193 



GREGORY, JOHN, M.D. 



GRENVILLE, LORD. 



191 



et Dioptricse Sphaericae Elements,' Oxf., 1695, republished in English 

 'Astronomies Physical et Geometricae Elementa,' Oxf., 1702. "This 

 is accounted his masterpiece. It is founded on the Newtonian doctrines, 

 and was esteemed by Newton himself as a most excellent explanation 

 and defence of his philosophy" (Hutton). This work appeared between 

 the first and second editions of the ' Principia,' and Newton took the 

 opportunity of inserting an account of the improvements which he 

 had made since the publication of the first edition. ' Euclidis qiuc 

 supersunt Omnia,' Gr. and Lat, Oxf., 1703. 



It is remarkable that himself and two brothers were at the same 

 time mathematical professors in three universities. JAMES GREGORY 

 succeeded him at Edinburgh in 1691. CHARLES GREGORY was appointed 

 mathematical professor at St. Andrews in 1707, and, resigning in 1739, 

 was succeeded by his son, another David Gregory. Dr. Reid, professor 

 of moral philosophy at Glasgow, was a nephew of these brothers. 



Returning to the elder branch of the family : James Gregory, in- 

 ventor of the telescope, bad one son, JAMES, born in 1674, who became 

 professor of medicine in King's College, Aberdeen. He was the father 

 of JAMES GREGORY, M.D., who succeeded him in his professorship, 

 and of 



Joas GREGORY, M.D., born at Aberdeen in 1724, and educated in 

 the schools of that town, until he went to pursue his medical studies 

 at Edinburgh, Leyden, and Paris. He filled successively the chairs ol 

 philosophy and medicine at Aberdeen, and that of the practice ol 

 physic in Edinburgh, to which last he was appointed in 1768. In 1772 

 he published his ' Elements of the Practice of Physic,' intended as a 

 text-book for the use of his pupils, which he did not live to complete. 

 Hi other principal works are, ' A Comparative View of the State and 

 Faculties of Man with those of the Animal World,' 1765 ; and A 

 Father's Legacy to his Daughters/poethumous, 1793, long a most popular 

 work on the character and moral training of the female sex. He was 

 in high repute both as a teacher and as a practising physician, and his 

 popularity was increased by the moral excellence and benevolence of 

 hU disposition. He was intimate with the most eminent men of the 

 most brilliant period of Scottish literature, and possessed no mean 

 share of the mathematical genius of his family. He was found dead 

 in his bed on the 10th of February, having retired the night before in 

 his usual health ; and it is to this event that the mournful concluding 

 staozas of Seattle's ' Minstrel ' refer. His works were collected in 4 

 Tols. 12mo, 1788, prefaced with a life of the author by Mr. Tytler 

 (Lord Woodhouselee). There is also a life of him by Mr. Smellie. 



His son, Dr. James Gregory, became afterwards professor of the 

 practice of medicine at Edinburgh, and a leading member of that 

 distinguished school. 



It is stated (Chalmers, ' Biog. Diet.,' p. 289) that no less than sixteen 

 members of this family have held British professorships, chiefly in the 

 Scotch universities. (Brcwster, 'Ed. Encycl. ;' Hutton, 'Phil, and 

 Hath. Diet.') 



Joan GREGORY, born in Buckinghamshire in 1607, deceased in 1647, 

 a very learned divine of the English Church, and GEORGE GREGORY, 

 an English clergyman, born 1754, deceased 1808, for many years editor 

 of the ' New Annnal Register,' and author of many works, religious, 

 political, and miscellaneous, require no particular notice. Neither of 

 them was connected with the Scotch family. For their works, and 

 tho.-e of other authors of this name, see Watt's ' Bibl. Britann.' 



