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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 02:26:43 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 02:26:43 -0700 |
| commit | eae7d4b656d5542e2434b68093fa54684fcdd0cd (patch) | |
| tree | 4944e5cae61663c1bfc0afb4b62ceabf72bb5261 | |
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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/26408-8.txt b/26408-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..eb1b66f --- /dev/null +++ b/26408-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,15495 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, A Budget of Paradoxes, Volume II (of II), by +Augustus de Morgan, Edited by David Eugene Smith + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: A Budget of Paradoxes, Volume II (of II) + + +Author: Augustus de Morgan + +Editor: David Eugene Smith + +Release Date: August 23, 2008 [eBook #26408] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A BUDGET OF PARADOXES, VOLUME II +(OF II)*** + + +E-text prepared by David Starner, Keith Edkins, and the Project Gutenberg +Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) + + + +Transcriber's note: + + A few typographical errors have been corrected: they are + listed at the end of the text. + + In mathematical formulae the carat (^) and underscore (_) + introduce superscripts or subscripts respectively, of one + character or a group enclosed in curly braces ({xyz}). + Elsewhere underscores delimit italics in the text, and + braces enclose the original page numbers thus {123}. + + + + + +BY AUGUSTUS DE MORGAN + +A BUDGET OF +PARADOXES + +REPRINTED WITH THE AUTHOR'S ADDITIONS FROM THE ATHENAEUM + +SECOND EDITION EDITED BY DAVID EUGENE SMITH + +WITH A NEW INTRODUCTION BY ERNEST NAGEL + +PROFESSOR OF PHILOSOPHY, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY + +UNABRIDGED EDITION--TWO VOLUMES BOUND AS ONE + +Volume II + + + + + + + +DOVER PUBLICATIONS, INC., NEW YORK + + * * * * * + +_This new Dover Edition, published in 1954, +is an unabridged republication of the Second Edition +of 1915, with a new introduction by Professor Ernest Nagel._ + +_Copyright 1954 by Dover Publications, Inc. +Manufactured in the United States of America_ + + * * * * * + + +{1} + +A BUDGET OF PARADOXES. + +VOLUME II. + +ON SOME PHILOSOPHICAL ATHEISTS. + +With the general run of the philosophical atheists of the last century the +notion of a God was an hypothesis. There was left an admitted possibility +that the vague somewhat which went by more names than one, might be +personal, intelligent, and superintendent. In the works of Laplace,[1] who +is sometimes called an atheist from his writings, there is nothing from +which such an inference can be drawn: unless indeed a Reverend Fellow of +the Royal Society may be held to be the fool who said in his heart, etc., +etc., if his contributions to the _Philosophical Transactions_ go no higher +than _nature_. The following anecdote is well known in Paris, but has never +been printed entire. Laplace once went in form to present some edition of +his "Système du Monde" to the First Consul, or Emperor. Napoleon, whom some +wags had told that this book contained no mention of the name of God, and +who was fond of putting embarrassing questions, received it with--"M. +Laplace, they tell me you have written this large book on the system of the +universe, and have never even mentioned its Creator." Laplace, who, though +the most supple of politicians, was as stiff as a martyr on every point of +his philosophy or religion (e. g., even under Charles X he never concealed +his dislike of the priests), drew himself up and answered {2} bluntly, "Je +n'avais pas besoin de cette hypothèse-là."[2] Napoleon, greatly amused, +told this reply to Lagrange, who exclaimed, "Ah! c'est une belle hypothèse; +ça explique beaucoup de choses."[3] + +It is commonly said that the last words of Laplace were, "Ce que nous +connaissons est peu de chose; ce que nous ignorons est immense."[4] This +looks like a parody on Newton's pebbles:[5] the following is the true +account; it comes to me through one remove from Poisson.[6] After the +publication (in 1825) of the fifth volume of the _Mécanique Céleste_, +Laplace became gradually weaker, and with it musing and abstracted. He +thought much on the great problems of existence, and often muttered to +himself, _Qu'est ce que c'est que tout cela!_[7] After many alternations, +he appeared at last so permanently prostrated that his family applied to +his favorite pupil, M. Poisson, to try to get a word from him. Poisson paid +a visit, and after a few words of salutation, said, "J'ai une bonne +nouvelle à vous annoncer: on a reçu au Bureau des Longitudes une lettre +d'Allemagne annonçant que M. Bessel a vérifié par l'observation vos +découvertes théoriques sur les satellites de Jupiter."[8] Laplace opened +his eyes and answered with deep {3} gravity, "_L'homme ne poursuit que des +chimères_."[9] He never spoke again. His death took place March 5, 1827. + +The language used by the two great geometers illustrates what I have said: +a supreme and guiding intelligence--apart from a blind rule called _nature +of things_--was an _hypothesis_. The absolute denial of such a ruling power +was not in the plan of the higher philosophers: it was left for the smaller +fry. A round assertion of the non-existence of anything which stands in the +way is the refuge of a certain class of minds: but it succeeds only with +things subjective; the objective offers resistance. A philosopher of the +appropriative class tried it upon the constable who appropriated _him_: I +deny your existence, said he; Come along all the same, said the +unpsychological policeman. + +Euler[10] was a believer in God, downright and straightforward. The +following story is told by Thiébault,[11] in his _Souvenirs de vingt ans de +séjour à Berlin_,[12] published in his old age, about 1804. This volume was +fully received as trustworthy; and Marshall Mollendorff[13] told the Duc de +Bassano[14] in 1807 that it was the most veracious of books written by the +most honest of men. Thiébault says that he has no personal knowledge of the +truth of the story, but {4} that it was believed throughout the whole of +the north of Europe. Diderot[15] paid a visit to the Russian Court at the +invitation of the Empress. He conversed very freely, and gave the younger +members of the Court circle a good deal of lively atheism. The Empress was +much amused, but some of her councillors suggested that it might be +desirable to check these expositions of doctrine. The Empress did not like +to put a direct muzzle on her guest's tongue, so the following plot was +contrived. Diderot was informed that a learned mathematician was in +possession of an algebraical demonstration of the existence of God, and +would give it him before all the Court, if he desired to hear it. Diderot +gladly consented: though the name of the mathematician is not given, it was +Euler. He advanced towards Diderot, and said gravely, and in a tone of +perfect conviction: _Monsieur,_ (a + b^{n}) / n = x, _donc Dieu existe; +répondez!_[16] Diderot, to whom algebra was Hebrew, was embarrassed and +disconcerted; while peals of laughter rose on all sides. He asked +permission to return to France at once, which was granted. + + + +ROTATION OF THE MOON. + + An examination of the Astronomical doctrine of the Moon's rotation. By + J. L.[17] Edinburgh, 1847, 8vo. + +A systematic attack of the character afterwards made with less skill and +more notice by Mr. Jellinger Symons. + +July 1866, J. L. appears as Mr. James Laurie, with a new pamphlet "The +Astronomical doctrines of the Moon's rotation ..." Edinburgh. Of all the +works I have seen on the question, this is the most confident, and the +sorest. {5} A writer on astronomy said of Mr. Jellinger Symons,[18] "Of +course he convinced no one who knew anything of the subject." This +"ungenerous slur" on the speculator's memory appears to have been keenly +felt; but its truth is admitted. Those who knew anything of the subject are +"the so-called men of science," whose three P's were assailed; prestige, +pride, and prejudice: this the author tries to effect for himself with +three Q's; quibble, quirk, and quiddity. He explains that the Scribes and +Pharisees would not hear Jesus, and that the lordly bishop of Rome will not +cast his tiara and keys at the feet of the "humble presbyter" who now plays +the part of pope in Scotland. I do not know whom he means: but perhaps the +friends of the presbyter-pope may consider this an ungenerous slur. The +best proof of the astronomer is just such "as might have been expected from +the merest of blockheads"; but as the giver is of course not a blockhead, +this circumstance shows how deeply blinded by prejudice he must be. + +Of course the paradoxers do not persuade any persons who know their +subjects: and so these Scribes and Pharisees reject the Messiah. We must +suppose that the makers of this comparison are Christians: for if they +thought the Messiah an enthusiast or an impostor, they would be absurd in +comparing those who reject what they take for truth with others who once +rejected what they take for falsehood. And if Christians, they are both +irreverent and blind to all analogy. The Messiah, with His Divine mission +proved by miracles which all might see who chose to look, is degraded into +a prototype of James Laurie, ingeniously astronomizing upon ignorant +geometry and false logic, and comparing to blockheads those who expose his +nonsense. Their comparison is as foolish as--supposing {6} them +Christians--it is profane: but, like errors in general, its other end +points to truth. There were Pseudochrists and Antichrists; and a +Concordance would find the real forerunners of all the paradoxers. But they +are not so clever as the old false prophets: there are none of whom we +should be inclined to say that, if it were possible, they would deceive the +very educated. Not an Egyptian among them all can make uproar enough to +collect four thousand men that are murderers--of common sense--to lead out +into the wilderness. Nothing, says the motto of this work, is so difficult +to destroy as the errors and false facts propagated by illustrious men +whose words have authority. I deny it altogether. There are things much +more difficult to destroy: it is much more difficult to destroy the truths +and real facts supported by such men. And again, it is much more difficult +to prevent men of no authority from setting up false pretensions; and it is +much more difficult to destroy assertions of fancy speculation. Many an +error of thought and learning has fallen before a gradual growth of +thoughtful and learned opposition. But such things as the quadrature of the +circle, etc., are never put down. And why? Because thought can influence +thought, but thought cannot influence self-conceit: learning can annihilate +learning: but learning cannot annihilate ignorance. A sword may cut through +an iron bar; and the severed ends will not reunite: let it go through the +air, and the yielding substance is whole again in a moment. + + + + Miracles _versus_ Nature: being an application of certain propositions + in the theory of chances to the Christian miracles. By + Protimalethes.[19] Cambridge, 1847, 8vo. + +The theory, as may be supposed, is carried further than most students of +the subject would hold defensible. + +{7} + + + + An astronomical Lecture. By the Rev. R. Wilson.[20] Greenock, 1847, + 12mo. + +Against the moon's rotation on her axis. + + + + [Handed about in the streets in 1847: I quote the whole:] Important + discovery in astronomy, communicated to the Astronomer Royal, December + 21st, 1846. That the Sun revolve round the Planets in 25748-2/5 years, + in consequence of the combined attraction of the planets and their + satellites, and that the Earth revolve round the Moon in 18 years and + 228 days. D. T. GLAZIER [altered with a pen into GLAZION.] Price one + penny. + +1847. In the _United Service Magazine_ for September, 1847, Mrs. +Borron,[21] of Shrewsbury, published some remarks tending to impeach the +fact that Neptune, the planet found by Galle,[22] really was the planet +which Le Verrier and Adams[23] had a right to claim. This was followed +(September 14) by two pages, separately circulated, of "Further +Observations upon the Planets Neptune and Uranus, with a Theory of +Perturbations"; and (October 19, 1848) by three pages of "A Review of M. +Leverrier's Exposition." Several persons, when the remarkable discovery was +made, contended that the planet actually discovered was an intruder; and +the future histories of the discovery must contain some account of this +little afterpiece. Tim Linkinwater's theory that there is no place like +London for coincidences, would have been utterly overthrown in favor of +what they used to call the celestial spaces, if there had been a planet +which by chance was put {8} near the place assigned to Neptune at the time +when the discovery was made. + + + +EARLY IDEAS OF AVIATION. + + Aerial Navigation; containing a description of a proposed flying + machine, on a new principle. By Dædalus Britannicus. London, 1847, 8vo. + +In 1842-43 a Mr. Henson[24] had proposed what he called an aeronaut +steam-engine, and a Bill was brought in to incorporate an "Aerial Transit +Company." The present plan is altogether different, the moving power being +the explosion of mixed hydrogen and air. Nothing came of it--not even a +Bill. What the final destiny of the balloon may be no one knows: it may +reasonably be suspected that difficulties will at last be overcome. +Darwin,[25] in his "Botanic Garden" (1781), has the following prophecy: + + "Soon shall thy arm, unconquered Steam! afar + Drag the slow barge, or drive the rapid car; + Or, on wide-waving wings expanded, bear + The flying chariot through the fields of air." + +Darwin's contemporaries, no doubt, smiled pity on the poor man. It is worth +note that the two true prophecies have been fulfilled in a sense different +from that of the predictions. Darwin was thinking of the suggestion of +Jonathan Hulls,[26] when he spoke of dragging the slow barge: it is only +very recently that the steam-tug has been employed on the canals. The car +was to be driven, not drawn, and on the common roads. Perhaps, the flying +chariot will {9} be something of a character which we cannot imagine, even +with the two prophecies and their fulfilments to help us.[27] + + + +THE SECRET OF THE UNIVERSE DIVULGED. + + A book for the public. New Discovery. The causes of the circulation of + the blood; and the true nature of the planetary system. London, 1848, + 8vo. + +Light is the sustainer of motion both in the earth and in the blood. The +natural standard, the pulse of a person in health, four beats to one +respiration, gives the natural second, which is the measure of the earth's +progress in its daily revolution. The Greek fable of the Titans is an +elaborate exposition of the atomic theory: but any attempt to convince +learned classics would only meet their derision; so much does long-fostered +prejudice stand in the way of truth. The author complains bitterly that men +of science will not attend to him and others like him: he observes, that +"in the time occupied in declining, a man of science might test the +merits." This is, alas! too true; so well do applicants of this kind know +how to stick on. But every rule has its exception: I have heard of one. The +late Lord Spencer[28]--the Lord Althorp of the House of Commons--told me +that a speculator once got access to him at the Home Office, and was +proceeding to unfold his way of serving the public. "I do not understand +these things," said Lord Althorp, "but I happen to have ---- (naming an +eminent engineer) upstairs; suppose you talk to him on the subject." The +discoverer went up, and in half-an-hour returned, and said, "I am very much +obliged to your Lordship for introducing me to Mr. ----; he has convinced +me {10} that I am quite wrong." I supposed, when I heard the story--but it +would not have been seemly to say it--that Lord A. exhaled candor and +sense, which infected those who came within reach: he would have done so, +if anybody. + + + +THE TRISECTION AND QUADRATURE AGAIN. + + A method to trisect a series of angles having relation to each other; + also another to trisect any given angle. By James Sabben. 1848 (two + quarto pages). + +"The consequence of years of intense thought": very likely, and very sad. + +1848. The following was sent to me in manuscript. I give the whole of it: + +"_Quadrature of the Circle_.--A quadrant is a curvilinear angle traversing +round and at an equal distance from a given point, called a center, no two +points in the curve being at the same angle, but irreptitiously graduating +from 90 to 60. It is therefore a mean angle of 90 and 60, which is 75, +because it is more than 60, and less than 90, approximately from 60 to 90, +and from 90 to 60, with equal generation in each irreptitious +approximation, therefore meeting in 75, and which is the mean angle of the +quadrant. + +"Or suppose a line drawn from a given point at 90, and from the same point +at 60. Let each of these lines revolve on this point toward each other at +an equal ratio. They will become one line at 75, and bisect the curve, +which is one-sixth of the entire circle. The result, taking 16 as a +diameter, gives an area of 201.072400, and a circumference of 50.2681. + +"The original conception, its natural harmony, and the result, to my own +mind is a demonstrative truth, which I presume it right to make known, +though perhaps at the hazard of unpleasant if not uncourteous remarks." + +I have added punctuation: the handwriting and spelling {11} are those of an +educated person; the word _irreptitious_ is indubitable. The whole is a +natural curiosity. + + + + The quadrature and exact area of the circle demonstrated. By Wm. + Peters. 8vo. _n. d._ (circa 1848).[29] + + Suggestions as to the necessity for a revolution in philosophy; and + prospectus for the establishment of a new quarterly, to be called the + _Physical Philosopher and Heterodox Review_. By Q. E. D. 8vo. 1848. + +These works are by one author, who also published, as appears by +advertisement, + +"Newton rescued from the precipitancy of his followers through a century +and a half,"[30] and "Dangers along a coast by correcting (as it is called) +a ship's reckoning by bearings of the land at night fall, or in a fog, +nearly out of print. Subscriptions are requested for a new edition." + +The area of a circle is made four-fifths of the circumscribed square: +proved on an assumption which it is purposed to explain in a longer +essay.[31] The author, as Q. E. D., was in controversy with the _Athenæum_ +journal, and criticised a correspondent, D., who wrote against a certain +class of discoverers. He believed the common theories of hydrostatics to be +wrong, and one of his questions was: + +"Have you ever taken into account anent gravity and gravitation the fact +that a five grain cube of cork will of itself half sink in the water, +whilst it will take 20 grains of brass, which will sink of itself, to pull +under the other half? Fit this if you can, friend D., to your notions of +gravity and specific gravity, as applied to the construction of a universal +law of gravitation." + +This the _Athenæum_ published--but without some Italics, for which the +editor was sharply reproved, as a sufficient {12} specimen of the _quod +erat_ D. _monstrandum_: on which the author remarks--"D,--Wherefore the e +caret? is it D apostrophe? D', D'M, D'Mo, D'Monstrandum; we cannot find the +_wit_ of it." This I conjecture to contain an illusion to the name of the +supposed author; but whether De Mocritus, De Mosthenes, or De Moivre was +intended, I am not willing to decide. + + + + The Scriptural Calendar and Chronological Reformer, for the statute + year 1849. Including a review of recent publications on the Sabbath + question. London, 1849, 12mo.[32] + +This is the almanac of a sect of Christians who keep the Jewish Sabbath, +having a chapel at Mill Yard, Goodman's Fields. They wrote controversial +works, and perhaps do so still; but I never chanced to see one. + + + + Geometry _versus_ Algebra; or the trisection of an angle geometrically + solved. By W. Upton, B.A.[33] Bath (circa 1849). 8vo. + +The author published two tracts under this title, containing different +alleged proofs: but neither gives any notice of the change. Both contain +the same preface, complaining of the British Association for refusing to +examine the production. I suppose that the author, finding his first proof +wrong, invented the second, of which the Association never had the offer; +and, feeling sure that they would have equally refused to examine the +second, thought it justifiable to {13} present that second as the one which +they had refused. Mr. Upton has discovered that the common way of finding +the circumference is wrong, would set it right if he had leisure, and, in +the mean time, has solved the problem of the duplication of the cube. + +_The trisector of an angle, if he demand attention from any mathematician, +is bound to produce, from his construction, an expression for the sine or +cosine of the third part of any angle, in terms of the sine or cosine of +the angle itself, obtained by help of no higher than the square root._ The +mathematician knows that such a thing cannot be; but the trisector +virtually says it can be, and is bound to produce it, to save time. This is +the misfortune of most of the solvers of the celebrated problems, that they +have not knowledge enough to present those consequences of their results by +which they can be easily judged. Sometimes they have the knowledge and +quibble out of the use of it. In many cases a person makes an honest +beginning and presents what he is sure is a solution. By conference with +others he at last feels uneasy, fears the light, and puts self-love in the +way of it. Dishonesty sometimes follows. The speculators are, as a class, +very apt to imagine that the mathematicians are in fraudulent confederacy +against them: I ought rather to say that each one of them consents to the +mode in which the rest are treated, and fancies conspiracy against himself. +The mania of conspiracy is a very curious subject. I do not mean these +remarks to apply to the author before me. + +One of Mr. Upton's trisections, if true, would prove the truth of the +following equation: + + 3 cos ([theta] / 3) = 1 + [root](4 - sin^2[theta]) + +which is certainly false.[34] + +{14} + +In 1852 I examined a terrific construction, at the request of the late Dr. +Wallich,[35] who was anxious to persuade a poor countryman of his, that +trisection of the angle was waste of time. One of the principles was, that +"magnitude and direction determine each other." The construction was +equivalent to the assertion that, [theta] being any angle, the cosine of +its third part is + + sin 3[theta] . cos(5[theta]/2) + sin^2 [theta] sin (5[theta]/2) + +divided by the square root of + + sin^2 3[theta] . cos^2 (5[theta]/2) + sin^4 [theta] + sin 3[theta] . sin + 5[theta] . sin^2 [theta]. + +This is from my rough notes, and I believe it is correct.[36] It is so +nearly true, unless the angle be very obtuse, that common drawing, applied +to the construction, will not detect the error. There are many formulae of +this kind: and I have several times found a speculator who has discovered +the corresponding construction, has seen the approximate success of his +drawing--often as great as absolute truth could give in graphical +practice,--and has then set about his demonstration, in which he always +succeeds to his own content. + +There is a trisection of which I have lost both cutting and reference: I +think it is in the _United Service Journal_. I could not detect any error +in it, though certain there must {15} be one. At least I discovered that +two parts of the diagram were incompatible unless a certain point lay in +line with two others, by which the angle to be trisected--and which was +trisected--was bound to be either 0° or 180°. + +Aug. 22, 1866. Mr. Upton sticks to his subject. He has just published "The +Uptonian Trisection. Respectfully dedicated to the schoolmasters of the +United Kingdom." It seems to be a new attempt. He takes no notice of the +sentence I have put in italics: nor does he mention my notice of him, +unless he means to include me among those by whom he has been "ridiculed +and sneered at" or "branded as a brainless heretic." I did neither one nor +the other: I thought Mr. Upton a paradoxer to whom it was likely to be +worth while to propound the definite assertion now in italics; and Mr. +Upton does not find it convenient to take issue on the point. He prefers +general assertions about algebra. So long as he cannot meet algebra on the +above question, he may issue as many "respectful challenges" to the +mathematicians as he can find paper to write: he will meet with no +attention. + + + +There is one trisection which is of more importance than that of the angle. +It is easy to get half the paper on which you write for margin; or a +quarter; but very troublesome to get a third. Show us how, easily and +certainly, to fold the paper into three, and you will be a real benefactor +to society. + +Early in the century there was a Turkish trisector of the angle, Hussein +Effendi, who published two methods. He was the father of Ameen Bey, who was +well known in England thirty years ago as a most amiable and cultivated +gentleman and an excellent mathematician. He was then a student at +Cambridge; and he died, years ago, in command of the army in Syria. Hussein +Effendi was instructed in mathematics by Ingliz Selim Effendi, who +translated a work {16} of Bonnycastle[37] into Turkish.[38] This Englishman +was Richard Baily, brother of Francis Baily[39] the astronomer, who +emigrated to Turkey in his youth, and adopted the manners of the Turks, but +whether their religion also I never heard, though I should suppose he did. + +I now give the letters from the agricultural laborer and his friend, +described on page 12, Vol. I. They are curiosities; and the history of the +quadrature can never be well written without some specimens of this kind: + +"Doctor Morgan, Sir. Permit me to address you + +"Brute Creation may perhaps enjoy the faculty of beholding visible things +with a more penitrating eye than ourselves. But Spiritual objects are as +far out of their reach as though they had no being + +"Nearest therefore to the brute Creation are those men who Suppose +themselves to be so far governed by external objects as to believe nothing +but what they See and feel And Can accomedate to their Shallow +understanding and Imaginations + +"My Dear Sir Let us all Consult ourselves by the wise proverb. + +"I believe that evry man^s merit & ability aught to be appreciated and +valued In proportion to its worth & utility + +"In whatever State or Circumstances they may fortunately or unfortunately +be placed + +"And happy it is for evry man to know his worth and place + +"When a Gentleman of your Standing in Society Clad with those honors Can +not understand or Solve a problem That is explicitly explained by words and +Letters and {17} mathematically operated by figuers He had best consult the +wise proverd + +"Do that which thou Canst understand and Comprehend for thy good. + +"I would recommend that Such Gentleman Change his business + +"And appropriate his time and attention to a Sunday School to Learn what he +Could and keep the Litle Children form durting their Close + +"With Sincere feelings of Gratitude for your weakness and Inability I am + + "Sir your Superior in Mathematics ----" + +"1849 June th29." + + + +"Dor Morgin Sir + +"I wrote and Sent my work to Professor ---- of ---- State of ---- United +States + +"I am now in the possession of the facts that he highly approves of my +work. And Says he will Insure me Reward in the States + +"I write this that you may understand that I have knowledge of the unfair +way that I am treated In my own nati County + +"I am told and have reasons to believe that it is the Clergy that treat me +so unjust. + +"I am not Desirous of heaping Disonors upon my own nation. But if I have to +Leave this kingdom without my Just dues. The world Shall know how I am and +have been treated. + + "I am Sir Desirous of my + "Just dues ----" + +"1849 July 3." + + + +"July 7th, 1849. + +"Sir, I have been given to understand that a friend of mine one whom I +shall never be ashamed to acknowledge as {18} such tho' lowly his origine; +nay not only not ashamed but proud of doing so for I am one of those who +esteem and respect a man according to his ability and probity, deeming with +Dr. Watts 'that the mind is the standard of the man,'[40] has laid before +you and asked your opinion of his extraordinary performance, viz. the +quadrature of the circle, he did this with the firmest belief that you +would not only treat the matter in a straightforward manner but with the +conviction that from your known or supposed knowledge of mathematicks would +have given an upright and honorable decision upon the subject; but the +question is have you done so? Could I say yes I would with the greatest of +pleasure and have congratulated you upon your decision whatever it might +have been but I am sorry to say that I cannot your letter is a paltry +evasion, you say 'that it is a great pity that you (Mr. ----) should have +attempted this (the quadrature of the circle) for your mathematical +knowledge is not sufficient to make you know in what the problem consists,' +you don't say in what it does consist _according to your ideas_, oh! no +nothing of the sort, you enter into no disquisition upon the subject in +order to show where you think Mr. ---- is wrong and why you have not is +simply--_because you cannot_--you know that he has done it and what is if I +am not wrongly informed _you have been heard to say so_. He has done what +you nor any other mathematician as those who call themselves such have +done. And what is the reason that you will not candidly acknowledge to him +as you have to others that he has squared the circle shall I tell you? it +is because he has performed the feat to obtain the glory of which +mathematicians have battled from time immemorial that they might encircle +their brows with a wreath of laurels far more glorious than ever conqueror +won it is simply this that it is a poor man a {19} humble artisan who has +gained that victory that you don't like to acknowledge it you don't like to +be beaten and worse to acknowledge that you have miscalculated, you have in +short too small a soul to acknowledge that he is right. + +"I was asked my opinion and _I_ gave it unhesitatingly in the affirmative +and I am backed in my opinion not only by Mr. ---- a mathematician and +watchmaker residing in the boro of Southwark but by no less an authority +than the Professor of mathematics of ---- College ---- ---- United States +Mr. ---- and I presume that he at least is your equal as an authority and +Mr. ---- says that the government of the U.S. will recompense M. D. for the +discovery he has made if so what a reflection upon Old england the boasted +land of freedom the nursery of arts and sciences that her sons are obliged +to go to a foreign country to obtain that recompense to which they are +justly entitled + +"In conclusion I had to contradict an assertion you made to the effect that +'there is not nor ever was any reward offered by the government of this +country for the discovery of the quadrature of the circle.' I beg to inform +you that there _was_ but that it having been deemed an impossibility the +government has withdrawn it. I do this upon no less an authority than the +Marquis of Northampton.[41] + + "I am, sir, yours ----" + +"Dr. Morgan." + + + +THE MOON'S ROTATION. + + Notes on the Kinematic Effects of Revolution and Rotation, with + reference to the Motions of the Moon and of the earth. By Henry + Perigal, Jun. Esq. London, 1846-1849, 8vo. + + On the misuse of technical terms. Ambiguity of the terms _Rotation_ and + _Revolution_, owing to the double meaning improperly {20} attributed to + each of the words. (No date nor place, but by Mr. Perigal,[42] I have + no doubt, and containing letters of 1849 and 1850.) + + The moon controversy. Facts _v._ Definitions. By H. P., Jun. London, + 1856, 8vo. (pp. 4.) + +Mr. Henry Perigal helped me twenty years ago with the diagrams, direct from +the lathe to the wood, for the article "Trochoidal Curves," in the _Penny +Cyclopædia_: these cuts add very greatly to the value of the article, +which, indeed, could not have been made intelligible without them. He has +had many years' experience, as an amateur turner, in combination of double +and triple circular motions, and has published valuable diagrams in +profusion. A person to whom the double circular motion is familiar in the +lathe naturally looks upon one circle moving upon another as in _simple_ +motion, if the second circle be fixed to the revolving radius, so that one +and the same point of the moving circle travels upon the fixed circle. Mr. +Perigal commenced his attack upon the moon for moving about her axis, in +the first of the tracts above, ten years before Mr. Jellinger Symons;[43] +but he did not think it necessary to make it a subject for the _Times_ +newspaper. His familiarity with combined motions enabled him to handle his +arguments much better than Mr. J. Symons could do: in fact, he is the +clearest assailant of the lot which turned out with Mr. J. Symons. But he +is as wrong as the rest. The assault is now, I suppose, abandoned, until it +becomes epidemic again. This it will do: it is one of those fallacies which +are very tempting. There was a dispute on the subject in 1748, between +James Ferguson[44] and an anonymous opponent; and I think there have been +others. + +{21} + +A poet appears in the field (July 19, 1863) who calls himself Cyclops, and +writes four octavo pages. He makes a distinction between _rotation_ and +_revolution_; and his doctrines and phrases are so like those of Mr. +Perigal that he is a follower at least. One of his arguments has so often +been used that it is worth while to cite it: + + "Would Mathematicals--forsooth-- + If true, have failed to prove its truth? + Would not they--if they could--submit + Some overwhelming proofs of it? + But still it totters _proofless_! Hence + There's strong presumptive evidence + None do--or can--such proof profound + Because _the dogma is unsound_. + For, were there means of doing so, + They would have proved it long ago." + +This is only one of the alternatives. Proof requires a person who can give +and a person who can receive. I feel inspired to add the following: + + "A blind man said, As to the Sun, + I'll take my Bible oath there's none; + For if there had been one to show + They would have shown it long ago. + How came he such a goose to be? + Did he not know he couldn't see? + Not he!" + +The absurdity of the verses is in the argument. The writer was not so +ignorant or so dishonest as to affirm that nothing had been offered by the +other side as proof; accordingly, his syllogism amounts to this: If your +proposition were true, you could have given proof satisfactory to _me_; but +this you have not done, therefore, your proposition is not true. + +The echoes of the moon-controversy reached Benares in 1857, in which year +was there published a pamphlet "Does the Moon Rotate?" in Sanskrit and +English. The {22} arguments are much the same as those of the discussion at +home. + + + +ON THE NAMES OF RELIGIOUS BODIES. + +We see that there are paradoxers in argument as well as in assertion of +fact: my plan does not bring me much into contact with these; but another +instance may be useful. Sects, whether religious or political, give +themselves names which, in meaning, are claimed also by their opponents; +loyal, liberal, conservative (of good), etc. have been severally +appropriated by parties. _Whig_ and _Tory_ are unobjectionable names: the +first--which occurs in English ballad as well as in Scotland--is sour +milk;[45] the second is a robber. In theology, the Greek Church is +_Orthodox_, the Roman is _Catholic_, the modern Puritan is _Evangelical_, +etc. + +The word _Christian_ (Vol. I, p. 248[46]) is an instance. When words begin, +they carry their meanings. The Jews, who had their Messiah to come, and the +followers of Jesus of Nazareth, who took _Him_ for their Messiah, were both +_Christians_ (which means _Messianites_): the Jews would never have +invented the term to signify _Jesuans_, nor would the disciples have +invented such an ambiguous term for themselves; had they done so, the Jews +would have disputed it, as they would have done in later times if they had +had fair play. The Jews of our day, I see by their newspapers, speak of +Jesus Christ as the _Rabbi Joshua_. But the {23} heathens, who knew little +or nothing about the Jewish hope, would naturally apply the term +_Christians_ to the only followers of a _Messiah_ of whom they had heard. +For the _Jesuans_ invaded them in a missionary way; while the Jews did not +attempt, at least openly, to make proselytes. + +All such words as Catholic, etc., are well enough as mere nomenclature; and +the world falls for the most part, into any names which parties choose to +give themselves. Silly people found inferences on this concession; and, as +usually happens, they can cite some of their betters. St. Augustine,[47] a +freakish arguer, or, to put it in the way of an old writer, _lectorem ne +multiloquii tædio fastidiat, Punicis quibusdam argutiis recreare +solet_,[48] asks, with triumph, to what chapel a stranger would be +directed, if he inquired the way to the _Catholic assembly_. But the best +exhibition of this kind in our own century is that made by the excellent +Dr. John Milner,[49] in a work (first published in 1801 or 1802) which I +suppose still circulates, "The End of Religious Controversy": a startling +title which, so far as its truth is concerned, might as well have been "The +floor of the bottomless pit." This writer, whom every one of his readers +will swear to have been a worthy soul, though many, even of his own sect, +will not admire some of his logic, speaks as follows: + +"Letter xxv. _On the true Church being Catholic._ In treating of this third +mark of the true Church, as expressed in our common creed, I feel my +spirits sink within me, and I am almost tempted to throw away my pen in +despair. For what chance is there of opening the eyes of candid Protestants +to the other marks of the Church, if they are capable of keeping them shut +to this? Every time they address the {24} God of Truth, either in solemn +worship or in private devotion [stretch of rhetoric], they are forced, each +of them, to repeat: _I believe in_ THE CATHOLIC _Church_, and yet if I ask +any of them the question: _Are you a_ CATHOLIC? he is sure to answer me, +_No, I am a_ PROTESTANT! Was there ever a more glaring instance of +inconsistency and self-condemnation among rational beings!" + + "John Milner, honest and true, + Did what honest people still may do, + If they write for the many and not for the few, + But what by and bye they must eschew." + +He _shortened his clause_; and for a reason. If he had used the whole +epithet which he knew so well, any one might have given his argument a +half-turn. Had he written, as he ought, "the _Holy_ Catholic Church" and +then argued as above, some sly Protestant would have parodied him with "and +yet if I ask any of them the question: _Are you_ HOLY? he is sure to answer +me _No, I am a_ SINNER." To take the adjective from the Church, and apply +it to the individual partisan, is recognized slipslop, but not ground of +argument. If Dr. M. had asked his Protestant whether he belonged to the +Catholic _Church_, the answer would have been Yes, but not to the Roman +branch. When he put his question as he did, he was rightly answered and in +his own division. This leaving out words is a common practice, especially +when the omitter is in authority, and cannot be exposed. A year or two ago +a bishop wrote a snubbing letter to a poor parson, who had complained that +he was obliged, in burial, to send the worst of sinners to everlasting +happiness. The bishop sternly said, "_hope_[50] is not _assurance_." {25} +Could the clergyman have dared to answer, he would have said, "No, my Lord! +but '_sure and certain_ hope' is as like assurance as a _minikin_ man is +like a dwarf." Sad to say, a theologian must be illogical: I feel sure that +if you took the clearest headed writer on logic that ever lived, and made a +bishop of him, he would be shamed by his own books in a twelvemonth. + +Milner's sophism is glaring: but why should Dr. Milner be wiser than St. +Augustine, one of his teachers? I am tempted to let out the true derivation +of the word _Catholic, as exclusively applied to the Church of Rome_. All +can find it who have access to the _Rituale_ of Bonaventura Piscator[51] +(lib. i. c. 12, _de nomine Sacræ Ecclesiæ_, p. 87 of the Venice {26} folio +of 1537). I am told that there is a _Rituale_ in the Index Expurgatorius, +but I have not thought it worth while to examine whether this be the one: I +am rather inclined to think, as I have heard elsewhere, that the book was +held too dangerous for the faithful to know of it, even by a prohibition: +it would not surprise me at all if Roman Christians should deny its +existence.[52] + +It amuses me to give, at a great distance of time, a small Rowland for a +small Oliver,[53] which I received, _de par l'Eglise_,[54] so far as lay in +the Oliver-carrier more than twenty years ago. The following contribution +of mine to _Notes and Queries_ (3d Ser. vi. p. 175, Aug. 27, 1864) will +explain what I say. There had been a complaint that a contributor had used +the term _Papist_, which a very excellent dignitary of the Papal system +pronounced an offensive term: + + + +PAPIST. + +The term _papist_ should be stripped of all except its etymological +meaning, and applied to those who give the higher and final authority to +the declaration _ex cathedrâ_[55] of the Pope. See Dr. Wiseman's[56] +article, _Catholic Church_, in the _Penny Cyclopædia_. + +What is one to do about these names? First, it is clear that offence +should, when possible, be avoided: secondly, no one must be required to +give a name which favors _any_ assumption made by those to whom it is +given, and not {27} granted by those who give it. Thus the subdivision +which calls itself distinctly _Evangelical_ has no right to expect others +to concede the title. Now the word _Catholic_, of course, falls under this +rule; and even _Roman Catholic_ may be refused to those who would restrict +the word _Catholic_ to themselves. _Roman Christian_ is unobjectionable, +since the Roman Church does not deny the name of Christian to those whom +she calls heretics. No one is bound in this matter by Acts of Parliament. +In many cases, no doubt, names which have offensive association are used +merely by habit, sometimes by hereditary transmission. Boswell records of +Johnson that he always used the words "dissenting teacher," refusing +_minister_ and _clergyman_ to all but the recipients of episcopal +ordination. + +This distinctive phrase has been widely adopted: it occurs in the Index of +3d S. iv. [_Notes and Queries_]. Here we find "Platts (Rev. John), +Unitarian teacher, 412;" the article indexed has "Unitarian minister." + +This, of course is habit: an intentional refusal of the word _minister_ +would never occur in an index. I remember that, when I first read about Sam +Johnson's little bit of exclusiveness, I said to myself: "Teacher? Teacher? +surely I remember One who is often called _teacher_, but never _minister_ +or _clergyman_: have not the dissenters got the best of it?" + +When I said that the Roman Church concedes the epithet Christians to +Protestants, I did not mean that all its adherents do the same. There is, +or was, a Roman newspaper, the _Tablet_, which, seven or eight years ago, +was one of the most virulent of the party journals. In it I read, referring +to some complaint of grievance about mixed marriages, that if _Christians_ +would marry _Protestants_ they must take the consequences. My memory notes +this well; because I recollected, when I saw it, that there was in the +stable a horse fit to run in the curricle with this one. About seventeen +years ago an Oxford M. A., who hated {28} mathematics like a genuine +Oxonian of the last century, was writing on education, and was compelled to +give some countenance to the nasty subject. He got out cleverly; for he +gave as his reason for the permission, that man is an arithmetical, +geometrical, and mechanical _animal_, as well as a rational _soul_. + +The _Tablet_ was founded by an old pupil of mine, Mr. Frederic Lucas,[57] +who availed himself of his knowledge of me to write some severe +articles--even abusive, I was told, but I never saw them--against me, for +contributing to the _Dublin Review_, and poking my heretic nose into +orthodox places. Dr. Wiseman, the editor, came in for his share, and ought +to have got all. Who ever blamed the pig for intruding himself into the +cabin when the door was left open? When Mr. Lucas was my pupil, he was of +the Society of Friends--in any article but this I should say _Quaker_--and +was quiet and gentlemanly, as members of that Church--in any article but +this I should, from mere habit, say _sect_--usually are. This is due to his +memory; for, by all I heard, when he changed his religion he ceased to be +Lucas couchant, and became Lucas rampant, fanged and langued gules. (I +looked into Guillim[58] to see if my terms were right: I could not find +them; but to prove I have been there, I notice that he calls a violin a +_violent_. How comes the word to take this form?) I met with several Roman +Christians, born and bred, who were very much annoyed at Mr. Lucas and his +doings; and said some severe things about new converts needing +kicking-straps. + +{29} + +The mention of Dr. Wiseman reminds me of another word, appropriated by +Christians to themselves: _fides_;[59] the Roman faith is _fides_, and +nothing else; and the adherents are _fideles_.[60] Hereby hangs a retort. +When Dr. Wiseman was first in England, he gave a course of lectures in +defence of his creed, which were thought very convincing by those who were +already convinced. They determined to give him a medal, and there was a +very serious discussion about the legend. Dr. Wiseman told me himself that +he had answered to his subscribers that he would not have the medal at all +unless--(naming some Italian authority, whom I forget) approved of the +legend. At last _pro fide vindicata_[61] was chosen: this may be read +either in a Popish or heretical sense. The feminine substantive _fides_ +means confidence, trust, (it is made to mean _belief_), but _fidis_, with +the same ablative, _fide_, and also feminine, is a _fiddle-string_.[62] If +a Latin writer had had to make a legend signifying "For the defence of the +fiddle-string," he could not have done it otherwise, in the terseness of a +legend, than by writing _pro fide vindicata_. Accordingly, when a Roman +Christian talks to you of the _faith_, as a thing which is his and not +yours, you may say _fiddle_. I have searched Bonaventura Piscator in vain +for notice of this ambiguity. But the Greeks said fiddle; according to +Suidas,[63] [Greek: skindapsos][64]--a word meaning a four stringed +instrument played with a quill--was an exclamation of contemptuous dissent. +How the wits of different races jump! + +{30} + +I am reminded of a case of _fides vindicata_, which, being in a public +letter, responding to a public invitation, was not meant to be +confidential. Some of the pupils of University College, in which all +subdivisions of religion are (1866; _were_, 1867) on a level, have of +course changed their views in after life, and become adherents of various +high churches. On the occasion of a dinner of old students of the College, +convened by circular, one of these students, whether then Roman or +Tractarian Christian I do not remember, not content with simply giving +negative answer, or none at all, concocted a jorum of theological rebuke, +and sent it to the Dinner Committee. Heyday! said one of them, this man got +out of bed backwards! How is that? said the rest. Why, read his name +backwards, and you will see. As thus read it was--_No grub_![65] + + + +THE WORD CHURCH. + +To return to _Notes and Queries_. The substitution in the (editorial) index +of "Unitarian teacher," for the contributor's "Unitarian minister," struck +me very much. I have seldom found such things unmeaning. But as the journal +had always been free from editorial sectarianisms,--and very apt to check +the contributorial,--I could not be sure in this case. True it was, that +the editor and publisher had been changed more than a year before; but this +was not of much force. Though one swallow does not make a summer, I have +generally found it show that summer is coming. However, thought I to +myself, if this be Little Shibboleth, we shall have Big Shibboleth +by-and-bye. At last it came. About a twelvemonth afterwards, (3d S. vii. p. +36) the following was the _editorial_ answer to the question when the +establishment was first called the "Church of England and Ireland": + +{31} + +"That unmeaning clause, 'The United Church of England and Ireland,' which +occurs on the title-page of _The Book of Common Prayer_, was first used at +the commencement of the present century. The authority for this phrase is +the fifth article of the Union of 1800: 'That the Churches of England and +Ireland be united into one _Protestant_ (!) episcopal Church, to be called +"The United Church of England and Ireland."' Of course, churchmen are not +responsible for the theology of Acts of Parliament, especially those passed +during the dark ages of the Georgian era." + +That is to say, the journal gives its adhesion to the party which--under +the assumed title of _the_ Church of England--claims for the endowed +corporation for the support of religion rights which Parliament cannot +control, and makes it, in fact, a power above the State. The State has +given an inch: it calls this corporation by the name of the "United +_Church_ of England and Ireland," as if neither England nor Ireland had any +other Church. The corporation, accordingly aspires to an ell. But this the +nation will only give with the aspiration prefixed. To illustrate my +allusion in a delicate way to polite ears, I will relate what happened in a +Johnian lecture-room at Cambridge, some fifty years ago, my informant being +present. A youth of undue aspirations was giving a proposition, and at last +said, "Let E F be produced to 'L':" "Not quite so far, Mr. ----," said the +lecturer, quietly, to the great amusement of the class, and the utter +astonishment of the aspirant, who knew no more than a Tractarian the +tendency of his construction. + +This word _Church_ is made to have a very mystical meaning. The following +dialogue between Ecclesiastes and Hæreticus, which I cannot vouch for, has +often taken place in spirit, if not in letter: E. The word _Church_ +([Greek: ekklêsia])[66] is never used in the New Testament except generally +or locally for that holy and mystical body to which the sacraments and the +ordinances of Christianity are entrusted. {32} H. Indeed! E. It is beyond a +doubt (here he quoted half a dozen texts in support). H. Do you mean that +any doctrine or ordinance which was solemnly practised by the [Greek: +ekklêsia] is binding upon you and me? E. Certainly, unless we should be cut +off from the congregation of the faithful. H. Have you a couple of hours to +spare? E. What for? H. If you have, I propose we spend them in crying, +Great is Diana of the Ephesians! E. What do you mean? H. You ought to know +the solemn service of the [Greek: ekklêsia] (Acts xix. 32, 41), at Ephesus; +which any one might take to be true Church, by the more part not knowing +wherefore they were come together, and which was dismissed, after one of +the most sensible sermons ever preached, by the Recorder. E. I see your +meaning: it is true, there is that one exception! H. Why, the Recorder's +sermon itself contains another, the [Greek: ennomos ekklêsia],[67] +legislative assembly. E. Ah! the New Testament can only be interpreted by +the Church! H. I see! the Church interprets itself into existence out of +the New Testament, and then interprets the New Testament out of existence +into itself! + +I look upon all the Churches as fair game which declare of me that _absque +dubio in æternum peribo_;[68] not for their presumption towards God, but +for their personal insolence towards myself. I find that their sectaries +stare when I say this. Why! they do not speak of you in _particular_! These +poor reasoners seem to think that there could be no meaning, as against me, +unless it should be propounded that "without doubt he shall perish +everlastingly, especially A. De Morgan." But I hold, with the schoolmen, +that "_Omnis_ homo est animal" in conjunction with "Sortes est homo" +amounts to "_Sortes_ est animal."[69] But they do not mean it _personally_! +Every universal proposition is {33} personal to every instance of the +subject. If this be not conceded, then I retort, in their own sense and +manner, "Whosoever would serve God, before all things he must not pronounce +God's decision upon his neighbor. Which decision, except every one leave to +God himself, without doubt he is a bigoted noodle." + +The reasoning habit of the educated community, in four cases out of five, +permits universal propositions to be stated at one time, and denied, _pro +re nata_,[70] at another. "Before we proceed to consider any question +involving physical principles, we should set out with _clear ideas_ of the +naturally possible and impossible." The eminent man who said this, when +wanting it for his views of mental education (!) never meant it for more +than what was in hand, never assumed it in the researches which will give +him to posterity! I have heard half-a-dozen defences of his having said +this, not one of which affirmed the truth of what was said. A worthy +clergyman wrote that if A. B. had said a certain thing the point in +question would have been established. It was shown to him that A. B. _had_ +said it, to which the reply was a refusal to admit the point because A. B. +said it in a second pamphlet and in answer to objections. And I might give +fifty such instances with very little search. Always assume more than you +want; because you cannot tell how much you may want: put what is over into +the didn't-mean-that basket, or the extreme case what-not. + + + +PROTESTANT AND PAPAL CHRISTENDOM. + +Something near forty years of examination of the theologies on and +off--more years very much on than quite off--have given me a good title--to +myself, I ask no one else for leave--to make the following remarks: A +conclusion has _premises_, facts or doctrines from proof or authority, and +_mode of inference_. There may be invention or {34} falsehood of premise, +with good logic; and there may be tenable premise, followed by bad logic; +and there may be both false premise _and_ bad logic. The Roman system has +such a powerful manufactory of premises, that bad logic is little wanted; +there is comparatively little of it. The doctrine-forge of the Roman Church +is one glorious compound of everything that could make Heraclitus[71] sob +and Democritus[72] snigger. But not the only one. The Protestants, in +tearing away from the Church of Rome, took with them a fair quantity of the +results of the Roman forge, which they could not bring themselves to give +up. They had more in them of Martin than of Jack. But they would have no +premises, except from the New Testament; though some eked out with a few +general Councils. The consequence is that they have been obliged to find +such a logic as would bring the conclusions they require out of the +canonical books. And a queer logic it is; nothing but the Roman forge can +be compared with the Protestant loom. The picking, the patching, the +piecing, which goes to the Protestant _termini ad quem_,[73] would be as +remarkable to the general eye, as the Roman manufacture of _termini a +quo_,[74] if it were not that the world at large seizes the character of an +asserted fact better than that of a mode of inference. A grand step towards +the deification of a lady, made by alleged revelation 1800 years after her +death, is of glaring evidence: two or three additional shiffle-shuffles +towards defence of saying the Athanasian curse in church and unsaying it +out of church, are hardly noticed. Swift has bungled his satire where he +makes Peter a party to finding out what he wants, _totidem syllabis_ and +_totidem literis_, {35} when he cannot find it _totidem verbis_[75] This is +Protestant method: the Roman plan is _viam faciam_; the Protestant plan is +_viam inveniam_.[76] The public at large begins to be conversant with the +ways of _wriggling out_, as shown in the interpretations of the damnatory +parts of the Athanasian Creed, the phrases of the Burial Service, etc. The +time will come when the same public will begin to see the ways of +_wriggling in_. But one thing at a time: neither Papal Rome nor Protestant +Rome was built--nor will be pulled down--in a day. + +The distinction above drawn between the two great antitheses of Christendom +may be illustrated as follows. Two sets of little general dealers lived +opposite to one another: all sold milk. Each vaunted its own produce: one +set said that the stuff on the other side the way was only chalk and water; +the other said that the opposites sold all sorts of filth, of which calves' +brain was the least nasty. Now the fact was that both sets sold milk, and +from the same dairy: but adulterated with different sorts of dirty water: +and both honestly believed that the mixture was what they were meant to +sell and ought to sell. The great difference between them, about which the +apprentices fought each other like Trojans, was that the calves' brain men +poured milk into the water, and the chalk men poured water into the milk. +The Greek and Roman sects on one side, the Protestant sects on the other, +must all have _churches_: the Greek and Roman sects pour the New Testament +into their churches; the Protestant sects pour their churches into the New +Testament. The Greek and Roman insist upon the New Testament being no more +than part and parcel of their churches: the Protestant insist upon their +churches being as much part and parcel of the New Testament. All dwell +vehemently upon the doctrine that there must be milk {36} somewhere; and +each says--I have it. The doctrine is true: and can be verified by any one +who can and will go to the dairy for himself. Him will the several traders +declare to have no milk at all. They will bring their own wares, and +challenge a trial: they want nothing but to name the judges. To vary the +metaphor, those who have looked at Christianity in open day, know that all +who see it through painted windows shut out much of the light of heaven and +color the rest; it matters nothing that the stains are shaped into what are +meant for saints and angels. + +But there is another side to the question. To decompose any substance, it +must be placed between the poles of the battery. Now theology is but one +pole; philosophy is the other. No one can make out the combinations of our +day unless he read the writings both of the priest and the philosopher: and +if any one should hold the first word offensive, I tell him that I mean +_both_ words to be _significant_. In reading these writings, he will need +to bring both wires together to find out what it is all about. Time was +when most priests were very explicit about the fate of philosophers, and +most philosophers were very candid about their opinion of priests. But +though some extremes of the old sorts still remain, there is now, in the +middle, such a fusion of the two pursuits that a plain man is wofully +puzzled. The theologian writes a philosophy which seems to tell us that the +New Testament is a system of psychology; and the philosopher writes a +Christianity which is utterly unintelligible as to the question whether the +Resurrection be a fact or a transcendental allegory. What between the +theologian who assents to the Athanasian denunciation in what seems the +sense of no denunciation, and the philosopher who parades a Christianity +which looks like no revelation, there is a maze which threatens to have the +only possible clue in the theory that everything is something else, and +nothing is anything at all. But this is a paradox far beyond my handling: +it is a Budget of itself. {37} + + + +RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY. + +Religion and Philosophy, the two best gifts of Heaven, set up in opposition +to each other at the revival of letters; and never did competing tradesmen +more grossly misbehave. Bad wishes and bad names flew about like swarms of +wasps. The Athanasian curses were intended against philosophers; who, had +they been a corporation, with state powers to protect them, would have +formulized a _per contra_. But the tradesmen are beginning to combine: they +are civil to each other; too civil by half. I speak especially of Great +Britain. Old theology has run off to ritualism, much lamenting, with no +comfort except the discovery that the cloak Paul left at Troas was a +chasuble. Philosophy, which always had a little sense sewed up in its +garments--to pay for its funeral?