means he made it appear that he was able, with the help of this machine alone, to kill 30,000 Turks, without the aid of one Christian. Of this it is said that (upon a wager) he gave proof upon a large plain in Scotland, to the destruction of a great many heads of cattle and flocks of sheep, whereof some were distant from other half a mile on all sides, and some a whole mile." *

It were to have been desired, certainly, that our author had been a little more particular in his description of the scene of this devastating exploit among the cattle-"a large plain in Scotland," being rather an unsatisfactory form of expression, even in reference to a country where there are not a great many large plains; but this indefinite mode of writing is only Sir Thomas's usual style. We are not inclined, indeed, to put much faith in the rumour here recorded that Napier actually put the power of his machine to the proof in the manner described; but the whole statement, taken in conjunction with what we have found the alleged inventor asserting under his own hand, seems to put it beyond doubt that he had at least imagined some such contrivance as that alluded to in the above passage, and even that his having done so was matter of general notoriety in his own day, and for some time after. Sir Thomas Urquhart was born in 1613, some years before Napier's death, and his "Jewel” was first published in 1652. Napier, he informs us, when requested on his deathbed to reveal the secret of this engine of such extraordinary potency in the destruction of cattle, sheep, and Turks, refused to do so, on the score of there being too many instruments of mischief in the world already for it to be the business of any good man to add to their number. This may remind the reader of the story told respecting a machine of somewhat similar pretensions constructed at a later period by the celebrated James Gregory, of which Sir Isaac Newton, when it was shown to him, is said to have expressed his disapprobation on the same ground which Napier is here made to take. But the truth is, as has been often remarked, that the introduction of machines capable of producing the tremendous effects ascribed to those in question would, in all probability, very soon put an end to war-which has not become more destructive, but the reverse, since the invention of a more formidable artillery than that anciently in use; and which, waged with such contrivances as those of Napier and Gregory, would certainly never be resorted to by nations as a mode of settling their differences, until they had become literally insane. Another consideration, however, which might suggest itself to a man of very scrupulous feelings on such a matter, is, that it would be unfair for him to put even

"The Discovery of a most rare Jewel," &c.; second edit. Edin., 1774, pp. 57, 58.

There is a common belief, it seems, amongst the people at Gartness, that this

machine is buried in the ground, near the site of the old castle said to have been occupied by Napier.

his native country in possession of an instrument which would, in fact, give her an advantage in her disputes with the rest of the world against which there would be no possibility of contending. If it put an end to war, which is one great evil, it would do so by the still greater evil of enabling a single nation to triumph over the prostration of all the

rest.

There appeared, a good many years ago, in one of our periodical works,* a very able and learned commentary on Napier's "Secret Inventions," the writer of which has collected, with great industry, whatever notices the annals of science afford of achievements similar to those which the Scottish mathematician is asserted to have performed. In regard to the mirror for setting objects on fire at a great distance by the reflected rays of the sun, he adduces the well-known story of the destruction of the fleet of Marcellus, at Syracuse, by the burning-glasses of Archimedes, and the other (not so often noticed) which the historian Zonaras records, of Proclus having consumed by a similar apparatus the ships of the Scythian leader Vitalian, when he besieged Constantinople in the beginning of the sixth century. The possibility of such feats as these was long disbelieved; but may be considered as having been fully demonstrated by the experiments of modern times. Buffon, in particular, in the year 1747, by means of four, hundred plane mirrors, actually melted lead and tin at a distance of fifty yards, and set fire to wood at a still greater. This too was in the months of March and April. With summer heat it was calculated that the same effects might have been produced at four hundred yards distance or more than ten times that to which, in all probability, Archimedes had to send his reflected rays. It may be concluded, therefore, that there is nothing absolutely incredible in the account Napier gives of his first invention. His second announcement, however, is a good deal more startling; inasmuch as he here professes to have succeeded in an attempt in which nobody else is recorded to have made any approach to success. Gunpowder has been lighted by heat from charcoal, collected by one concave mirror and reflected from another; but no such effect has ever been produced by a single reflection of artificial heat. It is not very easy to comprehend the nature of the chariot mentioned by Napier as his fourth invention; but it seems to bear some resemblance, this writer remarks, to one of the famous Marquis of Worcester's contrivances. As for the device for sailing under water, noticed in the last paragraph of the paper, that exploit was performed in Napier's own day by the Dutch chemist Cornelius Drebell, who is reported to have con

