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essay (Exetasis quadraturae circuli, Leiden, 1651) was quickly succeeded by his Theoremata de quadratura hyperboles, ellipsis, et circuli; while, in a See also:

TREATISE

treatise entitled De circuli magnitudine inventa, he made, three years later, the closest approximation so far obtained to the ratio of the circumference to the See also:

DIAMETER (from the Cr. &a, through, µErpov, measure)

diameter of a circle. Another class of subjects was now to engage his See also:

ATTENTION (from Lat. ad-tendo, await, expect; the condition of being " stretched " or " tense ")

attention. The improvement of the See also:

TELESCOPE

telescope was justly regarded as a sine qua non for the See also:

ADVANCEMENT

advancement of astronomical knowledge. But the difficulties interposed by spherical and See also:

CHROMATIC (Gr. xpcoµaruc6s, coloured, from xpwµa, colour)

chromatic See also:

ABERRATION (Lat. ab, from or away, errare,, to wander)

aberration had arrested progress in that direction until, in 1655, Huygens, working with his See also:

BROTHER

brother Constantijn, See also:

hit upon a new method of grinding and polishing lenses. The immediate results of the clearer See also:

DEFINITION (Lat. definitio, from de-finire, to set limits to, describe)

definition obtained were the detection of a See also:

SATELLITE (from the Lat. satelles, an attendant)

satellite to See also:

Saturn (the See also:

SIXTH

sixth in See also:

order of distance from its See also:

PRIMARY

primary), and the See also:

RESOLUTION

resolution into their true See also:

FORM (Lat. forma)

form of the abnormal appendages to that See also:

PLANET (Gr. ssXavirrns, a wanderer)

planet. Each See also:

DISCOVERY

discovery in turn was, according to the prevailing See also:

CUSTOM (from O. Fr. costume, costume or coustume; Low Lat. costuma, a shortened form of consuetudo)

custom, announced to the learned See also:

WORLD

world under the See also:

VEIL (O.Fr. veile, mod. voile, from Lat. velum, cloth, awning, sail)

veil of an See also:

ANAGRAM (Gr. ava, back, and ypa(beiv, to write)

anagram—removed, in the See also:

case of the first, by the publication, See also:

early in 1656, of the little See also:

TRACT (from Lat. tractare, to treat of a matter, through Provencal tractat and Ital. trattato)

tract De Saturni See also:

luna observatio nova; but retained, as regards the second, until 1659, when in the Systema Saturnium the varying appearances of the so-called " triple planet " were clearly explained as the phases of a See also:

RING (O.E. hring; a word common to Teutonic languages; and probably cognate with the Lat. circus, Gr. KtpKOS or KpLKOS, Skt'. chakra, wheel, circle, cf. also " harangue "); in art, a band of circular shape of varying sizes, made of any material and used f

ring inclined at an See also:

ANGLE (from the Lat. angulus, a corner, a diminutive, of which the primitive form, angus, does not occur in Latin; cognate are the Lat. angere, to compress into a bend or to strangle, and the Gr. ayKOS, a bend; both connected with the Aryan root ank-, to

angle of 28° to the See also:

ECLIPTIC

ecliptic.

Huygens was also in 1656 the first effective observer of the See also:

Orion nebula; he delineated the See also:

bright region still known by his name, and detected the multiple See also:

CHARACTER (Gr. xapareri7p, from xap&crew, to scratch)

character of its nuclear See also:

STAR

star. His application of the pendulum to regulate the See also:

MOVEMENT

movement of clocks sprang from his experience of the need for an exact measure of See also:

time in observing the heavens. The invention See also:

DATES

dates from 1656; on the 16th of See also:

JUNE

June 1657 Huygens presented his first " pendulum-See also:

CLOCK

clock " to the states-See also:

general; and the Horologium, containing a description of the requisite mechanism, was published in 1658. His reputation now became See also:

COSMOPOLITAN (Gr. Kbvµos, world, and IroXirgs, citizen)

cosmopolitan. As early as 1655 the university of See also:

ANGERS

Angers had distinguished him with an honorary degree of See also:

