Page:A new and general biographical dictionary; containing an historical and critical account of the lives and writings of the most eminent persons in every nation v1.djvu/243

 A M M O N I U S. '* how many of my oM companions have I loll" fays lie ! " God ! what a fpriiMuly genius ! ofwh.it a f.iithful m mo- " ry ! how noble was his ioul, how tree from envy and " every meannefs ! When his own qualifications, and the ct applaufe of princes, had opened him a way to the grcateft " affairs, he was fuddenly inatched olT, before he was forty " often as I reflect how delighted 1 was with his acquaint- " ance." Epiit. 5, lib. 23. Ammonius wrote fome Latin poetical pieces. In the Epitome of Gcfner's Bibliotheca, the foll'> ing are mention- ed : i. " Scotici conHidus hiftoria, lib. i." 2. " Bucolica, feu Eclogae, lib. i." 3. " De icbus nihili, lib. i." 4. " Panesi) icus quidam, lib. i." 5. " Epigrammata, lib. i." 6. ** Poemata diverfa." " in ftrong ronfHtutions, Uvelve times. " means. It appeared by experience, " Great danger to remove out of bed ; ' as the lord Bacon obferves, that this " fome who had not fweatt-H enoueli, " (iifeafe was rather a furprizeof nature, " fell into vt-ry ill levers. No fl-.fli in " than obftinate to rsmedies, if it were " all the time; nor drink the firft fie " in time well treated ; for when proper " hours; for in the feveuth the diftem- " care was taken, the patient generally " per increafcs ; about the ninth deli- " rnovered." Dr. Freind's Hift. Phyf. " liuni; fleep to be avoidid by all vol. ii. p. 333. AMONTONS (WILLIAM), was born in Normandy the laft day of Augult 1663. His father having removed to Pa- ris, William received the firft part of his education in this city. He was in the third form of the Latin fchool, when, after a confiderable illnefs, he contracted fuch a deafnefs as obliged him to renounce almoft all converfation with man- kind In this fuuation he beoan to think of employing bim- felf in the invention of machines : he applied therefore to the ftudy of geometry ; and it is f;id, thnt he would not try any remedy to cure his deafntls, either becaufe he thought it in- curable, or becaufe it mcreafed his attention. He ftudied alfo the arts of drawing, of furveying lands, and of building; and in a fhort time he endeavoured to acquire a knowledge of thofe more fublime laws vliich regulate the univerfe. He fludied with great care the nature of barometers and thermo- meters ; and, in 1687, he prefented a new hygrofcope to the Royal Academy of Sciences, which was very much approved. He communicated to Hubin, a famous enamellcr, fome thoughts he had conceived, concerning new barometers and thermometers ; but Hubin had prevented him in fome of his thought?, and did not much regard the reft, till he made a 207 voyage
 * ' in the firit place, Andrew Ammoniua ol Lucca : good
 * ' years of age : the lofs of whom I cannot but lament, as