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/244

 2 oS A M O N T O N S. Fontenellf> voyage into England, where the fame thoughts were men- k' ft> et tioned to him by fome fellows of the Royal Society. Amon- 1'Acad. des tons found out a method to acquaint people at a great dif- Sciences, tance, in a very little time, with whatever one pleafed. The method was as follows : Let there be people placed in fcveral ftations, at fuch a diftancefrom one another, that by the help of a telefcope a man in one ftation may fee a fignal made in the next before him ; he muft immediately make the fame fignal, that it may be feen by perfons in the ftation next af- ter him, who is to communicate it to thofe in the following ftation, and fo on. Thefe fignals may be as letters of the al- phabet, or as a cypher, undetftood only by the two perfons who are in the tiiftant places, and not by thcfe who make the fignals. The perfon in the fecond ftation making the fignal to the perfon in the third the very moment he fees it in the firft, the news may be carried to the greateft diftance in as little time as is necefTary to make the fignals in the firft fta- tion. The diftance of the feveral ftations, which muft be as few as poflible, is meafured by the reach of a telefcope. Amontons tried this method in a fmall tract of land, before feveral perfons of the higheft rank at the court of France. In 1695, he publifhed a book intituled, " Remarques etexpe- " riences phyfiques fur la conftrudiion d'une nouvelle clep- 4t fydre, furies barometres, thermometres, et hygrometres ;" and this is the only book he wrote, befides the pieces which we have of him in the Journal des Scavans. Though the hour-glafles made with water, fo much in ufe amongft the ancients, be entirely laid afide, becaufe the clocks and watches are much more ufefu!, yet Amontons took a great deal of pains in making his new hour-glafs, in hopes that it might ferve at fea, as being made in fuch a manner, that the mod violent motion could not alter its regularity; whereas a great agitation infallibly diforders a clock or watch. When the Royal Academy was new regulated in 1699, Amontons was admitted a member of if, and read there his 4< New Theory of Friction," in which he happily cleared up a very important part of mechanics. He had a particular genius for making experiments : his notions were delicate and juft: he knew how to prevent the inconveniences of his new inven- tions, and had a wonderful fkill in executing them. He en- joyed a perfect health, and, as he led a regular life, was not fubjecl: to the leaft infirmity ; but was fudden.v feized with an inflammation in his bowels, wh en foon muitifying, occa- fjoned his death, upon the nth of C '>ir, 1705. AMORY