DOCTOR (Lat. for " teacher ")

doctor of See also:

LAWS

laws. In 1663, on the occasion of his second visit to See also:

England, he was elected a See also:

FELLOW

fellow of the Royal Society, and imparted to that See also:

BODY

body in See also:

JANUARY

January 1669 a clear and concise statement of the laws governing the collision of elastic bodies. Although these conclusions were arrived at independently, and, as it would seem, several years previous to their publication, they were in See also:

GREAT

great measure anticipated by the communications on the same subject of See also:

John See also:

WALLIS, JOHN (1616-1703)

Wallis and See also:

CHRISTOPHER, SAINT (Christophorus, Christoferus)

Christopher See also:

Wren, made respectively in See also:

NOVEMBER (Lat. novem, nine)

November and See also:

DECEMBER (Lat. decent, ten)

December 1668. Huygens had before this time fixed his See also:

ABODE (from " abide," to dwell, properly " to wait for ," to bide)

abode in See also:

France. In 1665 See also:

COLBERT, JEAN BAPTISTE (1619-1683)

Colbert made to him on behalf of See also:

Louis XIV. an offertoo tempting to be refused, and between the following See also:

YEAR

year and 1681 his See also:

RESIDENCE (Latin residere, to remain behind, to dwell, reside)

residence in the philosophic seclusion of the Bibliotheque du Roi was only interrupted by two See also:

SHORT, FRANCIS JOB (1857– )

short visits to his native See also:

COUNTRY (from the Mid. Eng. contre or contrie, and O. Fr. cuntree; Late Lat. contrata, showing the derivation from contra, opposite, over against, thus the tract of land which fronts the sight, cf. Ger. Gegend, neighbourhood)

country. His magnum See also:

OPUS ('O7rois)

opus dates from this See also:

period. The Horologium oscillatorium, published with a See also:

DEDICATION (Lat. dedicatio, from dedicare, to proclaim, to announce)

dedication to his royal See also:

PATRON

patron in 1673, contained See also:

ORIGINAL

original discoveries sufficient to have furnished materials for See also:

HALF

half a dozen striking disquisitions. His See also:

SOLUTION (from Lat. solvere, to loosen, dissolve)

solution of the celebrated problem of the "centre of oscillation " formed in itself an important event in the See also:

HISTORY

history of See also:

MECHANICS

mechanics.

Assuming as an See also:

AXIOM (Gr. &iwµa)

axiom that the centre of gravity of any number of interdependent bodies cannot rise higher than the point from which it See also:

fell, he arrived, by anticipating in the particular case the general principle of the conservation of vis viva, at correct although not strictly demonstrated conclusions. His treatment of the subject was the first successful See also:

ATTEMPT (Lat. adtemptare, attentare, to try)

attempt to See also:

DEAL

deal with the See also:

dynamics of a system. The determination of the true relation between the length of a pendulum and the time of its oscillation; the invention of the theory of evolutes; the discovery, hence ensuing, that the See also:

CYCLOID (from Gr. iciidws, circle, and ennos, form)

cycloid is its own evolute, and is strictly isochronous; the ingenious although practically inoperative See also:

IDEA (Gr. Ibia, connected with i&eiv, to see; cf. Lat. species from specere, to look at)

idea of correcting the " circular See also:

ERROR (Lat. error, from errare, to wander, to err)

error " of the pendulum by applying cycloidal cheeks to clocks—were all contained in this remarkable treatise. The theorems on the See also:

composition of forces in circular See also:

motion with which it concluded formed the true prelude to See also:

Newton's Principia, and would alone suffice to establish the claim of Huygens to the highest See also:

RANK (O.Fr. rant or rent, mod. rang, generally connected with the O.E. and O.H.G. bring, a ring)

rank among See also:

MECHANICAL

mechanical inventors. In 1681 he finally severed his See also:

French connexions, and returned to See also:

Holland. The harsher See also:

MEASURES

measures which about that time began to be adopted towards his co-religionists in France are usually assigned as the See also:

