Page:The Construction of the Wonderful Canon of Logarithms.djvu/15



John Napier was the eldest son of Archibald Napier and Janet Bothwell. He was born at Merchiston, near Edinburgh, in 1550, when his father could have been little more than sixteen.

Two months previous to the death of his mother, which occurred on 20th December 1563, he matriculated as a student of St Salvator’s College, St Andrews, While there, his mind was specially directed to the study and searching out of the mysteries of the Apocalypse, the result of which appeared thirty years later in his first published work, ‘A plaine discovery of the whole Revelation of St John.’

Had he continued at St Andrews, his name would naturally have appeared in the list of determinants for 1566 and of masters of arts for 1568. It is not, however, found with the names of the students who entered college along with him, so that he is believed to have left