FER 
gist; and this qualified property is obtained 
either by the art and industry of man, or 
the impotence of the animals themselves, 
or by special privilege, as in case of 
game. 
~ A qualified property may subsist in ani- 
mals ferce natiyte by the art and industry of 
man, either by his reclaiming and making 
them tame, or by so confining them, that 
they cannot escape and use their natural 
liberty; such as deer in a park, hares or 
conies in an enclosed warren, doves in a 
dove-house, pheasants or partridges in a 
mew, hawks that are fed and commanded 
by the owner, and fish in a private pond or 
in trunks. These are no longer the proper- 
ty of a man than while they continue in his 
keeping, or actual possession; but if at any 
time they regain their natural liberty, his 
property instantly ceases ; unless they have 
ammum revertendi , which is only to be known 
by their usual custom of returning. Larceny 
cannot be committed of things /«•« nature 
while at their natural liberty; but if they 
are made fit for food, and reduced to tame- 
ness, and known by the taker to be so, it 
may be larceny to take them. 1 Haw. 94. 
See Game. 
FERGUSON (James), an eminent expe- 
rimental philosopher, mechanic, and astro- 
nomer, was born in Bamffshire, in Scot- 
land, 1710, of very poor parents. At the 
very earliest age his extraordinary genius 
began to unfold itself. He first learned to 
read, by overhearing his father teach his elder 
brother ; and he had made this acquisition 
before any one suspected it. He soon dis- 
covered a peculiar taste for mechanics, 
which first arose on seeing his father use a 
lever. He pursued this study a considera- 
ble length, while he was yet very young ; 
and made a watch in wood-work, from hav- 
ing once seen one. As he had no instructor, 
nor any help from books, every thing he 
learned had all the merit of an original 
discovery ; and such, with inexpressible 
joy, he believed it to be. 
As soon as his age would permit, lie went 
to service ; in which be met with hardships, 
which rendered his constitution feeble 
through life. AVhile he was servant to a 
farmer, (whose goodness he acknowledges 
in the modest and humble account of him- 
self which he prefixed to one of his publi- 
cations), he contemplated and learned to 
know the stars, while lie tended the sheep ; 
and began the study of astronomy, by lay- 
ing down, from his own observations only, 
FER 
a celestial globe. His kind master observ- 
ing these marks of his ingenuity, procured 
him the countenance and assistance of some 
neighbouring gentlemen. By their help 
and instructions he went on gaiuing farther 
knowledge, having by their means been 
taught arithmetic, with some algebra, and 
practical geometry. He had got some no- 
tion of drawing, and being sent to Edin- 
burgh, he there began to take portraits in 
miniature, at a small price; an employ- 
ment by which he supported himself and fa- 
mily for several years, both in Scotland and 
England, while he was pursuing more seri- 
ous studies. In London he first published 
some curious astronomical tables and cal- 
culations; and afterwards gave public lec- 
tures in experimental philosophy, both in 
London, and most of the country towns in 
England, with the highest marks of gene- 
ral approbation. He was elected a Fellow 
of the Royal Society, and was excused the 
payment of the admission fee, and tiie usual 
annual contributions. He enjoyed from the 
King a pension of fifty pounds a year, be- 
sides other occasional presents, which he. 
privately accepted and received from dif- 
ferent quarters, till the time of his death ; 
by which, and the fruits of Ms own labours, 
he left behind him a sum to the amount of 
about six thousand pounds, instead of which 
all his friends had always entertained an 
idea of his great poverty. He died in 1776, 
at 66 years of age, though he had the ap- 
pearance of many more years. 
Mr. Ferguson must be allowed to have 
been a very uncommon genius, especially in 
mechanical contrivances and executions ; for 
he executed many machines himself in a 
very neat manner. He had also a good 
taste in astronomy, and natural and expe- 
rimental philosophy, and was possessed of 
a happy manner of explaining himself in an 
easy, clear, and familiar way. His general 
mathematical knowledge, however, was 
little or nothing. Of algebra he understood 
but scarcely more than the notation ; and he 
has often told Dr. Hutton, he could never 
demonstrate one proposition in Euclid’s 
Elements; his constant method being to 
satisfy himself as to the truth of any pro- 
blem with a measurement by scale and 
compasses. He was a man of a very clear 
judgment in any thing he professed, and of 
unwearied application to study ; benevo- 
lent, meek, and innocent in his manners as 
a child : humble, courteous, and commu- 
nicative : instead of pedantry, philosophy 
