, who was born at Basil, Dec. 27, 1654. After he had studied polite
, who was born at Basil, Dec. 27,
1654. After he had studied polite literature, he learned
the old philosophy of the schools and, having taken his
degrees in the university of Basil, applied himself to divinity, not so much from inclination, as complaisance to
his father. He gave very early proofs of his genius for
mathematics, and soon became a geometrician, without any
assistance from masters, and at first almost without books
for he was not allowed to have any books of this kind and
if one fell by chance into his hands, he was obliged to conceal it, that he might not incur the displeasure of his father, who designed him for other studies. This severity
made him choose for his device, Phaeton driving the chariot of the sun, with these words, “Invito patre sidera
verso,
” “I traverse the stars against my father’s inclination
” it had a particular reference to astronomy, the part
of mathematics to which he at first applied himself. But
these precautions did not avail, for he pursued his favourite study with great application. In 1676 he began
his travels. When he was at Geneva, he fell upon a method to teach a young girl to write, though she had lost
her sight when she was but two months old. At Bourdeaux he composed universal gnomonic tables, but they
were never published. He returned from France to his
own country in 1680. About this time there appeared a
comet, the return of which he foretold, and wrote a small
treatise upon it, which he afterwards translated into Latin.
He went soon after to Holland, where he applied himself
to the new philosophy, and particularly to that part of the
mathematics which consists in resolving problems and demonstrations. After having visited Flanders and Brabant,
he went to Calais, and passed over to England. At London he contracted an acquaintance with all the most eminent men in the several sciences and had the honour of
being frequently present at the philosophical societies held
at the house of Mr. Boyle. He returned to his native
country in 1682; and exhibited at Basil a course of
experiments in natural philosophy and mechanics, which consisted of a variety of new discoveries. The same year he
published his “Essay on a new system of Comets
” and
the year following, his “Dissertation on the weight of the
Air.
” About this time Leibnitz having published, in the
Acta Eruditorum at Leipsic, some essays on his new “Caiulus Differentialis,
” but concealing the art and method
of it, Mr. Bernoulli and his brother John discovered, by
the little which they saw, the beauty and extent of it: this
induced them to endeavour to unravel the secret; which
they did with such success, that Leibnitz declared that the
invention belonged to them as much as to himself.