MOTIVE (from Lat. movere, to move)

motive of this step. He now devoted himself during six years to the See also:

PRODUCTION (Lat. productionem, from producere, to pro-duce)

production of lenses of enormous See also:

FOCAL

focal distance, which, mounted on high poles, and connected with the See also:

eye-piece by means of a See also:

CORD (derived through the Fr. corde, from the Lat. chorda, Gr. xop(5rt, the string of a musical instrument)

cord, formed what were called " aerial telescopes." Three of his See also:

OBJECT

object-glasses, of respectively 123, 18o and 210 ft. focal length, are in the See also:

possession of the Royal Society. He also succeeded in constructing an almost perfectly achromatic eye-piece, still known by his name. But his re-searches in See also:

PHYSICAL

physical See also:

OPTICS

optics constitute his See also:

CHIEF (from Fr. chef, head, Lat. caput)

chief See also:

TITLE (0. Fr. title, mod. titre, from Lat. titulus)

title-See also:

DEED (in O. Eng. dead, from the stem of the verb " to do ")

deed to See also:

IMMORTALITY (Lat. in-, not, mortalis, mortal, from mors, death)

immortality. Although See also:

Robert See also:

HOOKE, ROBERT (1635–1703)

Hooke in 1668 and Ignace Pardies in 1672 had adopted a vibratory See also:

HYPOTHESIS (from Gr. inrorcOivat, to put under; cf. Lat. suppositio, from sub-ponere)

hypothesis of See also:

LIGHT

light, the conception was a See also:

mere floating possibility until Huygens provided it with a sure See also:

FOUNDATION (Lat. fundatio, from fundare, to found)

foundation. His powerful scientific See also:

IMAGINATION

imagination enabled him to realize that all the points of a See also:

WAVE

wave-front originate partial waves, the aggregate effect of which is to reconstitute the primary disturbance at the subsequent stages of its advance, thus accomplishing its See also:

PROPAGATION

propagation; so that each primary undulation is the envelope of an indefinite number of secondary undulations. This resolution of the original wave is the well-known " Principle of Huygens," and by its means he was enabled to prove the fundamental laws of optics, and to assign the correct construction for the direction of the extra-See also:

ORDINARY (med. Lat. ordinarius, Fr. ordinaire)

ordinary See also:

ray in uniaxial crystals.

These investigations, together with his discovery of the " wonderful phenomenon " of polarization, are recorded in his Traite de la lumiere, published at Leiden in 1690, but composed in 1678. In the appended treatise Sur la Cause de la pesanteur, he rejected See also:

GRAVITATION (from Lat. gravis, heavy)

gravitation as a universal quality of See also:

MATTER

matter, although admitting the Newtonian theory of the planetary revolutions. From his views on centrifugal force he deduced the oblate figure of the See also:

earth, estimating its See also:

COMPRESSION

compression, however, at little more than one-half its actual amount. Huygens never married. He died at the Hague on the 8th of June 1695, bequeathing his See also:

MANUSCRIPTS

manuscripts to the university of Leiden, and his considerable See also:

PROPERTY

property to the sons of his younger brother. In character he was as estimable as he was brilliant in See also:

INTELLECT (Lat. intellectus, from intelligere, to understand)

intellect. Although, like most men of strong originative See also:

POWER [WILLIAM GRATTAN] TYRONE (1797-1841)

power, he assimilated with difficulty the ideas of others, his tardiness sprang rather from inability to depart from the track of his own methods than from reluctance to acknowledge the merits of his competitors. In addition to the See also:

WORKS

works already mentioned, his Cosmotheoros— a See also:

SPECULATION

speculation concerning the inhabitants of the See also:

PLANETS, MINOR

planets—was printed posthumously at the Hague in 1698, and appeared almost simultaneously in an See also:

ENGLISH

English See also:

TRANSLATION

translation. A See also:

VOLUME

volume entitled See also:

OPERA (Italian for " work ")

Opera posthuma (Leiden, 1703) contained his " Dioptrica," in which the ratio between the respective focal lengths of object-See also:

glass and eye-glass is given as the measure of magnifying power, together with the shorter essays De vitris figurandis, De See also:

