Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

BUXTON, JEDEDIAH (1707–1772)

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V04, Page 892 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

BUXTON, JEDEDIAH (1707–1772) , See also:English arithmetician, was See also:born on the loth of See also:March 1707 at Elmton, near See also:Chesterfield, in See also:Derbyshire. Although his See also:father was schoolmaster of the See also:parish, and his grandfather had been the See also:vicar, his See also:education had been so neglected that he could not write; and his knowledge, except of See also:numbers, was extremely limited. How he came first to know the relative proportions of numbers, and their progressive denominations, he did not remember; but on such matters his See also:attention was so constantly riveted, that he frequently took no See also:cognizance of See also:external See also:objects, and when he did, it was only with reference to their numbers. He measured the whole lordship of Elmton, consisting of some thousand acres, simply by striding over it, and gave the See also:area not only in acres, roods and perches, but even in square inches. After this, he reduced them into square hairs'-breadths, reckoning See also:forty-eight to each See also:side of the See also:inch. His memory was so See also:great, that in resolving a question he could leave off and resume the operation again at the same point after the See also:lapse of a See also:week, or even of several months. His perpetual application to figures prevented the smallest acquisition of any other knowledge. His wonderful See also:faculty was tested in 1754 by the Royal Society of See also:London, who acknowledged their See also:satisfaction by presenting him with a handsome gratuity. During his visit to the See also:metropolis he was taken to see the tragedy of See also:Richard III. performed at See also:Drury See also:Lane See also:theatre, but his whole mind was given to the counting of the words uttered by See also:David See also:Garrick. Similarly, he set himself to See also:count the steps of the dancers; and he declared that the innumerable sounds produced by the musical See also:instruments had perplexed him beyond measure. He died in 1772. A memoir appeared in the See also:Gentleman's See also:Magazine for See also:June 1754• to which, probably through the See also:medium of a Mr Holliday, of See also:Haughton See also:Hall, See also:Nottinghamshire, Buxton had contributed several letters.

In this memoir, his See also:

age is given as forty-nine, which points to his See also:birth in 1705; the date adopted above is on the authority of Lysons' Magna Britannia (Derbyshire).

End of Article: BUXTON, JEDEDIAH (1707–1772)

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
BUXTON
[next]
BUXTON, SIR THOMAS POWELL (1786-1845)