*Tilloch's "Philosophical Magazine," vol. xviii. pp. 53-65 (published Feb. 1804). See also pp. 245, &c.

+ Malala, another old chronicler, however, says that Proclus operated on this occasion

not by burning-glasses, but by burning sulphur showered upon the ships from machines. Vide Montucla, "Histoire des Mathématiques," i. 334

structed a vessel for King James I., which he rowed under the water on the Thames. It carried twelve rowers, besides several passengers, the air breathed by whom, it is said, was made again respirable, by means of a certain liquor, the composition of which Boyle asserts in one of his publications that he knew, having been informed of it by the only person to whom it had been communicated by Drebell. Bishop Wilkins, also, who lived very near the time at which it was performed, expressly mentions Drebell's experiment in his "Mathematical Magic." Various successful essays in subaqueous navigation have also been made in more recent times.

It is to be lamented that the only one of Napier's inventions, the secret of which was solicited from him by his friends when he was leaving the world, should have been that which his conscience would not allow him to reveal, for the reason that has been stated. Had they asked him to explain to them his method of sailing under the water, for example, or even the construction of his burning mirrors, he probably would have had no excuse for withholding the information. But they seem to have been so anxious to get possession of the machine for destroying the thirty thousand Turks, that they had not a thought to spare for any of the other contrivances. The circumstance, however, of some of these inventions not having been re-discovered by any one else since Napier's time, ought not of itself to be taken as conclusive evidence that his pretensions to a knowledge of them were mere dreams. Extraordinary as is the progress that Science has made within the last two centuries, during which period the conquests she has effected have been more numerous and wonderful than had been witnessed by all the previous centuries that had elapsed from the beginning of the world, there can be no doubt that some of her apparently new inventions have been only the forgotten discoveries of a preceding age revived, and also that there were some things known in former times which modern ingenuity has not yet recovered from oblivion. Such machines as those which Napier professes to have constructed are exactly of the description least likely, for very obvious reasons, to occur to a modern speculator.*

In that curious record, “Birrell's Diary,” which was printed at Edinburgh about the beginning of the present century, we find, under date of the 23rd October, 1598, the following notice: "Ane proclamation of the Laird of Merkistoun, that he tuik upon hand to make the land mair profitable nor it wes before, be the sawing of salt upon it." There can be little doubt, we think, that this was another scheme of the inventor

*For a great deal of curious information on the lost and revived inventions of antiquity, the reader may consult G. Pasch's learned work, entitled "De Novis Inventis quorum accuratiori cultui facem praetulit antiquitas," of which a second edition appeared at Leipsic in 1700; or Dutens's

"Recherches sur l'origine des découvertes attribuées aux modernes," first published in 1766, and, for the fourth time, in 1812. Of this last work there is an English translation. See also Theod. Almeloveen's" Inventa NovAntiqua."

