M A C L A U R I N. 
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coft him infinite pains, fo it is the moll confiderable of all 
his works, and will do him immortal honour, being in¬ 
deed the mod complete treatife on that fcience which has 
yet appeared. 
A fociety having for fome years exifted at Edinburgh 
for the improvement of medical knowledge, Mr. Mac— 
laurin propofed that their plan fhould be extended, fo as 
to comprehend all the branches of pliyfics, as well as the 
antiquities of the country. This prcpofal meeting with a 
ready, affent, Mr. Maclaurin’s influence engaged feveral 
noblemen and gentlemen of the firfl: rank and character 
to become members of the fociety, the earl of Morton 
accepting the office of prefident; and feveral gentlemen 
of diftinXion, Englifh and foreigners, defired alfo to be 
admitted into it. At the monthly meetings, Mr. Mac- 
laurin, who was appointed joint-fecretary with Dr. Plum¬ 
mer, profeflbr of chemiftry, generally read feme perform¬ 
ance or obfervation of his own, or communicated the 
contents of his letters from foreign parts ; by which means 
the fociety was informed of all new difeoveries and im¬ 
provements in the fciences. Several of the papers read 
before this fociety are printed in the fifth and fixth vo¬ 
lumes of the Medical Eflays. Some of them are likewife 
publiflied in the PhilofophicalTranfaXions; and Mr. Mac- 
laurin had occafion to notice a great many more in his 
Treatife of P'luxions, and in his Account of Sir Ifaac 
Newton’s Philofophical Difeoveries. Our author alfo 
Ihowed his zeal for promoting the interefts of fcience, by 
projeXing the building of an aftronomical obfervatory, 
and a convenient fchool for experiments in the univerfity; 
of which he drew an elegant and w’ell-contrived plan ; 
and, as the expenfe of carrying it into execution was to 
be defrayed by private contributions, Mr. Maclaurin em¬ 
ployed his influence fo fuccefsfully in obtaining them, 
that probably he would have been able foon to complete 
the work, had not the unhappy diforders of the country 
intervened. In the year 1739, when the earl of Morton 
was about to vifit his eftates in the Orkneys and Shetland, 
lie applied to Mr. Maclaurin to afli(t in fettling the geo¬ 
graphy of thofe iflands, which is very erroneous in all our 
maps j to examine their natural hiflory, furvey the coaft.s, 
and take the meafure of a degree of the meridian. His fa¬ 
mily-affairs, however, and other connexions, not permit¬ 
ting him to comply with this requeft, he could do no 
more than draw up a memorial of what lie thought necef- 
fary to be obferved, furnifh the proper inftruments, and 
recommend Mr. Short, the celebrated optician, as a fit 
perfon for managing them. From the account which he 
received of this vifit to thofe iflands, he was made more 
fenfible than before of the errors in the geography of them, 
which have proved the occafion of numerous ffiipwrecks; 
and he engaged feveral of his fcholars, who were then 
fettled in the northern counties, to furvey the coafts; ex¬ 
pecting a good map of Scotland only from obfervations 
made by fkilful perfons, and with the belt inftruments. 
Mr. Maclaurin had alfo another fcheme for the improve¬ 
ment of geography and navigation, of a more extenfive 
nature ; which was the difeovery of a pafl'age from Green¬ 
land to the South Sea, by the north pole. After reading 
all the accounts which he could procure of voyages, both 
in the South and North Seas, he was fo fully perl'uaded of 
the exiftence of fuch a pafl'age, that he has been heard to 
fay, that, if his fituation could admit of fuch adventures, 
he would undertake the voyage, even at his own expenfe. 
But, when fchemes for finding it out were laid before par¬ 
liament in 1744, and his advice on the fubjeX was requeft- 
ed by feveral perfons of high rank and influence 5 before 
he could finifli the memorials which he propofed to have 
fent, the premium was limited to the difeovery of a north- 
weft pafl'age. The infertion of the word zve/t, was fpoken 
of with regret by Mr. Maclaurin, on account of his firm 
perfuafion that fuch a pafl'age, if at all to be found, muft 
lie not far from the pole. 
