K E I 



'sho taught the tnathematics, and read a courfe of leftures 

 on the Newtonian philofophy. Under him and by his aid 

 he was enabled to make himfelf mafter of the " Principia," 

 which he regarded as the ground-woik of his future ftudics. 

 In the vear 1694, Mr. Ke:ll went with his tutor to Oxford, 

 entered himfelf of Baliol college, and read leftures himfelf 

 in his own chambers upon natural and experimental philo- 

 fophy, by which he acquired confiderable reputation. As 

 an author, he firft appeared with an " Examination of Dr. 

 Burnet's Theory of the Earth," which led to a more ex- 

 tended controverfyon the fubjeft : in this he difplayed Very 

 commanding talents, and ably refuted the ingenious theories 

 of Dr. Burnet and Mr. Whilton. He readily admitted that 

 though the work, the errors of which lie undertook to ex- 

 pofe, was full of millakes in philofophy, yet none ever 

 abounded with more beautiful fccnes and furprifmg images 

 of nature. In 1700, he fucceeded Dr. Millington, who was 

 appointed phyUcian in ordinary to the king, as Sedleian pro- 

 fefibr of natural phi'ofophy, and read leftures in the public 

 fchools. He now removed to Chrift-church college, and, in 

 1702, hcpubhrtied his treatife, intitled " Introduclio ad ve- 

 ram Phyficam/' containing the fubftance of feveral leftures 

 on the new philofophy. This work met with a favourable re- 

 ception in his own and in foreign countries, and was confidered 

 as a good introdudlion to the Principia. In 1736, a new edi- 

 tion of it was printed in London at the wi(h of M. Maupertuis, 

 ^o fubjoined to it a new hypothefis of his own concerning the 

 ring of the planet Saturn. In 1708, Mr. Keill was elefted 

 a member of the Royal Society, of which he proved himfelf 

 a very ufeful member, and enriched the Tranfafticns of 

 the Society with many valuable papers. In the following 

 year he made a voyage to Now England, as treafurer of the 

 JPalatines who were fent by government into that country, 

 and foon after his return, in the following J'car, he was 

 chofen Savilian profefTor of ail-onomy. Mr. Keill next 

 engaged in the contra^'erly refpeciip.g fir Ifaac Newton's 

 claim ttf the invention of fluxions: feveral letters pafled on 

 the fubjeft between M. Leibnitz and our author, till at 

 length a fpecial committee of the Royal Society was ap- 

 pointed to examine the merits of the cafe, which committee 

 concluded their report with declaring, that they reckoned fir 

 I. Newton the firit inventor of the method in quellion, and 

 that they were alfo of opinion that Mr. Keill, in aiTerVing 

 the fame, had been no ways injurious to M. Leibnitz. The 

 particulars of thefe proceedings may be found in a work to 

 which we have, in this Cyclopedia, already more than once 

 referred, viz. the " Commercium Epitlohcum'' of Mr. Col- 

 lins. The difpute was carried on for fome years in the 

 " Afta Eruditorum," and the " .Journal Litteraire.'" It was 

 generally admitted that Mr. Keill conducted himfelf in thefe 

 coiitefts with a great degree of firmnefs and fpirit, and that 

 he fatisfaftorily repelled the attacks upon the reputation of 

 our illullrious countryman. In 171 1, hepublilhed apaper 

 in the Philofophical Tranfaftions, « On the Rarity of Mat- 

 ter, &c." in which he points out various phenomena which 

 cannot be explained upon the fuppofuion of a plenum. About 

 this time queen Anrie was pleafed to appoint him to the office 

 of decypherer to her majeity, in which he continued till the 

 year 1716. In I7y, tlie u.iiverfity of Oxford conferred 

 iipon him the diploma of doftor of medicine, and two years 

 afterwards he publilhed an edition of Eiiclid, to which ho 

 added two tracts on Trigonometry and the Nature of Loga- 

 rithms. In the year 1718, Dr. Keill publifhed at Oxford 

 hit " Introduftio ad veram Allronomiam," which was after- 

 wards tranllated by himfelf into Englifh, at the requeil of 

 the' iihchefs of Chandos, under the title of "An Introduc- 

 tion to the true Allronomy," &c. The author did not long 



K E 1 



furvive this work. He died of a fever in the fumraer of 1 721? 

 being only in the 50th year of his age. 



