The Edinburgh Observatory 1736–1811: A story of failure

References

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• Craufurd , T. 1808 . History of the University of Edinburgh 1580–1646 92 – 92 . Edinburgh I believe that ‘will’ was used to indicate wish, instruction or desire, rather than testament. Certainly there is no mention of the bequest of a quadrant to the University in Napier's Will: see M. Napier, Memoirs of John Napier of Merchiston (Edinburgh, 1834), pp. 427–31.
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• Science and Art Department of the Committee of Council on Education . 1876 . Catalogue of the Special Loan Collection of Scientific Apparatus at the South Kensington Museum MDCCCLXXVI , third edition 398 – 398 . London See also Horsburgh (footnote 2), 2. The ‘Napier Quadrant' is now in the National Museums of Scotland. While a rare survival, it is quite typical of astronomical quadrants designed and made in London c. 1700. It compares directly with that made c. 1707 by John Rowley of London for Trinity College Cambridge—see J. Harris, Lexicon Technicum, or an Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences, 2 vols (London 1704–1710), II, addendum. Quite how this particular instrument came into the possession of the Department of Natural Philosophy at the University is uncertain. I hazard the supposition that it may be the ‘brass quadrant, 3-foot radius, that cost at least forty guineas when it was new’, presented to the fledgling Philosophical Society of Edinburgh by Lord Hope in 1737; see The Collected Letters of Colin MacLaurin, edited by S. Mills (Nantwich, 1982), p. 74.
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• MacLaurin , C. 1741 . An observation of the Eclipse of the Sun on February 18 1837 made at Edinburgh . Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London , 40 : 194 – 194 . Writing to fellow observer Sir John Clerk of Penicuik in May of the same year, MacLaurin noted, en passant, the difficulty of making astronomical observations, in this instance of a comet, ‘I am at a great loss for want of a proper place for looking out for such appearances, my windows in the College having a view southwards only’, see S. Mills (footnote 6), 71.
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• On the foundation of the infirmary see Walton P.M. Eaves The early years in the Infirmary The Early Years of The Edinburgh Medical School Anderson R.G.W. Simpson A.D.C. Edinburgh 1976 71 79 For the relationship between the University, uniquely the only Scottish University supported and controlled by the municipality, and in particular the support of the Town (headed by Provost George Drummond) for the Medical School, see J. B. Morrell, ‘The Edinburgh Town Council and its University, 1717–1766’, in R. W. Anderson and A. D. C. Simpson, pp. 46–65. Dr A. D. C. Simpson has pointed out to me that in the earliest description of the Royal Infirmary, the central dome over the operating theatre is described as topped by a cupola ‘that may be sometimes employed as an Astronomical Observatory’—see The History and Statutes of the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh (Edinburgh, 1749), p. 7; A. L. Turner, Story of a Great Hospital; the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh 1729–1929 (Edinburgh, 1937), p. 83, quotes a similar phrase; compare the 1778 edition, of History and Statutes, p. 9. There is no mention of such a use in the Minute Books of the Infirmary (personal communication from the Archivist, Lothian Health Board).
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• Morrell , J.B. 1974 . Reflections on the History of Scottish Science . History of Science , 12 : 85 – 86 . also J. R. R. Christie, ‘The origins and development of the Scottish scientific community, 1680–1760’, History of Science, 12 (1974), 127.
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• Murdoch , P. 1974 . Reflections on the History of Scottish Science . History of Science , 12 : viii – viii . The detailed instructions provided by MacLaurin as to the performance of this survey are printed in S. Mills (footnote 6), 441–5.
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• Erskine , D.S. 1792 . Life of Mr James Short, Optician . Archaeologia Scotica , 1 : 251 – 256 . (11th Earl of Buchan)
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• 1740 . Scots Magazine , 2 : 90 – 94 . 140–1; see also Caledonian Mercury, no. 3113 (11 March 1740).
