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CHARACTERS. 



4n Account of the Life and Writings 

 of Father Boscovich. 



ROBERT Joseph Boscovich, an 

 eminent mathematician and na- 

 tural philosopher, Avas born of very 

 respectable parents, in the free city 

 of Ragusa, on the coast of Dalma. 

 tia, the 18th of May, 1711. He 

 was the youngest of nine children, 

 and his mother lived to the extraor- 

 diuary age of 103. Six sous re- 

 ceived the best education that their 

 father's circumstances could afford ; 

 and all of them, particularly the 

 eldest, who became a priest, were 

 distinguished by a happy vein for 

 poetry. Having finished his gram- 

 matical course with applause, the 

 young Boscovich, prompted by the 

 example of his brother, in his fif- 

 tcenth year took the habit of the 

 noviciate, and entered the Jesuits' 

 college at Rome. There the original 

 bent of his genius discovered itself 

 by thecnthusiasticardour with which 

 he plunged into the study of the ma- 

 thematics. His progress in that im- 

 portant branch of knowledge was 

 KO rapid as to astonish, and loon 

 outrun his i)receptors. Under their 

 instruction he acquired the elements 

 of geometry and algebra, but was 

 left to the exercise of his pMn ap- 



plication in prosecuting the higher 

 parts of mathematics. He studied 

 by himself the principles of the dif- 

 ferential calculus; and thus pre- 

 pared he began the Principia of 

 Newton, and devoured that immor- 

 tal work with the most eager avidity. 

 He was transported by the vast dis- 

 play of new and splendid truths 

 which were unveiled ; and while, 

 with the torch of geometry, he 

 traced the secret links of nature's 

 operations, and seemed to penetrate 

 the councils of heaven, he felt his 

 passion for distinction wonderfully 

 cnflamed : nor i" tlie warmth of his 

 temper could he suppress the move, 

 ments of self-gratulation, which the 

 consciousness of his powers and acr 

 quirements excited in his breast. By 

 his persuasion, Noceti, his master in 

 philosophy, was induced to re-print 

 a small poem on the rainbow, and ano- 

 ther on the aurora borealis, both of 

 which Boscovich enriched with inge- 

 nious notes and illustrations. The 

 publication of this tract spread his 

 fame beyqnd the precincts of the col- 

 lege, and beyond the Alps. Mairan, 

 whose opinion concerning the auro- 

 ra borealis he had espoused, noticed 

 it with loud commendation, in the 

 second edition of his dissertation ; 

 and th« praises bestowed by the 

 3 B 4 - FrcqcU 



