The second piece of evidence is even more slender; it consists of an inscription upon a dialing rule (fig. 1) for making sundials and charts. The instrument is of cast brass, 20-7/16 inches long and 1-11/16 inches wide. The date "1674" is inscribed on the rule together with the name of its original owner, "Arthur Willis." The instrument almost certainly was produced by the school of Henry Sutton, the notable English instrument maker who worked in Threadneedle Street in London from about 1637 through 1665. The name and date inscriptions are consistent and contemporary with the workmanship of the rule, and were probably inscribed by the maker for the original owner. It is conceivable that Arthur Willis was an Englishman and that the rule was brought into this country even in relatively recent times. However, it is claimed that the rule was owned and used by Nathaniel Footes, surveyor of Springfield, Massachusetts. Nathaniel Footes, believed to have been originally from Salem, subsequently moved from Springfield to Wethersfield, Conn. The instrument was later owned and used in Connecticut not later than the early 19th century[3] by the forbears of Mr. Newton C. Brainard of Hartford, Connecticut. If records relating to Willis as a resident of the New England colonies can be recovered, it may then be possible to establish whether he worked in the Colonies as a mathematical practitioner in the 17th century. His name is included on a tentative basis. [Illustration: Figure 1.--Dialing rule made of brass and inscribed with the name "Arthur Willis" and the date "1674." Allegedly used by Nathaniel Footes, surveyor of Springfield, Massachusetts. Photo courtesy Newton C. Brainard, Hartford, Connecticut, and the Connecticut Historical Society.] The Need for Instruments The production and use of scientific instruments in the American Colonies reflected colonial development in education and in territorial and economic expansion, and closely paralleled the same development in England, where the first mathematical practitioners were the teachers of navigational and commercial arithmetic and the surveyors employed in the redistribution of land following the dissolution of the monasteries. As the communities became established and the settlers gained a foothold on the soil, their attention naturally turned to improving their lot by expanding the land under cultivation and by trading their products for other needs. The growth of the communities became increasingly rapid from the end of the 17th century, and the land expansion closely paralleled the development of trade. The educational institutions placed greater emphasis on the sciences as their curriculums developed. Particularly there was a greater preoccupation with the sciences on the part of the layman because of the need for knowledge of surveying and navigation.