510 
Gregory, daughter of Mr Oliphant of Langtown, to whom he 
David. 
was married in 1695. Among his manuscripts were 
found A Short Treatise of the Nature and Arithmetic of 
arithms, which was afterwards published in Dr 
Keill’s translation of Commandine’s Euclid; a Yrea- 
tise of Practical Geometry, which was translated and 
published by Mr Maclaurin in 1745 ; anda commentary 
on the Principia, which Newton kept by him many 
years after the author's death. Sir Isaac had entrusted 
Gregory with a manuscript copy of the Principia for 
this purpose, and he availed himself of the annotations 
of his friend in the second edition of that immortal 
work. A complete copy of these observations was pre= 
sented, by the present Dr James Gregory, to the libra- 
ry of the a egac; of Edinburgh, where it is care- 
fully preserved. There are some paragraphs in this 
manuscript in the handwriting of Huygens, concerning 
his theory of light. 
His wife, who. survived him, erected an elegant mo- 
nument to his memory in the church of St Mary, Ox- 
ford, with the following inscription :— 
P.M. 
Davinis Grecorit, M. D. 
Qui Aberdonie natus, Jun. 24, 1661, 
In Academia Edinburgensi 
Matheseos preelector publicus, 
Deinde Oxonii 
Astronomiz Professor Savillianus, 
Obiit Oct. 10. A. D. 1710; 
Etatem illi heu brevem Natura concessit, 
Sibi ipsi longam prorogavit 
Scriptor illustris. 
Desideratissimo viro 
Elizabetha Uxor. 
David Gregory, of Kinnairdie, the brother of the 
eelebrated James Gregory, was born in 1627, and ser« 
yed an apprenticeship to a mercantile house in Hol- 
land ; but having a great passion for knowledge, he.re- 
turned to Scotland in 1655, when he was 28 years old, 
and having succeeded to the estate of Kinnairdie, by 
the death of an elder brother, he devoted his time to 
mathematics and philosophy. He appears to have been 
the first person in the country who had a barometer, 
and he had the honour ‘of corresponding, upon meteoro- 
logical subjects, with the celebrated Mariotte. ‘ About 
the beginning of the last century,” says Dr Reid, “ he 
removed with his family to Aberdeen, and, in the 
time of Queen Anne’s war, employed his thoughts upon 
an improvement in artillery, in order to make the shot 
of great guns destructive to the enemy, and executed a 
model of the engine he had conceived. _ After making 
some experiments with this model which satisfied him, 
the old gentleman was so sanguine in the hope of being 
useful to the allies in the war against France, that he 
set about preparing a field equipage with a view to 
make a campaign in Flanders, and. in the mean time 
sent his model to his son, the Savilian Professor, that 
he might have his and Sir Isaac Newton’s opinion of it. 
His son shewed it to Newton, without etting him 
know that his own father was the inventor. Sir Isaac 
was much displeased with it, saying, that if it tended 
as much to the preservation of mankind as to their de- 
struction, the inventor would have deserved. a great 
reward ; but as.it was contrived solely for destruction, 
and would soon be known by the enemy, he rather de- 
served to be punished, and urged the professor very 
strongly to destroy it, and if possible to suppress the 
mvention. Itis probable the professor followed. this 
GREGORY. 5 
advice ; for at his death, which happened ‘soon after, 
the model was not to be found. , 
When the rebellion broke out in 1735, the eld gen- 
tleman went over a second time to Holland, and return- 
ed when it was over to Aberdeen, where he died, about 
1720, in the 93d year of his age. He left behind him 
a historical manuscript of the transactions of his own 
time and country.” 
Mr Gregory had twenty-nine children by two wives, 
and he had t 
professors of mathematics at the same time, viz. David 
Gregory at Oxford, James at Edinburgh, and Charles 
at St Andrews. James was first a professor of philoso- 
phy at St Andrews, and suce David when he re- 
moved to Oxford. Charles was created. essor of 
mathematics at St Andrews in 1707, and in 1789 he 
resigned that office in favour of his son Professor David 
Gregory, who died in 1763, and left behind him a good 
commenter of arithmetic and algebra, with. the title, 
Arithmetice et Algebra. compendium, in usum Juventutis 
Academice, Edin. 1736.. His son David was master of 
an East India ship. David Gregory, the eldest son 
of the Savilian peat lag was os 13 Regius Profes- 
sor of Modern History, at Oxford, and. died in 1767, 
after having filled, for many years, the situation of dean 
of Christ’s church. The celebrated James Gregory, 
the inventor of the reflecting telescope, had only one 
son, James, born in 1674, who was professor of medi- 
cine in King’s College, Aberdeen. His youngest son 
was Dr John Gregory (the subject of the next article), 
and the father of the present Dr James ory, pro- 
fessor of the practice of medicine in the university of 
Edinburgh. 4 28 
GREGORY, Jonny, Dr, an eminent physician, was 
born at Shenieen - ee 3d. * June 1724, and es the 
oungest child of Dr James Gregory, professor of me- 
icine in King’s College, aherece hee second wife, 
Anne Chalmers, the.only daughter of the Rev. Princi- 
pal Chalmers of King’s College. 
In consequence of the death of his father when he- 
was only seven youre old, the charge of his education 
devolved upon Principal Chalmers, his elder brother 
Dr James Gregory, who had succeeded his father as 
rofessor of medicine, and his cousin the late celebrated 
De Reid. After receiving: the- first. rudiments of his 
education at the grammar school of Aberdeen, he en- 
tered King’s College, and made rapid progress in the 
knowledge of ethics, mathematics, and natural 
Ly. es : 
n In 1742, he went to Edinburgh, aecompanied by his 
mother ; and having resolved to pursue the study of 
medicine, he attended the different medical lectures, 
and became a member of the Medical Society, at a 
time when his friend, the celebrated Dr Akenside, was 
a member of the same institution. In the year 1745, 
Mr Gregory went to Leyden, to. complete his profes- 
sional studies, under the care of Albinus, Gaubius, and 
Van Royen, who were at that time the ornaments of the 
university, Here he became acquainted with the fa- 
mous John Wilkes and the Hon, Charles Townshend,, — 
two of the greatest wits of the age ; and before he left 
this university, he received from King’s College, 
deen, an unsolicited degree of doctor of medicine. Upon 
his return from Holland, he was chosen professor of 
philosophy in the same college ; and during the years 
1747, 1748, and 1749, he read lectures in mathematics, 
experimental philosophy, and moral philosophy. 
aving resolyed, however, to establish himself asa 
physician at Aberdeen, he resigned his professorship in 
the good fortune to see three of his sons’ 
Tae Ris 
Pena 
