HERE AND THERE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17780, 25 February 1926, Page 6

HERE AND THERE.

AN EYE FOR EVERYTHING. SELF-HELP. The knowledge that, according to the proverb, is power, is not so much the knowledge which could be imparted by 'others as the knowledge which one acquires by himself, said Mr G. Washing-ton-Browne, president of the Royal Scottish Academy, in a speech recently. How was that knowledge to be acquired. He knew of only one way, and it was a very old-fashioned one. It was only to be found, so far as he knew, by the pilgrim treading the dusty, stony road of labour upon his own feet. Even in these day’s one could not hope to skim along it in a motor-car, nor yet fly over it in an aeroplane. There was nothing but the way the pilgrim had trodden from the beginning, and that ‘ was on one s own feet. While the road might be dusty and stony, it was not gloomy. Rather was it .illuminating and warmed by the most genial sunshine. ‘‘NAPIER’S BOXES” John Napier, of Merchiston (15501617), was one of the first mathematicians of his day, and is well known for his invention of logarithms. He also designed the calculating rods, usually known as “Napier’s Bones,” for the performance of multiplication and division. Through the generous assistance of a number of those who are interested in the history of computing devices, the Science Museum, South Kensington, has been enabled to acquire a very early example of these "Bones.” which came from the library of the late Lord Napier and Ettrick, which was sold some years ago. reports “The Times.” The box bears the inscription: “This box was the identical property of the author of ‘Ye Logs, Napier, 1824,’ ” showing that it had long been regarded as such in that family. The figuring on the rods would support the ascription to them of a date in the early part of the seventeenth century, so that, although conclusive proof that this set belonged to John Napier (15501617), the inventor of logarithms, is lacking, the evidence is all in favour of their having been made early m the seventeenth century, and they may well have been in his possession, as is believed He records in his treatise on the use of these rods that by 1617 they had found so much favour to be almost in common use, and even to have been carried to foreign countries. This set of the rods, which was exhibited in the Museum/in 1876 at the special loan collection of scientific apparatus, will be shortly placed on exhibition again in one of the new galleries of the Science Museum, in which the collection of calcuating machines and devices is now being arranged.