P R I N G L E. 



157 



\:l Jllhll. 





ferve the health of the crew of his ship, during hi 

 voyage round the world. Whether this was the cane, 

 or whether the method pursued by the uipt.iin to attain 

 so salutary an end, was the result alone of Ins own re- 

 t ions, the success of it was astonishing; and this 

 celebrated voyager seemed well entitled to every honour 

 which could he bestowed. To him the Society as- 

 signed their gold medal ; but he was not present to 

 receive the honour. He was gone out upon the voy- 

 age from which he never returned. In this last voy- 

 age he continued equally successful in maintaining the 

 health of his men. 



" The learned president, in his fifth annual disser- 

 tation, had an opportunity of displaying his knowledge 

 in a way in which it had not hitherto appeared. The 

 discourse took its rise from the adjudication of the 

 prize medal to Mr. Mudge, then an eminent surgeon 

 at Plymouth, on account of his valuable paper, contain- 

 ing Direction.? fur making the best Composition for ihe 

 Mtlu/x <>/ Ii,' fleeting Telescopes, together with a Descrip- 

 tion of the Process for Grinding, Polishing, and giving 

 the (treat Speculum the true Parabolic form. Sir John 

 hath accurately related a variety of particulars, con- 

 cerning the invention of reflecting telescopes, the sub- 

 sequent improvements of these instruments, and the 

 state in which Mr. Mudge found them, when he first 

 set about working them to a greater perfection, till he 

 had truly realized the expectation of Newton, who, 

 above an hundred years ago, presaged that the public 

 would one day possess a parabolic speculum, not ac- 

 complished by mathematical rules, but by mechanical 

 devices. 



" Sir John Pringle's sixth and last discourse, to which 

 he was led by the assignment of the gold medal to my- 

 self, on account of my paper, entitled, The Force of 

 Jired Gunpowder, and ihe Initial Velocity of Cannon Balls, 

 determined by Experiments, was on the theory of gun- 

 nery. Though Sir John had so long attended the ar- 

 my, this was probably a subject to which he had here* 

 tofbre paid very little attention. We cannot, however, 

 help admiring with what perspicuity and judgment he 

 hath stated the progress that was made, from time to 

 time, in the knowledge of projectiles, and the scientific 

 perfection to which it has been said to be carried in 

 my paper. As Sir John Pringle was not one of those 

 who delighted in war, and in the shedding of human 

 blood, he was happy in being able to show that even 

 the study of artillery might be useful to mankind ; and, 

 therefore, this is a topic which he hath not forgotten 

 to mention. Here ended our author's discourses upon 

 the delivery of Sir Godfrey Copley's medal, and his 

 presidency over the Royal Society at the same time ; 

 the delivering that medal into my hand being the last 

 office he ever performed in that capacity ; a ceremony 

 which was attended by a greater number of the mem- 

 bers than had ever met together before upon any other 

 occasion. Had he been permitted to preside longer in 

 that chair, he would doubtless have found other occa- 

 sions of displaying his acquaintance with the history 

 of philosophy. But the opportunities which he l:ad of 

 signalizing himself in this respect were important in 

 themselves, happily varied, and sufficient to gain him 

 a solid and lasting reputation. 



" Several marks of literary distinction, as we have 

 already seen, had been conferred upon Sir John Prin- 

 gle before he was raised to the president's chair. But 

 after that event they were bestowed upon him in great 

 abundance, having been elected a member of almost 

 all the literary societies and institutions in Europe. 

 6 



He was also, in 1774, appointed physician extraordi- 

 nary to the king. 



" It was at rather a late period of life when Sir John 

 Pringle was chosen to be president of the Hoynl So- 

 ciety, being then 65 years of age. Considering t 

 fore the great attention that was paid by him to the 

 various and important duties of his office, and the great 

 pains he took in the preparation oi his discourses, ft 

 was natural to expect that the burthen of his honourable 

 station should grow heavy upon him in a course of 

 time. This burthen, though not increased by any great 

 addition to his life, for he was only six years president, 

 was somewhat augmented by the accident of a fall in 

 the area in the back part of his house, from which he 

 received some hurt. From these circumstances some 

 persons have affected to account for his resigning the 

 chair at the time when he did. But Sir John Pringle 

 was naturally of a strong and robust frame and condi- 

 tion, and had a fair prospect of being well able to dis- 

 charge the duties of his situation for many years to 

 come, had his spirits not been broken by the most cruel 

 harassings and baitings in his office. His resolution to 

 quit the chair arose from the disputes introduced into 

 the Society, concerning the question, whether pointed 

 or blunted electrical conductors are the most efficacious 

 in preserving buildings from the pernicious effects of 

 lightning, and from the cruel circumstances attending 

 those disputes. These drove him from the chair. Such 

 of those circumstances as were open and manifest to 

 every one, were even of themselves perhaps quite suffi- 

 cient to drive him to that resolution. But there were 

 yet others of a more private nature, which operated 

 still more powerfully and directly to produce that 

 event ; which may probably hereafter be laid before 

 the public, when I shall give to them the history of the 

 most material transactions of the Royal Society ; espe- 

 cially those of the last twenty-two years, which I have 

 from time to time composed and prepared with that 

 view. 



" His intention of resigning, however, was disagree-- 

 able to his friends, and the most distinguished members 

 of the Society, who were many of them perhaps igno- 

 rant of the true motive for it. Accordingly, they ear- 

 nestly solicited him to continue in the chair ; but, his 

 resolution being fixed, he resigned it at the anniver- 

 sary meeting in 1778, immediately on delivering the 

 medal, at the conclusion of his speech, as mentioned 

 above." 



The late Sir Joseph Banks succeeded Sir John 

 Pringle in this high office, and continued during his 

 long and active life to discharge its important duties. 



In consequence of the declining state of his health, 

 Sir John undertook a journey to Scotland, and he 

 spent the summer of 1780 and l~8l in Edinburgh. 

 During this visit he presented to the Royal College 

 of Physicians of that city, TEN Folio volumes of Medi- 

 cal and Physical Observations, in MS. on the condition 

 that they should neither be published nor lent out of 

 the library of the college. 



On his return to London he continued in a weak 

 state of health till thvj 18th of January, 1782, when he 

 died in the 75th year of his age. He was interred in 

 St. James's church, and a monument was erected tu 

 his memory in Westminster abbey, by his nephew and 

 heir Sir James Pringle, Bart, of Stitchel. For farther 

 particulars respecting this eminent individual, see Dr. 

 Kippis's Life of Sir John Pringle, prefixed to. his six. 

 discourses; and Dr. Hutton's elaborate memoir of his- 

 life, in the Mathematical Dictionary, vol. ii. p. 279- 



P \nt\t, 

 Sir John. 



