581 
S T E 
,t)r. Simson. In 1741, Dr. Simson recommended him to the 
Celebrated Maclaurin, whose lectures he attended, and by 
which he signally profited. At this time he kept up a 
regular correspondence with Professor Simson, communicat¬ 
ing to him the progress of his studies, and his geometrical 
discoveries, which were even at this time various and im¬ 
portant, and receiving in return interesting information with 
regard to the Loci Plani and Porisms of Euclid. Both' the 
professor and his student prosecuted their investigations of 
these abstruse subjects in different directions, but with similar 
success. The result of Mr. Stewart’s enquiries was the dis¬ 
covery of those curious propositions, which he published in 
1746, under the title of “ General Theorems,” and which 
gave him high rank, at an early age, among eminent geo¬ 
meters. The death of Maclaurin, in 1746, afforded an op¬ 
portunity for his being advanced to the mathematical chair 
in the University of Edinburgh, so that he became the suc¬ 
cessor of that eminent mathematician and philosopher in 
September, 1747. His new office produced some change in 
the direction of his mathematical studies; and led him to 
make an application of geometry to those problems, for the 
solutions of which the algebraic calculus had been employed. 
The first specimen of his success in this way was the resolu¬ 
tions of Kepler’s problem, founded on a general property of 
curves, which, perhaps, had never been before observed. This 
was published in the second volume of the “ Essays of the 
Philosophical Society of Edinburgh,” for 1756. The first 
volume of the same collection contains some other proposi¬ 
tions, relating to the subject of porisms, and which are 
demonstrated with all the elegance and simplicity peculiar 
to the ancient analysis. Attached to the geometry of the 
ancients, Mr. Stewart had formed a plan of introducing its 
strict and simple mode of demonstration into the higher 
parts of the mixed mathematics; and in the prosecution of 
this plan he composed his “ Tracts Physical and Mathemati¬ 
cal,” which were published in 1761. Mr, Stewart, in the 
first of these tracts, lays down the doctrine of centripetal 
forces in a series of propositions demonstrated, the quadra¬ 
ture of curves being admitted, with the utmost rigour, and 
requiring no previous knowledge of mathematics, except the 
elements of plane geometry and of conic sections. In the 
three following tracts the author proposed, in the same 
method, to determine the effect of those forces which disturb 
the motions of a secondary planet; and from these it was his 
design to deduce, not only the theory of the moon, but the 
sun’s distance from the earth. But his declining health did 
not allow him to pursue the arduous investigation of these 
subjects. In the year 1763, when the result of the observa¬ 
tions of the transit of Venus had been unsatisfactory to 
astronomers. Dr. Stewart determined to apply the principles 
he had laid down to this subject; and accordingly in this 
year he published his “ Essay on the Sun’s Distance,” where, 
from actual computation, the parallax of the sun was found 
to be no more than 6."9, and consequently his distance nearly 
29,875 semi-diameters of the earth, or about 118,541,428 
English miles, a distance so much exceeding all former esti¬ 
mates as to excite surprise, and to produce a severe examina¬ 
tion of the principles on which the calculation was founded. 
This “ Essay” was the last work which Dr. Stewart pub¬ 
lished ; but he declined engaging in any controversy on the 
subject. Some months before he published his “ Essay,” 
he presented to the public another work adapted to promote 
the study of the ancient geometry, and entitled “ Proposi- 
tiones Geometric® more Veterum demonstrate.” Soon after 
the year 1763, the health of Dr. Stewart began to decline, 
and he therefore retired info the country. During the leisure 
of his advanced life, he took up the subject of the analogy 
between the circle and hyperbola; and he left among his 
papers some curious approximations to the areas of both. 
At length, the state of his health would not allow him to 
prosecute study even as an amusement; and he closed his 
honourable life in the month of January, 1785, at the age 
of 68 years. He left a son, the present distinguished Dugald 
Stewap. 
Vox,. XXIII. No. 1592. 
S T E 
STEWART, a county of the United Stales, on the north 
side of West Tennessee. Population 4262, including 778 
slaves. 
