199 
, hy Christian Ihmjgms. 
rare talents^ who^ when yet very young, was already i^anked 
among the first mathematicians of his age, and is still considered 
as one of the greatest that ever lived, and who, from his earliest 
studies, showed a turn for mechanics, which, united to his tlieo- 
retical knowledge, peculiarly fitted him for the accomplishment of 
this difficult task. It was at the latter end the year 1656, that 
Huygens first hit upon the idea of furnishing clockwork with 
a pendulum, and substituting the latter for the balances then in 
use.^ He immediately set about making one of this construe^ 
tion, and had many more made under his direction in 1657, for 
which he obtained, on the 16th of June, an exclusive privilege 
from the States-General. In 1658, he published a Latin de- 
scription of bis clocks, consisting of a few pages in quarto, un- 
der the title of Horologium^ dedicated to the States of Holland. 
He also made known his invention to many of his friends, as 
appears from their numerous answers {Leyden MSS.), and he 
made an unsuccessful attempt to procure a similar patent in 
France. Scarcely had he constructed a few on this principle, 
till they were every where brought into use : the balances of 
many clocks, whether driven by a weight or a spring, were taken 
out, and pendulums substituted in their place ; so that even be- 
fore the above-mentioned Latin publication appeared j clocks 
were seen, having pendulums of twelve or twenty feet long, witli 
weights upwards of thirty pounds affixed to them of which 
those of the church at the village of Scheveningen, near the 
Hague, and at Utrecht, may be i-eckoned among the firsti His 
description of them was sent to his correspondents among the 
learned, and by them diffused in every foreign country, and 
spread with amazing rapidity. • The proofs of this assertion are 
most evident, from the numerous congratulatory epistles ad- 
dressed to him on the occasion, from people of all ranks and 
countries, accom}3anied with frequent requests of sending speci- 
mens of his newly invented clock, as constructed under his own 
o2 
* Horologium^ p. 1, & 9.— The works of Huygens were first collected by 
s’Gravesd,nde, under the title of Huy genii Opera varia, 1724, in quarto, with ah 
account of his life prefixed ; to which were added by the same, O^jcra Ijleliqun et 
PostTiuma^ in 1728. 