In the year 1745» when it was known that the rebels, 
after having got between Edinburgh and the king’s troops, 
were marching fouthwards, our author was one of the firfl 
to roufe the friends of the proteftant fucceffion to place 
the capital in a ftate of defence to refill the rebel force, 
till the king’s troops, who were daily expeXed, fhould 
come to its relief. With the.defign of contributing his 
belt efforts to this objeX, he made plans of the walls, pro¬ 
pofed the feveral trenches, barricades, batteries, and other 
neceflary defences, and was employed, night and day, in 
running from place to place, and i'uperintending the exe¬ 
cution of thofe hafty fortifications. By the anxiety and 
fatigue to which he was thus expofed, he laid the founda¬ 
tion of the difeafe which not long afterwards proved fatal 
to him. _ But, notwithftanding his exertions, the rebels, 
owing either to negleX or treachery, got pofieffion of the 
city j immediately after which an order was iflued by them, 
commanding thofe who had been aXive in the defence of 
the place to fubferibe a recantation of what they had done, 
and a promife of fubmiflionto the pretender’s government, 
before a dated time, on pain of being deemed and treated 
as rebels. In thefe circumftances, Mr. Maclaurin, who 
was determined to adhere to his allegiance, and well 
knew what little mercy he had reafon to expeX, fhould he 
fall into their hands, withdrew privately into England 3 
but, before his efcape, found means to convey a good te- 
lefcope into the caifle, and concerted a method of fupply- 
ing the garrifon with provifions. As foon as Dr. Herring, 
then archbifhop of York, was informed that Mr. Maclaurin 
had taken refuge in the north of England, he fent him a 
moll friendly and polite invitation torelide with him dur¬ 
ing his flay in that country. This invitation he gladly 
accepted, and was imprefled with the deepeft fentiments 
of gratitude for the hofpitality and kindnefs with which 
his grace treated him: “ Here,” faid he, in a letter to a 
friend, “ I live as happily as a man can do, who is igno¬ 
rant of the ftate of his family, who fees the ruin of his 
country.” While at York, his uncoinmonly-meagre ap¬ 
pearance and fickly looks exhibited indications of difeal'e 5 
though, not being apprehenfive of any danger at that time, 
he did not call in the afliftance of a phyfician. Upon the 
march of the rebel army into England, he ventured to return 
to Edinburgh ; but his anxiety and fatigues, and liis being 
expofed to molt tempeftuous cold weather on his journey, lo 
fluttered his conftitution, which was naturally delicate 
and tender, that upon his arrival he complained of being 
much out of order. It was foon difeovered that his dil- 
eafe was. a dropfy in the abdomen 5 to remove which, the 
preferiptions of the molt eminent phyficians at London, 
as well of thofe at Edinburgh, and three tappings, proved 
inefficacious. His behaviour under his painful malady 
was fuch as became a philofopher and a Chriftian ; calm, 
cheerful, and refigned ; his fenfes and judgment remain¬ 
ing in full vigour till within a few hours of his death, 
which took place on the 14th of June, 1746, at the age of 
forty-eight years and four months. 
Mr, Maclaurin was not only diftinguifhed by his genius 
and learning, but by the qualities of the heart; his fin- 
cere love to God and men, his univerfal benevolence and 
unaft'eXed piety. His favourite ftudies, as we have feen, 
were the mathematics, which he cultivated wdth extraor¬ 
dinary affiduity and fuccel's. His peculiar merit as a phi- 
lofopher was, that all his ftudies were accommodated to 
general utility ; and we find in many places of his works 
an application even of the inoft abftrufe theories to the 
perfeXing of mechanical arts. He had refolved, for the 
fame purpofe, to compofe a courfe of praXical mathema¬ 
tics, and to refeue feveral ufef'ul branches of the fcience 
from the bad treatment which they often meet with in lefs 
fkilful hands. But all thefe defigns were prevented by 
his death ; unlefs we may reckon, as a part of his intended 
work, the tranflation of Dr. David Gregory’s PraXical 
Geometry, which he reviled and publiflied, with addi¬ 
tions, in the year 1745. 1° his life-time, however, he fre¬ 
quently had the pleaiure to ferve his friends and country 
by his fuperior fkill. Whatever difficulty occurred con¬ 
cerning the conltruXion or perfeXing of machines, the 
3 working 
