Abstract
FEW of those who use scientific instruments realise the important part which Great Britain has played in their development; although not written at all from this point of view, it is easy to see from Dr. Gunther's book many examples of the contributions of the British makers and men of science. He points out, for example, that among nautical instruments, the backstaff, which was a great improvement on the fore-staff for the determination of the sun's altitude, was invented by an English captain, John Davis, in 1590, to avoid having to look directly at the sun; then there were the improved quadrants of Edmund Gunter of Oxford, and of Sisson; lastly, the reflecting octants of Newton and Hadley—the immediate predecessors of the modern sextant.
Historic Instruments for the Advancement of Science: a Handbook to the Oxford Collections prepared for the opening of the Lewis Evans Collection on May 5, 1925.
By R. T. Gunther. Pp. iv + 90. (London: Oxford University Press, 1925.) 2s. 6d. net.
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Historic Instruments for the Advancement of Science: a Handbook to the Oxford Collections prepared for the opening of the Lewis Evans Collection on May 5, 1925 . Nature 116, 493–494 (1925). https://doi.org/10.1038/116493a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/116493a0
