David Carnegie Andrew Agnew

“ When the whole machine is complete, you see the sun immovable in the centre, and the earth and moon, and the planets with their satellites, which turn round the sun on their axes. He then begins by turning a winch, and immediately the whole heaven is in its natural motion, each body describing its proper orbit, whether circular or elliptic. The first lecture is given by daylight, that the auditors may clearly observe all the different bodies and their movements. ”

“ On the 29th July 1714 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. Sir Isaac Newton admired his style of performing experiments, and the Royal Society appointed him their demonstrator with a fixed salary. Newton’s theory on light and colours was disputed by Monsieur Marriotte who had unsuccessfully attempted the confirmatory experiments. Desaguliers repeated those experiments with perfect success in 1714 and in 1728, “after which,” says Priestley, “no person who chose to give his name to the public, or whose name is worth recording, made any more opposition to it.” ”

“ Desaguliers was also the author of numerous papers in the Philosophical Transactions from the year 1716 to 1742, on prismatic colours, on the atmosphere, on the barometer, on magnetism, on electricity, on statics, on perpetual motion. He also published translations from foreign authors, such as Ozanam, &c.
The Doctor continued to lecture with great reputation till his sixtieth year, the year of his death (1744) . He spared no expense in procuring illustrations for his lectures. Like many sedentary men, he had an unnatural appetite for food. ”

“ But all these machines, though ingenious, have one considerable defect. For, by placing the sun in the centre, and giving it the size of an orange, it is necessary, in order to preserve a due proportion between it and the planets, and to determine the just distances, and such a sphere should be at least an English mile in diameter. Dr. Desaguliers, perceiving this inconvenience, ruminated for a long time in order to find out some method of perfecting this machine, and at last contrived his Planetarium. ”

“ All these matters are exhibited with so much perspicuity, that I would engage to teach astronomy, by the help of the Planetarium, to any lady who has the least curiosity and attention, in a month’s time. But such a machine is not to be had by every one; for that of Dr. Desaguliers has cost him more than one thousand pounds sterling. [4]
The academy of Bourdeaux, at the request of Monsieur Harpez de la Force, offered a medal of the value of three hundred livres (£12) for the best essay on electricity. In 1742, Dr Desaguliers’ “Dissertation on Electricity” won the medal. ”

“ In ancient times, ere bribery did begin.
On the 15th April 1738, he performed some experiments before Frederick, Prince of Wales, at Cliefden House. He also gave his course of Lectures before George II. and the royal family. When Channel Row was ordered to be taken down, to make way for the new bridge at Westminster, he removed to lodgings over the Great Piazza in Covent Garden, where he continued to lecture until his death. He was repeatedly consulted by the government upon the design of Westminster Bridge, of the construction of which his assistant, Charles Labelye, was overseer. ”

“ But he cannot be separated from that good genuine refugee, his father, Jean Desaguliers, Pasteur of Aitré in 1681. It was said as to an ancient Presbyterian minister named Erskine, whose celebrity was eclipsed by the fame and writings of his offspring, “Do you ask what works he has given to the world? — look at his sons.” The younger Desaguliers owed the essentials of his knowledge and attainments to his faithful and scholarly father. ”

“ This gallant officer’s wife was Mary, daughter of Job Blackwood, Fsq., of Charlton, Kent, and on the mother’s side a grand-daughter of Sir Cloudesley Shovel. Their second daughter, Anne Desaguliers (born 1748, died 1801) , was married to Robert Shuttleworth, Esq.; and from her the French Bible (printed in 1669) , with the entries by the Pasteur and by his son, Dr. Desaguliers, has descended to the family of Shuttleworth of Gawthorpe Hall. To the handsome volumes of the Chetham Society on that family, my readers have been indebted for the extracts from the fly-leaves of the Bible. ”

“ But the second son, born 18th August 1718, was also named John Theophilus, and grew up to manhood. John Isaac was born 17th October 1719, and was presented for baptism by Sir Isaac Newton, the Marquis of Carnarvon, [2] and Cassandra Cornwallis. Thomas was born 5th January 1721 (n.s.) . Three daughters, Joanna, Sarah-Jane, and Elizabeth, died in childhood; the sponsors of the second daughter were Lord Malpas, the Duchess of Richmond, and the Countess of Dalkeith. The widowed mother of Dr. Desaguliers died on March 14th, 1722, aged eighty-two. ”