1842.] Philosophical Instruments in India. 295 



strument with regard to the powers of which I may mention, that Sir 

 John Herschell, in his Discourse upon Natural Philosophy, has thought 

 it necessary, for fear the fact should be doubted, " to assure the reader 

 that balances have been constructed capable of rendering visibly sen- 

 sible, a quantity of matter to even the millionth part of the whole ;" 

 yet this, which by the passage is evidently considered a great effort of 

 mechanical skill, I have been able to effect by the hands of an Indian 

 workman, totally untaught, except by myself; and with regard to its 

 outward appearance, no one who has yet seen it but has remarked, 

 " How beautifully it is worked,'* or that " no one would for an instant 

 believe that it was made in India." 



It might be remarked in contravention of my propositions, that I 

 endeavour to assert the possibility of rivaling in India the productions 

 of the genius of Ramsden and Troughton, and that the idea is absurd ; 

 but however, such it is my intention to assert. 



However preposterous the proposition may at first appear, yet it 

 may be shewn, that there is nothing impossible in its execution, for 

 it will at once be seen by any one acquainted with the subject, that the 

 instruments by the aid of which the investigations by which our pre- 

 sent knowledge of the laws of matter and unponderable substances have 

 been conducted, owe their excellence not so much to the skill of the me- 

 chanical workman, as the ingenuity and talent in adopting means of 

 product to the desired purpose, as shewn by those who directed the 

 construction. 



And in fact, what are the beautiful and costly instruments, the 

 expense of which is only within the means of nations, and to which 

 are due the proofs of the profound investigations of modern Astronomy, 

 but large masses of metal, the true form assumed by which at each 

 change of position, has puzzled the investigation of the most penetrating 

 and ingenious, and has caused a competent judge to remark, " that the 

 " observations made by a circle of only 12 inches diameter are better, 

 " and more worthy of confidence than those procured by all the 3-feet 

 " circles, and even the 8-feet circle of Ramsden, which have yet been 

 " constructed," and what are the divisions upon them, but a rude 

 attempt, (as referred to what future ages may produce), to divide the 

 circumference into 189,600 parts, which instead of being equal parts, 

 often differ to the amount, v 5 of the circumferences and always to 1". 



