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Significant Scots
James Short |
SHORT, JAMES, an eminent optician and constructor of
reflecting telescopes, was the son of William Short, a joiner in Edinburgh,
where he was born on the 10th of June, 1710. The Christian name, James, was
conferred upon him, in consequence of his having thus been ushered into the
world on the birth-day of the Pretender. Having lost his parents in early
life, he was entered, at the age of ten, on the foundation of George Heriot,
where he rendered himself a favourite among his companions, by his talent
for fabricating little articles in joinery. At twelve years old, he began to
attend the High School for classical literature, in which he distinguished
himself so greatly, that a pious grandmother determined to devote him to the
church. He actually commenced a course of attendance at the university for
this purpose, in 1726, took his degree of master of arts, attended the
divinity ball, and in 1731 passed the usual trials preparatory to his being
licensed as a preacher of the gospel; when his natural taste for mechanics,
receiving excitement from an attendance at Mr Maclaurin’s mathematical
class, induced him to turn back from the very threshold of the church, and
apply himself to a different profession. He very quickly attracted the
favourable attention of the illustrious expositor of Newton, who invited him
frequently to his house, in order to observe his capacity more narrowly, and
encouraged him to proceed in the new line of life which he had embraced. In
1732, Maclaurin permitted Short to use his rooms in the college for his
apparatus, and kindly superintended all his proceedings. Two years after, in
a letter to Dr Turin, he takes notice of the proficiency of Mr Short, in the
casting and polishing of the metallic specula of reflecting telescopes. The
young mathematician had already improved greatly upon the construction of
the Gregorian telescope. The figure which he gave to his great specula was
parabolic; not, however, by any rule or canon, but by practice and
mechanical devices, joined to an exact knowledge of the principles of
optics. The improvement had been pointed out by Newton, as the most
necessary attainment for the perfection of those instruments. In 1736, he
had obtained so much distinction by his acquirements, as to be called by
queen Caroline to give instructions in mathematics to her second son, the
duke of Cumberland. On leaving Edinburgh for this purpose, he deposited
£500, which he had already saved from his gains, in the bank of Scotland. In
London, he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society, and was much
patronized by the earls of Morton and Macclesfield. Towards the end of the
year, he returned to Edinburgh, and resumed the usual course of his
profession. Three years afterwards, he accompanied the earl of Morton on a
progress to his lordship’s possessions in Orkney, for the purpose of
adjusting the geography of that remote archipelago; while the laird of
Macfarlane accompanied the party, as a surveyor of antiquities. After that
business had been concluded, Mr Short accompanied the earl to London, where
he finally settled, and for some years carried on an extensive practice in
the construction of telescopes and other optical instruments. One of the
former, containing a reflector of twelve feet focus, was made for lord
Thomas Spencer, at six hundred guineas; another of still greater extent, and
the largest which had till then been constructed, was made for the king of
Spain, at £1200. Mr Short died, June 15, 1768, of mortification in the
bowels, leaving a fortune of £20,000. |
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