--has expended a trifle in accommodating +itself to the new system. But the two are poles of a battery; and a +question arises. + + If Peter Piper picked a peck of pepper, + Where is the peck of pepper Peter Piper picked? + +If Religion and Philosophy be the two poles of a battery, whose is the +battery Religion and Philosophy have been made the poles of? Is the change +in the relation of the wires any presumption of a removal of the managers? +We know pretty well who handled the instrument: has he resigned or been[77] +turned out? Has he been put under {38} restriction? A fool may ask more +questions than twenty sages can answer: but there is hope; for twenty sages +cannot ask more questions than one reviewer can answer. I should like to +see the opposite sides employed upon the question, What are the _commoda_, +and what the _pericula_,[78] of the current approximation of Religion and +Philosophy? + +All this is very profane and irreverent! It has always been so held by +those whose position demands such holding. To describe the Church as it is +passes for assailing the Church as it ought to be with all who cannot do +without it. In Bedlam[79] a poor creature who fancied he was St. Paul, was +told by another patient that he was an impostor; the first maniac lodged a +complaint against the second for calling St. Paul an impostor, which, he +argued, with much appearance of sanity, ought not to be permitted in a well +regulated madhouse. Nothing could persuade him that he had missed the +question, which was whether _he_ was St. Paul. The same thing takes place +in the world _at large_. And especially must be noted the refusal to permit +to the _profane_ the millionth part of the licence assumed by the _sacred_. +I give a sound churchman the epitaph of St. John Long; the usual +pronunciation of whose name must be noted-- + + "Behold! ye quacks, the vengeance strong + On deeds like yours impinging: + For here below lies St. John Long[80] + Who now must be _long singeing_." + +How shameful to pronounce this of the poor man! What, Mr. Orthodox! may I +not do in joke to one pretender what {39} you do in earnest--unless you +quibble--to all the millions of the Greek Church, and a great many others. +Enough of you and your reasoning! Go and square the circle! + +The few years which end with 1867 have shown, not merely the intermediate +fusion of Theology and Philosophy of which I have spoken, but much +concentration of the two extremes, which looks like a gathering of forces +for some very hard fought Armageddon. Extreme theology has been aiming at a +high Church in England, which is to show a new front to all heresy: and +extreme philosophy is contriving a physical organization which is to +_think_, and to show that mind is a consequence of matter, or thought a +recreation of brain. The physical speculators begin with a possible +hypothesis, in which they aim at explanation: and so the bold aspirations +of the author of the _Vestiges_ find standing-ground in the variation of +species by "natural selection." Some relics--so supposed--of extremely +ancient men are brought to help the general cause. Only distant hints are +given that by possibility it may end in the formation of all living +organisms from a very few, if not from one. The better heads above +mentioned know that their theory, if true, does not bear upon morals. The +formation of solar systems from a nebular hypothesis, followed by +organizations gradually emerging from some curious play of particles, nay, +the very evolution of mind and thought from such an apparatus, are all as +consistent with a Personal creative power to whom homage and obedience are +due, and who has declared himself, as with a blind Nature of Things. A pure +materialist, as to all things visible, may be even a bigotted Christian: +this is not frequent, but it is possible. There is a proverb which says, A +pig may fly, but it isn't a likely bird. But when the psychological +speculator comes in, he often undertakes to draw inferences from the +physical conclusions, by joining on his tremendous apparatus of _a priori_ +knowledge. He deduces that he can _do without_ a God: he can deduce all +things {40} without any such necessity. With Occam[81] and Newton he will +have no more causes than are necessary to explain phenomena _to him_: and +if by pure head-work combined with results of physical observation he can +construct his universe, he must be a very _unphilosophical_ man who would +encumber himself with a useless Creator! There is something tangible about +my method, says he; yours is vague. He requires it to be granted that his +system is _positive_ and that yours is _impositive_. So reasoned the stage +coachman when the railroads began to depose him--"If you're upset in a +stage-coach, why, there you are! but if you're upset on the railroad, where +are you?" The answer lies in another question, Which is most positive +knowledge, God deduced from man and his history, or the postulates of the +few who think they can reason _a priori_ on the tacit assumption of +unlimited command of data? + +We are not yet come to the existence of a school of philosophers who +explicitly deny a Creator: but we are on the way, though common sense may +interpose. There are always straws which show the direction of the wind. I +have before me the printed letter of a medical man--to whose professional +ability I have good testimony--who finds the vital principle in highly +rarefied oxygen. With the usual logic of such thinkers, he dismisses the +"eternal personal identity" because "If soul, spirit, mind, which are +merely modes of sensation, be the attribute or function of nerve-tissue, it +cannot possibly have any existence apart from its material organism!" How +does he know this _impossibility_? If all the mind _we_ know be from +nerve-tissue, how does it appear that mind in other planets may not be +another thing? Nay, when we come to _possibilities_, does not his own +system give a queer one? If highly rarefied oxygen be vital power, more +highly rarefied oxygen {41} may be more vital and more powerful. Where is +this to stop? Is it _impossible_ that a finite quantity, rarefied _ad +infinitum_, may be an Omnipotent? Perhaps the true Genesis, when written, +will open with "In the beginning was an imperial quart of oxygen at 60° of +Fahrenheit, and the pressure of the atmosphere; and this oxygen was +infinitely rarefied; and this oxygen became God." For myself, my +aspirations as to this system are Manichæan. The quart of oxygen is the +Ormuzd, or good principle: another quart, of hydrogen, is the Ahriman, or +evil principle! My author says that his system explains Freewill and +Immortality so obviously that it is difficult to read previous speculations +with becoming gravity. My deduction explains the conflict of good and evil +with such clearness that no one can henceforward read the New Testament +with becoming reverence. The surgeon whom I have described is an early bud +which will probably be nipped by the frost and wither on the ground: but +there is a good crop coming. Material pneuma is destined to high functions; +and man is to read by gas-light. + + + +THE SUN AN ELECTRIC SPACE. + + The solar system truly solved; demonstrating by the perfect harmony of + the planets, founded on the four universal laws, the Sun to be an + electric space; and a source of every natural production displayed + throughout the solar system. By James Hopkins.[82] London, 1849, 8vo. + +The author says: + +"I am satisfied that I have given the true _laws_ constituting the _Sun_ to +be _space_; and I call upon those disposed to maintain the contrary, to +give true _laws_ showing him to be a body: until such can be satisfactorily +established, I have an undoubted claim to the credit of my theory,--That +the Sun is an _Electric Space_, fed and governed by the {42} planets, which +have the property of attracting heat from it; and the means of supplying +the necessary _pabulum_ by their degenerated air driven off towards the +central space--the wonderful alembic in which it becomes transmuted to the +revivifying necessities of continuous action; and the central space or Sun +being perfectly electric, has the counter property of repulsing the bodies +that attract it. How wonderful a conception! How beautiful, how magnificent +an arrangement! + +"O Centre! O Space! O Electric Space!" + + + +JOSEPH ADY. + +1849. _Joseph Ady_[83] is entitled to a place in this list of discoverers: +his great fault, like that of some others, lay in pushing his method too +far. He began by detecting unclaimed dividends, and disclosing them to +their right owners, exacting his fee before he made his communication. He +then generalized into trying to get fees from all of the _name_ belonging +to a dividend; and he gave mysterious hints of danger impending. For +instance, he would write to a clergyman that a legal penalty was hanging +over him; and when the alarmed divine forwarded the sum required for +disclosure, he was favored with an extract from some old statute or canon, +never repealed, forbidding a clergyman to be a member of a corporation, and +was reminded that he had insured his life in the ---- Office, which had a +royal charter. He was facetious, was Joseph: he described himself in his +circulars as "personally known to Sir Peter Laurie[84] and all other +aldermen"; which was nearly true, {43} as he had been before most of them +on charges of false pretence; but I believe he was nearly always within the +law. Sir James Duke, when Lord Mayor, having particularly displeased him by +a decision, his circulars of 1849 contain the following: + +"Should you have cause to complain of any party, Sir J. Duke has contrived +a new law of evidence, viz., write to him, he will consider your letter +sufficient proof, and make the parties complained of pay without judge or +jury, and will frank you from every expense." + +I strongly suspect that Joseph Ady believed in himself. + +He sometimes issued a second warning, of a Sibylline character: + +"Should you find cause to complain of anybody, my voluntary referee, the +Rt. Hon. Sir Peter Laurie, Kt., perpetual Deputy Lord Mayor, will see +justice done you without any charge whatever: he and his toady, -- ---- +----. The accursed of Moses can hang any man: thus, by catching him alone +and swearing Naboth spake evil against God and the King. Therefore (!) I +admit no strangers to a personal conference without a prepayment of 20s. +each. Had you attended to my former notice you would have received twice as +much: neglect this and you will lose all." + + + +ON MODERN ASTROLOGY. + + Zadkiel's Almanac for 1849. Nineteenth number. + + Raphael's Prophetic Almanac for 1849. Twenty-ninth number. + + Reasons for belief in judicial astrology, and remarks on the dangerous + character of popish priestcraft. London, 1849, 12mo. + + Astronomy in a nutshell: or the leading problems of the solar system + solved by simple proportion only, on the theory of magnetic attraction. + By Lieut. Morrison,[85] N. N. London (_s. a._) 12mo. + +{44} + +Lieut. Morrison is Zadkiel Tao Sze, and declares himself in real earnest an +astrologer. There are a great many books on astrology, but I have not felt +interest enough to preserve many of them which have come in my way. If +anything ever had a fair trial, it was astrology. The idea itself is +natural enough. A human being, set down on this earth, without any +tradition, would probably suspect that the heavenly bodies had something to +do with the guidance of affairs. I think that any one who tries will +ascertain that the planets do not prophesy: but if he should find to the +contrary, he will of course go on asking. A great many persons class +together belief in astrology and belief in apparitions: the two things +differ in precisely the way in which a science of observation differs from +a science of experiment. Many make the mistake which M. le Marquis made +when he came too late, and hoped M. Cassini[86] would do the eclipse over +again for his ladies. The apparition chooses its own time, and comes as +seldom or as often as it pleases, be it departed spirit, nervous +derangement, or imposition. Consequently it can only be observed, and not +experimented upon. But the heavens, if astrology be true, are prophesying +away day and night all the year round, and about every body. Experiments +can be made, then, except only on rare phenomena, such as eclipses: anybody +may choose his time and his question. This is the great difference: and +experiments were made, century after century. If astrology had been true, +it must have lasted in an ever-improving state. If it be true, it is a +truth, and a useful truth, which had experience and prejudice both in its +favor, and yet lost ground as soon as astronomy, its working tool, began to +improve. + + + +1850. A letter in the handwriting of an educated man, dated from a street +in which it must be taken that educated persons live, is addressed to the +Secretary of the {45} Astronomical Society about a matter on which the +writer says "his professional pursuit will enable him to give a +satisfactory reply." In a question before a court of law it is sworn on one +side that the moon was shining at a certain hour of a certain night on a +certain spot in London; on the other side it is affirmed that she was +clouded. The Secretary is requested to decide. This is curious, as the +question is not astrological. Persons still send to Greenwich, now and +then, to have their fortunes told. In one case, not very many years ago, a +young gentleman begged to know who his wife was to be, and what fee he was +to remit. + +Sometimes the astronomer turns conjurer for fun, and his prophesies are +fulfilled. It is related of Flamsteed[87] that an old woman came to know +the whereabouts of a bundle of linen which had strayed. Flamsteed drew a +circle, put a square into it, and gravely pointed out a ditch, near her +cottage, in which he said it would be found. He meant to have given the +woman a little good advice when she came back: but she came back in great +delight, with the bundle in her hand, found in the very place. The late +Baron Zach[88] received a letter from Pons,[89] a successful finder of +comets, complaining that for a certain period he had found no comets, +though he had searched diligently. Zach, a man of much sly humor, told him +that no spots had been seen on the sun for about the same time--which was +true,--and assured him that when the spots came back, the comets would come +with them. Some time after he got a letter {46} from Pons, who informed him +with great satisfaction that he was quite right, that very large spots had +appeared on the sun, and that he had found a fine comet shortly after. I do +not vouch for the first story, but I have the second in Zach's handwriting. +It would mend the joke exceedingly if some day a real relation should be +established between comets and solar spots: of late years good reason has +been shown for advancing a connection between these spots and the earth's +magnetism.[90] If the two things had been put to Zach, he would probably +have chosen the comets. Here is a hint for a paradox: the solar spots are +the dead comets, which have parted with their light and heat to feed the +sun, as was once suggested. I should not wonder if I were too late, and the +thing had been actually maintained. My list does not contain the twentieth +part of the possible whole. + +The mention of coincidences suggests an everlasting source of explanations, +applicable to all that is extraordinary. The great paradox of coincidence +is that of Leibnitz, known as the _pre-established harmony_, or _law of +coincidences_, by which, separately and independently, the body receives +impressions, and the mind proceeds as if it had perceived them from +without. Every sensation, and the consequent state of the soul, are +independent things coincident in time by the pre-established law. The +philosopher could not otherwise _account for_ the connection of mind and +matter; and he never goes by so vulgar a rule as _Whatever is, is_; to him +that which is not clear as to how, is not at all. Philosophers in general, +who tolerate each other's theories much better than Christians do each +other's failings, seldom revive Leibnitz's fantasy: they seem to act upon +the maxim quoted by Father Eustace[91] from the {47} Decretals, _Facinora +ostendi dum puniuntur, flagitia autem abscondi debent_.[92] + +The great _ghost-paradox_, and its theory of _coincidences_, will rise to +the surface in the mind of every one. But the use of the word _coincidence_ +is here at variance with its common meaning. When A is constantly +happening, and also B, the occurrence of A and B at the same moment is the +mere coincidence which may be casualty. But the case before us is that A is +constantly happening, while B, when it does happen, almost always happens +with A, and very rarely without it. That is to say, such is the phenomenon +asserted: and all who rationally refer it to casualty, affirm that B is +happening very often as well as A, but that it is not thought worthy of +being recorded except when A is simultaneous. Of course A is here a death, +and B the spectral appearance of the person who dies. In talking of this +subject it is necessary to put out of the question all who play fast and +loose with their secret convictions: these had better give us a reason, +when they feel internal pressure for explanation, that there is no +weathercock at Kilve; this would do for all cases. But persons of real +inquiry will see that first, experience does not bear out the asserted +frequency of the spectre, without the alleged coincidence of death: and +secondly, that if the crowd of purely casual spectres were so great that it +is no wonder that, now and then the person should have died at or near the +moment, we ought to expect a much larger proportion of cases in which the +spectre should come at the moment of the death of one or another of all the +cluster who are closely connected with the original of the spectre. But +this, we know, is almost without example. It remains then, for all, who +speculate at all, to look upon the asserted phenomenon, think what they may +of it, the thing which is to be explained, as a _connection_ in time of the +death, and the {48} simultaneous appearance of the dead. Any person the +least used to the theory of probabilities will see that purely casual +coincidence, the _wrong spectre_ being comparatively so rare that it may be +said never to occur, is not within the rational field of possibility. + +The purely casual coincidence, from which there is no escape except the +actual doctrine of special providences, carried down to a very low point of +special intention, requires a junction of the things the like of each of +which is always happening. I will give three instances which have occurred +to myself within the last few years: I solemnly vouch for the literal truth +of every part of all three: + +In August 1861, M. Senarmont,[93] of the French Institute, wrote to me to +the effect that Fresnel[94] had sent to England, in or shortly after 1824, +a paper for translation and insertion in the _European Review_, which +shortly afterwards expired. The question was what had become of that paper. +I examined the _Review_ at the Museum, found no trace of the paper, and +wrote back to that effect at the Museum, adding that everything now +depended on ascertaining the name of the editor, and tracing his papers: of +this I thought there was no chance. I posted this letter on my way home, at +a Post Office in the Hampstead Road at the junction with Edward Street, on +the opposite side of which is a bookstall. Lounging for a moment over the +exposed books, _sicut meus est mos_,[95] I saw, within a few minutes of the +posting of the letter, a little catch-penny book of anecdotes of Macaulay, +which I bought, and ran over for a minute. My eye was soon caught by this +sentence: "One of the young fellows immediately wrote to the editor (Mr. +Walker) {49} of the _European Review_." I thus got the clue by which I +ascertained that there was no chance of recovering Fresnel's paper. Of the +mention of current reviews, not one in a thousand names the editor. + +In the summer of 1865 I made my first acquaintance with the tales of +Nathaniel Hawthorne, and the first I read was about the siege of Boston in +the War of Independence. I could not make it out: everybody seemed to have +got into somebody else's place. I was beginning the second tale, when a +parcel arrived: it was a lot of old pamphlets and other rubbish, as he +called it, sent by a friend who had lately sold his books, had not thought +it worth while to send these things for sale, but thought I might like to +look at them and possibly keep some. The first thing I looked at was a +sheet which, being opened, displayed "A plan of Boston and its environs, +shewing the true situation of his Majesty's army and also that of the +rebels, drawn by an engineer, at Boston Oct. 1775." Such detailed plans of +current sieges being then uncommon, it is explained that "The principal +part of this plan was surveyed by Richard Williams, Lieutenant at Boston; +and sent over by the son of a nobleman to his father in town, by whose +permission it was published." I immediately saw that my confusion arose +from my supposing that the king's troops were besieging the rebels, when it +was just the other way. + +April 1, 1853, while engaged in making some notes on a logical point, an +idea occurred which was perfectly new to me, on the mode of conciliating +the notions _omnipresence_ and _indivisibility into parts_. What it was is +no matter here: suffice it that, since it was published elsewhere (in a +paper on _Infinity_, _Camb. Phil. Trans._ vol. xi. p. 1) I have not had it +produced to me. I had just finished a paragraph on the subject, when a +parcel came in from a bookseller containing Heywood's[96] _Analysis of +Kant's Critick_, 1844. + +{50} On turning over the leaves I found (p. 109) the identical thought +which up to this day, I only know as in my own paper, or in Kant. I feel +sure I had not seen it before, for it is in Kant's first edition, which was +never translated to my knowledge; and it does not appear in the later +editions. Mr. Heywood gives some account of the first edition. + +In the broadsheet which gave account of the dying scene of Charles II, it +is said that the Roman Catholic priest was introduced by P. M. A. C. F. The +chain was this: the Duchess of Portsmouth[97] applied to the Duke of York, +who may have consulted his Cordelier confessor, Mansuete, about procuring a +priest, and the priest was smuggled into the king's room by the Duchess and +Chiffinch.[98] Now the letters are a verbal acrostic of _Père Mansuete a +Cordelier Friar_, and a syllabic acrostic of _PortsMouth and ChifFinch_. +This is a singular coincidence. Macaulay adopted the first interpretation, +preferring it to the second, which I brought before him as the conjecture +of a near relative of my own. But Mansuete is not mentioned in his +narrative: it may well be doubted whether the writer of a broadside for +English readers would use _Père_ instead of _Father_. And the person who +really "reminded" the Duke of "the duty he owed to his brother," was the +Duchess and not Mansuete. But my affair is only with the coincidence. + +But there are coincidences which are really connected without the +connection being known to those who find in them matter of astonishment. +Presentiments furnish marked cases: sometimes there is no mystery to those +who have the clue. In the _Gentleman's Magazine_ (vol. 80, part 2, p. 33) +we read, the subject being presentiment of death, as follows: "In 1778, to +come nearer the recollection of {51} survivors, at the taking of +Pondicherry, Captain John Fletcher, Captain De Morgan, and Lieutenant +Bosanquet, each distinctly foretold his own death on the morning of his +fate." I have no doubt of all three; and I knew it of my grandfather long +before I read the above passage. He saw that the battery he commanded was +unduly exposed: I think by the sap running through the fort when produced. +He represented this to the engineer officers, and to the +commander-in-chief; the engineers denied the truth of the statement, the +commander believed them, my grandfather quietly observed that he must make +his will, and the French fulfilled his prediction. His will bore date the +day of his death; and I always thought it more remarkable than the +fulfilment of the prophecy that a soldier should not consider any danger +short of one like the above, sufficient reason to make his will. I suppose +the other officers were similarly posted. I am told that military men very +often defer making their wills until just before an action: but to face the +ordinary risks intestate, and to wait until speedy death must be the all +but certain consequence of a stupid mistake, is carrying the principle very +far. In the matter of coincidences there are, as in other cases, two +wonderful extremes with every intermediate degree. At one end we have the +confident people who can attribute anything to casual coincidence; who +allow Zadok Imposture and Nathan Coincidence to anoint Solomon Selfconceit +king. At the other end we have those who see something _very curious_ in +any coincidence you please, and whose minds yearn for a deep reason. A +speculator of this class happened to find that Matthew viii. 28-33 and Luke +viii. 26-33 contain the same account, that of the demons entering into the +swine. Very odd! chapters tallying, and verses so nearly: is the +versification rightly managed? Examination is sure to show that there are +monstrous inconsistencies in the mode of division, which being corrected, +the verses tally as well as the chapters. And then how comes it? I cannot +go on, {52} for I have no gift at torturing a coincidence, but I would lay +twopence, if I could make a bet--which I never did in all my life--that +some one or more of my readers will try it. Some people say that the study +of chances tends to awaken a spirit of gambling: I suspect the contrary. At +any rate, I myself, the writer of a mathematical book and a comparatively +popular book, have never laid a bet nor played for a stake, however small: +not one single time. + +It is useful to record such instances as I have given, with precision and +on the solemn word of the recorder. When such a story as that of Flamsteed +is told, _a priori_ assures us that it could not have been: the story may +have been a _ben trovato_,[99] but not the bundle. It is also useful to +establish some of the good jokes which all take for inventions. My friend +Mr. J. Bellingham Inglis,[100] before 1800, saw the tobacconist's carriage +with a sample of tobacco in a shield, and the motto _Quid rides_[101] (_N._ +& _Q._, 3d S. i. 245). His father was able to tell him all about it. The +tobacconist was Jacob Brandon, well known to the elder Mr. Inglis, and the +person who started the motto, the instant he was asked for such a thing, +was Harry Calender of Lloyd's, a scholar and a wit. My friend Mr. H. Crabb +Robinson[102] remembers the King's Counsel (Samuel Marryat) who took the +motto _Causes produce effects_, when his success enabled him to start a +carriage. + +The coincidences of errata are sometimes very remarkable: it may be that +the misprint has a sting. The death of Sir W. Hamilton[103] of Edinburgh +was known in London on a Thursday, and the editor of the _Athenæum_ wrote +to {53} me in the afternoon for a short obituary notice to appear on +Saturday. I dashed off the few lines which appeared without a moment to +think: and those of my readers who might perhaps think me capable of +contriving errata with meaning will, I am sure, allow the hurry, the +occasion, and my own peculiar relation to the departed, as sufficient +reasons for believing in my entire innocence. Of course I could not see a +proof: and two errata occurred. The words "addition to Stewart"[104] +require "_for_ addition to _read_ edition of." This represents what had +been insisted on by the Edinburgh publisher, who, frightened by the edition +of Reid,[105] had stipulated for a simple reprint without notes. Again +"principles of logic and mathematics" required "_for_ mathematics _read_ +metaphysics." No four words could be put together which would have so good +a title to be Hamilton's motto. + + + +April 1850, found in the letter-box, three loose leaves, well printed and +over punctuated, being + + Chapter VI. Brethren, lo I come, holding forth the word of life, for so + I am commanded.... Chapter VII. Hear my prayer, O generations! and walk + by the way, to drink the waters of the river.... Chapter VIII. Hearken + o earth, earth, earth, and the kings of the earth, and their armies.... + +A very large collection might be made of such apostolic writings. They go +on well enough in a misty--meant for mystical--imitation of St. Paul or the +prophets, until at last some prodigious want of keeping shows the education +of the writer. For example, after half a page which might {54} pass for +Irving's[106] preaching--though a person to whom it was presented as such +would say that most likely the head and tail would make something more like +head and tail of it--we are astounded by a declaration from the _Holy +Spirit_, speaking of himself, that he is "not ashamed of the Gospel of +Christ." It would be long before we should find in _educated_ rhapsody--of +which there are specimens enough--such a thing as a person of the Trinity +taking merit for moral courage enough to stand where St. Peter fell. The +following declaration comes next--"I will judge between cattle and cattle, +that use their tongues." + + + +THE FIGURE OF THE EARTH. + + The figure of the earth. By J. L. Murphy,[107] of Birmingham. (London + and Birmingham, 4 pages, 12mo.) (1850?) + +Mr. Murphy invites attention and objection to some assertions, as that the +earth is prolate, not oblate. "If the philosopher's conclusion be right, +then the pole is the center of a valley (!) thirteen miles deep." Hence it +would be very warm. It is answer enough to ask--Who knows that it is not? + + + + *** A paragraph in the MS. appears to have been inserted in this place + by mistake. It will be found in the Appendix at the end of this + volume.--S. E. De M. + + + +PERPETUAL MOTION. + +1851. The following letter was written by one of a class of persons whom, +after much experience of them, I {55} do _not_ pronounce insane. But in +this case the second sentence gives a suspicion of actual delusion of the +senses; the third looks like that eye for the main chance which passes for +sanity on the Stock Exchange and elsewhere: + +15th Sept. 1851. + +"Gentlemen,--I pray you take steps to make known that yesterday I completed +my invention which will give motion to every country on the Earth;--to move +Machinery!--the long sought in vain 'Perpetual Motion'!!--I was supported +at the time by the Queen and H.R.H. Prince Albert. If, Gentlemen, you can +advise me how to proceed to claim the reward, if any is offered by the +Government, or how to secure the PATENT for the machine, or in any way +assist me by advice in this great work, I shall most graciously acknowledge +your consideration. + +These are my convictions that my SEVERAL discoveries will be realized: and +this great one can be at once acted upon: although at this moment it only +exists in my mind, from my knowledge of certain fixed principles in +nature:--the Machine I have not made, as I only completed the discovery +YESTERDAY, Sunday! + + I have, etc. ---- ----" + + To the Directors of the + London University, Gower Street. + + + +ON SPIRITUALISM. + + The Divine Drama of History and Civilisation. By the Rev. James Smith, + M.A.[108] London, 1854, 8vo. + +I have several books on that great paradox of our day, _Spiritualism_, but +I shall exclude all but three. The bibliography of this subject is now very +large. The question is one both of evidence and speculation;--Are the facts +{56} true? Are they caused by spirits? These I shall not enter upon: I +shall merely recommend this work as that of a spiritualist who does not +enter on the subject, which he takes for granted, but applies his derived +views to the history of mankind with learning and thought. Mr. Smith was a +man of a very peculiar turn of thinking. He was, when alive, the editor, or +_an_ editor, of the _Family Herald_: I say when alive, to speak according +to knowledge; for, if his own views be true, he may have a hand in it +still. The answers to correspondents, in his time, were piquant and +original above any I ever saw. I think a very readable book might be made +out of them, resembling "Guesses at Truth:" the turn given to an inquiry +about morals, religion, or socials, is often of the highest degree of +_unexpectedness_; the poor querist would find himself right in a most +unpalatable way. + +Answers to correspondents, in newspapers, are very often the fag ends of +literature. I shall never forget the following. A person was invited to +name a rule without exception, if he could: he answered "A man _must_ be +present when he is shaved." A lady--what right have ladies to decide +questions about shaving?--said this was not properly a rule; and the oracle +was consulted. The editor agreed with the lady; he said that "a man _must_ +be present when he is shaved" is not a _rule_, but a _fact_. + + + +[Among my anonymous communicants is one who states that I have done +injustice to the Rev. James Smith in "referring to him as a spiritualist," +and placing his "Divine Drama" among paradoxes: "it is no paradox, nor do +_spiritualistic_ views mar or weaken the execution of the design." Quite +true: for the design is to produce and enforce "spiritualistic views"; and +leather does not mar nor weaken a shoemaker's plan. I knew Mr. Smith well, +and have often talked to him on the subject: but more testimony from me is +unnecessary; his book will speak for itself. {57} His peculiar style will +justify a little more quotation than is just necessary to prove the point. +Looking at the "battle of opinion" now in progress, we see that Mr. Smith +was a prescient: + +(P. 588.) "From the general review of parties in England, it is evident +that no country in the world is better prepared for the great Battle of +Opinion. Where else can the battle be fought but where the armies are +arrayed? And here they all are, Greek, Roman, Anglican, Scotch, Lutheran, +Calvinist, Established and Territorial, with Baronial Bishops, and +Nonestablished of every grade--churches with living prophets and apostles, +and churches with dead prophets and apostles, and apostolical churches +without apostles, and philosophies without either prophets or apostles, and +only wanting one more, 'the Christian Church,' like Aaron's rod, to swallow +up and digest them all, and then bud and flourish. As if to prepare our +minds for this desirable and inevitable consummation, different parties +have been favored with a revival of that very spirit of revelation by which +the Church itself was originally founded. There is a complete series of +spiritual revelations in England and the United States, besides mesmeric +phenomena that bear a resemblance to revelation, and thus gradually open +the mind of the philosophical and infidel classes, as well as the professed +believers of that old revelation which they never witnessed in living +action, to a better understanding of that Law of Nature (for it is a Law of +Nature) in which all revelation originates and by which its spiritual +communications are regulated." + +Mr. Smith proceeds to say that there are _only_ thirty-five incorporated +churches in England, all formed from the New Testament except five, to each +of which five he concedes a revelation of its own. The five are the +Quakers, the Swedenborgians, the Southcottians, the Irvingites, and the +Mormonites. Of Joanna Southcott he speaks as follows: {58} + +(P. 592.) "Joanna Southcott[109] is not very gallantly treated by the +gentlemen of the Press, who, we believe, without knowing anything about +her, merely pick up their idea of her character from the rabble. We once +entertained the same rabble idea of her; but having read her works--for we +really have read them--we now regard her with great respect. However, there +is a great abundance of chaff and straw to her grain; but the grain is +good, and as we do not eat either the chaff or straw if we can avoid it, +nor even the raw grain, but thrash it and winnow it, and grind it and bake +it, we find it, after undergoing this process, not only very palatable, but +a special dainty of its kind. But the husk is an insurmountable obstacle to +those learned and educated gentlemen who judge of books entirely by the +style and the grammar, or those who eat grain as it grows, like the cattle. +Such men would reject all prological revelation; for there never was and +probably never will be a revelation by voice and vision communicated in +classical manner. It would be an invasion of the rights and prerogatives of +Humanity, and as contrary to the Divine and Established order of mundane +government, as a field of quartern loaves or hot French rolls." + + + +Mr. Smith's book is spiritualism from beginning to end; and my anonymous +gainsayer, honest of course, is either ignorant of the work he thinks he +has read, or has a most remarkable development of the organ of +imperception.] + + + +A CONDENSED HISTORY OF MATHEMATICS. + +I cut the following from a Sunday paper in 1849: + +"X. Y.--The Chaldeans began the mathematics, in which the Egyptians +excelled. Then crossing the sea, by means {59} of Thales,[110] the +Milesian, they came into Greece, where they were improved very much by +Pythagoras,[111] Anaxagoras,[112] and Anopides[113] of Chios. These were +followed by Briso,[114] Antipho, [two circle-squarers; where is Euclid?] +and Hippocrates,[115] but the excellence of the algebraic art was begun by +Geber,[116] an Arabian astronomer, and was carried on by Cardanus,[117] +Tartaglia,[118] Clavius,[119], Stevinus,[120] Ghetaldus,[121] +Herig_e_nius,[122] Fran. Van Schooten [meaning Francis Van Schooten[123]], +Florida de Beau_m_e,[124] etc." + +Bryso was a mistaken man. Antipho had the disadvantage of being in advance +of his age. He had the notion of which the modern geometry has made so +much, that of {60} a circle being the polygon of an infinitely great number +of sides. He could make no use of it, but the notion itself made him a +sophist in the eyes of Aristotle, Eutocius,[125] etc. Geber, an Arab +astronomer, and a reputed conjurer in Europe, seems to have given his name +to unintelligible language in the word _gibberish_. At one time _algebra_ +was traced to him; but very absurdly, though I have heard it suggested that +_algebra_ and _gibberish_ must have had one inventor. + +Any person who meddles with the circle may find himself the crane who was +netted among the geese: as Antipho for one, and Olivier de Serres[126] for +another. This last gentleman ascertained, by weighing, that the area of the +circle is very nearly that of the square on the side of the inscribed +equilateral triangle: which it is, as near as 3.162 ... to 3.141.... He did +not pretend to more than approximation; but Montucla and others +misunderstood him, and, still worse, misunderstood their own +misunderstanding, and made him say the circle was exactly double of the +equilateral triangle. He was let out of limbo by Lacroix, in a note to his +edition of Montucla's _History of Quadrature_. + + + +ST. VITUS, PATRON OF CYCLOMETERS. + + Quadratura del cerchio, trisezione dell' angulo, et duplicazione del + cubo, problemi geometricamente risolute e dimostrate dal Reverendo + Arciprete di San Vito D. Domenico Angherà,[127] Malta, 1854, 8vo. + + {61} + + Equazioni geometriche, estratte dalla lettera del Rev. Arciprete ... al + Professore Pullicino[128] sulla quadratura del cerchio. Milan, 1855 or + 1856, 8vo. + + Il Mediterraneo gazetta di Malta, 26 Decembre 1855, No. 909: also 911, + 912, 913, 914, 936, 939. + + The Malta Times, Tuesday, 9th June 1857. + + Misura esatta del cerchio, dal Rev. D. Angherà. Malta, 1857, 12mo. + + Quadrature of the circle ... by the Rev. D. Angherà, Archpriest of St. + Vito. Malta, 1858, 12mo. + +I have looked for St. Vitus in catalogues of saints, but never found his +legend, though he figures as a day-mark in the oldest almanacs. He must be +properly accredited, since he was an archpriest. And I pronounce and +ordain, by right accruing from the trouble I have taken in this subject, +that he, St. Vitus, who leads his votaries a never-ending and unmeaning +dance, shall henceforth be held and taken to be the patron saint of the +circle-squarer. His day is the 15th of June, which is also that of St. +Modestus,[129] with whom the said circle-squarer often has nothing to do. +And he must not put himself under the first saint with a slantendicular +reference to the other, as is much to be feared was done by the Cardinal +who came to govern England with a title containing St. Pudentiana,[130] who +shares a day with _St. Dunstan_. The Archpriest of St. Vitus will have it +that the square inscribed in a semicircle is half of the semicircle, or the +circumference 3-1/5 diameters. He is active and able, with {62} nothing +wrong about him except his paradoxes. In the second tract named he has +given the testimonials of crowned heads and ministers, etc. as follows. +Louis-Napoleon gives thanks. The minister at Turin refers it to the Academy +of Sciences, and hopes so much labor will be judged _degna di pregio_.[131] +The Vice-Chancellor of Oxford--a blunt Englishman--begs to say that the +University has never proposed the problem, as some affirm. The Prince +Regent of Baden has received the work with lively interest. The Academy of +Vienna is not in a position to enter into the question. The Academy of +Turin offers the most _distinct_ thanks. The Academy della Crusca attends +only to literature, but gives thanks. The Queen of Spain has received the +work with the highest appreciation. The University of Salamanca gives +infinite thanks, and feels true satisfaction in having the book. Lord +Palmerston gives thanks, by the hand of "William San." The Viceroy of +Egypt, not being yet up in Italian, will spend his first moments of leisure +in studying the book, when it shall have been translated into French: in +the mean time he congratulates the author upon his victory over a problem +so long held insoluble. All this is seriously published as a rate in aid of +demonstration. If these royal compliments cannot make the circumference of +a circle about 2 per cent. larger than geometry will have it --which is all +that is wanted--no wonder that thrones are shaky. + +I am informed that the legend of St. Vitus is given by Ribadeneira[132] in +his lives of Saints, and that Baronius,[133] in {63} his _Martyrologium +Romanum_, refers to several authors who have written concerning him. There +is an account in Mrs. Jameson's[134] _History of Sacred and Legendary Art_ +(ed. of 1863, p. 544). But it seems that St. Vitus is the patron saint of +_all_ dances; so that I was not so far wrong in making him the protector of +the cyclometers. Why he is represented with a cock is a disputed point, +which is now made clear: next after _gallus gallinaceus_[135] himself, +there is no crower like the circle-squarer. + + + +CELEBRATED APPROXIMATIONS OF [pi]. + +The following is an extract from the _English Cyclopædia_, Art. TABLES: + +"1853. William Shanks,[136] _Contributions to Mathematics, comprising +chiefly the Rectification of the Circle to 607 Places of Tables_, London, +1853. (QUADRATURE OF THE CIRCLE.) Here is a _table_, because it tabulates +the results of the subordinate steps of this enormous calculation as far as +527 decimals: the remainder being added as results only during the +printing. For instance, one step is the calculation of the reciprocal of +601.5^{601}; and the result is given. The number of pages required to +describe these results is 87. Mr. Shanks has also thrown off, as chips or +splinters, the values of the base of Napier's logarithms, and of its +logarithms of 2, 3, 5, 10, to 137 decimals; and the value of the modulus +.4342 ... to 136 decimals: with the 13th, 25th, 37th ... up to the 721st +powers of 2. These tremendous stretches of calculation--at least we so call +them in our day--are useful in several respects; they prove more than {64} +the capacity of this or that computer for labor and accuracy; they show +that there is in the community an increase of skill and courage. We say in +the community: we fully believe that the unequalled turnip which every now +and then appears in the newspapers is a sufficient presumption that the +average turnip is growing bigger, and the whole crop heavier. All who know +the history of the quadrature are aware that the several increases of +numbers of decimals to which [pi] has been carried have been indications of +a general increase in the power to calculate, and in courage to face the +labor. Here is a comparison of two different times. In the day of +Cocker,[137] the pupil was directed to perform a common subtraction with a +voice-accompaniment of this kind: '7 from 4 I cannot, but add 10, 7 from 14 +remains 7, set down 7 and carry 1; 8 and 1 which I carry is 9, 9 from 2 I +cannot, etc.' We have before us the announcement of the following _table_, +undated, as open to inspection at the Crystal Palace, Sydenham, in two +diagrams of 7 ft. 2 in, by 6 ft. 6 in.: 'The figure 9 involved into the +912th power, and antecedent powers or involutions, containing upwards of +73,000 figures. Also, the proofs of the above, containing upwards of +146,000 figures. By Samuel Fancourt, of Mincing Lane, London, and completed +by him in the year 1837, at the age of sixteen. N.B. The whole operation +performed by simple arithmetic.' The young operator calculated by +successive squaring the 2d, 4th, 8th, etc., powers up to the 512th, with +proof by division. But 511 multiplications by 9, in the short (or 10-1) +way, would have been much easier. The 2d, 32d, 64th, 128th, 256th, and +512th powers are given at the back of the announcement. The powers of 2 +have been calculated for many purposes. In Vol. II of his _Magia +Universalis Naturæ et Artis_, Herbipoli, 1658, 4to, the Jesuit Gaspar +Schott[138] having discovered, on some grounds of theological {65} magic, +that the degrees of grace of the Virgin Mary were in number the 256th power +of 2, calculated that number. Whether or no his number correctly +represented the result he announced, he certainly calculated it rightly, as +we find by comparison with Mr. Shanks." + + + +There is a point about Mr. Shanks's 608 figures of the value of [pi] which +attracts attention, perhaps without deserving it. It might be expected +that, in so many figures, the nine digits and the cipher would occur each +about the same number of times; that is, each about 61 times. But the fact +stands thus: 3 occurs 68 times; 9 and 2 occur 67 times each; 4 occurs 64 +times; 1 and 6 occur 62 times each; 0 occurs 60 times; 8 occurs 58 times; 5 +occurs 56 times; and 7 occurs only 44 times. Now, if all the digits were +equally likely, and 608 drawings were made, it is 45 to 1 against the +number of sevens being as distant from the probable average (say 61) as 44 +on one side or 78 on the other. There must be some reason why the number 7 +is thus deprived of its fair share in the structure. Here is a field of +speculation in which two branches of inquirers might unite. There is but +one number which is treated with an unfairness which is incredible as an +accident; and that number is the mystic number _seven_! If the cyclometers +and the apocalyptics would lay their heads together until they come to a +unanimous verdict on this phenomenon, and would publish nothing until they +are of one mind, they would earn the gratitude of their race.--I was wrong: +it is the Pyramid-speculator who should have been appealed to. A +correspondent of my friend Prof. Piazzi Smyth[139] notices that 3 is the +number of most frequency, and that 3-1/7 is the nearest approximation to it +in simple digits. Professor Smyth himself, whose word on Egypt is paradox +of a very high order, backed by a great quantity of useful labor, the +results which will be made available by those who do not receive {66} the +paradoxes, is inclined to see confirmation for some of his theory in these +phenomena. + + + +CURIOUS CALCULATIONS. + +These paradoxes of calculation sometimes appear as illustrations of the +value of a new method. In 1863, Mr. G. Suffield,[140] M.A., and Mr. J. R. +Lunn,[141] M.A., of Clare College and of St. John's College, Cambridge, +published the whole quotient of 10000 ... divided by 7699, throughout the +whole of one of the recurring periods, having 7698 digits. This was done in +illustration of Mr. Suffield's method of _Synthetic division_. + +Another instance of computation carried to paradoxical length, in order to +illustrate a method, is the solution of x^3 - 2x = 5, the example given of +Newton's method, on which all improvements have been tested. In 1831, +Fourier's[142] posthumous work on equations showed 33 figures of solution, +got with enormous labor. Thinking this a good opportunity to illustrate the +superiority of the method of W. G. Horner,[143] not yet known in France, +and not much known in {67} England, I proposed to one of my classes, in +1841, to beat Fourier on this point, as a Christmas exercise. I received +several answers, agreeing with each other, to 50 places of decimals. In +1848, I repeated the proposal, requesting that 50 places might be exceeded: +I obtained answers of 75, 65, 63, 58, 57, and 52 places. But one answer, by +Mr. W. Harris Johnston,[144] of Dundalk, and of the Excise Office, went to +101 decimal places. To test the accuracy of this, I requested Mr. Johnston +to undertake another equation, connected with the former one in a way which +I did not explain. His solution verified the former one, but he was unable +to see the connection, even when his result was obtained. My reader may be +as much at a loss: the two solutions are: + + 2.0945514815423265... + 9.0544851845767340... + +The results are published in the _Mathematician_, Vol. III, p. 290. In +1851, another pupil of mine, Mr. J. Power Hicks,[145] carried the result to +152 decimal places, without knowing what Mr. Johnston had done. The result +is in the _English Cyclopædia_, article INVOLUTION AND EVOLUTION. + +I remark that when I write the initial of a Christian name, the most usual +name of that initial is understood. I never saw the name of W. G. Horner +written at length, until I applied to a relative of his, who told me that +he was, as I supposed, Wm. _George_, but that he was named after a relative +of that _surname_. + +The square root of 2, to 110 decimal places, was given {68} me in 1852 by +my pupil, Mr. William Henry Colvill, now (1867) Civil Surgeon at Baghdad. +It was + + 1.4142135623730950488016887242096980785696 + 7187537694807317667973799073247846210703 + 885038753432764157273501384623 + +Mr. James Steel[146] of Birkenhead verified this by actual multiplication, +and produced + + 2 - 2580413 / 10^{117} + +as the square. + + + + Calcolo decidozzinale del Barone Silvio Ferrari. Turin, 1854, 4to. + +This is a serious proposal to alter our numeral system and to count by +twelves. Thus 10 would be twelve, 11 thirteen, etc., two new symbols being +invented for ten and eleven. The names of numbers must of course be +changed. There are persons who think such changes practicable. I thought +this proposal absurd when I first saw it, and I think so still:[147] but +the one I shall presently describe beats it so completely in that point, +that I have not a smile left for this one. + + + +ON COMETS. + + The successful and therefore probably true theory of Comets. London, + 1854. (4pp. duodecimo.) + +The author is the late Mr. Peter Legh,[148] of Norbury Booths Hall, +Knutsford, who published for eight or ten {69} years the _Ombrological +Almanac_, a work of asserted discovery in meteorology. The theory of comets +is that the joint attraction of the new moon and several planets in the +direction of the sun, draws off the gases from the earth, and forms these +cometic meteors. But how these meteors come to describe orbits round the +sun, and to become capable of having their returns predicted, is not +explained. + + + +A NEW PHASE OF MORMONISM. + + The Mormon, New York, Saturday, Oct. 27, 1855. + +A newspaper headed by a grand picture of starred and striped banners, +beehive, and eagle surmounting it. A scroll on each side: on the left, +"Mormon creed. Mind your own business. Brigham Young;"[149] on the right, +"Given by inspiration of God. Joseph Smith."[150] A leading article on the +discoveries of Prof. Orson Pratt[151] says, "Mormonism has long taken the +lead in religion: it will soon be in the van both in science and politics." +At the beginning of the paper is Professor Pratt's "Law of Planetary +Rotation." The cube roots of the densities of the planets are as the square +roots of their periods of rotation. The squares of the cube roots of the +masses divided by the squares of the diameters are as the periods of +rotation. Arithmetical verification attempted, and the whole very modestly +stated {70} and commented on. Dated G. S. L. City, Utah Ter., Aug. 1, 1855. +If the creed, as above, be correctly given, no wonder the Mormonites are in +such bad odor. + + + +MATHEMATICAL ILLUSTRATIONS OF DOCTRINE. + + The two estates; or both worlds mathematically considered. London, + 1855, small (pp. 16). + +The author has published mathematical works with his name. The present +tract is intended to illustrate mathematically a point which may be guessed +from the title. But the symbols do very little in the way of illustration: +thus, x being the _present value_ of the future estate (eternal happiness), +and a of all that this world can give, the author impresses it on the +mathematician that, x being infinitely greater than a, x + a = x, so that a +need not be considered. This will not act much more powerfully on a +mathematician by virtue of the symbols than if those same symbols had been +dispensed with: even though, as the author adds, "It was this method of +neglecting infinitely small quantities that Sir Isaac Newton was indebted +to for his greatest discoveries." + +There has been a moderate quantity of well-meant attempt to enforce, +sometimes motive, sometimes doctrine, by arguments drawn from mathematics, +the proponents being persons unskilled in that science for the most part. +The ground is very dangerous: for the illustration often turns the other +way with greater power, in a manner which requires only a little more +knowledge to see. I have, in my life, heard from the pulpit or read, at +least a dozen times, that all sin is infinitely great, proved as follows. +The greater the being, the greater the sin of any offence against him: +therefore the offence committed against an infinite being is infinitely +great. Now the mathematician, of which the proposers of this argument are +not aware, is perfectly familiar with quantities which increase together, +and never cease increasing, but so that one of them remains finite when +{71} the other becomes infinite. In fact, the argument is a perfect _non +sequitur_.[152] Those who propose it have in their minds, though in a +cloudy and indefinite form, the idea of the increase of guilt being +_proportionate_ to the increase of greatness in the being offended. But +this it would never do to state: for by such statement not only would the +argument lose all that it has of the picturesque, but the asserted premise +would have no strong air of exact truth. How could any one undertake to +appeal to conscience to declare that an offence against a being 4-7/10 +times as great as another is exactly, no more and no less, 4-7/10 times as +great an offence against the other? + +The infinite character of the offence against an infinite being is laid +down in Dryden's _Religio Laici_,[153] and is, no doubt, an old argument: + + "For, granting we have sinned, and that th' offence + Of man is made against Omnipotence, + Some price that bears proportion must be paid, + And infinite with infinite be weighed. + See then the Deist lost; remorse for vice + Not paid; or, paid, inadequate in price." + +Dryden, in the words "bears proportion" is in verse more accurate than most +of the recent repeaters in prose. And this is not the only case of the kind +in his argumentative poetry. + +My old friend, the late Dr. Olinthus Gregory,[154] who was a sound and +learned mathematician, adopted this dangerous kind of illustration in his +_Letters on the Christian Religion_. {72} He argued, by parallel, from what +he supposed to be the necessarily mysterious nature of the _impossible_ +quantity of algebra to the necessarily mysterious nature of certain +doctrines of his system of Christianity. But all the difficulty and mystery +of the impossible quantity is now cleared away by the advance of +algebraical thought: and yet Dr. Gregory's book continues to be sold, and +no doubt the illustration is still accepted as appropriate. + +The mode of argument used by the author of the tract above named has a +striking defect. He talks of reducing this world and the next to "present +value," as an actuary does with successive lives or next presentations. +Does value make interest? and if not, why? And if it do, then the present +value of an eternity is _not_ infinitely great. Who is ignorant that a +perpetual annuity at five per cent is worth only twenty years' purchase? +This point ought to be discussed by a person who treats heaven as a +deferred perpetual annuity. I do not ask him to do so, and would rather he +did not; but if he _will_ do it, he must either deal with the question of +discount, or be asked the reason why. + +When a very young man, I was frequently exhorted to one or another view of +religion by pastors and others who thought that a mathematical argument +would be irresistible. And I heard the following more than once, and have +since seen it in print, I forget where. Since eternal happiness belonged to +the particular views in question, a benefit infinitely great, then, even if +the probability of their arguments were small, or even infinitely small, +yet the product of the chance and benefit, according to the usual rule, +might give a result which no one ought in prudence to pass over. They did +not see that this applied to all systems as well as their own. I take this +argument to be the most perverse of all the perversions I have heard or +read on the subject: there is some high authority for it, whom I forget. + +The moral of all this is, that such things as the preceding should be kept +out of the way of those who are not {73} mathematicians, because they do +not understand the argument; and of those who are, because they do. + +[The high authority referred to above is Pascal, an early cultivator of +mathematical probability, and obviously too much enamoured of his new +pursuit. But he conceives himself bound to wager on one side or the other. +To the argument (_Pensées_, ch. 7)[155] that "le juste est de ne point +parier," he answers, "Oui: mais il faut parier: vous êtes embarqué; et ne +parier point que Dieu est, c'est parier qu'il n'est pas."[156] Leaving +Pascal's argument to make its way with a person who, _being a sceptic_, is +yet positive that the issue is salvation or perdition, if a God there +be,--for the case as put by Pascal requires this,--I shall merely observe +that a person who elects to believe in God, as the best chance of gain, is +not one who, according to Pascal's creed, or any other worth naming, will +really secure that gain. I wonder whether Pascal's curious imagination ever +presented to him in sleep his convert, in the future state, shaken out of a +red-hot dice-box upon a red-hot hazard-table, as perhaps he might have +been, if Dante had been the later of the two. The original idea is due to +the elder Arnobius,[157] who, as cited by Bayle,[158] speaks thus: + +"Sed et ipse [Christus] quæ pollicetur, non probat. Ita est. Nulla enim, ut +dixi, futurorum potest existere comprobatio. Cum ergo hæc sit conditio +futurorum, ut teneri et comprehendi nullius possint anticipationis attactu; +nonne {74} purior ratio est, ex duobus incertis, et in ambigua expectatione +pendentibus, id potius credere, quod aliquas spes ferat, quam omnino quod +nullas? In illo enim periculi nihil est, si quod dicitur imminere, cassum +fiat et vacuum: in hoc damnum est maximum, id est salutis amissio, si cum +tempus advenerit aperiatur non fuisse mendacium."