4 



DEDICATION. 



putting it into its present dress, if we may judge by 

 what he says on this subject in his preface to the Collec- 

 tion of Philosophical Letters between Mr. Ray and his 



instituted in tlie vicarage of Wargrave in Berksliire ; and four years after- 

 wards, to the valuable rectory of Upminster in Essex, where he spent the 

 remainder of his life. To this residence he was much attached, mainly be- 

 cause it gave him, by its contiguity to London, ample opportunities of asso- 

 ciating with the scientific men of the metropoKs. He was made canon of 

 Windsor in 1716, and in 1730 he received from his university the diploma 

 ofD.D. 



He devoted his attention, mth great earnestness, to natural and experi- 

 mental philosophy. He was enroEed a member of the Royal Society, and he 

 contributed a considerable number of memoirs to its Transactions. These 

 papers prove him to have been a man of indefatigable research and careful 

 observation. 



His first publication was the 'Artificial Clock-Maker,' which has gone 

 through three or four editions, and is considered a useful manual even now. 

 In 1711, 1712, and 1714, he preached those sermons at Boyle's Lecture 

 which he afterwards expanded into the weU-known works 'Physico-Theology' 

 and ' Astro-Theology,' or a demonstration of the being and attributes of God 

 from the works of creation and a survey of the heavens, enriched with valu- 

 able notes, and good engravings after drawings of his own. His next separate 

 work was ' Christo-Theology,' or a demonstration of the divine authority of 

 the Christian rehgion, being the substance of a sermon preached in the 

 Abbey Church of Bath, in 1729. His last published work of his own was 

 entitled ' A Defence of the Church's Right in Leasehold Estates,' written in 

 answer to a work entitled 'An Inquiry into the Customary Estates and 

 Tenant-rights of those who hold lands of the Church and other Eoundations,' 

 It was published in the name of Everard Eleetwood. 



Dr. Derham also wrote a life and pubhshed some letters of the naturalist 

 Ray, of which he had procured the MSS., and to hhn the world is indebted 

 for the pubhcation of the philosophical experiments of Dr. Hook. He also 

 gave new editions of other of Ray's works, with valuable additions, original, 

 and from the author's manuscripts, besides editing other works of value, 

 amongst wliich was the ' Miscellanea Curiosa,' in 3 vols, small 8vo, a work 

 of value even at this time. 



A considerable number of his papers were printed in the ' Philosophical 

 Transactions,' from the 20th to the 39th volume inclusive, the principal of 

 which are : — 1, Experiments on Pendulums in vacuo ; 2, Of an Instrument 

 for finding the Meridian ; 3, Experiments and Observations on the Motion of 

 Sound ; 4, On the Migration of Bii'ds ; 5, On the Spots on the Sun from 

 1703 to 1711 ; 6, Observations on the Northern Lights, October 8tli, 1726, 

 and October 13th, 1728 ; 7, Tables of the EcKpses of Jupiter's Satellites ; 

 8, Difference of Time m the Meridian of diflPerent places ; 9, On the Meteor 

 called Ignis Eatuus ; 10, The History of the Death-watch ; 11, Meteorological 

 Tables for several years. 



Dr. Derham was of an ungainly appearance, small stature, and distorted form. 

 He was not only the moral and religious benefactor of lus parishioners, and 

 of aU those who came in his way, but he was likewise the physician of then- 

 bodies, and their pecuniary friend in all their difficulties. He lived beloved, 

 and died lamented, at his rectory, ui 1735, aged seventy-eight. 



