Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 2).djvu/703

Rh be communicated to the Royal society. Meanwhile, John Hadley, then vice-president of the society, had presented a paper in May. 1731, which had been inserted in the "Philosophical Transactions" of that year, describing a reflecting quadrant of the same character, which he claimed as his own. It was decided that both were entitled to the honor of the invention, although statements were made showing how the invention of Godfrey might have become known to Hadley. The society sent to Godfrey, as his reward, household furniture to the value of £200, instead of money, on account of his habits of intemperance. Benjamin Franklin resided in the same house with Godfrey, and says that, like most great mathematicians whom he had met, he was not a pleasant companion, since he expected universal precision in everything said, and was perpetually denying or distinguisiiing on trifles, to the disturbance of all conversation. — His son. Thomas, poet, b. in Philadelphia. Pa., 4 Dec, 1786 ; d. near Wilmington, N. C., 3 Aug., 1763, received a fair education in his mother-tongue, and was apprenticed to a watchmaker. In 1758 he obtained a lieutenant's commission in the provincial forces raised for an expedition against Fort Duquesne. On the disband- ing of the troops, he went to North Carolina and accepted an appointment of purchasing agent, remaining so occupied for three years. His employer dying, he returned to Philadelphia, and then sailed to New Providence as a supercargo. He set out to return by way of North Carolina, but contracted a fever, from the effects of which he died. While in North Carolina he wrote the tragedy of '"The Prince of Parthia," which was offered to a company performing in Philadelphia in 1759. This is regarded as the first dramatic work written in this country. His early contributions to the " American Magazine," published in Philadelphia, showed poetic talent, and he subsequently published "The Court of Fancy, a Poem" (Philadelphia, 1763), modelled somewhat upon Chaucer's "House of Fame." A volume of his poems, with an "Account of T. Godfrey," was published by his friend, Nathaniel P]vans, in 1767.

GODIN, Louis (go-deen'), French astronomer, b. in Paris, 28 Feb., 1704; d. in Cadiz, Spain, 11 Sept., 1760. He was graduated at the College of Louis le Grand, and studied astronomy under Delisle. His astronomical tables (1724) gave him reputation, and the academy elected him a pensionary member. He was commissioned to write a continuation of the history of the academy, left uncompleted by Fontanelle, and was also authorized to submit to the minister, Cardinal Fleury, the best means of discovering the truth in regard to the figure of the earth, and proposed sending expeditions to the equator and the polar sea. The minister approved the plan and appropriated the necessary means, the academy designating La Condamine, Bouguer, and Godin to go to Peru in 1734. The expedition sailed from Rochelle, 16 May, 1735, touched at Cadiz to take two naval lieutenants, whom Philip V. had ordered to accompany it, and proceeded to Santo Domingo, where they remained six months to take observations. They arrived in Quito in February, 1736, immediately crossed the Andes to establish their stations in the interior, and remained two years. When they had finished their task in 1738, at the invitation of the viceroy of Peru, Godin accepted the chair of mathematics in Lima, where he also established a course of astronomical lectures. When in 1746 an earthquake destroyed the greater part of Lima, he took valuable seismological observations, assisted the sufferers, and made plans by the use of which the new buildings would be less exposed to danger from renewed shocks. In 1751 he returned to Europe, but found that he had been nearly forgotten, and superseded as pensioner of the academy; and, as his fortune had been lost in unfortunate speculations, he accepted the presidency of the college for midshipmen in Cadiz in 1752. During the earthquake of Lisbon, 1755, which was distinctly felt at Cadiz, he took observations and did much to allay the apprehensions of the public, for which he was ennobled by the king of Spain. In 1779 he was called to Paris and reinstated as pensionary member of the academy; but he died on his return to Cadiz. He was the author of &ldquo;Appendix aux tables astronomiques de Lahire&rdquo; (Paris, 1724); &ldquo;Histoire de l'académie des sciences, 1680 à '99&rdquo; (11 vols., 1728); &ldquo;La connaissance des temps&rdquo; (1730-'3); &ldquo;El temblor de tierra de Lima, sus causas, efectos y consecuencias&rdquo; (Lima, 1748); &ldquo;Curso de matemáticas para el uso de mis discípulos&rdquo; (1750); &ldquo;Observations astronomiques au Perou&rdquo; (2 vols., Paris, 1752); &ldquo;Des tremblements de terre en général, de ceux de Lima et Lisbonne en particulier&rdquo; (1753); and &ldquo;Les possessions Espagnoles dans l'Amérique du Sud; le Perou, son histoire, ses richesses, et mæurs de ses habitants&rdquo; (1755). &mdash; His cousin, Jean Godin des Odonais, French naturalist, b. in St. Amand, Cher, France, in 1712; d. there in 1792, embarked in 1735 with the expedition for measuring a degree on the equator. To be distinguished from his relative Godin, he added to his surname that of his mother, Odonais. When the commission returned to France, Godin des Odonais became professor of astronomy and natural science at the College of Quito, 1739. At the same time he studied the Indian languages and the flora of Ecuador, and when, in 1743, a marriage with an heiress gave him the means, he resigned his chair and gave his whole time to natural science and the Indian language. He explored Ecuador and the northern provinces of Peru, and collected an herbarium containing more than 4,000 species of plants. He also made drawings of over 800 species of animals. Having lost the greater part of his wife's dowry in speculations, he resolved to try his fortune in Cayenne, where he arrived in May, 1750, and settled on the banks of the river Oyapok. For fifteen years he explored Cayenne and the Brazilian Guiana, north of the Amazon, and collected nearly 7,000 species of plants. From 1765 till 1773 he explored the Amazon. In the latter year he finally returned to France, and settled on his estate of St. Amand. He gave his botanical collections to the museum of natural history, where they are still preserved. In 1784 he was elected a member of the Academy of science, and he labored thenceforth to arrange the notes taken during the many years of his explorations, and published &ldquo;Flore raisonnée du Perou, comprenant 4,000 espèces, dont plus de 1,500 nouvelles&rdquo; (6 vols., Paris, 1776, with two volumes of illustrations containing over 750 plates); &ldquo;Les plantes de la Guyane&rdquo; (1777); &ldquo;Faune du Perou&rdquo; (4 vols., 1778, with two volumes of illustrations); &ldquo;Plan de navigation libre de l'Amazone, dedié au Duc de Choiseul&rdquo; (1779); &ldquo;Flore de la Guyane, explication de l'herbier déposé au museum d'histoire naturelle&rdquo; (5 vols., 1779), with three volumes of illustrations); &ldquo;Flore de l'Amazone, explication, etc.&rdquo; (4 vols., 1780, with one volume of illustrations); &ldquo;Grammaire de la langue Quichua ou des Incas&rdquo; (1782); &ldquo;Dictionnaire de la langue Quichua&rdquo; (1782); &ldquo;Vocabulaire des dialectes Indiens de la Guyane&rdquo; (1783); and &ldquo;Grammaire comparée des langues Indiennes de l'Amérique du