, esq. a very singular person, whose great erudition was so concealed
, esq. a very singular person, whose
great erudition was so concealed by his modesty, that his
name is known to very few, though his publications are
many. He was born in 1678, and became distinguished
in 1704 by a “Treatise of Fluxions,
” in folio, which was,
we believe, the first treatise on that science ever published
in the English language; and the only work to which he
ever set his name. In 1710 came out a small 4to pamphlet
in 19 pages, entitled “A new and easy Method to find out
the Longitude from observing the Altitudes of the Celestial
bodies.
” Also in The Moon, a Philosophical Dialogue,
” tending to shew that the moon is not
an opaque body, but has native light of her own.