LAMBERT, 
98 
fition, to the Invention of a machine for designing per¬ 
spective drawings. He Surveyed and made a drawing of 
the country around Coire; and employed himfelf in nu¬ 
merous physical observations among the mountains in that 
diftriCt. In 1754, he began to keep a regular journal of 
his daily occupations, which he uninterruptedly conti¬ 
nued to the end of his life, and which is highly elteemed 
by the learned. A literary Society being at that inftituted 
at Coire, he was choSen one of its members; as he was, 
in 1753, of the Helvetic Society, to whofe tranfaClions 
he was a large contributor of mathematical and physical 
treatifes. After refilling eight years at Coire, in 1756 he 
repaired with his pupils to the university of Gottingen, 
where he was nominated a corresponding member of the 
Scientific Society in that place; and from thence he re¬ 
moved in the following year to Utrecht, where he conti¬ 
nued twelve months. During this interval he made Seve¬ 
ral excursions to Leyden, the Hague, and Amsterdam ; in 
one of which he became acquainted with the celebrated 
Mufchenbroeck, and on another publifhed his firft work, 
De la Route de la Lumiere par Us Airs ; or, on the mod re¬ 
markable circumstances attendant on the paffage of light 
through the atmofphere. In the autumn of 1758 he went 
with his pupils to Paris, where he acquired the etteem and 
friendship of d’Alembert and Meffier; and from thence 
travelled to Marfeilles, at which place he firft formed the 
plan of his work On Perspective, which he published in 
the following year at Zurich. After his return to Coire, 
he made an excursion to Augfburg in 1760, and there 
became acquainted with the celebrated philosophical in- 
ftrument-maker, Brander, who was afterwards of great 
Service to him in carrying his ideas into execution ; and 
there he alfo published, in the Same year, his Photometry, 
by which he added a new branch to the Science of mixed 
mathematics. In 1760, likewise, he was elected a mem¬ 
ber of the Eleftoral Bavarian Scientific Society, upon the 
condition that he Should give them his afliftance, and 
tranfmit papers for their tranfaftions. He is Said faith¬ 
fully to have performed his engagement with them, and 
to have received much ill ufage on their part. Be that as 
it may, the differences between them were followed by 
the deprivation of his Salary; on which he returned the 
diploma which he had received as a member of their body. 
About the year 1751, Mr. Lambert vifited Erlangen, 
where he publifhed his Letters on the Construction of the 
Univerfe, as well as his Treatil'e on the principal Quali¬ 
ties of the Orbits of the Comets. In 1763, he went to 
Leipfic j at which place he publilhed his New Organon, 
in 1764. During the year laft-mentioned, he made an ex¬ 
cursion to Berlin, where he was introduced to Frederic II. 
who was fully fenfible of the Services which he had ren¬ 
dered to the interests of fcience, and gave directions for 
his being admitted a regular member of the academy at 
that place. This appointment enabled him to devote him¬ 
felf wholly to the purfuit of his favourite Studies, and 
to communicate to the .world the fruits of his labours. 
The tranfaidions of the literary Societies of Leipfic and 
Berlin are enriched with a great number of his treatifes; 
and many of them have been publifhed Separately. They 
all bear the ftamp of an eminent genius, who had derived 
his knowledge more from his own reflections than from 
books, and who always Succeeded in placing the SubjeCt 
on which he treated in a point of view in which it had 
not been before considered. His principal metaphysical 
work is his Architectonic ; which he compofed with a 
■view of Showing tho application of logic to metaphysics, 
and of evincing the possibility of carrying it to algebraic 
evidence. Molt of his mathematical treadles were pub¬ 
lished in a collective form by himfelf, in three volumes, 
under the title of Beytragc zum Qebrauch der Mathematic und 
<deren Anwendung ; in which almolt every branch of mathe¬ 
matical fcience has been enriched with additions and im¬ 
portant improvements. Frederic II. made a considerable 
addition to his penfion a little before his death; which 
was occafioned by a decline, the effect of his too clofe and 
l 
afliduous application, and took place September the 
1777, foon after he had completed the forty-ninth year of 
his age. 
