A discourse on the theory of gunnery. : Delivered at the anniversary meeting of the Royal society, November 30, 1778. / By Sir John Pringle, baronet. Published by their order.

  • John Pringle
Date:
1778
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A discourse on the theory of gunnery. : Delivered at the anniversary meeting of the Royal society, November 30, 1778. / By Sir John Pringle, baronet. Published by their order. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    ing bodies: a difcovery referved for the next century, and for Galileo^, one of the greateft ornaments of it. It was he who firft inveftigated the effects of gravity on falling bodies, and upon that foundation demon¬ strated, that all projectiles would move in a parabola in a non-refifting medium. And as he made little account of the refiftance of the air, whofe properties were then imperfectly known, he proved that a ball Shot horizon¬ tally would, in its flight, defcribe half a parabola; and when the piece had an elevation above the horizon, the ball would defcribe a whole parabola, fuppofing it to fall on the plane of the battery. ]By the fame method of reafoning he Shewed, that whatever the ranges of the projected body, or the elevations of the piece were, the ball would ftill trace that curve line, of a greater or lefler amplitude, by the time it defcended to the level of the place from whence it came. Thus far went Galileo, confining his projections to the horizontal plane of the battery; but Torricelli (g) He was born in the year 1564 j but few if any of his works were pub- liflied till after the year 1600, and his dialogues on motion not before 1638. his