[159] + +Really Arnobius seems to have got as much out of the notion, in the third +century, as if he had been fourteen centuries later, with the arithmetic of +chances to help him.] + + + +NOVUM ORGANUM MORALIUM. + + The Sentinel, vol. ix. no. 27. London, Saturday, May 26, 1855. + +This is the first London number of an Irish paper, Protestant in politics. +It opens with "Suggestions on the subject of a _Novum Organum Moralium_," +which is the application of algebra and the differential calculus to +morals, socials, and politics. There is also a leading article on the +subject, and some applications in notes to other articles. A separate +publication was afterwards made, with the addition of a long Preface; the +author being a clergyman who I presume must have been the editor of the +_Sentinel_. + + Suggestions as to the employment of a _Novum Organum Moralium_. Or, + thoughts on the nature of the Differential Calculus, and on the + application of its principles to metaphysics, with a view to the + attainment of demonstration and certainty in moral, {75} political and + ecclesiastical affairs. By Tresham Dames Gregg,[160] Chaplain of St. + Mary's, within the church of St. Nicholas intra muros, Dublin. London, + 1859, 8vo. (pp. xl + 32). + +I have a personal interest in this system, as will appear from the +following extract from the newspaper: + + "We were subsequently referred to De Morgan's _Formal Logic_ and + Boole's _Laws of Thought_[161] both very elaborate works, and greatly + in the direction taken by ourselves. That the writers amazingly surpass + us in learning we most willingly admit, but we venture to pronounce of + both their learned treatises, that they deal with the subject in a mode + that is scholastic to an excess.... That their works have been for a + considerable space of time before the world and effected nothing, would + argue that they have overlooked the vital nature of the theme.... On + the whole, the writings of De Morgan and Boole go to the full + justification of our principle without in any wise so trenching upon + our ground as to render us open to reproach in claiming our Calculus as + a great discovery.... But we renounce any paltry jealousy as to a + matter so vast. If De Morgan and Boole have had a priority in the case, + to them we cheerfully shall resign the glory and honor. If such be the + truth, they have neither done justice to the discovery, nor to + themselves [quite true]. They have, under the circumstances, acted like + 'the foolish man, who roasteth not that which he taketh {76} in + hunting.... It will be sufficient for us, however, to be the Columbus + of these great Americi, and popularize what they found, _if_ they found + it. We, as from the mountain top, will then become _their_ trumpeters, + and cry glory to De Morgan and glory to Boole, under Him who is the + source of all glory, the only good and wise, to Whom be glory for ever! + _If_ they be our predecessors in this matter, they have, under Him, + taken moral questions out of the category of probabilities, and + rendered them perfectly certain. In that case, let their books be read + by those who may doubt the principles this day laid before the world as + a great discovery, by our newspaper. Our cry shall be [Greek: + eurêkasi]![162] Let us hope that they will join us, and henceforth keep + their light [_sic_] from under their bushel." + +For myself, and for my old friend Mr. Boole, who I am sure would join me, I +disclaim both priority, simultaneity, and posteriority, and request that +nothing may be trumpeted from the mountain top except our abjuration of all +community of thought or operation with this _Novum Organum_. + +To such community we can make no more claim than Americus could make to +being the forerunner of Columbus who popularized his discoveries. We do not +wish for any [Greek: eurêkasi] and not even for [Greek: heurêkasi]. For +self and Boole, I point out what would have convinced either of us that +this house is divided against itself. + +[Alpha] being an apostolic element, [delta] the doctrinal element, and +[Chi] the body of the faithful, the church is [Alpha] [delta] [Chi], we are +told. Also, that if [Alpha] become negative, or the Apostolicity become +Diabolicity [my words]; or if [delta] become negative, and doctrine become +heresy; or if [Chi] become negative, that is, if the faithful become +unfaithful; the church becomes negative, "the very opposite to what it +ought to be." For self and Boole, I admit this. But--which is not +noticed--if [Alpha] and [delta] should _both_ become negative, diabolical +origin {77} and heretical doctrine, then the church, [Alpha] [delta] [Chi], +is still positive, what it ought to be, unless [Chi] be also negative, or +the people unfaithful to it, in which case it is a bad church. Now, self +and Boole--though I admit I have not asked my partner--are of opinion that +a diabolical church with false doctrine does harm when the people are +faithful, and can do good only when the people are unfaithful. We may be +wrong, but this is what we _do_ think. Accordingly, we have caught nothing, +and can therefore roast nothing of our own: I content myself with roasting +a joint of Mr. Gregg's larder. + +These mathematical vagaries have uses which will justify a large amount of +quotation: and in a score of years this may perhaps be the only attainable +record. I therefore proceed. + +After observing that by this calculus juries (heaven help them! say I) can +calculate damages "almost to a nicety," and further that it is made +abundantly evident that c e x is "the general expression for an +individual," it is noted that the number of the Beast is not given in the +Revelation in words at length, but as [Greek: chxw'].[163] On this the +following remark is made: + +"Can it be possible that we have in this case a specimen given to us of the +arithmetic of heaven, and an expression revealed, which indicates by its +function of addibility, the name of the church in question, and of each +member of it; and by its function of multiplicability the doctrine, the +mission, and the members of the great Synagogue of Apostacy? We merely +propound these questions;--we do not pretend to solve them." + +After a translation in blank verse--a very pretty one--of the 18th Psalm, +the author proceeds as follows, to render it into differential calculus: + +{78} + +"And the whole tells us just this, that David did what he could. He +augmented those elements of his constitution which were (_exceptis +excipiendis_)[164] subject to himself, and the Almighty then augmented his +personal qualities, and his vocational _status_. Otherwise, to throw the +matter into the expression of our notation, the variable e was augmented, +and c x rose proportionally. The law of the variation, according to our +theory, would be thus expressed. The resultant was David the king c e x [c += r?] (who had been David the shepherd boy), and from the conditions of the +theorem we have + + du/de = ce(dx/de) + ex(dc/de)x + cx + +which, in the terms of ordinary language, just means, the increase of +David's educational excellence or qualities--his piety, his prayerfulness, +his humility, obedience, etc.--was so great, that when multiplied by his +original talent and position, it produced a product so great as to be equal +in its amount to royalty, honor, wealth, and power, etc.: in short, to all +the attributes of majesty."[165] + +The "solution of the family problem" is of high interest. It is to +determine the effect on the family in general from a change [of conduct] in +one of them. The person chosen is one of the maid-servants. + +"Let c e x be the father; c_1e_1x_1 the mother, etc. The family then +consists of the maid's master, her mistress, her young master, her young +mistress, and fellow servant. Now the master's calling (or c) is to +exercise his share of control over this servant, and mind the rest of his +business: call this remainder a, and let his calling generally, or all his +affairs, be to his maid-servant as m : y, i.e., y = (mz/c); ... {79} and +this expression will represent his relation to the servant. Consequently, + + c e x = (a + mz/c)e x; otherwise (a + mz/c)e x + +is the expression for the father when viewed as the girl's master." + +I have no objection to repeat so far; but I will not give the formula for +the maid's relation to her young master; for I am not quite sure that all +young masters are to be trusted with it. Suffice it that the son will be +affected directly as his influence over her, and inversely as his +vocational power: if then he should have some influence and no vocational +power, the effect on him would be infinite. This is dismal to think of. +Further, the formula brings out that if one servant improve, the other must +deteriorate, and _vice versa_. This is not the experience of most families: +and the author remarks as follows: + +"That is, we should venture to say, a very beautiful result, and we may say +it yielded us no little astonishment. What our calculation might lead to we +never dreamt of; that it should educe a conclusion so recondite that our +unassisted power never could have attained to, and which, if we could have +conjectured it, would have been at best the most distant probability, that +conclusion being itself, as it would appear, the quintessence of truth, +afforded us a measure of satisfaction that was not slight." + +That the writings of Mr. Boole and myself "go to the full justification of" +this "principle," is only true in the sense in which the Scotch use, or did +use, the word _justification_. + + + +A TRIBUTE TO BOOLE. + +[The last number of this Budget had stood in type for months, waiting until +there should be a little cessation of correspondence more connected with +the things of the day. {80} I had quite forgotten what it was to contain; +and little thought, when I read the proof, that my allusions to my friend +Mr. Boole, then in life and health, would not be printed till many weeks +after his death. Had I remembered what my last number contained, I should +have added my expression of regret and admiration to the numerous obituary +testimonials, which this great loss to science has called forth. + +The system of logic alluded to in the last number of this series is but one +of many proofs of genius and patience combined. I might legitimately have +entered it among my _paradoxes_, or things counter to general opinion: but +it is a paradox which, like that of Copernicus, excited admiration from its +first appearance. That the symbolic processes of algebra, invented as tools +of numerical calculation, should be competent to express every act of +thought, and to furnish the grammar and dictionary of an all-containing +system of logic, would not have been believed until it was proved. When +Hobbes,[166] in the time of the Commonwealth, published his _Computation or +Logique_, he had a remote glimpse of some of the points which are placed in +the light of day by Mr. Boole. The unity of the forms of thought in all the +applications of reason, however remotely separated, will one day be matter +of notoriety and common wonder: and Boole's name will be remembered in +connection with one of the most important steps towards the attainment of +this knowledge.] + + + +DECIMALS RUN RIOT. + + The Decimal System as a whole. By Dover Statter.[167] London and + Liverpool, 1856, 8vo. + +{81} + +The proposition is to make everything decimal. The day, now 24 hours, is to +be made 10 hours. The year is to have ten months, Unusber, Duober, etc. +Fortunately there are ten commandments, so there will be neither addition +to, nor deduction from, the moral law. But the twelve apostles! Even +rejecting Judas, there is a whole apostle of difficulty. These points the +author does not touch. + + + +ON PHONETIC SPELLING. + + The first book of Phonetic Reading. London, Fred. Pitman,[168] Phonetic + Depot, 20, Paternoster Row, 1856, 12mo. + + The Phonetic Journal. Devoted to the propagation of phonetic reading, + phonetic longhand, phonetic shorthand, and phonetic printing. No. 46. + Saturday, 15 November 1856. Vol. 15. + +I write the titles of a couple out of several tracts which I have by me. +But the number of publications issued by the promoters of this spirited +attempt is very large indeed.[169] The attempt itself has had no success +with the mass of the public. This I do not regret. Had the world found that +the change was useful, I should have gone contentedly with the stream; but +not without regretting our old language. I admit the difficulties which our +unpronounceable spelling puts in the way of learning to read: and I have no +doubt that, as affirmed, it is easier to teach children phonetically, and +afterwards to introduce them to our common system, than to proceed in the +usual way. But by the usual way I mean proceeding by letters from the very +beginning. If, which I am sure is a better plan, children be taught at the +commencement very much by _complete words_, as if they were learning +Chinese, and be gradually accustomed to {82} resolve the known words into +letters, a fraction, perhaps a considerable one, of the advantage of the +phonetic system is destroyed. It must be remembered that a phonetic system +can only be an approximation. The differences of pronunciation existing +among educated persons are so great, that, on the phonetic system, +different persons ought to spell differently. + +But the phonetic party have produced something which will immortalize their +plan: I mean their _shorthand_, which has had a fraction of the success it +deserves. All who know anything of shorthand must see that nothing but a +phonetic system can be worthy of the name: and the system promulgated is +skilfully done. Were I a young man I should apply myself to it +systematically. I believe this is the only system in which books were ever +published. I wish some one would contribute to a public journal a brief +account of the dates and circumstances of the phonetic movement, not +forgetting a list of the books published in shorthand. + +A child beginning to read by himself may owe terrible dreams and waking +images of horror to our spelling, as I did when six years old. In one of +the common poetry-books there is an admonition against confining little +birds in cages, and the child is asked what if a great giant, amazingly +strong, were to take you away, shut you up, + + And feed you with vic-tu-als you ne-ver could bear. + +The book was hyphened for the beginner's use; and I had not the least idea +that _vic-tu-als_ were _vittles_: by the sound of the word I judged they +must be of iron; and it entered into my soul. + +The worst of the phonetic shorthand book is that they nowhere, so far as I +have seen, give _all_ the symbols, in every stage of advancement, together, +in one or following pages. It is symbols and talk, more symbols and more +talk, etc. A universal view of the signs ought to begin the works. {83} + + + +A HANDFUL OF LITTLE PARADOXERS. + + Ombrological Almanac. Seventeenth year. An essay on Anemology and + Ombrology. By Peter Legh,[170] Esq. London, 1856, 12mo. + +Mr. Legh, already mentioned, was an intelligent country gentleman, and a +legitimate speculator. But the clue was not reserved for him. + + The proof that the three angles of a triangle are equal to two right + angles looked for in the inflation of the circle. By Gen. Perronet + Thompson. London, 1856, 8vo. (pp. 4.) + +Another attempt, the third, at this old difficulty, which cannot be put +into few words of explanation.[171] + + Comets considered as volcanoes, and the cause of their velocity and + other phenomena thereby explained. London (_circa_ 1856), 8vo. + +The title explains the book better than the book explains the title. + + + +1856. A stranger applied to me to know what the ideas of a friend of his +were worth upon the magnitude of the earth. The matter being one involving +points of antiquity, I mentioned various persons whose speculations he +seemed to have ignored; among others, Thales. The reply was, "I am +instructed by the author to inform you that he is perfectly acquainted with +the works of Thales, Euclid, Archimedes, ..." I had some thought of asking +whether he had used the Elzevir edition of Thales,[172] which is known to +be very incomplete, or that of Professor Niemand with the lections, +Nirgend, 1824, 2 vols. folio; just to see whether the {84} last would not +have been the very edition he had read. But I refrained, in mercy. + + + + The moon is the image of the Earth, and is not a solid body. By T^{he} + Longitude.[173] (Private Circulation.) In five parts. London, 1856, + 1857, 1857; Calcutta, 1858, 1858, 8vo. + +The earth is "brought to a focus"; it describes a "looped orbit round the +sun." The eclipse of the sun is thus explained: "At the time of eclipses, +the image is more or less so directly before or behind the earth that, in +the case of new moon, bright rays of the sun fall and bear upon the spot +where the figure of the earth is brought to a focus, that is, bear upon the +image of the earth, when a darkness beyond is produced reaching to the +earth, and the sun becomes more or less eclipsed." How the earth is +"brought to a focus" we do not find stated. Writers of this kind always +have the argument that some things which have been ridiculed at first have +been finally established. Those who put into the lottery had the same kind +of argument; but were always answered by being reminded how many blanks +there were to one prize. I am loath to pronounce against anything: but it +does force itself upon me that the author of these tracts has drawn a +blank. + + + +LUNAR MOTION AGAIN. + + _Times_, April 6 or 7, 1856. The moon has no rotary motion. + +A letter from Mr. Jellinger Symons,[174] inspector of schools, which +commenced a controversy of many letters and pamphlets. This dispute comes +on at intervals, and will continue to do so. It sometimes arises from +inability to understand the character of simple rotation, geometrically; +sometimes from not understanding the mechanical doctrine of rotation. + +{85} + + + + Lunar Motion. The whole argument stated, and illustrated by diagrams; + with letters from the Astronomer Royal. By Jellinger C. Symons. London, + 1856, 8vo. + +The Astronomer Royal endeavored to disentangle Mr. J. C. Symons, but +failed. Mr. Airy[175] can correct the error of a ship's compasses, because +he can put her head which way he pleases: but this he cannot do with a +speculator. + +Mr. Symons, in this tract, insinuated that the rotation of the moon is one +of the silver shrines of the craftsmen. To see a thing so clearly as to be +satisfied that all who say they do not see it are telling wilful falsehood, +is the nature of man. Many of all sects find much comfort in it, when they +think of the others; many unbelievers solace themselves with it against +believers; priests of old time founded the right of persecution upon it, +and of our time, in some cases, the right of slander: many of the +paradoxers make it an argument against students of science. But I must say +for men of science, for the whole body, that they are fully persuaded of +the honesty of the paradoxers. The simple truth is, that all those I have +mentioned, believers, unbelievers, priests, paradoxers, are not so sure +they are right in their points of difference that they can safely allow +themselves to be persuaded of the honesty of opponents. Those who know +demonstration are differently situated. I suspect a train might be laid for +the formation of a better habit in this way. We know that Suvaroff[176] +taught his Russians at Ismail not to fear the Turks by accustoming them to +charge bundles of faggots dressed in turbans, etc. + + At which your wise men sneered in phrases witty, + He made no answer--but he took the city! + +Would it not be a good thing to exercise boys, in pairs, in the following +dialogue:--Sir, you are quite wrong!--Sir, {86} I am sure you honestly +think so! This was suggested by what used to take place at Cambridge in my +day. By statute, every B.A. was obliged to perform a certain number of +disputations, and the _father_ of the college had to affirm that it had +been done. Some were performed in earnest: the rest were huddled over as +follows. Two candidates occupied the places of the respondent and the +opponent: _Recte statuit Newtonus_, said the respondent: _Recte non statuit +Newtonus_,[177] said the opponent. This was repeated the requisite number +of times, and counted for as many _acts_ and _opponencies_. The parties +then changed places, and each unsaid what he had said on the other side of +the house: I remember thinking that it was capital drill for the House of +Commons, if any of us should ever get there. The process was repeated with +every pair of candidates. + +The real disputations were very severe exercises. I was badgered for two +hours with arguments given and answered in Latin,--or what we called +Latin--against Newton's first section, Lagrange's[178] derived functions, +and Locke[179] on innate principles. And though I _took off_ everything, +and was pronounced by the moderator to have disputed _magno honore_,[180] I +never had such a strain of thought in my life. For the inferior opponents +were made as sharp as their betters by their tutors, who kept lists of +queer objections, drawn from all quarters. The opponents used to meet the +day before to compare their arguments, that the same might not come twice +over. But, after I left Cambridge, it became the fashion to invite the +respondent to be present, who therefore learnt all that was to be brought +against him. This made the whole thing a farce: and the disputations were +abolished. + +{87} + + + + The Doctrine of the Moon's Rotation, considered in a letter to the + Astronomical Censor of the _Athenæum_. By Jones L. MacElshender.[181] + Edinburgh, 1856, 8vo. + +This is an appeal to those cultivated persons who will read it "to overrule +the _dicta_ of judges who would sacrifice truth and justice to professional +rule, or personal pique, pride, or prejudice"; meaning, the great mass of +those who have studied the subject. But how? Suppose the "cultivated +persons" were to side with the author, would those who have conclusions to +draw and applications to make consent to be wrong because the "general body +of intelligent men," who make no special study of the subject, are against +them? They would do no such thing: they would request the general body of +intelligent men to find their own astronomy, and welcome. But the truth is, +that this intelligent body knows better: and no persons know better that +they know better than the speculators themselves. + +But suppose the general body were to combine, in opposition to those who +have studied. Of course all my list must be admitted to their trial; and +then arises the question whether both sides are to be heard. If so, the +general body of the intelligent must hear all the established side have to +say: that is, they must become just as much of students as the inculpated +orthodox themselves. And will they not then get into _professional rule_, +pique, pride, and prejudice, as the others did? But if, which I suspect, +they are intended to judge as they are, they will be in a rare difficulty. +All the paradoxers are of like pretensions: they cannot, as a class, be +right, for each one contradicts a great many of the rest. There will be the +puzzle which silenced the crew of the cutter in Marryat's novel of the Dog +Fiend.[182] "A tog is a tog," said Jansen.--"Yes," replied another, "we all +know a dog is a dog; but the question is--Is _this_ dog {88} a dog?" And +this question would arise upon every dog of them all. + + + +ZETETIC ASTRONOMY. + + Zetetic Astronomy: Earth not a globe. 1857 (Broadsheet). + +Though only a traveling lecturer's advertisement, there are so many +arguments and quotations that it is a little pamphlet. The lecturer gained +great praise from provincial newspapers for his ingenuity in proving that +the earth is a flat, surrounded by ice. Some of the journals rather incline +to the view: but the _Leicester Advertiser_ thinks that the statements +"would seem very seriously to invalidate some of the most important +conclusions of modern astronomy," while the _Norfolk Herald_ is clear that +"there must be a great error on one side or the other." This broadsheet is +printed at Aylesbury in 1857, and the lecturer calls himself _Parallax_: +but at Trowbridge, in 1849, he was S. Goulden.[183] In this last +advertisement is the following announcement: "A paper on the above subjects +was read before the Council and Members of the Royal Astronomical Society, +Somerset House, Strand, London (Sir John F. W. Herschel,[184] President), +Friday, Dec. 8, 1848." No account of such a paper appears in the _Notice_ +for that month: I suspect that the above is Mr. S. Goulden's way of +representing the following occurrence: Dec. 8, 1848, the Secretary of the +Astronomical Society (De Morgan by name) said, at the close of the +proceedings,--"Now, gentlemen, if you will promise not to tell the Council, +I will read something for your amusement": and he then read a few of the +arguments which had been transmitted by the lecturer. The fact is worth +noting that from 1849 to 1857, arguments on the roundness or flatness of +the earth did itinerate. I have {89} no doubt they did much good: for very +few persons have any distinct idea of the evidence for the rotundity of the +earth. The _Blackburn Standard_ and _Preston Guardian_ (Dec. 12 and 16, +1849) unite in stating that the lecturer ran away from his second lecture +at Burnley, having been rather too hard pressed at the end of his first +lecture to explain why the large hull of a ship disappeared before the +sails. The persons present and waiting for the second lecture assuaged +their disappointment by concluding that the lecturer had slipped off the +icy edge of his flat disk, and that he would not be seen again till he +peeped up on the opposite side. + +But, strange as it may appear, the opposer of the earth's roundness has +more of a case--or less of a want of case--than the arithmetical squarer of +the circle. The evidence that the earth is round is but cumulative and +circumstantial: scores of phenomena ask, separately and independently, what +other explanation can be imagined except the sphericity of the earth. The +evidence for the earth's figure is tremendously powerful of its kind; but +the proof that the circumference is 3.14159265... times the diameter is of +a higher kind, being absolute mathematical demonstration. + +The Zetetic system still lives in lectures and books; as it ought to do, +for there is no way of teaching a truth comparable to opposition. The last +I heard of it was in lectures at Plymouth, in October, 1864. Since this +time a prospectus has been issued of a work entitled "The Earth not a +Globe"; but whether it has been published I do not know. The contents are +as follows: + + + +"The Earth a Plane--How circumnavigated.--How time is lost or gained.--Why +a ship's hull disappears (when outward bound) before the mast head.--Why +the Polar Star sets when we proceed Southward, etc.--Why a pendulum +vibrates with less velocity at the Equator than {90} at the Pole.--The +allowance for rotundity _supposed_ to be made by surveyors, not made in +practice.--Measurement of Arcs of the Meridian unsatisfactory.--Degrees of +Longitude North and South of the Equator considered.--Eclipses and Earth's +form considered.--The Earth no motion on axis or in orbit.--How the Sun +moves above the Earth's surface concentric with the North Pole.--Cause of +Day and Night, Winter and Summer; the long alternation of light and +darkness at the Pole.--Cause of the Sun rising and setting.--Distance of +the Sun from London, 4,028 miles--How measured.--_Challenge to +Mathematicians._--Cause of Tides.--Moon self-luminous, NOT a +reflector.--Cause of Solar and Lunar eclipses.--Stars _not worlds_; their +distance.--Earth, the _only material_ world; its true position in the +universe; its condition and ultimate destruction by fire (2 Peter iii.), +etc." + +I wish there were geoplatylogical lectures in every town; in England +(_platylogical_, in composition, need not mean _babbling_). The late Mr. +Henry Archer[185] would, if alive, be very much obliged to me for recording +his vehement denial of the roundness of the earth: he was excited if he +heard any one call it a globe. I cannot produce his proof from the +Pyramids, and from some caves in Arabia. He had other curious notions, of +course: I should no more believe that a flat earth was a man's only +paradox, than I should that Dutens,[186] the editor of Leibnitz, was +eccentric only in supplying a tooth which he had lost by one which he found +in an Italian tomb, and fully believed that it had once belonged to Scipio +Africanus, whose family vault was discovered, it is supposed, in 1780. Mr. +Archer is of note as {91} the suggester of the perforated border of the +postage-stamps, and, I think, of the way of doing it; for this he got +4000l. reward. He was a civil engineer. + +(_August 28, 1865._) The _Zetetic Astronomy_ has come into my hands. When, +in 1851, I went to see the Great Exhibition, I heard an organ played by a +performer who seemed very desirous to exhibit one particular stop. "What do +you think of that stop?" I was asked.--"That depends on the name of it," +said I.--"Oh! what can the name have to do with the sound? 'that which we +call a rose,' etc."--"The name has everything to do with it: if it be a +flute-stop, I think it very harsh; but if it be a railway-whistle-stop, I +think it very sweet." So as to this book: if it be childish, it is clever; +if it be mannish, it is unusually foolish. The flat earth, floating +tremulously on the sea; the sun moving always over the flat, giving day +when near enough, and night when too far off; the self-luminous moon, with +a semi-transparent invisible moon, created to give her an eclipse now and +then; the new law of perspective, by which the vanishing of the hull before +the masts, usually thought to prove the earth globular, really proves it +flat;--all these and other things are well fitted to form exercises for a +person who is learning the elements of astronomy. The manner in which the +sun dips into the sea, especially in tropical climates, upsets the whole. +Mungo Park,[187] I think, gives an African hypothesis which explains +phenomena better than this. The sun dips into the western ocean, and the +people there cut him in pieces, fry him in a pan, and then join him +together again, take him round the underway, and set him up in the east. I +hope this book will be read, and that many will be puzzled by it: for there +are many whose notions of astronomy deserve no better fate. There is no +subject on which there is so little {92} accurate conception as that of the +motions of the heavenly bodies. The author, though confident in the +extreme, neither impeaches the honesty of those whose opinions he assails, +nor allots them any future inconvenience: in these points he is worthy to +live on a globe, and to revolve in twenty-four hours. + + + +(_October, 1866._) A follower appears, in a work dedicated to the preceding +author: it is _Theoretical Astronomy examined and exposed by Common Sense_. +The author has 128 well-stuffed octavo pages. I hope he will not be the +last. He prints the newspaper accounts of his work: the _Church Times_ +says--not seeing how the satire might be retorted--"We never began to +despair of Scripture until we discovered that 'Common Sense' had taken up +the cudgels in its defence." This paper considers our author as the type of +a _Protestant_. The author himself, who gives a summary of his arguments in +verse, has one couplet which is worth quoting: + + "How is't that sailors, bound to sea, with _a 'globe'_ would never start, + But in its place will always take _Mercator's_[188] LEVEL _chart_!" + +To which I answer: + + Why, really Mr. Common Sense, you've never got so far + As to think Mercator's planisphere shows countries as they are; + It won't do to measure distances; it points out how to steer, + But this distortion's not for you; another is, I fear. + The earth must be a cylinder, if seaman's charts be true, + Or else the boundaries, right and left, are one as well as two; + They contradict the notion that we dwell upon a plain, + For straight away, without a turn, will bring you home again. + There are various plane projections; and each one has its use: + I wish a milder word would rhyme--but really you're a goose! + +The great wish of persons who expose themselves as above, is to be argued +with, and to be treated as reputable {93} and refutable opponents. "Common +Sense" reminds us that no amount of "blatant ridicule" will turn right into +wrong. He is perfectly correct: but then no amount of bad argument will +turn wrong into right. These two things balance; and we are just where we +were: but you should answer our arguments, for whom, I ask? Would reason +convince this kind of reasoner? The issue is a short and a clear one. If +these parties be what I contend they are, then ridicule is made for them: +if not, for what or for whom? If they be right, they are only passing +through the appointed trial of all good things. Appeal is made to the +future: and my Budget is intended to show samples of the long line of +heroes who have fallen without victory, each of whom had his day of +confidence and his prophecy of success. Let the future decide: they say +roundly that the earth is flat; I say flatly that it is round. + +The paradoxers all want reason, and not ridicule: they are all accessible, +and would yield to conviction. Well then, let them reason with one another! +They divide into squads, each with a subject, and as many different +opinions as persons in each squad. If they be really what they say they +are, the true man of each set can put down all the rest, and can come +crowned with glory and girdled with scalps, to the attack on the orthodox +misbelievers. But they know, to a man, that the rest are not fit to be +reasoned with: they pay the regulars the compliment of believing that the +only chance lies with them. They think in their hearts, each one for +himself, that ridicule is of fit appliance to the rest. + + + + Miranda. A book divided into three parts, entitled Souls, Numbers, + Stars, on the Neo-Christian Religion ... Vol. i. London, 1858, 1859, + 1860. 8vo. + +The name of the author is Filopanti.[189] He announces himself as the 49th +and last Emanuel: his immediate {94} predecessors were Emanuel Washington, +Emanuel Newton, and Emanuel Galileo. He is to collect nations into one +family. He knows the transmigrations of the whole human race. Thus +Descartes became William III of England: Roger Bacon became Boccaccio. But +Charles IX,[190] in retribution for the massacre of St. Bartholomew, was +hanged in London under the name of Barthélemy for the murder of Collard: +and many of the Protestants whom he killed as King of France were shouting +at his death before the Old Bailey. + + + +THE SABBATH--THE GREAT PYRAMID + + A Letter to the members of the Anglo-Biblical Institute, dated Sept. 7, + 1858, and signed 'Herman Heinfetter.'[191] (Broadsheet.) + +This gentleman is well known to the readers of the _Athenæum_, in which, +for nearly twenty years, he has inserted, as advertisements, long arguments +in favor of Christians keeping the Jewish Sabbath, beginning on Friday +Evening. The present letter maintains that, by the force of the definite +article, the _days_ of creation may not be consecutive, but may have any +time--millions of years--between them. This ingenious way of reconciling +the author of Genesis and the indications of geology is worthy to be added +to the list, already pretty numerous. Mr. Heinfetter has taken such pains +to make himself a public agitator, that {95} I do not feel it to be any +invasion of private life if I state that I have heard he is a large +corn-dealer. No doubt he is a member of the congregation whose almanac has +already been described. + + + + The great Pyramid. Why was it built? And who built it? By John Taylor, + 1859,[192] 12mo. + +This work is very learned, and may be referred to for the history of +previous speculations. It professes to connect the dimensions of the +Pyramid with a system of metrology which is supposed to have left strong +traces in the systems of modern times; showing the Egyptians to have had +good approximate knowledge of the dimensions of the earth, and of the +quadrature of the circle. These are points on which coincidence is hard to +distinguish from intention. Sir John Herschel[193] noticed this work, and +gave several coincidences, in the _Athenæum_, Nos. 1696 and 1697, April 28 +and May 5, 1860: and there are some remarks by Mr. Taylor in No. 1701, June +2, 1860. + +Mr. Taylor's most recent publication is-- + + The battle of the Standards: the ancient, of four thousand years, + against the modern, of the last fifty years--the less perfect of the + two. London, 1864, 12mo. + +This is intended as an appendix to the work on the Pyramid. Mr. Taylor +distinctly attributes the original system to revelation, of which he says +the Great Pyramid is the record. We are advancing, he remarks, towards the +end of the Christian dispensation, and he adds that it is satisfactory to +see that we retain the standards which were given by unwritten revelation +700 years before Moses. This is lighting the candle at both ends; for +myself, I shall not undertake to deny or affirm either what is said about +the dark past or what is hinted about the dark future. + +{96} + +My old friend Mr. Taylor is well known as the author of the argument which +has convinced many, even most, that Sir Philip Francis[194] was Junius: +pamphlet, 1813; supplement, 1817; second edition "The Identity of Junius +with a distinguished living character established," London, 1818, 8vo. He +told me that Sir Philip Francis, in a short conversation with him, made +only this remark, "You may depend upon it you are quite mistaken:" the +phrase appears to me remarkable; it has an air of criticism on the book, +free from all personal denial. He also mentioned that a hearer told him +that Sir Philip said, speaking of writers on the question,--"Those fellows, +for half-a-crown, would prove that Jesus Christ was Junius." + +Mr. Taylor implies, I think, that he is the first who started the +suggestion that Sir Philip Francis was Junius, which I have no means either +of confirming or refuting. If it be so [and I now know that Mr. Taylor +himself never heard of any predecessor], the circumstance is very +remarkable: it is seldom indeed that the first proposer of any solution of +a great and vexed question is the person who so nearly establishes his +point in general opinion as Mr. Taylor has done. + +As to the Junius question in general, there is a little bit of the +philosophy of horse-racing which may be usefully applied. A man who is so +confident of his horse that he places him far above any other, may +nevertheless, and does, refuse to give odds against all in the field: for +many small adverse chances united make a big chance for one or other of the +opponents. I suspect Mr. Taylor has made it at least 20 to 1 for Francis +against any one competitor who has been named: but what the odds may be +against the {97} whole field is more difficult to settle. What if the real +Junius should be some person not yet named? + +Mr. Jopling, _Leisure Hour_, May 23, 1863, relies on the porphyry coffer of +the Great Pyramid, in which he finds "the most ancient and accurate +standard of measure in existence." + +I am shocked at being obliged to place a thoughtful and learned writer, and +an old friend, before such a successor as he here meets with. But +chronological arrangement defies all other arrangement. + +(I had hoped that the preceding account would have met Mr. Taylor's eye in +print: but he died during the last summer. For a man of a very thoughtful +and quiet temperament, he had a curious turn for vexed questions. But he +reflected very long and very patiently before he published: and all his +works are valuable for their accurate learning, whichever side the reader +may take.) + + + +MRS. ELIZABETH COTTLE. + +1859. _The Cottle Church._--For more than twenty years printed papers have +been sent about in the name of Elizabeth Cottle.[195] It is not so +remarkable that such papers should be concocted as that they should +circulate for such a length of time without attracting public attention. +Eighty years ago Mrs. Cottle might have rivalled Lieut. Brothers or Joanna +Southcott.[196] Long hence, when the now current volumes of our journals +are well-ransacked works of reference, those who look into them will be +glad to see this {98} feature of our time: I therefore make a few extracts, +faithfully copied as to type. The Italic is from the New Testament; the +Roman is the requisite interpretation: + +"Robert Cottle '_was numbered_ (5196) _with the transgressors_' at the back +of the Church in Norwood Cemetery, May 12, 1858--Isa. liii. 12. The Rev. +J. G. Collinson, Minister of St. James's Church, Chapham, the then district +church, before All Saints was built, read the funeral service _over the +Sepulchre wherein never before man was laid_. + +"_Hewn on the stone_, 'at the mouth of the Sepulchre,' is his name,--Robert +Cottle, born at Bristol, June 2, 1774; died at Kirkstall Lodge, Clapham +Park, May 6, 1858. _And that day_ (May 12, 1858) _was the preparation_ (day +and year for 'the PREPARED place for you'--Cottleites---by the widowed +mother of the Father's house, at Kirkstall Lodge--John xiv. 2, 3). _And the +Sabbath_ (Christmas Day, Dec. 25, 1859) _drew on_ (for the resurrection of +the Christian body on 'the third [Protestant Sun]-day'--1 Cor. xv. 35). +_Why seek ye the living_ (God of the New Jerusalem--Heb. xii. 22; Rev. iii. +12) _among the dead_ (men): _he_ (the God of Jesus) _is not here_ (in the +grave), _but is risen_ (in the person of the Holy Ghost, from the supper of +'the dead in the second death' of Paganism). _Remember how he spake unto +you_ (in the church of the Rev. George Clayton,[197] April 14, 1839). _I +will not drink henceforth_ (at this last Cottle supper) _of the fruit of +this_ (Trinity) _vine, until that day_ (Christmas Day, 1859), _when I_ +(Elizabeth Cottle) _drink it new with you_ (Cottleites) _in my Father's +kingdom_--John xv. _If this_ (Trinitarian) _cup may not pass away from me_ +(Elizabeth Cottle, April 14, 1839), _except I drink it_ ('new with you +Cottleites, in my Father's Kingdom'), _thy will be done_--Matt. xxvi. 29, +42, 64. 'Our Father which art (God) in Heaven,' _hallowed be thy name, thy_ +(Cottle) _kingdom_ {99} _come, thy will be done in earth, as it is_ (done) +_in_ (the new) _Heaven_ (and new earth of the new name of Cottle--Rev. xxi. +1; iii. 12). + +"... Queen Elizabeth, from A.D. 1558 to 1566. _And this_ WORD _yet once +more_ (by a second Elizabeth--the WORD of his oath) _signifieth_ (at John +Scott's baptism of the Holy Ghost) _the removing of those things_ (those +Gods and those doctrines) _that are made_ (according to the Creeds and +Commandments of men) _that those things_ (in the moral law of God) _which +cannot be shaken_ (as a rule of faith and practice) _may remain, wherefore +we receiving_ (from Elizabeth) _a kingdom_ (of God,) _which cannot be +moved_ (by Satan) _let us have grace_ (in his Grace of Canterbury) _whereby +we may serve God acceptably_ (with the acceptable sacrifice of Elizabeth's +body and blood of the communion of the Holy Ghost) _with reverence_ (for +truth) _and godly fear_ (of the unpardonable sin of blasphemy against the +Holy Ghost) _for our God_ (the Holy Ghost) _is a consuming fire_ (to the +nation that will not serve him in the Cottle Church). We cannot defend +ourselves against the Almighty, and if He is our defence, no nation can +invade us. + +"In verse 4 the Church of St. Peter is _in prison between four quaternions +of soldiers_--the Holy Alliance of 1815. Rev. vii. i. Elizabeth, _the Angel +of the Lord_ Jesus _appears_ to the Jewish and Christian body with _the +vision_ of prophecy to the Rev. Geo. Clayton and his clerical brethren, +April 8th, 1839. _Rhoda_ was the name of her maid at Putney Terrace who +used _to open the door to her Peter_, the Rev. Robert Ashton,[198] the +Pastor of 'the little flock' 'of 120 names together, assembled in an upper +(school) room' at Putney Chapel, to which little flock she gave the +revelation (Acts. i. 13, 15) _of Jesus the same_ King of the Jews +_yesterday_ at the prayer meeting, Dec. 31, 1841, _and to-day_, {100} Jan. +1, 1842, _and for ever_. See book of Life, page 24. Matt. xviii. 19, xxi. +13-16. In verse 6 the Italian body of St. Peter _is sleeping_ 'in the +second death' _between the two_ Imperial _soldiers_ of France and Austria. +The Emperor of France from Jan. 1, to July 11, 1859, causes the Italian +_chains of St. Peter to fall off from his_ Imperial _hands_. + +"_I say unto thee_, Robert Ashton, _thou art Peter_, a stone, _and upon +this rock_, of truth, _will I_ Elizabeth, the angel of Jesus, _build my_ +Cottle _Church, and the gates of hell_, the doors of St. Peter, at Rome, +shall not prevail against it--Matt. xvi. 18. Rev. iii. 7-12." + +This will be enough for the purpose. When any one who pleases can circulate +new revelations of this kind, uninterrupted and unattended to, new +revelations will cease to be a good investment of excentricity. I take it +for granted that the gentlemen whose names are mentioned have nothing to do +with the circulars or their doctrines. Any lady who may happen to be +intrusted with a revelation may nominate her own pastor, or any other +clergyman, one of her apostles; and it is difficult to say to what court +the nominees can appeal to get the commission abrogated. + +_March 16, 1865._ During the last two years the circulars have continued. +It is hinted that funds are low: and two gentlemen who are represented as +gone "to Bethlehem asylum in despair" say that Mrs. Cottle "will spend all +that she hath, while Her Majesty's Ministers are flourishing on the wages +of sin." The following is perhaps one of the most remarkable passages in +the whole: + +"_Extol and magnify Him_ (Jehovah, the Everlasting God, see the Magnificat +and Luke i. 45, 46--68--73--79), _that rideth_ (by rail and steam over land +and sea, from his holy habitation at Kirkstall Lodge, Psa. lxxvii. 19, 20), +_upon the_ (Cottle) _heavens, as it were_ (Sept. 9, 1864, see pages 21, +170), _upon an_ (exercising, Psa. cxxxi. 1), _horse_-(chair, bought of Mr. +John Ward, Leicester-square)." {101} + +I have pretty good evidence that there is a clergyman who thinks Mrs. +Cottle a very sensible woman. + +[_The Cottle Church._ Had I chanced to light upon it at the time of +writing, I should certainly have given the following. A printed letter to +the _Western Times_, by Mr. Robert Cottle, was accompanied by a manuscript +letter from Mrs. Cottle, apparently a circular. The date was Nov^{r}. 1853, +and the subject was the procedure against Mr. Maurice[199] at King's +College for doubting that God would punish human sins by an existence of +torture lasting through years numbered by millions of millions of millions +of millions (repeat the word _millions_ without end,) etc. The memory of +Mr. Cottle has, I think, a right to the quotation: he seems to have been no +participator in the notions of his wife: + +"The clergy of the Established Church, taken at the round number of 20,000, +may, in their first estate, be likened to 20,000 gold blanks, destined to +become sovereigns, in succession,--they are placed between the matrix of +the Mint, when, by the pressure of the screw, they receive the impress that +fits them to become part of the current coin of the realm. In a way +somewhat analogous this great body of the clergy have each passed through +the crucibles of Oxford and Cambridge,--have been assayed by the Bishop's +chaplain, touching the health of their souls, and the validity of their +call by the Divine Spirit, and then the gentle pressure of a prelate's hand +upon their heads; and the words--'Receive the Holy Ghost,' have, in a brief +space of time, wrought a {102} change in them, much akin to the miracle of +transubstantiation--the priests are completed, and they become the current +ecclesiastical coin of our country. The whole body of clergy, here spoken +of, have undergone the preliminary induction of baptism and confirmation; +and all have been duly ordained, _professing_ to hold one faith, and to +believe in the selfsame doctrines! In short, to be as identical as the +20,000 sovereigns, if compared one with the other. But mind is not +malleable and ductile, like gold; and all the preparations of tests, +creeds, and catechisms will not insure uniformity of belief. No stamp of +orthodoxy will produce the same impress on the minds of different men. +Variety is manifest, and patent, upon everything mental and material. The +Almighty has not created, nor man fashioned, two things alike! How futile, +then, is the attempt to shape and mould man's apprehension of divine truth +by one fallible standard of man's invention! If proof of this be required, +an appeal might be made to history and the experience of eighteen hundred +years." + +This is an argument of force against the reasonableness of expecting tens +of thousands of educated readers of the New Testament to find the doctrine +above described in it. The lady's argument against the doctrine itself is +very striking. Speaking of an outcry on this matter among the Dissenters +against one of their body, who was the son of "the White Stone (Rev. ii. +17), or the Roman cement-maker," she says-- + +"If the doctrine for which they so wickedly fight were true, what would +become of the black gentlemen for whose redemption I have been sacrificed +from April 8 1839." + +There are certainly very curious points about this revelation. There have +been many surmises about the final restoration of the infernal spirits, +from the earliest ages of Christianity until our own day: a collection of +them would be worth making. On reading this in proof, I see a possibility +that by "black gentlemen" may be meant the clergy: {103} I suppose my first +interpretation must have been suggested by context: I leave the point to +the reader's sagacity.] + + + +JAMES SMITH, ARCH-PARADOXER. + + The Problem of squaring the circle solved; or, the circumference and + area of the circle discovered. By James Smith.[200] London, 1859, 8vo. + + On the relations of a square inscribed in a circle. Read at the British + Association, Sept. 1859, published in the Liverpool Courier, Oct. 8, + 1859, and reprinted in broadsheet. + + The question: Are there any commensurable relations between a circle + and other Geometrical figures? Answered by a member of the British + Association ... London, 1860, 8vo.--[This has been translated into + French by M. Armand Grange, Bordeaux, 1863, 8vo.] + + The Quadrature of the Circle. Correspondence between an eminent + mathematician and James Smith, Esq. (Member of the Mersey Docks and + Harbour Board), London, 1861, 8vo. (pp. 200). + + Letter to the ... British Association ... by James Smith, Esq. + Liverpool, 1861, 8vo. + + Letter to the ... British Association ... by James Smith, Esq. + Liverpool, 1862, 8vo.--[These letters the author promised to continue.] + + A Nut to crack for the readers of Professor De Morgan's 'Budget of + Paradoxes.' By James Smith, Esq. Liverpool, 1863, 8vo. + + Paper read at the Liverpool Literary and Philosophical Society, + reported in the Liverpool Daily Courier, Jan. 26, 1864. Reprinted as a + pamphlet. + + The Quadrature of the circle, or the true ratio between the diameter + and circumference geometrically and mathematically demonstrated. By + James Smith, Esq. Liverpool, 1865, 8vo. + + {104} + + [On the relations between the dimensions and distances of the Sun, + Moon, and Earth; a paper read before the Literary and Philosophical + Society of Liverpool, Jan. 25, 1864. By James Smith, Esq. + + The British Association in Jeopardy, and Dr. Whewell, the Master of + Trinity, in the stocks without hope of escape. Printed for the authors + (J. S. confessed, and also hidden under _Nauticus_). (No date, 1865). + + The British Association in Jeopardy, and Professor De Morgan in the + Pillory without hope of escape. London, 1866, 8vo.] + +When my work appeared in numbers, I had not anything like an adequate idea +of Mr. James Smith's superiority to the rest of the world in the points in +which he is superior. He is beyond a doubt the ablest head at unreasoning, +and the greatest hand at writing it, of all who have tried in our day to +attach their names to an error. Common cyclometers sink into puny orthodoxy +by his side. + +The behavior of this singular character induces me to pay him the +compliment which Achilles paid Hector, to drag him round the walls again +and again. He was treated with unusual notice and in the most gentle +manner. The unnamed mathematician, E. M. bestowed a volume of mild +correspondence upon him; Rowan Hamilton[201] quietly proved him wrong in a +way accessible to an ordinary schoolboy; Whewell,[202] as we shall see, +gave him the means of seeing himself wrong, even more easily than by +Hamilton's method. Nothing would do; it was small kick and silly fling at +all; and he exposed his conceit by alleging that he, James Smith, had +placed Whewell in the stocks. He will therefore be universally pronounced a +proper object of the severest literary punishment: but the opinion of all +who can put two propositions together will be that of the many strokes I +have given, the hardest and most telling are my republications of his own +attempts to reason. + +He will come out of my hands in the position he ought {105} to hold, the +Supreme Pontiff of cyclometers, the vicegerent of St. Vitus upon earth, the +Mamamouchi of burlesque on inference. I begin with a review of him which +appeared in the _Athenæum_ of May 11, 1861. Mr. Smith says I wrote it: this +I neither affirm nor deny; to do either would be a sin against the +editorial system elsewhere described. Many persons tell me they know me by +my style; let them form a guess: I can only say that many have declared as +above while fastening on me something which I had never seen nor heard of. + + + + The Quadrature of the Circle: Correspondence between an Eminent + Mathematician and James Smith, Esq. (Edinburgh, Oliver & Boyd; London, + Simpkin, Marshall & Co.) + +"A few weeks ago we were in perpetual motion. We did not then suppose that +anything would tempt us on a circle-squaring expedition: but the +circumstances of the book above named have a peculiarity which induces us +to give it a few words. + +"Mr. James Smith, a gentleman residing near Liverpool, was some years ago +seized with the _morbus cyclometricus_.[203] The symptoms soon took a +defined form: his circumference shrank into exactly 3-1/8 times his +diameter, instead of close to 3-16/113, which the mathematician knows to be +so near to truth that the error is hardly at the rate of a foot in 2,000 +miles. This shrinking of the circumference remained until it became +absolutely necessary that it should be examined by the British Association. +This body, which as Mr. James Smith found to his sorrow, has some interest +in 'jealously guarding the mysteries of their profession,' refused at first +to entertain the question. On this Mr. Smith changed his 'tactics' and the +name of his paper, and smuggled in the subject under the form of 'The +Relations of a Circle inscribed in a Square'! The paper was thus forced +upon the Association, for Mr. Smith informs us that he {106} 'gave the +Section to understand that he was not the man that would permit even the +British Association to trifle with him.' In other words, the Association +bore with and were bored with the paper, as the shortest way out of the +matter. Mr. Smith also circulated a pamphlet. Some kind-hearted man, who +did not know the disorder as well as we do, and who appears in Mr. Smith's +handsome octavo as E. M.