SAUNDERSON. 
a fellow of the Royal Society, was born at 
Thurlston in Yorkshire in 1682. When 
he was but twelve months old, he lost not 
only his eye-sight, but his very eye-balls, 
by the small pox ; so that he could retain 
no more tdeas of vision than if he had been 
born blind. At an early age, however, 
being of very promising parts, he was sent 
to the free school at Penniston, and there 
laid the foundation of that knowlege of the 
Greek and Latin languages, which he after- 
wards improved So far, by his own applica- 
tion to the classic authors, as to hear the 
works of Euclid, Archimedes, and Dio- 
phantes read in their original Greek. 
Having acquired a grammatical educa- 
tion, bis father, who w’as in the excise, in- 
structed him in the common rules of arith- 
metic. And here it was that his excellent 
mathematical genius first appeared; for he 
very soon became able, to work the com- 
mon questions, to make very long calcula- 
tions by the strength of his memory, and to 
form 'new rules to himself for the better re- 
solving of such questions as are often pro- 
posed to learners as trials of skill. 
At tlie age of eighteen, our author was 
introduced to the acquaintance of Richard 
West, of Underbank, Esq., a lover of mathe- 
matics, who, observing Mr. .Saunderson’s un- 
common capacity, took the pains to instruct 
him in the principles of algebra, and geo- 
metry, and gave him every encouragement 
in his power to the prosecution of these 
studies. Soon -after this he became 'ac- 
quainted also with Dr. Nettleton, who 
took the same pains w'ith him. And it was 
to these two gentlemen that Mr. Saunderson 
owed his first institution in the mathema- 
tical sciences ; they furnished him with 
books, and often read and expounded them 
to him. But he soon surpassed his masters, 
and became fitter to teach, than to learn 
any thing from them. 
His father, otherwise burthened with a 
numerous family, finding a difficulty in sup- 
porting him, his friends began to think of 
providing both for his education and main- 
tenance. His own inclination led him 
strongly to Cambridge, and it was at length 
determined he should try his fortune there, 
not as a scholar, but as a master : or, it this 
design should not succeed, they promised 
themselves success in opening a school for 
him at London. Accordingly he went to 
Cambridge in 1707, being then twenty-five 
years of age, and his fame in a short time 
filled tiie Univer,sity. Newton’s Principia, 
Optics, and Universal Arithmetic, were the 
foundations of his lectures, and afforded 
him a noble field for the display of his ge- 
nius ; and great numbers came to hear a 
blind man give lectures on optics, discourse 
on tire nature of light and colours, explain 
the theory of vision, the effect of glasses, 
the phenomenon of the rainbow, and other 
objects of sight. 
As he instrueted youth in the principles 
of the Newtonian philosophy, he soon be- 
came acquainted with its incomparable au- 
thor, though he had several years before 
left the University; and frequently con- 
versed with him on the most difficult parts 
of bis works : he also hold a friendly com- 
munication with the other eminent mathe- 
maticians of the age, as Halley, Cotes, 
De Moivre, &c. 
Mr. Wills ton was all this time in the ma- 
thematical professor’s chair, and read lec- 
tures in the manner proposed by Mr. Saun- 
derson on his settling at Cambridge ; so 
that an attempt of tills kind looked like an 
encroacliment on the privilege of his office ; 
but, as a good iiatured man, and an en- 
courager of learning ; he readily consented 
to the application of friends made in behalf 
of so uncommon a person. 
Upon the removal of Mr. Whiston from 
his professorship, Mr. Saunderson’s merit 
was thought so much superior to that of any 
other competitor, that an extraordinary 
step was taken in his favour^ to qualify him 
with a degree, which the statute requires ; 
in consequence he wasahosen, in 1711, Mr. 
Whiston’s successor in the Lucasian profes- 
sorship of mathematics ; Sir Isaac Newton 
interesting himself greatly in his favour. 
His first performance, after he was seated 
in the cliair, was an inaugural speech made 
in very elegant Latin, and a style truly Ci- 
ceronian; for he was very well versed in 
the writings of Tally, who was his favourite 
in prose, as Virgil and Horace were in 
verse. From this time he applied himself 
closely to the reading of lectures, and gave 
up his whole time to his' pupils. He con- 
tinued to reside among the gentlemen of 
Christ College tilt the year 1723, when he 
took a house in Cambridge, and soon after 
married a daughter of Mr. Dickens, rector 
of BoxwortL,, in Cambridgeshire, by whom 
he had a son and a daughter. 
In the year 1728, when King George Vi- 
sited the university, he expressed a desire 
of seeing so remarkable a person ; and ac- 
cordingly our professor attended the king 
in the senate, and by his favour was there 
created doctor of laws. 
