Part 72

Footnote 285:

The Right Hon. David Stewart Erskine, is the present Earl.

Footnote 286:

John Napier, called Baron of Merchiston, in Scotland, was the eldest son of Sir Archibald Napier, of Merchiston, and was born in the year 1550. As Lalande, in his Astronomie, observes—“he deserves to be celebrated in a book on Astronomy, for his invention of Logarithms, which he published in 1614. He had,” continues Mr. Lalande, “at first concealed the principle of this discovery: but Kepler soon penetrated it; and the son of Napier, in an edition of his father’s work, which he published, explained the ground of the principles.”

The son here mentioned, Sir Archibald, was promoted to the peerage by Car. I. in the year 1657, and was ancestor of the present Lord Napier.

An account of the Life and Writings of the Inventor of Logarithms was published by the Earl of Buchan. W. B.

Footnote 287:

See this Postscript, in the Appendix.

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This really “interesting piece of furniture” was viewed by Dr. Rittenhouse and the Philosophical Society, in the light it was intended to be,—as a mark of the Donor’s good-will towards this institution, and of his respect for the character of its President. The Box has been disposed of, agreeably to his Lordship’s desire: it is inserted in the list of Donations to the Society, prefixed to the fourth volume of their Transactions, under the date of May 15, 1795, and it is, at present, deposited in their Hall.

The friendship that subsisted between Dr. Rittenhouse and Mr. Jefferson, was produced, in a great measure, by the congeniality of these gentlemen in the concerns of science. The correct and penetrating mind of the former knew how to estimate at their just value, without over-rating them, the literary and scientific acquirements of the latter; while, on the other hand, this last was fully capable of discerning the sublime genius and most extraordinary talents of that man whom he greatly admired. While Mr. Jefferson resided in Philadelphia, as secretary of State, he made frequent visits to Dr. Rittenhouse: he thus became intimately acquainted with his character, for which he conceived the highest respect; and, as a mark of his esteem for him, he presented him with his own bust, in the costume of the day, cast in plaster, from one in marble executed by Houdon, of Paris.

Mr. Jefferson has testified to the world the exalted opinion he entertained of our Philosopher. In his refutation of the Count de Buffon’s preposterous theory, “of the tendency of nature to belittle her productions on this side the Atlantic,” he makes the following remarks, on the assertion of another French philosopher—that America has not produced “one able mathematician, one man of genius in a single art or a single science:”—“In war,” says Mr. Jefferson, “we have produced a WASHINGTON, whose memory will be adored while liberty shall have votaries, whose name will triumph over time, and will in future ages assume its just station among the most celebrated worthies of the world: when that wretched philosophy shall be forgotten, which would have arranged him among the degeneracies of nature. In physics,“ continues Mr. Jefferson, “we have produced a FRANKLIN, than whom no one of the present age has made more important discoveries, nor has enriched philosophy with more, or more ingenious solutions of the phænomena of nature.—We have supposed Mr. RITTENHOUSE second to no astronomer living: that in genius, he must be the first, because he is self-taught. As an artist he has exhibited as great a proof of mechanical genius, as the world has ever produced. He has not indeed made a world; but he has by imitation approached nearer its Maker, than any man who has lived from the creation to this day.”

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Footnote 288:

The Abbé Raynal. The Count de Buffon had conceived an opinion, which he endeavoured to establish by ill-founded arguments, that the animals common both to the Old and the New World, are smaller in the latter: that those peculiar to the New World, are on a smaller scale: that those which have been domesticated in both hemispheres, have degenerated in America: and, that, on the whole, this portion of the world exhibits fewer species. But Raynal went further: he has applied this “new theory” (as Mr. Jefferson calls it) of the ingenious French Naturist, to the race of men, descendants of Europeans, in America. Mr. Jefferson has shewn the erroneousness of these theories, founded on palpably mistaken facts.

Footnote 289:

See Jefferson’s Notes on Virginia, written in the year 1781.

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Mr. Jefferson retained the highest esteem for Dr. Rittenhouse, during his life; and it is believed this sentiment was mutual. Letters of friendship were occasionally interchanged by them: part of one of the latest of these, is as follows:

“Monticello, Feb. 24, 1795.

“Dear Sir,

....

“I am here immersed in the concerns of a farmer, and more interested and engrossed by them, than I had ever conceived it possible. They in a great degree render me indifferent to my books, so that I read little and ride much; and I regret greatly the time I have suffered myself to waste from home. To this, indeed, is added another kind of regret, for the loss of society with the worthy characters with which I became acquainted, in the course of my wanderings from home. If I had but Fortunatus’s wishing cap, to seat myself sometimes by your fireside, and to pay a visit to Dr. Priestly, I would be contented: his writings evince, that he must be a fund of instruction, in conversation, and his character an object of attachment and veneration.

“Be so good as to present my best respects to Mrs. Rittenhouse; and to accept, yourself, assurances of the high esteem of, dear sir, your sincere friend and humble servant,

“TH. JEFFERSON.

“DAVID RITTENHOUSE.”

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Footnote 290: