| Title: | Letter from Baltimore [U.S.], to The Belfast Mercury |
|---|---|
| ID | 4001 |
| Collection | Irish Emigration Database |
| File | 1871-80/17 |
| Year | 1875 |
| Sender | unknown |
| Sender Gender | unknown |
| Sender Occupation | unknown |
| Sender Religion | unknown |
| Origin | Baltimore, Maryland, USA |
| Destination | Belfast, N.Ireland |
| Recipient | The Belfast Mercury |
| Recipient Gender | unknown |
| Relationship | re a measuring instrument invented by a James Diam |
| Source | The Belfast Mercury, no.96, vol.II, 1 July 1875, p.3, c.1. |
| Archive | The Linenhall Library, N. Ireland. |
| Doc. No. | 9406039 |
| Date | 19/04/1875 |
| Partial Date | |
| Doc. Type | EMG |
| Log | Document added by LT, 13:05:1994. |
| Word Count | 286 |
| Genre | |
| Note | |
| Transcript | Extract of a letter from Baltimore April 19 "By a gentleman from Somerset county, we are informed that the ingenious, Mr James Diamond, architect in the county afore said, has invented and brought into practise, an instrument so curiously calculated, as to determine the right line, distance, bearing and magnitude of any object by sight only, whether accessible or inaccessible, without change of place or station, by a method entirely new. The utility of such an instrument, must be highly acceptable to those who are practitioners in gunnery, navigation, surveying, etc., when it is considered, that the application is adopted to the meanest capacity. What renders this invention the more extraordinary is, that the most distant hint of the principle on which it is calculated, is not to be met within Euclid, or any other ancient or modern authors, which is no small honour to the inventor, and to this country in general." It is mentioned as an absolute fact, that the instrument of perspective, so much the theme of conversation in America, and invented by Mr James Diamond, which our correspondent saw; was shown to the Dublin Society for their patronage and afterwards to that of London; but as this man had no immediate friend to recommend him, his merit, which from the nature of the machine is now universally allowed, sunk into obsscurity. Mr Diamond is a native of this neighbourhood and was formerly in the employment of the late Lord Dungannon, as principal carpenter, at Belvoir; he afterwards stood as an unsuccessful candidate (in conjunction with Mr John Rabb) for undertaking the building of our poor-house, but English interest pervailed against native merit, and Mr Ed. Foote was voted architect. The consequence was, that both those valuable persons emigrated to America. |
