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the Leaves being formed onto the substance of the Root, as a Chick out of the Albumen; in the mean while the whole decreasing in weight, as in the aforesaid Aloe; as 'tis manifest by many Experiments made by me.
An Extract
Of a Letter, written by Mr. Richard Towneley to Dr. Croon, touching the Invention of Dividing a Foot into many thousand parts, for Mathematical purposes.
Finding in one* * Vid. Numb. 21. p. 373. of the last Philosophical Transactions, how much M. Auzout esteems his Invention of dividing a Foot into near 30000 parts, and taking thereby Angles to a very great exactness; I am told, I shall be look't upon as a great Wronger of our Nation, should I not let the World know, that I have, out of some scatter'd Papers and Letters; that formerly came to my hands of a Gentleman of these Parts, one Mr, Gascoigne, found out, That before our late Civil Wars, he had not only devised an Instrument of as great a power, as M. Auzout's, but had also for some Years made use of it, not only for taking the Diameters of the Planets, and Distances upon Land; but had farther endeavour'd, out of its preciseness, to gather many Certainties in the Heavens; amongst which, I shall only mention one, viz. The finding the Moons Distance, from two Observations, of her Horizontal and Meridional Diameters: Which I the rather mention, because the French Astronomer esteems himself the first that took any such Notice, as thereby to settle the Moons Parallax. For, our Countrey-man fully consider'd it before, and imparted it to an Acquaintance of his, who thereupon proposed to him the Difficulties that would arise in the Calculation; with considerations upon the strange Niceties, necessary to give him a certainty of what he desired. The very Instrument he first made I have now by me, and two others more perfected by him; which doubtless he would have infinitely mended, had he not been slain unfortunately in His late Majesties Service. He had a Trea-O o o
tise
