114 G. B. Grant on a new Difference Engine. 
thousand dollars for its construction, on the strong recommen- 
ation of a committee of the Royal Society, containing some of | 
the most eminent men of the time, but after years of study and — 
labor had been spent on it, the appropriations were stopped on | 
account of the indefinite expense. Though never completed — 
as a working machine, it proved the feasibility of the scheme. — 
Babbage’s idea was ‘carried out more successfully by Edward — 
Scheutz, and the two machines constructed on his plan are the 
only ones ever built for this purpose. One of these was bought — 
for the Dudley Observatory at Albany, but has been but little — 
used. The other was built by the British government in 1862, — 
and has since been extensively used in the calculation of life 
insurance tables.* 
he idea of contriving a machine for ae tables first — 
occurred to myself while laboriously computing a table for — 
excavation and embankment. Having never heard of either — 
Babbage’s or Scheutz’s engines, I imagined it an easy matter, — 
oe gave it a in disgust after some study. Last yea Ss heard 
f Babbage’s engine, became interested or and d ed a 
ss 
i Ne i i 
th 
lam indebted to Mr. John N. Bachelder of Cambridge, %& 
well as to Professors Eustis, Winlock and Whitney, of Harvard 
College, for encouragement and help — _ ~_ 
had charge of the Scheutz engine when 
owe and is one of AY few who have had dpc experi 
ine or this ¢ 
third, 
sage Pe the first order of differences In the same 
Accounts of Babbage’s engine may be found in the Edinburg Review, J 
1804 ees Fae Memoirs, v. 3, and in the inventor's work, “ Pa ssages 
from the Life of a Philosopher ;” short articles on the same in Tomlinson’s 
the ny iences ; ag! a Mag., 1865; Manufacturer and Builder, 
Timb’s Stories of Inventors, &e. Scheutz’s engine is described in “The Swedish 
Machine,” by Charles Babbage, in ‘The Manufacturer and Builds? 
ae 1870, and in detail in the British patent specifications, Oct. 17, 185 
