be communicated to the Royal society. Meanwhile, John Hadley, then vice-president of the society, had presented a paper in May. 1731, which had been inserted in the "Philosophical Transactions" of that year, describing a reflecting quadrant of the same character, which he claimed as his own. It was decided that both were entitled to the honor of the invention, although statements were made showing how the invention of Godfrey might have become known to Hadley. The society sent to Godfrey, as his reward, household furniture to the value of £200, instead of money, on account of his habits of intemperance. Benjamin Franklin resided in the same house with Godfrey, and says that, like most great mathematicians whom he had met, he was not a pleasant companion, since he expected universal precision in everything said, and was perpetually denying or distinguisiiing on trifles, to the disturbance of all conversation. — His son. Thomas, poet, b. in Philadelphia. Pa., 4 Dec, 1786 ; d. near Wilmington, N. C., 3 Aug., 1763, received a fair education in his mother-tongue, and was apprenticed to a watchmaker. In 1758 he obtained a lieutenant's commission in the provincial forces raised for an expedition against Fort Duquesne. On the disband- ing of the troops, he went to North Carolina and accepted an appointment of purchasing agent, remaining so occupied for three years. His employer dying, he returned to Philadelphia, and then sailed to New Providence as a supercargo. He set out to return by way of North Carolina, but contracted a fever, from the effects of which he died. While in North Carolina he wrote the tragedy of '"The Prince of Parthia," which was offered to a company performing in Philadelphia in 1759. This is regarded as the first dramatic work written in this country. His early contributions to the " American Magazine," published in Philadelphia, showed poetic talent, and he subsequently published "The Court of Fancy, a Poem" (Philadelphia, 1763), modelled somewhat upon Chaucer's "House of Fame." A volume of his poems, with an "Account of T. Godfrey," was published by his friend, Nathaniel P]vans, in 1767.
GODIN, Louis (go-deen'), French astronomer,
b. in Paris, 28 Feb., 1704; d. in Cadiz, Spain, 11
Sept., 1760. He was graduated at the College of
Louis le Grand, and studied astronomy under
Delisle. His astronomical tables (1724) gave him
reputation, and the academy elected him a
pensionary member. He was commissioned to write a
continuation of the history of the academy, left
uncompleted by Fontanelle, and was also authorized
to submit to the minister, Cardinal Fleury, the best
means of discovering the truth in regard to the
figure of the earth, and proposed sending expeditions
to the equator and the polar sea. The minister
approved the plan and appropriated the necessary
means, the academy designating La Condamine,
Bouguer, and Godin to go to Peru in 1734. The
expedition sailed from Rochelle, 16 May, 1735,
touched at Cadiz to take two naval lieutenants,
whom Philip V. had ordered to accompany it, and
proceeded to Santo Domingo, where they remained
six months to take observations. They arrived in
Quito in February, 1736, immediately crossed the
Andes to establish their stations in the interior,
and remained two years. When they had finished
their task in 1738, at the invitation of the viceroy
of Peru, Godin accepted the chair of mathematics
in Lima, where he also established a course of
astronomical lectures. When in 1746 an earthquake
destroyed the greater part of Lima, he took valuable
seismological observations, assisted the
sufferers,
and made plans by the use of which the new
buildings would be less exposed to danger from
renewed shocks. In 1751 he returned to Europe, but
found that he had been nearly forgotten, and
superseded as pensioner of the academy; and, as his
fortune had been lost in unfortunate speculations,
he accepted the presidency of the college for
midshipmen in Cadiz in 1752. During the earthquake
of Lisbon, 1755, which was distinctly felt at Cadiz,
he took observations and did much to allay the
apprehensions of the public, for which he was ennobled
by the king of Spain. In 1779 he was called
to Paris and reinstated as pensionary member of
the academy; but he died on his return to Cadiz.
He was the author of “Appendix aux tables
astronomiques de Lahire” (Paris, 1724); “Histoire de
l'académie des sciences, 1680 à '99” (11 vols., 1728);
“La connaissance des temps” (1730-'3); “El
temblor de tierra de Lima, sus causas, efectos y
consecuencias” (Lima, 1748); “Curso de matemáticas
para el uso de mis discípulos” (1750); “Observations
astronomiques au Perou” (2 vols., Paris, 1752);
“Des tremblements de terre en général, de ceux
de Lima et Lisbonne en particulier” (1753); and
“Les possessions Espagnoles dans l'Amérique du
Sud; le Perou, son histoire, ses richesses, et mæurs
de ses habitants” (1755). — His cousin, Jean Godin
des Odonais, French naturalist, b. in St. Amand,
Cher, France, in 1712; d. there in 1792, embarked
in 1735 with the expedition for measuring a degree
on the equator. To be distinguished from his relative
Godin, he added to his surname that of his
mother, Odonais. When the commission returned
to France, Godin des Odonais became professor of
astronomy and natural science at the College of
Quito, 1739. At the same time he studied the
Indian languages and the flora of Ecuador, and when,
in 1743, a marriage with an heiress gave him the
means, he resigned his chair and gave his whole
time to natural science and the Indian language.
He explored Ecuador and the northern provinces
of Peru, and collected an herbarium containing
more than 4,000 species of plants. He also made
drawings of over 800 species of animals. Having lost
the greater part of his wife's dowry in speculations,
he resolved to try his fortune in Cayenne, where he
arrived in May, 1750, and settled on the banks of
the river Oyapok. For fifteen years he explored
Cayenne and the Brazilian Guiana, north of the
Amazon, and collected nearly 7,000 species of
plants. From 1765 till 1773 he explored the Amazon.
In the latter year he finally returned to
France, and settled on his estate of St. Amand.
He gave his botanical collections to the museum of
natural history, where they are still preserved. In
1784 he was elected a member of the Academy of
science, and he labored thenceforth to arrange the
notes taken during the many years of his explorations,
and published “Flore raisonnée du Perou,
comprenant 4,000 espèces, dont plus de 1,500
nouvelles” (6 vols., Paris, 1776, with two volumes of
illustrations containing over 750 plates); “Les
plantes de la Guyane” (1777); “Faune du Perou”
(4 vols., 1778, with two volumes of illustrations);
“Plan de navigation libre de l'Amazone, dedié au
Duc de Choiseul” (1779); “Flore de la Guyane,
explication de l'herbier déposé au museum d'histoire
naturelle” (5 vols., 1779), with three volumes
of illustrations); “Flore de l'Amazone, explication,
etc.” (4 vols., 1780, with one volume of illustrations);
“Grammaire de la langue Quichua ou des
Incas” (1782); “Dictionnaire de la langue Quichua” (1782); “Vocabulaire des dialectes Indiens
de la Guyane” (1783); and “Grammaire
comparée des langues Indiennes de l'Amérique du
