BARRAGE, Charles, English mathema tician and inventor of a calculating machine: b.• near Teignmouth, England, 26 Dec. 1792; d. 18 Oct. 1871. He graduated at Peter house College, Cambridge. Being in posses sion of an independent fortune, Babbage was in a position to devote all his time and ener gies to his favorite studies—mathematics and mechanics. In 1822 we find him broaching the idea of a difference engine, by which in tricate arithmetical calculations could be cor rectly and rapidly performed. Through the recommendation of the Royal Society he re ceived, in 1823, a grant from the government of f1,500 for the construction of such a ma chine. After a series of experiments lasting eight years and an expenditure of 117,000 (L-6,000 of which was sunk by the' originator of the scheme, the balance voted by the gov ernment), Babbage abandoned the undertak ing in favor of a much more comolitated work, an analytical engine, worked with cards like the Jacquard loom. The government,
alarmed at the probable demands, refused to support Babbage in his new adventure, and as a quarrel ensued with his engineer, who withdrew his tools, the pet project was never completed. The machine, along with some 400 or 500 plans, was presented in 1843 to King's College Museum, London. Among the many treatises he published on subjects connected with mathematics and mechanics, the most valuable and interesting are 'On the Economy of Machinery and Manufactures' ; (The De cline of Science' ; and an autobiographic sketch,