Nations lately become Literary. 37$ 



tenhouse, 1 ' the Rev. Dr. Smith, Dr. Hugh Wil- 

 liamson, and several others, of Pennsylvania ; l>y 

 Mr. Benjamin West, of Rhode-Island ; by Pro- 

 fessor Win throp/ of Massachusetts; and by some 

 other American Astronomers, are too well known 



nation concerning the life, accomplishments, and publications of this 

 great man, will be gratified with the perusal of a Discourse delivered on 

 occasion ,f bit Death, by the Rev. John Blair Linn, D. D. a cc n.pre- 

 hensive and eloquent eulcgium, which does honour to the Author, as well 

 as to the Object of his panegyric. 



t David Rittenhouse, LL.D. F. R. S. was born a* German- 

 town, near Philadekihif, AprilS, 1732. He was not favoured with a 

 regular Academic education, but he was endued with a genius which rose 

 above all difficulties, and which soon entitled him to a place among the 

 most distinguished ornaments of his country. He early discovered a 

 fondness for Mathematical and Astronomical inquiries, and was indulged 

 by his parents in learning the trade of a clock and mathematical instru- 

 ment-maker, in which he was his own instructor. While he resided with 

 his father, in the country, he made himself maser of Newton's /V//<ci- 

 pia, which he read in the translation of Mr. Mott. Here, likewise, he 

 became acquainted with the science of Fluxions, of which sublime inven- 

 tion, he believed himself, for a time, to be the au hor. 1 he first oc- 

 casion on which his knowledge of Mathematics and Astronomy was sig- 

 nally displayed, was in observing the Transit of Venus, in 1769, when he 

 discovered a mind familiar with the most abs.ruse and complicated inves- 

 tigations. It was in this retirement, also, that he planned and executed 

 his far-famed Orrery, in which he represented the revolutions of the hea- 

 venlv bodies, in a manner more complete and comprehensive than an) ior- 

 mer astronomer. After this, his talents were displayed on various public 

 occasions, and were admired and celebrated, not only throughout his < wn 

 country, but among the philosophers of Europe. Dr. Rittenhovse, on 

 account of that modesty for which he was always remarkable, published 

 but little. An Oration delivered before the Philosophical Society in 1775, 

 and a few Memoirs on Mathematical and Astronomical subjects, con- 

 tained in the first three volumes of the Transactions' e$ that body, firm 

 the whole list of his publications. He was kaued with honours, both 

 by the State, and by literary and scientific institutions. He was chosen 

 President of the Philosophical Society in 1791 ; and was annually re-elected 

 to this office till his death in 1796. See Dr. Rush's Eulogiimi. 



j John Winthrop, LL.D. F. R. S. was born in Boston, in 1714, 

 and educated at Harvard College, where he received his first degree in 

 1732. In 1738 he was appointed Hollis Professor of Mathematics and 

 Natural Philosophy in the College in which he was educated. He imme- 

 diately entered on the duties of this office, which he executed with great 

 ability and reputation till his death in 1779. He was a man of S eneral 

 and profound learning ; but particularly so in the branches of science which 

 he undertook to teach. His work, De Cumeris, does him great honour. 

 That he was known and respected among the philosophers oi Lurope, is 

 evident from his being elected a member of the Royal Society; an honour 

 which had been conferred on a native of Massachusetts only in one ^in- 

 stance before, viz. in the case of the celebrated Cotton Mather. MS, 

 Letter of the Rev. Dr. Eliot to the author. 