GREGORY, OLINTHOS GILBERT, was born at Yaxley, a small 

 village in Huntingdonshire, January 29th 1774, of humble but 

 respectable parents. At an early age he was placed under the care 

 of the celebrated mathematician, Mr. Richard Weston, who was a 

 contributor to the ' Ladies' Diary,' and other mathematical publica- 

 tions of his day. Under his superintendence Mr. Gregory made 

 much progress in his studies, for at the early age of nineteen, and not 

 long after leaving school, he published his ' Lessons, Astronomical 

 and Philosophical.' Shortly afterwards he prepared an excellent 

 treatise on the 'Use of the Sliding Rule,' which he submitted to 

 Dr. Mutton, Professor of Mathematics, at the Royal Military Academy, 

 Woolwich. This treatise however was never published, though it con- 

 tained many valuable and original applications of the instrument, useful 

 for practical purposes. This work was the means of opening a corre- 

 spondence between Mr. Gregory and Dr. Hutton, which ripened into 

 mutual friendship, and was terminated only by death. In 1798, Mr. 

 Gregory removed to Cambridge to assist the editor of a provincial news- 

 paper : he soon however relinquished the sub-editorship, and resolved to 

 open a bookseller's shop, at the same time announcing bis intention to 

 give instruction in the mathematical sciences, and resolving to follow 

 that profession alono which should prove the more lucrative. The 

 encouragement he met with as a preceptor speedily induced him to 

 dispose of his books, and to devote his whole attention to the occupation 

 of a mathematical instructor. His correspondence with the ' Ladies ' 

 Diary ' commenced whilst he resided at Yaxley, in the year 1794, and 

 he continued to write for that useful periodical during bis stay at 

 Cambridge. In 1800 he published bis ' Treatise on Astronomy,' 

 wlii' h he dedicated to bis friend and patron Dr. Hutton. This 

 work brought him into much notice, and in the year 1802, the 

 Stationers' Company appointed him editor of the ' Gentleman's 

 Diary,' and another of their annual publications. About the same 

 period be was appointed editor of the ' Pautalogia,' and soon after, 

 through the influence of Dr. Hutton, he was appoint d a mathematical 

 BIOO. l>iv. VOL. in. 



master in the Royal Military Academy. In this situation he rose 

 through the various gradations of office, and on the resignation of 

 Dr. Hutton he filled the professor's chair with the highest reputation, 

 until obliged, through indisposition brought on by intense application to 

 study, to resign it in June 1838. The followingis a list of his published 

 works: 1793, 'Lessons, Astronomical and Philosophical," 1 vol. ; 

 1801, ' Treatise on Astronomy," 1 vol.; 1802, appointed editor of the 

 'Gentleman's Diary;' 1806, 'Treatise on Mechanics,' 3 vols. ; 1807, 

 Translation of Hauy'a 'Natural Philosophy,' 2 vols.; 1808, 'Panta- 

 logia,' of which he was the general editor, and the contributor of 

 about one-half, 12 vols. ; 1810, Third volume of Dr. Hutton's 'Course 

 of Mathematics,' of which he composed about one-half; he afterwards 

 edited an edition of the whole three volumes of the Course; also 

 ' Letters on the Evidence of Christianity,' 2 vols.; 1815, 'Tracts on 

 the Trigonometrical Survey;' 1816, 'Plane and Spherical Trigono- 

 metry,' 1 vol.; also ' Dissertation on Weights and Measures ;' 1817, 

 Account of his ' Pendulum Experiments and Astronomical Observa- 

 tions made at Shetland : ' this appeared in the ' Philosophical Maga- 

 zine;' 1818, appointed editor of the 'Ladies' Diary,' and general 

 superintendent of the Stationers' Company's Almanacs ; 1825, ' Mathe- 

 matics for Practical Men,' 1 vol.; 1839, 'Address to the Gentlemen 

 Cadets of the Royal Military Academy,' on resigning the chair of 

 Mathematics; 1840, 'Hints to Mathematical Teachers,' 1 vol.; and 

 ' Tables to be used with the Nautical Almanac.' 