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• Mills , S. 1876 . Catalogue of the Special Loan Collection of Scientific Apparatus at the South Kensington Museum MDCCCLXXVI , third edition 79 – 80 . London Morton's letter is dated 22 April 1740, the receipt signed by Wishart, MacLaurin and Monro, is dated 12 November 1740.
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• 1741 . Caledonian Mercury , June no. 3310 (15
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• CEDCA . June 1741 . Edinburgh Town Council Minutes June , 10 A. Bower (footnote 5), II, 249–52 re-prints the memorial from the same source.
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• The Royal Observatory at Greenwich was founded by Charles II in 1675 ‘in order to the finding out of the longitude of places for perfecting navigation and astonomy’. These severely practical aims were largely maintained by successive Astronomer Royals. However, the Greenwich tradition of positional astronomy was not that followed by the generality of leading 18th century practitioners, most of whom were interested in physical astronomy. Nevertheless, it was the useful applications of astronomy, in surveying and particularly for the improvement of navigation and the furtherance of trade, that provided the basic rhetoric for the justification of the discipline: see Forbes E.G. The Royal Observatory at Greenwich and Herstmonceux 1675–1975: Origins and Early History (1675–1835) London 1975 passim. MacLaurin had an interest in astronomy which went beyond the mere rhetorical statement of its practical ends, to the actual attainment of those ends as witness his network of observers for the 1737 total eclipse—see MacLaurin (footnote 12), passim, his careful specification for the Orkney survey—see S. Mills (footnote 6), 441–5, and his leadership of the Philosophical Society's project to map the north coast of Scotland—see S. Mills, 94, 96, 97, 385, and P. Murdoch (footnote 11), viii–ix; the map was finally published in 1743 under the authorship of Alexander Bryce, and engraved in Edinburgh by R. Cooper, see The Early Maps of Scotland to 1850: By a Committee of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society, third edition revised with A History of Scottish Maps by D. G. Moir (Edinburgh, 1973), p. 184.
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• The name of this potential benefactor is not given in the surviving papers. It is possible that it was Colin Campbell of Jamaica, owner of ‘instruments not unworthy of the observatory of a Prince’ (James Bradley, 1734), see Bryden D.J. The Jamaican Observatories of Colin Campbell FRS and Alexander Macfarlane FRS Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London 1970 24 261 264 Writing to his relation Archibald Campbell in 1743, MacLaurin noted that before the former's cousin had left the West Indies ‘he had sold his astronomical instruments to one Mr. McFarland in Jamaica. This is not a great disappointment to me’, see S. Mills (footnote 6), 112.
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• The orrery does not appear to have given total satisfaction, in November 1743 MacLaurin wrote of it to Sir Andrew Mitchell in London, ‘I wish the Orrery may be amended & sent of soon. The town here was full of my being provided in England’, see Mills S. Catalogue of the Special Loan Collection of Scientific Apparatus at the South Kensington Museum MDCCCLXXVI , third edition London 1876 114 114 The telescope may well be that made by James Short in 1737, and still extant, see D. J. Bryden, James Short and his Telescopes (Edinburgh, 1968), p. 13.
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• I have not found advertisements for these lectures in the Edinburgh press. Mention that the courses had been given is in Scots Magazine 1741 3 278 278 see also, Scots Magazine, 50 (1788), 605, where it is claimed that Thomas Short (see footnote 53) acted as unpaid assistant to MacLaurin at the lectures; MacLaurin later—see S. Mills (footnote 6), 101 referred to Thomas Short as ‘the completest Villain has ever fallen in my way’; other evidence suggests that the instrument-maker who assisted may have been John Finlayson, see D. J. Bryden, ‘Three Edinburgh Microscope Makers’, Book of the Old Edinburgh Club, 33, part 3 (1972), 167 and note 18. There are no detailed accounts extant for the funds raised by the MacLaurin and Plummer lectures.
