NEPER. 
plant grows in a climate where the parch- 
ed traveller is frequently in want of refresh- 
ment, and gladly avails himself of the water 
which this vegetable affords, each um con- 
taining about the measure of half a wine- 
glass. The use of this plant is too evident 
to need any comment. It is one of the 
many instances in nature of the bounty of 
Providence, who has filled the urns of the 
nepenthes with a treasure, of all others the 
most refreshing, to the inhabitants of hot 
climates. 
NEPER or NAPIER (John), in bio- 
graphy, Baron of Marchiston, in Scotland, 
inventor of the logarithms, was the eldest 
ton of Sir Archibald Napier, of Marchis- 
ton, and born in the year 1550. Having 
given early indications of great natural 
parts, his father was careful to have them 
cultivated by a liberal education. After 
going through the ordinary course of edu- 
cation at the university of St. Andrew’s, he 
made the tour of France, Italy, and Ger- 
many. On his return to his native coun- 
try, his literature and other fine accom- 
plishments soon rendered him conspicuous ; 
he, however, retired from the world to pur- 
sue literary researches, in which he made an 
uncommon progress, as appears by the se- 
veral useful discoveries with which he after- 
wards favoured mankind. He chiefly ap- 
plied himself to the study of mathematics, 
without, however, neglecting that of the 
Scriptures; in both of which he discovered 
a very extensive knowledge, and profound 
penetration. His “ Essay upon the Book of 
the Apocalypse” indicates the most acute in- 
vestigation ; though time has discovered, 
that his calculations concerning particular 
events had proceeded from fallacious data. 
But what has chiefly rendered his name fa- 
mous was his great and fortunate discovery 
of logarithms in trigonometry, by which the 
ease and expedition in calculation have so 
wonderfully assisted the science of astrono- 
my, and the arts of practical geometry and 
navigation. Napier, having a great attach- 
ment to astronomy and spherical trigonome- 
try, had occasion to make many numeral 
calculations of such triangles, with sines, 
tangents, &c. ; and these being expressed 
in large numbers, they hence occasioned a 
great deal of labour and trouble : to spare 
themselves part of this trouble, Napier, and 
other authors about his time, set themselves 
to find out certain short modes of calcula- 
tion, as is evident from many of their writ- 
ings. To this necessity, and these endea- 
vours it is, that we owe several ingenious 
contrivances, particularly the computation 
by Napier’s rods, and several other curious 
and short methods that are given in his 
“Rabdologia;” and, at length, after trials 
of many other mean?, the most complete 
one of logai ithms, in the actual construc- 
tion of a large table of numbers in arithme- 
tical progression, adapted to a set of as 
many others in geometrical progression. 
The property of such numbers had been 
long known, viz. that the addition of the 
former answered to the multiplication of 
the latter, &c. ; but it wanted the necessity 
of such very troublesome calculations as 
those above mentioned. Joined to an ar- 
dent disposition, to realize the use of that 
property. Perhaps, also, this disposition 
was urged into action by certain attempts 
of this kind, which, it seems, were made 
elsewhere; such as the following, related 
by Wood, in his “ Athenae Oxoniensis,” un- 
der the article Briggs, on the authority of 
Oughtred and Wingate, viz. “ That one Dr. 
Craig, a Scotchman, coming out of Den- 
mark into his own country, called upon 
John Neper, baron of Merchiston, near 
Edinburgh, and told him, among other dis- 
courses, of a new invention in Denmark, 
(by Longomontanus, as ’tis said), to save the 
tedious multiplication and division in astro- 
nomical calculations. Neper, being soli- 
citous to know further of liim concerning 
this matter, he could give no other account 
of it, than that it was by proportionable 
numbers; which hint Neper taking, he de- 
sired him, at his return, to call upon him 
again : Craig, after some weeks had passed, 
did so, and Neper then showed him a rude 
draught of that he called Canon Mirabili* 
Logarithmorum ; which draught, with some 
alterations, he printed in 1614 ; it came 
forthwith into the hands of our author, 
Briggs, and into those of William Oughtred, 
from whom the relation of this matter 
came.” 
Whatever might be the inducement, 
however, Napier published his invention in 
1614, under the title of “ Logaritlunorum 
Canonis Descriptio,” &c. containing the 
construction and canon of his logarithms, 
which are those of the kind that is called 
hyperbolic. This work commg presently 
to the hands of Mr. Briggs, then Professor 
of Geometry at Gresham College, in Lon- 
don, he immediately gave it the greatest 
encouragement, teaching the nature of the 
logarithms in his public lectures, and at the 
same time recommending a change in tlie 
scale of them, by which they might be ad- 
