530 NAP 
one material improvement, that which it derived, as has 
juft been faid, from the ingenuity of his friend in con¬ 
junction with his own. Subfequent improvements in 
l’cience, inftead of offering any thing that could fupplant 
this invention, have only enlarged the circle to which its 
utility extended. Logarithms have been applied to nura- 
berlefs purpofes, which were not thought of at the time 
of their firft conftruCtion. Even the fagacity of their au¬ 
thor did not fee the immenfe fertility of the principle he 
had difcovered. He calculated his tables merely to faci¬ 
litate arithmetical, and chiefly trigonometrical, compu¬ 
tation ; and little imagined that he was at the lame time 
conftruCfing a fcaie whereon to meafure the denfity of the 
ftrata of the atmofphere, and the heights of mountains; 
that he was actually computing the areas and the lengths 
of innumerable curves, and was preparing, for a calculus 
which was yet to be difcovered, many of the moft refined 
and moft valuable of its refources. Of Napier, therefore, 
if of any man, it may fafely be pronounced, that his name 
will never be eclipfed by any one more confpicuous, or 
his invention fuperfeded by any thing more valuable. 
Napier publilhed his invention in 1614, under the title 
of “ Logarithmorum Canonis Defcriptio,” containing a 
large canon of logarithms, with the defcription and ufes 
of them; but the mode of their conftruftion was con¬ 
cealed till the fenfe of the learned concerning the inven¬ 
tion fliould be known. As loon as Napier had commu¬ 
nicated this difcovery to Mr. Briggs, at that time mathe¬ 
matical profefl'or of Grelham-college, the latter let about 
the application of the rules in his “ Imitatio Napeirea;” 
and in a letter which he wrote to the celebrated Ulher in 
the fame year he fays, “ Napier, lord of Merchifton, hath 
Let my head and hands at work with his new and admira¬ 
ble logarithms. I hope to fee him this fummer, if it 
pleafe God ; for I never faw a book which pleafed me bet¬ 
ter, and made me more wonder.” Briggs was too great 
a man to indulge the fpirit of envy; fo far, indeed, was 
he removed from a feeling of that nature, that he afforded 
every facility to the reception of Napier’s work, teaching 
the nature of the logarithms in his public ledtures, and 
at the fame time recommending a change in the fcaie of 
them, which he fubmitted to lord Napier. During a fub- 
fequent vifit to lord Napier thefe two friends agreed upon 
a form, according to which the baron ftrongly urged Mr. 
Briggs to proceed with his computation; and hence they 
are denominated j Briggs's logarithms, and are thole now 
in common ufe. 
The following paflage from the Lite of Lilly the aftro- 
loger, is quoted by lord Buchan as containing a curious 
account of the firft meeting of thefe two illultrious men. 
“ I will acquaint you,” fays Lilly, “ with one memorable 
ftory related to me by John Marr, an excellent mathema¬ 
tician and geometrician, whom I conceive you remember. 
He was fervant to king James I. and king Charles I. 
When Merchifton firft made public his logarithms, Mr. 
Briggs, then reader of the aftronomy-ledtures at Grelham- 
college, in London, was fo much furpriled with admira¬ 
tion of them, that he could have no quietnefs in himfelf 
until he had feen that noble perfon whofe only invention 
they were. He acquaints John Marr therewith, who went 
into Scotland before Mr. Briggs, purpofely to be there 
when thefe two fo-learned perlons fliould meet. Mr. 
Briggs appoints a certain day when to meet at Edin¬ 
burgh ; but, failing thereof, Merchifton was fearful he 
would not come. It happened one day as John Marr and 
the baron Napier were fpeaking of Mr. Briggs; Ah John, 
faid Merchifton, Mr. Briggs will not now come. At the 
very inftant one knocks at the gate; John Marr halted 
down, and it proved to be Mr. Briggs to his great con¬ 
tentment. He brings Mr. Briggs up to the baron’s cham¬ 
ber, where almoft one quarter of an hour was fpent be¬ 
holding each other almoft with admiration before one 
word was fpoke. At laft Mr. Briggs began : Sir, I have 
undertaken this long journey purpofely to fee your per- 
fon, and to know by what engine of wit or ingenuity you 
I E R. 
came firft to think, of this moft excellent help into aftro- 
noray, viz. the logarithms; but, fir, being by you found 
out, I wonder nobody elfe found it out before, when 
now, being known, it appears fo eafy. He was nobly en¬ 
tertained by baron Napier; and every fummer after that, 
during the lord’s being alive, this venerable man Mr. 