--the initials of 'eminent mathematician'--wrote to +him and offered to show him in a page that he was all wrong. Mr. Smith +thereupon opened a correspondence, which is the bulk of the volume. When +the correspondence was far advanced, Mr. Smith announced his intention to +publish. His benevolent instructor--we mean in intention--protested against +the publication, saying 'I do not wish to be gibbeted to the world as +having been foolish enough to enter upon what I feel now to have been a +ridiculous enterprise.' + +"For this Mr. Smith cared nothing: he persisted in the publication, and the +book is before us. Mr. Smith has had so much grace as to conceal his kind +adviser's name under E. M., that is to say, he has divided the wrong among +all who may be suspected of having attempted so hopeless a task as that of +putting a little sense into his head. He has violated the decencies of +private life. Against the will of the kind-hearted man who undertook his +case, he has published letters which were intended for no other purpose +than to clear his poor head of a hopeless delusion. He deserves the +severest castigation; and he will get it: his abuse of confidence will +stick by him all his days. Not that he has done his benefactor--in +intention, again--any harm. The patience with which E. M. put the blunders +into intelligible form, and the perseverance with which he tried to find a +cranny-hole for common reasoning to get in at, are more than respectable: +they are admirable. It is, we can assure E. M., a good thing that the +nature of the circle-squarer should be so completely exposed as in this +volume. The benefit which he intended Mr. James Smith may be {107} +conferred upon others. And we should very much like to know his name, and +if agreeable to him, to publish it. As to Mr. James Smith, we can only say +this: he is not mad. Madmen reason rightly upon wrong premises: Mr. Smith +reasons wrongly upon no premises at all. + +"E. M. very soon found out that, to all appearance, Mr. Smith got a circle +of 3-1/8 times the diameter by making it the supposition to set out with +that there was such a circle; and then finding certain consequences which, +so it happened, were not inconsistent with the supposition on which they +were made. Error is sometimes self-consistent. However, E. M., to be quite +sure of his ground, wrote a short letter, stating what he took to be Mr. +Smith's hypothesis, containing the following: 'On AC as diameter, describe +the circle D, which by hypothesis shall be equal to three and one-eighth +times the length of AC.... I beg, before proceeding further, to ask whether +I have rightly stated your argument.' To which Mr. Smith replied: 'You have +stated my argument with perfect accuracy.' Still E. M. went on, and we +could not help, after the above, taking these letters as the initials of +Everlasting Mercy. At last, however, when Mr. Smith flatly denied that the +area of the circle lies between those of the inscribed and circumscribed +polygons, E. M. was fairly beaten, and gave up the task. Mr. Smith was left +to write his preface, to talk about the certain victory of truth--which, +oddly enough, is the consolation of all hopelessly mistaken men; to compare +himself with Galileo; and to expose to the world the perverse behavior of +the Astronomer Royal, on whom he wanted to fasten a conversation, and who +replied, 'It would be a waste of time, Sir, to listen to anything you could +have to say on such a subject.' + +"Having thus disposed of Mr. James Smith, we proceed to a few remarks on +the subject: it is one which a journal would never originate, but which is +rendered necessary from time to time by the attempts of the autopseustic to +become {108} heteropseustic. To the mathematician we have nothing to say: +the question is, what kind of assurance can be given to the world at large +that the wicked mathematicians are not acting in concert to keep down their +superior, Mr. James Smith, the current Galileo of the quadrature of the +circle. + +"Let us first observe that this question does not stand alone: +independently of the millions of similar problems which exist in higher +mathematics, the finding of the diagonal of a square has just the same +difficulty, namely, the entrance of a pair of lines of which one cannot be +definitely expressed by means of the other. We will show the reader who is +up to the multiplication-table how he may go on, on, on, ever nearer, never +there, in finding the diagonal of a square from the side. + +"Write down the following rows of figures, and more, if you like, in the +way described: + + 1 2 5 12 29 70 169 408 985 + 1 3 7 17 41 99 239 577 1393 + +After the second, each number is made up of double the last increased by +the last but one: thus, 5 is 1 more than twice 2, 12 is 2 more than twice +5, 239 is 41 more than twice 99. Now, take out two adjacent numbers from +the upper line, and the one below the first from the lower: as + + 70 169 + 99. + +Multiply together 99 and 169, giving 16,731. If, then, you will say that 70 +diagonals are exactly equal to 99 sides, you are in error about the +diagonal, but an error the amount of which is not so great as the 16,731st +part of the diagonal. Similarly, to say that five diagonals make exactly +seven sides does not involve an error of the 84th part of the diagonal. + +"Now, why has not the question of _crossing the square_ been as celebrated +as that of _squaring the circle_? Merely because Euclid demonstrated the +impossibility of the first {109} question, while that of the second was not +demonstrated, completely, until the last century. + +"The mathematicians have many methods, totally different from each other, +of arriving at one and the same result, their celebrated approximation to +the circumference of the circle. An intrepid calculator has, in our own +time, carried his approximation to what they call 607 decimal places: this +has been done by Mr. Shanks,[204] of Houghton-le-Spring, and Dr. +Rutherford[205] has verified 441 of these places. But though 607 looks +large, the general public will form but a hazy notion of the extent of +accuracy acquired. We have seen, in Charles Knight's[206] _English +Cyclopædia_, an account of the matter which may illustrate the +unimaginable, though rationally conceivable, extent of accuracy obtained. + +"Say that the blood-globule of one of our animalcules is a millionth of an +inch in diameter. Fashion in thought a globe like our own, but so much +larger that our globe is but a blood-globule in one of its animalcules: +never mind the microscope which shows the creature being rather a bulky +instrument. Call this the first globe _above_ us. Let the first globe above +us be but a blood-globule, as to size, in the animalcule of a still larger +globe, which call the second globe above us. Go on in this way to the +twentieth globe above us. Now go down just as far on the other side. Let +the blood-globule with which we started be a globe peopled with animals +like ours, but rather smaller: {110} and call this the first globe below +us. Take a blood-globule out of this globe, people it, and call it the +second globe below us: and so on to the twentieth globe below us. This is a +fine stretch of progression both ways. Now give the giant of the twentieth +globe _above_ us the 607 decimal places, and, when he has measured the +diameter of his globe with accuracy worthy of his size, let him calculate +the circumference of his equator from the 607 places. Bring the little +philosopher from the twentieth globe _below_ us with his very best +microscope, and set him to see the small error which the giant must make. +He will not succeed, unless his microscopes be much better for his size +than ours are for ours. + +"Now it must be remembered by any one who would laugh at the closeness of +the approximation, that the mathematician generally goes _nearer_; in fact +his theorems have usually no error at all. The very person who is +bewildered by the preceding description may easily forget that if there +were _no error at all_, the Lilliputian of the millionth globe below us +could not find a flaw in the Brobdingnagian of the millionth globe above. +The three angles of a triangle, of perfect accuracy of form, are +_absolutely_ equal to two right angles; no stretch of progression will +detect _any_ error. + +"Now think of Mr. Lacomme's mathematical adviser (_ante_, Vol. I, p. 46) +making a difficulty of advising a stonemason about the quantity of pavement +in a circular floor! + +"We will now, for our non-calculating reader, put the matter in another +way. We see that a circle-squarer can advance, with the utmost confidence, +the assertion that when the diameter is 1,000, the circumference is +accurately 3,125: the mathematician declaring that it is a trifle more than +3,141½. If the squarer be right, the mathematician has erred by about a +200th part of the whole: or has not kept his accounts right by about 10s. +in every 100l. Of course, if he set out with such an error he will +accumulate blunder upon blunder. Now, if there be a process in which {111} +close knowledge of the circle is requisite, it is in the prediction of the +moon's place--say, as to the time of passing the meridian at Greenwich--on +a given day. We cannot give the least idea of the complication of details: +but common sense will tell us that if a mathematician cannot find his way +round the circle without a relative error four times as big as a +stockbroker's commission, he must needs be dreadfully out in his attempt to +predict the time of passage of the moon. Now, what is the fact? His error +is less than a second of time, and the moon takes 27 days odd to revolve. +That is to say, setting out with 10s. in 100l. of error in his +circumference, he gets within the fifth part of a farthing in 100l. in +predicting the moon's transit. Now we cannot think that the respect in +which mathematical science is held is great enough--though we find it not +small--to make this go down. That respect is founded upon a notion that +right ends are got by right means: it will hardly be credited that the +truth can be got to farthings out of data which are wrong by shillings. +Even the celebrated Hamilton[207] of Edinburgh, who held that in +mathematics there was no way of going wrong, was fully impressed with the +belief that this was because error was avoided from the beginning. He never +went so far as to say that a mathematician who begins wrong must end right +somehow. + +"There is always a difficulty about the mode in which the thinking man of +common life is to deal with subjects he has not studied to a professional +extent. He must form opinions on matters theological, political, legal, +medical, and social. If he can make up his mind to choose a guide, there +is, of course, no perplexity: but on all the subjects mentioned the +direction-posts point different ways. Now why should he not form his +opinion upon an abstract mathematical question? Why not conclude that, as +to the circle, it is possible Mr. James Smith may be the man, just {112} as +Adam Smith[208] was the man of things then to come, or Luther, or Galileo? +It is true that there is an unanimity among mathematicians which prevails +in no other class: but this makes the chance of their all being wrong only +different in degree. And more than this, is it not generally thought among +us that priests and physicians were never so much wrong as when there was +most appearance of unanimity among them? To the preceding questions we see +no answer except this, that the individual inquirer may as rationally +decide a mathematical question for himself as a theological or a medical +question, so soon as he can put himself into a position in mathematics, +level with that in which he stands in theology or medicine. The every-day +thought and reading of common life have a certain resemblance to the +thought and reading demanded by the learned faculties. The research, the +balance of evidence, the estimation of probabilities, which are used in a +question of medicine, are closely akin in character, however different the +matter of application, to those which serve a merchant to draw his +conclusions about the markets. But the mathematicians have methods of their +own, to which nothing in common life bears close analogy, as to the nature +of the results or the character of the conclusions. The logic of +mathematics is certainly that of common life: but the data are of a +different species; they do not admit of doubt. An expert arithmetician, +such as is Mr. J. Smith, may fancy that calculation, merely as such, is +mathematics: but the value of his book, and in this point of view it is not +small, is the full manner in which it shows that a practised arithmetician, +venturing into the field of mathematical demonstration, may show himself +utterly destitute of all that distinguishes the reasoning geometrical +investigator from the calculator. + +{113} + +"And further, it should be remembered that in mathematics the power of +verifying results far exceeds that which is found in anything else: and +also the variety of distinct methods by which they can be attained. It +follows from all this that a person who desires to be as near the truth as +he can will not judge the results of mathematical demonstration to be open +to his criticism, in the same degree as results of other kinds. Should he +feel compelled to decide, there is no harm done: his circle may be 3-1/8 +times its diameter, if it please him. But we must warn him that, in order +to get this circle, he must, as Mr. James Smith has done, _make it at +home_: the laws of space and thought beg leave respectfully to decline the +order." + + + +I will insert now at length, from the _Athenæum_ of June 8, 1861, the easy +refutation given by my deceased friend, with the remarks which precede. + +"Mr. James Smith, of whose performance in the way of squaring the circle we +spoke some weeks ago in terms short of entire acquiescence, has advertised +himself in our columns, as our readers will have seen. He has also +forwarded his letter to the Liverpool _Albion_, with an additional +statement, which he did not make in _our_ journal. He denies that he has +violated the decencies of private life, since his correspondent revised the +proofs of his own letters, and his 'protest had respect only to making his +name public.' This statement Mr. James Smith precedes by saying that we +have treated as true what we well knew to be false: and he follows by +saying that we have not read his work, or we should have known the above +facts to be true. Mr. Smith's pretext is as follows. His correspondent +E. M. says, 'My letters were not intended for publication, and I protest +against their being published,' and he subjoins 'Therefore I must desire +that my name may not be used.' The obvious meaning is that E. M. protested +against the publication altogether, but, judging that Mr. Smith was {114} +determined to publish, desired that his name should not be used. That he +afterwards corrected the proofs merely means that he thought it wiser to +let them pass under his own eyes than to leave them entirely to Mr. Smith. + +"We have received from Sir W. Rowan Hamilton[209] a proof that the +circumference is more than 3-1/8 diameters, requiring nothing but a +knowledge of four books of Euclid. We give it in brief as an exercise for +our juvenile readers to fill up. It reminds us of the old days when real +geometers used to think it worth while seriously to demolish pretenders. +Mr. Smith's fame is now assured: Sir W. R. Hamilton's brief and easy +exposure will procure him notice in connection with this celebrated +problem. + +"It is to be shown that the perimeter of a regular polygon of 20 sides is +greater than 3-1/8 diameters of the circle, and still more, of course, is +the circumference of the circle greater than 3-1/8 diameters. + +"1. It follows from the 4th Book of Euclid, that the rectangle under the +side of a regular decagon inscribed in a circle, and that side increased by +the radius, is equal to the square of the radius. But the product 791 (791 ++ 1280) is less than 1280 × 1280; if then the radius be 1280 the side of +the decagon is greater than 791. + +"2. When a diameter bisects a chord, the square of the chord is equal to +the rectangle under the doubles of the segments of the diameter. But the +product 125 (4 × 1280 - 125) is less than 791 × 791. If then the bisected +chord be a side of the decagon, and if the radius be still 1280, the double +of the lesser segment exceeds 125. + +"3. The rectangle under this doubled segment and the radius is equal to the +square of the side of an inscribed regular polygon of 20 sides. But the +product 125 × 1280 is equal to 400 × 400; therefore, the side of the +last-mentioned polygon is greater than 400, if the radius be still 1280. In +other words, if the radius be represented by the new {115} member 16, and +therefore the diameter by 32, this side is greater than 5, and the +perimeter exceeds 100. So that, finally, if the diameter be 8, the +perimeter of the inscribed regular polygon of 20 sides, and still more the +circumference of the circle, is greater than 25: that is, the circumference +is more than 3-1/8 diameters." + +The last work in the list was thus noticed in the _Athenæum_, May 27, 1865. + +"Mr. James Smith appears to be tired of waiting for his place in the Budget +of Paradoxes, and accordingly publishes a long letter to Professor De +Morgan, with various prefaces and postscripts. The letter opens by a hint +that the Budget appears at very long intervals, and 'apparently without any +sufficient reason for it.' As Mr. Smith hints that he should like to see +Mr. De Morgan, whom he calls an 'elephant of mathematics,' 'pumping his +brains' 'behind the scenes'--an odd thing for an elephant to do, and an odd +place to do it in--to get an answer, we think he may mean to hint that the +Budget is delayed until the pump has worked successfully. Mr. Smith is +informed that we have had the whole manuscript of the Budget, excepting +only a final summing-up, in our hands since October, 1863. [This does not +refer to the Supplement.] There has been no delay: we knew from the +beginning that a series of historical articles would be frequently +interrupted by the things of the day. Mr. James Smith lets out that he has +never been able to get a private line from Mr. De Morgan in answer to his +communications: we should have guessed it. He says, 'The Professor is an +old bird and not to be easily caught, and by no efforts of mine have I been +able, up to the present moment, either to induce or twit him into a +discussion....' Mr. Smith curtails the proverb: old birds are not to be +caught with _chaff_, nor with _twit_, which seems to be Mr. Smith's word +for his own chaff, and, so long as the first letter is sounded, a very +proper word. Why does he not try a little grain of sense? Mr. Smith +evidently {116} thinks that, in his character as an elephant, the Professor +has not pumped up brain enough to furnish forth a bird. In serious earnest, +Mr. Smith needs no answer. In one thing he excites our curiosity: what is +meant by demonstrating 'geometrically _and_ mathematically?'" + +I now proceed to my original treatment of the case. + + + +Mr. James Smith will, I have no doubt, be the most uneclipsed +circle-squarer of our day. He will not owe this distinction to his being an +influential and respected member of the commercial world of Liverpool, even +though the power of publishing which his means give him should induce him +to issue a whole library upon one paradox. Neither will he owe it to the +pains taken with him by a mathematician who corresponded with him until the +joint letters filled an octavo volume. Neither will he owe it to the notice +taken of him by Sir William Hamilton, of Dublin, who refuted him in a +manner intelligible to an ordinary student of Euclid, which refutation he +calls a remarkable paradox easily explainable, but without explaining it. +What he will owe it to I proceed to show. + +Until the publication of the _Nut to Crack_ Mr. James Smith stood among +circle-squarers in general. I might have treated him with ridicule, as I +have done others: and he says that he does not doubt he shall come in for +his share at the tail end of my Budget. But I can make a better job of him +than so, as Locke would have phrased it: he is such a very striking example +of something I have said on the use of logic that I prefer to make an +example of his writings. On one point indeed he well deserves the +_scutica_,[210] if not the _horribile flagellum_.[211] He tells me that he +will bring his solution to me in such a form as shall compel me to admit it +as _un fait accompli_ [_une faute accomplie?_][212] {117} or leave myself +open to the humiliating charge of mathematical ignorance and folly. He has +also honored me with some private letters. In the first of these he gives +me a "piece of information," after which he cannot imagine that I, "as an +honest mathematician," can possibly have the slightest hesitation in +admitting his solution. There is a tolerable reservoir of modest assurance +in a man who writes to a perfect stranger with what he takes for an +argument, and gives an oblique threat of imputation of dishonesty in case +the argument be not admitted without hesitation; not to speak of the minor +charges of ignorance and folly. All this is blind self-confidence, without +mixture of malicious meaning; and I rather like it: it makes me understand +how Sam Johnson came to say of his old friend Mrs. Cobb,[213]--"I love Moll +Cobb for her impudence." I have now done with my friend's _suaviter in +modo_,[214] and proceed to his _fortiter in re_[215]: I shall show that he +_has_ convicted himself of ignorance and folly, with an honesty and candor +worthy of a better value of [pi]. + +Mr. Smith's method of proving that every circle is 3-1/8 diameters is to +assume that it is so,--"if you dislike the term datum, then, by hypothesis, +let 8 circumferences be exactly equal to 25 diameters,"--and then to show +that every other supposition is thereby made absurd. The right to this +assumption is enforced in the "Nut" by the following analogy: + +"I think you (!) will not dare (!) to dispute my right to this hypothesis, +when I can prove by means of it that every other value of [pi] will lead to +the grossest absurdities; unless indeed, you are prepared to dispute the +right of Euclid to adopt a false line hypothetically for the purpose {118} +of a '_reductio ad absurdum_'[216] demonstration, in pure geometry." + + + +Euclid assumes what he wants to _disprove_, and shows that his _assumption_ +leads to absurdity, and so _upsets itself_. Mr. Smith assumes what he wants +to _prove_, and shows that _his_ assumption makes _other propositions_ lead +to absurdity. This is enough for all who can reason. Mr. James Smith cannot +be argued with; he has the whip-hand of all the thinkers in the world. +Montucla would have said of Mr. Smith what he said of the gentleman who +squared his circle by giving 50 and 49 the same square root, _Il a perdu le +droit d'être frappé de l'évidence_.[217] + +It is Mr. Smith's habit, when he finds a conclusion agreeing with its own +assumption, to regard that agreement as proof of the assumption. The +following is the "piece of information" which will settle me, if I be +honest. Assuming [pi] to be 3-1/8, he finds out by working instance after +instance that the mean proportional between one-fifth of the area and +one-fifth of eight is the radius. That is, + + if [pi] = 25/8, sqrt(([pi]r^2)/5 · 8/5) = r. + +This "remarkable general principle" may fail to establish Mr. Smith's +quadrature, even in an honest mind, if that mind should happen to know +that, a and b being any two numbers whatever, we need only assume-- + + [pi] = a^2/b, to get at sqrt(([pi]r^2)/a · b/a) = r. + +We naturally ask what sort of glimmer can Mr. Smith have of the subject +which he professes to treat? On this point he has given satisfactory +information. I had mentioned the old problem of finding two mean +proportionals, {119} as a preliminary to the duplication of the cube. On +this mention Mr. Smith writes as follows. I put a few words in capitals; +and I write rq[218] for the sign of the square root, which embarrasses +small type: + +"This establishes the following _infallible_ rule, for finding two mean +proportionals OF EQUAL VALUE, and is more than a preliminary, to the famous +old problem of 'Squaring the circle.' Let any finite number, say 20, and +its fourth part = ¼(20) = 5, be given numbers. Then rq(20 × 5) = rq 100 = +10, is their mean proportional. Let this be a given mean proportional TO +FIND ANOTHER MEAN PROPORTIONAL OF EQUAL VALUE. Then + + 20 × [pi]/4 = 20 × 3.125/4 = 20 × .78125 = 15.625 + +will be the first number; as + + 25 : 16 :: rq 20 : rq 8.192: and (rq 8.192)^2 × [pi]/4 = 8.192 × .78125 = + 6.4 + +will be the second number; therefore rq(15.625 × 6.4) = rq 100 = 10, is the +required mean proportional.... Now, my good Sir, however competent you may +be to prove every man a fool [not _every_ man, Mr. Smith! only _some_; pray +learn logical quantification] who now thinks, or in times gone by has +thought, the 'Squaring of the Circle' _a possibility_; I doubt, and, on the +evidence afforded by your Budget, I cannot help doubting, whether you were +ever before competent to find two mean proportionals _by my unique +method_."--(_Nut_, pp. 47, 48.) [That I never was, I solemnly declare!] + +All readers can be made to see the following exposure. When 5 and 20 are +given, x is a mean proportional when in 5, x, 20, 5 is to x as x to 20. And +x must be 10. But x and y are two mean proportionals when in 5, x, y, 20, x +{120} is a mean proportional between 5 and y, and y is a mean proportional +between x and 20. And these means are x = 5 [cuberoot]4, y = 5 +[cuberoot]16. But Mr. Smith finds _one_ mean, finds it _again_ in a +roundabout way, and produces 10 and 10 as the two (equal!) means, in +solution of the "famous old problem." This is enough: if more were wanted, +there is more where this came from. Let it not be forgotten that Mr. Smith +has found a translator abroad, two, perhaps three, followers at home, +and--most surprising of all--a real mathematician to try to set him right. +And this mathematician did not discover the character of the subsoil of the +land he was trying to cultivate until a goodly octavo volume of letters had +passed and repassed. I have noticed, in more quarters than one, an apparent +want of perception of the _full_ amount of Mr. Smith's ignorance: persons +who have not been in contact with the non-geometrical circle-squarers have +a kind of doubt as to whether anybody can carry things so far. But I am an +"old bird" as Mr. Smith himself calls me; a Simorg, an "all-knowing Bird of +Ages" in matters of cyclometry. + +The curious phenomena of thought here exhibited illustrate, as above said, +a remark I have long ago made on the effect of proper study of logic. Most +persons reason well enough on matter to which they are accustomed, and in +terms with which they are familiar. But in unaccustomed matter, and with +use of strange terms, few except those who are practised in the +abstractions of pure logic can be tolerably sure to keep their feet. And +one of the reasons is easily stated: terms which are not quite familiar +partake of the vagueness of the X and Y on which the student of logic +learns to see the formal force of a proposition independently of its +material elements. + +I make the following quotation from my fourth paper on logic in the +_Cambridge Transactions_: + +"The uncultivated reason proceeds by a process almost entirely material. +Though the necessary law of thought {121} must determine the conclusion of +the ploughboy as much as that of Aristotle himself, the ploughboy's +conclusion will only be tolerably sure when the matter of it is such as +comes within his usual cognizance. He knows that geese being all birds does +not make all birds geese, but mainly because there are ducks, chickens, +partridges, etc. A beginner in geometry, when asked what follows from +'Every A is B,' answers 'Every B is A.' That is, the necessary laws of +thought, except in minds which have examined their tools, are not very sure +to work correct conclusions except upon familiar matter.... As the +cultivation of the individual increases, the laws of thought which are of +most usual application are applied to familiar matter with tolerable +safety. But difficulty and risk of error make a new appearance with a new +subject; and this, in most cases, until new subjects are familiar things, +unusual matter common, untried nomenclature habitual; that is, until it is +a habit to be occupied upon a novelty. It is observed that many persons +reason well in some things and badly in others; and this is attributed to +the consequence of employing the mind too much upon one or another subject. +But those who know the truth of the preceding remarks will not have far to +seek for what is often, perhaps most often, the true reason.... I maintain +that logic tends to make the power of reason over the unusual and +unfamiliar more nearly equal to the power over the usual and familiar than +it would otherwise be. The second is increased; but the first is almost +created." + +Mr. James Smith, by bringing ignorance, folly, dishonesty into contact with +my name, in the way of conditional insinuation, has done me a good turn: he +has given me right to a freedom of personal remark which I might have +declined to take in the case of a person who is useful and respected in +matters which he understands. + +Tit for tat is logic all the world over. By the way, what has become of the +rest of the maxim: we never hear it {122} now. When I was a boy, in some +parts of the country at least, it ran thus: + + "Tit for tat; + Butter for fat: + If you kill my dog, + I'll kill your cat." + +He is a glaring instance of the truth of the observations quoted above. I +will answer for it that, at the Mersey Dock Board, he never dreams of +proving that the balance at the banker's is larger than that in the book by +assuming that the larger sum is there, and then proving that the other +supposition--the smaller balance--is upon that assumption, an absurdity. He +never says to another director, How can you dare to refuse me a right to +assume the larger balance, when you yourself, the other day, +said,--Suppose, for argument's sake, we had 80,000l. at the banker's, +though you knew the book only showed 30,000l.? This is the way in which he +has supported his geometrical paradox by Euclid's example: and this is not +the way he reasons at the board; I know it by the character of him as a man +of business which has reached my ears from several quarters. But in +geometry and rational arithmetic he is a smatterer, though expert at +computation; at the board he is a trained man of business. The language of +geometry is so new to him that he does not know what is meant by "two mean +proportionals:" but all the phrases of commerce are rooted in his mind. He +is most unerasably booked in the history of the squaring of the circle, as +the speculator who took a right to assume a proposition for the destruction +of other propositions, on the express ground that Euclid assumes a +proposition to show that it destroys itself: which is as if the curate +should demand permission to throttle the squire because St. Patrick drove +the vermin to suicide to save themselves from slaughter. He is conspicuous +as a speculator who, more visibly than almost any other known to history, +reasoned in a circle by way of reasoning on a circle. But {123} what I have +chiefly to do with is the force of instance which he has lent to my +assertion that men who have not had real training in pure logic are unsafe +reasoners in matter which is not familiar. It is hard to get first-rate +examples of this, because there are few who find the way to the printer +until practice and reflection have given security against the grossest +slips. I cannot but think that his case will lead many to take what I have +said into consideration, among those who are competent to think of the +great mental disciplines. To this end I should desire him to continue his +efforts, to amplify and develop his great principle, that of proving a +proposition by assuming it and taking as confirmation every consequence +that does not contradict the assumption. + +Since my Budget commenced, Mr. Smith has written me notes: the portion +which I have preserved--I suppose several have been mislaid--makes a +hundred and seven pages of note-paper, closely written. To all this I have +not answered one word: but I think I cannot have read fewer than forty +pages. In the last letter the writer informs me that he will not write at +greater length until I have given him an answer, according to the "rules of +good society." Did I not know that for every inch I wrote back he would +return an ell? Surely in vain the net is spread in the eyes of anything +that hath a wing. There were several good excuses for not writing to Mr. J. +Smith: I will mention five. First, I distinctly announced at the beginning +of this Budget that I would not communicate with squarers of the circle. +Secondly, any answer I might choose to give might with perfect propriety be +reserved for this article; had the imputation of incivility been made after +the first note, I should immediately have replied to this effect: but I +presumed it was quite understood. Thirdly, Mr. Smith, by his publication of +E. M.'s letters against the wish of the writer, had put himself out of the +pale of correspondence. Fourthly, he had also gone beyond the rules of good +society in sending {124} letter after letter to a person who had shown by +his silence an intention to avoid correspondence. Fifthly, these same rules +of good society are contrived to be flexible or frangible in extreme cases: +otherwise there would be no living under them; and good society would be +bad. Father Aldrovand has laid down the necessary distinction--"I tell +thee, thou foolish Fleming, the text speaketh but of promises made unto +Christians, and there is in the rubric a special exemption of such as are +made to Welchmen." There is also a rubric to the rules of good society; and +squarers of the circle are among those whom there is special permission not +to answer: they are the wild Welchmen of geometry, who are always +assailing, but never taking, the Garde Douloureuse[219] of the circle. "At +this commentary," proceeds the story, "the Fleming grinned so broadly as to +show his whole case of broad strong white teeth." I know not whether the +Welchman would have done the like, but I hope Mr. James Smith will: and I +hope he has as good a case to show as Wilkin Flammock. For I wish him long +life and long health, and should be very glad to see so much energy +employed in a productive way. I hope he wishes me the same: if not, I will +give him what all his judicious friends will think a good reason for doing +so. His pamphlets and letters are all tied up together, and will form a +curious lot when death or cessation of power to forage among book-shelves +shall bring my little library to the hammer. And this time may not be far +off: for I was X years old in A.D. X^2; not 4 in A.D. 16, nor 5 in A.D. 25, +but still in one case under that law. And now I have made my own age a +problem of quadrature, and Mr. J. Smith may solve it. But I protest against +his method of assuming a result, and making itself prove itself: he might +in this way, as sure as eggs is eggs (a corruption of X is X), make me +1,864 years old, which is a great deal too much. + +{125} + +_April 5, 1864._--Mr. Smith continues to write me long letters, to which he +hints that I am to answer. In his last, of 31 closely written sides of +note-paper, he informs me, with reference to my obstinate silence, that +though I think myself and am thought by others to be a mathematical +Goliath, I have resolved to play the mathematical snail, and keep within my +shell. A mathematical _snail_! This cannot be the thing so called which +regulates the striking of a clock; for it would mean that I am to make Mr. +Smith sound the true time of day, which I would by no means undertake upon +a clock that gains 19 seconds odd in every hour by false quadrature. But he +ventures to tell me that pebbles from the sling of simple truth and common +sense will ultimately crack my shell, and put me _hors de combat_.[220] The +confusion of images is amusing: Goliath turning himself into a snail to +avoid [pi] = 3-1/8, and James Smith, Esq., of the Mersey Dock Board: and +put _hors de combat_--which should have been _caché_[221]--by pebbles from +a sling. If Goliath had crept into a snail-shell, David would have cracked +the Philistine with his foot. There is something like modesty in the +implication that the crack-shell pebble has not yet taken effect; it might +have been thought that the slinger would by this time have been singing-- + + "And thrice [and one-eighth] I routed all my foes, + And thrice [and one-eighth] I slew the slain." + +But he promises to give the public his nut-cracker if I do not, before the +Budget is concluded, "unravel" the paradox, which is the +mathematico-geometrical nut he has given me to crack. Mr. Smith is a crack +man: he will crack his own nut; he will crack my shell; in the mean time he +cracks himself up. Heaven send he do not crack himself into lateral +contiguity with himself. + +On June 27 I received a letter, in the handwriting of Mr. James Smith, +signed Nauticus. I have ascertained {126} that one of the letters to the +_Athenæum_ signed Nauticus is in the same handwriting. I make a few +extracts: + +"... The important question at issue has been treated by a brace of +mathematical birds with too much levity. It may be said, however, that +sarcasm and ridicule sometimes succeed, where reason fails.... Such a +course is not well suited to a discussion.... For this reason I shall for +the future [this implies there has been a past, so that Nauticus is not +before me for the first time] endeavor to confine myself to dry reasoning +from incontrovertible premises. + +... It appears to me that so far as his theory is concerned he comes off +unscathed. You might have found "a hole in Smith's circle" (have you seen a +pamphlet bearing this title? [I never heard of it until now]), but after +all it is quite possible the hole may have been left by design, for the +purpose of entrapping the unwary." + +[On the publication of the above, the author of the pamphlet obligingly +forwarded a copy to me of _A Hole in Smith's Circle_--by a Cantab: Longman +and Co., 1859, (pp. 15). "It is pity to lose any fun we can get out of the +affair," says my almamaternal brother: to which I add that in such a case +warning without joke is worse than none at all, as giving a false idea of +the nature of the danger. The Cantab takes some absurdities on which I have +not dwelt: but there are enough to afford a Cantab from every college his +own separate hunting ground.] + +Does this hint that his mode of proof, namely, assuming the thing to be +proved, was a design to entrap the unwary? if so, it bangs Banagher. Was +his confounding two mean proportionals with one mean proportional found +twice over a trick of the same intent? if so, it beats cockfighting. That +Nauticus is Mr. Smith appears from other internal evidence. In 1819, Mr. +J. C. Hobhouse[222] was sent to Newgate for a {127} libel on the House of +Commons which was only intended for a libel on Lord Erskine.[223] The +ex-Chancellor had taken Mr. Hobhouse to be thinking of him in a certain +sentence; this Mr. Hobhouse denied, adding, "There is but one man in the +country who is always thinking of Lord Erskine." I say that there is but +one man of our day who would couple me and Mr. James Smith as a "brace of +mathematical birds." + +Mr. Smith's "theory" is unscathed by me. Not a doubt about it: but how does +he himself come off? I should never think of refuting a theory proved by +assumption of itself. I left Mr. Smith's [pi] untouched: or, if I put in my +thumb and pulled out a plum, it was to give a notion of the cook, not of +the dish. The "important question at issue" was not the circle: it was, +wholly and solely, whether the abbreviation of _James_ might be spelled +_Jimm_.[224] This is personal to the verge of scurrility: but in literary +controversy the challenger names the weapons, and Mr. Smith begins with +charge of ignorance, folly, and dishonesty, by conditional implication. So +that the question is, not the personality of a word, but its applicability +to the person designated: it is enough if, as the Latin grammar has it, +_Verbum personale concordat cum nominativo_.[225] + +I may plead precedent for taking a liberty with the orthography of _Jem_. +An instructor of youth was scandalized at the abrupt and irregular--but +very effective--opening of Wordsworth's little piece: + +{128} + + "A simple child + That lightly draws its breath, + And feels its life in every limb, + What should it know of death?" + +So he mended the matter by instructing his pupils to read the first line +thus: + + "A simple child, dear brother ----." + +The brother, we infer from sound, was to be James, and the blank must +therefore be filled up with _Jimb_. + +I will notice one point of the letter, to make a little more distinction +between the two birds. Nauticus lays down--quite correctly--that the sine +of an angle is less than its circular measure. He then takes 3.1416 for +180°, and finds that 36' is .010472. But this is exactly what he finds for +the sine of 36' in tables: he concludes that either 3.1416 or the tables +must be wrong. He does not know that sines, as well as [pi], are +interminable decimals, of which the tables, to save printing, only take in +a finite number. He is a six-figure man: let us go thrice again to make up +nine, and we have as follows: + + Circular measure of 36' .010471975... + Sine of 36' .010471784... + Excess of measure over sine .000000191... + +Mr. Smith invites me to say which is wrong, the quadrature, or the tables: +I leave him to guess. He says his assertions "arise naturally and +necessarily out of the arguments of a circle-squarer:" he might just as +well lay down that all the pigs went to market because it is recorded that +"_This_ pig went to market." I must say for circle-squarers that very few +bring their pigs to so poor a market. I answer the above argument because +it is, of all which Mr. James Smith has produced, the only one which rises +to the level of a schoolboy: to meet him halfway I descend to that level. + +Mr. Smith asks me to solve a problem in the _Athenæum_: {129} and I will do +it, because the question will illustrate what is _below_ schoolboy level. + +"Let x represent the circular measure of an angle of 15°, and y half the +sine of an angle of 30° = area of the square on the radius of a circle of +diameter unity = .25. If x - y = xy, firstly, what is the arithmetical +value of xy? secondly, what is the angle of which xy represents the +circular measure?" + +If x represent 15° and y be ¼, xy represents 3° 45', whether x - y be xy or +no. But, y being ¼, x - y is _not_ xy unless x be 1/3, that is, unless 12x +or [pi] be 4, which Mr. Smith would not admit. How could a person who had +just received such a lesson as I had given immediately pray for further +exposure, furnishing the stuff so liberally as this? Is it possible that +Mr. Smith, because he signs himself Nauticus, means to deny his own very +regular, legible, and peculiar hand? It is enough to make the other members +of the Liverpool Dock Board cry, Mersey on the man! + +Mr. Smith says that for the future he will give up what he calls sarcasm, +and confine himself, "as far as possible," to what he calls dry reasoning +from incontrovertible premises. If I have fairly taught him that _his_ +sarcasm will not succeed, I hope he will find that his wit's end is his +logic's beginning. + +I now reply to a question I have been asked again and again since my last +Budget appeared: Why do you take so much trouble to expose such a reasoner +as Mr. Smith? I answer as a deceased friend of mine used to answer on like +occasions--A man's capacity is no measure of his power to do mischief. Mr. +Smith has untiring energy, which does something; self-evident honesty of +conviction, which does more; and a long purse, which does most of all. He +has made at least ten publications, full of figures which few readers can +criticize. A great many people are staggered to this extent, that they +imagine there must be {130} the indefinite _something_ in the mysterious +_all this_. They are brought to the point of suspicion that the +mathematicians ought not to treat "all this" with such undisguised +contempt, at least. Now I have no fear for [pi]: but I do think it possible +that general opinion might in time demand that the crowd of +circle-squarers, etc. should be admitted to the honors of opposition; and +this would be a time-tax of five per cent., one man with another, upon +those who are better employed. Mr. James Smith may be made useful, in hands +which understand how to do it, towards preventing such opinion from +growing. A speculator who expressly assumes what he wants to prove, and +argues that all which contradicts it is absurd, _because_ it cannot stand +side by side with his assumption, is a case which can be exposed to all. +And the best person to expose it is one who has lived in the past as well +as the present, who takes misthinking from points of view which none but a +student of history can occupy, and who has something of a turn for the +business. + +Whether I have any motive but public good must be referred to those who can +decide whether a missionary chooses his pursuit solely to convert the +heathen. I shall certainly be thought to have a little of the spirit of +Col. Quagg, who delighted in strapping the Grace-walking Brethren. I must +quote this myself: if I do not, some one else will, and then where am I? +The Colonel's principle is described as follows: + +"I licks ye because I kin, and because I like, and because ye'se critters +that licks is good for. Skins ye have on, and skins I'll have off; hard or +soft, wet or dry, spring or fall. Walk in grace if ye like till pumpkins is +peaches; but licked ye must be till your toe-nails drop off and your noses +bleed blue ink. And--licked--they--were--accordingly." + +I am reminded of this by the excessive confidence with which Mr. James +Smith predicted that he would treat me as Zephaniah Stockdolloger (Sam +Slick calls it _slockdollager_) treated Goliah Quagg. He has announced his +{131} intention of bringing me, with a contrite heart, and clean +shaved,--4159265... razored down to 25,--to a camp-meeting of +circle-squarers. But there is this difference: Zephaniah only wanted to +pass the Colonel's smithy in peace; Mr. James Smith sought a fight with me. +As soon as this Budget began to appear, he oiled his own strap, and +attempted to treat me as the terrible Colonel would have treated the +inoffensive brother. + +He is at liberty to try again. + + + +THE MOON HOAX. + + The Moon-hoax; or the discovery that the moon has a vast population of + human beings. By Richard Adams Locke.[226] New York, 1859, 8vo. + +This is a reprint of the hoax already mentioned. I suppose R. A. Locke is +the name assumed by M. Nicollet.[227] The publisher informs us that when +the hoax first appeared day by day in a morning paper, the circulation +increased fivefold, and the paper obtained a permanent footing. Besides +this, an edition of 60,000 was sold off in less than one month. + +The discovery was also published under the name of A. R. Grant.[228] +Sohncke's[229] _Bibliotheca Mathematica_ confounds this Grant with Prof. R. +Grant[230] of Glasgow, the author of the _History of Physical Astronomy_, +who is accordingly made to guarantee the discoveries in the moon. I hope +Adams Locke will not merge in J. C. Adams,[231] the co-discoverer of +Neptune. Sohncke gives the titles of {132} three French translations of the +Moon hoax at Paris, of one at Bordeaux, and of Italian translations at +Parma, Palermo, and Milan. + +A Correspondent, who is evidently fully master of details, which he has +given at length, informs me that the Moon hoax appeared first in the _New +York Sun_, of which R. A. Locke was editor. It so much resembled a story +then recently published by Edgar A. Poe, in a Southern paper, "Adventures +of Hans Pfaal," that some New York journals published the two side by side. +Mr. Locke, when he left the _New York Sun_, started another paper, and +discovered the manuscript of Mungo Park;[232] but this did not deceive. The +_Sun_, however, continued its career, and had a great success in an account +of a balloon voyage from England to America, in seventy-five hours, by Mr. +Monck Mason,[233] Mr. Harrison Ainsworth,[234] and others. I have no doubt +that M. Nicollet was the author of the Moon hoax,[235] written in a way +which marks the practised observatory astronomer beyond all doubt, and by +evidence seen in the most minute details. Nicollet had an eye to Europe. I +suspect that he took Poe's story, and made it a basis for his own. Mr. +Locke, it would seem, when he attempted a fabrication for himself, did not +succeed. + + + + The Earth we inhabit, its past, present, and future. By Capt. + Drayson.[236] London, 1859, 8vo. + +The earth is growing; absolutely growing larger: its diameter increases +three-quarters of an inch per mile every year. The foundations of our +buildings will give way in {133} time: the telegraph cables break, and no +cause ever assigned except ships' anchors, and such things. The book is for +those whose common sense is unwarped, who can judge evidence as well as the +ablest philosopher. The prospect is not a bad one, for population increases +so fast that a larger earth will be wanted in time, unless emigration to +the Moon can be managed, a proposal of which it much surprises me that +Bishop Wilkins has a monopoly. + + + +IMPALEMENT BY REQUEST. + +_Athenæum_, August, 19, 1865. _Notice to Correspondents._ + +"R. W.--If you will consult the opening chapter of the Budget of Paradoxes, +you will see that the author presents only works in his own library at a +given date; and this for a purpose explained. For ourselves we have +carefully avoided allowing any writers to present themselves in our columns +on the ground that the Budget has passed them over. We gather that Mr. De +Morgan contemplates additions at a future time, perhaps in a separate and +augmented work; if so, those who complain that others of no greater claims +than themselves have been ridiculed may find themselves where they wish to +be. We have done what we can for you by forwarding your letter to Mr. De +Morgan." + +The author of "An Essay on the Constitution of the Earth," published in +1844, demanded of the _Athenæum_, as an _act of fairness_, that a letter +from him should be published, proving that he had as much right to be +"impaled" as Capt. Drayson. He holds, on speculative grounds, what the +other claims to have proved by measurement, namely, that the earth is +growing; and he believes that in time--a good long time, not _our_ +time--the earth and other planets may grow into suns, with systems of their +own. + +This gentleman sent me a copy of his work, after the commencement of my +Budget; but I have no recollection of having received it, and I cannot find +it on the (nursery? {134} quarantine?) shelves on which I keep my +unestablished discoveries. Had I known of this work in time, (see the +Introduction) I should of course, have impaled it (heraldically) with the +other work; but the two are very different. Capt. Drayson professes to +prove his point by results of observation; and I think he does not succeed. +The author before me only speculates; and a speculator can get any +conclusion into his premises, if he will only build or hire them of shape +and size to suit. It reminds me of a statement I heard years ago, that a +score of persons, or near it, were to dine inside the skull of one of the +aboriginal animals, dear little creatures! Whereat I wondered vastly, +nothing doubting; facts being stubborn and not easy drove, as Mrs. Gamp +said. But I soon learned that the skull was not a real one, but +artificially constructed by the methods--methods which have had striking +verifications, too--which enable zoologists to go the whole hog by help of +a toe or a bit of tail. This took off the edge of the wonder: a hundred +people can dine inside an inference, if you draw it large enough. The +method might happen to fail for once: for instance, the toe-bone might have +been abnormalized by therian or saurian malady; and the possibility of such +failure, even when of small probability, is of great alleviation. The +author before me is, apparently, the sole fabricator of his own premises. +With vital force in the earth and continual creation on the part of the +original Creator, he expands our bit of a residence as desired. But, as the +Newtoness of Cookery observed, First catch your hare. When this is done, +when you _have_ a growing earth, you shall dress it with all manner of +proximate causes, and serve it up with a growing Moon for sauce, a growing +Sun, if it please you, at the other end, and growing planets for +side-dishes. Hoping this amount of impalement will be satisfactory, I go on +to something else. {135} + + + +THE HAILESEAN SYSTEM OF ASTRONOMY. + + _The Hailesean System of Astronomy._ By John Davey Hailes[237] (two + pages duodecimo, 1860). + +He offers to _take_ 100,000l. to 1,000l. that he shows the sun to be less +than seven millions of miles from the earth. The earth in the center, +revolving eastward, the sun revolving westward, so that they "meet at half +the circle distance in the 24 hours." The diameter of the circle being +9839458303, the circumference is 30911569920. + +The following written challenge was forwarded to the Council of the +Astronomical Society: it will show the "general reader"--and help him +towards earning his name--what sort of things come every now and then to +our scientific bodies. I have added punctuation: + + _Challenge._ + 1,000 to 30,000. + "Leverrier's[238] name stand placed first. Do the worthy Frenchman + justice. + By awarding him the medal in a trice. + Give Adams[239] an extra--of which neck and neck the race. + Now I challenge to meet them and the F.R.S.'s all, + For good will and _one_ thousand pounds to their _thirty_ thousand + withall, + That I produce a system, which shall measure the time, + When the Sun was vertical to Gibeon, afterward to Syene. + To meet any time in London--name your own period, + To be decided by a majority of twelve persons--a President, _odd_. + That mean, if the twelve equally divide, the President decide, + I should prefer the Bishop of London, over the meeting to preside. + JOHN DAVY HAILES." + Feb. 17, 1847." + +Mr. Hailes still issues his flying sheets. The last I have met with +(October 7, 1863) informs us that the latitude of {136} England is slowly +increasing, which is the true cause of the alteration in the variation of +the magnet. + +[Mr. Hailes continues his researches. Witness his new Hailesean system of +Astronomy, displaying Joshua's miracle-time, origin of time from science, +with Bible and Egyptian history. Rewards offered for astronomical problems. +With magnetism, etc. etc. Astronomical challenge to all the world. +Published at Cambridge, in 1865. The author agrees with Newton in one +marked point. _Errores quam minimi non sunt contemnendi_,[240] says Isaac: +meaning in figures, not in orthography. Mr. Hailes enters into the spirit, +both positive and negative, of this dictum, by giving the distance of +_Sidius_ from the center of the earth at 163,162,008 miles 10 feet 8 inches +17-28ths of an inch. Of course, he is aware that the center of _figure_ of +the earth is 17.1998 inches from the center of _gravity_. Which of the two +is he speaking of?] + + + + The Divine Mystery of Life. London [1861], 18mo. (pp.32). + +The author has added one class to zoology, which is printed in capitals, as +derived from _zoé_, life, not from _zôon_, animal. That class is of +_Incorporealia_, order I., _Infinitum_, of one genus without plurality, +_Deus_: order II., _Finita_, angels good and evil. The rest is all about a +triune system, with a diagram. The author is not aware that [Greek: zôon] +is not _animal_, but _living being_. Aristotle had classed gods under +[Greek: zôa], and has been called to account for it by moderns who have +taken the word to mean _animal_. + + + +A CHANCE FOR INVENTORS. + + Explication du Zodiaque de Denderah, des Pyramides, et de Genèse. Par + le Capitaine au longcours Justin Roblin.[241] Caen, 1861. 8vo. + +{137} + +Capt. Roblin, having discovered the sites of gold and diamond mines by help +of the zodiac of Denderah, offered half to the shareholders of a company +which he proposed to form. One of our journals, by help of the zodiac of +Esné, offered, at five francs a head, to tell the shareholders the exact +amount of gold and diamonds which each would get, and to make up the amount +predicted to those who got less. There are moods of the market in England +in which this company could have been formed: so we must not laugh at our +neighbors. + + + +JOHANNES VON GUMPACH. + + A million's worth of property, and five hundred lives annually lost at + sea by the Theory of Gravitation. A letter on the true figure of the + earth, addressed to the Astronomer Royal, by Johannes von Gumpach.[242] + London, 1861, 8vo. (pp. 54). + + The true figure and dimensions of the earth, in a letter addressed to + the Astronomer Royal. By Joh. von Gumpach. 2nd ed. entirely recast. + London, 1862, 8vo. (pp. 266). + + Two issues of a letter published with two different title-pages, one + addressed to the Secretary of the Royal Society, the other to the + Secretary of the Royal Astronomical Society. It would seem that the + same letter is also issued with two other titles, addressed to the + British Association and the Royal Geographical Society. By Joh. von + Gumpach. London, 1862, 8vo. + + Baby-Worlds. An essay on the nascent members of our solar household. By + Joh. von Gumpach. London, 1863, 8vo. + +The earth, it appears, instead of being flattened, is elongated at the +poles: by ignorance of which the loss above mentioned occurs yearly. There +is, or is to be, a substitute for attraction and an "application hitherto +neglected, of a {138} recognized law of optics to the astronomical theory, +showing the true orbits of the heavenly bodies to be perfectly circular, +and their orbital motions to be perfectly uniform." all irregularities +being, I suppose, optical delusions. Mr. Von Gumpach is a learned man; what +else, time must show. + + + +SLANDER PARADOXES. + + Perpetuum Mobile: or Search for self-motive Power. By Henry + Dircks.[243] London, 1861, 8vo. + +A useful collection on the history of the attempts at perpetual motion, +that is, at obtaining the consequences of power without any power to +produce them. September 7, 1863, a correspondent of the _Times_ gave an +anecdote of George Stephenson,[244] which he obtained from Robert +Stephenson.[245] A perpetual motionist wanted to explain his method; to +which George replied--"Sir! I shall believe it when I see you take yourself +up by the waistband, and carry yourself about the room." Never was the +problem better stated. + +There is a paradox of which I ought to give a specimen, I mean the +_slander-paradox_; the case of a person who takes it into his head, upon +evidence furnished entirely by the workings of his own thoughts, that some +other person has committed a foul act of which the world at large would no +more suppose him guilty than they would suppose that the earth is a flat +bordered by ice. If I were to determine on giving cases in which the +self-deluded person imagines {139} a conspiracy against _himself_, there +would be no end of choices. Many of the grosser cases are found at last to +be accompanied by mental disorder, and it is difficult to avoid referring +the whole class to something different from simple misuse of the reasoning +power. The first instance is one which puts in a strong light the state of +things in which we live, brought about by our glorious freedom of thought, +speech, and writing. The Government treated it with neglect, the press with +silent contempt, and I will answer for it many of my readers now hear of it +for the first time, when it comes to be enrolled among circle-squarers and +earth-stoppers, where, as the old philosopher said, it will not gravitate, +being _in proprio loco_.[246] + +1862. On new year's day, 1862, when the nation was in the full tide of +sympathy with the Queen, and regret for its own loss, a paper called the +_Free Press_ published a number devoted to the consideration of the causes +of the death of the Prince Consort. It is so rambling and inconsecutive +that it takes more than one reading to understand it. It is against the +_Times_ newspaper. First, the following insinuation: + +"To the legal mind, the part of [the part taken by] the _Times_ will +present a _prima facie_ case of the gravest nature, in the evident +fore-knowledge of the event, and the preparation to turn it to account when +it should have occurred. The article printed on Saturday must have been +written on Friday. That article could not have appeared had the Prince been +intended to live." + +Next, it is affirmed that the _Times_ intended to convey the idea that the +Prince had been poisoned. + +"Up to this point we are merely dealing with words which the _Times_ +publishes, and these can leave not a shadow of doubt that there is an +intention to promulgate the idea that Prince Albert had been poisoned." + +The article then goes on with a strange olio of {140} insinuations to the +effect that the Prince was the obstacle to Russian intrigue, and that if he +should have been poisoned,--which the writer strongly hints may have been +the case,--some Minister under the influence of Russia must have done it. +Enough for this record. _Un sot trouve toujours un plus sot qui +l'admire_:[247] who can he be in this case? + + + +THE NEPTUNE CONTROVERSY. + +1846. At the end of this year arose the celebrated controversy relative to +the discovery of Neptune. Those who know it are well aware that Mr. +Adams's[248] now undoubted right to rank with Le Verrier[249] was made sure +at the very outset by the manner in which Mr. Airy,[250] the Astronomer +Royal, came forward to state what had taken place between himself and Mr. +Adams. Those who know all the story about Mr. Airy being arrested in his +progress by the neglect of Mr. Adams to answer a letter, with all the +imputations which might have been thrown upon himself for laxity in the +matter, know also that Mr. Airy's conduct exhibited moral courage, honest +feeling, and willingness to sacrifice himself, if need were, to the +attainment of the ends of private justice, and the establishment of a +national claim. A writer in a magazine, in a long and elaborate article, +argued the supposition--put in every way except downright assertion, after +the fashion of such things--that Mr. Airy had communicated Mr. Adams's +results to M. Le Verrier, with intention that they should be used. His +presumption as to motive is that, had Mr. Adams been recognized, "then the +discovery must have been indisputably an _Englishman's_, and that +Englishman not the Astronomer Royal." Mr. Adams's conclusions were +"retouched in France, and sent {141} over the year after." The proof given +is that it cannot be "imagined" otherwise. + +"Can it then be imagined that the Astronomer Royal received such results +from Mr. Adams, supported as they were by Professor Challis's[251] valuable +testimony as to their probable accuracy, and did not bring the French +astronomer acquainted with them, especially as he was aware that his friend +was engaged in matters bearing directly upon these results?" + +The whole argument the author styles "evidence which I consider it +difficult to refute." He ends by calling upon certain persons, of whom I am +one, to "see ample justice done." This is the duty of every one, according +to his opportunities. So when the reputed author--the article being +anonymous--was, in 1849, proposed as a Fellow of the Astronomical Society, +I joined--if I remember right, I originated--an opposition to his election, +until either the authorship should be denied, or a proper retraction made. +The friends of the author neither denied the first, nor produced the +second: and they judged it prudent to withdraw the proposal. Had I heard of +any subsequent repentance, I would have taken some other instance, instead +of this: should I yet hear of such a thing, I will take care to notice it +in the continuation of this list, which I confidently expect, life and +health permitting, to be able to make in a few years. This much may be +said, that the author, in a lecture on the subject, given in 1849, and +published with his name, did _not_ repeat the charge. + +[The libel was published in the _Mechanics' Magazine_,[252] (vol. for 1846, +pp. 604-615): and the editor supported it as follows, (vol. for 1847, p. +476). In answer to Mr. Sheepshanks's charitable hope that he had been +hoaxed, {142} he says: "Mr. Sheepshanks cannot certainly have read the +article referred to.... Severe and inculpatory it is--unjust some may deem +it (though we ourselves are out of the number.)... A 'hoax' forsooth! May +we be often the dupes of such hoaxes!" He then goes on to describe the +article as directed against the Astronomer Royal's alleged neglect to give +Mr. Adams that "encouragement and protection" which was his due, and _does +not hint one word_ about the article containing the charge of having +secretly and fraudulently transmitted news of Mr. Adams's researches to +France, that an Englishman might not have the honor of the discovery. Mr. +Sheepshanks having called this a "deliberate calumny," without a particle +of proof or probability to support it, the editor says "what the reverend +gentleman means by this, we are at a loss to understand." He then proceeds +_not_ to remember. I repeat here, what I have said elsewhere, that the +management of the journal has changed hands; but from 1846 to 1856, it had +the collar of S.S. (scientific slander). The prayer for more such things +was answered (See p. 349).] + + + +JAMES IVORY.