| RefNo | MS/82/1 |
| Level | Item |
| Title | Letter from Brook Taylor to [John Keill]; dated at Bifrons House, Kent |
| Date | 15 July 1712 |
| Description | Addressed to the Squire coffeehouse, Grays Inn.
Brook Taylor compliments Keill on obtaining the Savilian Professorship of Astronomy at Oxford; provides further demonstration on the centre of oscillations, including figures and algebraic expressions; sends his resolution of a problem of refractions to find the curvature of a ray of light through the atmosphere including figures and equations but does not include full series adding "please you may give these series to somebody that has leisure and patience to have the tabled filled up; for calculations give me no manner of diversion, and besides, I cannot spare time enough from my other studies". [A full version of Taylor's demonstration on the centre of oscillation is published in the Philosophical Transactions, vol. 28, p.11.]
Sends regards to Sir Is[aac] N[ewton] and Dr [Edmund] Halley, if Keill sees fit, the demonstrations can be shared with them. Looking forward to hearing what [John] Machin has done with the problem of refraction.
Aseparate flyleaf to the letter, which was used as the envelope, contains a shorter earlier version of the demonstration on the centre of oscillation dated "Friday morning".
Later handwriting [likely William Young FRS] on the envelope notes the content of the demonstration and connection with the Philosophical Transaction article. |
| Extent | 4pp. |
| Format | Manuscript |
| PhysicalDescription | Ink on paper |
| AccessStatus | Open |
| RelatedMaterial | DOI: 10.1098/rstl.1713.0002 |
Fellows associated with this archive
| Code | PersonName | Dates |
| NA6093 | Taylor; Brook (1685 - 1731) | 1685 - 1731 |
| NA5348 | Keill; John (1671 - 1721); mathematician; natural philosopher | 1671 - 1721 |