76 Biographical Sketch of Mr. George Margeis. 



dtcd succeed in separating the greatest part of the tannin ; 

 but a considerable portion, nevertheless, remains in solution; 

 and it even appears that the liquor v.hich is obtained after the 

 separation of the precipitate iormed bv the glue is nothing 

 but a combination of glue, tannin, and gallic acid, from 

 which not an atom of galUc acid in pure crystals can be 

 procured. 



XVr. Biographical Sketch of Mr. Gr-ORriE Mai^gets, 

 Chronometer maker to t'lie East India Compuiiij, and 

 Author of the Longitude and Lhranj Tables. 



JVIr. George Margets was the fourteenth and youngest 

 child of John Margets and Martha Ellis his wife. He was 

 born on the 1 7ih of .fune 1 748, in the parish of Old Wood- 

 stock, in Oxfordshire. His father was a wheelwright, to 

 which profession his two eldest brothers were brought up. 

 George, however, being earlv distinguished by the vivacity 

 of his apprehension, was intended for a commercial em- 

 ployment, and was sent to scliool for the rudiments of a 

 suitable education ; but the death of the old man inter- 

 rupted this design ; and the elder brothers unwillino- to be 

 at the expense of accomplishing the purpose of their father, 

 George was obliged to follow the profession of his family. 



He was placed by his father at the school of the reverend 

 Mr. Riddins:, where his genius was early distinguished 

 above all his fellovx'-scholars for an assiduity very unusual 

 to boyish years, and especially for an eager interest in the 

 subtleties of arithmetic. At the age of fourteen he was 

 apprenticed to his brother ; in which situation he became 

 so devoted to his favourite studies, that he used to rise by 

 three o'clock in the summer mornings to follow his own 

 pursuits, previous to the hour of going to his trade. 



Alx)ut the age of eighteen he constructed amachine which 

 exhibited the diflTercnt motions of the earth. Of the con- 

 trivance and movements of that performance, no means of 

 judging remain ; it is only bv his own estimation of it, after 

 he had acquired celebrity as a time-piece maker, that it is 

 supposed to have merited preservation. When he had 

 finished it he began to make a clock ; but not having 

 enough of brass, aiid little pocket-money, he was obliged 

 to break up the machine to complete the clock, which is 

 still in existence ; and, though a rough piece compared with 

 those accurate chronometers with which he has benefited 



navigation, 