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• This was John Rotheram. Accounts itemizing ticket sales are in CEDCA D8.105/2&3. CEDCA Edinburgh Town Council Minutes, 21 April 1742, record the admission of Rotheram, ‘student of Mathematics’ as a Burgess and Guild Brother, ‘for good services’; see also Boog-Watson C.B. Rool of Edinburgh Burgesses and Guild Brothers, 1701–1760 Scottish Record Society Edinburgh 1930 176 176 MacLaurin refers to these lectures in a letter to Sir John Clerk; ‘One of my scholars gives a short course of experiments herre upon my set of instruments, … it is for, the benefit of the Infirmary, Workhouse and Observatory’, S. Mills (footnote 6), 87.
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• CEDCA D8.105/1,4&5 record various promises of subscriptions ‘as soon as building is begun’: Sir John Clerk, £20. The Society of Writers to the Signet, £21. Lords Hamilton and Crandon, £10 10s; Queensberry and Dover, £10 10s; Annandale, £10 10s. By March 1743 MacLaurin claimed to have about £300 towards the project, see Mills S. Catalogue of the Special Loan Collection of Scientific Apparatus at the South Kensington Museum MDCCCLXXVI , third edition London 1876 101 101
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• CEDCA . February 1742 . Edinburgh Town Council Minutes February , 3
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• 1778 . History and Statutes of the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh 17 – 17 . Edinburgh Murdoch (footnote 11), viii, names three observatory benefactors, the Earls of Morton and Hopeton, and Sir John Clerk. There is no record of Lord Hope (subsequently the Earl of Hopeton), having made a benefaction; Sir John Clerk's gift was conditional on building having begun.
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• Mills , S. 1876 . Catalogue of the Special Loan Collection of Scientific Apparatus at the South Kensington Museum MDCCCLXXVI , third edition 101 – 101 . London 103, 104.
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• CEDCA . May 1744 . Edinburgh Town Council Minutes May , 9 Mills (footnote 6), 103, for an indication that MacLaurin had begun to discuss the matter of a house next to the Observatory with the Council officers in April 1743, when they insisted on a rent of 8 per cent, ‘I agreed to it on condition that they would subduct the expence of the roof which is ruinous and must be supporteed by them at any rate. They did not agree to this, tho' the Observatory is to be built without giving them any trouble’.
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• Murdoch , P. 1748 . “ An account of the life and writings of the author ” . In An Account of Sir Isaac Newton's Philosophical Discoveries Edited by: MacLaurin , C. ix – xi . London
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• Donnelly , M.C. 1973 . A short history of Observatories 3 – 56 . Eugene, Oregon the quotations from Wren and Roemer are at pp. 26–7. See also P. Müller, Sternwarten: Architektur und Geschichte der Astronomischen Observatorien, (Europäische Hochschulschriften, Reihe 32, Astronomie Bd 1) (Frankfurt, 1978).
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• Murdoch , P. 1748 . “ An account of the life and writings of the author ” . In An Account of Sir Isaac Newton's Philosophical Discoveries Edited by: MacLaurin , C. viii – viii . London
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• For MacLaurin's teaching see Murdoch P. An account of the life and writings of the author An Account of Sir Isaac Newton's Philosophical Discoveries MacLaurin C. London 1748 v v for his pivotal role in the foundation of the Philosophical Society see R. L. Emerson, ‘The Philosophical Society of Edinburgh 1737–1747’, British Journal for the History of Science, 12 (1979), 154–83.
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• A short view of the Rise and Progress of the Royal Infirmary now building in the City of Edinburgh Edinburgh 174-); see also A. L. Turner (footnote 15), 79–82.
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• Morrell , J.B. The Edinburgh Town Council and its University, 1717–1766 Edited by: Anderson , R.W. and Simpson , A.D.C. 55 – 56 . See also D. B. Horn, ‘The Anatomy Classrooms in the present Old College 1625–1880’, University of Edinburgh Journal, 22 (1965), 66–7.
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• EUL MS Da (Observatory Papers)/11 Alexander Short to Matthew Stewart; ‘Account, To a model for an intended observatory’ 19 September 1749. Countersigned: ‘Paid and receipted by Thomas Short, 17 Jan 1754’.
