Some time prior to this event, old Mr. Rittenhouse, having previously made his son David the proprietor of the Norriton farm, removed with his family to the house he had built[103] on his place in Worcester township, already mentioned; while the son’s family occupied the old place of residence: and here our Astronomer remained about four years after his marriage. It was during this period, that his reputation as an astronomer became eminently conspicuous;[104] his name acquired a celebrity even in the old world, of which his early but now much increased fame, in his native country, was a sure presage.[105] ----- Footnote 103: This was about the year 1764. Footnote 104: In the earlier part of this interval of time, and before he became more seriously engaged in those great works and researches, the construction of his Orrery, and the Observation of the Transit of Venus with the operations preparatory to it, which about that time engrossed his attention, he occasionally amused himself with matters rather speculative than practical: though he very seldom devoted any considerable portion of his time to things which he did not consider as being in some degree useful. The following is one of those instances in which his active mind was diverted from severer studies, to some objects of a more playful nature. In the year 1767, some ingenious country-gentleman published in Messrs. Hall and Sellers’s paper, under the signature of T.T. the result of calculations he had made on Archimedes’s famous vaunting assertion, Δος που στω, και την γην κινησω. Mr. Rittenhouse published, some short time after, calculations (or rather the result of calculations) of his own, on the same problem. This appeared in a piece under the signature of “_A Mechanic_,” dated the 8th of October, 1767: and a reply to it, by T. T. dated October the 29th, appeared in the same paper. These little speculations will be found in the Appendix. It is not improbable that Mr. Rittenhouse, under the disguise of “A Mechanic,” appeared in print on this occasion, for the purpose of drawing the attention of ingenious men to subjects of this nature. Footnote 105: It was between the years 1766 and 1770—the interval of time above mentioned,—that the two important circumstances occurred, which gave great celebrity to the reputation of Mr. Rittenhouse, as an astronomer: these were the Construction of the Orrery invented by him, and the admirable result of his observations of the Transit of Venus, as published in the Philosophical Society’s Transactions.