METHOD CONTRIVED TO FIND OUT THE LONGITUDE.

The ferment of mind so peculiar to the natives of Great Britain, excited by a strange mixture of genius and caprice, passion and philosophy, study and conjecture, produced at this period some flowers of improvement, in different arts and sciences, that seemed to promise fruit of public utility. Several persons invented methods for discovering the longitude at sea, that great desideratum in navigation, for the ascertainment of which so many nations have offered a public recompense, and in the investigation of which so many mathematical heads have been disordered. Some of those who now appeared candidates for the prize deserved encouragement for the ingenuity of their several systems; but he who seemed to enjoy’ the pre-eminence in the opinion and favour of the public was Mr. Irwin, a native of Ireland, who contrived a chair so artfully poised, that a person sitting in it on board a ship, even in a rough sea, can, through a telescope, observe the immersion and emersion of Jupiter’s satellites, without being interrupted or incommoded by the motion of the vessel. This gentleman was favoured with the assistance and protection of commodore lord Howe, in whose presence the experiment was tried in several ships at sea with such success, that he granted a certificate, signifying his approbation; and in consequence of this, Mr. Irwin is said to have obtained a considerable reward from the board of admiralty.

GEORGE II. 1727-1760