Gents Mag 1791 p.1063
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Gentleman's Magazine 1791 p.1063
of some of those preceeding, his memory was of the utmost service to him; and as it did not require much knowledge in classical education, but primarily in the management of straight lines, it was a study just to his mind: for while he was attending the business of his farm, and humming over some tune or other, with a sort of whistle, his attention was certain to be solely engaged upon some of his geometrical propositions, and with the assistance of a piece of chalk, upon the lap of his breeches-knee, or any other convenient spot, he would clear up the most difficult parts of the science in a most masterly manner. His mind now being open a little to the works of Nature, he paid particular attention to the theory of the earth, the moon, and the rest of the planets belonging to this system, of which the sun is the centre; and, considering the distance and magnitude of the different bodies belonging to it, and the distance of the fixed stars, he soon conceived each to be the centre of a different system. He well considered the laws of gravity, and that of the centripetal and centrifugal forces, and the cause of the ebbing and flowing of the tides; also, the projection of the sphere, stereographic, orthographic, and gnomical; also, trigonometry and astronomy. He paid particular attention to, and was never better pleased than when he found his calculations agree with observation: and being well acquainted with the projection of the sphere, he was fond of describing all astronomical questions geometricaly, and of projecting the eclipses of the sun and moon that way. By this time he was possessed of a small library. He next turned his thoughts to algebra, and took up Emerson's treatise on that subject; and though the most difficult, and that, with Simpson's, are the best authors yet published, he went through it with great success, and the management of surd quantities, and clearing equations of higher powers, were amusement to him while at work in the fields, as he generally could perform them by his memory; and if he met with any thing very intricate, he had recourse to a piece of chalk, as in his geometrical propositions. The arithmetick of infinities, and the differential method, he made himself master of, and found out that algebra and geometry were the very soul of mathematicks. He therefore paid a particular attention to them, and used to apply the former to almost every branch of the different sciences. The art of navigation, the principles of mechanicks, also, the doctrine of motion, of falling bodies, and the elements of opticks, he grounded himself in; and, as a preliminary to fluxions, which had only lately been discovered by Sir Isaac Newton, as the boundary of the mathematicks, he went through conic sections, &c. to make a trial of this last and finishing branch. Though he expressed some difficulty at his first entrance, yet he did not rest till he made himself master of both a fluxion and a flowing quantity. As he had paid a similar attention to all the intermediate parts, he was become so conversant in every branch of the mathematicks, that no question was ever proposed to him which he did not answer, nor any rational question in the mathematicks, that he ever thought of, which he did not comprehend. He used to answer all the questions of the Gentleman and Lady's Diaries, the Palladium, and other annual publications, for several years; but his answers were seldom inserted, except by, or in the name of some other persons, for he had no ambition in making his abilities known, farther than satisfying himself that nothing passed him which he did not understand. He frequently has had questions from his pupils and other gentlemen in London, the universities, and different parts of the country, as well as from the university of Gottingen, in Germany, sent him to solve, which he never failed to answer; and, from the minute enquiry he made into natural philosophy, there was scarcely a phaenomenon in nature, that ever came to his knowledge or observation, but he could, in some measure or other, reasonably account for it. - He went by the name of Willy o' th' Hollins for many years after he left the place. He removed to Tarngreen, where he lived about 15 years, and from thence to the neighbourhood of Cartmell, and was best known by the name of Willy Gibson, still continuing his occupation as before. For the last forty years of his life he kept a school of about eight or ten gentlemen, who boarded and lodged at his own farm-house; and having a happy turn of explaining his ideas, he has turned out a great many very able mathematicians, and a great many more gentlemen he has instructed in accompts, for the counting-house, as well as for the sea, and for land-surveying, which profession he followed himself for these last forty years and upwards. In the course of his life he had had a very great practice that way; and, having acquired a little knowledge of drawing, could finish plans in a very pretty manner. He has been several times appointed, by acts of parliament, a commissioner for the inclosing of commons, and was a very proper person for that purpose; for, as well as his practice in land-surveying, he had equal experience and judgement in the quality of land, as well as the quantity: also in levelling or conveying of water from one place to another, for he was well acqainted with the curvature of the earth's surface. He used to study incessantly, during the greatest part of the night; and in the day-time, when in the fields, his pupils frequently went to him, to have their different difficulties removed. He was fond of all who knew him. He has left a disconsolate widow, to mourn for the loss of an indulgent and affectionate husband. They has been married, and lived together in the |
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