925 



FLAMSTEED, JOHN. 



FLAMSTEED, JOHN. 



926 



fessorship of geometry at Oxford, which he declined to do. He had 

 at this time nothing but a sextant and clocks of Sir Jonas Moore's, and 

 some instruments of his own. He borrowed some from the Royal 

 Society, and after repeatedly urging the government to provide him 

 with an instrument fixed in the meridian, he caused a mural arc to 

 be constructed at his own expense, which was erected in the year 1683, 

 but proved a failure. 



In the meantime he had taken orders, in 1 675, having in the pre- 

 vious year obtained the degree of Master of Arts from Cambridge. It 

 is not certainly known that he had been a student in that university, 

 though it is certain that he was for some months at Cambridge in 1674. 

 Perhaps he obtained his degree by the celebrity of his name, on condition 

 of a short residence. 



In 1684 his father died, and he was presented to a small living by the 

 Lord-Keeper North. Both circumstancea increasing his means, he 

 resolved to be at the expense of a new mural arc, upon an assurance 

 from the government (which was never fulfilled) that the outlay 

 should be repaid. This instrument was first used in September 1689, 

 and from that moment " everything which Flamsteed did, every 

 observation which he made, assumed a tangible and permanent form, 

 and wa available to some useful purpose." When he died, the 

 government of the day attempted to claim these instruments as public 

 property. 



The public career of Flamsteed, from this time to the end of his 

 life, is d-dcribed when we say that he collected that enormous mass 

 of observations which furnished the first trustworthy catalogue of the 

 fixed stars ; that he made those lunar observations on which Newton 

 depended for the illustration and verification of his lunar theory; and 

 that he originated and practised methods of observing which may be 

 said to form the basis of those employed at the present time. Were 

 it not for the celebrated quarrel between him on the one side, and 

 Newton and Halley on the other, there would hardly be a life of so 

 much utility as that of Flamsteed, which would afford so little mate- 

 rials for a popular account. It is to be remembered that the follow- 

 ing is an ex parte statement ; but on the other hand, it is not one 

 formally drawn up for the public, but partly contained in the manu- 

 script autobiography which never was published by Flamsteed, and 

 partly derived from his correspondence with his friends. Newton 

 had been on terms of cordial intimacy with Flamsteed, but a coolness 

 had begun to exist in 1696, for which Mr. Baily is unable to account. 

 Sir D. Brewster, in his * Life of Sir Isaac Newton,' having had access 

 to a number of letters between Flamsteed and Newton, explains this. 

 While Newton was engaged on his Lunar theory, he required observa- 

 tions of the moon's places. For this object he visited Flamsteed at 

 the Greenwich Observatory on September 1, 1694, who gave him 

 150 places, and promised him more, on condition that he should show 

 them to no one else, and should communicate the results, in the first 

 instance, to Flamsteed only. Letters passed Flamsteed communicating 

 observations, and Newton returning a table of refractions, tables of 

 horizontal parallaxes, and equations for the apogee, and eccentricity, 

 but with little outbreaks of temper on both sides; Newton evidently 

 considering that Flamsteed was not sufficiently prompt in furnishing 

 new observations; Flamsteed deeming his materials of the utmost 

 importance, and that he " had done more for the restitution of astro- 

 nomy than had been done in some ages before ; " till at length Newton 

 " saw so little prospect of obtaining what he wanted," as to make him 

 give up the Lunar theory " as a thing impracticable." In January 

 1 696, Flamsteed offered more observations, but Newton, preparing for 

 his new duties at the Mint, does not appear to have answered the 

 letter. 



In 1698, Newton having resumed his investigations into the Lunar 

 irregularities, again visited Flamsteed at Greenwich, who supplied 

 him with corrections of former computations, but complains of New- 

 ton's reserve. Soon afterwards Dr. Wallis applied for Flamsteed's 

 observations on the parallax of the earth's annual orbit, which he 

 furnished, and at the same time mentioned that he had supplied 

 Newton with materials " for the improvement of the Horroxian theory 

 of the moon." This offended Newton, who said, in a letter to Flatn- 

 atced, " I do not love to be printed on every occasion, much less to be 

 dunned and teased by foreigners about mathematical things ; or to be 

 thought by our own people to be trifling away my time about 

 them when I should be about the king's business." Before this time 

 he had furnished Newton with all the lunar observations which he 

 had made. 



When Flamsteed had completed his catalogue (having already 

 expended 20001. more than his salary), he began to think of printing 

 his results. But Prince George of Denmark, having heard of the 

 extent of Flamsteed's labours, offered in 1701 to bear the expense of 

 printing. A committee, consisting of Newton, Sir Christopher Wren, 

 Dr. Arbuthnot, Dr. Gregory, and Mr. Robartes, was appointed to 

 examine Flamsteed's papers, and reported in favour of printing all of 

 them. The superintendence of the printing, the choice of workmen, 

 &f, was in the hands of the committee, and not in those of Flamsteed. 