John-Henry Lambert was as univerfally efteemed for 
his amiable character, as he was refpeCted for his Scienti¬ 
fic merits. He never, indeed, was able to diveft himfelf 
of the manners and tafte which he had contracted in his 
originally low Situation in life ; which manifested them- 
felves in his timid and awkward behaviour, his negleCt of 
propriety and neatnefs in his drefs and the furniture o£ 
his apartments, his coarfe witticifms and antic geftures, 
and the pleafure which he took in frequently mixing with 
low company. Thefe defeCis, however, were abundantly 
counterbalanced by his poffeffing a moft excellent heart, 
and uncommon mental perfections. He was unaffectedly 
modeft, StriCtly chafte and fober, honeft and frank in his 
manner of thinking and converfation, decidedly averfc 
from all double-dealing, falfehood, and injustice, prompt 
to repair any injury which he thought he might have com¬ 
mitted, patient and forbearing, anxiouily defirous of 
avoiding all occafions of diflenfion and difpute, actively 
compaffionate towards the wretched, and totally free from 
morofenefs and ill-humour. He was alfo distinguished 
by the ardour of his piety, his zeal for the interests of re¬ 
ligion and virtue, and his genuine philanthropy. His 
cultomof fpeakingas decidedly and freely of his own me¬ 
rits and defeCts as of thofe of others, made him frequently 
appear a boafter to thofe who did not fufficiently know 
him ; but he generally judged impartially and correCtly 
relative to matters within his own fphere of knowledge. 
His diligence and aSIiduity were, perhaps, never exceeded. 
He generally was at his writing-delk from five o’clock in 
the morning until noon; and from two o’clock in the af¬ 
ternoon until midnight, without indulging himfelf in any 
kind of recreation, a folitary walk on a fine day excepted. 
The moft indifferent occurrence led him to mathematical 
or philofophical analyfes; to which he gave himfelf up fa 
completely, that no other objeCt whatever could make the 
leaft imprefiion upon him. He W'as thoroughly acquainted 
with the theological fyftem of his age, well verfed in the 
oriental languages, and poffeffed a confiderable knowledga 
of jurifprudence; but logic, metaphyfics, and mathematics, 
were the leading fubjeCts of his ftudies. The latter fci¬ 
ence, in particular, occupied his refearches; and thegreat- 
nefs of his genius manifested itfelf in the facility with 
which he reduced to an eafy construction the refult of 
extenfive and intricate computations. His memory was 
uncommonly faithful in matters that related to his fa¬ 
vourite fciences; but indifferent in others. He was in¬ 
timately acquainted with the hiftory of thefe fciences, their 
epochas, and the great men who had formed them; thought 
he was little acquainted with hiftory in general. Such are 
the outlines of the life and character of a man who role 
to distinguished eminence in fcience, after overcoming the 
moft arduous difficulties, merely by his own exertions and 
induftry, and the unaffifted application of his uncommon 
genius. Phil. Mag. 
LAM'BERT (Daniel), was born on the 13th of March, 
1770, in the parish of St. Margaret, at Leicefter. From 
the extraordinary bulk to which he attained, the reader 
may naturally be difpofed to enquire, whether his parents 
were perfons of remarkable dimenfions ? This was not 
the cafe, nor were any of his family inclined to corpu¬ 
lence, excepting an unde and aunt on the father’s fide, 
who were both very heavy. The former died during the 
infancy of Lambert, in the capacity of gamekeeper to the 
earl of Stamford, to w hofe predeceffor his father had been 
huntSman in early life. The family of Mr. L. fenior, 
confifted, besides Daniel, of another foil, who died young, 
and two daughters, of the common fize. The habit's of 
young Lambert were not, in any refpeCt, different from- 
thofe of other young perfons; they were indeed very far 
from being of that kind as to induce to extraordinary 
obefity, for at an early period he was Strongly attached to 
the Sports of the field. We have already mentioned the 
profeffioa 
