136 NAPIER NAPIER, Henry Edward, an English author, born March 5, 1789, died Oct. 13, 1853. He was the youngest brother of Sir Charles James Napier, and was a captain in the navy. He is the author of "Florentine History from the earliest Authentic Records to the Accession of Ferdinand III., Grand Duke of Tuscany" (6 vols. 12mo, London, 1846-"T). NAPIER, John, laird of Merchiston, the in- ventor of logarithms, born at Merchiston cas- tle, near Edinburgh, in 1550, died there, April 4, 1617. In 1562 he entered St. Salvator's college in the university of St. Andrews, and subsequently passed several years in travel- ling in France, Italy, and Spain. On his re- turn to his native country he did not mingle in active life, and but little is known of him until he had arrived at the age of 40. In 1593 he published "A Plain Discovery of the Revela- tion of St. John " (4to, Edinburgh), and in the dedication gave King James some advice in regard to religious matters, and the propriety of reformation in his own "house, family, and court." A letter of his to Anthony Bacon, concerning secret inventions for national de- fence, written in 1596, still exists in the arch- bishop's library, Lambeth. One of these was for a burning mirror to set fire to ships by re- flecting the rays of the sun; another was a device to accomplish the same purpose by re- flecting "the beams of any material fire or flame;" another an instrument which should scatter such an amount of shot in all quar- ters as to destroy everything near it. Noth- ing is heard of him after this until in 1614 he brought out his system of logarithms, entitled Mirifici Logarithmorum Canonis Descriptio (4to, Edinburgh). Although published then, it is evident that Napier had begun the inves- tigation of this subject before 1594, from a letter written by Kepler to Orugerus in 1624, in which he says : Nihil autem Nepierianam rationem esse puto ; etsi Scotus quidem literis ad Tychonem, anno 1594, scriptis jam spem fecit canonis illius mirifici. No sooner was the work published than Henry Briggs, then professor of mathematics in Gresham college, London, began the application of the rules in his Imitatio Nepierea, and the system pro- posed by him is now commonly used. Napier's last work was his Raldologice sen Numeratio- nis per Virgulas Libri duo (12mo, Edinburgh, 1617), in which he explained a contrivance to facilitate multiplication and division by means of small rods, which invention goes under the name of Napier's bones. After his death was published his Mirifici Logarithmorum Canonis Constructio (12mo,. 1619), in which he ex- plained the principle of the construction of logarithms. Napier also enriched the science of trigonometry by the general theorem for the resolution of all the cases of right-angled spherical triangles. There are two lives of Napier: one by the earl of Buchan, with an analysis of his works by Dr. Walter Minto (1787), and another by Mark Napier (1834). NAPIER, Macvey, a Scottish writer, born in 1776, died in Edinburgh, Feb. 11, 1847. He studied law, was chosen librarian of the so- ciety of writers for the signet, and in 1825 was selected for a lectureship on conveyancing, | which was soon afterward made a professor- ship in the university of Edinburgh, a post which he occupied till his death. In 1817 he published an essay on the writings of Lord Ba- con, which was subsequently incorporated with a work entitled "Lord Bacon and Sir Walter Raleigh" (8vo, Cambridge, 1853). He edited the " Supplement to the Encyclopaedia Bri- tannica" (6 vols. 4to, Edinburgh, 1815-'24), and afterward superintended the seventh edi- tion of the entire work (1830-'42), to which he contributed many important articles. He succeeded Mr. Jeffrey as editor of the " Edin- burgh Review " in 1829, and conducted it for 17 years. In 1837 he resigned his office of libra- rian, being made one of the principal clerks of the court of session. NAPIER, Robert, a Scottish engineer, born in Dumbarton, June 18, 1791. The son of a blacksmith, he preferred serving an appren- ticeship to that trade to going to college. In 1811 he went to Edinburgh, but had little suc- cess, and afterward to Glasgow, where he was employed a short time with Mr. W. Lang, who manufactured jacks and machinery for calen- dar works. In 1815 he purchased with the help of his father a blacksmith's establishment at the Gallowgate of Glasgow, and set up busi- ness for himself. In 1823 he constructed his first marine engine, the forerunner of a large number of works of a similar character. In 1830, in conjunction with the city of Glasgow steam packet company, he established a line of vessels which remained unsurpassed till super- seded by railways. In 1834 he furnished the Dundee and London shipping company with the Dundee and Perth steamships ; in 1836 the East India company with the Berenice ; and, in addition to several other works, in 1840 supplied Samuel Cunard with his first four steamers. He built in 1856 the iron steam- ship Persia, of 3,600 tons. In 1859 the firm of Robert Napier and son undertook the con- struction for the British navy of the Black Prince, of 6,100 tons, in 1860 of the Hector, of 4,060 tons; and they have constructed steam rams and iron-clad ships of war for foreign governments. Mr. Napier received the great gold medal of honor at the Paris exposition of 1855, and the decoration of the | legion of honor. NAPIER, Sir William Francis Patrick, a British author, brother of Sir Charles James Napier, born in Castletown, county Kildare, Ireland, in 1785, died at Clapham Park, near London, Feb. 12, 1860. He entered the army at 15 i years of age, and became a captain in 1804. After serving in the expedition to Copenhagen in 1807, he accompanied Sir John Moore to Portugal in 1808, and during the next six years was an active participant in the peninsular
