na'pe-er, (1550-1617), a Scottish mathematician, the inventor of logarithms. He came of an ancient Scottish family. He was educated at the University of St. Andrews. He took a prominent part in the stir of the Scottish Reformation. He was a most inventive man. He interested himself in devising a burning glass with which he hoped to set fire to the works of the enemy. He also devised a piece of artillery that swung on a pivot, so as to destroy everything within a certain arc. A contemporary humorously states that it was tried on a Scottish plain, with the slaughter of many cattle and sheep. His great work, however, was the devising of a table of logarithms or indices designed to reduce the labor of multiplying and dividing large numbers. It was published in 1614. The computation of a table of logarithms as devised by Napier is a work of enormous labor, but, once completed, it saves the student time. The numbers are arranged in a list. Each is accompanied by a second known as its logarithm. To find the product of any two numbers a student adds their logarithms. The number in the table corresponding to the logarithm thus found is the product required. To find the quotient of any two numbers the student subtracts the logarithm of the divisor from the logarithm of the dividend. The number in the table corresponding to the logarithm thus found is the required quotient. The logarithmic table is based on decimals. The publication of his tables created a sensation in the mathematical world. Henry Briggs, an eminent English mathematician, journeyed to Edinburgh to see so eminent a man. When introduced they sat silently, so the account runs, for a quarter of an hour, each looking at the other with admiration. "My lord," began Mr. Briggs, "I have undertaken this long journey purposely to see your person and to know by what engine of wit or ingenuity you came first to think of that most excellent help unto astronomers, viz., the logarithms; but, my lord, being by you found out, I wonder nobody else found it out before, when now known it is so easy." The friendship thus begun was continued throughout life. Briggs assisted Napier by important suggestions and by extending the table.