NEPER, or NAPIER (Sons), in bio graphy, Baron of Marchiston, in Scotland, Inventor of the logarithms, was tae eldest son of Sir Archibald Napier, of Marchis ton, and born in the year 1550. Having given early indications of great natural parts, his father was careful to have them cultivated by a liberal education. After going through the ordinary course of education at the university of St. An drew's, be made the tour ofFrance, Italy, and Germany. On his return to his na tive country, his literature and other fine accomplishments soon rendered him con spicuous ; be, however, retired from the world, to pursue literary researches, in which he made an uncommon progress, as appears by the several useful discove ries with which he afterwards favoured mankind. He chiefly applied himself to the study of mathematics, without, how ever, neglecting that of the Scriptures ; in both of which he discovered a very ex tensive knowledge, and profound pene tration. His " Essay upon the Book of the Apocalypse" indicates the most acute investigation ; though time has discover ed, that his calculations concerning par ticular events had proceeded from falla cious data. But what has chiefly render ed his name famous was his great and for tunate discovery of logarithms in trigo nometry, by which the ease and expedi tion in calculation have so wonderfully assisted the science of astronomy, and the arts of practical geometry and navigation. Napier, having a great attachment to astronomy and spherical trigonometry, had iccasion to make many numeral cal calaBons of such triangles, with sines, tangents, &c. ; and these being expressed in large numbers, they hence occasioned a great deal of labour and trouble : to spare themselves part of this trouble, Napier, and other authors about his time; set themselves to find out certain short modes of calculation, as is evident from many of their writings. To this necessi ty and these endeavours it is, that we owe several ingenious contrivances, par ticularly the computation by Napier's rods, and several other curious and short methods that are given in his " Itabdo logia ;" and, at length, after trials of ma ny other means, the most complete one of logarithms, in the actual construction of a large table of numbers in arithmeti cal progression, adapted to a set of as many others in geometrical progression.
The property of such numbers had been long known, viz. that the addition of the former answered to the multiplication of the latter, &c. ; but it wanted the neces sity of such very troublesome calculations as those above mentioned, joined to an ardent disposition, to realize the use of that property. Perhaps, also, this dispo sition was urged into action by certain attempts of this kind, which, it seems, were made elsewhere ; such as the follow ing, related by Wood, in his " Athena Oxoniensis," under the article Briggs, on the authority of Oughtred and Wingate, viz. "That one Dr. Craig, a Scotchman, coming out of Denmark into his own country, called upon John Neper, baron of Marchiston, near Edinburgh, and told him, among other discourses, of a new in vention in Denmark, (by Longomonta nus, as 'tie said) to save the tedious mul tiplication and division in astronomical calculations. Neper, being solicitous to know further of him concerning this mat ter, he could give no other account of it, than that it was by proportionable num bers; which hint Neper taking, lie de sired him, at his return, to call upon him again : Craig, after some weeks had pass. ed, did so, and Neper then showed him a rude draught of that he called Canon Mi rabilis Logarithmorum ; which draught, with some alterations, he printed in 1614; it came forthwith into the hands of our author, Briggs, and into those of William Oughtred, from whom the relation of this matter came." Whatever might be the inducement, however, Napier published his invention in 1614, under the title of " Logarithm°.