[253] + +I have said that those who are possessed with the idea of conspiracy +against themselves are apt to imagine both conspirators and their bad +motives and actions. A person who should take up the idea of combination +against himself without feeling ill-will and originating accusations would +be indeed a paradox. But such a paradox has existed. It is very well known, +both in and beyond the scientific world, that the late James Ivory was +subject to the {143} impression of which I am speaking; and the diaries and +other sources of anecdote of our day will certainly, sooner or later, make +it a part of his biography. The consequence will be that to his memory will +be attached the unfavorable impression which the usual conduct of such +persons creates; unless it should happen that some one who knows the real +state of the case puts the two sides of it properly together. Ivory was of +that note in the scientific world which may be guessed from Laplace's +description of him as the first geometer in Britain and one of the first in +Europe. Being in possession of accurate knowledge of his peculiarity in +more cases than one; and in one case under his own hand: and having been +able to make full inquiry about him, especially from my friend the late +Thomas Galloway[254]--who came after him at Sandhurst--one of the few +persons with whom he was intimate:--I have decided, after full +deliberation, to forestall the future biographies. + +That Ivory was haunted by the fear of which I have spoken, to the fullest +extent, came to my own public and official knowledge, as Secretary of the +Astronomical Society. It was the duty of Mr. Epps,[255] the Assistant +Secretary, at the time when Francis Baily[256] first announced his +discovery of the Flamsteed Papers, to report to me that Mr. Ivory had +called at the Society's apartments to inquire into the contents of those +papers, and to express his hope that Mr. Baily was not attacking living +persons under the names of Newton and Flamsteed.[257] Mr. Galloway, to whom +I communicated this, immediately went to Mr. Ivory, and succeeded, after +some explanation, in setting him right. This is but one of many instances +in which a man of thoroughly sound judgment in every other respect seemed +to be under a complete chain of delusions about the conduct of {144} others +to himself. But the paradox is this:--I never could learn that Ivory, +passing his life under the impression that secret and unprovoked enemies +were at work upon his character, ever originated a charge, imputed a bad +motive, or allowed himself an uncourteous expression. Some letters of his, +now in my possession, referring to a private matter, are, except in the +main impression on which they proceed, unobjectionable in every point: they +might have been written by a cautious friend, whose object was, if +possible, to prevent a difference from becoming a duel without compromising +his principal's rights or character. Knowing that in some quarters the +knowledge of Ivory's peculiarity is more or less connected with a notion +that the usual consequences followed, I think the preceding statement due +to his memory. + + + +THREE CLASSES OF JOURNALS. + +In such a record as the present, which mixes up the grossest speculative +absurdities with every degree of what is better, an instance of another +kind may find an appropriate place. The faults of journalism, when merely +exposed by other journalism pass by and are no more regarded. A distinct +account of an undeniable meanness, recorded in a work of amusement and +reference both, may have its use: such a thing may act as a warning. An +editor who is going to indulge his private grudge may be prevented from +counting upon oblivion as a matter of certainty. + +There are three kinds of journals, with reference to the mode of entrance +of contributors. First, as a thing which has been, but which now hardly +exists, there is the journal in which the editor receives a fixed sum to +_find the matter_. In such a journal, every article which the editor can +get a friend to give him is so much in his own pocket, which has a great +tendency to lower the character of the articles; but I am not concerned +with this point. Secondly, there is the journal which is supported by +voluntary contributions of {145} matter, the editor selecting. Thirdly, +there is the journal in which the contributor is paid by the proprietors in +a manner with which the literary editor has nothing to do. + +The third class is the safe class, as its editors know: and, as a usual +rule, they refuse unpaid contributions of the editorial cast. It is said +that when Canning[258] declined a cheque forwarded for an article in the +_Quarterly_, John Murray[259] sent it back with a blunt threat that if he +did not take his money he could never be admitted again. The great +publisher told him that if men like himself in position worked for nothing, +all the men like himself in talent who could not afford it would not work +for the _Quarterly_. If the above did not happen between Canning and +Murray, it _must have happened_ between some other two. Now journals of the +second class--and of the first, if such there be--have a fault to which +they alone are very liable, to say nothing of the editorial function (see +the paper at the beginning, p. 11 et seq.), being very much cramped, a sort +of gratitude towards effective contributors leads the journal to help their +personal likes and dislikes, and to sympathize with them. Moreover, this +sort of journal is more accessible than others to articles conveying +personal imputation: and when these provoke discussion, the journal is apt +to take the part of the assailant to whom it lent itself in the first +instance. + + + +THE MECHANICS' MAGAZINE. + +Among the journals which went all lengths with contributors whom they +valued, was the _Mechanics' Magazine_[260] in the period 1846-56. I cannot +say that matters have not mended in the last ten years: and I draw some +{146} presumption that they have mended from my not having heard, since +1856, of anything resembling former proceedings. And on actual inquiry, +made since the last sentence was written, I find that the property has +changed hands, the editor is no longer the same, and the management is of a +different stamp. This journal is chiefly supported by voluntary articles: +and it is the journal in which, as above noted, the ridiculous charge +against the Astronomer Royal was made in 1849. The following instance of +attempt at revenge is so amusing that I select it as the instance of the +defect which I intend to illustrate; for its puerility brings out in better +relief the points which are not so easily seen in more adult attempts. + +The _Mechanics' Magazine_, which by its connection with engineering, etc., +had always taken somewhat of a mathematical character, began, a little +before 1846, to have more to do with abstract science. Observing this, I +began to send short communications, which were always thankfully received, +inserted, and well spoken of. Any one who looks for my name in that journal +in 1846-49, will see nothing but the most respectful and even laudatory +mention. In May 1849 occurred the affair at the Astronomical Society, and +my share in forcing the withdrawal of the name of the alleged contributor +to the journal. In February 1850 occurred the opportunity of payment. The +_Companion to the Almanac_[261] had to be noticed, in which, as then usual, +was an article signed with my name. I shall give the review of this article +entire, as a sample of a certain style, as well as an illustration of my +point. The reader will observe that my name is not mentioned. This would +not have done; the readers of the Magazine would have stared to see a name +of not infrequent occurrence in previous years all of a sudden fallen from +the heaven of respect into the pit of contempt, like Lucifer, son of the +morning. But before {147} giving the review, I shall observe that Mr. +Adams, in whose _favor_ the attack on the Astronomer Royal was made, did +not appreciate the favor; and of course did not come forward to shield his +champion. This gave deadly offence, as appear from the following passage, +(February 16, 1850): + +"It was our intention to enter into a comparison of the contents of our +Nautical Almanack with those of its rival, the _Connaissance des Temps_; +but we shall defer it for the present. The Nautical Almanack for 1851 will +contain Mr. Adams's paper 'On the Perturbation of Uranus'; and when it +comes, in due course, before the public, we are quite sure that that +gentleman will expect that we shall again enter upon the subject with +peculiar delight. Whilst we have a thorough loathing for mean, cowardly, +crawlers--we have an especial pleasure in maintaining the claims of men who +are truly grateful as well as highly talented: Mr. Adams, therefore, will +find that he cannot be disappointed--and the occasion will afford us an +opportunity for making the comparison to which we have adverted." + +This passage illustrates what I have said on the editorial function (Vol. +I, p. 15). What precedes and follows has some criticism on the Government, +the Astronomer Royal, etc., but reserved in allusion, oblique in sarcasm, +and not fiercely uncourteous. The coarseness of the passage I have quoted +shows editorial insertion, which is also shown by its blunder. The inserter +is waiting for the Almanac of 1851 that he may review Mr. Adams's paper, +which is to be contained in it. His own contributor, only two sentences +before the insertion, had said, "The Nautical Almanac, we believe, is +published three or four years in advance." In fact, the Almanac for +1851--with Mr. Adams's paper at the end--was published at the end of 1847 +or very beginning of 1848; it had therefore been more than two years before +the public when the passage quoted was written. And probably every person +in the country who was fit to review Mr. Adams's {148} paper--and most of +those who were fit to read it--knew that it had been widely circulated, in +revise, at the end of 1846: my copy has written on it, "2d revise, December +27, 1846, at noon," in the handwriting of the Superintendent of the +Almanac; and I know that there was an extensive issue of these revises, +brought out by the Le-Verrier-and-Adams discussion. I now give the review +of myself, (February 23, 1850): + +"_The British Almanack and Companion._ + +"The Companion to this Almanack, for some years after its first +publication, annually contained scientific articles by Sir J. Lubbock[262] +and others of a high order and great interest; we have now, however, closed +the publication as a scientific one in remembrance of what it was, and not +in consequence of what it is. Its list of contributors on science, has +grown 'small by degrees and beautifully less,' until it has dwindled down +to one--'a last rose of summer left withering alone.' The one contributor +has contributed one paper 'On Ancient and Modern Usage in Reckoning.' + +"The learned critic's _chef d'oeuvre_, is considered, by competent judges, +to be an Essay on _Old Almanacks_ printed a few years ago in this annual, +and supposed to be written with the view of surpassing a profound memoir on +the same subject by James O. Halliwell,[263] Esq., F.R. and A.S.S., but the +tremendous effort which the learned writer then made to excel many titled +competitors for honors in the antique line appears to have had a sad effect +upon his mental powers--at any rate, his efforts have since yearly become +duller and duller; happily, at last, we should suppose, 'the ancient {149} +and modern usage in reckoning' indicates the lowest point to which the _vis +inertia_ of the learned writer's peculiar genius can force him. + +"We will give a few extracts from the article. + +"The learned author says, 'Those who are accustomed to settle the meaning +of ancient phrases by self-examination will find some _strange_ conclusions +arrived at by us.' The writer never wrote a more correct sentence--it +admits of no kind of dispute. + +"'Language and counting,' says the learned author, 'both came before the +logical discussion of either. It is not allowable to argue that something +is or was, because it ought to be or ought to have been. That two negatives +make an affirmative, ought to be; if _no_ man have done _nothing_, the man +who has done nothing does not exist, and _every_ man has done _something_. +But in Greek, and in uneducated English, it is unquestionable that 'no man +has done nothing' is only an emphatic way of saying that no man has done +_anything_; and it would be absurd to reason that it could not have been +so, because it should not.'--p. 5. + +"'But there _is_ another difference between old and new times, yet more +remarkable, for we have _nothing_ of it now: whereas in things indivisible +we count with our fathers, and should say in buying an acre of land, that +the result has no parts, and that the purchaser, till he owns all the +ground, owns none, the change of possession being instantaneous. This +second difference lies in the habit of considering nothing, nought, zero, +cipher, or whatever it may be called, to be at the beginning of the scale +of numbers. Count four days from Monday: we should now say Tuesday, +Wednesday, Thursday, Friday; formerly, it would have been Monday, Tuesday, +Wednesday, Thursday. Had we asked, what at that rate is the first day from +Monday, all would have stared at a phrase they had never heard. Those who +were capable of extending language would have said, Why it must be Monday +itself: the rest would have said, there can {150} be no first day from +Monday, for the day after is Tuesday, which must be the second day: Monday, +one; Tuesday, two,'--p. 10. + +"We assure our readers that the whole article is equally lucid, and its +logic alike formal. + +"There are some exceedingly valuable footnotes; we give one of the most +interesting, taken from the learned Mr. Halliwell's profound book on +Nursery Rhymes[264]--a celebrated production, for which it is supposed the +author was made F.R.S. + + "'_One's nine_, + Two's some, + Three's a many, + Four's a penny, + Five's a little hundred.' + +'The last line refers to five score, the so-called hundred being more +usually six score. The first line, looked at etymologically, is _one is not +one_, and the change of thought by which _nine_, the decimal of _one_, aims +to be associated with the decimal of _plurality_ is curious:'--Very. + +"This valuable and profound essay will very probably be transferred to the +next edition of the learned Mr. Halliwell's rare work, of kindred worth, +entitled 'RARA MATHEMATICA,' it will then be deservedly handed down to +posterity as a covering for cheap trunks--a most appropriate archive for +such a treasure." + + + +In December, 1846, the _Mechanics' Magazine_ published a libel on Airy in +the matter of the discovery of Neptune. In May, 1849, one * * * was to have +been brought forward for election at the Astronomical Society, and was +opposed by me and others, on the ground that he was the probable author of +this libel, and that he would not, perhaps could {151} not, deny it. [N.B. +I no more doubt that he was the author then I doubt that I am the author of +this sentence.][265] + +Accordingly, * * * was withdrawn, and a discussion took place, for which +see the _Athenæum_, No. 1126, May 26, 1849, p. 544. The _Mechanics' +Magazine_ was very sore, but up to this day has never ventured beyond an +attack on Airy, private whisperings against Adams--(see _ante_, p. +147),--and the above against myself. In due time, I doubt not my name will +appear as one of the _âmes damnées_[266] of the _Mechanics' Magazine_.[267] + + + +T. S. DAVIES ON EUCLID. + +First, as to Mr. Halliwell. The late Thomas Stephens Davies,[268] excellent +in geometry, and most learned in its history, was also a good hand at +enmity, though not implacable. He and Mr. Halliwell, who had long before +been very much one, were, at this date, very much two. I do not think T. S. +Davies wrote this article; and I think that by giving my reasons I shall do +service to his memory. It must have been written at the beginning of +February; and within three days of that time T. S. Davies was making over +to me, by his own free act, to be kept until claimed by the relatives, what +all who knew even his writings knew that he considered as the most precious +deposit he had ever had in his keeping--Horner's[269] papers. His letter +announcing the transmission is dated February 2, 1850. This is a strong +point; but there is another quite as strong. Euclid and {152} his writings +were matters on which T. S. Davies knew neither fear nor favor: he could +not have written lightly about a man who stood high with him as a judge of +Euclid. Now in this very letter of Feb. 2, there is a sentence which I +highly value, because, as aforesaid, it is on a point on which he would +never have yielded anything, to which he had paid life-long attention, and +on which he had the bias of having long stood alone. In fact, knowing--and +what I shall quote confirms me,--that in the matter of Euclid his hand was +against every man, I expected, when I sent him a copy of my 22-column +article, "Eucleides" in Smith's _Dictionary_,[270] to have received back a +criticism, that would have blown me out of the water: and I thought it not +unlikely that a man so well up in the subject might have made me feel +demolished on some points. Instead of this, I got the following: "Although +on one or two minor points I do not quite accord with your views, yet as a +whole and without regard to any minor points, I think you are the first who +has succeeded in a delineation of Euclid as a geometer." All this duly +considered, it is utterly incredible that T. S. Davies should have written +the review in question. And yet Mr. Halliwell is treated just as T. S. +Davies would have treated him, as to tone and spirit. The inference in my +mind is that we have here a marked instance of the joining of hatreds which +takes place in journals supported by voluntary contributions of matter. +Should anything ever have revived this article--and no one ever knows what +might have been fished up from the forgotten mass of journals--the +treatment of Mr. Halliwell would certainly have thrown a suspicion on T. S. +Davies, a large and regular contributor to the Magazine. It is good service +to his memory to point out what makes it incredible that he should have +written so unworthy an article. + +The fault is this. There are four extracts: the first {153} three are +perfectly well printed. The printing of the _Mechanics' Magazine_ was very +good. I was always exceedingly satisfied with the manner in which my +articles appeared, without my seeing proof. Most likely these extracts were +printed from my printed paper; if not the extractor was a good copier. I +know this by a test which has often served me. I use the subjunctive--"if +no man _have_ done nothing," an ordinary transcriber, narrating a quotation +almost always lets his own habit write _has_. The fourth extract has three +alterations, all tending to make me ridiculous. _None_ is altered, in two +places, into _nine_, _denial_ into _decimal_, and _comes_ into _aims_; so +that "none, the denial of one, comes to be associated with the denial of +plurality," reads as "nine, the decimal of one, aims to be associated with +the decimal of plurality." This is intentional; had it been a compositor's +reading of bad handwriting, these would not have been the only mistakes; to +say nothing of the corrector of the press. And both the compositor and +reader would have guessed, from the first line being translated into "one +is not one," that it must have been "one's none," not "one's nine." But it +was not intended that the gem should be recovered from the unfathomed cave, +and set in a Budget of Paradoxes. + +We have had plenty of slander-paradox. I now give a halfpennyworth of bread +to all this sack, an instance of the paradox of benevolence, in which an +individual runs counter to all the ideas of his time, and sees his way into +the next century. At Amiens, at the end of the last century, an institution +was endowed by a M. de Morgan, to whom I hope I am of kin, but I cannot +trace it; the name is common at Amiens. It was the first of the kind I ever +heard of. It is a Salle d'Asyle for children, who are taught and washed and +taken care of during the hours in which their parents must be at work. The +founder was a large wholesale grocer and colonial importer, who was made a +Baron by Napoleon I for his commercial success and his charities. {154} + + + +JAS. SMITH AGAIN. + +1862. Mr. Smith replies to me, still signing himself Nauticus: I give an +extract: + +"By hypothesis [what, again!] let 14° 24' be the chord of an arc of 15° +[but I wont, says 14° 24'], and consequently equal to a side of a regular +polygon of 24 sides inscribed in the circle. Then 4 times 14° 24' = 57° 36' += the radius of the circle ..." + +That is, four times the chord of an arc is the chord of four times the arc: +and the sum of four sides of a certain pentagon is equal to the fifth. This +is the capital of the column, the crown of the arch, the apex of the +pyramid, the watershed of the elevation. Oh! J. S.! J. S.! groans +Geometry--_Summum J. S. summa injuria_![271] The other J. S., Joseph +Scaliger,[272] as already mentioned, had his own way of denying that a +straight line is always the shortest distance between two points. A +parallel might be instituted, but not in half a column. And J. S. the +_second_ has been so tightly handled that he may now be dismissed, with an +inscription for his circular shield, obtained by changing _Lexica contexat_ +into _Circus quadrandus_ in an epigram of J. S. the _first_: + + "Si quem dura manet sententia judicis, olim + Damnatum ærumnis suppliciisque caput, + Hunc neque fabrili lassent ergastula massa, + Nec rigidas vexent fossa metalla manus. + Circus quadrandus: nam--cætera quid moror?--omnes + Poenarum facies hic labor unus habet."[273] + +{155} + +I had written as far as _damnatum_ when in came the letter of Nauticus as a +printed slip, with a request that I would consider the slip as a 'revised +copy.' Not a word of alteration in the part I have quoted! And in the +evening came a letter desiring that I would alter a gross error; but not +the one above: this is revising without revision! If there were cyclometers +enough of this stamp, they would, as cultivation progresses--and really, +with John Stuart Mill in for Westminster, it seems on the move, even +though, as I learn while correcting the proof, Gladstone be out from +Oxford; for Oxford is no worse than in 1829, while Westminster is far above +what she ever has been: election time excuses even such a parenthesis as +this--be engaged to amuse those who can afford it with paralogism at their +meals, after the manner of the other jokers who wore the caps and bells. +The rich would then order their dinners with _panem et Circenses_,--up with +the victuals and the circle-games--as the poor did in the days of old. + +Mr. Smith is determined that half a column shall not do. Not a day without +something from him: letter, printed proof, pamphlet. In what is the last at +this moment of writing he tells me that part of the title of a work of his +will be "Professor De Morgan in the pillory without hope of escape." And +where will he be himself? This I detected by an effort of reasoning which I +never could have made except by following in his steps. In all matters +connected with [pi] the letters l and g are closely related: this appears +in the well-known formula for the time of oscillation [pi] [sqrt](l : g). +Hence g may be written for l, but only once: do it twice, and you require +the time to be [pi] [sqrt](l^2 : g^2). This may be reinforced by observing +that if as a datum, or if you dislike that word, by hypothesis, the first l +be a g, it is absurd that it should be an l. Write g for the first l, and +we have _un fait accompli_. I shall be in pillory; and overhead, in a +cloud, will sit Mr. James Smith on one stick laid across two others, under +a nimbus of 3-1/8 diameters to {156} the circumference--in [pi]-glory. Oh +for a drawing of this scene! Mr. De Morgan presents his compliments to Mr. +James Smith, and requests the honor of an exchange of photographs. + +_July 26._--Another printed letter.--Mr. James Smith begs for a distinct +answer to the following plain question: "Have I not in this communication +brought under your notice _truths_ that were never before dreamed of in +your geometrical and mathematical philosophy?" To which, he having taken +the precaution to print the word _truths_ in italics, I can conscientiously +answer, Yes, you have. And now I shall take no more notice of these +_truths_, until I receive something which surpasses all that has yet been +done. + + + +A FEW SMALL PARADOXERS. + + The Circle secerned from the Square; and its area gauged in terms of a + triangle common to both. By Wm. Houlston,[274] Esq. London and Jersey, + 1862, 4to. + +Mr. Houlston squares at about four poetical quotations in a page, and +brings out [pi] = 3.14213.... His frontispiece is a variegated diagram, +having parts designated Inigo and Outigo. All which relieves the subject, +but does not remove the error. + + + + Considerations respecting the figure of the Earth.... By C. F. + Bakewell.[275] London, 1862, 8vo. + +Newton and others think that in a revolving sphere the {157} loose surface +matter will tend to the equator: Mr. Bakewell thinks it will tend to the +poles. + + + + On eccentric and centric force: a new theory of projection. By H. F. A. + Pratt, M.D.[276] London, 1862, 8vo. + +Dr. Pratt not only upsets Newton, but cuts away the very ground he stands +on: for he destroys the first law of motion, and will not have the natural +tendency of matter in motion to be rectilinear. This, as we have seen, was +John Walsh's[277] notion. In a more recent work "On Orbital Motion," +London, 1863, 8vo., Dr. Pratt insists on another of Walsh's notions, +namely, that the precession of the equinoxes is caused by the motion of the +solar system round a distant central sun. In this last work the author +refers to a few notes, which completely destroy the theory of gravitation +in terms "perfectly intelligible as well to the unlearned as to the +learned": to me they are quite unintelligible, which rather tends to +confirm a notion I have long had, that I am neither one thing nor the +other. There is an ambiguity of phrase which delights a writer on logic, +always on the look-out for specimens of _homonymia_ or _æquivocatio_. The +author, as a physician, is accustomed to "appeal from mere formulæ": +accordingly, he sets at nought the whole of the mathematics, which he does +not understand. This equivocation between the formula of the physician and +that of the mathematician is as good, though not so perceptible to the +world at large, as that made by Mr. Briggs's friend in _Punch's_ picture, +which I cut out to paste into my Logic. Mr. Briggs wrote for a couple of +_bruisers_, meaning to prepare oats for his horses: his friend sent him the +Whitechapel Chicken and the Bayswater Slasher, with the gloves, all ready. + +{158} + + + + On matter and ether, and the secret laws of physical change. By T. R. + Birks, M.A.[278] Cambridge, 1862, 8vo. + +Bold efforts are made at molecular theories, and the one before me is ably +aimed. When the Newton of this subject shall be seated in his place, books +like the present will be sharply looked into, to see what amount of +anticipation they have made. + + + +DR. THORN AND MR. BIDEN. + + The history of the 'thorn tree and bush' from the earliest to the + present time: in which is clearly and plainly shown the descent of her + most gracious Majesty and her Anglo-Saxon people from the half tribe of + Ephraim, and possibly from the half tribe of Manasseh; and consequently + her right and title to possess, at the present moment, for herself and + for them, a share or shares of the desolate cities and places in the + land of their forefathers! By Theta, M.D.[279] (Private circulation.) + London, 1862, 8vo. + +This is much about _Thorn_, and its connected words, Thor, Thoth, Theta, +etc. It is a very mysterious vagary. The author of it is the person whom I +have described elsewhere as having for his device the round man in the +three-cornered hole, the writer of the little heap of satirical anonymous +letters about the Beast and 666. By accident I discovered the writer: so +that if there be any more thorns to crackle under the pot, they need not be +anonymous. + +Nor will they be anonymous. Since I wrote the above, I have received +_onymous_ letters, as _ominous_ as the rest. The writer, William Thorn, +M.D., is obliged to reveal {159} himself, since it is his object to prove +that he himself is one 666. By using W for double Vau (or 12) he cooks the +number out of his own name. But he says it is the number not of a beast but +of a man, and adds, "Thereby hangs a tale!" which sounds like +contradiction. He informs me that he will talk the matter over with me: but +I shall certainly have nothing to say to a gentleman of his number; it is +best to keep on the safe side. + +In one letter I am informed that not a line should I have had, but for my +"sneer at 666," which, therefore, I am well pleased to have given. I am +also told that my name means the "'garden of death,' that place in which +the tree of knowledge was plucked, and so you are like your name 'dead' to +the fact that you are an Israelite, like those in Ezekiel 37 ch." Some +hints are given that I shall not fare well in the next world, which any one +who reads the chapter in Ezekiel will see is quite against his comparison. +The reader must not imagine that my prognosticator means _Morgan_ to be a +corruption of _Mortjardin_; he proves his point by Hebrew: but any +philologist would tell him the true derivation of the name, and how +_Glamorgan_ came to get it. It will be of much comfort to those young men +who have not got through to know that the tree of knowledge itself was once +in the same case. And so good bye to 666 for the present, and the +assumption that the enigma is to be solved by the united numeral forces of +the letters of a word. + +It is worthy of note that, as soon as my Budget commenced, two guardian +spirits started up, fellow men as to the flesh, both totally unknown to me: +they have stuck to me from first to last. James Smith, Esq., finally +Nauticus, watches over my character in this world, and would fain preserve +me from ignorance, folly, and dishonesty, by inclosing me in a magic circle +of 3-1/8 diameters in circumference. The round man in the three-cornered +hole, finally William Thorn, M.D., takes charge of my future destiny, {160} +and tries to bring me to the truth by unfolding a score of meanings--all +right--of 666. He hints that I, and my wife, are servants of Satan: at +least he desires us both to remember that we cannot serve God and Satan; +and he can hardly mean that we are serving the first, and that he would +have us serve the second. As becomes an interpreter of the Apocalypse, he +uses seven different seals; but not more than one to one letter. If his +seals be all signet-rings, he must be what Aristophanes calls a +sphragidonychargocometical fellow. But--and many thanks to him for the +same--though an M.D., he has not sent me a single vial. And so much for my +tree of secular knowledge and my tree of spiritual life: I dismiss them +with thanks from myself and thanks from my reader. The dual of the +Pythagorean system was Isis and Diana; of the Jewish law, Moses and Aaron; +and of the City of London, Gog and Magog; of the Paradoxiad, James Smith, +Esq., and William Thorn, M.D. + +_September, 1866._ Mr. James Biden[280] has favored me with some of his +publications. He is a rival of Dr. Thorn; a prophet by name-right and +crest-right. He is of royal descent through the De Biduns. He is the +_watchman_ of Ezekiel: God has told him so. He is the author of _The True +Church_, a phrase which seems to have a book-meaning and a mission-meaning. +He shall speak for himself: + +"A crest of the Bidens has significance. It is a lion rampant between +wings--wings in Scripture denote the flight of time. Thus the beasts or +living creatures of the Revelations have each six wings, intimating a +condition of mankind up to and towards the close of six thousand years of +Bible teaching. The two wings of the crest would thus intimate power +towards the expiration of 2000 years, as time is marked in the history of +Great Britain. + +{161} + +"In a recent publication, _The Pestilence, Why Inflicted_, are given many +reasons why the writer thinks himself to be the appointed watchman foretold +by Ezekiel, chapters iii. and xxxiii. Among the reasons are many prophecies +fulfilled in him. Of these it is now needful to note two as bearing +especially on the subject of the reign of Darius. + +"1.--In Daniel it is said, 'Darius the Median took the kingdom, being about +threescore and two years old.'--Daniel v. 31. + +"When 'Belshazzar' the king of the Chaldeans is found wanting, Darius takes +the kingdom. It is not given him by the popular voice; he asserts his +right, and this is not denied. He takes it when about sixty-two years of +age. The language of Daniel is prophetic, and Darius has in another an +antitype. The writer was born July 18th, 1803; and the claim was asserted +at the close of 1865, when he was about sixty-two years of age. + +"The claims which have been asserted demand a settled faith, and which +could only be reached through a long course of divine teaching." + +When I was a little boy at school, one of my school-fellows took it into +his head to set up a lottery of marbles: the thing took, and he made a +stony profit. Soon, one after another, every boy had his lottery, and it +was, "I won't put into yours unless you put into mine." This knocked up the +scheme. It will be the same with the prophets. Dr. Thorn, Mr. Biden, Mrs. +Cottle,[281] etc. will grow imitators, until we are all pointed out in the +Bible: but A will not admit B's claim unless B admits his. For myself, as +elsewhere shown, I am the first Beast in the Revelations. + +Every contraband prophet gets a few followers: it is a great point to make +these sequacious people into Buridan's asses, which they will become when +prophets are so numerous that there is no choosing. + +{162} + + + +SIR G. C. LEWIS. + + An historical survey of the Astronomy of the Ancients. By the Rt. Hon. + Sir G. C. Lewis.[282] 8vo. 1862. + +There are few men of our day whom I admire more than the late Sir G. Lewis: +he was honest, earnest, sagacious, learned, and industrious. He probably +sacrificed his life to his conjunction of literature and politics: and he +stood high as a minister of state in addition to his character as a man of +letters. The work above named is of great value, and will be read for its +intrinsic merit, consulted for its crowd of valuable references, quoted for +its aid to one side of many a discussion, and opposed for its force against +the other. Its author was also a wit and a satirist. I know of three +classical satires of our day which are inimitable imitations: Mr. +Malden's[283] _Pragmatized Legends_, Mr. Mansel's[284] _Phrontisterion_, +and Sir G. Cornewall Lewis's _Inscriptio Antiqua_. In this last, +HEYDIDDLEDIDDLETHECATANDTHEFIDDLE etc. is treated as an Oscan inscription, +and rendered into Latin by approved methods. As few readers have seen it, I +give the result: + + "Hejus dedit libenter, dedit libenter. Deus propitius [est], deus + [donatori] libenter favet. Deus in viarum {163} juncturâ ovorum dape + [colitur], deus mundi. Deus in litatione voluit, benigno animo, hædum, + taurum intra fines [loci sacri] portandos. Deus, bis lustratus, beat + fossam sacræ libationis."[285] + +How then comes the history of astronomy among the paradoxes? Simply because +the author, so admirably when writing about what he knew, did not know what +he did not know, and blundered like a circle-squarer. And why should the +faults of so good a writer be recorded in such a list as the present? For +three reasons: First, and foremost, because if the exposure be not made by +some one, the errors will gradually ooze out, and the work will get the +character of inaccurate. Nothing hurts a book of which few can fathom the +depths so much as a plain blunder or two on the surface. Secondly, because +the reviews either passed over these errors or treated them too gently, +rather implying their existence than exposing them. Thirdly, because they +strongly illustrate the melancholy truth, that no one knows enough to write +about what he does not know. The distinctness of the errors is a merit; it +proceeds from the clear-headedness of the author. The suppression in the +journals may be due partly to admiration of the talent and energy which +lived two difficult lives at once, partly to respect for high position in +public affairs, partly to some of the critics being themselves men of +learning only, unable to detect the errors. But we know that action and +reaction are equal and contrary. If our generation take no notice of +defects, and allow them to go down undetected among merits, the next +generation will discover them, will perhaps believe us incapable of +detecting them, at least will pronounce our judgment good for nothing, and +will form an {164} opinion in which the merits will be underrated: so it +has been, is, and will be. The best thing that can be done for the memory +of the author is to remove the unsound part that the remainder may thrive. +The errors do not affect the work; they occur in passages which might very +well have been omitted: and I consider that, in making them conspicuous, I +am but cutting away a deleterious fungus from a noble tree. + +(P. 154). The periodic times of the five planets were stated by +Eudoxus,[286] as we learn from Simplicius;[287] the following is his +statement, to which the true times are subjoined, for the sake of +comparison: + + STATEMENT OF EUDOXUS TRUE TIME + Mercury 1 year -- 87d. 23h. + Venus 1 " -- 224d. 16h. + Mars 2 " 1y. 321d. 23h. + Jupiter 12 " 11y. 315d. 14h. + Saturn 30 " 29y. 174d. 1h. + +Upon this determination two remarks may be made. First, the error with +respect to Mercury and Venus is considerable; with respect to Mercury, it +is, in round numbers, 365 instead of 88 days, more than four times too +much. Aristotle remarks that Eudoxus distinguishes Mercury and Venus from +the other three planets by giving them one sphere each, with the poles in +common. The proximity of Mercury to the sun would render its course +difficult to observe and to measure, but the cause of the large error with +respect to Venus (130 days) is not apparent. + +{165} + +Sir G. Lewis takes Eudoxus as making the planets move round the sun; he has +accordingly compared the _geocentric_ periods of Eudoxus with our +_heliocentric_ periods. What greater blunder can be made by a writer on +ancient astronomy than giving Eudoxus the Copernican system? If Mercury +were a black spot in the middle of the sun it would of course move round +the earth in a year, or appear to do so: let it swing a little on one side +and the other of the sun, and the average period is still a year, with +slight departures both ways. The same for Venus, with larger departures. +Say that a person not much accustomed to the distinction might for once +write down the mistake; how are we to explain its remaining in the mind in +a permanent form, and being made a ground for such speculation as that of +the difficulty of observing Mercury leading to a period four times what it +ought to be, corrected in proof and published by an industrious and +thoughtful person? Only in one way: the writer was quite out of his depth. +This one case is conclusive; be it said with all respect for the real +staple of the work and of the author. He knew well the difference of the +systems, but not the effect of the difference: he is another instance of +what I have had to illustrate by help of a very different person, that it +is difficult to reason well upon matter which is not familiar. + + + +(P. 254). Copernicus, in fact, supposed the axis of the earth to be always +turned towards the Sun.^{(169)} [(169). See Delambre, _Hist. Astr. Mod._, +Vol. I, p. 96]. It was reserved to Kepler to propound the hypothesis of the +constant parallelism of the earth's axis to itself. + + + +If there be one thing more prominent than another in the work of Copernicus +himself, in the popular explanations of it, and in the page of +Delambre[288] cited, it is that the _parallelism of the earth's axis_ is a +glaring part of the {166} theory of Copernicus. What Kepler[289] did was to +throw away, as unnecessary, the method by which Copernicus, _per fas et +nefas_,[290] secured it. Copernicus, thinking of the earth's orbital +revolution as those would think who were accustomed to the _solid +orbs_--and much as the stoppers of the moon's rotation do now: why do they +not strengthen themselves with Copernicus?--thought that the earth's axis +would always incline the same end towards the sun, unless measures were +taken to prevent it. He _did_ take measures: he invented a _compensating_ +conical motion of the axis to preserve the parallelism; and, which is one +of the most remarkable points of his system, he obtained the precession of +the equinoxes by giving the necessary trifle more than compensation. What +stares us in the face at the beginning of the paragraph to which the author +refers? + +"C'est donc pour arriver à ce parallelisme, ou pour le conserver, que +Copernic a cru devoir recourir à ce mouvement égal et opposé qui détruit +l'effet qu'il attribue si gratuitement au premier, de déranger le +parallelisme."[291] + +Parallelism at any price, is the motto of Copernicus: you need not pay so +dear, is the remark of Kepler. + +The opinions given by Sir G. Lewis about the effects of modern astronomy, +which he does not understand and singularly undervalues, will now be seen +to be of no authority. He fancies that--to give an instance--for the +determination of a ship's place, the invention of chronometers has been far +more important than any improvement in astronomical theory (p. 254). Not to +speak of latitude,--though the omission is not without importance,--he +ought to have known that longitude is found by the difference between what +o'clock it is at Greenwich and at the ship's place, at {167} one absolute +moment of time. Now if a chronometer were quite perfect--which no +chronometer is, be it said--and would truly tell Greenwich mean time all +over the world, it ought to have been clear that just as good a watch is +wanted for the time at _the place of observation_, before the longitude of +that place with respect to Greenwich can be found. There is no such watch, +except the starry heaven itself: and that watch can only be read by +astronomical observation, aided by the best knowledge of the heavenly +motions. + +I think I have done Sir G. Lewis's very excellent book more good than all +the reviewers put together. + +I will give an old instance in which literature got into confusion about +astronomy. Theophrastus,[292] who is either the culprit or his historian, +attributes to Meton,[293] the contriver of the lunar calendar of nineteen +years, which lasts to this day, that his solstices were determined for him +by a certain Phaeinus of Elis on Mount Lycabettus. Nobody else mentions +this astronomer: though it is pretty certain that Meton himself made more +than one appointment with him for the purpose of observing solstices; and +we may be sure that if either were behind his time, it was Meton. For +_Phaeinus Helius_ is the shining sun himself; and in the astronomical poet +Aratus[294] we read about the nineteen years of the shining sun: + + [Greek: Enneakaideka kukla phaeinou êelioio].[295] + +Some man of letters must have turned Apollo into Phaeinus of Elis; and +there he is in the histories of astronomy to {168} this day. Salmasius[296] +will have Aratus to have meant him, and proposes to read [Greek: êleioio]: +he did not observe that Phaeinus is a very common adjective of Aratus, and +that, if his conjecture were right, this Phaeinus would be the only +non-mythical man in the poems of Aratus. + +[When I read Sir George Lewis's book, the points which I have criticized +struck me as not to be wondered at, but I did not remember why at the time. +A Chancellor of the Exchequer and a writer on ancient astronomy are birds +of such different trees that the second did not recall the first. In 1855 I +was one of a deputation of about twenty persons who waited on Sir G. Lewis, +as Chancellor of the Exchequer, on the subject of a decimal coinage. The +deputation was one of much force: Mr. Airy, with myself and others, +represented mathematics; William Brown,[297] whose dealings with the United +States were reckoned by yearly millions, counted duodecimally in England +and decimally in America, was the best, but not the only, representative of +commerce. There were bullionists, accountants, retailers, etc. Sir G. L. +walked into the room, took his seat, and without waiting one moment, began +to read the deputation a smart lecture on the evils of a decimal coinage; +it would require alteration of all the tables, it would impede calculation, +etc. etc. Of those arguments against it which weighed with many of better +knowledge than his, he obviously knew nothing. The members of the +deputation began to make their statements, and met with curious denials. He +interrupted me with "Surely there is no doubt that the calculations of our +books of arithmetic are easier {169} than those in the French books." He +was not aware that the _universally admitted_ superiority of decimal +_calculation_ made many of those who prefer our system for the market and +the counter cast a longing and lingering look towards decimals. My answer +and the smiles which he saw around, made him give a queer puzzled look, +which seemed to say, "I may be out of my depth here!" His manner changed, +and he listened. I saw both the slap-dash mode in which he dealt with +subjects on which he had not thought, and the temperament which admitted +suspicion when the means of knowledge came in his way. Having seen his two +phases, I wonder neither at his more than usual exhibition of shallowness +when shallow, nor at the intensity of the contrast when he had greater +depth.] + + + +DECIMAL COINAGE. + +Among the paradoxers are the political paradoxers who care not how far they +go in debate, their only object being to carry the House with them for the +current evening. What I have said of editors I repeat of them. The +preservation of a very marked instance, the association of political +recklessness with cyclometrical and Apocalyptic absurdity, may have a +tendency to warn, not indeed any hardened public-man and sinner, but some +young minds which have yearnings towards politics, and are in formation of +habits. + +In the debate on decimal coinage of July 12, 1855, Mr. Lowe,[298] then +member for Kidderminster, an effective speaker and a smart man, exhibited +himself in a speech on which I wrote a comment for the Decimal Association. +I have seldom seen a more wretched attempt to distort the points of a +public question than the whole of this speech. Looking at the intelligence +shown by the speaker on other occasions, {170} it is clear that if charity, +instead of believing all things, believed only all things but one, he might +tremble for his political character; for the honesty of his intention on +this occasion might be the incredible exception. I give a few paragraphs +with comments: + +"In commenting on the humorous, but still argumentative speech of Mr. Lowe, +the member for Kidderminster, we may observe, in general, that it consists +of points which have been several times set forth, and several times +answered. Mr. Lowe has seen these answers, but does not allude to them, far +less attempt to meet them. There are, no doubt, individuals, who show in +their public speaking the outward and visible signs of a greater degree of +acuteness than they can summon to guide their private thinking. If Mr. Lowe +be not one of these, if the power of his mind in the closet be at all +comparable to the power of his tongue in the House, it may be suspected +that his reserve with respect to what has been put forward by the very +parties against whom he was contending, arises from one or both of two +things--a high opinion of the arguments which he ignored--a low opinion of +the generality of the persons whom he addressed. [Both, I doubt not]. + +"Did they calculate in florins In the name of common sense, +?" how can it be objected to a + system that people do not use + it before it is introduced? + Let the decimal system be + completed, and calculation + shall be made in florins; that + is, florins shall take their + proper place. If florins were + introduced _now_, there must + be a column for the odd + shilling. +"He was glad that some hon. If the hon. gentleman make +gentleman had derived benefit this assertion of himself, it +from the issue of florins. His is not for us to gainsay it. +only experience of their It only proves that he is one +convenience was, that when he of that class of {171} men who +ought to have received are described in the old song, +half-a-crown, he had generally of which one couplet runs +received a florin, and when he thus: +ought to have paid a florin, +he had generally paid I sold my cow to buy me a +half-a-crown." (Hear, hear, calf; +and laughter.) I never make a bargain but I + lose half, + With a etc. etc. etc. + +But he cannot mean that Englishmen in general are so easily managed. And as +to Jonathan, who is but John lengthened out a little, he would see creation +whittled into chips before he would even split what may henceforth be +called the Kidderminster difference. The House, not unmoved--for it +laughed--with sly humor decided that the introduction of the florin had +been "eminently successful and satisfactory." + +The truth is that Mr. Lowe here attacks nothing except the coexistence of +the florin and half-crown. We are endeavoring to abolish the half-crown. +Let Mr. Lowe join us; and he will, if we succeed, be relieved from the +pressure on his pocket which must arise from having the turn of the market +always against him. + +"From a florin they get to 2 Note the sophism of expressing +2-5ths of a penny, but who our coin in terms of the +ever bought anything, who ever penny, which we abandon, +reckoned or wished to reckon instead of the florin, which +in such a coin as that?" we retain. Remember that this +(Hear, hear.) 2 2-5ths is the hundredth part + of the pound, which is called, + as yet, a _cent_. Nobody buys + anything at a cent, because + the cent is not yet + introduced. Nobody reckons in + cents for the same reason. + Everybody wishes to reckon in + cents, who wishes to combine + the advantage of decimal + reckoning with the + preservation of the pound as + {172} the highest unit of + account; amongst others, a + majority of the House of + Commons, the Bank of England, + the majority of London + bankers, the Chambers of + Commerce in various places, + etc. etc. etc. +"Such a coin could never come Does 2½d. never pass from hand +into general circulation to hand? And is 2½d. so +because it represents nothing precisely the modulus of +which corresponds with any of popular wants, that an +the wants of the people." alteration of 4 per cent. + would make it useless? Of all + the values which 2½d. + measures, from three pounds of + potatoes down to certain + arguments used in the House of + Commons, there is not one for + which a cent would not do just + as well. Mr. Lowe has fallen + into the misconception of the + person who admired the + dispensation of Providence by + which large rivers are made to + run through cities so great + and towns so many. If the cent + were to be introduced + to-morrow, straightway the + buns and cakes, the soda-water + bottles, the short omnibus + fares, the bunches of + radishes, etc. etc. etc., + would adapt themselves to the + coin. +"If the proposed system were The confusion of ideas here +adopted, they would all be exhibited is most instructive. +compelled to live in decimals The speaker is under the +for ever; if a man dined at a impression that _we_ are +public house he would have to introducing fractions: the +pay for his dinner in decimal truth is, that we only want to +fractions. (Hear, hear.) He abandon the _more difficult_ +objected to that, for he fractions which we _have got_, +thought that a man ought to be and to introduce _easier +able to pay for his dinner in fractions_. Does he deny this? +integers." (Hear, hear, and a Let us trace his denial to its +laugh.) legitimate consequences. A man + ought to pay for his dinner in + integers. + +{173} + +Now, if Mr. Lowe insists on it that our integer is the pound, he is bound +to admit that the present integer is the pound, of which a shilling, etc., +are fractions. The next time he has a chop and a pint of stout in the city, +the waiter should say--"A pound, sir, to you," and should add, "Please to +remember the waiter in integers." Mr. Lowe fancies that when he pays one +and sixpence, he pays in integers, and so he does, if his integer be a +penny or a sixpence. Let him bring his mind to contemplate a mil as the +integer, the lowest integer, and the seven cents five mils which he would +pay under the new system would be payment in integers also. But, as it +happens with some others, he looks _up_ the present system, with +Cocker,[299] and Walkingame,[300] and always looks _down_ the proposed +system. The word _decimal_ is obstinately associated with _fractions_, for +which there is no need. Hence it becomes so much of a bugbear, that, to +parody the lines of Pope, which probably suggested one of Mr. Lowe's +phrases-- + + "Dinner he finds too painful an endeavor, + Condemned to pay in decimals for ever." + +"The present system, however, A pleasant sum even for an +had not yet been changed into accomplished mathematician. +decimal system. That change What does divided by the +might appear very easy to decimal of a pound mean? +accomplished mathematicians Perhaps it means _reduced_ to +and men of science, but it was the decimal of a pound! Mr. +one which it would be very Lowe supposes, as many others +difficult to carry out. (Hear, do, that, after the change, +hear). What would have to be all calculations will be +done? Every sum would have to _proposed in old money_, and +be reduced into a vulgar then _converted into new_. He +fraction of a pound, and then cannot hit the {174} idea that +divided by the decimal of a the new coins will take the +pound--a pleasant sum for an place of the old. This lack of +old applewoman to work out!" apprehension will presently +(Hear, hear, and laughter.) appear further. +"It would not be an agreeable Let the members be assured +task, even for some members of that nine half-pence will be, +that House, to reduce 4½d., or for every practical purpose, +nine half-pence, to mils." 18 mils. But now to the fact +(Hear, hear.) asserted. Davies Gilbert[301] + used to maintain that during + the long period he sat in the + House, he never knew more than + three men in it, at one time, + who had a tolerable notion of + fractions. [I heard him give + the names of three at the time + when he spoke: they were + Warburton,[302] Pollock,[303] + and Hume.[304] He himself was + then out of Parliament.] + Joseph Hume affirmed that he + had never met with more than + ten members who were + arithmeticians. But both these + gentlemen had a high standard. + Mr. Lowe has given a much more + damaging opinion. He evidently + means that the general run of + members could not do his + question. It is done as + follows: Since farthings gain + on mils, at the rate of a + whole mil in 24 farthings (24 + farthings being 25 mils), it + is clear that 18 farthings + being three-quarters of 24 + farthings, will gain + three-quarters of a mil; that + is, 18 farthings are eighteen + {175} mils and three-quarters + of a mil. Any number of + farthings is as many mils and + as many twenty-fourths of a + mil. To a certain extent, we + feel able to protest against + the manner in which + Kidderminster has treated the + other constituencies. We do + not hold it impossible to give + the Members of the House in + general a sufficient knowledge + of the meaning and + consequences of the _decimal_ + succession of units, tens, + hundreds, thousands, etc.; and + we believe that there are in + the House itself competent + men, in number enough to teach + all the rest. All that is + wanted is the power of + starting from the known to + arrive at the unknown. Now + there is one kind of decimals + with which every member is + acquainted--the _Chiltern + Hundreds_. If public opinion + would enable the competent + minority to start from this in + their teaching, not as a + basis, but as an alternative, + in three weeks the + fundamentals would be + acquired, and members in + general would be as fit to + turn 4½d. into mils, as any + boys on the lower forms of a + commercial school. + + For a long period of years, + allusion to the general + ignorance of arithmetic, has + been a standing mode of + argument, and has always been + well received: whenever one + member describes others as + _knownothings_, those others + cry _Hear_ to the country in a + transport of delight. In the + meanwhile the country is + gradually arriving at the + conclusion that a true joke is + no joke. +"The main objection was, if Fine words, wrongly used. The +they went below 6d., that the new coins are commensurable +new scale of coins would not with, and in a finite ratio +be commensurate in any finite to, the old ones. The farthing +ratio with anything in this is to the mil as 25 to 24. The +new currency of mils." speaker has something here in + the bud, which we shall + presently meet with in the + flower; and fallacies are more + easily nipped in flower than + in bud. {176} +"No less than five of our This dreadful change of value +present coins must be called consists in sixpence farthing +in, or else--which would be going to the half-shilling +worse--new values must be instead of sixpence. Whether +given to them." the new farthings be called + mils or not is of no + consequence. +"If a poor man put a penny in Mr. Lowe, who cannot pass a +his pocket, it would come out half-crown for more than a +a coin of different value, florin, or get in a florin at +which he would not understand. less than half-a-crown, has +Suppose he owed another man a such a high faith in the +penny, how was he to pay him ? sterner stuff of his fellow +Was he to pay him in mils? countrymen, that he believes +Four mils would be too little, any two of them would go to +and five mils would be too fisty cuffs for the 25th part +much. The hon. gentlemen said of a farthing. He reasons +there would be only a mil thus: He has often heard in +between them. That was exactly the streets, "I'd fight you +it. He believed there would be for the fiftieth part of a +a 'mill' between them." (Much farden:" and having (that is, +laughter.) for a Member) a notion both of + fractions and logic, he infers + that those who would fight for + the 50th of a farthing would, + _a fortiori_, fight for a + 25th. His mistake arises from + his not knowing that when a + person offers to fight another + for 1/200d., he really means + to fight for love; and that + the stake is merely a matter + of form, a feigned issue, a + _pro forma_ report of + progress. Do the Members of + the House think they have all + the forms to themselves? +"What would be the present We should hardly believe all +expression for four-pence? this to be uttered in earnest, +Why, 0.166 (a laugh); for if we had not known {177} that +threepence? .0125; for a several persons who have not +penny? .004166, and so on _ad Mr. Lowe's humor, nevertheless +infinitum_ (a laugh); for a have his impressions on this +half-penny? .002083 _ad point. It must therefore be +infinitum_. (A laugh). What answered; but how is this to +would be the present be done seriously? +expression for a farthing? +Why, .0010416 _ad infinitum_. _Dialogue between a member of +(A laugh). And this was the Parliament and an orange-boy, +system which was to cause such three days after the +a saving in figures, and these introduction of the complete +were the quantities into which decimal system. The member, +the poor would have to reduce going down to the House, wants +the current coin of the realm. oranges to sustain his voice +(Cheers). With every respect in a two hours' speech on +for decimal fractions, of moving that 100000l. be placed +which he boasted no profound at the disposal of Her +knowledge, he doubted whether Majesty, to supply the poor +the poor were equal to mental with ready-reckoners._ +arithmetic of this kind, +(hear, hear) and he hoped the _Boy._ Fine oranges! two a +adoption of the system would penny! two a penny! {178} +be deferred until there were +some proof that they would be _Member._ Here boy, two! Now, +able to understand it; for, how am I to pay you? +after all, this was the +question of the poor, and the _Boy._ Give you change, your +whole weight of the change honor. +would fall upon them. Let the +rich by all means have _Member._ Ah! but how? Where's +permission to perplex your ready-reckoner? +themselves by any division of +a pound they pleased; but do _Boy._ I sells a better sort +not let them, by any nor them. Mine's real Cheyny. +experiment like this, impose +difficulties upon the poor and _Member._ But you see a +compel men to carry farthing is now .0014166666 +ready-reckoners in their _ad infinitum_, and if we +pocket to give them all these multiply this by 4---- +fractional quantities." (Hear, +hear.) _Boy._ Hold hard, Guv'ner; I + sees what you're arter. Now + what'll you stand if I puts + you up to it? which Bill Smith + he put me up in two minutes, + cause he goes to the Ragged + School. + + _Member._ You don't mean that + you do without a book! + + _Boy._ Book be blowed. Come + now, old un, here's summut for + both on us. I got a florin, + you gives me a half-a-crown + for it, and I larns you the + new money, gives you your + oranges, and calls you a brick + into the bargain. + + _Member_ (_to himself_). Never + had such a chance of getting + off half-a-crown for value + since that ---- fellow Bowring + carried his crochet. + (_Aloud._) Well, boy, it's a + bargain. Now! + + _Boy._ Why, look 'e here, my + trump, its a farden more to + the tizzy--that's what it is. + + _Member_. What's that? + + _Boy._ Why, you knows a + sixpence when you sees it. + (_Aside_). Blest if I think he + does! Well, its six browns and + a farden now. A lady buys two + oranges, and forks {179} out a + sixpence; well in coorse, I + hands over fippence farden + astead of fippence. I always + gives a farden more change, + and takes according. + + _Member_ (_in utter surprise, + lets his oranges tumble into + the gutter_). Never mind! They + won't be wanted now. (_Walks + off one way. Boy makes a pass + of naso-digital mesmerism, and + walks off the other way_). + +To the poor, who keep no books, the whole secret is "Sixpence farthing to +the half shilling, twelve pence halfpenny to the shilling." The _new +twopence halfpenny_, or cent, will be at once five to the shilling. + +In conclusion, we remark that three very common misconceptions run through +the hon. Member's argument; and, combined in different proportions, give +variety to his patterns. + +First, he will have it that we design to bring the uneducated into contact +with _decimal fractions_. If it be so, it will only be as M. Jourdain was +brought into contact with prose. In fact, _Quoi! quand je dis, Nicole, +apportez-moi mes pantoufles, c'est de la prose?