Language in Emerson's Self-reliance essay

[Turtle]

Originally Posted by Theory5

Sorry for the typo.
But is this a phrase that was common(as it is today)?
Emerson Wasn't a scientist was he?

So I further researched my assertion that the term "computer" was common in the 1800's, and found it affirmed. Bolding is my emphasis.

Online Encyclopedia and Dictionary - Computer

Over the years there have been several slightly different meanings to the word computer, and several different words for the thing we now usually call a computer.

For instance "computer" was once commonly used to mean a person employed to do arithmetic calculations, with or without mechanical aids. According to the Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, the word came into use in English in 1646 as a word for a "person who computes" and then by 1897 also for a mechanical calculating machine. ...