, baron of the Roman empire, privy-counsellor to the king of Prussia,
, baron of the Roman empire, privy-counsellor to the king of Prussia, and
chancellor of the university of Hall in Saxony, was born at
Breslau, Jan. 24, 1679. To the college of this city he was
indebted for his first studies: after having passed his lessons in philosophy, he applied himself assiduously to the
mathematics. The “Elementa Arithmeticse, vulgaris et
literalis,
” by Henry Horch, were his earliest guides; by a
frequent perusal of these, he was at length enabled to enrieh them with additional propositions of his own. So rapid a progress did him great honour; whilst the different
disputes, in which he was engaged with the canons of Breslau, laid the permanent foundation of his increasing fame.
In 1699, he repaired to the university of Jena, and chose
John Philip Treuner for his master in philosophy, and
George Albert Hamberger for the mathematics; whose
lessons he received with so happy a mixture of attention
and advantage, that he became afterwards the able instructor of his fellow-students.