was the best general mechanic of his time, and had a complete knowledge of practical astronomy; so that he not only gave to various movements for measuring time a degree of perfection which had never before been attained, but invented several astronomical instruments, by which considerable advances have been made in that science; he also effected great improvements in those which had before been in use; and, by a wonderful manual dexterity, constructed them with greater precision and accuracy than any other person in the world.

A great mural arch in the Observatory at Greenwich was made by Dr. Halley, under Mr. Graham's immediate inspection, and divided by his own hand; and from this incomparable original, the best foreign instruments of the kind are copies made by English artists. The sector by which Dr. Bradley first discovered two new motions in the fixed stars was of his invention and fabrication. He comprised the whole planetary system within the compass of a small cabinet, from which, as a model, all the modern orreries have been constructed. And when the French Academicians were sent to the north to make observations for ascertaining the figure of the earth, Mr. Graham was thought the fittest person in Europe to supply them with instruments; by which means they finished their operations in one year, while those who went to the south, not being so well furnished, were very much embarrassed and retarded in their operations.

Mr. Graham was many years a member of the Royal Society, to which he contributed several ingenious and important discoveries, chiefly on astronomical and philosophical subjects; particularly a kind of horary alteration of the magnetic needle, a quicksilver pendulum, and many curious particulars relating

to the true length of the simple pendulum, upon which he continued to make experiments till almost the year of his death, which happened on the 20th of November, 1751, in his house in Fleet Street.

His temper was not less communicative than his genius was penetrating; and his principal view was the advancement of science and the benefit of mankind. As he was perfectly sincere, he was above suspicion; as he was above envy, he was candid; and as he had a relish for true pleasure, he was generous. He frequently lent money, but could never be prevailed upon to take any interest; and for that reason he never placed out any money upon Government securities. He had bank-notes which were thirty years old in his possession when he died; and his whole property, except his stock-in-trade, was found in a strong-box, which, though less than would have been heaped together by avarice, was yet more than would have remained to prodigality.

JAMES FERGUSON.

James Ferguson, the eminent practical philosopher and astronomer, was born in a humble station at Keith, a small village in Scotland, in the year 1710. He learned to read by merely listening to the instructions which his father communicated to an elder brother. He was afterwards sent for about three months to the grammar school at Keith; and this was all the scholastic education he ever received. His taste for mechanics appeared when he was only about seven or eight years of age. By means of a turning-lathe and a knife, he constructed machines that served to illustrate the properties of the lever, the wheel and axle. Of these machines, and the mode of their application, he made rough drawings with a pen,

and wrote a brief description of them.

Unable to subsist

without some employment, he was placed with a neighbouring farmer, and was occupied for some years in the care of his sheep. In this situation he commenced the study of astronomy, devoting a great part of the night to the contemplation of the heavens; while he amused himself in the day-time with making models of spinning-wheels, and other machines which he had an opportunity of observing. By another farmer, in whose service he was afterwards engaged, he was much encouraged in his astronomical studies, and enabled, by the assistance that was afforded him in his necessary labour, to reserve part of the day for making fair copies of the observations which he roughly sketched out at night. In making these observations, he lay down on his back, with a blanket about him, and by means of a thread strung with small beads, and stretched at arm's length between his eye and the stars, he marked their positions and distances. The master who thus kindly favoured his search after knowledge, recommended him to some neighbouring gentlemen, one of whom took him into his house, where he was instructed by the butler in decimal arithmetic, algebra, and the elements of geometry! Being afterwards deprived of the assistance of this preceptor, he returned to his father's house, and, availing himself of the information derived from Gordon's Geographical Grammar, constructed a globe of wood, covered it with paper, and delineated upon it a map of the world; he also added the meridian ring and horizon, which he graduated; and by means of this instrument, which was the first he had ever seen, he came to solve all the problems in Gordon. His father's contracted circumstances obliged him again to seek employment; but the service into which he entered was so laborious as to affect his health. For his amusement in this

enfeebled state, he made a wooden clock, and also a watch, after having once seen the inside of such a piece of mechanism. His ingenuity obtained for him new friends, and employment suited to his taste, which was that of cleaning clocks, and drawing patterns for ladies needlework; and he was thus enabled not only to supply his own wants, but to assist his father. Having improved in the art of drawing, he was induced to draw portraits from the life with Indian ink on vellum. This art, which he practised with facility, afforded him a considerable subsistence for several years, and allowed him leisure for pursuing those favourite studies which ultimately raised him to eminence.

“My taste for mechanics," says Mr. Ferguson, in a sketch of his own life, "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 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 farthest from the prop, and finding, on inquiry, that this was the means by which 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 given 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 weight; and this property, I thought, must take place in a wedge for cleaving wood, but then I happened not to think of the screw. I then wrote a short account of the machines, and sketched out figures of them with a pen, imagining it to be the first treatise of the kind that ever was written." So early did this philosopher's genius for mechanics first appear; and from such small beginnings did that knowledge spring for which he was afterwards so justly distinguished.

MATTHEW BOULTON.

Matthew Boulton, the partner of James Watt, also deserves mention here. He was born on the 3rd of September, 1728, at Birmingham, where his father carried on business as a hard

wareman.

He received an ordinary education at a school in Deritend, and also acquired a knowledge of drawing and mathematics. At the age of seventeen, he effected some improvements in shoe-buckles, buttons, and several other articles of Birmingham manufacture.

The death of his father left him in possession of considerable property; and in order to extend his commercial operations, he purchased, about 1762, a lease of Soho, near Handsworth, about two miles from Birmingham, but in the county of Stafford