The son of a hatter and mechanic, Prince studied natural phi- 

 losophy under John Winthrop at Harvard and received his B.A. 

 degree in 1776. He was a student of divinity under Samuel 

 Williams and was ordained in 1779 at the First Church in Salem. 

 Although an amateur of the sciences, Prince became a skilled 

 maker of scientific instruments. He made, sold, and repaired 

 instruments for the use of numerous colleges, schools, and acade- 

 mies, including Brown, Dartmouth, Rutgers, Harvard, Union, 

 Amherst, and Williams. Among other accomplishments, he 

 effected "improvements" on the lucernal microscope and the air 

 pump.^^ 



Amasa Holcomb 



Although he was born in the 18th century, Amasa Holcomb 

 (1787-1875) properly belongs to a later period. An astronomer 

 and telescope maker of Southwick, Massachusetts, Holcomb 

 became a surveyor in 1808. An autobiographical sketch noted 

 that "he manufactured about this time a good many sets of surveyors 

 instruments — compasses, chains, scales, protractors and dividers, 

 some for his pupils and some for others." ^^ 



'^ Dirk J. Struik, Yankee Science in the Making (Boston: Little Brown & Co., 

 1948),pp. 47, 70-71. 



'* Robert P. Multhauf, ed., "Holcomb, Fitz, and Peate; Three 19th Century 

 American Telescope Makers" (paper 26 in Contributions from the Museum of 

 History and Technology, U.S. National Museum Bulletin 228, Washington, 1962), 

 p. 162. 



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