BARLOW

barlow, peter (1776-1862), english writer on pure and applied mathematics, was born at norwich in 1776 and died on the 1st of march 1862. in 1806 he was appointed mathematical master in the woolwich academy, and filled that post for forty-one years. in 1823 he was made a fellow of the royal society, and two years later received the copley medal. steam locomotion received much attention at his hands, and he sat on the railway commissions of 1836, 1839, 1842, 1845. he received many distinctions from british and foreign scientific societies. barlow's principal works are--_elementary investigation of the theory of numbers_ (1811); _new mathematical and philosophical dictionary_ (1814); _essay on magnetic attractions_ (1820). the investigations on magnetism led to the important practical discovery of a means of rectifying or compensating compass errors in ships. besides compiling numerous useful tables, he contributed largely to the _encyclopaedia metropolitana_. barm (a word common to teutonic languages), the scum formed on the top of malt liquor when fermenting; yeast used to leaven bread, or to set up fermentation in liquor.