Briggs went purpofely to Scotland to vilit him.” 
To Napier fcience is alfo indebted for conliderable im¬ 
provements in fpherical trigonometry, &c. particularly by 
his catholic or univerfal rule, being a general theorem for 
the refolution of all the cafes of fpherical triangles, in a 
manner very Ample, and eafy to be remembered, which is 
commonly called “ the five circular parts.” He likewife 
prepared for the prefs his “ Conftrudtion of Logarithms,” 
a work not only of great labour, but of the greatelt inge¬ 
nuity. The laft literary exertion of this eminent man 
was the publication of his “ Rabdology, and Promptnary 
of Multiplication,” confifting of inftruments and tables 
for the more eafy performance of the arithmetical opera¬ 
tions of multiplication, divifion, &c. Napier died at 
Merchifton in 1617, when he was in the fixty-eighth year 
of his age. To him Kepler dedicated his Ephemerides; 
and it appears from many paffages in a letter which he 
wrote about the year 1617, that he confidered Napier to 
be the greateft man of his age in the particular department 
to which he applied his abilities : “ And indeed,” fays 
lord Buchan, “ if w'e confider that Napier’s difcovery 
was not, like thofe of Kepler or of Newton, connected 
with any analogies or coincidences which might have led 
him to it, but the fruit of unaflifted reafon and fcience, 
we fiiall be vindicated in placing him in one of the higheft 
niches in the Temple of Fame.” 
This family is faid to be defcended from the ancient 
thanes of Lennox, but afiumed the name of Napier from 
the following event: One of the ancient earls of Lennox 
had three foils ; the eldeft fucceeded him in the. earldom ; 
the fecond w'as named Donald; and the third Gilchrift. 
The then king of Scots being engaged in war, and having 
convocated his fubjefts to battle, the earl of Lennox was 
called on, amongft others, to fend fitch forces as he could 
collect to the king’s afliftance, which he accordingly did, 
keeping his eldeft fon with him at home, but putting his 
men under the command of his two younger Ions. The 
battle went hard with the Scots, who were not only forced 
to lofe ground, but were actually running away, when 
Donald lnatched his father’s ftandard from the bearer, 
charged the enemy with the Lennox men, changed the 
fortune of the day, and obtained a vidlory. After the 
battle, as the cuftom was, every one reported his a< 5 ts, 
when the king faid, “Ye have all done valiantly, but 
there is one among you who hath nae pier," (that is, 
no equal;) and, calling Donald to him, commanded him 
to change his name from Lennox to Napier, and bellowed 
upon him the lands of Gosford, and lands in Fife, as a 
reward lor his fervices. 
The fubjedt of this article was twice married, and left 
behind him a numerous ifi’ue. His only fon, by his firft 
lady, Archibald, a perfon of fine parts and learning, was 
railed to be a privy-counfellor by James VI. under whofe 
reign he held thefeveral offices of treafurer-depute, juftice- 
clerk, and fenator of the college of jultice; and he was 
promoted by Charles I. of England to the peerage, by the 
title of Lord Napier. “ In his family,” flays lord Buchan, 
“ he (Napier) feems to have been uncommonly fortunate; 
for his eldeft fon became learned and eminent, even in his 
father’s lifetime ; his third was a pupil of his own in ma¬ 
thematics, to whom he configned the care of publiihing 
his polihumous works; and, loling none of his children 
by death, he loft all his daughters by refpedtable and ho¬ 
nourable marriages.” 
Fhe titles of our author’s works not already particu¬ 
larly lpecified, are, 4. Mirifici Logarithmorum Canonis 
Conftrudtio ; et eorum ad ipforum numeros habitudinesj 
una cum Appendice, de alia eaque prseftantior.e Logarith- 
morum fpecie condenda. Quibus accelfere Propofitiones 
ad. 