_[305] may be rendered: +"What! do you mean that _ten to the florin is a cent a piece_ must be +called decimal reckoning?" If we had to comfort a poor man, horror-struck +by the threat of _decimals_, we should tell him what manner of fractions +had been inflicted upon him hitherto; nothing less awful than +_quarto-duodecimo-vicesimals_, we should assure him. + +Secondly, he assumes that the penny, such as it now is, will remain, as a +coin of estimation, after it has ceased to be a coin of exchange; and that +the mass of the people will continue to think of prices in old pence, and +to calculate them in new ones, or else in new mils. No answer is required +to this, beyond the mere statement of the nature of the assumption and +denial. + +{180} + +Thirdly, he attributes to the uneducated community a want of perception and +of operative power which really does not belong to them. The evidence +offered to the Committee of the House shows that no fear is entertained on +this point by those who come most in contact with farthing purchasers. And +this would seem to be a rule,--that is, fear of the intelligence of the +lower orders in the minds of those who are not in daily communication with +them, no fear at all in the minds of those who are. + +A remarkable instance of this distinction happened five-and-twenty years +ago. The Admiralty requested the Astronomical Society to report on the +alterations which should be made in the _Nautical Almanac_, the seaman's +guide-book over the ocean. The greatest alteration proposed was the +description of celestial phenomena in _mean_ (or clock time), instead of +_apparent_ (or sundial) time, till then always employed. This change would +require that in a great many operations the seaman should let alone what he +formerly altered by addition or subtraction, and alter by addition or +subtraction what he formerly let alone; provided always that what he +formerly altered by addition he should, when he altered at all, alter by +subtraction, and _vice versa_. This was a tolerably difficult change for +uneducated skippers, working by rules they had only learned by rote. The +Astronomical Society appointed a Committee of forty, of whom nine were +naval officers or merchant seamen [I was on this Committee]. Some men of +science were much afraid of the change. They could not trust an ignorant +skipper or mate to make those alterations in their routine, on the +correctness of which the ship might depend. Had the Committee consisted of +men of science only, the change might never have been ventured on. But the +naval men laughed, and said there was nothing to fear; and on their +authority the alteration was made. The upshot was, that, after the new +almanacs appeared, not a word of complaint was ever heard on the matter. +Had the House of Commons had to {181} decide this question, with Mr. Lowe +to quote the description given by Basil Hall[306] (who, by the way, was one +of the Committee) of an observation on which the safety of the ship +depended, worked out by the light of a lantern in a gale of wind off a lee +shore, this simple and useful change might at this moment have been in the +hands of its tenth Government Commission. + + + +[_Aug. 14, 1866._ The Committee was appointed in the spring of 1830: it +consisted of forty members. Death, of course, has been busy; there are now +left Lord Shaftesbury,[307] Mr. Babbage,[308] Sir John Herschel,[309] Sir +Thomas Maclear[310] (Astronomer Royal at the Cape of Good Hope), Dr. +Robinson[311] (of Armagh), Sir James South,[312] Lord Wrottesley,[313] and +myself]. + +{182} + + + +THE TONAL SYSTEM. + + Project of a new system of arithmetic, weight, measure, and coins, + proposed to be called the tonal system, with sixteen to the base. By + J. W. Mystrom.[314] Philadelphia, 1862, 8vo. + +That is to say, sixteen is to take the place of ten, and to be written 10. +The whole language is to be changed; every man of us is to be +sixteen-stringed Jack and every woman sixteen-stringed Jill. Our old _one_, +_two_, _three_, up to sixteen, are to be (_Noll_ going for nothing, which +will please those who dislike the memory of _Old Noll_) replaced by An, De, +Ti, Go, Su, By, Ra, Me, Ni, Ko, Hu, Vy, La, Po, Fy, Ton; and then Ton-an, +Ton-de, etc. for 17, 18, etc. The number which in the system has the symbol + + 28(13)5(11)7(14)0(15) + +(using our present compounds instead of new types) is to be pronounced + + Detam-memill-lasan-suton-hubong-ramill-posanfy. + +The year is to have sixteen months, and here they are: + + Anuary, Debrian, Timander, Gostus, + Suvenary, Bylian, Ratamber, Mesudius, + Nictoary, Kolumbian, Husamber, Vyctorius, + Lamboary, Polian, Fylander, Tonborius. + +Surely An-month, De-month, etc. would do as well. Probably the wants of +poetry were considered. But what are we to do with our old poets? For +example-- + + "It was a night of lovely June, + High rose in cloudless blue the moon." + +Let us translate-- + + "It was a night of lovely Nictoary, + High rose in cloudless blue the (what, in the name of all that is + absurd?)." + +And again, _Fylander_ thrown into our December! What is {183} to become of +those lines of Praed, which I remember coming out when I was at +Cambridge,-- + + "Oh! now's the time of all the year for flowers and fun, the Maydays; + To trim your whiskers, curl your hair, and sinivate the ladies." + +If I were asked which I preferred, this system or that of Baron +Ferrari[315] already mentioned, proceeding by _twelves_, I should reply, +with Candide, when he had the option given of running the gauntlet or being +shot: Les volontés sont libres, et je ne veux ni l'un ni l'autre.[316] We +can imagine a speculator providing such a system for Utopia as it would be +in the mind of a Laputan: but to explain how an engineer who has surveyed +mankind from Philadelphia to Rostof on the Don should for a moment +entertain the idea of such a system being actually adopted, would beat a +jury of solar-system-makers, though they were shut up from the beginning of +Anuary to the end of Tonborius. When I see such a scheme as this imagined +to be practicable, I admire the wisdom of Providence in providing the +quadrature of the circle, etc., to open a harmless sphere of action to the +possessors of the kind of ingenuity which it displays. Those who cultivate +mathematics have a right to speak strongly on such efforts of arithmetic as +this: for, to my knowledge, persons who have no knowledge are frequently +disposed to imagine that their makers are true brothers of the craft, a +little more intelligible than the rest. + + + +SOME SMALL PARADOXERS. + + Vis inertiae victa,[317] or Fallacies affecting science. By James + Reddie.[318] London, 1862, 8vo. + +{184} + +An attack on the Newtonian mechanics; revolution by gravitation +demonstrably impossible; much to be said for the earth being the immovable +center. A good analysis of contents at the beginning, a thing seldom found. +The author has followed up his attack in a paper submitted to the British +Association, but which it appears the Association declined to consider. It +is entitled-- + + + + _Victoria Toto Coelo_; or, Modern Astronomy recast. London, 1863, 8vo. + +At the end is a criticism of Sir G. Lewis's _History of Ancient Astronomy_. + + + + On the definition and nature of the Science of Political Economy. By H. + Dunning Macleod,[319] Esq. Cambridge, 1862, 8vo. + +A paper read--but, according to the report, not understood--at the British +Association. There is a notion that political economy is entirely +mathematical; and its negative quantity is strongly recommended for study: +it contains "the whole of the Funds, Credit, 32 parts out of 33 of the +value of Land...." The mathematics are described as consisting of--first, +number, or Arithmetic; secondly, the theory of dependent quantities, +subdivided into dependence by cause and effect, and dependence by +simultaneous variations; thirdly, "independent quantities or unconnected +events, which is the theory of probabilities." I am not ashamed, having the +British Association as a co-non-intelligent, to say I do not understand +this: there is a paradox in it, and the author should give further +explanation, especially of his negative quantity. Mr. Macleod has gained +{185} praise from great names for his political economy; but this, I +suspect, must have been for other parts of his system. + + + + On the principles and practice of just Intonation, with a view to the + abolition of temperament.... By General Perronet Thompson.[320] Sixth + Edition. London, 1862, 8vo. + +Here is General Thompson again, with another paradox: but always master of +the subject, always well up in what his predecessors have done, and always +aiming at a useful end. He desires to abolish temperament by additional +keys, and has constructed an enharmonic organ with forty sounds in the +octave. If this can be introduced, I, for one, shall delight to hear it: +but there are very great difficulties in the way, greater than stood even +in the way of the repeal of the bread-tax. + +In a paper on the beats of organ-pipes and on temperament published some +years ago, I said that equal temperament appeared to me insipid, and not so +agreeable as the effect of the instrument when in progress towards being +what is called out of tune, before it becomes offensively wrong. There is +throughout that period unequal temperament, determined by accident. General +Thompson, taking me one way, says I have launched a declaration which is +likely to make an epoch in musical practice; a public musical critic, +taking me another way, quizzes me for preferring music _out of tune_. I do +not think I deserve either one remark or the other. My opponent critic, I +suspect, takes _equally tempered_ and _in tune_ to be phrases of one +meaning. But by equal temperament is meant equal distribution among all the +keys of the error which an instrument _must_ have, which, with twelve +sounds only in the octave, professes to be fit for all the keys. I am +reminded of the equal temperament which was once applied to the postmen's +jackets. The coats were all made for the average man: the {186} consequence +was that all the tall men had their tails too short; all the short men had +them too long. Some one innocently asked why the tall men did not change +coats with the short ones. + + + + A diagram illustrating a discovery in the relation of circles to + right-lined geometrical figures. London, 1863, 12mo. + +The circle is divided into equal sectors, which are joined head and tail: +but a property is supposed which is not true. + + + + An attempt to assign the square roots of negative powers; or what is + [sqrt] -1? By F.H. Laing.[321] London, 1863, 8vo. + +If I understand the author, -a and +a are the square roots of -a^2, as +proved by multiplying them together. The author seems quite unaware of what +has been done in the last fifty years. + + + +BYRNE'S DUAL ARITHMETIC. + + Dual Arithmetic. A new art. By Oliver Byrne.[322] London, 1863, 8vo. + +The plan is to throw numbers into the form a(1.1)^{b} (1.01)^{c} +(1.001)^{d}... and to operate with this form. This is an ingenious and +elaborate speculation; and I have no doubt the author has practised his +method until he could surprise any one else by his use of it. But I doubt +if he will persuade others to use it. As asked of Wilkins's universal +language, Where is the second man to come from? + +An effective predecessor in the same line of invention {187} was the late +Mr. Thomas Weddle,[323] in his "New, simple, and general method of solving +numeric equations of all orders," 4to, 1842. The Royal Society, to which +this paper was offered, declined to print it: they ought to have printed an +organized method, which, without subsidiary tables, showed them, in six +quarto pages, the solution (x=8.367975431) of the equation + + 1379.664 x^{622} + 2686034 × 10^{432} x^{152} - 17290224 × 10^{518} + x^{60} + 2524156 × 10^{574} = 0. + +The method proceeds by successive factors of the form, a being the first +approximation, a × 1.b × 1.0c × 1.00d.... In my copy I find a few +corrections made by me at the time in Mr. Weddle's announcement. "It was +read before that learned body [the R. S.] and they were pleased [but] to +transmit their thanks to the author. The en[dis]couragement which he +received induces [obliges] him to lay the result of his enquiries in this +important branch of mathematics before the public [, at his own expense; he +being an usher in a school at Newcastle]." Which is most satirical, Mr. +Weddle or myself? The Society, in the account which it gave of this paper, +described it as a "new and remarkably simple method" possessing "several +important advantages." Mr. Rutherford's[324] extended value of [pi] was +read at the very next meeting, and was printed in the _Transactions_; and +very properly: Mr. Weddle's paper was excluded, and very very improperly. + + + +HORNER'S METHOD. + +I think it may be admited that the indisposition to look at and encourage +improvements of calculation which once {188} marked the Royal Society is no +longer in existence. But not without severe lessons. They had the luck to +accept Horner's[325] now celebrated paper, containing the method which is +far on the way to become universal: but they refused the paper in which +Horner developed his views of this and other subjects: it was printed by +T. S. Davies[326] after Horner's death. I make myself responsible for the +statement that the Society could not reject this paper, yet felt unwilling +to print it, and suggested that it should be withdrawn; which was done. + +But the severest lesson was the loss of _Barrett's Method_,[327] now the +universal instrument of the actuary in his highest calculations. It was +presented to the Royal Society, and refused admission into the +_Transactions_: Francis Baily[328] printed it. The Society is now better +informed: "_live and learn_," meaning "_must live, so better learn_," ought +to be the especial motto of a corporation, and is generally acted on, more +or less. + +Horner's method begins to be introduced at Cambridge: it was published in +1820. I remember that when I first went to Cambridge (in 1823) I heard my +tutor say, in conversation, there is no doubt that the true method of +solving equations is the one which was published a few years ago in the +_Philosophical Transactions_. I wondered it was not taught, but presumed +that it belonged to the higher mathematics. This Horner himself had in his +head: and in a sense it is true; for all lower branches belong to the +higher: but he would have stared to have been told that he, Horner, {189} +was without a European predecessor, and in the distinctive part of his +discovery was heir-at-law to the nameless +Brahmin--Tartar--Antenoachian--what you please--who concocted the +extraction of the square root. + +It was somewhat more than twenty years after I had thus heard a Cambridge +tutor show sense of the true place of Horner's method, that a pupil of mine +who had passed on to Cambridge was desired by his college tutor to solve a +certain cubic equation--one of an integer root of two figures. In a minute +the work and answer were presented, by Horner's method. "How!" said the +tutor, "this can't be, you know." "There is the answer, Sir!" said my +pupil, greatly amused, for my pupils learnt, not only Horner's method, but +the estimation it held at Cambridge. "Yes!" said the tutor, "there is the +answer certainly; but it _stands to reason_ that a cubic equation cannot be +solved in this space." He then sat down, went through a process about ten +times as long, and then said with triumph: "There! that is the way to solve +a cubic equation!" + +I think the tutor in this case was never matched, except by the country +organist. A master of the instrument went into the organ-loft during +service, and asked the organist to let him _play the congregation out_; +consent was given. The stranger, when the time came, began a voluntary +which made the people open their ears, and wonder who had got into the +loft: they kept their places to enjoy the treat. When the organist saw +this, he pushed the interloper off the stool, with "You'll never play 'em +out this side Christmas." He then began his own drone, and the congregation +began to move quietly away. "There," said he, "that's the way to play 'em +out!" + +I have not scrupled to bear hard on my own university, on the Royal +Society, and on other respectable existences: being very much the friend of +all. I will now clear the Royal Society from a very small and obscure +slander, simply because I know how. This dissertation began with {190} the +work of Mr. Oliver Byrne, the dual arithmetician, etc. This writer +published, in 1849, a method of calculating logarithms.[329] First, a long +list of instances in which, as he alleges, foreign discoverers have been +pillaged by Englishmen, or turned into Englishmen: for example, +O'Neill,[330] so called by Mr. Byrne, the rectifier of the semi-cubical +parabola claimed by the Saxons under the name of _Neal_: the grandfather of +this mathematician was conspicuous enough as _Neal_; he was archbishop of +York. This list, says the writer, might be continued without end; but he +has mercy, and finishes with his own case, as follows:--"About twenty years +ago, I discovered this method of directly calculating logarithms. I could +generally find the logarithm of any number in a minute or two without the +use of books or tables. The importance of the discovery subjected me to all +sorts of prying. Some asserted that I committed a table of logarithms to +memory; others attributed it to a peculiar mental property; and when +Societies and individuals failed to extract my secret, they never failed to +traduce the inventor and the invention. Among the learned Societies, the +Royal Society of London played a very base part. When I have more space and +time at my disposal, I will revert to this subject again." + +Such a trumpery story as this remains unnoticed at the time; but when all +are gone, a stray copy from a stall falls into hands which, not knowing +what to make of it, make history of it. It is a very curious distortion. +The reader may take it on my authority, that the Royal Society played no +part, good or bad, nor had the option of playing a part. {191} But I myself +_pars magna fui_:[331] and when the author has "space and time" at his +disposal, he must not take all of them; I shall want a little of both. + + + +ARE ATOMS WORLDS? + + The mystery of being; or are ultimate atoms inhabited worlds? By + Nicholas Odgers.[332] Redruth and London, 1863, 8vo. + +This book, as a paradox, beats quadrature, duplication, trisection, +philosopher's stone, perpetual motion, magic, astrology, mesmerism, +clairvoyance, spiritualism, homoeopathy, hydropathy, kinesipathy, Essays +and Reviews, and Bishop Colenso,[333] all put together. Of all the +suppositions I have given as actually argued, this is the one which is +hardest to deny, and hardest to admit. Reserving the question--as beyond +human discussion--whether our particles of carbon, etc. are _clusters_ of +worlds, the author produces his reasons for thinking that they are at least +single worlds. Of course--though not mentioned--the possibility is to be +added of the same thing being true of the particles which make up our +particles, and so down, for ever: and, on the other hand, of our planets +and stars as being particles in some larger universe, and so up, for ever. + + "Great fleas have little fleas upon their backs to bite 'em, + And little fleas have lesser fleas, and so _ad infinitum._ + And the great fleas themselves, in turn, have greater fleas to go on; + While these again have greater still, and greater still, and so on."[334] + +I have often had the notion that all the nebulæ we see, including our own, +which we call the Milky Way, may be particles of snuff in the box of a +giant of a proportionately {192} larger universe. Of course the minim of +time--a million of years or whatever the geologists make it[335]--which our +little affair has lasted, is but a very small fraction of a second to the +great creature in whose nose we shall all be in a few tens of thousands of +millions of millions of millions of years. + +All this is quite possible, and the probabilities for and against are quite +out of reach. Perhaps also all the worlds, both above and below us, are +fac-similes of our own. If so, away goes free will for good and all; +unless, indeed, we underpin our system with the hypothesis that all the +fac-simile bodies of different sizes are actuated by a common soul. These +acute supplementary notions of mine go far to get rid of the difficulty +which some have found in the common theory that the soul inhabits the body: +it has been stated that there is, somewhere or another, a world of souls +which communicate with their bodies by wondrous filaments of a nature +neither mental nor material, but of a _tertium quid_ fit to be a +go-between; as it were a corporispiritual copper encased in a +spiritucorporeal gutta-percha. My theory is that every soul is everywhere +_in posse_, as the schoolmen said, but not anywhere _in actu_, except where +it finds one of its bodies. These _a priori_ difficulties being thus +removed, the system of particle-worlds is reduced to a dry question of +fact, and remitted to the decision of the microscope. And a grand field may +thus be opened, as optical science progresses! For the worlds are not +fac-similes of ours in time: there is not a moment of _our_ past, and not a +moment of _our_ future, but is the _present_ of one or more of the +particles. A will write the death of Cæsar, and B the building of the +Pyramids, by actual observation of the processes with a power of a thousand +millions; C will discover the commencement of the Millennium, and D the +{193} termination of Ersch and Gruber's Lexicon,[336] as mere physical +phenomena. Against this glorious future there is a sad omen: the initials +of the forerunner of this discovery are--NO! + + + +THE SUPERNATURAL. + + The History of the Supernatural in all ages and nations, and in all + Churches, Christian and Pagan: demonstrating a universal faith. By Wm. + Howitt.[337] London, 2 vols. 8vo. 1863. + +Mr. Howitt is a preacher of spiritualism. He cements an enormous collection +of alleged facts with a vivid outpouring of exhortation, and an unsparing +flow of sarcasm against the scorners of all classes. He and the Rev. J. +Smith[338] (_ante_, 1854) are the most thoroughgoing universalists of all +the writers I know on spiritualism. If either can insert the small end of +the wedge, he will not let you off one fraction of the conclusion that all +countries, in all ages, have been the theaters of one vast spiritual +display. And I suspect that this consequence cannot be avoided, if any part +of the system be of truly spiritual origin. Mr. Howitt treats the +philosophers either as ignorant babies, or as conscious spirit-fearers: and +seems much inclined to accuse the world at large of dreading, lest by the +actual presence of the other world their Christianity should imbibe a +spiritual element which would unfit it for the purposes of their lives. + +{194} + + + +FROM MATTER TO SPIRIT. + + From Matter to Spirit. By C. D. With a preface by A. B.[339] London, + 1863, 8vo. + +This is a work on Spiritual Manifestations. The author upholds the facts +for spiritual phenomena: the prefator suspends his opinion as to the cause, +though he upholds the facts. The work begins systematically with the lower +class of phenomena, proceeds to the higher class, and offers a theory, +suggested by the facts, of the connection of the present and future life. I +agree in the main with A. B.; but can, of course, make none but horrescent +reference to his treatment of the smaller philosophers. This is always the +way with your paradoxers: they behave towards orthodoxy as the thresher +fish behaves towards the whale. But if true, as is said, that the drubbing +clears the great fish of parasites which he could not otherwise get rid of, +he ought to bear no malice. This preface retorts a little of that contempt +which the "philosophical world" has bestowed with heaped measure upon those +who have believed their senses, and have drawn natural, even if hasty, +inferences. There is philosophercraft as well as priestcraft, both from one +source, both of one spirit. In English cities and towns, the minister of +religion has been tamed: so many weapons are bared against him when he +obtrudes his office in a dictatory manner, that, as a rule, there is no +more quiet and modest member of society than the urban clergyman. +Domination over religious belief is reserved for the exclusive use of those +who admit the right: the rare exception to this mode of behavior is laughed +at as a bigot, or shunned as a nuisance. But the overbearing minister of +nature, who snaps you with _unphilosophical_ as the clergyman once +frightened you with _infidel_, is still a recognized member of society, +wants taming, and will get it. He wears the priest's cast-off {195} +clothes, dyed to escape detection: the better sort of philosophers would +gladly set him to square the circle. + +The book just named appeared about the same time as this Budget began in +the _Athenæum_. It was commonly attributed, the book to my wife, the +preface to myself. Some time after, our names were actually announced by +the publisher, who ought to know. It will be held to confirm this statement +that I announce our having in our possession some twenty reviews of +different lengths, and of all characters: who ever collects a number of +reviews of a book, except the author? + +A great many of these reviews settle the matter _a priori_. If there had +been spirits in the matter, they would have done this, and they would not +have done that. Jean Meslier[340] said there could be no God over all, for, +_if_ there had been one, He would have established a universal religion. If +J. M. _knew_ that, J. M. was right: but if J. M. did not know that, then +J. M. was on the "high priori road," and may be left to his course. The +same to all who know what spirits would do and would not do. + +A. B. very distinctly said that he knew some of the asserted facts, +believed others on testimony, but did not pretend to know whether they were +caused by spirits, or had some unknown and unimagined origin. This he said +as clearly as I could have said it myself. But a great many persons cannot +understand such a frame of mind: their own apparatus is a kind of +spirit-level, and their conclusion on any subject is the little bubble, +which is always at one end or the other. Many of the reviewers declare that +A. B. is a secret believer in the spirit-hypothesis: and one of them wishes +that he had "endorsed his opinion more boldly." According to this reviewer, +any one who writes "I boldly {196} say I am unable to choose," contradicts +himself. In truth, a person who does say it has a good deal of courage, for +each side believes that he secretly favors the other; and both look upon +him as a coward. In spite of all this, A. B. boldly repeats that he feels +assured of many of the facts of _spiritualism_, and that he cannot pretend +to affirm or deny anything about their cause. + +The great bulk of the illogical part of the educated community--whether +majority or minority I know not; perhaps six of one and half-a-dozen of the +other--have not power to make a distinction, cannot be made to take a +distinction, and of course, never attempt to shake a distinction. With them +all such things are evasions, subterfuges, come-offs, loopholes, etc. They +would hang a man for horse-stealing under a statute against sheep-stealing; +and would laugh at you if you quibbled about the distinction between a +horse and a sheep. I divide the illogical--I mean people who have not that +amount of natural use of sound inference which is really not uncommon--into +three classes:--First class, three varieties: the Niddy, the Noddy, and the +Noodle. Second class, three varieties: the Niddy-Noddy, the Niddy-Noodle, +and the Noddy-Noodle. Third class, undivided: the Niddy-Noddy-Noodle. No +person has a right to be angry with me for more than one of these +subdivisions. + +The want of distinction was illustrated to me, when a boy, about 1820, by +the report of a trial which I shall never forget: boys read newspapers more +keenly than men. Every now and then a bench of country magistrates rather +astonishes the town populations, accustomed to rub their brains[341] +against one another. Such a story as the following would, {197} in our day, +bring down grave remarks from above: but I write of the olden (or +Eldon[342]) time, when nothing but conviction in a court of record would +displace a magistrate. In that day the third-class amalgamator of distinct +things was often on the bench of quarter-sessions. + +An attorney was charged with having been out at night poaching. A clear +_alibi_ was established; and perjury had certainly been committed. The +whole gave reason to suspect that some ill-willers thought the bench +disliked the attorney so much that any conviction was certain on any +evidence. The bench did dislike the attorney: but not to the extent of +thinking he could snare any partridges in the fields while he was asleep in +bed, except the dream-partridges which are not always protected by the +dream-laws. So the chairman said, "Mr. ----, you are discharged; but you +should consider this one of the most fortunate days of your life." The +attorney indignantly remonstrated, but the magistrate was right; for he +said, "Mr. ----, you have frequently been employed to defend poachers: have +you been careful to impress upon them the enormity of their practices?" It +appeared in a wrangling conversation that the magistrates saw little moral +difference between poaching and being a poacher's professional defender +without lecturing him on his wickedness: but they admitted with reluctance, +that there was a legal distinction; and the brain of N^3 could no further +go. This is nearly fifty years ago; and Westernism was not quite extinct. +If the present lords of the hills and the valleys want to shine, let them +publish a true history of their own order. I am just old enough to remember +some of the last of the squires and parsons who protested against teaching +the poor to read and write. They now write books for the working classes, +give them lectures, and the like. There is now no class, as a class, more +highly educated, broadly educated, and deeply educated, {198} than those +who were, in old times, best described as partridge-popping squireens. I +have myself, when a boy, heard Old Booby speaking with pride of Young Booby +as having too high a spirit to be confined to books: and I suspected that +his dislike to teaching the poor arose in fact from a feeling that they +would, if taught a little, pass his heir. + +A. B. recommended the spirit-theory as an hypothesis on which to ground +inquiry; that is, as the means of suggestion for the direction of inquiry. +Every person who knows anything of the progress of physics understands what +is meant; but not the reviewers I speak of. Many of them consider A. B. as +_adopting_ the spirit-hypothesis. The whole book was written, as both the +authors point out, to suggest inquiry to those who are curious; C. D. +firmly believing, A. B. as above. Neither C. D. nor A. B. make any other +pretence. Both dwell upon the absence of authentications and the +suppression of names as utterly preventive of anything like proof. And +A. B. says that his reader "will give him credit, if not himself a goose, +for seeing that the tender of an anonymous cheque would be of equal effect, +whether drawn on the Bank of England or on Aldgate Pump." By this test a +number of the reviewers are found to be geese: for they take the authors as +offering proof, and insist, against the authors, on the very point on which +the authors had themselves insisted beforehand. + +Leaving aside imperceptions of this kind, I proceed to notice a clerical +and medical review. I have lived much in the middle ages, especially since +the invention of printing; and from thence I have brought away a high +respect for and grateful recollection of--the priest in everything but +theology, and the physician in everything but medicine. The professional +harness was unfavorable to all progress, except on a beaten road; the +professional blinkers prevented all but the beaten road from being seen: +the professional reins were pulled at the slightest attempt to quicken +pace, even on the permitted path; and the {199} professional whip was +heavily laid on at the slightest attempt to diverge. But when the +intelligent man of either class turned his attention out of his ordinary +work, he had, in most cases, the freshness and vigor of a boy at play, and +like the boy, he felt his freedom all the more from the contrast of +school-restraint. + +In the case of medicine, and physics generally, the learned were, in some +essential points, more rational than many of their present impugners. They +pass for having put _a priori_ obstacles in the way of progress: they might +rather be reproved for too much belief in progress obtained by _a priori_ +means. They would have shouted with laughter at a dunce who--in a review I +read, but without making a note--declared that he would not believe his +senses except when what they showed him was capable of explanation upon +some known principle. I have seen such stuff as this attributed to the +schoolmen; but only by those who knew nothing about them. The following, +which I wrote some years ago, will give a notion of a distinction worth +remembering. It is addressed to the authorities of the College of +Physicians. + +"The ignominy of the word _empiric_ dates from the ages in which scholastic +philosophy deduced physical consequences _a priori_;--the ages in which, +because a lion is strong, rubbing with lion's fat would have been held an +infallible tonic. In those happy days, if a physician had given decoction +of a certain bark, only because in numberless instances that decoction had +been found to strengthen the patient, he would have been a miserable +empiric. Not that the colleges would have passed over his returns because +they were empirical: they knew better. They were as skilful in finding +causes for facts, as facts for causes. The president and the elects of that +day would have walked out into the forest with a rope, and would have +pulled heartily at the tree which yielded the bark: nor would they ever +have left it until they had pulled out a legitimate {200} reason. If the +tree had resisted all their efforts, they would have said, 'Ah! no wonder +now; the bark of a strong tree makes a strong man.' But if they had managed +to serve the tree as you would like to serve homoeopathy, then it would +have been 'We might have guessed it; all the _virtus roborativa_ has +settled in the bark.' They admitted, as we know from Molière, the _virtus +dormitiva_[343] of opium, for no other reason than that opium _facit +dormire_.[344] Had the medicine not been previously _known_, they would, +strange as it may seem to modern pharmacopoeists, have accorded a _virtus +dormitiva_ to the new _facit dormire_. On this point they have been +misapprehended. They were prone to infer _facit_ from a _virtus_ imagined +_a priori_; and they were ready in supplying _facit_ in favor of an +orthodox _virtus_. They might have gone so far, for example, under +pre-notional impressions, as the alliterative allopath, who, when +maintenance of truth was busy opposing the progress of science called +_vaccination_, declared that some of its patients coughed like cows, and +bellowed like bulls; but they never refused to find _virtus_ when _facit_ +came upon them, no matter whence. They would rather have accepted Tenterden +steeple than have rejected the Goodwin Sands. They would have laughed their +modern imitators to scorn: but as they are not here, we do it for them. + +"The man of our day--the _a priori_ philosopher--tries the question whether +opium can cause sleep by finding out in the recesses of his own noddle +whether the drug can have a dormitive power: Well! but did not the +schoolman do the same? He did; but mark the distinction. The schoolman had +recourse to first principles, when there was no opium to try it by: our man +settles the point in the same way _with a lump of opium before him_. The +schoolman shifted his principles with his facts: the man of our +drawing-rooms will fight facts with his principles, just as an old {201} +physician would have done in actual practice, with the rod of his _Church_ +at his back. + +"The story about Galileo--which seems to have been either a joke made +against him, or by him--illustrates this. _Nature abhors a vacuum_ was the +explanation of the water rising in a pump: but they found that the water +would not rise more than 32 feet. They asked for explanation: what does the +satirist make the schoolmen say? That the stoppage is _not_ a fact, because +nature abhors a vacuum? No! but that the principle should be that nature +abhors a vacuum as far as 32 feet. And this is what would have been done. + +"There are still among us both priests and physicians who would have +belonged, had they lived three or four centuries ago, to the glorious band +of whom I have spoken, the majority of the intelligent, working well for +mankind out of the professional pursuit. But we have a great many who have +helped to abase their classes. Go where we may, we find specimens of the +lower orders of the ministry of religion and the ministry of health showing +themselves smaller than the small of other pursuits. And how is this? +First, because each profession is entered upon a mere working smack of its +knowledge, without any depth of education, general or professional. Not +that this is the whole explanation, nor in itself objectionable: the great +mass of the world must be tended, soul and body, by those who are neither +Hookers[345] nor Harveys[346]: let such persons not venture _ultra +crepidam_, and they are useful and respectable. But, secondly, there is a +vast upheaving of thought from the depths of commonplace learning. I am a +clergyman! Sir! I am a medical man! Sir! and forthwith the nature of things +is picked to pieces, and there is a race, with the last the winner, between +Philosophy mounted on Folly's donkey, and Folly mounted on Philosophy's +donkey. How fortunate {202} it is for Law that her battles are fought by +politicians in the Houses of Parliament. Not that it is better done: but +then _politics_ bears the blame." + +I now come to the medical review. After a quantity of remark which has been +already disposed of, the writer shows Greek learning, a field in which the +old physician would have had a little knowledge. A. B., for the joke's +sake, had left untranslated, as being too deep, a remarkably easy sentence +of Aristotle, to the effect that what has happened was possible, for if +impossible it would not have happened. The reviewer, in "simple +astonishment,"--it was simple--at the pretended incapacity--I was told by +A. B. that the joke was intended to draw out a reviewer--translates:--He +says that this sentence is A. B.'s summing up of the evidence of +Spiritualism. Now, being a sort of _alter ego_[347] of A. B., I do declare +that he is not such a fool as to rest the evidence of Spiritualism--the +_spirit explanation_--upon the occurrence of certain facts proving the +possibility of those very facts. In truth, A. B. refuses to receive +spiritualism, while he receives the facts: this is the gist of his whole +preface, which simply admits spiritualism among the qualified candidates, +and does not know what others there may be. + +The reviewer speaks of Aristotle as "that clear thinker and concise +writer." I strongly suspect that his knowledge of Aristotle was limited to +the single sentence which he had translated or got translated. Aristotle is +concise in _phrase_, not in book, and is powerful and profound in thought: +but no one who knows that his writing, all we have of him, is the very +opposite of clear, will pretend to decide that he thought clearly. As his +writing, so probably was his thought; and his books are, if not anything +but clear, at least anything good but clear. Nobody thinks them clear +except a person who always clears difficulties: which I have no doubt was +the reviewer's habit; that is, if he ever took the field {203} at all. The +gentleman who read Euclid, all except the As and Bs and the pictures of +scratches and scrawls, is the type of a numerous class. + +The reviewer finds that the word _amosgepotically_, used by A. B., is +utterly mysterious and incomprehensible. He hopes his translation of the +bit of Greek will shield him from imputation of ignorance: and thinks the +word may be referred to the "obscure dialect" out of which sprung +_aneroid_, _kalos geusis sauce_, and _Anaxyridian trousers_. To lump the +first two phrases with the third smacks of ignorance in a Greek critic; for +[Greek: anaxuridia], _breeches_, would have turned up in the lexicon; and +_kalos geusis_, though absurd, is not obscure. And [Greek: amôsgepôs], +_somehow or other_, is as easily found as [Greek: anaxuridia]. The word +_aneroid_, I admit, has puzzled better scholars than the critic: but never +one who knows the unscholarlike way in which words ending in [Greek: eidês] +have been rendered. The _aneroid barometer_ does _not_ use a column of air +in the same way as the old instrument. Now [Greek: aeroeidês]--properly +_like_ the atmosphere--is by scientific non-scholarship rendered having to +do with the atmosphere; and [Greek: anaeroeidês]--say _anaëroid_--denies +having to do with the atmosphere; a nice thing to say of an instrument +which is to measure the weight of the atmosphere. One more absurdity, and +we have _aneroid_, and there you are. The critic ends with a declaration +that nothing in the book shakes his faith in a _Quarterly_ reviewer who +said that suspension of opinion, until further evidence arrives, is +justifiable: a strange summing up for an article which insists upon utter +rejection being unavoidable.[348] The expressed aim of both A. B. and C. D. +was to excite inquiry, and get further evidence: until this is done, +neither asks for a verdict. + +Oh where! and oh where! is old Medicine's learning gone! There _was_ some +in the days of yore, when Popery {204} was on! And it's oh! for some Greek, +just to find a word upon! The reviewer who, lexicon in hand, can neither +make out _anaxyridical_, _amosgepotical_, _kalos geusis_, nor distinguish +them from _aneroid_, cannot be trusted when he says he has translated a +sentence of Aristotle. He may have done it; but, as he says of +spiritualism, we must suspend our opinion until further evidence shall +arrive. + +We now come to the theological review. I have before alluded to the faults +of logic which are Protestant necessities: but I never said that Protestant +argument had _nothing but_ paralogism. The writer before me attains this +completeness: from beginning to end he is of that confusion and perversion +which, as applied to interpretation of the New Testament, is so common as +to pass unnoticed by sermon-hearers; but which, when applied out of church, +is exposed with laughter in all subjects except theology. I shall take one +instance, putting some words in italics. + +_A. B._ _Theological Critic._ + +My state of mind, which refers ... he proceeds to argue that +the whole _either_ to unseen he himself is outside its +intelligence, _or something sacred pale because he refers +which man has never had any all these strange phenomena to +conception of_, proves me to _unseen spiritual +be out of the pale of the intelligence_. +Royal Society. + +The possibility of a _yet unimagined_ cause is insisted on in several +places. On this ground it is argued by A. B. that spiritualists are +"incautious" for giving in at once to the spirit doctrine. But, it is said, +they may be justified by the philosophers, who make the flint _axes_, as +they call them, to be the works of men, because no one can see _what else +they can be_. This kind of adoption, _condemned_ as a conclusion, is +_approved_ as a provisional theory, suggestive of direction of inquiry: +experience having shown that {205} inquiry directed by a _wrong_ theory has +led to more good than inquiry without any theory at all. All this A. B. has +fully set forth, in several pages. On it the reviewer remarks that "with +infinite satisfaction he tries to justify his view of the case by urging +that there is no other way of accounting for it; after the fashion of the +philosophers of our own day, who conclude that certain flints found in the +drift are the work of men, because the geologist does not see what else +they can be." After this twist of meaning, the reviewer proceeds to say, +and A. B. would certainly join him, "There is no need to combat any such +mode of reasoning as this, because it would apply with equal force and +justice to any theory whatever, however fantastic, profane, or silly." And +so, having shown how the reviewer has hung himself, I leave him +funipendulous. + +One instance more, and I have done. A reviewer, not theological, speaking +of the common argument that things which are derided are not _therefore_ to +be rejected, writes as follows:--"It might as well be said that they who +laughed at Jenner[349] and vaccination were, in a certain but very +unsatisfactory way, witnesses to the possible excellence of the system of +St. John Long."[350] Of course it _might_: and of course it _is_ said by +all people of common sense. In introducing the word "possible," the +reviewer has hit the point: I suspect that this word was introduced during +revision, to put the sentence into fighting order; hurry preventing it +being seen that the sentence was thus made to fight on the wrong side. +Jenner, who was laughed at, was right; therefore, it is not +impossible--that is, it is _possible_--that a derided system may be right. +Mark the three gradations: _in medio tutissimus ibis_.[351] + +{206} + +_Reviewer._--If a system be derided, it is no ground of suspense that +derided systems have turned out true: if it were, you would suspend your +opinion about St. John Long on account of Jenner.--_Ans._ You ought to do +so, as to _possibility_; and _before examination_; not with the notion that +J. proves St. J. _probable_; only _possible_. + +_Common Sense._--The past emergence of truths out of derided systems proves +that there is a practical certainty of like occurrence to come. But, +inasmuch as a hundred speculative fooleries are started for one truth, the +mind is permitted to approach the examination of any one given novelty with +a bias against it of a hundred to one: and this permission is given because +so it will be, leave or no leave. Every one has licence not to jump over +the moon. + +_Paradoxer._--Great men have been derided, and I am derided: which proves +that my system ought to be adopted. This is a summary of all the degrees in +which paradoxers contend for the former derision of truths now established, +giving their systems _probability_. I annex a paragraph which D [e &c.] +inserted in the _Athenæum_ of October 23, 1847. + +"_Discoverers and Discoveries._ + +"Aristotle once sent his servant to the cellar to fetch wine:--and the +fellow brought him back small beer. The Stagirite (who knew the difference) +called him a blockhead. 'Sir,' said the man, 'all I can say is, that I +found it in the cellar.' The philosopher muttered to himself that an +affirmative conclusion could not be proved in the second figure,--and Mrs. +Aristotle, who was by, was not less effective in her remark, that small +beer was not wine because it was in the same cellar. Both were right +enough: and our philosophers might take a lesson from either--for they +insinuate an affirmative conclusion in the second figure. Great discoverers +have been little valued by established {207} schools,--and they are little +valued. The results of true science are strange at first,--and so are +their's. Many great men have opposed existing notions,--and so do they. All +great men were obscure at first,--and they are obscure. Thinking men +doubt,--and they doubt. Their small beer, I grant, has come out of the same +cellar as the wine; but this is not enough. If they had let it stand awhile +in the old wine-casks, it might have imbibed a little of the flavor." + + + +There are better reviews than I have noticed; which, though entirely +dissenting, are unassailable on their own principles. What I have given +represents five-sixths of the whole. But it must be confessed that the +fraction of fairness and moderation and suspended opinion which the +doctrine of _Spirit Manifestations_ has met with--even in the lower +reviews--is strikingly large compared to what would have been the case +fifty years ago. It is to be hoped that our popular and periodical +literatures are giving us one thinker created for twenty geese +double-feathered: if this hope be realized, we shall do! Seeing all that I +see, I am not prepared to go the length of a friend of mine who, after +reading a good specimen of the lower reviewing, exclaimed--Oh! if all the +fools in the world could be rolled up into one fool, what a reviewer he +would make! + + + + Calendrier Universel et Perpétuel; par le Commandeur P. J. Arson.[352] + Publié par ses Enfans (Oeuvre posthume). Nice, 1863, 4to. + +I shall not give any account of this curious calendar, with all its changes +and symbols. But there is one proposal, which, could we alter the general +notions of time--a thing of very dubious possibility--would be convenient. +The week is made to wax and wane, culminating on the Sunday, {208} which +comes in the middle. Thursday, Friday, Saturday, are ascending or waxing +days; Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, are descending or waning days. Our six +days, lumped together after the great distinguishing day, Sunday, are too +many to be distinctly thought of together: a division of three preceding +and three following the day of most note would be much more easily used. +But all this comes too late. It may be, nevertheless, that some individuals +may be able to adjust their affairs with advantage by referring Thursday, +Friday, Saturday, to the following Sunday, and Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, +to the preceding Sunday. But M. Arson's proposal to alter the names of the +days is no more necessary than it is practicable. + + + +CYCLOMETRY. + +I am not to enter anything I do not possess. The reader therefore will not +learn from me the feats of many a man-at-arms in these subjects. He must be +content, unless he will bestir himself for himself, not to know how Mr. +Patrick Cody trisects the angle at Mullinavat, or Professor Recalcati +squares the circle at Milan. But this last is to be done by subscription, +at five francs a head: a banker is named who guarantees restitution if the +solution be not perfectly rigorous; the banker himself, I suppose, is the +judge. I have heard of a man of business who settled the circle in this +way: if it can be reduced to a debtor and creditor account, it can +certainly be done; if not, it is not worth doing. Montucla will give the +accounts of the lawsuits which wagers on the problem have produced in +France. + +Neither will I enter at length upon the success of the new squarer who +advertises (Nov. 1863) in a country paper that, having read that the +circular ratio was undetermined, "I thought it very strange that so many +great scholars in all ages should have failed in finding the true ratio, +and have been determined to try myself.... I am about to secure the {209} +benefit of the discovery, so until then the public cannot know my new and +true ratio." I have been informed that this trial makes the diameter to the +circumference as 64 to 201, giving [pi] = 3.140625 exactly. The result was +obtained by the discoverer in three weeks after he first heard of the +existence of the difficulty. This quadrator has since published a little +slip, and entered it at Stationers' Hall. He says he has done it by actual +measurement; and I hear from a private source that he uses a disk of 12 +inches diameter, which he rolls upon a straight rail. Mr. James Smith did +the same at one time; as did also his partisan at Bordeaux. We have, then, +both 3.125 and 3.140625, by actual measurement. The second result is more +than the first by about one part in 200. The second rolling is a very +creditable one; it is about as much below the mark as Archimedes was above +it. Its performer is a joiner, who evidently knows well what he is about +when he measures; he is not wrong by 1 in 3,000. + +The reader will smile at the quiet self-sufficiency with which "I have been +determined to try myself" follows the information that "so many great +scholars in all ages" have failed. It is an admirable spirit, when +accompanied by common sense and uncommon self-knowledge. When I was an +undergraduate there was a little attendant in the library who gave me the +following,--"As to cleaning this library, Sir, if I have spoken to the +Master once about it, I have spoken fifty times: but it is of no use; he +will not employ _littery_ men; and so I am obliged to look after it +myself." + +I do not think I have mentioned the bright form of quadrature in which a +square is made equal to a circle by making each side equal to a quarter of +the circumference. The last squarer of this kind whom I have seen figures +in the last number of the _Athenæum_ for 1855: he says the thing is no +longer a _problem_, but an _axiom_. He does not know that the area of the +circle is greater than that of any other figure of the same circuit. This +any one might see without {210} mathematics. How is it possible that the +figure of greatest area should have any one length in its circuit unlike in +form to any other part of the same length? + +The feeling which tempts persons to this problem is that which, in romance, +made it impossible for a knight to pass a castle which belonged to a giant +or an enchanter. I once gave a lecture on the subject: a gentleman who was +introduced to it by what I said remarked, loud enough to be heard by all +around, "Only prove to me that it is impossible, and I will set about it +this very evening." + +This rinderpest of geometry cannot be cured, when once it has seated itself +in the system: all that can be done is to apply what the learned call +prophylactics to those who are yet sound. When once the virus gets into the +brain, the victim goes round the flame like a moth; first one way and then +the other, beginning where he ended, and ending where he begun: thus +verifying the old line + + "In girum imus nocte, ecce! et consumimur igni."[353] + +Every mathematician knows that scores of methods, differing altogether from +each other in process, all end in this mysterious 3.14159..., which insists +on calling itself the circumference to a unit of diameter. A reader who is +competent to follow processes of arithmetic may be easily satisfied that +such methods do actually exist. I will give a sketch, carried out to a few +figures, of three: the first two I never met with in my reading; the third +is the old method of Vieta.[354] [I find that both the first and second +methods are contained in a theorem of Euler.] + +What Mr. James Smith says of these methods is worth noting. He says I have +given three "_fancy_ proofs" of the value of [pi]: he evidently takes me to +be offering demonstration. He proceeds thus:-- + +"His first proof is traceable to the diameter of a circle {211} of radius +1. His second, to the side of any inscribed equilateral triangle to a +circle of radius 1. His third, to a radius of a circle of diameter 1. Now, +it may be frankly admitted that we can arrive at the same result by many +other modes of arithmetical calculation, all of which may be shown to have +some sort of relation to a circle; but, after all, these results are mere +exhibitions of the properties of numbers, and have no more to do with the +ratio of diameter to circumference in a circle than the price of sugar with +the mean height of spring tides. (_Corr._ Oct. 21, 1865)." + +I quote this because it is one of the few cases--other than absolute +assumption of the conclusion--in which Mr. Smith's conclusions would be +true if his premise were true. Had I given what follows as _proof_, it +would have been properly remarked, that I had only exhibited properties of +numbers. But I took care to tell my reader that I was only going to show +him _methods_ which end in 3.14159.... The proofs that these methods +establish the value of [pi] are for those who will read and can understand. + + 200000000 31415 3799 + 66666667 2817 + 26666667 1363 + 11428571 661 + 5079365 321 + 2308802 156 + 1065601 76 + 497281 37 + 234014 18 + 110849 9 + 52785 5 + 25245 2 + 12118 1 + 5834 + -------- -------- ------- + 314153799 31415 9265 + +{212} + +1. Take any diameter, double it, take 1-3d of that double, 2-5ths of the +last, 3-7ths of the last, 4-9ths of the last, 5-11ths of the last, and so +on. The sum of all is the circumference of that diameter. The preceding is +the process when the diameter is a hundred millions: the errors arising +from rejection of fractions being lessened by proceeding on a thousand +millions, and striking off one figure. Here 200 etc. is double of the +diameter; 666 etc. is 1-3rd of 200 etc.; 266 etc. is 2-5ths of 666 etc.; +114 etc. is 3-7ths of 266 etc.; 507 etc. is 4-9ths of 114 etc.; and so on. + +2. To the square root of 3 add its half. Take _half_ the third part of +this; half 2-5ths of the last; half 3-7ths of the last; and so on. The sum +is the circumference to a unit of diameter. + + Square root of 3.... 