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• EUL MS Da (Observatory Papers)/12 ‘Extract from the Minutes of the Philosoph. Society.’ This transcript from the record of the meeting of 2nd August 1753, was made by Alexander Munro (secundus) on 16 July 1777; it is annotated ‘The above was minuted by Mr David Hume, and there is no after minute on this subject. The above is in the first page of the only minute Book in my possession. What passed before that I Know not’. Unfortunately, the formal records of the Society do not appear to have survived. For its history at this period see R. L. Emerson, ‘The Philosophical Society of Edinburgh 1748–1748’, British Journal of the History of Science, 14 (1981), 133–176.
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• EUL MS Da (Observatory Papers)/13
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• EUL MS Da (Observatory Papers)/14 This statement appears to have been written by Principal Wishart.
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• EUL MS Da (Observatory Papers)/17 The statement is not signed, but the handwriting is that of James Short.
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• EUL MS Da (Observatory papers)/21–23 relate to the payments of dividends from this bankruptcy.
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• The date of sequestration of the Stewart estate was 25 August 1772, see Caledonian Mercury (no. 8007) 27 February 1773 for a notice issued by the trustee appointed by the creditors. See also EUL MS Da (Observatory Papers)/18–20
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• EUL MS Da (Observatory Papers)/19–20 and EUL MS. Minutes of Senatus, 12 September and 4 November 1777.
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• December 1770 . EUL MS Minutes of Senatus December , 17 31 January 1772, 16 September and 5 December 1774.
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• EUL MS Da (Observatory Papers)/15 and 16 see also EUL MS Minutes of Senatus, 12 September 1777.
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• Bower , A. 1817–30 . The History of the University of Edinburgh Vol. III , 255 – 255 . Edinburgh 3 vols briefly mentions the observatory project. A. Grant, The Story of the University of Edinburgh during its First Three Hundred Years, 2 vols (London, 1884), I, 378–81, draws briefly from the accounts of W. Maitland (see footnote 14), and H. Arnot, (see below footnote 68), neither of whom quote names of the bankrupts; in a footnote Grant does record that Stewart was one of them. D. B. Horn, A Short History of The University of Edinburgh (Edinburgh, 1967), makes no mention of the observatory project, but notes (p. 48), that MacLaurin's successor (unnamed), died a bankrupt after embezzling University funds entrusted to his care.
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• Bryden , D.J. 1973 . Scottish Scientific Instrument Makers 10 – 10 . Edinburgh 36 and 56. Thomas Short, Wright, was entered as a Burgess on 31 August 1737, by right of his father William—see Boog-Watson (footnote 28), 184; I date hi s independent activity from that time. See also D. J. Bryden (footnote 26), 32, and footnote 27.
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• Turner , G.L'E. 1969 . James Short FRS and his contribution to the construction of reflecting telescopes . Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London , 4 : 91 – 108 . (p. 95).
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• Turner , G.L'E. 1969 . James Short FRS and his contribution to the construction of reflecting telescopes . Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London , 4 : 95 – 95 . 106–7.
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• Bryden , D.J. 1968 . James Short and his Telescopes 24 – 24 . Edinburgh and plate facing p. 34
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• The valuation is that given by Thomas Short—see Caledonian Mercury (no. 8517) 3 June 1776. In James Short's published price lists, a twelve-foot focus reflector was quoted at 800 guineas, see Turner G.L'E. James Short FRS and his contribution to the construction of reflecting telescopes Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London 1969 4 99 99 facing and T. H. Court and M. von Rohr, ‘A history of the development of the telescope from about 1675–1830’, Transactions of the Optical Society, 30 (1928–1929), 226.
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• CEDCA, D8.105/1, and /3a–c
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• CEDCA . April 1776 . Edinburgh Town Council Minutes April , 17 22 May 1776, and CEDCA D8.105/4 & 6. See also Caledonian Mercury (no. 8497) 17 April 1776; and Edinburgh Evening Courant (20 April 1776).
