Chapter III

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[1] Originally published in Longmam's Magazine, but now rewritten and enlarged.

[2] Popular Astronomy. By Simon Newcomb, LL.D., Professor U.S. Naval Observatory.

[3] Biographia Britannica, vol. vi. part 2, p. 4375. This volume was published in 1766, before the final reward had been granted to Harrison.

[4] This clock is in the possession of Abraham Riley, of Bromley, near Leeds. He informs us that the clock is made of wood throughout, excepting the escapement and the dial, which are made of brass. It bears the mark of "John Harrison, 1713."

[5] Harrison's compensation pendulum was afterwards improved by Arnold, Earnshaw, and other English makers. Dent's prismatic balance is now considered the best.

[6] See Mr. Folkes's speech to the Royal Soc., 30th Nov., 1749.

[7] No trustworthy lunar tables existed at that time. It was not until the year 1753 that Tobias Mayer, a German, published the first lunar tables which could be relied upon. For this, the British Government afterwards awarded to Mayer's widow the sum of 5000L.

[8] Sir Isaac Newton gave his design to Edmund Halley, then Astronomer-Royal. Halley laid it on one side, and it was found among his papers after his death in 1742, twenty-five years after the death of Newton. A similar omission was made by Sir G. B. Airy, which led to the discovery of Neptune being attributed to Leverrier instead of to Adams.

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