1.73205081 + .86602540 + ------------ + 2.59807621 + .43301270 + .08660254 + 1855768 + 412393 + 93726 + 21629 + 5047 + 1188 + 281 + 67 + 16 + 4 + 1 + ------------ + 3.14159265 + +3. Take the square root of ½; the square root of half of one more than +this; the square root of half of one more {213} than the last; and so on, +until we come as near to unity as the number of figures chosen will permit. +Multiply all the results together, and divide 2 by the product: the +quotient is an approximation to the circumference when the diameter is +unity. Taking aim at four figures, that is, working to five figures to +secure accuracy in the fourth, we have .70712 for the square root of ½; +.92390 for the square root of half one more than .70712; and so on, through +.98080, .99520, .99880, .99970, .99992, .99998. The product of the eight +results is .63667; divide 2 by this, and the quotient is 3.1413..., of +which four figures are correct. Had the product been .636363... instead of +.63667..., the famous result of Archimedes, 22-7ths, would have been +accurately true. It is singular that no cyclometer maintains that +Archimedes hit it exactly. + +A literary journal could hardly admit as much as the preceding, if it stood +alone. But in my present undertaking it passes as the halfpennyworth of +bread to many gallons of sack. Many more methods might be given, all ending +in the same result, let that result mean what it may. + +Now since dozens of methods, to which dozens more might be added at +pleasure, concur in giving one and the same result; and since these methods +are declared by all who have shown knowledge of mathematics to be +_demonstrated_: it is not asking too much of a person who has just a little +knowledge of the first elements that he should learn more, and put his hand +upon the error, before he intrudes his assertion of the existence of error +upon those who have given more time and attention to it than himself, and +who are in possession, over and above many demonstrations, of many +consequences verifying each other, of which he can know nothing. This is +all that is required. Let any one square the circle, and persuade his +friends, if he and they please: let him print, and let all read who choose. +But let him abstain from intruding himself upon those who have been +satisfied by existing demonstration, until he is prepared {214} to lay his +finger on the point in which existing demonstration is wrong. Let him also +say what this mysterious 3.14159... really is, which comes in at every door +and window, and down every chimney, calling itself the circumference to a +unit of diameter. This most impudent and successful impostor holds false +title-deeds in his hands, and invites examination: surely those who can +find out the rightful owner are equally able to detect the forgery. All the +quadrators are agreed that, be the right what it may, 3.14159... is wrong. +It would be well if they would put their heads together, and say what this +wrong result really means. The mathematicians of all ages have tried all +manner of processes, with one object in view, and by methods which are +admitted to yield demonstration in countless cases. They have all arrived +at one result. A large number of opponents unite in declaring this result +wrong, and all agree in two points: first, in differing among themselves; +secondly, in declining to point out what that curious result really is +which the mathematical methods all agree in giving. + +Most of the quadrators are not aware that it has been fully demonstrated +that no two numbers whatsoever can represent the ratio of the diameter to +the circumference with perfect accuracy. When therefore we are told that +either 8 to 25 or 64 to 201 is the true ratio, we know that it is no such +thing, without the necessity of examination. The point that is left open, +as not fully demonstrated to be impossible, is the _geometrical_ +quadrature, the determination of the circumference by the straight line and +circle, used as in Euclid. The general run of circle-squarers, hearing that +the quadrature is not pronounced to be _demonstratively_ impossible, +imagine that the _arithmetical_ quadrature is open to their ingenuity. +Before attempting the arithmetical problem, they ought to acquire knowledge +enough to read Lambert's[355] demonstration (last given in Brewster's[356] +translation {215} of Legendre's[357] Geometry) and, if they can, to refute +it. [It will be given in an Appendix.] Probably some have begun this way, +and have caught a Tartar who has refused to let them go: I have never heard +of any one who, in producing his own demonstration, has laid his finger on +the faulty part of Lambert's investigation. This is the answer to those who +think that the mathematicians treat the arithmetical squarers too lightly, +and that as some person may succeed at last, all attempts should be +examined. Those who have so thought, not knowing that there is +demonstration on the point, will probably admit that a person who +contradicts a theorem of which the demonstration has been acknowledged for +a century by all who have alluded to it as read by themselves, may +reasonably be required to point out the error before he demands attention +to his own result. + +_Apopempsis of the Tutelaries._--Again and again I am told that I spend too +much time and trouble upon my two tutelaries: but when I come to my +summing-up I shall make it appear that I have a purpose. Some say I am too +hard upon them: but this is quite a mistake. Both of them beat little +Oliver himself in the art and science of asking for more; but without +Oliver's excuse, for I had given good allowance. Both began with me, not I +with them: and both knew what they had to expect when they applied for a +second helping. + +On July 31, the Monday after the publication of my remarks on my 666 +correspondent, I found _three_ notes in separate envelopes, addressed to me +at "7A, University College." When I saw the three new digits I was taken +rhythmopoetic, as follows-- + + Here's the Doctor again with his figs, and by Heavens! + He was always at sixes, and now he's at sevens. + +To understand this fully the reader must know that the greater part of +Apocalyptic interpretation has long been condensed, in my mind, into the +Turkish street-cry--In the {216} name of the Prophet! figs! I make a few +extracts. The reader will observe that Dr. Thorn grumbles at his _private_ +letters being _publicly_ ridiculed. A man was summoned for a glutolactic +assault; he complained of the publication of his proceeding: I kicked etc. +_in confidence_, he said. + +"After reading your last, which tries in every way to hold me up to public +ridicule for daring to write you privately ['that you would be d----d,' +omitted by accident] one would say, Why have anything to do with such a +testy person? [Wrong word; no testy person can manage cool and consecutive +ridicule. Quære, what is this word? Is it anything but a corruption of the +obsolete word _tetchy_ of the same meaning? Some think _touchy_ is our +modern form of _tetchy_, which I greatly doubt]. My answer is, the poor man +is lamentably ignorant; he is not only so, but 'out of the way' [quite +true; my readers know me by this time for an out-of-the-way person. What +other could tackle my squad of paradoxers? What other would undertake the +job?] Can he be brought back and form one of those who in Ezekiel 37 ch. +have the Spirit breathed into them and live.... Have I any other feeling +towards you except that of peace and goodwill? [Not to your distinct +knowledge; but in all those who send people to 'the other place' for +contempt of their interpretations, there is a lurking wish which is father +to the thought; 'you _will_ be d----d' and 'you _be_ d--d' are Siamese +twins]. Of course your sneer at 666 brought plain words; but when men +meddle with what they do not understand (not having the double _Vahu_) they +must be dealt with faithfully by those who do.... [They must; which +justifies the Budget of Paradoxes: but no occasion to send them anywhere; +no preachee and floggee too, as the negro said]. Many will find the text +Prov. i. 26 fully realized. [All this contains distinct assumption of a +right 'of course' to declare accursed those who do not respect the writer's +vagary].... If I could but get the [Hebrew: A], the Ox-head, which in Old +Hebrew was just the Latin Digamma, F, out {217} of your name, and could +then Thau you with the Thau of Ezekiel ix, 4, the [chi], then you would +bear the number of a man! But this is too hard for me, although not so for +the Lord! Jer. xxxii. 17.... And now a word: is ridicule the right thing in +so solemn a matter as the discussion of Holy Writ? [Is food for ridicule +the right thing? Did I discuss Holy Writ? I did not: I concussed profane +scribble. Even the Doctor did not _discuss_; he only enunciated and +denunciated out of the mass of inferences which a mystical head has found +premises for in the Bible]." + + M 40 + O 70 + R 100 + G 6 + N 50 + ---- + 266 + [Hebrew: t]=[chi] 400 + +[That ill opinions are near relations of ill wishes, will be detected by +those who are on the look out. The following was taken down in a Scotch +Church by Mr. Cobden,[358] who handed it to a Roman friend of mine, for his +delectation (in 1855): "Lord, we thank thee that thou hast brought the Pope +into trouble; and we pray that thou wouldst be mercifully pleased to +increase the same."] + +Here is a martyr who quarrels with his crown; a missionary who reviles his +persecutor: send him to New Zealand, and he would disagree with the Maoris +who ate him. Man of unilateral reciprocity! have you, who write to a +stranger with hints that that stranger and his wife are children of +perdition, the bad taste to complain of a facer in return? As James +Smith[359]--the Attorney-wit, not the Dock-cyclometer--said, or nearly +said, + + "A pretty thing, forsooth! + Is he to burn, all scalding hot, + Me and my wife, and am I not + To job him out a tooth?" + +{218} + +Those who think parody vulgar will be pleased to substitute for the above a +quotation from Butler[360]:-- + + "There's nothing so absurd or vain + Or barbarous or inhumane, + But if it lay the least pretence + To piety and godliness, + Or tender-hearted conscience, + And zeal for gospel truths profess,-- + Does sacred instantly commence, + And all that dare but question it are straight + Pronounced th' uncircumcised and reprobate, + As malefactors that escape and fly + Into a sanctuary for defence, + Must not be brought to justice thence, + Although their crimes be ne'er so great and high. + And he that dares presume to do't + Is sentenced and delivered up + To Satan that engaged him to't." + + + +THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST. + +Of all the drolleries of controversy none is more amusing than the manner +in which those who provoke a combat expect to lay down the laws of +retaliation. You must not strike this way! you must not parry that way! If +you don't take care, we shall never meddle with you again! We were not +_prepared_ for such as this! Why did we have anything to do with such a +testy person? M. Jourdain must needs show Nicole, his servant-maid, how +good a thing it was to be sure of fighting without being killed, by care +and tierce.[361] "Et cela n'est il pas beau d'être assuré de son fait quand +on se bat contre quelqu'un? Là, pousse moi un peu, pour voir. NICOLE. Eh +bien! quoi? M. JOURDAIN. Tout beau. Hola! {219} Ho! doucement. Diantre soit +la coquine! NICOLE. Vous me dites de pousser. M. JOURDAIN. Oui; mais tu me +pousses en tierce, avant que de pousser en quarte, et tu n'as pas la +patience que je pare." + +His colleague, my secular tutelary, who also made an anachronistic onset, +with his repartees and his retorts, before there was anything to fire at, +takes what I give by way of subsequent provocation with a good humor which +would make a convert of me if he could afford .01659265 ... of a grain of +logic. He instantly sent me his photograph for the asking, and another +letter in proof. The Thor-hammerer does nothing but grumble, except when he +tells a good story, which he says he had from Dr. Abernethy.[362] A Mr. +James Dunlop was popping at the Papists with a 666-rifled gun, when Dr. +Chalmers[363] quietly said, "Why, Dunlop, you bear it yourself," and handed +him a paper on which the numerals in + + I A C O B V S D V N L O P V S + 1 100 5 500 5 50 5 + +were added up. This is almost as good as the _Filii Dei Vicarius_, the +numerical letters of which also make 666. No more of these crazy--I first +wrote _puerile_, but why should young cricketers be libelled?--attempts to +extract religious use from numerical vagaries, and to make God over all a +proposer of _salvation conundrums_: and no more of the trumpery hints about +future destiny which is too great a compliment to call blasphemous. If the +Doctor will cipher upon the letter in [Greek: en hôi metrôi metreite +metrêthêsetai humin][364] with _double Vahu_ cubic measure, he will perhaps +learn to leave off trying to frighten me into gathering grapes from thorns. + +Mystical hermeneutics may be put to good use by out-of-the-way people. They +may be made to call the attention {220} of the many to a distinction well +known among the learned. The books of the New Testament have been for 1,500 +years divided into two classes: the _acknowledged_ ([Greek: +homologoumena]), which it has always been paradox not to receive; and the +_controverted_ ([Greek: antilegomena]), about which there has always been +that difference of opinion which no scholar overlooks, however he may +decide for himself after balance of evidence. Eusebius,[365] who first (l. +3, c. 25) recorded the distinction--which was much insisted on by the early +Protestants--states the books which are questioned as doubtful, but which +yet are approved and acknowledged by _many_--or _the many_, it is not easy +to say which he means--to be the Epistles of James and Jude, the second of +Peter and the second and third of John. In other places he speaks +doubtingly of the Epistle to the Hebrews. The Apocalypse he does not even +admit into this class, for he proceeds as follows--I use the second edition +of the English folio translation (1709), to avert suspicion of bias from +myself:-- + +"Among the _spurious_ [[Greek: nothoi]] let there be ranked both the work +entitled the _Acts of Paul_, and the book called _Pastor_, and the +_Revelation of Peter_: and moreover, that which is called the _Epistle of +Barnabas_, and that named the _Doctrines of the Apostles_: and moreover, as +I said, the _Revelation of John_ (if you think good), which some, as I have +said, do reject, but others allow of, and admit among those books which are +received as unquestionable and undoubted." + +Eusebius, though he will not admit the Apocalypse even into the +_controverted_ list, but gives permission to call it _spurious_, yet +qualifies his permission in a manner which almost annihilates the +distinctive force of [Greek: nothos], and gives the book a claim to rank +(if you think good, again) in the controverted list. And this is the +impression received by {221} the mind of Lardner, who gives Eusebius fully +and fairly, but when he sums up, considers his author as admitting the +Apocalypse into the second list. A stick may easily be found to beat the +father of ecclesiastical history. There are whole faggots in writers as +opposite as Baronius and Gibbon, who are perhaps his two most celebrated +sons. But we can hardly imagine him totally misrepresenting the state of +opinion of those for whom and among whom he wrote. The usual plan, that of +making an author take the views of his readers, is more easy in his case +than in that of any other writer: for, as the riddle says, he is +You-see-by-us; and to this reading of his name he has often been subjected. +Dr. Nathaniel Lardner,[366] who, though heterodox in doctrine, tries hard +to be orthodox as to the Canon, is "sometimes apt to think" that the list +should be collected and divided as in Eusebius. He would have no one of the +controverted books to be allowed, by itself, to establish any doctrine. +Even without going so far, a due use of early opinion and long continued +discussion would perhaps prevent rational people from being induced by +those who have the _double Vahu_ to place the Apocalypse _above_ the +Gospels, which all the Bivahuites do in effect, and some are said to have +done in express words. But my especial purpose is to point out that an easy +way of getting rid of 665 out of 666 of the mystics is to require them to +establish the Apocalypse before they begin. See if they even know so much +as that there is a crowd of testimonies for and against, running through +the first four centuries, which makes this book the most difficult of the +whole Canon. Try this method, and you will escape beautiful, as the French +say. Dean Alford,[367] in Vol. IV, p. 8, of his New Testament, gives an +elaborate handling of this question. He concludes by saying that he cannot +{222} venture to refuse his consent to the tradition that the Apostle is +the author. This modified adherence, or non-nonadherence, pretty well +represents the feeling of orthodox Protestants, when learning and common +sense come together. + +I have often, in former days, had the attempt made to place the Apocalypse +on my neck as containing prophecies yet unfulfilled. The preceding method +prevents success; and so does the following. It may almost be taken for +granted that theological system-fighters do not read the New Testament: +they hunt it for detached texts; they listen to it in church in that state +of quiescent nonentity which is called reverent attention: but they never +read it. When it is brought forward, you must pretend to find it necessary +to turn to the book itself: you must read "The revelation ... to show unto +his servants _things which must shortly come to pass_.... Blessed is he +that readeth ... _for the time is at hand_." You must then ask your mystic +whether things deferred for 1800 years were shortly to come to pass, etc.? +You must tell him that the Greek [Greek: en tachei], rendered "shortly," is +as strong a phrase as the language has to signify _soon_. The interpreter +will probably look as if he had never read this opening: the chances are +that he takes up the book to see whether you have been committing a fraud. +He will then give you some exquisite evasion: I have heard it pleaded that +the above was a _mere preamble_. This word _mere_ is all-sufficient: it +turns anything into nothing. Perhaps he will say that the argument is that +of the Papists: if so, tell him that there is no Christian sect but bears +true witness against some one or more absurdities in other sects. + +An anonyme suggests that [Greek: en tachei] may not be "soon," it may be +"quickly, without reference to time when:" he continues thus, "May not time +be 'at hand' when it is ready to come, no matter how long delayed?" I now +understand what *** and *** meant when they borrowed my books and promised +to return them quickly, it was "without {223} reference to time when." As +to time at _hand_--provided you make a long _arm_--I admire the quirk, but +cannot receive it: the word is [Greek: engus], which is a word of +_closeness_ in time, in place, in reckoning, in kindred, etc. + +Another gentleman is not surprised that Apocalyptic reading leads to a +doubt of the "canonicity" of the book: it ought not to rest on church +testimony, but on visible miracle. He offers me, or any reader of the +_Athenæum_, the "sight of a miracle to that effect, and within forty-eight +hours' journey (fare paid)." I seldom travel, and my first thought was +whether my carpet-bag would be found without a regular hunt: but, on +reading further, I found that it was only a concordance that would be +wanted. Forty hours' collection and numerical calculation of Greek nouns +would make it--should I happen to agree with the writer--many hundred +millions to one that Revelation xiii is superhuman. There is but one verse +(the fifth) which the writer does not see verified. I looked at this verse, +and was much startled. The Budget began in October 1863: should it last +until March 1867--it is now August 1866--it is clear that I am the first +Beast, and my paradoxers are the saints whom I persecute. + +[The Budget _did_ terminate in March 1867: I hope the gentleman will be +satisfied with the resulting interpretation.] + +The same opponent is surprised that I should suppose a thing which "comes +to pass" must be completed, and cannot contain what is to happen 1800 years +after. All who have any knowledge of English idiom know that a thing +_comes_ to pass when it happens, and _came_ to pass afterwards. But as the +original is Greek, we must look at the Greek: it is [Greek: dei genesthai] +for "must come to pass," and we know that [Greek: egeneto] is what is +usually translated "came to pass." No word of more finished completion +exists in Greek. + +And now for a last round of biter-bit with the Thor-hammerer, of whom, as +in the other case, I shall take no {224} more notice until he can contrive +to surpass himself, which I doubt his being able to do. He informs me that +by changing A into [Hebrew: t] in my name he can make a 666 of _me_; +adding, "This is too hard for me, although not so for the Lord!" Sheer +nonsense! He could just as easily have directed to "Prof. De Morg[Hebrew: +t]n" as have assigned me apartment 7A in University College. It would have +been seen for whom it was intended: and if not, it would still have reached +me, for my colleagues have for many a year handed all out-of-the-way things +over to me. There is no 7A: but 7 is the Museum of Materia Medica. I took +the only hint which the address gave: I inquired for hellebore, but they +told me it was not now recognized, that the old notion of its value was +quite obsolete, and that they had nothing which was considered a specific +in senary or septenary cases. The great platitude is the reference of such +a difficulty as writing [Hebrew: t] for A to the Almighty! Not childish, +but fatuous: real childishness is delightful. I knew an infant to whom, +before he could speak plain, his parents had attempted to give notions of +the Divine attributes: a wise plan, many think. His father had dandled him +up-side-down, ending with, There now! Papa could not dance on his head! The +mannikin made a solemn face, and said, _But Dod tood_! I think the Doctor +has rather mistaken the way of becoming as a little child, intended in +Matt. xviii. 3: let us hope the will may be taken for the deed. + +Two poets have given images of transition from infancy to manhood: +Dryden,--for the Hind is Dryden himself on all fours! and Wordsworth, in +his own character of broad-nailed, featherless biped: + + "The priest continues what the nurse began, + And thus the child imposes on the man." + "The child's the father of the man, + And I could wish my days to be + Bound each to each by natural piety." + +{225} + +In Wordsworth's aspiration it is meant that sense and piety should grow +together: in Dryden's description a combination of Mysticism And Bigotry +(can this be the _double Vahu_?), personified as "the priest,"--who always +catches it on this score, though the same spirit is found in all +associations,--succeeds the boguey-teaching of the nurse. Never was the +contrast of smile and scowl, of light and darkness, better seen than in the +two pictures. But an acrostic distinction may be drawn. When mysticism +predominates over bigotry, we have the grotesque picturesque, and the +natural order of words gives us _Mab_, an appropriate suggestion. But when +bigotry has the upper hand, we see _Bam_, which is just as appropriate; for +bigotry nearly always deals with facts and logic so as to require the +application of at least one of the minor words by which dishonesty is +signified. I think that M is the Doctor's initial, and that Queen Mab +tickles him in his sleep with the sharp end of a 6. + +(_Monday, August 21._) Three weeks having elapsed without notice from me of +the Doctor, I receive a reminder of his existence, in which I find that as +I am the Daniel who judges the Magi of Babylon, it is to be pointed out +that Daniel "bore a certain number, that of a man (beloved), Daniel, ch. +10. v. 11, and which you certainly do not." Then, "by Greek power," +Belteshazzar is made = 666. Here is another awkward imitation of the way of +a baby child. When you have sported with the tiny creature until it runs +away offended, by the time you have got into conversation again you will +find the game is to be renewed: a little head peeps out from a hiding-place +with "I don't love you." The proper rejoinder is, "Very well! then I'll +have pussy." But in the case before me there is a rule of three sums to do; +as baby : Pussy Dr. :: 666 : the answer required. I will work it out, if I +can. + +The squaring of the circle and the discovery of the Beast are the two +goals--and goals also--of many unbalanced intellects, and of a few +instances of the better kind. {226} I might have said more of 666, but I am +not deep in its bibliography. A work has come into my hands which contains +a large number of noted cases: to some of my readers it will be a treat to +see the collection; and the sight will perhaps be of some use to those who +have read controversy on the few celebrated cases which are of general +notoriety. It is written by a learned decipherer, a man who really knew the +history of the subject, the Rev. David Thom,[368] of Bold Street Chapel, +Liverpool, who died, I am told, a few years ago. + +Anybody who reads his book will be inclined to parody a criticism which was +once made on Paley's[369] Evidences--"Well! if there be anything in +Christianity, this man is no fool." And, if he should chance to remember +it, he will be strongly reminded of a sentence in my opening chapter,--"The +manner in which a paradoxer will show himself, as to sense or nonsense, +will not depend upon what he maintains, but upon whether he has or has not +made a sufficient knowledge of what has been done by others, _especially as +to the mode of doing it_, a preliminary to inventing knowledge for +himself." And this is reinforced by the fact that Mr. Thom, though a +scholar, was not conspicuous for learning, except in this his great +pursuit. He was a paradoxer on other points. He reconciled Calvinism and +eternal reprobation with Universalism and final salvation; showing these +two doctrines to be all one. + +This gentleman must not be confounded with the Rev. John Hamilton Thom[370] +(no relation), at or near the same {227} time and until recently, of +Renshaw Street Chapel, Liverpool who was one of the minority in the +Liverpool controversy when, nearly thirty years ago, _three_ heretical +Unitarian schooners exchanged shotted sermons with _thirteen_ Orthodox +ships of the line, and put up their challengers' dander--an American +corruption of _d--d anger_--to such an extent, by quiet and respectful +argument, that those opponents actually addressed a printed intercession to +the Almighty for the Unitarian triad, as for "Jews, Turks, Infidels, and +Heretics." So much for the distinction, which both gentlemen would thank me +for making very clear: I take it quite for granted that a guesser at 666 +would feel horrified at being taken for a Unitarian, and that a Unitarian +would feel queerified at being taken for a guesser at 666. Mr. David Thom's +book is _The Number and Names of the Apocalyptic Beasts_, Part I, 1848, +8vo.: I think the second part was never published. I give the Greek and +Latin solutions, omitting the Hebrew: as usual, all the Greek letters are +numeral, but only M D C L X V I of the Latin. I do not give either the +decipherers or their reasons: I have not room for this; nor would I, if I +could, bias my reader for one rather than another. + +D. F. Julianus Cæsar Atheus (or Aug.[371]); Diocles Augustus; Ludovicus; +Silvester Secundus; Linus Secundus; {228} Vicarius Filii Dei; Doctor et Rex +Latinus; Paulo V. Vice-Deo; Vicarius Generalis Dei in Terris; Ipse +Catholicæ Ecclesiæ Visibile Caput; Dux Cleri; Una, Vera, Catholica, +Infallibilis Ecclesia; Auctoritas politica ecclesiasticaque Papalis (Latina +will also do); Lutherus Ductor Gregis; Calvinus tristis fidei interpres; +Dic Lux ; Ludvvic; Will. Laud; [Greek: Lateinos];[372] [Greek: hê latinê +basileia]; [Greek: ekklêsia italika]; [Greek: euanthas]; [Greek: teitan]; +[Greek: arnoume]; [Greek: lampetis]; [Greek: ho nikêtês]; [Greek: kakos +hodêgos]; [Greek: alêthês blaberos]; [Greek: palai baskanos]; [Greek: amnos +adikos]; [Greek: antemos]; [Greek: gensêrikos]; [Greek: euinas]; [Greek: +Benediktos]; [Greek: Bonibazios g. papa x. ê. e. e. a.], meaning Boniface +III. Pope 68th, bishop of bishops the first! [Greek: oulpios]; [Greek: dios +eimi hê hêras]; [Greek: hê missa hê papikê]; [Greek: loutherana]; [Greek: +saxoneios]; [Greek: Bezza antitheos] (Beza); [Greek: hê alazoneia biou]; +[Greek: Maometis]; [Greek: Maometês b.]; [Greek: theos eimi epi gaiês]; +[Greek: iapetos]; [Greek: papeiskos]; [Greek: dioklasianos]; [Greek: +cheina]; [Greek: braski]; [Greek: Ion Paune]; [Greek: koupoks]; (cowpox, +[Greek: s] being the _vau_; certainly the {229} vaccinated have the mark of +the Beast); [Greek: Bonnepartê]; [Greek: N. Bonêparte]; [Greek: euporia]; +[Greek: paradosis]; [Greek: to megathêrion]. + +All sects fasten this number on their opponents. It is found in _Martin +Lauter_, affirmed to be the true way of writing the name, by carrying +numbers through the Roman Alphabet. Some Jews, according to Mr. Thorn, +found it in [Hebrew: JSHW NTSRJ] _Jesus of Nazareth_. I find on inquiry +that this satire was actually put forth by some medieval rabbis, but that +it is not idiomatic: it represents quite fairly "Jesus Nazarene," but the +Hebrew wants an article quite as much as the English wants "the." + +Mr. David Thom's own solution hits hard at all sides: he finds a 666 for +both beasts; [Greek: hê phrên] (the mind) for the first, and [Greek: +ekklêsiai sarkikai] (fleshly churches) for the second. A solution which +embodies all mental philosophy in one beast and all dogmatic theology in +the other, is very tempting: for in these are the two great supports of +Antichrist. It will not, however, mislead me, who have known the true +explanation a long time. The three sixes indicate that any two of the three +subdivisions, Roman, Greek, and Protestant, are, in corruption of +Christianity, six of one and half a dozen of the other: the distinctions of +units, tens, hundreds, are nothing but the old way (1 Samuel xviii. 7, and +Concordance at _ten_, _hundred_, _thousand_) of symbolizing differences of +number in the subdivisions. + +It may be good to know that, even in speculations on 666, there are +different degrees of unreason. All the diviners, when they get a colleague +or an opponent, at once proceed to reckon him up: but some do it in play +and some in earnest. Mr. David Thom found a young gentleman of the name St. +Claire busy at the Beast number: he forthwith added the letters in [Greek: +st klaire] and found 666: this was good fun. But my spiritual tutelary, +when he found that he could not make a beast of me, except by changing +[Hebrew: A] into [Hebrew: T], solemnly referred the difficulty to the +Almighty: this was poor earnest. {230} + +I am glad I did not notice, in time to insert it in the _Athenæum_, a very +remarkable paradoxer brought forward by Mr. Thom, his friend Mr. +Wapshare[373]: it is a little too strong for the general public. In the +_Athenæum_ they would have seen and read it: but this book will be avoided +by the weaker brethren. It is as follows: + +"God, the Elohim, was six days in creating all things, and having made MAN +he entered into his rest. He is no more seen as a Creator, as Elohim, but +as Jehovah, the _Lord_ of the Sabbath, and the Spirit of life in MAN, which +Spirit worketh _sin in the flesh_; for the Spirit of Love, in all flesh, is +Lust, or the spirit of a beast, So Rom. vii. And which Spirit is +_crucified_ in the flesh. He then, as Jehovah--as the power of the Law, +_in_ and _over_ all flesh, John viii. 44--increases that which he has made +as the Elohim, and his power shall last for 6 days, or 6 periods of time, +computed at a millennium of years; and at the end of which six days, he who +is the Spirit of all flesh shall manifest himself as the Holy Spirit of +Almighty Love, and of all truth; and so shall the Church have her Sabbath +of Rest--all contention being at an end. This is, as well as I may now +express it, my solution of the mystery in Hebrew, and in Greek, and also in +Latin, IHS. For he that was lifted up _is_ King of the Jews, and is the +Lord of all Life, working in us, both to will and to do; as is manifest in +the Jews--they slaying him that his blood might be _good_ for the healing +of the nations, of all people and tongues. As the Father of all _natural_ +flesh, he is the Spirit of Lust, as in all _beasts_; as the Father, or King +of the Jews, he is the Devil, as he himself witnesseth in John viii., +already referred to. As lifted up, he is transformed into the Spirit of +Love, a light to the Gentiles, and the glory of his people Israel.... For +there is but ONE God, ONE Lord, ONE Spirit, ONE body, etc. and he who was +Satan, the Spirit of life in that body, is, in {231} Christ crucified, seen +in the Spirit that is in all, and through all and over all, God blessed for +ever." + +All this seems well meant, and Mr. Thom prints it as convinced of its +piety, and "pronounces no opinion." Mystics of all sorts! see what you may +come to, or what may come to you! I have inserted the above for your good. + +There is nothing in this world so steady as some of the paradoxers. They +are like the spiders who go on spinning after they have web enough to catch +all the flies in the neighborhood, if the flies would but come. They are +like the wild bees who go on making honey which they never can eat, proving +_sic vos non vobis_ to be a physical necessity of their own contriving. But +nobody robs their hives: no, unlike the bees, they go about offering their +ware to any who will take it as a gift. I had just written the last +sentence (Oct. 30, 1866, 8.45 A.M.) when in comes the second note received +this morning from Dr. Thorn: at 1.30 P.M. came in a third. These arise out +of the above account of the Rev. D. Thom, published Oct. 27: three notes +had arrived before. + +For curiosity I give one day's allowance, supposing these to be all: more +may arrive before night. + +29th Oct. 1866. + +"Dear Sir,-- + +In re [swastika].[374] + +"So that 'Zaphnath Paaneah' may be after all the revealer of the 'Northern +Tau' [Greek: Phaneroô]--To make manifest, shew, or explain; and this may +satisfy the House of Joseph in Amos 5^c. While Belteshazzar = 666 may be +also satisfactory to the House of David, and so we may have Zech. 10^c. +6^v. in operation when Ezekiel 37^c. 16^v. has been realised;--but there, +what is the use of writing, it is all Coptic {232} to a man who has not +[swastika], The Thau of the North, the double Vahu [Hebrew: W\qamats\W]. +Look at Jeremiah 3^c. 8^v. and then to Psalm 83 for 'hidden ones' [Hebrew: +TS\sheva\PW\dagesh\N\segol\Y Y\sheva\HW\qamats\H]--The Zephoni Jehovah, and +say whether they have any connection with the Zephon _Thau_. The Hammer of +Thor of Jeremiah 23^c. 29^v. as I gave you in No. 3 of my present edition. + +Yours truly + +LE CHEVALIER AU CIN." + +_By Greek Power._ + + C = 20 + H = 8 + E = 5 + V = 6 + A = 1 + L = 30 + I = 10 + E = 5 + R = 100 + + A = 1 + U = 400 + + C = 20 + I = 10 + N = 50 + ---- + 666 + +There will be thousands of Morgans who will be among the wise and prudent +of Hosea 14^c. 9^v. when the Seventh Angel sounds, let me number _that One_ +by Greek, Rev. 17^c. 1^v: {233} + + S = 200 + E = 5 + × V = 6 + E = 5 + N = 50 + T = 300 + H = 8 + + A = 1 + N = 50 + × G = 6 + E = 5 + L = 30 + ---- + 666 + + V and G = 12 ought to be equal to one Gammadion or ^3[swastika]3 × 4 = + 12, what say you? + +London, October 29, 1866. + +"Dear Sir,-- + +In re [swastika] versus [maltese cross]. + +However pretentious the X or [maltese cross] may be, and it is peculiarly +so just now in this land; after all it is only made of two Roman V's--and +so is only = [ one inverted](10)--and therefore is not the perfect number +12 of Revel^n, but is the mark of the goddess _Decima_! + +Yours truly + +WM. THORN." + +Had the _one_ who sent forth a pastoral (Romish) the other day, remained +amongst the faithful expectants, see how he would have numbered, whereas he +sold himself for the privilege of signing + +[maltese cross] HENRY E. MANNING.[375] + +{234} + +_By English Key._ + + H = 8 + E = 5 + N = 40 + R = 80 + Y = 140 + + E = 5 + D = 4 + W = 120 + A = 1 + R = 80 + D = 4 + + M = 30 + A = 1 + N = 40 + N = 40 + I = 9 + N = 40 + G = 7 + [swastika] = 12 + ---- + 666 + + Can you now understand the difference between [swastika] and [maltese + cross] or X? Look to my challenge. + +Cutting from newspaper:-- + +ITALY. + +Rome (_via_ Marseilles), October + +Mr. Gladstone has paid a visit to the Pope. + +_By Greek Power._ + + G = 6 + L = 30 + A = 1 + D = 4 + S = 200 + T = 300 + O = 70 + N = 50 + E = 5 + ---- + 666 + +And what then [swastika]? + +{235} + +In other letters _John Stuart Mill_ is 666 if the _a_ be left out; +_Chasuble_ is perfect. _John Brighte_[376] is a _fait accompli_; and I am +asked whether intellect can account for the final e. Very easily: this +Beast is not the M. P., but another person who spells his name differently. +But if John Sturt Mill and John Brighte choose so to write themselves, they +may. + +A curious collection; a mystical phantasmagoria! There are those who will +try to find meaning: there are those who will try to find purpose. + + "And some they said--What are you at? + And some--What are you arter?" + +My account of Mr. Thom and his 666 appeared on October 27: and on the 29th +I received from the editor a copy of Mr. Thom's sermons published in 1863 +(he died Feb. 27, 1862) with best wishes for my health and happiness. The +editor does not name himself in the book; but he signed his name in my +copy: and may my circumference never be more than 3-1/8 of my diameter if +the signature, name and writing both, were not that of my [circle square] +ing friend Mr. James Smith! And so I have come in contact with him on 666 +as well as on [pi]! I should have nothing left to live for, had I not +happened to hear that he has a perpetual motion on hand. I returned thanks +and kind regards: and Miss Miggs's words--"Here's forgivenesses of +injuries! here's amicablenesses!"--rang in my ears. But I was made slightly +uncomfortable: how could the war go on after this armistice? Could I ever +make it understood that the truce only extended to the double Vahu and +things thereunto relating? It was once held by seafaring men that there was +no peace with Spaniards beyond the line: I was determined that there must +be no concord with J. S. inside the circle; that this must be a special +exception, like Father Huddleston {236} and old Grouse in the gun-room. I +was not long in anxiety; twenty-four hours after the book of sermons there +came a copy of the threatened exposure--_The British Association in +Jeopardy, and Professor De Morgan in the Pillory without hope of escape_. +By James Smith, Esq. London and Liverpool, 8vo., 1866 (pp. 94). This +exposure consists of reprints from the _Athenæum_ and _Correspondent_: of +things new there is but one. In a short preface Mr. J. S. particularly +recommends to "_read to the end_." At the end is an appendix of two pages, +in type as large as the work; a very prominent peroration. It is an article +from the _Athenæum_, left out of its place. In the last sentence Mr. J. +Smith, who had asked whether his character as an honest Geometer and +Mathematician was not at stake, is warned against the _fallacia plurium +interrogationum_.[377] He is told that there is not a more honest +what's-his-name in the world: but that as to the counter which he calls his +character as a mathematician, he is assured that it has been staked years +ago, and lost. And thus truth has the last word. There is no occasion to +say much about reprints. One of them is a letter [that given above] of +August 25, 1865, written by Mr. J. S. to the _Correspondent_. It is one of +his quadratures; and the joke is that I am made to be the writer: it +appears as what Mr. J. S. hopes I shall have the sense to write in the +_Athenæum_ and forestall him. When I saw myself thus quoted--yes! quoted! +double commas, first person--I felt as I suppose did Wm. Wilberforce[378] +when he set eyes on the affectionate benediction of the potato which +waggish comrades had imposed on a raw Irish reporter as part of his speech. +I felt as Martin[379] of {237} Galway--kind friend of the poor dumb +creatures!--when he was told that the newspapers had put him in Italics. "I +appeal to you, Mr. Speaker! I appeal to the House! Did I speak in Italics? +Do I ever speak in Italics?" I appeal to editor and readers, whether I ever +squared the circle until a week or two ago, when I gave my charitable mode +of reconciling the discrepant cyclometers. + +The absurdity of the imitation of symbolic reasoning is so lusciously rich, +that I shall insert it when I make up my final book. Somebody mastered +Spanish merely to read Don Quixote: it would be worth while to learn a +little algebra merely to enjoy this a b-istical attack on the windmills. +The principle is, Prove something in as roundabout a way as possible, +mention the circle once or twice irrelevantly in the course of your proof, +and then make an act of Q. E. D. in words at length. The following is +hardly caricature:-- + +To prove that 2 and 2 make 5. Let a = 2, b = 5: let c = 658, the number of +the House: let d = 666, the number of the Beast. Then of necessity d = a + +b + c + 1; so that 1 is a harmonious and logical quantification of the +number of which we are to take care. Now, b, the middle of our digital +system, is, by mathematical and geometrical combination, a mean between 5 + +1 and 2 + 2. Let 1 be removed to be taken care of, a thing no real +mathematician can refuse without serious injury to his mathematical and +geometrical reputation. It follows of necessity that 2 + 2 = 5, _quod erat +demonstrumhorrendum_. If Simpkin & Marshall have not, after my notice, to +account for a gross of copies more than would have gone off without me, the +world is not worthy of its James Smith! + +The only fault of the above is, that there is more {238} connection than in +the process of Faber Cyclometricus: so much, in fact, that the blunders are +visible. The utter irrelevance of premises to conclusion cannot be +exhibited with the requisite obscurity by any one who is able to follow +reasoning: it is high art displayed in a certain toning down of the _ægri +somnia_, which brings them to a certain look of reproach to reasoning which +I can only burlesque. Mr. J. S. produces something which resembles argument +much as a chimpanzee in dolor, because balked of his dinner, resembles a +thinking man at his studies. My humble attempt at imitation of him is more +like a monkey hanging by his tail from a tree and trying to crack a +cocoa-nut by his chatter. + +I could forgive Mr. J. S. anything, properly headed. I would allow him to +prove--_for himself_--that the Quadrature of the Circle is the child of a +private marriage between the Bull Unigenitus and the Pragmatic Sanction, +claiming tithe of onions for repeal of the Mortmain Act, before the Bishops +in Committee under the kitchen table: his mode of imitating reason would do +this with ease. But when he puts his imitation into my mouth, to make me +what _he_ calls a "real mathematician," my soul rises in epigram against +him. I say with the doll's dressmaker--such a job makes me feel like a +puppet's tailor myself--"He ought to have a little pepper? just a few +grains? I think the young man's tricks and manners make a claim upon his +friends for a little pepper?" De Fauré[380] and Joseph Scaliger[381] come +into my head: my reader may look back for them. + + "Three circlesquarers to the manner born, + Switzerland, France, and England did adorn, + De Fauré in equations did surpass, + Joseph at contradictions was an ass. + Groaned Folly, I'm used up! What shall I do + To make James Smith? Grinned Momus, _Join the two_!" + +{239} + +As to my _locus poenitentiæ_,[382] the reader who is fit to enjoy the +letter I have already alluded to will see that I have a soft and easy +position; that the thing is really a _pillowry_; and that I am, like +Perrette's pot of milk, + + "Bien posé sur un coussinet."[383] + +Joanna Southcott[384] never had a follower who believed in her with more +humble piety than Mr. James Smith believes in himself. After all that has +happened to him, he asks me with high confidence to "favor the writer with +a proof" that I still continue of opinion that "the best of the argument is +in my jokes, and the best of the joke is in his arguments." I will not so +favor him. At the very outset I told him in plain English that he has the +whiphand of all the reasoners in the world, and in plain French that _il a +perdu le droit d'être frappé de l'évidence_[385]; I might have said +_pendu_.[386] To which I now add, in plain Latin, _Sapienti pauca, indocto +nihil_.[387] The law of Chancery says that he who will have equity must do +equity: the law of reasoning says that he who will have proof must see +proof. + +The introduction of things quite irrelevant, by way of reproach, is an +argument in universal request: and it often happens that the argument so +produced really tells against the producer. So common is it that we forget +how boyish it is; but we are strikingly reminded when it actually comes +from a boy. In a certain police court, certain small boys were arraigned +for conspiring to hoot an obnoxious individual on his way from one of their +school exhibitions. This proceeding was necessary, because there seemed to +be a permanent conspiracy to annoy the gentleman; and the {240} masters did +not feel able to interfere in what took place outside the school. So the +boys were arraigned; and their friends, as silly in their way as +themselves, allowed one of them to make the defence, instead of employing +counsel; and did not even give them any useful hints. The defence was as +follows; and any one who does not see how richly it sets off the defences +of bigger boys in bigger matters has much to learn. The innocent conviction +that there was answer in the latter part is delightful. Of course fine and +recognizance followed. + +A---- said the boys had received great provocation from B----. He was +constantly threatening them with a horsewhip which he carried in his hand +[the boy did not say what had passed to induce him to take such a weapon], +and he had repeatedly insulted the master, which the boys could not stand. +B---- had in his own drawing-room told him (A----) that he had drawn his +sword against the master and thrown away the scabbard. B---- knew well that +if he came to the college he would catch it, and then he went off through a +side door--which was no sign of pluck; and then he brought Mrs. B---- with +him, thinking that her presence would protect him. + +My readers may expect a word on Mr. Thom's sermons, after my account of his +queer doings about 666. He is evidently an honest and devout man, much +wanting in discrimination. He has a sermon about private _judgment_, in +which he halts between the logical and legal meanings of the word. He +loathes those who apply their private judgment to the word of God: here he +means those who decide what it _ought to be_. He seems in other places +aware that the theological phrase means taking right to determine what it +_is_. He uses his own private judgment very freely, and is strong in the +conclusion that others ought not to use theirs except as he tells them how; +he leaves all the rest of mankind free to think with him. In this he is not +original: his fame must rest on his senary tripod. {241} + + + +JAMES SMITH ONCE MORE. + +Mr. James Smith's procedures are not caricature of reasoning; they are +caricature of blundering. The old way of proving that 2 = 1 is solemn +earnest compared with his demonstrations. As follows:[388] + + Let x = 1 + Then x^2 = x + And x^2 - 1 = x - 1 + Divide both sides by x - 1; then x + 1 = 1; but x = 1, whence 2 = 1. + +When a man is regularly snubbed, bullied, blown up, walked into, and put +down, there is usually some reaction in his favor, a kind of deostracism, +which cannot bear to hear him always called the blunderer. I hope it will +be so in this case. There is nothing I more desire than to see _sects_ of +paradoxers. There are fully five thousand adults in England who ought to be +the followers of some one false quadrature. And I have most hope of 3-1/8, +because I think Mr. James Smith better fitted to be the leader of an +organized infatuation than any one I know of. He wants no pity, and will +get none. He has energy, means, good humor, strong conviction, character, +and popularity in his own circle. And, most indispensable point of all, he +sticks at nothing; + + "In coelum jusseris, ibit."[389] + +When my instructor found I did not print an acceptance of what I have +quoted, he addressed me as follows (_Corr._, Sept 23):-- + +"In this life, however, we must do our duty, and, when {242} necessary, use +the rod, not in a spirit of revenge, but for the benefit of the culprit and +the good of society. Now, Sir, the opportunity has been thrown in your way +of slipping out of the pillory without risk of serious injury; but, like an +obstinate urchin, you have chosen to quarrel with your opportunity and +remain there, and thus you compel me to deal with you as schoolmasters used +to do with stupid boys in bygone days--that is to say, you force me to the +use of the critic's rod, compel me to put you where little Jack Horner sat, +and, as a warning to other naughty boys, to ornament you with a dunce's +cap. The task I set you was a very simple one, as I shall make manifest at +the proper time." + +In one or more places, as well as this, Mr. Smith shows that he does not +know the legend of little Jack Horner, whom he imagines to be put in the +corner as a bad boy. This is curious; for there had been many allusions to +the story in the journal he was writing in, and the Christmas pie had +become altered into the Seaforth [pi]. + +Mr. Smith is satisfied at last that--what between argument and punishment +he has convinced me. He says (_Corr._, Jan. 27, 1866): "I tell him without +hesitation that he knows the true ratio of diameter to circumference as +well as I do, and if he be wise he will admit it." I should hope I do, and +better; but there is no occasion to admit what everybody knows. + +I have often wished that we could have a slight glimpse of the reception +which was given to some of the old cyclometers: but we have nothing, except +the grave disapprobation of historians. I am resolved to give the New +Zealander a chance of knowing a little more than this about one of them at +least; and, by the fortunate entrance into life of the _Correspondent_, I +am able to do it. I omit sober mathematical answers, of which there were +several. The following letter is grave earnest: + +"Sir,--I have watched Mr. James Smith's writings on this subject from the +first, and I did hope that, as the more {243} he departs from truth the +more easy it must be to refute him, [this by no means always true] some of +your correspondents would by this time have done so. I own that I am unable +to detect the fallacy of his argument; and I am quite certain that '[Pi]' +is wrong, in No. 23, where he declares that Mr. Smith is 'ignorant of the +very elements of mathematical truth.' I have observed an immense amount of +geometrical reasoning on his part, and I cannot see that it is either fair +or honest to deny this, which may be regarded as the 'elements' of +mathematical truth. Would it not be better for '[Pi]' to answer Mr. Smith, +to refute his arguments, to point out their fallacies, and to save learners +from error, than to plunge into gross insult and unmanly abuse? Would it +not be well, also, that Professor De Morgan should favour us with a little +reasoning? + +"I have hitherto seen no attempt to overthrow Mr. Smith's arguments; I +trust that this will not continue, since the subject is one of immense +importance to science in general, especially to nautical science, and all +that thereto belongs. + +Yours, etc., + +A CAPTAIN, R.N." + +On looking at this homoeopathic treatment of the 3-1/8 +quadrature--remember, homoeopathic, _similia similibus_,[390] not +infinitesimal--and at the imputation thrown upon it, I asked myself, what +_is_ vulgarity? No two agree, except in this, that every one sees vulgarity +in what is directed against himself. Mark the world, and see if anything be +so common as the description of the other side's remarks as "vulgar attempt +at wit." "I suppose you think that very witty:" the answer is "No my +friend! your remark shows that you feel it as wit, so that the purpose is +answered; I keep my razor for something else than cutting blocks;" I am +inclined to think that "out of place" is a necessary attribute of true +vulgarity. And further, it is to be noticed that nothing is {244} +unproducible--_salvo pudore_[391]--which has classical authority, modern or +ancient, in its favor. "He is a vulgar fellow; I asked him what he was +upon, and what do you think he answered, My legs!"--"Well, and has he not +justification? what do you find in Terence? _Quid agitur? Statur._"[392] I +do not even blench from my principle where I find that it brings what is +called "taking a sight" within permissible forms of expression: Rabelais +not only establishes its antiquity, but makes it English. Our old +translation[393] has it thus (book 2. ch. 19): + +"Then made the Englishman this sign. His left hand, all open, he lifted up +into the air, then instantly shut into his fist the four fingers thereof; +and his thumb extended at length he placed upon the tip of his nose. +Presently after he lifted up his right hand all open and abased and bent it +downwards, putting the thumb thereof in the very place where the little +finger of the left hand did close in the fist, and the four right hand +fingers he softly moved in the air. Then contrarily he did with the right +hand what he had done with the left, and with the left what he had done +with the right." + +An impressive sight! The making of a fist of the left hand is a great +addition of power, and should be followed in modern practice. The gentle +sullation of the front fingers, with the clenched fist behind them, says as +plainly as possible, Put _suaviter in modo_ in the van, but don't forget to +have _fortiter in re_[394] in the rear. + +{245} + +My Budget was announced (March 23, 1867) for completion on the 30th. Mr. +James Smith wrote five letters, one before the completion, four after it; +the five contained 68 pages of quarto letter paper. Mr. J. S. had picked up +a clerical correspondent, with whom he was in the heat of battle. + +"_March 27._--Dear Sir. Very truly yours. Duty; for my own sake; just time +left to retrieve my errors; sends copy of letter to clergyman; new proof +never before thought of; merest tyro would laugh if I were to stifle it, +whether by rhodomontade or silent contempt; keep your temper. I shall be +convinced; and if world be right in supposing me incapable of a foul act, I +shall proclaim glorious discovery in the _Athenæum_. + +"_April 15._--Sir,... My dear Sir, Your sincere tutelary. Copy of another +letter to clergyman; discovery tested by logarithms; reasons such as none +but a knave or a sinner can resist. Let me advise you to take counsel +before it is too late! Keep your temper. Let not your _pride_ get the +better of your discretion! Screw up your courage, my good friend, and +_resolve_ to show the world that you are an _honest_ man.... + +"_April 20._--Sir ... Your very sincere and favorite tutelary. I have long +played the _cur_, snapping and snarling...; suddenly lost my power, and +became _half-starved_ dog without _spirit_ to bark; try if air cannot +restore me; calls himself the _thistle_ in allusion to my other tutelary, +the _thorn_; Would I prefer his next work to be, 'A whip for the +Mathematical Cur, Prof. De M.' In some previous letter which I have +mislaid, he told me his next would be 'a muzzle for the Mathematical Bull +dog, Prof. De M.' + +"_April 23._--Sir. Very sincerely yours. More letters to clergyman; you may +as well knock your head against a stone wall to improve your intellect as +attempt to controvert my proofs. [I thought so too; and tried neither]. +{246} + +"_May 6._--My dear Sir. Very sincerely yours. All to myself, and nothing to +note. + +"_July 2._--No more in this interval. All that precedes is a desperate +attempt to induce me to continue my descriptions: notoriety at any price." + +I dare say the matter is finished: the record of so marked an instance of +self-delusion will be useful. + +I append to the foregoing a letter from Dr. Whewell[395] to Mr. James +Smith. The Master of Trinity was conspicuous as a rough customer, an +intellectual bully, an overbearing disputant: the character was as well +established as that of Sam Johnson. But there was a marked difference. It +was said of Johnson that if his pistol missed fire, he would knock you down +with the butt end of it: but Whewell, in like case, always acknowledged the +miss, and loaded again or not, as the case might be. He reminded me of +Dennis Brulgruddery, who says to Dan, Pacify me with a good reason, and +you'll find me a dutiful master. I knew him from the time when he was my +teacher at Cambridge, more than forty years. As a teacher, he was anything +but dictatorial, and he was perfectly accessible to proposal of objections. +He came in contact with me in his slashing way twice in our after joint +lives, and on both occasions he acknowledged himself overcome, by that +change of manner, and apologetic mode of continuance, which I had seen him +employ towards others under like circumstances. + +I had expressed my wish to have a _thermometer of probability_, with +impossibility at one end, as 2 and 2 make 5, and necessity at the other, as +2 and 2 make 4, and a graduated rise of examples between them. Down came a +blow: "What! put necessary and contingent propositions together! It's +absurd!" I pointed out that the two kinds of necessity are but such +extremes of probability as 0 and [infinity] are of number, and illustrated +by an urn with 1 white and _n_ black {247} balls, _n_ increasing without +limit. It was frankly seen, and the point yielded; a large company was +present. + +Again, in a large party, after dinner, and politics being the subject, I +was proceeding, in discussion with Mr. Whewell, with "I think"...--"Ugh! +_you_ think!" was the answer. I repeated my phrase, and gave as a reason +the words which Lord Grey[396] had used in the House of Lords the night +before (the celebrated advice to the Bishops to set their houses in order). +He had not heard of this, and his manner changed in an instant: he was the +rational discutient all the rest of the evening, having previously been +nothing but a disputant with all the distinctions strongly marked. + +I have said that Whewell was gentle with his pupils; it was the same with +all who wanted teaching: it was only on an armed enemy that he drew his +weapon. The letter which he wrote to Mr. J. Smith is an instance: and as it +applies with perfect fidelity to the efforts of unreasoning above +described, I give it here. Mr. James Smith is skilfully exposed, and felt +it; as is proved by "putting the writer in the stocks." + +"The Lodge, Cambridge, September 14th, 1862. + +"Sir,--I have received your explanation of your proposition that the +circumference of the circle is to its diameter as 25 to 8. I am afraid I +shall disappoint you by saying that I see no force in your proof: and I +should hope that you will see that there is no force in it if you consider +this: In the whole course of the proof, though the word cycle occurs, there +is no property of the circle employed. You may do this: you may put the +word _hexagon_ or _dodecagon_, or any other word describing a polygon in +the place of _Circle_ in your proof, and the proof would be just as good as +before. Does not this satisfy you that you cannot have proved a property of +that special figure--a circle? {248} + +"Or you may do this: calculate the side of a polygon of 24 sides inscribed +in a circle. I think you are a Mathematician enough to do this. You will +find that if the radius of the circle be one, the side of this polygon is +.264 etc. Now, the arc which this side subtends is according to your +proposition 3.125/12 = .2604, and therefore the chord is greater than its +arc, which you will allow is impossible. + +"I shall be glad if these arguments satisfy you, and + +"I am, Sir, your obedient Servant, + +"W. WHEWELL." + + + +AN M.P.'S ARITHMETIC. + +In the debate of May, 1866, on Electoral Qualifications, a question arose +about arithmetical capability. Mr. Gladstone asked how many members of the +House could divide 1330l. 7s. 6d. by 2l. 13s. 8d. Six hundred and +fifty-eight, answered one member; the thing cannot be done, answered +another. There is an old paradox to which this relates: it arises out of +the ignorance of the distinction between abstract and concrete arithmetic. +_Magnitude_ may be divided by _magnitude_; and the answer is number: how +often does 12d. contain 4d.; answer three times. _Magnitude_ may be divided +by _number_, and the answer is _magnitude_: 12d. is divided in four equal +parts, what is each part? Answer three _pence_. The honorable objector, +whose name I suppress, trusting that he has mended his ways, gave the +following utterance: + +"With regard to the division sum, it was quite possible to divide by a sum, +but not by money. How could any one divide money by 2l. 16s. 8d.? +(Laughter.) The question might be asked, 'How many times 2s. will go into +1l.?' but that was not dividing by money; it was simply dividing 20 by 2. +He might be asked, 'How many times will 6s. 8d. go into a pound?' but it +was only required to divide 240 by 80. If the right hon. gentleman were to +ask the hon. {249} member for Brighton (Professor Fawcett),[397] or any +other authority, he would receive the same answer--viz., that it was +possible to divide by a sum, but not by money. (Hear.)" + +I shall leave all comment for the second edition, if I publish one.