STEWART’S ISLANDS, a cluster of small islands in the 
South Pacific ocean, discovered by Captain Hunter in the 
year 1791. They are five in number, low, and of no great 
extent. Lat. 8. 26. S. long. 163. 18. E. 
STEWART, Port, a harbour on the west coast of North 
America, so called by Vancouver. It is about half a league 
in length, and three quarters of a mile in breadth, and is 
from 6 to 9 fathoms deep. Its south point of entrance is in 
Lat. 55. 38. N. long- 228. 24. E. 
STEWARTOWN, a pleasant and thriving town of 
Scotland, situated on the Annock water, in the district of 
Cunninghame, in Ayrshire. It is the seat of an extensive 
parish. The chief manufactures are bonnet-making, for 
which it has long been famed, and other branches of 
weaving; 4 miles north-by-west of Kilmarnock, and 8 north¬ 
east of Irvine. 
STEWARTSTOWN, a neat little village of Ireland, in 
the county of Tyrone; 5 miles north-north-east of Dungan¬ 
non, and 77 north-east of Dublin. 
STEWARTSTOWN, a post township ofthe United States 
in Coos county. New Hampshire, on the Connecticut; 40 
miles north of Lancaster. Population 186. 
STE'WISH, ad). Suiting the brothel or stews.—Rhymed 
in rules of stewis'h ribaldry. Bp. Hall. 
STEWKLEY, a parish of England in Buckingham¬ 
shire; 6 miles east-by-south of Winslow. Population 802. 
STE'WPAN, s. A pan used for stewing. 
STEWTON, a parish of England, in Lincolnshire; 4 
miles east of Louth. 
STEY POINT, a cape on the coast of Labrador, Lat. 
58. N. long 61. 40. W 
STEYER, a town of Upper Austria, and the chief place 
of the circle of the Traun, is situated at the confluence of 
the rivers Steyerand Enns, which separate the town from its 
two suburbs. It is a neat place, of considerable size, being 
about 3 miles in circumference, and containing above 
10,000 inhabitants. Well built houses, pleasant gardens, 
and a number of country seats in the environs, impress a 
stranger with the idea of comfort on the part of the inhabi¬ 
tants. The town has some manufacturing establishments 
of cottons and woollens; but they are insignificant when 
compared with those of iron, which are said to give employ¬ 
ment to above 12,000 men in the town and neighbourhood, 
and afford business to a number of mercantile houses. 
The largest establishment is a manufactory of fire arms, 
for account of government. Among the other articles 
are knives and forks, kitchen utensils of all kinds, sword 
blades, reaping hooks, and scythes. Steyer was originally 
a castle, built about the end of the 10th century, to check 
the inroads of the Magyars. On the expulsion of that 
formidable horde from the Austrian states, houses were built 
round the castle, so as at last to form a town, which was 
for some time the capital of a duchy, and gave name to the 
province of Styria. Steyer has suffered repeatedly from 
fires; 92 miles west-by-south of Vienna, and 16 south-south¬ 
east of Lintz. Lat. 48. 4. 45. N. long. 14. 20. 5. E. 
STEYER, a river of Upper Austria, which rises among 
the mountains of Styria, traverses the circle of the Traun, 
passes the town of Steyer, where it is joined by the Enns,, 
and after a farther course of 15 miles, falls into the Danube; 
STEYERBERG, a small town of the north of Germany, 
in Hanover, near a hill ofthe same name; 9 miles south¬ 
west of Nienberg. 
STEYERECK, a small town of Upper Austria, near the 
Danube; 4 miles below Lintz. 
STEYL, a small town of Prussian Westphalia, in the 
duchy of Berg, near the Roer; 2 miles south-east of Essen, 
and 19 north-east of Dusseldorf. Population 1200. 
STEYNING, a market town and borough of England, 
in the county of Sussex. It is situated in a healthy air, at 
the foot of a lofty hill, near the river Adur, and consists of 
71 Um 
