A discourse on the theory of gunnery. : Delivered at the anniversary meeting of the Royal society, November 30, 1778. / By Sir John Pringle, baronet. Published by their order.

  • Pringle, John, Sir, 1707-1782.
Date:
1778
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A discourse on the theory of gunnery. : Delivered at the anniversary meeting of the Royal society, November 30, 1778. / By Sir John Pringle, baronet. Published by their order. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Or by thofe who were employed in fpeculatively invef- tigating the nature of the curve traced by a ball in the air ; a curve which began at laft to be confidered as one deviating much from the line of a parabola. Or, finally, by fuch as, having taken notice that Newton’s ideas had not been duly attended to, endeavoured to avail I themfelves of them, and of fome experiments that had been made by others, for proving the great opposition of the air to bodies of fwift motion ; but without after- taming the degree of that refiftance, or enriching the art by any practical rules {uL % Such was the unhinged Rate of this part of the mixed mathematics, when within our memory Mr. Benjamin Robins took cognizance of it: nor could the fubje£t have fallen into abler hands, endowed as he was , , 1 ■ - t by nature with a fuperior genius and unwearied appli¬ cation. Mr. Robins was deeply verfed in geometry and the doftrine of numbers; but he knew the limits as well as the powers of both, and how inlufficient they were for eftablifliing any theory where matter was con¬ cerned, without preparing the way, by finding out the phyfical properties of that matter, by many and varied (u) Dan. Bernoulli, Comment. Acad, Petropol, T. 2. & 3. experiments