130 SIMSON. 



much less did he handle the subject after the same 

 manner; he deals, indeed, with matters beyond the 

 reach of the Greek geometry. 



Such was the state of this science when Robert 

 Simson first applied to it his genius, equally vigorous 

 and undaunted, with the taste which he had early 

 imbibed for the beauty, the simplicity, and the close- 

 ness of the ancient analysis. 



EGBERT SIMSON was born on the 1 4th October (o.s.), 

 1687, at Kirton Hill, in the parish of Wester Kilbride, 

 in Ayrshire. His father, John Simson, was a mer- 

 chant in Glasgow ; his grandfather, Patrick, was mini- 

 ster of Renfrew, and Dean of the Faculties in the 

 University of Glasgow. Having been deprived at the 

 Restoration, on being reinstated at the Revolution, he 

 accompanied Principal Carstairs and a deputation as 

 one of the Commissioners from the Kirk of Scotland 

 to address the Sovereigns. Being a man of fine pre- 

 sence, it is related that the Queen and her maids of 

 honour mistook him for the Principal, till the King set 

 them right by presenting Carstairs to them. The 

 grandson, Robert, is said to have been the eldest of 

 seventeen children; and the estate of Kirton Hill, 

 which had been in the family for several generations, 

 being inconsiderable, it was necessary for him, as well 

 as his brothers, to be placed in some profession. The 

 assertion is made in one account, written by a son of 

 Professor Millar, and is likely to be correct, that he 

 was intended for the medical profession, and being 

 sent to Leyden studied under Boerhaave. He appears 

 to have been at first intended for the Church, and to 

 have changed his plan. Dr. Traill, however, says, 

 that he was always intended for the Church, and that 

 when the University of St. Andrew's, in 1746, wished 

 to confer on him a degree, they made him a Doctor of 

 Medicine, because he had studied botany in his youth. 

 Nothing can be more improbable than this story; for 



