edinburgh, to whom I gave an account of my bad
success among the painters there. He told me, that if I would copy from
nature, I might do without their assistance, as all the rules for drawing
signified but very little when one came to draw from the life; and by what
he had seen of my drawings brought from the north, he judged I might succeed
very well in drawing pictures from the life, in Indian ink, on vellum. He
then sat to me for his own picture, and sent me with it, and a letter of
recommendation, to the right honourable the lady Jane Douglas, who lived
with her mother, the marchioness of Douglas, at Merchiston-house, near
Edinburgh. Both the marchioness and lady Jane behaved to me in the most
friendly manner, on Dr Keith’s account, and sat for their pictures, telling
me at the same time, that I was in the very room in which lord Napier
invented and computed the logarithms; and that if I thought it would inspire
me, I should always have the same room whenever I came to Merchiston. I
stayed there several days, and drew several pictures of lady Jane, of whom
it was hard to say, whether the greatness of her beauty, or the goodness of
her temper and disposition, was the most predominant. She sent these
pictures to ladies of her acquaintance, in order to recommend me to them; by
which means I soon had as much business as I could possibly manage, so as
not only to put a good deal of money in my own pocket, but also to spare
what was sufficient to help to supply my father and mother in their old age.
Thus a business was providentially put into my hands, which I followed for
six and twenty years.
Lady Dipple, being a woman of
the strictest piety, kept a watchful eye over me at first, and made me give
her an exact account at night of what families I had been in throughout the
day, and of the money I had received. She took the money each night,
desiring I would keep an account of what I had put into her hands; telling
me, that I should duly have out of it what I wanted for clothes, and to send
to my father. But in less than half a year, she told me that she would
thenceforth trust me with being my own banker; for she had made a good deal
of private inquiry how I had behaved when I was out of her sight through the
day, and was satisfied with my conduct.
During my two years’ stay at
Edinburgh, I somehow took a violent inclination to study anatomy, surgery,
and physic, all from reading of books, and conversing with gentlemen on
these subjects, which for that time put all thoughts of astronomy out of my
mind; and I had no inclination to become acquainted with any one there who
taught either mathematics or astronomy, for nothing would serve me but to be
a doctor.
At the end of the second year
I left Edinburgh, and went to see my father, thinking myself tolerably well
qualified to be a physician in that part of the country, and I carried a
good deal of medicines, plaisters, &c. thither; but to my mortification I
soon found that all my medical theories and study were of little use in
practice. And then, finding that very few paid me for the medicines they
had, and that I was far from being so successful as I could wish, I quite
left off that business, and began to think of taking to the more sure one of
drawing pictures again. For this purpose I went to Inverness, where I had
eight months’ business.
When I was there, I began to
think of astronomy again, and was heartily sorry for having quite neglected
it at Edinburgh, where I might have improved my knowledge by conversing with
those who were very able to assist me. I began to compare the ecliptic with
its twelve signs, through which the sun goes in twelve months, to the circle
of twelve hours on the dial-plate of a watch, the hour-hand to the sun, and
the minute hand to the moon, moving in the ecliptic, the one always
overtaking the other at a place forwarder than it did at their last
conjunction before. On this, I contrived and finished a scheme on paper, for
showing the motions and places of the sun and moon in the ecliptic on each
day of the year, perpetually; and consequently, the days of all the new and
full moons.
To this I wanted to add a
method for showing the eclipses of the sun and moon; of which I knew the
cause long before, by having observed that the moon was for one half of her
period on the north side of the ecliptic, and for the other half on the
south. But not having observed her course long enough among the stars by my
above-mentioned thread, so as to delineate her path on my celestial map,
in order to find the two opposite points of the ecliptic in which her
orbit crosses it, I was altogether at a loss how and where in the ecliptic,
in my scheme, to place these intersecting points: this was in the year 1739.
At last, I recollected that
when I was with squire Grant of Auchoynaney, in the year 1730, I had read,
that on the 1st of January, 1690, the moon’s ascending node was in the 10th
minute of the first degree of Aries; and that her nodes moved backward
through the whole ecliptic in 18 years and 224 days, which was at the rate
of 3 minutes 11 seconds every 24 hours. But as I scarce knew in the year
1730 what the moon’s nodes meant, I took no farther notice of it at that
time.
