It was not
until the year 1753 that Tobias Mayer, a German, published the
first lunar tables which could be relied upon. For this, the
British Government afterwards awarded to Mayer's widow the sum of
5000L.
[8] Sir Isaac Newton gave his design to Edmund Halley, then
Astronomer-Royal. Halley laid it on one side, and it was found
among his papers after his death in 1742, twenty-five years after
the death of Newton. A similar omission was made by Sir G. B.
Airy, which led to the discovery of Neptune being attributed to
Leverrier instead of to Adams.
CHAPTER IV.
JOHN LOMBE: INTRODUCER OF THE SILK INDUSTRY INTO ENGLAND.
"By Commerce are acquired the two things which wise men accompt
of all others the most necessary to the well-being of a
Commonwealth: That is to say, a general Industry of Mind and
Hardiness of Body, which never fail to be accompanyed with Honour
and Plenty. So that, questionless, when Commerce does not
flourish, as well as other Professions, and when Particular
Persons out of a habit of Laziness neglect at once the noblest
way of employing their time and the fairest occasion for
advancing their fortunes, that Kingdom, though otherwise never so
glorious, wants something of being compleatly happy."--A Treatise
touching the East India Trade (1695).
Industry puts an entirely new face upon the productions of
nature. By labour man has subjugated the world, reduced it to
his dominion, and clothed the earth with a new garment.
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