MACLAURIN, mak-la/tin, .Comf (1698 1746). A Scotch mathematician, born at KB moan, in Argyllshire. While quite young he was left an orphan and was brought up by one ot his uncles. He studied at the University of Glas gow, and there his mathematical genius showed itself very early. When only nineteen years old (1717) lie obtained the professorship of mathe matics in Marisehal College, Aberdeen. In 1719 he visited London and made the acquaintance of Sir Isaac Newton, and was made a member of the Royal Society. In 1722 he was engaged by Lord Polwarth to travel with his son and spent some time in France, and while there obtained the prize of the French Academy for a treatise on the percussion of bodies. In 1726 he suc ceeded James Gregory as professor of mathe matics in the University of Edinburgh. There he also devoted his attention to physics. astronomy, and other sciences,and soon acquired a wide repu tation and influence. In 1740 he divided with Bernoulli and Euler a prize given by the French Academy for a work on the tides. In 1745 he organized the defenses of Edinburgh against the Pretender, his efforts at this time seriously im pairing his health. When the rebels obtained possession of Edinburgh• he took refuge in Eng land. Ile died in the followimr year. Next to Newton he was the greatest British mathemati cian of the eighteenth century. Ile developed the fluxional calculus, contributed extensively to the theory of attraction. and showed that a re volving homogeneous fluid assumes the form of an ellipsoid. This discovery is important for
the light it throws on the theory of the tides and on the investigations in regard to the figure of the earth. He also contributed to pure geometry and the theory of equations. He invent ed the method of solving equations with equal roots by aid of the first derived equation. Ile is best known for an important theorem in calculus which bears his name. By means of this, a func tion of one variable may be expanded in terms of ascending integral powers of the variable. His most important works are: Geometria Organics (1719); .1 Treatise of Fluxions ( 1742 ; 2d ed. 1801; French trans. 1749) ; Treatise of Algebra (1748; 5th ed. 178S: French trans. 1753) ; De Linearum Gcometricarum l'ropricta films (174S); An Account of Sir Isaac Netcton's Philosophy (1748; 3d ed. 1775). Consult Mur doch in the preface to the last named work.
MeLAWS, LAFAYETTE ( 1821-97 1. An American soldier, born in Augusta, Ga. He graduated in 1842 at the United States Military Academy, and served in the Mexican War. In 1861 he entered the Confederate Army, subse quently was promoted to be major-general, and commanded a division at Malvern Rill and many other battles. He surrendered with Johnston's army. In 1875 he was appointed collector of internal revenue at Savannah, and in 1876 post master of the same city.