Keill, J.\ME.«i, an eminent phyfician, was born in Scot- 

 land on the 27th of March r673. Having received thi5 

 early part cf his education in his native country, he wenf 

 abroad with the view of completing it in the fcho&Is of 

 celebrity on the continent ; and obtained fuch a deg»-ee of: 

 knowledge as diftinguiflied him foon aficr his return to^ 

 England. He had early applied to (lifTeifioiiB, and pur- 

 fued the ftudy of anatomy, under Duverney, at Paris ; 

 whence he was enabled to give anatomical lectures, with 

 great reputation, in both the Englifli univerfities. He' 

 was honoured with the degree of &I.D. by the univerlity- 

 of Cambridge. In 1703 lie fettled at Northampton, and 

 began the practice of his profcfilon, in which he attained 

 confiderable fame and fuccefs. In 1706 ho publillied a' 

 paper in the Philofophical Tranfaclions, N- 306, containing 

 " an account of the death and difTeftion of John Bayles, 

 of that town, reputed to have been 130 years old." Thecir- 

 cumftances which he detailed very much relembled thefe that 

 were obferved by the celebrated Harvey in the diirection of' 

 old Parr. Dr. Keill, like his brother John, was well (lulled 

 in mathematical learning, which he applied to the explana- 

 tion of the laws of the animal economy. His tirlt pub- 

 lication was a compendium of anatomy, for the ufe of the 

 pupils who attended his lectures, and was entitled, "The' 

 Anatomy of the Plunian Body abridged,'' i2mo. Lond. 

 1698, and was taken chiefly from Cowper : it went through 

 many editions. In the year 1 7c 8, he gave the world a proof 

 of his mathematical fl<i!i, in " An Accouut of Animal 

 Secretion, the Quantity of Blood in tlie Human Body, and 

 Mufcular Motion," Lond. 8vo. This work was reprinted 

 in 1717, with tlie addition of an effay, " concerning the Force 

 of the Heart in driving the Blood tliroi:gh the whole Bodyj" 

 and under the title of " Effays on feveral Parts of the Ani- 

 mal CEconomy." He likewife publilhed the fame treatife" 

 in Latin, with the addition of a " Mediciiia Statica Britan- 

 nica." The effay concerning the force of the heart drew 

 him into a controverfy with Dr. Jurin, which was carried, 

 on in feveral papers, printed in the Philofophical Tranf 

 actions of the iloyal Society, of which Dr. Keill had betn 

 e'ecled a member; and was continued to the tim.e of the 

 death of the latter, which took place at Northampton, on 

 the i6th of July 1619, in the vigour of his age. He had 

 for lome time laboured under a very painful diforder, u'=.. 

 a cancer in the roof of his mouth, to which he had apphcd 

 the cautery with his oun hands, in order, if poffible, to.' 

 procure fome relief, but in vain. Eloy. Diet. Hill. Hulchin- 

 fon's Biog. Med. 



KEILLESAY, in Geography, one of the fmallet; 

 Weftern iflands of Scotl^d ; 3 miles N.E. of Barray^ 

 ifland. N. lat. ^-j" 2'. W. long. 7' 23'. 



KEIM-HOl'UN, a town of Chinefe Tartary, in the 

 government of Kirin. N. lat. 44° 4J'. E. long. 1 ic^'-' 2^'i 



KEIRAN, in the Oriental Learning, tiie Pcriian and 

 Arabic name for the planet Saturn, according to Salmafius. 

 See Chiun. 



KEIRLEBERUS, JouS George, in Biography, bom 

 at Wiirtembcrg, was at once a philofopher, poet, and mu!:- 

 cian. In 1691, he compofed for the birth-day of the em* 

 peror .Tofeph I. a Latin poem, which he fct to mufic in a 

 perpetual canon of 16 vocal part.s, and i6 violin acconi- 

 paniments, in a different meU)dy ; a piece of pedantry 

 much admired by profeffors and deep dilettanti at the latter 

 end of the 17th century. He aftenvards" compofed another 

 perpetual canon in eight parts, four viol da gambas, two coun» 

 ter-tenors, and two tenors, with feveral other various and 

 comphcatcd 