 The latter gives the details of various vexations to which he was sub- 

 jected, and which ended (for the time) in a demand that Flamsteed 

 should give up a manuscript copy of the catalogue of stars, which was 

 the result of the observations, and was intended to be published at 

 the end. This was done, with remonstrance, by Flamstecd ; but tho 



catalogue (as much of it as was ready) was sealed up ; and Flamsteed 

 declares that he understood it was to be kept sealed up until the 

 whole of the rest was finished. It was three years before the first 

 volume was printed ; and during this time many small circumstances 

 occurred which, if Flamsteed's colouring of the more important facts 

 be correct, show a most determined intention on the part of the com- 

 mittee to give annoyance. Prince George died in 1708, before the 

 second volume was begun; and the office of the committee was gone; 

 but they still retained the papers in their keeping. Flamsteed, think- 

 ing nothing further about immediate publication, applied himself 

 again to his observations. In March 1710-11, he was surprised by 

 being told that the seal of his catalogue liad been broken, and that it 

 was going through the press. Flamsteed immediately obtained an 

 interview with Dr. Arbuthnot, who assured him that none of it was 

 printed. This was not the fact ; for in a few days Flamsteed himself 

 received several printed sheets, and learned that Halley had publicly 

 exhibited others in a coffee-house, and boasted of the pains he had 

 taken in correcting their errors. The result was, that in 1712 appeared 

 the book known by the name of Halley, and entitled ' Historic 

 Ccelestis libri duo,' &c. Flamsteed, exceedingly irritated by the con- 

 duct of Newton and Halley, and being not naturally of a gentle 

 temper, now kept no terms whatsoever with either. Newton had 

 recommended the appointment of a board of visitors for the Observa- 

 tory (made up of members of the Royal Society), and Flamsteed was 

 summoned to the Royal Society, October 26, 1711, to know if his 

 instruments (his own property) were in order, &c. Here a warm 

 quarrel arose. Flamsteed declared to Newton that he had been robbed 

 of his labours, and Newton called Flamsteed various names, of which 

 'puppy' was the least. Newton reminded Flamsteed that he had 

 received 1001. a year for thirty-six years, and Flamsteed asked Newton 

 what he had done for 5001. a year which he had received since he 

 came to London. Flamsteed charged Newton with having broken the 

 seal of his catalogue, and Newton replied that he had the queen's 

 order. After this interview, Flamsteed resolved to print all his 

 observations, &c., at his own expense, and applied to Newton for the 

 manuscript of 175 sheets of observations which were in his hands. 

 The demand was refused, and Flamsteed commenced legal proceedings 

 for their recovery. The result of the suit is not known ; but Flam- 

 steed states that Newton at last delivered all the contested manuscript 

 to Halley. The additional expense caused to Flamstecd by this act 

 of Newton was about ZOOl. 



Queen Anne died in 1714, and the earl of Halifax, Newton's great 

 supporter at court, in 1715. Flamsteed was now stronger with the 

 government than his opponents; and the lords of the treasury, at his 

 request, surrendered all that remained of Halley's edition (about 300 

 copies out of 400) to his mercy. These he immediately committed 

 (in part) to the flames a sacrifice, as he calls it, to heavenly truth 

 reserving only about ninety-seven sheets of each, which had been 

 printed as he wished, and which afterwards formed part of his first 

 volume. From this time to his death, which took place at the end of 

 December 1719, he was occupied in printing his 'Historia Coelestis," 

 which however he did not live to finish. It was completed by his 

 widow, with the aid of Mr. Crosthwait, his assistant, and his friend 

 the celebrated Abraham Sharp, and was published in 1725. The 

 maps, known by the name of Flamsteed's Atlas, were superintended 

 by tho same persons. The ' Historia Coelestis Britanuica ' contains a 

 complete account of the instruments and the methods employed, 

 together with a large mass of sidereal, lunar, and planetary observa- 

 tions, and the result of the former, namely, the British Catalogue. 

 This work seems to us to occupy the same place in practical astronomy 

 which the Principia of Newtou holds in the theoretical part. 



This very singular story is, as we have already stated, an ex parte 

 one, resting entirely on Flamsteed's authority, supported by such 

 documents as he considered necessary to adduce. Some further 

 evidence however has been brought forward by Sir D. Brewster, 

 which throws considerable light upon the whole transaction, goes 

 some way to exonerate Newton from the heavier part of the 

 charge, and shows Flamsteed to have been a not very scrupulous 

 adversary. 



It will have been observed above, that Flamsteed is represented, in 

 March 1710-11, as having been surprised at learning " that the seal of 

 his catalogue had been broken, and that it was going through the 

 press." Whereas, in a letter to Sharp (May 15, 1711), he writes that 

 he and Newton had met on March 20, 1707-8, when the second agree- 

 ment respecting the printing was signed, "and then Sir Isaac had 

 opened the catalogue and desired me to insert the magnitude of the 

 stars in their places, for they had not always been inserted in it." 

 Again, Flamsteed, in his autobiography, has given the articles of 

 agreement for the printing of his papers which he proposed, and not 

 those which he signed. After signing the agreement, he began com- 

 plaining of the hardness of the bargain ; he also states it was above 

 two months, and in another, that "it was some months after (March 

 20, 1708) ere I could get the 125?., and I am apt to think, had it 

 not been for Dr. Arbuthnot, I should never have received it." By the 

 agreement of March 20, the money was to be paid on the re-delivery 

 of the catalogue of stars to Sir Isaac, which was done on that day, 

 and the order of the referees exists, directing the payment, dated 

 March 26, and an order of Flamsteed himself, dated April 10, to pay 