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• For a reference to this initial design, costed at £50 for masonry work and £50–£60 for timber work, see Caledonian Mercury 1787 August (no. 10292) 27 and Scots Magazine 50 (1788), 606. There are ground plans of the site in CEDCA D8.105/5a and b, showing an octagon of twenty-four feet between the faces and a separate unidentified lozenge shaped building basically twenty by fifty feet with the long axis lying East-West.
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• May 1776 . Caledonian Gazetteer May , (no. 1), 31 Edinburgh Evening Courant, 1 June 1776; and Caledonian Mercury (no. 8517), 3 June 1776.
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• June 1776 . Caledonian Mercury June , (no. 8517), 3 Edinburgh Evening Courant, 13 and 15 July 1776.
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• July 1776 . Caledonian Mercury July , (nos. 8530 and 8547), 15 and 26 July Edinburgh Advertizer (no. 1311), 23 July 1776; Edinburgh Evening Courant, 29 July 1776.
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• July 1776 . Caledonian Mercury July , (no. 8551), 31 Edinburgh Advertizer (no. 1314), 2 August 1776; Edinburgh Evening Courant, 31 July 1776.
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• July 1776 . Caledonian Mercury July , (no. 8547), 26 Edinburgh Advertizer (no. 1312), 26 July 1776; Edinburgh Evening Courant, 27 July 1776; and Scots Magazine, 38 (1776), 394–5. I have been unable to locate an example of the silver medal struck to mark the occasion, a copy of which was placed under the foundation stone. The inscription read: ‘H.N.P.F./JAC. STODART/CIV. EDIN. PRAEFECT./E. DECR. SENATUS/MDCCLXXVI. ‘On the reverse a representation of the solar system, with the inscription: ‘OS HOMINI SUBLIME DEDIT, COELUMQUE TUERI.’
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• Arnot , H. 1779 . The History of Edinburgh 416 – 417 . Edinburgh
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• December 1776 . Caledonian Mercury December , (no. 8615), 2 Edinburgh Advertizer (no. 1349), 3 December 1776.
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• Payment was made direct to William Pirnie, the main contractor, see the endorsement to CEDCA D8.105/16. The money was the King's Purse won by the Duke's horse ‘Hercules’. Caledonian Mercury 1777 July (no. 8715), 23 gives an extensive account of Edinburgh Races, held on the sands at Leith. ‘Hercules’ won the prize money as a result of a race held in three heats. In the deciding event both the competing horses fell, but were remounted. The gift to the Observatory is reported in Caledonian Mercury (no. 8717), 28 July 1777; and Scots Magazine, 39 (1777), 563. It is probably not out of place to note that in the following year the Duke's horse ‘Graceful’ gained him the King's Purse again. Neither these winnings, nor the 50, 75, 100 and 150 guinea prizes scooped by the Duke at the Ayr meeting in September 1778 were donated to the Observatory! See Caledonian Mercury (nos. 8874 and 8902), 29 July and 3 October 1778 for reports of these meetings.
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• CEDCA D8.105/31
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• Newte , T. 1791 . Prospects and Observations on a tour in England and Scotland 328 – 328 . London
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• December 1776 . CEDCA D8.105/16 December , ‘Account of Mason Work done to the Observatory on the Caltonhill by William Pirnie Mason’ dated:
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• CEDCA D8.105/18 Account for ironwork and labour.
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• CEDCA D8.105/19 Account of lead-work done to the observatory.
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• CEDCA D8.105/20 and 21 I have quoted in the text the fullest invoice, a copy re-submitted by Craig in December 1780. The account was again re-submitted, with the addition of £52 2s interest, at the termination of the legal cases pressed by the contractors. In this latter instance the accounts are worded slightly differently—and the price for the second account has risen from ten to sixteen guineas—see CEDCA D8.105/24.: ‘To making out a Design of an Octagon Observatory, built upon the Calton = hill. Plans of the different floors, and an Elevation of the Building—with a plan for enclosing the Ground—and to making out another design with wings upon each side. Plans of the different floors & an Elevation of the building. Superintending the building so far as executed. To making out a design of another Observatory, & dwelling-house for Mr Short, plans of the different floors, & an elevation of the building—superintending the execution of the same.’ In his accompanying letter, CEDCA D8.105/23, Craig points out that he had not taken legal action against the Town, and that the tradesmen who executed his designs had now been paid. An endorsement on the letter indicates the view of the Council: ‘…it does not appear from the Record or otherways that Mr. Craig was employed on behalf of the Community … he has no just claim for payment…’.