However, in the year 1739, I
set to work at Inverness; and after a tedious calculation of the slow motion
of the nodes from January 1690, to January 1740, it appeared to me, that (if
I was sure I had remembered right) the moon’s ascending node must be in 23
degrees 25 minutes of Cancer at the beginning of the year 1740. And so I
added the eclipse part to my scheme, and called it, the Astronomical Rotula.
When I had finished it, I
showed it to the Rev. Mr Alexander Macbean, one of the ministers at
Inverness; who told me he had a set of almanacs by him for several years
past, and would examine it by the eclipses mentioned in them. We examined it
together, and found that it agreed throughout with the days of all the new
and full moons and eclipses mentioned in these almanacs; which made me think
I had constructed it upon true astronomical principles. On this, Mr Macbean
desired me to write to Mr Maclaurin, professor of mathematics at Edinburgh,
and give him an account of the methods by which I had formed my plan,
requesting him to correct it where it was wrong. He returned me a most
polite and friendly answer, although I had never seen him during my stay at
Edinburgh, and informed me, that I had only mistaken the radical mean place
of the ascending node by a quarter of a degree; and that if I would send the
drawing of my rotula to him, he would examine it, and endeavour to procure
me a subscription to defray the charges of engraving it on copper-plates, if
I chose to publish it. I then made a new and correct drawing of it, and sent
it to him: who soon got me a very handsome subscription, by setting the
example himself, and sending subscription papers to others.
I then returned to Edinburgh,
and had the rotula-plates engraved there by Mr Cooper. It has gone through
several impressions; and always sold very well till the year 1752, when the
style was changed, which rendered it quite useless. Mr Maclaurin received me
with the greatest civility when I first went to see him at Edinburgh. He
then became an exceeding good friend to me, and continued so till his death.
One day I requested him to
show me his orrery, which he immediately did; I was greatly delighted with
the motions of the earth and moon in it, and would gladly have seen the
wheel-work, which was concealed in a brass box, and the box and planets
above it were surrounded by an armillary sphere. But he told me, that he
never had opened it; and I could easily perceive that it could not be opened
but by the hand of some ingenious clock-maker, and not without a great deal
of time and trouble.
After a good deal of thinking
and calculation, I found that I could contrive the wheel-work for turning
the planets in such a machine, and giving them their progressive motions;
but should be very well satisfied if I could make an orrery to show the
motions of the earth and moon, and of the sun round its axis. I then
employed a turner to make me a sufficient number of wheels and axles,
according to patterns which I gave him in drawings and after having cut the
teeth in the wheels by a knife, and put the whole together, I found that it
answered all my expectations. It showed the sun’s motion round its axis, the
diurnal and annual motions of the earth on its inclined axis, which kept its
parallelism in its whole course round the sun; the motions and phases of the
moon, with the retrograde motion of the nodes of her orbit; and
consequently, all the variety of seasons, the different lengths of days and
nights, the days of the new and full moons, and eclipses.
When it was all completed
except the box that covers the wheels, I showed it to Mr Maclaurin, who
commended it in presence of a great many young gentlemen who attended his
lectures. He desired me to read them a lecture on it, which I did without
any hesitation, seeing I had no reason to be afraid of speaking before a
great and good man who was my friend. Soon after that, I sent it in a
present to the reverend and ingenious Mr Alexander Irvine, one of the
ministers at Elgin, in Scotland.
I then made a smaller and
neater orrery, of which all the wheels were of ivory, and I cut the teeth in
them with a file. This was done in the beginning of the year 1743; and in
May, that year, I brought it with me to London, where it was soon after
bought by Sir Dudley Rider. I have made six orreries since that time, and
there are not any two of them in which the wheel-work is alike, for I could
never bear to copy one thing of that kind from another, because I still saw
there was great room for improvements.
