CHEMISTRY.
[1.] “Adams,” John Couch. (1819-⸺.) An English astronomer, who shares with Leverrier the honor of having calculated the place of the planet Neptune before it had been seen.
[2.] “Leverrier,” Urbain John Joseph, lŭh-vair-yā. (1811-1877.) A French astronomer. His “Tables of Mercury” and some memoirs led to a friendship with Arago, and opened to him the door of the French Academy. He then began the study of the disturbances of the planets, which led to the discovery of Neptune. By a remarkable coincidence the existence of this planet was discovered at the same time, and independently, by Adams.
[3.] “Foucault,” Leon, foo-kō. (1819-1868.) A French natural philosopher, who for years turned his attention exclusively to optics, and was very successful in mechanics. He invented an electric lamp which was adopted by natural philosophers for physical experiments, and was used for lighting large factories.
[4.] “Brobˈdig-nag,” also written Brobdingnag. The imaginary country described by Dean Swift in “Gulliver’s Travels,” which was inhabited by a race of giants.
[5.] “Perihelion,” perˈi-hēlˌyun; “Aphelion,” af-hēlˈyun.
[6.] “Kepler,” Johann. (1571-1630.) A distinguished German astronomer and mathematician, to whom the world is indebted for the discovery of the laws that regulate the movements of the heavenly bodies. He was appointed to the chair of astronomy in Gratz University, in Styria, but in 1598 was dismissed because he professed the reformed religion; he was afterward recalled. He was an earnest disciple of Copernicus, and published in seven volumes the “Epitome of the Copernican Astronomy,” which was placed in the list of prohibited books by the inquisition. He was the author of many other works.
[7.] “Dr. Maskelyne,” Neville. (1732-1811.) An English astronomer.
[8.] “Dr. Cavendish.” See Notes in The Chautauquan for October, 1884.
[9.] “Archimedes,” ark-i-mēˈdes. (B. C. 287-212.) The most celebrated mathematician of antiquity. Cicero and Livy both refer to him in their writings, the former to his aptness in solving problems, the latter to his ingenuity in the invention of warlike engines. The law referred to was, that a body plunged in water loses as much weight as is equal to the weight of an equal body of water. King Hiero suspected that a gold crown had been alloyed with silver, and asked Archimedes to test it. He was trying to find some means by which he could decide the matter, when going one day to the bath tub he found it full, and immediately saw that as much water must run over the tub as was equal to the bulk of his body. He saw at once a method for determining the matter of the crown, and crying “Eureka, eureka; I have found it, I have found it,” he ran home.