, an eminent mechanist, was born at Exeter, September 1715. He was
, an eminent mechanist, was born
at Exeter, September 1715. He was the second son of
the rev. Zachariah Mudge, prebendary of Exeter, and
vicar of St. Andrew’s, Plymouth, who died April 3, 1769,
and was honoured by Dr. Johnson with a very elegant
testimony of respect, which was inserted in the London
Chronicle at that time, and may be seen in Mr. Boswell’s
Life of the doctor. Mr. Z. Mudge had three other sons
besides the subject of this article. The eldest, Zachariah,
was a surgeon and apothecary at Taunton, and afterwards
surgeon on board an East Indiaman; he died in 1753 on
ship-board, in the river Canton in China. The third, the
rev. Richard Mudge, was officiating minister of a chapel
of ease at Birmingham, and had a small living presented
to him by the earl of Aylesford. He was not only greatly
distinguished by his learning, but by his genius for music.
He excelled as a composer for the harpsichord; and as a
performer on that instrument is said to have been highly
complimented by Handel himself. The fourth son, John,
was originally a surgeon and apothecary at Plymouth, but
during the latter part of his life practised as a physician
with great success. Like his brother Thomas, he had great
mechanical talents; and, until prevented by the enlargement of his practice, he found time to prosecute improvements in rectifying telescopes. In 1777 the Royal Society
adjudged to him Sir Godfrey Copley’s gold medal, for a
paper which he presented to that learned body on the best
methods of grinding the specula of reflecting telescopes.
He also considerably improved the inhaler, an ingenious
contrivance for the curing of coughs, by inhaling steam.
In 1777 he published “A Dissertation on the inoculated
Small-pox;
” which was followed, some years after, by
“A Treatise on the Catarrhous Cough and Vis Vitae.
” He
died in