222 Miscellanies. 
tor himself for a fow years, poncipally ya if ane exclusively, in East india voyages, 
ave | 
dies practically useful to th tical interests of his count ry. 
At that period, the common treatise on navigation was the well known work of 
Hamilton Moore, which has occasioned many a shipwreck, but which Dr. Bow- 
ditch, like other navigators, was obliged to use. Upon examining it, however, in 
his daily operations, he found it abounding with blunders and overrun with typo- 
graphical errors, particularly in the Nautical Tables, in which, above all parts of the 
work, great accuracy was indispensable ; of these last errors, many thousands, of 
more or less importance, were corrected in his early revisions of the w H 
published several editions of Moore’s work under that author’s name; but the 
whole — at length underwent so many changes and radical improvements by 
m of new, and the rejection of old and worthless matter, as to warrant 
his onblishing it under his own name; and the work of Moore is now only remem- 
- bered from its having been superseded by ‘“ Bowditch’s Navigator. 
It may be added, that he was enabled to give the greater accuracy to his work by 
ation—which is believed to have been proposed by Dr. Bowditch—each member 
was required to carry with him on every voyage, a blank book, methodically ar- 
— for the porpose of keeping a journal of observations and rema arkable occur: 
; these journals (now amounting to many volumes) at the end of the voyage 
wane e returned 3 -_ Muiewens one they form a repository of innumerable observa- 
1 science not to be found in any other sources. 
manne part of the subject, it should be further observed, that 
Dr. Bowditch also employed sev 1805, 6, 7,) in ma- 
in; hydrog of the , with the adjacent 
harbors of Marblehead, Beverly, anid Teeokenas of which he published an admi- 
rable chart of surpassing beauty and accuracy. With such extraordinary exactness 
was this laborious work performed, that the pilots of the port discovered, and were 
the first to observe to the author, that many of their lasnctigikig-ncnldiels however, 
Dr. B. did not know to be such—were in fact laid down with such perfect accu- 
racy in the survey, that the various ranges on the chart corresponded with the ut- 
most possible precision to those of the natural objects 
The ardor and perseverance which distinguished Dr. B. through life, were very 
early conspicuous in the prosecution of his mathematical and philosoph hical studies. 
While his pecuniary means were yery limited, he used to make copious abstracts of 
the scientific papers in that immense repository, the Philosophical Transactions of 
the Royal Society of London: this labor was continued through many years ; and 
a great portion of that whole work, still remain the testimonials of his untiring in- 
dustry and zeal in the cause of cine 
During a large part of his life he was a 8 principal contributor to the Memoirs of the 
American Academy ; and it is unnecessary to , that his communications are 
among the most important in nm work. He is gir the author of a few reviews in 
the leading journals of the tim 
_ In the year 1806, at the pao instance, as it was said, of the late Chief Jus- 
tice Parsons—whose extraordinary attainments included a knowledge of the higher 
branches of ipottivemnaniee Bri Bowditch was elected Professor of Mathematics and 
i phy in the University of Cambridge. He could not, however, be 
persuaded to accept the office; nncivels: ba is believed, if not wholly, from am 
apprehension that the circumsta ducated at that univer- 
> i Wit WIS Aaivingy ta Na Aan vio 
