298 
= =< that of the earth, not only served oe he 
exhibited a number of interesting geographi 
nomena. Having drawn some for needlework 
for Lady Dipple, (sister of Sir James eee! LEE 
very extensively loyed in ‘this work by the ladies 
inthe vicinity, and he received so much from 
his new emp. eT oe 
the wants of his indigent father. i 
the goodness to Paar re Edin burgh, act offered 
him a year’s bed and board at sprees er might 
have an rap pe uiring a know mt- 
mg. He wuiaetianinset aoa Dopetsenn ae idin- 
burgh; and, by the of the Marchioness of 
he obtained a consi le deal of lucrative 
employment, and thus began a profession which he 
followed for 26 years. During his stay of two years 
in Edinburgh, he took a violent inclination to study: 
medicine, and he forsook for a time all his favourite: 
studies. He then went to the country with a cargo 
of medicines and plasters, but with a very scanty 
knowledge of the art, and began to practise medicine 
at the place of his nativity. He soon saw, however, 
that he was an unsu | practitioner; and 
that no one paid him for his medicines, he went to In- 
verness for the purpose of resuming his profession as a 
painter. During his stay at Inverness, he recom- 
menced his astronomical studies, and after much la- 
bour, he invented and completed a machine called the 
Astronomical Rotula, for exhibiting the eclipses of the 
sun and moon. Mr Macbean, one of the ministers of 
Inverness, compared the results given by this machine 
with the calculations given in common almanac, 
and found them nearly the same. At his advice, he 
wrote to the celebrated Colin M‘Laurin, Professor of 
Mathematics in Edinburgh, and requested his opinion 
ef the new instrument. M<Laurin returned hima 
friendly answer, and requested from him a drawing of 
his rotula, cee might pa it, and endeavour to 
procure a subscription for the pu of getting it en- 
capa upon copperplates. Mr Peapenaitniandiiaes 
y complied with this kind request, and a handsome 
iption was obtained through the influence of the 
Professor. The plates of the rotula were engraved and 
published, and went through several impressions, till 
the year 1753, when. they were rendered useless by 
the change of style. When he went to Edinburgh, 
he was received with the greatest kindness by M‘Lau- 
rin, who shewed him his orrery, but was not able to 
let him see its construction. Ferguson immediately set 
to work, and constructed an of wood, which ex- 
hibited almost all the leading phenomena in astronomy. 
M‘Laurin was so much pleased with this machine, that 
he desired Ferguson to read a lecture upon it before 
the mathematical class. He soon afterwards, in 17438, 
made a smaller and a neater orrery, having all the wheels 
of ivory, and he took it with him to London, where it 
was bought by Sir Dudley Rider. 
_ When he reached pene See 
sion of portrait painting, amusing himself at his lei 
hours with his astronomical studies. He now con- 
structed a simple machine for delineating the moon's 
path and that of the earth, on a oninetene 
on Some cee machine meets to Martin Folk 
President yal Society, who took Mr Ferguson 
to the meeting of the Society that evening, when he 
shewed his instrument, and explained the use of it. 
When the Society was dismissed, one of the members, 
Mr John Ellicott, a celebrated watchmaker, asked Fer- 
4 
FERGUSON. 
= tapetihinentetay. These globes had their axes pa- 
structed the very same machine many years before. ° 
In 1747, Mr F published a dissertation on 
the phenomena of the harvest moon, with the descrip- 
construct an 
other branches of experimental philosophy. These’ 
lectures were ted in various of the king- 
dom, and added both to the fame and wealth of our 
author. In the year 1754, Ferguson published « Av 
brief Description of the Solar System, to which is sub- 
joined an Astronomical Account of the year of our Sa= 
viour’s Crucifixion, and likewise an Idea of 
rial Universe, deduced from a Survey of the 
System.” In 1756, he published in one vol. quarto, 
one of his best works, entitled “ Astronomy pxphitied 
upon Sir Isaac Newton’s Principles, and made easy to’ 
those who have not studied Mathematics.” This work 
was written with such uncommon icuity and 
——— that it was translated into My eM and 
wedish and has undergone no fewer than 
thirteen or fourteen editions. A new edition of it has 
lately been published Dr Brewster, in 2 vols. 8vo, 
containing an account of all the new discoveries in the 
science since the time of Ferguson. enna u! 
In 1760, Ferguson published his “ Lectures on Se- 
lect Subjects in Mechanics, Hydrostatics, Hydraulics, 
Pneumatics, Optics, Geography, Astronomy, and Dial- ~ 
ling,” &¢. This work, which is perhaps the best and 
the most useful that he ever wrote, passed through se- 
vera] editions, and contributed more to the diffusion of 
mechanical knowledge among all classes of pé ; 
than all the works that have been written upon’ 
subjects. A new edition of it in 2 vols, 8vo, with an — 
Appendix, containing an account of all the recent in- 
ventions and discoveries, was published by Dr Brewster 
in 1805, and a second edition in 1806. 
In 1761, he his “ Plain Method of deter- 
mining the Parallax of Venus by her Transit over the 
Sun, and thence, by analogy, the Parallax and Distance 
of the Sun, and of all the rest of the Planets.” In 1763; 
he was elected'a Fellow of the Royal Society of Lon- 
don, and was excused the t of the usual fees, 
which had only been done in the case of Sir Isaac New- 
ton, and of that ingenious and self-taught mathemati- 
cian Mr Thomas Simson of Woolwich. In the same 
year he published his “ Astronomical Tables and Pre- 
cepts for calculating the true Times of New and Full 
Moons, and ing the Method of | ae 
from. the creation of the World to A. D. 1800, to whi 
is prefixed a short Theory of the Solar and Lunar Mo- 
tions.” In 1767 he published “ Tables and Tracts re+ 
lative to several Arts and Sciences,” and also “ A Sup- 
plement to. the Lectures on Mechanics, Hydrostat 
&c.” which is annexed to all-the subsequent editions 
“sm ee ene) - 
(ar ye pow" & 
Rents \ 