I had a letter of
recommendation from Mr Baron Eldin at Edinburgh, to the right honourable
Stephen Poyntz, Esq. at St James’s, who had been preceptor to his royal
highness the late duke of Cumberland, and was well known to be possessed of
all the good qualities that can adorn a human mind. To me, his goodness was
really beyond my power of expression; and I had not been a month in London
till he informed me, that he had written to an eminent professor of
mathematics to take me into his house, and give me board and lodging, with
all proper instructions to qualify me for teaching a mathematical school he
(Mr Poyntz) had in view for me, and would get me settled in it. This I
should have liked very well, especially as I began to be tired of drawing
pictures; in which, I confess, I never strove to excel, because my mind was
still pursuing things more agreeable. He soon after told me, he had just
received an answer from the mathematical master, desiring I might be sent
immediately to him. On hearing this, I told Mr Poyntz that I did not know
how to maintain my wife during the time I must be under the master’s
tuition. What, says he, are you a married man? I told him I had been so ever
since May, in the year 1739. He said he was sorry for it, because it quite
defeated his scheme, as the master of the school he had in view for me must
be a bachelor.
He then asked me what
business I intended to follow? I answered, that I knew of none besides that
of drawing pictures. On this he desired me to draw the pictures of his lady
and children, that he might show them, in order to recommend me to
others; and told me, that when I was out of business I should come to him,
and he would find me as much as he could; and I soon found as much as I
could execute, but he died in a few years after, to my inexpressible grief.
Soon afterward, it appeared
to me, that although the moon goes round the earth, and that the sun is far
on the outside of the moon’s orbit, yet the moon’s motion must be in a line,
that is, always concave toward the sun; and upon making a delineation
representing her absolute path in the heavens, I found it to be really so. I
then made a simple machine for delineating both her path and the earth’s on
a long paper laid on the floor. I carried the machine and delineation to the
late Martin Folkes, Esq. president of the royal society, on a
Thursday-afternoon. He expressed great satisfaction at seeing it, as it was
a new discovery; and took me that evening with him to the royal society,
where I showed the delineation, and the method of doing it.
When the business of the
society was over, one of the members desired me to dine with him next
Saturday at Hackney, telling me that his name was Ellicott, and that he was
a watchmaker.
I accordingly went to
Hackney, and was kindly received by Mr John Ellicott, who then showed me the
very same kind of delineation, and part of the machine by which he had done
it; telling me that he had thought of it twenty years before. I could easily
see by the colour of the paper, and of the ink lines upon it, that it must
have been done many years before I saw it. He then told me what was very
certain, that he had neither stolen the thought from me, nor had I from him.
And from that time till his death, Mr Ellicott was one of my best friends.
The figure of this machine and delineation is in the 7th plate of my book of
Astronomy.
Soon after the style was
changed, I had my rotula new engraved; but have neglected it too much, by
not fitting it up and advertising it. After this, I drew out a scheme, and
had it engraved, for showing all the problems of the rotula except the
eclipses; and in place of that, it shows the times of rising and setting of
the sun, moon, and stars; and the positions of the stars for any time of the
night.
In the year 1747, I published
a dissertation on the phenomena of the Harvest Moon, with the description of
a new orrery, in which there are only four wheels. But having never had
grammatical education, nor time to study the rules of just composition, I
acknowledge that I was afraid to put it to the press; and for the same cause
I ought to have the same fears still. But having the pleasure to find that
this my first work was not ill received, I was emboldened to go on, in
publishing my Astronomy, Mechanical Lectures, Tables and Tracts relative to
several arts and sciences, the Young Gentleman and Lady’s Astronomy, a small
treatise on Electricity, and the following sheets.
In the year 1748, I ventured
to read lectures on the eclipse of the sun that fell on the 14th of July in
that year. Afterwards I began to read astronomical lectures on an orrery
which I made, and of which the figures of all the wheel-work are contained
in the 6th and 7th plates of this book. I next began to make an apparatus
for lectures on mechanics, and gradually increased the apparatus for other
parts of experimental philosophy, buying from others what I could not make
for myself, till I brought it to its present state. I then entirely left off
drawing pictures, and employed myself in the much pleasanter business of
reading lectures on mechanics, hydrostatics, hydraulics, pneumatics,
electricity, and astronomy; in all which, my encouragement has been greater
than I could have expected.