Soon after the publication of his excellent treatise on Mechanics, 

 the University of Aberdeen conferred on him the title of LL.D., but 

 the work by which Dr. Gregory is best known is his ' Evidences of 

 Christianity,' which has had an extensive sale, and has been reprinted 

 in Holm's Standard Library. He also wrote a ' Memoir of the Rev. 

 Robert Hall,' which was originally published in the collected edition 

 of Hall's Works, but was in 1833 republished, with additions as a 

 distinct work, and again with Hall's ' Miscellaneous Works ' in Bonn's 

 Library. A memoir of Dr. Mason Good, and various essays, also 

 appeared from Dr. Gregory's pen. Dr. Gregory was a member of 

 almost all the learned societies in Great Britain and the Contineut, and 

 was one of the twelve gentlemen who founded the Royal Astronomical 

 Society, of which he was for some time the secretary. His connection 

 with the Ladies' and Gentlemen's Diaries brought him into communi- 

 cation with young students who were desirous of distinguishing 

 themselves in the exact sciences, and the period of his superintendence 

 of those valuable works will be long remembered as that in which 

 every meritorious contributor found a friend in the editor. 



In 1823 Dr. Gregory was employed at Woolwich in making experi- 

 ments to determine the velocity of sound. For this purpose he 

 caused mortars, gun?, and muskets to be fired at various distances 

 from the observer ; and his conclusion was that the velocity of sound, 

 when not affected by the wind, is 11CO feet per second, when the 

 temperature of the air is expressed by 33 (Falir.); a result which 

 agrees nearly with the result of experiments made at the same time 

 on the Continent. 



Dr. Gregory's pleasing manners were completely in accordance with 

 what might have been expected from the preceding remarks ; all he 

 did and said was dictated by benevolence of feeling, and he was a 

 man of unbounded charity. As a Christian, he was moral and devout, 

 and as a scholar he merited and obtained the consideration of the 

 first mathematicians of the day ; his great zeal in his vocation, his 

 parental kindness, his earnest and impressive admonitions, his enter- 

 taining, improving, and philosophical conversation, and his ever- 

 rcadiness to assist, will be gratefully remembered by many. He 

 took a warm interest in the cultivation of mathematics, to which he 

 may be said to have devoted, with indefatigable perseverance, nearly 

 the whole of his valuable life. He died February 2, 1841. 



GRENVILLE, LORD. WILLIAM WYNDHAM GRENVILLE was born 

 October 24, 1759. He was the third son of the Right Hon. George 

 Qrenville, a distinguished statesman, who was born in 1712 and died 

 in 1770. He studied at Eton College and at Oxford University. He 

 was elected a member of the House of Commons in 1782, and his 

 eldest brother, the Marquis of Buckingham, having been appointed 

 Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Mr. Greuville went with him to Dublin 

 as his secretary. Not long afterwards Mr. Pitt gave him the office of 

 Paymaster-General of the Army. In 1789 he was chosen Speaker 

 of the House of Commons. In 1790 he waa appointed Secretary of 

 State for the Home Department, and was created Baron Grenvillo. 

 [n 1791 Lord Greuville became Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, 

 nnd .in all his speeches and proceedings displayed the most deter- 

 mined hostility to the French revolutionary government. In 1792 he 

 married the Hon. Anne Pitt, only daughter of Thomas, first Lord 

 ?amelford. He resigned office with Mr. Pitt in 1801, on the king's 

 refusal to give his sanction to the measure for Roman Catholic 

 Emancipation, and when Pitt took office again in 1804, Lord Gren- 

 ville, Mr. Windham, and others, refused to form part of a ministry 

 which did not include Mr. Fox. When the new ministry was formed 

 after Mr. Pitt's death, Lord Grenville became First Lord of the 

 Treasury, and Mr. Fox Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. Fox 

 died ii> 1806, and the Grenville ministry was dissolved in 1807. Lord 

 Grenville's classical attainments were considerable, and in 1809 he 

 was chosen chancellor of the University of Oxford. From 1809 to 1815 

 jord Grenville usually acted with Earl Grey. [GREY, EARL] He was an 



