CANTON. 



<-ted with innumerable branches of the river, and 

 ~ . "" artificial canals. It is this last circumstance that 

 venders the scenery so truly picturesque ; for a per- 

 run only Fee that particular branch on which he 

 is sailing, while he beholds with amazement a variety 

 of ships, junks, ami vessels of every description, 

 gliding as if by the effect of magic, through fields 

 and villages, winding among castles, pagodas, and 

 monasteries, sometimes on one side of them, some- 

 times on the other : sailing in an infinite variety of 

 directions, and forming the most whimsical, novel, 

 and entertaining prospect I ever remember to have 

 seen." The garrison of Canton consists of about 

 '.20,000 Tartars, and its population is estimated at a 

 million and a half. According to Mr Raper, the 

 standard temperature of this city in 1774 was 75 4'; 

 the greatest heat in January being 66 5', and the 

 least 51 ; the greatest heat in August 89, and the 

 least 80. In the winter season there is sometimes a 

 difference in the temperature of 20 or 25 between 

 morningandnoon. N. Lat. 237'50", E. Long. 1 13 2' 

 15". See An Account of the Trade, and Tables of 

 Exports and Imports, in Oriental Repertory, vol. i. p. 

 280, and vol. ii. p. 301 ; Osbeck's Voyage to China 

 and the East Indies, vol. i. p. 214; A Voyage to 

 India, China, SfC. p. 66, in Phillip's Collection, vol. 

 v. ; Barrow's Travels in China\ and Staunton's Em- 

 bassy to China, vol. ii. (L) 



CANTON, JOHN, an ingenious experimental phi- 

 losopher, was the son of a broad cloth weaver, and 

 was born at Stroud, in Gloucester, on the 31st of July 

 1718, O. S. He made an early proficiency in ma- 

 thematics, under the care of Mr Davis, the school- 

 master of his native place ; and before he had reach- 

 ed his tenth year, he had been instructed in vulgar 

 and decimal arithmetic. His attention was next turn- 

 ed to the higher subjects of algebra and astronomy ; 

 but while his mind was fully bent on these interest- 

 ing pursuits, his father took him from school to edu- 

 cate him for his own profession. All his leisure time, 

 however, was still devoted to the acquisition of sci- 

 ence ; and with the insufficient means which he was 

 able to command, he made a rapid progress in his fa- 

 vourite studies. By the help of the Caroline tables, 

 young Canton computed lunar eclipses and other ce- 

 lestial phenomena ; and such was his ardour for sci- 

 ence, that when the rest of the family were asleep, 

 and with the assistance of a candle which he had se- 

 creted, he constructed, with a common knife, an 

 -upright sun-dial, which shewed the time of the day, 

 the rising of the sun, and hia place in the ecliptic. 

 The display of this dial on the front of his father's 

 house, introduced Canton to the notice of some of 

 the neighbouring gentlemen, who offered him the 

 full use of their libraries. A pair of globes, and 

 Martin's Philosophical Grammar, which he obtained 

 from these libraries, contributed greatly to extend 

 his knowledge of astronomy and natural philosophy. 

 About this time, he was introduced to the Reve- 

 rend Dr Henry Miles, a dissenting minister at Toot- 

 ing, and a Fellow of the Royal Society, who, per- 

 :ng the abilities of Carton, obtained permission 

 from his father to take him to the metropolis. Mr 

 Canton, accompanied with his patron, arrived in Lon- 

 don on the 4-th of March 1737, and, after spending 

 some time at Tooting under the roof of his friend, he 

 articled himself for five years as clerk and assistant to 



Mr Samuel Watkins, who superintended an academy Canton. 

 in Spitul-squure. In this new situation, the abilities ""'V^ 1 *' 

 and exemplary conduct of Mr Canton gave tuch high 

 satisfaction, that, on the cxpiiation of ins clerkship, 

 in May 174'J, he wan taken into partnership for r 

 years ; and on the death of Mr Watkiim, lie succeed- 

 ed to the academy, which he superintended v. 

 honour and usefulness during the rcbt of hib life. 



The attention of Mr Canton was at this time par- 

 ticularly directed to the subject of electricity, which 

 was now beginning to assume the form and dignity 

 of a science. In the year 1747, Mr William Watson 

 laid before the Royal Society a method, discovered 

 by Mr Canton, of determining the quantity of elec- 

 tricity accumulated in the Leyden phial. When the 

 phial (Muschenbroek's phial of water) was filled 

 with electricity, he hung a slender piece of wire to 

 the suspended gun-barrel, which was for this purpose 

 detached from the globes. On applying the wire of 

 the electrified phial to the wire hanging at the gun- 

 barrel, a small snap is perceived. This is discharged 

 by touching the gun-barrel with the finger, which 

 likewise snaps ; and thus alternately electrifying and 

 discharging, he proceeded till the whole electricity of 

 the water was dissipated, which sometimes required 

 100 discharges. The acquired electricity of the wa- 

 ter was estimated by the number of shocks. Unless 

 the electricity was discharged every time, the snaps 

 from the wire of the electrified phial to the gun. bar- 

 rel was scarcely perceptible. About the end of 

 the year 1749, Mr Canton assisted his friend Benja- 

 min Robins, Esq. in his experiments for ascertaining 

 the height to which rockets ascended, and the distance 

 at which theirlightis visible ; and in January 1750, was 

 read at the Royal Society his " Method of making 

 artificial magnets without the use of, and yet far su- 

 perior to, natural ones." The method described in 

 this curious paper had been for some time known to 

 its author, but from some motives of delicacy to Dr 

 Gowin Knight, who had kept secret his method 

 of making artificial magnets, Mr Canton delayed 

 the communication till he was urged to publish it by 

 the president of the Royal Society. In 1750, Mr 

 Canton was admitted a fellow of the Royal Society, 

 and was honoured with the gold medal, for his va- 

 luable paper on artificial magnets. In 1751, he re- 

 ceived the honorary degree of M. A. from one of the 

 colleges in Aberdeen, and was chosen one of the 

 council of the Royal Society. 



In the year 1752, Mr Canton repeated with suc- 

 cess Dr Franklin's celebrated experiments of draw- 

 ing lightning from thunder clouds, by means of a 

 kite ; and having for a considerable period continued 

 his experiments upon the electricity of the clouds, he 

 found them sometimes negative, and sometimes posi- 

 tive ; and he imagined, that rarefied air communica- 

 ted electricity to the clouds, while their electricity 

 was abstracted from them by condensed air. In 1 753, 

 he laid before the Royal Society, a paper entitled 

 " Electrical Experiments, with an attempt to account 

 for their several phenomena," which was followed, 

 in 1751, with another paper on a similar subject. 

 These valuable communications contain many inte- 

 resting facts and discoveries, which we shall have oc- 

 casion to notice in a future part of our work. The 

 explanation of the phenomena of shooting stars ha- 

 ving been proposed as the prize question} in the La* 



