1802.] 
ever, was not fuggefted by the falling of 
an apple, nor the difle&ion of a frog, but 
by a circumftance almoft as trivial as 
either. It happened as follows: 
At a meeting of a fociety of mathema- 
ticians at Liverpool, one of the members 
propofed to lay a wager that he would 
read a paragraph of a new/{paper, atten 
yards diftance, with the Ight of ‘a far- 
thing candle. The wager was laid; and 
the propofer covered the infide of a wooden 
dith with pieces of looking-glafs, faftened 
in with glazier’s putty, placed this re- 
fletor behind his candle, and won the 
wager. \ 
One of the company viewed this experi- 
ment with a philofophic eye. This was 
Captain Hutchinfon, the dock-mafter. 
Hence, the origin of thofe refiecting light- 
houfes at Liverpool *, which were ereéted 
in the year 1763. 
Mr. Hutchinfon fays, ‘* We have made 
and had in ufe here at Liverpool reflectors 
of one, two, and three feet- focus, and 
three, 54, 74, and 12 feet diameter, the 
three {mall ones made of tin foldered to- 
gether, and the largeft of wood covered 
with looking-glafs. . The two large ones, 
called the fea-lights, leading through the 
Channel from the fea, till the two Hoy- 
lake-lights are brought ina line that leads 
into a very good road-ftead to lie, till it 
is a proper time to proceed to Liver- 
pool +.” 
Thefe were, I believe, the only re- 
fie&ting light-houfes in England worthy 
of notice, at the time I began to ftudy 
this fubjeét, which: was in the year 1777. 
As for thofe concaves made of copper, 
they fcarcely deierve the name of reflectors, 
if the accounts which I have had of them 
may be depended on, 
After Ishad invented a method of con- 
firucting a concave mirror, eighteen inches ' 
in diameter, that would appear larger 
than aftar of the fir magnitude at four- 
teen miles diftance, with a lamp of ten 
fingle threads of fine cotton, it did not re-~ 
quire the genius of a RaAMSDEN to know 
how to place a number of them to form 
light-houfe. , . 
The method which I ufed in fixing the 
mirrors in the light-houfe at Hunftanton, 
on che coat of Norfolk, was this.—In 
that direétion where the ftrongeft light 
was wanted, I fixed seEVEN refleStors to 
illuminate Two points of the compafs, 
but at fhorter diftances 1 was more fpar- 
* T had this account fron one of the mem- 
bers then prefent. \ 
+ Hutéhinfon’s Pra€tical Seamanhhip,. 
“ Monruty Mac, No, 85. 
On Refleiing Light-houfes? 
their own invention. 
913 
ing of light. Hence, if the placing of 
feven mirrors to illuminate a fmallangle 
be deemed an invention, it rather feems 
that I might lay claim to it. But to pro- © 
ceed with my hiftory. f 
Before jie light-houfe above-mentioned 
was finifhed, two of the Elder Brethren 
of the Trinity Houfe, London, came to 
fee it, 
In fome infances it is difficult to deter- 
mine’ what an invention is. But thefe 
gentlemen, after their return to London, 
made a refle&tor, which, I believe, was of 
It was in the form 
of a dice-box, ftanding on one end, with a 
circular Jamp round the middle of it. It 
was fixed up at Loweftoffe. But thefe 
gentlemen are now no more!—So I fhall 
fay no more concerning their invention. 
In the twenty-fixth year of his prefent 
Majelty’s reign, an Act of Parliament 
paffed for erecting four light-houfes in the 
northern parts of Great Britain: one on 
Kinnard’s Head, in the county of Aber. 
deen; one on the ifland of North Ranald- 
fhaw, in the Orkneys ; one on the Point 
of Scalpa, in the ifland of Herries; and a 
fourth on the Mull of Cantyre. ‘Thefe 
being ereéted and lighted agreeably to my 
direétions, were found to anfwer the pur- 
pofe fo well and at fo {mall an annual ex- 
pence, that. the truftees obtained another 
act in the year 1788, authorizing them to 
ere&t a fifth light-houfe on the ifland of © 
Arran, or upon the little ifland of Plada, 
near the fame, which was to be done 
without any increafe of the duties autho-~ 
rized to be levied by the former aét, | 
It may not be improper in this place to 
name the promoter of this ufeful under- 
taking, The late Sir John Hunter Blair, 
of Edinburgh, aman of an enlarged un- 
derftanding, with the intereft of his native, 
country very much at heart, firft conceiv- 
ed the idea of eretting thofe light-houfes. 
——And Sir John having,at that time, more 
friends in the Chamber. of Commerce of 
Edinburgh than any other member, was 
enabled to ftem the current of oppofition, 
and render this important fervice to navi- 
gation. 
In January 1788, the following adver- 
tifement appeared in the new!papers. 
“¢ Trinity Houfes London, Fan:263 1733. 
‘¢ THIS Corporation, ever anxious to rex~ 
der navigation as fafe as poffible, and. con- 
ceiving the prefent. mode of lighting our 
coafts capable of ftill farther improvement, 
they have determined .to try the efetts of 
fome new-conftructed lights, by a compari- 
fon with thofe now in ufe,°and which will 
be exhibited in the courfe of a few days’ 
i Bae . from 
-n- 