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• I have based this summary of the legal cases on the reports that appeared in Caledonian Mercury 1787 August (no. 10 292), 27 Scots Magazine, 50 (1788), 605–6, 633–4, plus CEDCA D8.105/10 and /14 for extracted copies from the Minutes of the Town Council relating to the case, 9 January 1782, 27 February 1788, 8 October 1788, and 23 March 1791, and CEDCA D8.105/15, which summarizes the legal steps taken by William Pirnie. Thomas Short's death is reported in Scots Magazine 50 (1788), 155. CEDCA D8.105/11 is the account for £13 8s 6d, submitted by John Seton of Golden Square, London, for his expenses in preparing the appeal to the House of Lords; what the Council's legal expenses were for the various casee taken to the Court of Session, is unknown.
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• CEDCA D8.105/25 and CEDCA Edinburgh Town Council Minutes 1791 March 30
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• Grant , F.J. , ed. 1922 . Register of Marriage in the City of Edinburgh, 1751–1800 , 707 – 707 . Edinburgh : Scottish Record Society .
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• June 1828 . CEDCA D8.105/48 June , (letter), Thomas Fleming to Baillie A. Luke, 2
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• Reports of this affair, and of the legal case that followed are in Caledonian Mercury (nos 10480–2) 8, 10 and 13 November 1788; (nos 10511, 10514–5, 10518), 19, 26, 29 January and 5 February 1789. Also Scots Magazine 1788 50 617 618 and 51 (1789), 47–8. See also CEDCA D8.105/31 for a 1793 summary of this affair by Elizabeth Douglas.
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• CEDCA D8.105/41-4 are various letters from Maria Short, claiming a moral and legal right as the surviving child of Thomas Short, to the great telescope. Though her claim to be Short's daughter was initially doubted—CEDCA D8 105/46, the relationship was established—CEDCA D8 105/45, and 47–8, see also CEDCA Edinburgh Town Council Minutes 1828 April 16 and 18 June 1828 which records the gift of the great telescope to Maria Short. Papers 1828–1835 relating to the setting up of a ‘Subscription for the benefit of an Artist's Daughter’ and to the commissioning by Maria Short of the repair of the great reflector, by Tulley of London were (1966) in the possession of the late N. G. Matthew, probably abstracted from the archives of the Royal Scottish Society of Arts; photocopies provided to the author in 1968 by Mr D. A. Kemp, Librarian of the Royal Observatory Edinburgh, have been deposited with the National Library of Scotland to be kept with the RSSA archives, See also National Library of Scotland, MS 1553 f251. CEDCA Edinburgh Town Council Minutes 23 September 1834, record the Council's permission for s temporary observatory to be erected by Miss Short on the Calton Hill. Short's Popular Observatory, sited to the east of the National Monument, opened in May 1835. It functioned as a tourist attraction. See also CEDCA Edinburgh Town Council Minutes 30 September 1834, 2 July 1839, 10 and 17 December 1839, 28 October 1845. There is a printed prospectus, Shorts Popular Observatory, in Edinburgh University Library pamphlets collection, Att. P.2/21; see also Edinburgh Post Office Directory (Edinburgh, 1836), 323, and T. Dick, The Practical Astronomer (London, 1845), 294, T. and W. McDowall, New Guide to Edinburgh (Edinburgh, no date), 88, J. Willox, A Guide to Ecinburgh and its Vicinity: the Edinburgh Tourist and Itinerary (Edinburgh, no date), 187. Short's Popular Observatory remained on the Calton Hill until the early 1850s, when it transferred to Castle Hill (549 High Street).
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