SCIENTISTS OF THE NORTH-EAST OF SCOTLAND 121 
FERGUSON, JAMES.—A century ago probably no scientific man was 
better known, by name at least, among all classes in Great Britain, than 
James Ferguson, and no books were to be found more frequently than 
his on the bookshelves, both of professional scientists and of artisans. 
He wrote and lectured on astronomy, mechanics, optics, and electricity, 
and the rapidity with which new editions of his books had to be prepared 
can bear comparison with the career of many of the ‘ best sellers ’ of the 
present day. His Astronomy explained upon Sir Isaac Newton’s Principles, 
first published in 1756, went through five editions in sixteen years ; his 
Lectures on Select Subjects in Mechanics through four editions in twelve 
years ; and An Easy Introduction to Astronomy for Young Gentlemen and 
Ladies through three editions in four years. The first of these 
books went through no fewer than thirteen editions, the last appearing 
in 1821. 
James Ferguson was born in 1710 in the parish of Rothiemay in Banff- 
shire, his parents being of the cottar class. Owing to the poverty of his 
home he received only three months’ actual teaching, and that was received 
in Keith Grammar School. At an early age he was employed as a shep- 
herd and before he was out of his teens he had made a reputation for skill 
in mending clocks and watches, and also in making portraits of local 
celebrities. During his leisure hours as a shepherd he began to study 
the movements of the heavenly bodies, and among his earliest mechanical 
inventions were instruments for representing the positions and move- 
ments of the moon and the stars. His talent for portrait painting attracted 
the attention of several persons of importance in the north-east of Scotland, 
and at their instigation he was persuaded to take up his residence in 
Edinburgh where he might get instruction from competent masters. 
But lack of means prevented Ferguson from taking full advantage of the 
opportunities thus offered to him, and after a period of residence in 
Edinburgh and Inverness, he determined to remove to London, where 
he hoped to find a wider outlet for his portrait painting and his mechanical 
inventions. For several years he carried on both activities, but his 
ambition was to be able to earn his living by lecturing on natural philosophy. 
In 1761 the King granted him an annuity of £50, and in 1763 he was 
elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. He gave courses of lectures, not 
only in London but in Cambridge, Bristol, Bath, and Liverpool, and so 
popular did they become that he was invited to pay several return visits 
to these cities. As a result his financial circumstances were greatly 
improved. The success of his lectures was largely due to his ingenuity 
in devising mechanical illustrations of the principles he wished to teach, 
his astronomical clocks, orreries, planetaria, etc., becoming famous 
throughout the whole country. 
Ferguson, although a popular lecturer, was in no sense a ‘ quack.’ 
Among the leading scientific men of the day he was highly esteemed, 
by none more so than Sir David Brewster, who edited the later editions 
of several of his books. The great diffusion of scientific knowledge 
among the mechanics of this country, which led to the establishing of 
institutes and technical colleges about the middle of last century, was 
largely due to the influence of Ferguson’s writings. He died in London 