of logarithms; although the patent for the new mode of manuring appears to have been taken out in the name of his eldest son, Archibald, who had been infeft in the fee of the barony by his father about a year before. The patent, or gift of office, as it is called, was granted upon condition that the patentee should publish an account of his method in print, which he did accordingly shortly afterwards, under the title of "The new order of gooding and manuring all sorts of field land with common salt." The facts that have been mentioned are interesting as establishing Napier's claim to an agricultural improvement which has been revived in our own day and considered of great value. The profits of the invention were probably given up to his son, who was at this time a young man of only twenty-five years of age, from the same disinterested feeling which had led his father previously to enfeoff him in his estate. Devoted to his books, Napier may have been somewhat indifferent about money; and one of his contemporaries, Thomas Dempster, a man of eminent learning and ability, but by no means to be always depended upon in what he states upon his own authority, even goes so far as to assert, that he dissipated his fortune by his experiments. Of this, however, there is no evidence; indeed, it appears that, occupied as much of his time was about other matters, he had taken good care of his property, which at his death was of large amount, both in land and in money, goods, and chattels. And, if he suggested this method of manuring with salt, he must be allowed to have directed his speculations occasionally to the improvement of the arts of common life, as well as to that of the abstract sciences.

Napier was twice married, and had twelve children, of whom Archibald, the eldest, mentioned above, was raised to the peerage, by the title of Lord Napier, in 1627. A small volume of Memoirs of this person, written by himself, was published in 1793. There are said to be still in the possession of the family some productions of their distinguished ancestor on scientific subjects, which have not been printed-especially a treatise, in English, on Arithmetic and Algebra; and another, on Algebra, in Latin.

The life which we have thus sketched may be considered as affording us an eminent example of the manner in which the many advantages enjoyed by the wealthy, may be turned to account in the pursuit of learning and philosophy. A good education, access to all the best means of improvement, uninterrupted leisure, comparative freedom from the ordinary anxieties of life, the means of engaging in inquiries and experiments the expense of which cannot be afforded by the generality of students-the possession of all these things, to the mind that knows how to profit by them, is indeed invaluable. We have seen what they

* See Records of Privy Council for 22nd June, 1598, quoted in "Douglas's Peerage," by Wood, ii. 292.

Y

produced in Napier's case. In dedicating his time and his fortune to pursuits so much nobler than those that have usually occupied persons of his station, this illustrious individual had his ample reward. We can scarcely doubt that he led a happier life in his studious retirement, in the midst of his books and his experiments, than if he had given himself either to the ordinary pleasures of the world, or to the hazards and vexations of political ambition. The more useful and more honourable path he certainly chose. By his great and fortunate discovery he made the science of all succeeding times his debtor, and constituted himself the benefactor of every generation of posterity. And then for fame, which our very nature has made dear to us, that, too, this philosopher found in abundance in his closet of meditation. Even in his own day his renown was spread abroad over Europe, and he was greeted with the publicly expressed admiration of some of the most distinguished of his contemporaries; and the time that has since elapsed has only served to throw an increasing light around his name, which is now sure to retain its distinction so long as the sciences which he loved shall continue to be cultivated among men.

INTELLECTUAL

CHAPTER XXVII.

PURSUITS BY MEN OF WEALTH AND STATION CON

TINUED:-DRUMMOND OF HAWTHORNDEN; TYCHO BRAHÉ; TSCHIRNHAUSEN; BOYLE; THE AIR-PUMP; CAVENDISH; OTHER PERSONS OF RANK DISTINGUISHED IN LITERATURE AND SCIENCE.

It would be easy to add to that of Napier a long list of other names of men of wealth and rank, who, in like manner, have devoted themselves to science and literature, in preference to all other pursuits. But we can afford to mention only a very few. One, which Napier's naturally suggests to us, is that of his contemporary and countryman, WILLIAM DRUMMOND, of Hawthornden, one of the most elegant poetical writers of the early part of the seventeenth century. Drummond and Napier were neighbours, but probably no record has been preserved of any intercourse between the mathematician and the poet. As the former, however, was resorted to every year by his scientific English friend, Mr. Briggs, so the latter, also, had his visitor from the south, who came to pay his respects to him, from admiration of his kindred genius. In the year 1619, the famous Ben Jonson walked all the way from London to Hawthornden, to see his brother poet, and remained for some time as his guest. Of this visit a curious account is preserved, written by