j 197] Continental Analysis and English Observation 249 



gravitation beyond the point at which it was left in the 

 Prindpia. 



In other departments of astronomy, however, important 

 progress was made both during and after Newton's lifetime, 

 and by a curious inversion, while Newton's ideas were 

 developed chiefly by French mathematicians, the Observa- 

 tory of Paris, at which Picard and others had done such 

 admirable work (chapter vni., 160-2), produced little of 

 real importance for nearly a century afterwards, and a lar.:e 

 part of the best observing work of the i8th century was 

 done by Newton's countrymen. It will be convenient to 

 separate these two departments of astronomical work, and 

 to deal in the next chapter with the development of the 

 theory of gravitation. 



197. The first of the great English observers was 

 Newton's contemporary John Flamsteed, who was born near 

 Derby in 1646 and died at Greenwich in 1720.* Unfor- 

 tunately the character of his work was such that, marked 

 as it was by no brilliant discoveries, it is difficult to present 

 it in an attractive form or to give any adequate idea of 

 its real extent and importance. He was one of tho e 

 laborious and careful investigators, the results of whose 

 work are invaluable as material for subsequent research, 

 but are not striking in themselves. 



He made some astronomical observations while quite a 

 boy, and wrote several papers, of a technical character, on 

 astronomical subjects, which attracted some attention. In 

 1675 ne was appointed a member of a Committee to repo r t 

 on a method for finding the longitude at sea which had 

 been offered to the Government by a certain Frenchman 

 of the name of St. Pierre. The Committee, acting largely 

 on Flamsteed's advice, reported unfavourably on the 

 method in question, and memorialised Charles II. in 

 favour of founding a national observatory, in order that 

 better knowledge of the celestial bodies might lead to a 

 satisfactory method of finding the longitude, a problem 

 which the rapid increase of English shipping rendered of 

 great practical importance. The King having agreed, 

 Flamsteed was in the same year appointed to the new 



* December 3ist, 1719, according to the unreformed calendar (O.S*) 

 then in use in England. 



