A study of some London newspapers of the early 1770s has shown that Martin and Ferguson gave continuous courses of evening lectures during the winter, in direct competition with each other. In this paper the coverage of their courses is derived from their advertisements, and related to their publications and other activities. In some subjects, such as Electricity, Hydrostatics, and Air-pump Experiments, there was close correspondence between the courses, but others reflected the lecturers' primary interests: for Martin, Optics, and for (...) Ferguson, Mechanics and Astronomy. (shrink)

Summary Five recently discovered letters written by James Ferguson, FRS (1710?1776) while he was on a lecture tour in 1771 add substantially to what was previously known about his activities at that time. Together with newspaper advertisements and other correspondence, they not only enable his itinerary to be reconstructed in also reveal some of his own thoughts at the time and the difficulties that he had to contend with. On this particular tour, Ferguson was away from his London base for (...) at least seven months, visiting Birmingham, Kidderminster, Worcester, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Cheadle (Staffs.), and Derby. During this period he delivered his course of 12 lectures on Experimental Philosophy at least eight times. Amongst the people that he met were Matthew Boulton, Josiah Wedgwood, and John Whitehurst, as well as the recipient of the letters, James Beresford of Bewdley, Worcestershire. In this paper the opportunity has been taken to present also an outline of the gradual evolution of Ferguson's lecturing career, leading up to his situation in the 1770s, as much of the relevant source material now available was unknown to his nineteenth-century biographer, Ebenezer Henderson. (shrink)

Records of certain Government Departments known to have purchased scientific instruments from designated suppliers over long periods are potentially important sources of information on both instruments and their makers. The Office of Ordnance was one such Department. Investigation of its financial and administrative records has shown that the appointment ‘Mathematical Instrument Maker to his Majesty's Office of Ordnance’ brought the holder a substantial trade in instruments for drawing, surveying, and military purposes. Detailed entries in the Bill Books enable not only (...) types, quantities, and prices of instruments supplied to be determined, but also the purposes for which they were required. In many cases the actual users of the instruments are named, with their locations in Great Britain and overseas.The records of the Office of Ordnance are extensive, covering the mid-seventeenth to the mid-nineteenth century in over ten thousand volumes or bundles. This paper provides an introduction to what is available, and examines in particular the period 1748–1772 when George Adams senior was Mathematical Instrument Maker to this Office. It is shown that during this period Adams supplied over 1500 instruments, ranging from drawing pens to theodolites, detailed in 148 bills amounting to a total value of £2425. Some other well-known instrument makers, such as Thomas Wright, Benjamin Cole & Son, and Jesse Ramsden, were also occasional suppliers of instruments in the same period, while from 1765 onwards the records include bills for instruments purchased by the Office of Ordnance for the Royal Observatory from makers such as Dollond and Bird. The total number of instrument makers' bills located and examined in the period searched, including the 148 by Adams, was 166. In addition, though not within the scope of this paper it was observed that the records contain numerous bills by William Deane before, and by Jeremiah Sisson after, the period of Adams' appointment respectively. (shrink)