The best machine I ever
contrived is the eclipsareon, of which there is a figure in the 13th plate
of my Astronomy. It shows the time, quantity, duration, and progress of
solar eclipses, at all parts of the earth. My next best contrivance is the
universal dialing cylinder, of which there is a figure in the 8th plate of
the supplement to my Mechanical Lectures.
It is now thirty years since
I came to London, and during all that time I have met with the highest
instances of friendship from all ranks of people, both in town and country,
which I do here acknowledge with the utmost respect and gratitude; and
particularly the goodness of our present gracious sovereign, who, out of his
privy purse, allows me fifty pounds a year, which is regularly paid without
any deduction."
To this narrative we shall
add the few particulars which are necessary to complete the view of
Ferguson’s life and character.
Ferguson was honoured with
the royal bounty, which he himself mentions, through the mere zeal of king
George III. in behalf of science. His majesty had attended some of the
lectures of the ingenious astronomer, and often sent for him, after his
accession, to converse upon scientific and curious topics. He had the
extraordinary honour of being elected a member of the royal society, without
paying either the initiatory or the annual fees, which were dispensed with
in his case from a supposition of his being too poor to pay them without
inconvenience. From the same idea, many persons gave him very handsome
presents. But to the astonishment of all who knew him, he died worth about
six thousand pounds.
"Ferguson," says Charles
Hutton, in his Mathematical Dictionary, "must be allowed to have been a very
uncommon genius, especially in mechanical contrivances and inventions, for
he constructed many machines himself in a very neat manner. He had also a
good taste in astronomy, as well as in natural and experimental philosophy,
and was possessed of a happy manner of explaining himself in a clear, easy,
and familiar way. His general mathematical knowledge, however, was little or
nothing. Of algebra he understood but little more than the notation; and he
has often told me that he could never demonstrate one proposition in
Euclid’s Elements; his constant method being to satisfy himself as to the
truth of any problem, with a measurement by scale and compasses." He was a
man of very clear judgment in any thing that he professed, and of unwearied
application to study: benevolent, meek, and innocent in his manners as a
child: humble, courteous, and communicative: instead of pedantry, philosophy
seemed to produce in him only diffidence and urbanity—a love for mankind and
for his Maker. His whole life was an example of resignation and christian
piety. He might be called an enthusiast in his love of God, if religion
founded on such substantial and enlightened grounds as his was, could be
like enthusiasm. After a long and useful life, unhappy in his family
connections, in a feeble and precarious state of health, worn out with
study, age, and infirmities, he died on the 16th of November, 1776.
"Ferguson’s only daughter,"
says Mr Nichols in his life of Bowyer, "was lost in a very singular manner,
at about the age of eighteen. She was remarkable for the elegance of her
person, the agreeableness and vivacity of her conversation, and in
philosophic genius and knowledge, worthy of such a father. His son, Mr
Murdoch Ferguson, was a surgeon, and attempted to settle at Bury, staid but
a little while, went to sea, was cast away, and lost his all, a little
before his father’s death, but found himself in no bad plight after that
event. He had another son, who studied at Marischal college, Aberdeen, from
1772 to 1777, and afterwards, it is believed, applied to physic."
The astronomer has been thus
elegantly noticed in "Eudosia, a poem on the universe " by Mr Capel Lloft:
"Nor shall thy guidance but conduct our
feet,
0 honoured shepherd of our later days!
Thee, from the flocks, while thy untutored soul,
Mature in childhood, traced the starry course,
Astronomy, enamoured, gently led
Through all the splendid labyrinths of heaven,
And taught thee her stupendous laws; and clothed
In all the light of fair simplicity,
Thy apt expression."
Life of James Ferguson, F.R.S., 1710-1776
In a brief autobiographical account and further extended Memoir by Ebeneezer
Henderson (1867) (pdf)
Select mechanical exercises
shewing how to construct different clocks, orreries, and sun-dials, on plain
and easy principles: with several miscellaneous articles, and new tables to
which is prefixed, a short account of the life of the author (1773) (pdf)