CORONA (Lat. for " crown ")

corona et parheliis, &c. An early tract De ratiociniis in ludo aleae, printed in 16J7 with Schooten's Exercitationes mathematicae, is notable as one of the first formal See also:

TREATISES

treatises on the theory of probabilities; nor should his investigations of the properties of the See also:

CISSOID (from the Gr. rcunr6s, ivy, and ethos, form)

cissoid, logarithmic and See also:

CATENARY (from Lat. eaten¢, a chain)

catenary curves be See also:

LEFT

left unnoticed. His invention of the See also:

SPIRAL

spiral See also:

WATCH (in O. Eng. wcecce, a keeping guard or watching, from wacian, to guard, watch, wacan, to wake)

watch-See also:

SPRING (from " to spring," " to leap or jump up," " burst out," O. Eng., springau, a common Teut. word, cf. Ger. springer, possibly allied to Gr. QnrFpxecOac, to move rapidly)

spring was explained in the See also:

Journal See also:

des savants (Feb. 25, 1675).

An edition of his works was published by G. J. 's Gravesande, in four See also:

QUARTO

quarto volumes entitled Opera See also:

VARIA (mod. Vicovaro)

varia (Leiden, 1724) and Opera reliqua (See also:

Amsterdam, 1728). His scientific See also:

correspondence was edited by P. J. Uylenbroek from manuscripts preserved at Leiden, with the title Christiana Hugenii aliorumque seculi X VII. virorum celebrium exercitationes mathematicae et philosophicae (the Hague, 1833). The publication of a monumental edition of the letters and works of Huygens was undertaken at the Hague by the Societe Hollandaise des Sciences, with the heading Euvres de See also:

Christian Huygens (1888), &c. Ten quarto volumes, comprising the whole of his correspondence, had already been issued in 1905. A See also:

BIOGRAPHY (from the Gr. (3ios, life, and yp&4 , writing)

biography of Huygens was prefixed to his Opera varia (1724); his Eloge in the character of a French academician was printed by J. A. N. See also:

CONDORCET, MARIE JEAN ANTOINE NICOLAS CARITAT, MARQUIS DE (1743-1794)

Condorcet in 1773.

Consult further: P. J. Uylenbroek, Oratio de fratribus Christiano atque Constantino Hugenio (See also:

GRONINGEN

Groningen, 1838); P. Harting, See also:

CHRISTIE, RICHARD COPLEY (183o–Igor)

Christie an Huygens in zijn See also:

Leven en Werken geschetzt (Groningen, 1868) ; J. B. J. See also:

DELAMBRE, JEAN BAPTISTE JOSEPH (1749-1822)

Delambre, Hist. de l'astronomie moderne (ii. 549); J. E. See also:

MONTUCLA, JEAN ETIENNE (1725-1799)

Montucla, Hist. des mathematiques (ii. 84, 412, 549) ; M. See also:

CHASLES, VICTOR EUPHEMIEN PHILARETE (1798-1873)

Chasles, Apergu historique sur l'origine des melhodes en geometric, pp.

101-109; E. See also:

DUHRING, EUGEN KARL (1833-1901)

Duhring, Kritische Geschichte der allgemeinen Principien der Mechanik, Abschnitt (U. 120, 163, iii. 227) ; A. See also:

Berry, A Short History of See also:

ASTRONOMY (from Gr. &arpov, a star, and v ,usiv, to classify or arrange)

Astronomy, p. zoo; R. See also:

Wolf, Geschichte der Astronomic, passim; Houzeau, Bibliographie astronomique (ii. 169) ; F. Kaiser, Astr. Nach. (See also:

xxv. 245, 1847) ; Tijdschrift voor de Wetenschappen (i. 7, 1848) ; Allgemeine deutsche Biographic (M.

B. Cantor) ; J. C. See also:

POGGENDORFF, JOHANN CHRISTIAN (1796-1877)

Poggendorff, Biog. lit. Handworterbuch. (A. M.

End of Article: HUYGENS, CHRISTIAAN (1629-1695)

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