[398] I +shall be sure to have something to laugh at. Anything said from a +respectable quarter, or supposed to be said, is sure to find defenders. Sam +Johnson, a sound arithmetician, comparing himself, and what he alone had +done in three years, with forty French Academicians and their forty years, +said it proved that an Englishman is to a Frenchman as 40 × 40 to 3, or as +1600 to 3. Boswell, who was no great hand at arithmetic, made him say that +an Englishman is to a Frenchman as 3 to 1600. When I pointed this out, the +supposed Johnson was defended through thick and thin in _Notes and +Queries_. + +I am now curious to see whether the following will find a palliator. It is +from "Tristram Shandy," book V. chapter 3. There are two curious idioms, +"for for" and "half in half"; but these have nothing to do with my point: + +"A blessing which tied up my father's tongue, and a misfortune which set it +loose with a good grace, were pretty equal: sometimes, indeed, the +misfortune was the better of the two; for, for instance, where the pleasure +of harangue was as _ten_, and the pain of the misfortune but as _five_, my +father gained half in half; and consequently was as well again off as if it +had never befallen him." + +This is a jolly confusion of ideas; and wants nothing but a defender to +make it perfect. A person who invests five {250} with a return of ten, and +one who loses five with one hand and gains ten with the other, both leave +off five richer than they began, no doubt. The first gains "half in half," +more properly "half _on_ half," that is, of the return, 10, the second 5 is +gain upon the first 5 invested. "Half _in_ half" is a queer way of saying +cent. per cent. If the 5l. invested be all the man had in the world, he +comes out, after the gain, twice as well off as he began, with reference to +his whole fortune. But it is very odd to say that balance of 5l. gain is +_twice_ as good as if nothing had befallen, either loss or gain. A +mathematician thinks 5 an infinite number of times as great as 0. The whole +confusion is not so apparent when money is in question: for money is money +whether gained or lost. But though pleasure and pain stand to one another +in the same algebraical relation as money gained and lost, yet there is +more than algebra can take account of in the difference. + +Next, Ri. Milward[399] (Richard, no doubt, but it cannot be proved) who +published Selden's[400] Table Talk, which he had collected while serving as +amanuensis, makes Selden say, "A subsidy was counted the fifth part of a +man's estate; and so fifty subsidies is five and forty times more than a +man is worth." For _times_ read _subsidies_, which seems part of the +confusion, and there remains the making all the subsidies equal to the +first, though the whole of which they are to be the fifths is perpetually +diminished. + +Thirdly, there is the confusion of the great misomath {251} of our own day, +who discovered two quantities which he avers to be identically the same, +but the greater the one the less the other. He had a truth in his mind, +which his notions of quantity were inadequate to clothe in language. This +erroneous phraseology has not found a defender; and I am almost inclined to +say, with Falstaff, The poor abuses of the time want countenance. + + + +ERRONEOUS ARITHMETICAL NOTIONS. + +"Shallow numerists," as Cocker[401] is made to call them, have long been at +work upon the question how to _multiply_ money by money. It is, I have +observed, a very common way of amusing the tedium of a sea voyage: I have +had more than one bet referred to me. Because an oblong of five inches by +four inches contains 5 × 4 or 20 _square_ inches, people say that five +inches multiplied by four inches _is_ twenty _square_ inches: and, thinking +that they have multiplied length by length, they stare when they are told +that money cannot be multiplied by money. One of my betters made it an +argument for the thing being impossible, that there is no _square money_: +what could I do but suggest that postage-stamps should be made legal +tender. Multiplication must be _repetition_: the repeating process must be +indicated by _number_ of times. I once had difficulty in persuading another +of my betters that if you repeat five shillings as often as there are hairs +in a horse's tail, you do not _multiply five shillings by a +horsetail_.[402] + +I am very sorry to say that these wrong notions have found support--I think +they do so no longer--in the University of Cambridge. In 1856 or 1857, an +examiner was displaced by a vote of the Senate. The pretext was that he was +too severe an examiner: but it was well known that {252} great +dissatisfaction had been expressed, far and wide through the Colleges, at +an absurd question which he had given. He actually proposed such a fraction +as + + 6s. 3d. + --------. + 17s. 4d. + +As common sense gained a hearing very soon, there is no occasion to say +more. In 1858, it was proposed at a college examination, to divide 22557 +days, 20 hours, 20 minutes, 48 seconds, by 57 minutes, 12 seconds, and also +to explain the fraction + + 32l. 18s. 8d. + -------------. + 62l. 12s. 9d. + +All paradoxy, in matters of demonstration, arises out of muddle about first +principles. Who can say how much of it is to be laid at the door of the +University of Cambridge, for not taking care of the elements of +arithmetical thought? + + + +ON LITERARY BARGAINS. + +The phenomena of the two ends of society, when brought together, give +interesting comparisons: I mean the early beginnings of thought and +literature, and our own high and finished state, as we think it. There is +one very remarkable point. In the early day, the letter was matter of the +closest adherence, and implied meanings were not admitted. + +The blessing of Isaac meant for Esau, went to false Jacob, in spite of the +imposition; and the writer of Genesis seems to intend to give the notion +that Isaac had no power to pronounce it null and void. And "Jacob's policy, +whereby he became rich"--as the chapter-heading puts it--in speckled and +spotted stock, is not considered as a violation of the agreement, which +contemplated natural proportions. In {253} the story of Lycurgus the +lawgiver is held to have behaved fairly when he bound the Spartans to obey +his laws until he returned--intimating a short absence--he intending never +to return. And Vishnoo, when he asked the usurper for three steps of +territory as a dwarf, and then enlarged himself until he could bring heaven +and earth under the bargain, was thought clever, certainly, but quite fair. + +There is nothing of this kind recognized in our day: so far good. But there +is a bad contrary: the age is apt, in interpretation, to upset the letter +in favor of the view--very often the after thought--of one side only. The +case of John Palmer,[403] the improver of the mail coach system, is +smothered. He was to have an office and a salary, and 2½ per cent for life +on the increased _revenue_ of the Post-Office. His rights turned out so +large, that Government would not pay them. For misconduct, real or +pretended, they turned him out of his _office_: but his bargain as to the +percentage had nothing to do with his future conduct; it was payment for +his _plan_. I know nothing, except from the debates of 1808 in the two +Houses: if any one can redeem the credit of the nation, the field is open. +When I was young, the old stagers spoke of this transaction sparingly, and +dismissed it speedily. + +The government did not choose to remember what private persons must +remember, and are made to remember, if needful. When Dr. Lardner[404] made +his bargain with the {254} publishers for the _Cabinet Cyclopædia_ he +proposed that he, as editor, should have a certain sum for every hundred +sold above a certain number: the publishers, who did not think there was +any chance of reaching the turning sale of this stipulation, readily +consented. But it turned out that Dr. Lardner saw further than they: the +returns under this stipulation gave him a very handsome addition to his +other receipts. The publishers stared; but they paid. They had no idea of +standing out that the amount was too much for an editor; they knew that, +though the editor had a percentage, they had all the rest; and they would +not have felt aggrieved if he had received ten times as much. But +governments, which cannot be brought to book before a sworn jury, are ruled +only by public opinion. John Palmer's day was also the day of Thomas Fyshe +Palmer,[405] and the governments, in their prosecutions for sedition, knew +that these would have a reflex action upon the minds of all who wrote about +public affairs. + + + +DECLARATION OF BELIEF + +1864-65.--It often happens that persons combine to maintain and enforce an +opinion; but it is, in our state of society, a paradox to unite for the +sole purpose of blaming the opposite side. To invite educated men to do +this, and above all, men of learning or science, is the next paradoxical +thing of all. But this was done by a small combination in 1864. They got +together and drew up a _declaration_, to be signed by "students of the +natural sciences," who were to express their "sincere regret that +researches into {255} scientific truth are perverted by some in our own +times into occasion for casting doubt upon the truth and authenticity of +the Holy Scriptures." In words of ambiguous sophistry, they proceeded to +request, in effect, that people would be pleased to adopt the views of +churches as to the _complete_ inspiration of all the canonical books. The +great question whether the Word of God is _in_ the Bible, or whether the +Word of God is _all_ the Bible, was quietly taken for granted in favor of +the second view; to the end that men of science might be induced to blame +those who took the first view. The first public attention was drawn to the +subject by Sir John Herschel,[406] who in refusing to sign the writ sent to +him, administered a rebuke in the _Athenæum_, which would have opened most +eyes to see that the case was hopeless. The words of a man whose _suaviter +in modo_ makes his _fortiter in re_[407] cut blocks with a razor are worth +preserving: + +"I consider the act of calling upon me publicly to avow or disavow, to +approve or disapprove, in writing, any religious doctrine or statement, +however carefully or cautiously drawn up (in other words, to append my name +to a religious manifesto) to be an infringement of that social forbearance +which guards the freedom of religious opinion in this country with especial +sanctity.... I consider this movement simply mischievous, having a direct +tendency (by putting forward a new Shibboleth, a new verbal test of +religious partisanship) to add a fresh element of discord to the already +too discordant relations of the Christian world.... But no nicety of +wording, no artifice of human language, will suffice to discriminate the +hundredth part of the shades of meaning in which the most world-wide +differences of thought on such subjects may be involved; or prevent the +most gentle worded and apparently justifiable expression of regret, so +embodied, from grating on the {256} feelings of thousands of estimable and +well-intentioned men with all the harshness of controversial hostility." + +Other doses were administered by Sir J. Bowring,[408] Sir W. Rowan +Hamilton,[409] and myself. The signed declaration was promised for +Christmas, 1864: but nothing presentable was then ready; and it was near +Midsummer, 1865, before it was published. Persons often incautiously put +their names without seeing the _character_ of a document, because they +coincide in its _opinions_. In this way, probably, fifteen respectable +names were procured before printing; and these, when committed, were hawked +as part of an application to "solicit the favor" of other signatures. It is +likely enough no one of the fifteen saw that the declaration was, not +_maintenance_ of their own opinion, but _regret_ (a civil word for _blame_) +that others should _think differently_. + +When the list appeared, there were no fewer than 716 names! But analysis +showed that this roll was not a specimen of the mature science of the +country. The collection was very miscellaneous: 38 were designated as +"students of the College of Chemistry," meaning young men who attended +lectures in that college. But as all the Royal Society had been applied to, +a test results as follows. Of Fellows of the Royal Society, 600 in number, +62 gave their signatures; of writers in the _Philosophical Transactions_, +166 in number, 19 gave their signatures. Roughly speaking, then, only one +out of ten could be got to express disapprobation of the free comparison of +the results of science with the statements of the canonical books. And I am +satisfied that many of these thought they were signing only a declaration +of difference of opinion, not of blame for that difference. The number of +persons is not small who, when it comes to signing printed documents, would +put their names to a declaration that the coffee-pot ought to be taken +down-stairs, meaning that the teapot ought to be brought {257} up-stairs. +And many of them would defend it. Some would say that the two things are +not contradictory; which, with a snort or two of contempt, would be very +effective. Others would, in the candid and quiet tone, point out that it is +all one, because coffee is usually taken before tea, and it keeps the table +clear to send away the coffee-pot before the teapot is brought up. + +The original signatures were decently interred in the Bodleian Library: and +the advocates of scattering indefinite blame for indefinite sins of opinion +among indefinite persons are, I understand, divided in opinion about the +time at which the next attempt shall be made upon men of scientific +studies: some are for the Greek Calends, and others for the Roman +Olympiads. But, with their usual love of indefiniteness, they have +determined that the choice shall be argued upon the basis that which comes +first cannot be settled, and is of no consequence. + +I give the declaration entire, as a curiosity: and parallel with it I give +a substitute which was proposed in the _Athenæum_, as worthy to be signed +both by students of theology, and by students of science, especially in +past time. When a new attempt is made, it will be worth while to look at +both: + +_Declaration._ _Proposed Substitute._ + +We, the undersigned Students We, the undersigned Students +of the Natural Sciences, of Theology and of Nature, +desire to express our sincere desire to express our sincere +regret, that researches into regret, that common notions of +scientific truth are perverted religious truth are perverted +by some in our own times into by some in our own times into +occasion for casting doubt occasion for casting reproach +upon the Truth and upon the advocates of +Authenticity of the Holy demonstrated or highly +Scriptures. probable scientific theories. + + {258} +We conceive that it is We conceive that it is +impossible for the Word of impossible for the Word of +God, as written in the book of God, as correctly read in the +nature, and God's Word written Book of Nature, and the Word +in Holy Scripture, to of God, as truly interpreted +contradict one another, out of the Holy Scripture, to +however much they may appear contradict one another, +to differ. however much they may appear + to differ. +We are not forgetful that We are not forgetful that +Physical Science is not neither theological +complete, but is only in a interpretation nor physical +condition of progress, and knowledge is yet complete, but +that at present our finite that both are in a condition +reason enables us only to see of progress; and that at +as through a glass darkly, present our finite reason + enables us only to see both + one and the other as through a + glass darkly [the writers of + the original declaration have + distinctively applied to + physical science the phrase by + which St. Paul denotes the + imperfections of theological + vision, which they tacitly + assume to be quite perfect], +and we confidently believe, and we confidently believe, +that a time will come when the that a time will come when the +two records will be seen to two records will be seen to +agree in every particular. We agree in every particular. We +cannot but deplore that cannot but deplore that +Natural Science should be Religion should be looked upon +looked upon with suspicion by with suspicion by some and +many who do not make a study Science by others, of the +of it, merely on account of students of either who do not +the unadvised manner in which make a study of the {259} +some are placing it in other, merely on account of +opposition to Holy Writ. the unadvised manner in which + some are placing Religion in + opposition to Science, and + some are placing Science in + opposition to Religion. +We believe that it is the duty We believe that it is the duty +of every Scientific Student to of every theological student +investigate nature simply for to investigate the Scripture, +the purpose of elucidating and of every scientific +truth, student to investigate Nature, + simply for the purpose of + elucidating truth. +and that if he finds that some And if either should find that +of his results appear to be in some of his results appear to +contradiction to the Written be in contradiction, whether +Word, or rather to his own to Scripture or to Nature, or +_interpretations_ of it, which rather to his own +may be erroneous, he should _interpretation_ of one or the +not presumptuously affirm that other, which may be erroneous, +his own conclusions must be he should not affirm as with +right, and the statements of certainty that his own +Scripture wrong; conclusion must be right, and + the other interpretation + wrong: +rather, leave the two side by but should leave the two side +side till it shall please God by side for further inquiry +to allow us to see the manner into both, until it shall +in which they may be please God to allow us to +reconciled; arrive at the manner in which + they may be reconciled. +and, instead of insisting upon In the mean while, instead of +the seeming differences insisting, and least of all +between Science and the with acrimony or injurious +Scriptures, it would be as {260} statements about others, +well to rest in faith upon the upon the seeming differences +points in which they agree. between Science and the + Scriptures, it would be a + thousand times better to rest + in faith as to our future + state, in hope as to our + coming knowledge, and in + charity as to our present + differences. + +The distinctness of the fallacies is creditable to the composers, and shows +that scientific habits tend to clearness, even to sophistry. Nowhere does +it so plainly stand out that the _Written Word_ means the sense in which +the accuser takes it, while the sense of the other side is _their +interpretation_. The infallible church on one side, arrayed against +heretical pravity on the other, is seen in all subjects in which men +differ. At school there were various games in which one or another +advantage was the right of those who first called for it. In adult argument +the same thing is often attempted: we often hear--I cried _Church_ first! + +I end with the answer which I myself gave to the application: its revival +may possibly save me from a repetition of the like. If there be anything I +hate more than another it is the proposal to place any persons, especially +those who allow freedom to me, under any abridgment of their liberty to +think, to infer, and to publish. If they break the law, take the law; but +do not make the law: [Greek: agoraioi agontai enkaleitôsan allêlois.][410] +I would rather be asked to take shares in an argyrosteretic company (with +limited liability) for breaking into houses by night on fork and spoon +errands. I should put aside this proposal with _nothing but laughter_. It +was a joke against Sam Rogers[411] that his appearance was very like that +of a corpse. The _John Bull_ {261} newspaper--suppose we now say Theodore +Hook[412]--averred that when he hailed a coach one night in St. Paul's +Churchyard, the jarvey said, "Ho! ho! my man; I'm not going to be taken in +that way: go back to your grave!" This is the answer I shall make for the +future to any relics of a former time who shall want to call me off the +stand for their own purposes. What obligation have I to admit that they +belong to our world? + + + +"SCRIPTURE AND SCIENCE. + +"_The Writ De Hæretico Commiserando._[413] + +Nov. 14, 1864. + +"This document was sent to me four days ago. It 'solicits the favor'--I +thought at first it was a grocer's supplication for tea and sugar +patronage--of my signature to expression of 'sincere regret' that some +persons unnamed--general warrants are illegal--differ from what I am +supposed--by persons whom it does not concern--to hold about Scripture and +Science in their real or alleged discrepancies. + +"No such favor from me: for three reasons. First, I agree with Sir. J. +Herschel that the solicitation is an intrusion to be publicly repelled. +Secondly, I do _not_ regret that others should differ from me, think what I +may: those others are as good as I, and as well able to think, and as much +entitled to their conclusions. Thirdly, even if I did regret, I should be +ashamed to put my name to bad chemistry made to do duty for good reasoning. +The declaration is an awkward attempt to saturate sophism with truism; but +the sophism is left largely in excess. + +{262} + +"I owe the inquisitors a grudge for taking down my conceit of myself. For +two months I have crowed in my own mind over my friend Sir J. Herschel, +fancying that the promoters instinctively knew better than to bring their +fallacies before a writer on logic. Ah! my dear Sir John! thought I, if you +had shown yourself to be well up in _Barbara Celarent_,[414] and had ever +and anon astonished the natives with the distinction between _simpliciter_ +and _secundum quid_, no autograph-hunters would have baited a trap with +_non sequitur_[415] to catch your signature. What can I say now? I hide my +diminished head, diminished by the horns which I have been compelled to +draw in. + +"Those who make personal solicitation for support to an opinion about +religion are bound to know their men. The king had a right to Brother +Neale's money, because Brother Neale offered it. Had he put his hand into +purse after purse by way of finding out all who were of Brother Neale's +mind, he would have been justly met by a rap on the knuckles whenever he +missed his mark. + +"The kind of test before me is the utmost our time will allow of that +inquisition into opinion which has been the curse of Christianity ever +since the State took Providence under its protection. The writ _de hæretico +commiserando_ is little more than the smell of the empty cask: and those +who issue it may represent the old woman with her + + "O suavis anima, quale in te dicam bonum + Antehac fuisse; tales cum sint reliquiæ."[416] + +It is no excuse that the illegitimate bantling is a very little one. Its +parents may think themselves hardly treated when they are called lineal +successors of Tony Fire-the-faggot: {263} but, degenerate though they be, +such is their ancestry. Let every allowance be made for them: but their +unholy fire must be trodden out; so long as a spark is left, nothing but +fuel is wanted to make a blaze. If this cannot be done, let the flame be +confined to theology, though even there it burns with diminished vigor: and +let charity, candor, sense, and ridicule, be ready to play upon it whenever +there is any chance of its extending to literature and science. + +"What would be the consequence if this test-signing absurdity were to grow? +Deep would call unto deep; counter-declaration would answer declaration, +each stronger than the one before. The moves would go on like the dispute +of two German students, of whom each is bound to a sharper retort on a +graduated scale, until at last comes _dummer Junge_![417]--and then they +must fight. There is a gentleman in the upper fifteen of the signers of the +writ--the hawking of whose names appears to me very bad taste--whom I met +in cordial cooperation for many a year at a scientific board. All I knew +about his religion was that he, as a clergyman, must in some sense or other +receive the 39 Articles:--all that he could know about mine was that I was +some kind of heretic, or so reputed. If we had come to signing opposite +manifestoes, turn-about, we might have found ourselves in the lowest depths +of party discussion at our very council-table. I trust the list of +subscribers to the declaration, when it comes to be published, will show +that the bulk of those who have really added to our knowledge have seen the +thing in its true light. + +"The promoters--I say nothing about the subscribers--of the movement will, +I trust, not feel aggrieved at the course I have taken or the remarks I +have made. Walter Scott says that before we judge Napoleon by the +temptation to which he yielded, we ought to remember how much he may have +resisted: I invite them to apply this rule to myself; they can have no idea +of the feeling with which I {264} contemplate all attempts to repress +freedom of inquiry, nor of the loathing with which I recoil from the +proposal to be art and part. They have asked me to give a public opinion +upon a certain point. It is true that they have had the kindness to tender +both the opinion they wish me to form, and the shape in which they would +have it appear: I will let them draw me out, but I will not let them take +me in. If they will put an asterisk to my name, and this letter to the +asterisk, they are welcome to my signature. As I do not expect them to +relish this proposal, I will not solicit the favor of its adoption. But +they have given a right to think, for they have asked me to think; to +publish, for they have asked me to allow them to publish; to blame them, +for they have asked me to blame their betters. Should they venture to find +fault because my direction of disapproval, publicly given, is half a +revolution different from theirs, they will be known as having presented a +loaded document at the head of a traveler in the highway of discussion, +with--Your signature or your silence!" + + + +THE FLY-LEAF PARADOX. + +The paradox being the proposition of something which runs counter to what +would generally be thought likely, may present itself in many ways. There +is a _fly-leaf paradox_, which puzzled me for many years, until I found a +probable solution. I frequently saw, in the blank leaves of old books, +learned books, Bibles of a time when a Bible was very costly, etc., the +name of an owner who, by the handwriting and spelling, must have been an +illiterate person or a child, followed by the date of the book itself. +Accordingly, this uneducated person or young child seemed to be the first +owner, which in many cases was not credible. Looking one day at a +Barker's[418] Bible of 1599, I saw an {265} inscription in a child's +writing, which certainly belonged to a much later date. It was "Martha +Taylor, her book, giuen me by Granny Scott to keep for her sake." With this +the usual verses, followed by 1599, the date of the book. But it so chanced +that the blank page opposite the title, on which the above was written, was +a verso of the last leaf of a prayer book, which had been bound before the +Bible; and on the recto of this leaf was a colophon, with the date 1632. It +struck me immediately that uneducated persons and children, having seen +dates written under names, and not being quite up in chronology, did +frequently finish off with the date of the book, which stared them in the +face. + +Always write in your books. You may be a silly person--for though your +reading my book is rather a contrary presumption, yet it is not +conclusive--and your observations may be silly or irrelevant, but you +cannot tell what use they may be of long after you are gone where +Budgeteers cease from troubling. + +I picked up the following book, printed by J. Franklin[419] at Boston, +during the period in which his younger brother Benjamin was his apprentice. +And as Benjamin was apprenticed very early, and is recorded as having +learned the mechanical art very rapidly, there is some presumption that +part of it may be his work, though he was but thirteen at the time. As this +set of editions of Hodder[420] (by {266} Mose[421]) is not mentioned, to my +knowledge, I give the title in full: + + "Hodder's Arithmetick: or that necessary art made most easy: Being + explained in a way familiar to the capacity of any that desire to learn + it in a little time. By James Hodder, Writing-master. The Five and + twentieth edition, revised, augmented, and above a thousand faults + amended, by Henry Mose, late servant and successor to the author. + Boston: printed by J. Franklin, for S. Phillips, N. Buttolph, B. + Elliot, D. Henchman, G. Phillips, J. Elliot, and E. Negus, booksellers + in Boston, and sold at their shops. 1719." + +The book is a very small octavo, the type and execution are creditable, the +woodcut at the beginning is clumsy. It is a perfect copy, page for page, of +the English editions of Mose's Hodder, of which the one called seventeenth +is of London, 1690. There is not a syllable to show that the edition above +described might not be of Boston in England. Presumptions, but not very +strong ones, might be derived from the name of _Franklin_, and from the +large number of booksellers who combined in the undertaking. It chanced, +however, that a former owner had made the following note in my copy: + + "Wednessday, July y^e 14, 1796, att ten in y^e forenoon we sail^d from + Boston, came too twice, once in King Rode, and once in y^e Narrows. + Sail^d by y^e lighthouse in y^e even^g." + +{267} + +No ordinary map would decide these points: so I had to apply to my friend +Sir Francis Beaufort,[422] and the charts at the Admiralty decided +immediately for Massachusetts. + + + +PARADOXES OF ORTHOGRAPHY AND COMPUTATION. + +The French are able paradoxers in their spelling of foreign names. The Abbé +Sabatier de Castres,[423] in 1772, gives an account of an imaginary +dialogue between Swif, Adisson, Otwai, and Bolingbrocke. I had hoped that +this was a thing of former days, like the literal roasting of heretics; but +the charity which hopeth all things must hope for disappointments. Looking +at a recent work on the history of the popes, I found referred to, in the +matter of Urban VIII[424] and Galileo, references to the works of two +Englishmen, the Rev. Win Worewel and the Rev. Raden Powen. [Wm. Whewell and +Baden Powell].[425] + +I must not forget the "moderate computation" paradox. This is the way by +which large figures are usually obtained. Anything surprisingly great is +got by the "lowest computation," anything as surprisingly small by the +"utmost computation"; and these are the two great subdivisions of "moderate +computation." In this way we learn that 70,000 persons were executed in one +reign, and 150,000 persons {268} burned for witchcraft in one century. +Sometimes this computation is very close. By a card before me it appears +that all the Christians, including those dispersed in heathen countries, +those of Great Britain and Ireland excepted, are 198,728,000 people, and +pay their clergy 8,852,000l. But 6,400,000 people pay the clergy of the +Anglo-Irish Establishment 8,896,000l.; and 14,600,000 of other +denominations pay 1,024,000l. When I read moderate computations, I always +think of Voltaire and the "mémoires du fameux évêque de Chiapa, par +lesquels il paraît qu'il avait égorgé, ou brulé, ou noyé dix millions +d'infidèles en Amérique pour les convertir. Je crus que cet évêque +exaggérait; mais quand on réduisait ces sacrifices à cinq millions de +victimes, cela serait encore admirable."[426] + + + +CENTRIFUGAL FORCE. + +My Budget has been arranged by authors. This is the only plan, for much of +the remark is personal: the peculiarities of the paradoxer are a large part +of the interest of the paradox. As to subject-matter, there are points +which stand strongly out; the quadrature of the circle, for instance. But +there are others which cannot be drawn out so as to be conspicuous in a +review of writers: as one instance, I may take the _centrifugal force_. + +When I was about nine years old I was taken to hear a course of lectures, +given by an itinerant lecturer in a country town, to get as much as I could +of the second half of a good, sound, philosophical omniscience. The first +half (and sometimes more) comes by nature. To this end I smelt chemicals, +learned that they were different kinds of _gin_, saw young wags try to kiss +the girls under the excuse of what was called _laughing gas_--which I was +sure {269} was not to blame for more than five per cent of the requisite +assurance--and so forth. This was all well so far as it went; but there was +also the excessive notion of creative power exhibited in the millions of +miles of the solar system, of which power I wondered they did not give a +still grander idea by expressing the distances in inches. But even this was +nothing to the ingenious contrivance of the centrifugal force. "You have +heard what I have said of the wonderful centripetal force, by which Divine +Wisdom has retained the planets in their orbits round the Sun. But, ladies +and gentlemen, it must be clear to you that if there were no other force in +action, this centripetal force would draw our earth and the other planets +into the Sun, and universal ruin would ensue. To prevent such a +catastrophe, the same wisdom has implanted a centrifugal force of the same +amount, and directly opposite," etc. I had never heard of Alfonso X of +Castile,[427] but I ventured to think that if Divine Wisdom had just let +the planets alone it would come to the same thing, with equal and opposite +troubles saved. The paradoxers deal largely in speculation conducted upon +the above explanation. They provide external agents for what they call the +centrifugal force. Some make the sun's rays keep the planets off, without a +thought about what would become of our poor eyes if the _push_ of the light +which falls on the earth were a counterpoise to all its gravitation. The +true explanation cannot be given here, for want of room. + + + +CAMBRIDGE POETS. + +Sometimes a person who has a point to carry will assert a singular fact or +prediction for the sake of his point; and {270} this paradox has almost +obtained the sole use of the name. Persons who have reputation to care for +should beware how they adopt this plan, which now and then eventuates a +spanker, as the American editor said. Lord Byron, in "English Bards, etc." +(1809), ridiculing Cambridge poetry, wrote as follows: + + "But where fair Isis rolls her purer wave, + The partial muse delighted loves to lave; + On her green banks a greener wreath she wove, + To crown the bards that haunt her classic grove; + Where Richards[428] wakes a genuine poet's fires, + And modern Britons glory in their sires."[429] + +There is some account of the Rev. Geo. Richards, Fellow of Oriel and Vicar +of Bampton, (M.A. in 1791) in the _Living Authors_ by Watkins[430] and +Shoberl[431] (1816). In Rivers's _Living Authors_, of 1798, which is best +fitted for citation, as being published before Lord Byron wrote, he is +spoken of in high terms. The _Aboriginal Britons_ was an Oxford (special) +prize poem, of 1791. Charles Lamb mentions Richards as his school-fellow at +Christ's Hospital, "author of the _Aboriginal Britons_, the most spirited +of the Oxford Prize Poems: a pale, studious Grecian." + +As I never heard of Richards as a poet,[432] I conclude that his fame is +defunct, except in what may prove to be a very ambiguous kind of +immortality, conferred by Lord Byron. The awkwardness of a case which time +has broken down {271} is increased by the eulogist himself adding so +powerful a name to the list of Cambridge poets, that his college has placed +his statue in the library, more conspicuously than that of Newton in the +chapel; and this although the greatness of poetic fame had some serious +drawbacks in the moral character of some of his writings. And it will be +found on inquiry that Byron, to get his instance against Cambridge, had to +go back eighteen years, passing over seven intermediate productions, of +which he had either never heard, or which he would not cite as waking a +genuine poet's fires. + +The conclusion seems to be that the _Aboriginal Britons_ is a remarkable +youthful production, not equalled by subsequent efforts. + +To enhance the position in which the satirist placed himself, two things +should be remembered. First, the glowing and justifiable terms in which +Byron had spoken,--a hundred and odd lines before he found it convenient to +say no Cambridge poet could compare with Richards,--of a Cambridge poet who +died only three years before Byron wrote, and produced greatly admired +works while actually studying in the University. The fame of Kirke +White[433] still lives; and future literary critics may perhaps compare his +writings and those of Richards, simply by reason of the curious relation in +which they are here placed alongside of each other. And it is much to +Byron's credit that, in speaking of the deceased Cambridge poet, he forgot +his own argument and its exigencies, and proved himself only a paradoxer +_pro re nata_. + +Secondly, Byron was very unfortunate in another passage of the same poem: + +{272} + + "What varied wonders tempt us as they pass! + The cow-pox, tractors, galvanism, and gas. + In turns appear, to make the vulgar stare, + Till the swoln bubble bursts--and all is air!" + +Three of the bubbles have burst to mighty ends. The metallic tractors are +disused; but the force which, if anything, they put in action, is at this +day, under the name of mesmerism, used, prohibited, respected, scorned, +assailed, defended, asserted, denied, declared utterly obscure, and +universally known. It was hard lines to select for candidates for oblivion +not one of whom got in. I shall myself, I am assured, be some day cited for +laughing at the great discovery of ----: the blank is left for my reader to +fill up in his own way; but I think I shall not be so unlucky in four +different ways. + + + +FALSIFIED PREDICTION. + +The narration before the fact, as prophecy has been called, sometimes quite +as true as the narration after the fact, is very ridiculous when it is +wrong. Why, the pre-narrator could not know; the post-narrator might have +known. A good collection of unlucky predictions might be made: I hardly +know one so fit to go with Byron's as that of the Rev. Daniel Rivers, +already quoted, about Johnson's biographers. Peter Pindar[434] may be +excused, as personal satire was his object, for addressing Boswell and Mrs. +Piozzi[435] as follows: + + "Instead of adding splendor to his name, + Your books are downright gibbets to his fame; + You never with posterity can thrive, + 'Tis by the Rambler's death alone you live." + +But Rivers, in prose narrative, was not so excusable. He says: + +{273} + +"As admirers of the learning and moral excellence of their hero, we glow at +almost every page with indignation that his weaknesses and his failings +should be disclosed to public view.... Johnson, after the luster he had +reflected on the name of Thrale ... was to have his memory tortured and +abused by her detested itch for scribbling. More injury, we will venture to +affirm, has been done to the fame of Johnson by this Lady and her late +biographical helpmate, than his most avowed enemies have been able to +effect: and if his character becomes unpopular with some of his successors, +it is to those gossiping friends he is indebted for the favor." + +Poor dear old Sam! the best known dead man alive! clever, good-hearted, +logical, ugly bear! Where would he have been if it had not been for Boswell +and Thrale, and their imitators? What would biography have been if Boswell +had not shown how to write a life? + +Rivers is to be commended for not throwing a single Stone at Mrs. Thrale's +second marriage. This poor lady begins to receive a little justice. The +literary world seems to have found out that a blue-stocking dame who keeps +open house for a set among them has a right, if it so please her, to marry +again without taking measures to carry on the cake-shop. I was before my +age in this respect: as a boy-reader of Boswell, and a few other things +that fell in my way, I came to a clearness that the conduct of society +towards Mrs. Piozzi was _blackguard_. She wanted nothing but what was in +that day a woman's only efficient protection, a male relation with a brace +of pistols, and a competent notion of using them. + + + +BYRON AND WORDSWORTH. + +Byron's mistake about Hallam in the Pindar story may be worth placing among +absurdities. For elucidation, suppose that some poet were now to speak-- +{274} + + "Of man's first disobedience, and the fruit + Eve gave to Adam in his birthday suit--" + +and some critic were to call it nonsense, would that critic be laughing at +Milton? Payne Knight,[436] in his _Taste_, translated part of Gray's _Bard_ +into Greek. Some of his lines are + + [Greek: therma d' ho tengôn dakrua stonachais] + [Greek: oulon melos phoberai] + [Greek: êeide phônai.] + +Literally thus: + + "Wetting warm tears with groans, + Continuous chant with fearful + Voice he sang." + +On which Hallam remarks: "The twelfth line [our first] is nonsense." And so +it is, a poet can no more wet his tears with his groans than wet his ale +with his whistle. Now this first line is from Pindar, but is only part of +the sense; in full it is: + + [Greek: therma de tengôn dakrua stonachais] + [Greek: horthion phônase.] + +Pindar's [Greek: tengôn] must be Englished by _shedding_, and he stands +alone in this use. He says, "shedding warm tears, he cried out loud, with +groans." Byron speaks of + + "Classic Hallam, much renowned for Greek:" + +and represents him as criticising _the Greek_ of all Payne's lines, and not +discovering that "the lines" were Pindar's {275} until after publication. +Byron was too much of a scholar to make this blunder himself: he either +accepted the facts from report, or else took satirical licence. And why +not? If you want to laugh at a person, and he will not give occasion, whose +fault is it that you are obliged to make it? Hallam did criticise some of +Payne Knight's Greek; but with the caution of his character, he remarked +that possibly some of these queer phrases might be "critic-traps" justified +by some one use of some one author. I remember well having a Latin essay to +write at Cambridge, in which I took care to insert a few monstrous and +unusual idioms from Cicero: a person with a Nizolius,[437] and without +scruples may get scores of them. So when my tutor raised his voice against +these oddities, I was up to him, for I came down upon him with Cicero, +chapter and verse, and got round him. And so my own solecisms, many of +them, passed unchallenged. + +Byron had more good in his nature than he was fond of letting out: whether +he was a soured misanthrope, or whether his _vein_ lay that way in poetry, +and he felt it necessary to fit his demeanor to it, are matters far beyond +me. Mr. Crabb Robinson[438] told me the following story more than once. He +was at Charles Lamb's chambers in the Temple when Wordsworth came in, with +the new _Edinburgh Review_ in his hand, and fume on his countenance. "These +reviewers," said he, "put me out of patience! Here is a young man--they say +he is a lord--who has written a volume of poetry; and these fellows, just +because he is a lord, set upon him, laugh at him, and sneer at his writing. +The young man will do something, if he goes on as he has begun. But these +reviewers seem to think {276} that nobody may write poetry, unless he lives +in a garret." Crabb Robinson told this long after to Lady Byron, who said, +"Ah! if Byron had known that, he would never have attacked Wordsworth. He +went one day to meet Wordsworth at dinner; when he came home I said, 'Well, +how did the young poet get on with the old one?' 'Why, to tell you the +truth,' said he, 'I had but one feeling from the beginning of the visit to +the end, and that was--_reverence_!'" Lady Byron told my wife that her +husband had a very great respect for Wordsworth. I suppose he would have +said--as the Archangel said to his Satan--"Our difference is po[li = +e]tical." + +I suspect that Fielding would, if all were known, be ranked among the +unlucky railers at supposed paradox. In his _Miscellanies_ (1742, 8vo) he +wrote a satire on the Chrysippus or Guinea, an animal which multiplies +itself by division, like the polypus. This he supposes to have been drawn +up by Petrus Gualterus, meaning the famous usurer, Peter Walter. He calls +it a paper "proper to be read before the R----l Society": and next year, +1743, a quarto reprint was made to resemble a paper in the _Philosophical +Transactions_. So far as I can make out, one object is ridicule of what the +zoologists said about the polypus: a reprint in the form of the +_Transactions_ was certainly satire on the Society, not on Peter Walter and +his knack of multiplying guineas. + +Old poets have recognized the quadrature of the circle as a well-known +difficulty. Dante compares himself, when bewildered, to a geometer who +cannot find the principle on which the circle is to be measured: + + "Quale è 'l geometra che tutto s' affige + Per misurar lo cerchio, e non ritruova, + Pensando qual principio ond' egli indige."[439] + +{277} And Quarles[440] speaks as follows of the _summum bonum_: + + "Or is't a tart idea, to procure + An edge, and keep the practic soul in ure, + Like that dear chymic dust, or puzzling quadrature?" + +The poetic notion of the quadrature must not be forgotten. Aristophanes, in +the _Birds_, introduces a geometer who announces his intention to _make a +square circle_. Pope, in the _Dunciad_, delivers himself as follows, with a +Greek pronunciation rather strange in a translator of Homer. Probably Pope +recognized, as a general rule, the very common practice of throwing back +the accent in defiance of quantity, seen in o´rator, au´ditor, se´nator, +ca´tenary, etc. + + "Mad _Mathesis_ alone was unconfined, + Too mad for mere material chains to bind,-- + Now to pure space lifts her ecstatic stare, + Now, running round the circle, finds it square." + +The author's note explains that this "regards the wild and fruitless +attempts of squaring the circle." The poetic idea seems to be that the +geometers try to make a square circle. Disraeli quotes it as "finds _its_ +square," but the originals do not support this reading. + + + +DE BECOURT. + +I have come in the way of a work, entitled _The Grave of Human +Philosophies_ (1827), translated from the French of R. de Bécourt[441] by +A. Dalmas. It supports, but I suspect not very accurately, the views of the +old Hindu books. {278} That the sun is only 450 miles from us, and only 40 +miles in diameter, may be passed over; my affair is with the state of mind +into which persons of M. Bécourt's temperament are brought by a fancy. He +fully grants, as certain, four millions of years as the duration of the +Hindu race, and 1956 as that of the universe. It must be admitted he is not +wholly wrong in saying that our errors about the universe proceed from our +ignorance of its origin, antiquity, organization, laws, and final +destination. Living in an age of light, he "avails himself of that +opportunity" to remove this veil of darkness, etc. The system of the +Brahmins is the only true one: he adds that it has never before been +attempted, as it could not be obtained except by him. The author requests +us first, to lay aside prejudice; next, to read all he says in the order in +which he says it: we may then pronounce judgment upon a work which begins +by taking the Brahmins for granted. All the paradoxers make the same +requests. They do not see that compliance would bring thousands of systems +before the world every year: we have scores as it is. How is a poor candid +inquirer to choose. Fortunately, the mind has its grand jury as well as its +little one: and it will not put a book upon its trial without a _prima +facie_ case in its favor. And with most of those who really search for +themselves, that case is never made out without evidence of knowledge, +standing out clear and strong, in the book to be examined. + + + +BEQUEST OF A QUADRATURE. + +There is much private history which will never come to light, _caret quia +vate sacro_,[442] because no Budgeteer comes across it. Many years ago a +man of business, whose life was passed in banking, amused his leisure with +quadrature, was successful of course, and bequeathed the result in a sealed +book, which the legatee was enjoined not to sell {279} under a thousand +pounds. The true ratio was 3.1416: I have the anecdote from the legatee's +executor, who opened the book. That a banker should square the circle is +very credible: but how could a City man come by the notion that a thousand +pounds could be got for it? A friend of mine, one of the twins of my +zodiac, will spend a thousand pounds, if he have not done it already, in +black and white cyclometry: but I will answer for it that he, a man of +sound business notions, never entertained the idea of [pi] recouping him, +as they now say. I speak of individual success: of course if a company were +formed, especially if it were of unlimited lie-ability, the shares would be +taken. No offence; there is nothing but what a pun will either sanctify, +justify, or nullify: + + "It comes o'er the soul like the sweet South + That breathes upon a bank of _vile hits_." + +The shares would be at a premium of 3-1/8 on the day after issue. If they +presented me with the number of shares I deserve, for suggestion and +advertisement, I should stand up for the Archpriest of St. Vitus[443] and +3-1/5, with a view to a little more gold on the bridge. + +I now insert a couple of reviews, one about Cyclopædias, one about +epistolary collections. Should any reader wish for explanation of this +insertion, I ask him to reflect a moment, and imagine me set to justify all +the additions now before him! In truth these reviews are the repositories +of many odds and ends: they were not made to the books; the materials were +in my notes, and the books came as to a ready-made clothes shop, and found +what would fit them. Many remember Curll's[444] bequest of some very good +titles {280} which only wanted treatises written to them. Well! here were +some tolerable reviews--as times go--which only wanted books fitted to +them. Accordingly, some tags were made to join on the books; and then as +the reader sees. + +I should find it hard to explain why the insertion is made in this place +rather than another. But again, suppose I were put to make such an +explanation throughout the volume. The improver who laid out grounds and +always studied what he called _unexpectedness_, was asked what name he gave +it for those who walked over his grounds a second time. He was silenced; +but I have an answer: It is that which is given by the very procedure of +taking up my book a second time. + + + +REVIEW OF CYCLOPÆDIAS. + + October 19, 1861. _The English Cyclopædia._ Conducted by Charles + Knight.[445] 22 vols.: viz., _Geography_, 4 vols.; _Biography_, 6 + vols.; _Natural History_, 4 vols.; _Arts and Sciences_, 8 vols. + (Bradbury & Evans.) + + _The Encyclopædia Britannica: a Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and + General Literature._ Eighth Edition. 21 vols. and Index. (Black.) + +The two editions above described are completed at the same time: and they +stand at the head of the two great branches into which pantological +undertakings are divided, as at once the largest and the best of their +classes. + +When the works are brought together, the first thing that strikes the eye +is the syllable of difference in the names. The word _Cyclopædia_ is a bit +of modern purism. Though [Greek: enkuklopaideia][446] is not absolutely +Greek of Greece, we learn from both Pliny[447] and Quintilian[448] that the +circle {281} of the sciences was so called by the Greeks, and +Vitruvius[449] has thence naturalized _encyclium_ in Latin. Nevertheless we +admit that the initial _en_ would have euphonized but badly with the word +_Penny_: and the _English Cyclopædia_ is the augmented, revised, and +distributed edition of the _Penny Cyclopædia_. It has indeed been said that +Cyclopædia should mean the education _of_ a circle, just as Cyropædia is +the education _of_ Cyrus. But this is easily upset by Aristotle's word +[Greek: kuklophoria],[450] motion _in_ a circle, and by many other cases, +for which see the lexicon. + +The earliest printed Encyclopædia of this kind was perhaps the famous +"myrrour of the worlde," which Caxton[451] translated from the French and +printed in 1480. The original Latin is of the thirteenth century, or +earlier. This is a collection of very short treatises. In or shortly after +1496 appeared the _Margarita Philosophica_ of Gregory Reisch,[452] the same +we must suppose, who was confessor to the Emperor Maximilian.[453] This is +again a collection of treatises, of much more pretension: and the +estimation formed of it is proved by the number of editions it went +through. In 1531 appeared the little collection of _works_ of +Ringelberg,[454] which is truly called an Encyclopædia by {282} Morhof, +though the thumbs and fingers of the two hands will meet over the length of +its one volume. There are more small collections; but we pass on to the +first work to which the name of _Encyclopædia_ is given. This is a +ponderous _Scientiarum Omnium Encyclopædia_ of Alsted,[455] in four folio +volumes, commonly bound in two: published in 1629 and again in 1649; the +true parent of all the Encyclopædias, or collections of treatises, or works +in which that character predominates. The first great _dictionary_ may +perhaps be taken to be Hofman's _Lexicon Universale_[456] (1677); but +Chambers's[457] (so called) _Dictionary_ (1728) has a better claim. And we +support our proposed nomenclature by observing that Alsted accidentally +called his work _En_cyclopædia, and Chambers simply Cyclopædia. + +We shall make one little extract from the _myrrour_, and one from +Ringelberg. Caxton's author makes a singular remark for his time; and one +well worthy of attention. The grammar rules of a language, he says, must +have been invented by foreigners: "And whan any suche tonge was perfytely +had and usyd amonge any people, than other people not used to the same +tonge caused rulys to be made wherby they myght lerne the same tonge ... +and suche rulys be called the gramer of that tonge." Ringelberg says that +if the right nostril bleed, the little finger of the right hand should be +crooked, and squeezed with great force; and the same for the left. + +{283} + +We pass on to _the_ Encyclopédie,[458] commenced in 1751; the work which +has, in many minds, connected the word _encyclopædist_ with that of +_infidel_. Readers of our day are surprised when they look into this work, +and wonder what has become of all the irreligion. The truth is, that the +work--though denounced _ab ovo_[459] on account of the character of its +supporters--was neither adapted, nor intended, to excite any particular +remark on the subject: no work of which D'Alembert[460] was co-editor would +have been started on any such plan. For, first, he was a real _sceptic_: +that is, doubtful, with a mind not made up. Next, he valued his quiet more +than anything; and would as soon have gone to sleep over an hornet's nest +as have contemplated a systematic attack upon either religion or +government. As to Diderot[461]--of whose varied career of thought it is +difficult to fix the character of any one moment, but who is very +frequently taken among us for a pure atheist--we will quote one sentence +from the article "_Encyclopédie_," which he wrote himself:--"Dans le moral, +il n'y a que Dieu qui doit servir de modèle a 1'homme; dans les art, que la +nature."[462] + +A great many readers in our country have but a very hazy idea of the +difference between the political Encyclopædia, as we may call it, and the +_Encyclopédie Méthodique_,[463] which we always take to be meant--whether +rightly or not we cannot tell--when we hear of the "great French +Encyclopædia." This work, which takes much from its {284} predecessor, +professing to correct it, was begun in 1792, and finished in 1832. There +are 166 volumes of text, and 6439 plates, which are sometimes incorporated +with the text, sometimes make about 40 more volumes. This is still the +monster production of the kind; though probably the German Cyclopædia of +Ersch and Gruber,[464] which was begun in 1818, and is still in progress, +will beat it in size. The great French work is a collection of +dictionaries; it consists of Cyclopædias of all the separate branches of +knowledge. It is not a work, but a collection of works, one or another +department is to be bought from time to time; but we never heard of a +complete set for sale in one lot. As ships grow longer and longer, the +question arises what limit there is to the length. One answer is, that it +will never do to try such a length that the stern will be rotten before the +prow is finished. This wholesome rule has not been attended to in the +matter before us; the earlier parts of the great French work were +antiquated before the whole were completed: something of the kind will +happen to that of Ersch and Gruber. + +The production of a great dictionary of either of the kinds is far from an +easy task. There is one way of managing the _En_cyclopædia which has been +largely resorted to; indeed, we may say that no such work has been free +from it. This plan is to throw all the attention upon the great treatises, +and to resort to paste and scissors, or some process of equally easy +character, for the smaller articles. However it may be done, it has been +the rule that the Encyclopædia of treatises should have its supplemental +Dictionary of a very incomplete character. It is true that the treatises +are intended to do a good deal; and that the Index, if it be good, knits +the treatises and the dictionary into one whole of reference. Still there +are two stools, and between them a great deal will fall to the ground. The +dictionary portion of the _Britannica_ is not to be compared with its {285} +treatises; the part called Miscellaneous and Lexicographical in the +_Metropolitana_[465] is a great failure. The defect is incompleteness. The +biographical portion, for example, of the Britannica is very defective: of +many names of note in literature and science, which become known to the +reader from the treatises, there is no account whatever in the dictionary. +So that the reader who has learnt the results of a life in astronomy, for +example, must go to some other work to know when that life began and ended. +This defect has run through all the editions; it is in the casting of the +work. The reader must learn to take the results at their true value, which +is not small. He must accustom himself to regard the Britannica as a +splendid body of treatises on all that can be called heads of knowledge, +both greater and smaller; with help from the accompanying dictionary, but +not of the most complete character. Practically, we believe, this defect +cannot be avoided: two plans of essentially different structure cannot be +associated on the condition of each or either being allowed to abbreviate +the other. + +The defect of all others which it is most difficult to avoid is inequality +of performance. Take any dictionary you please, of any kind which requires +the association of a number of contributors, and this defect must result. +We do not merely mean that some will do their work better than others; this +of course: we mean that there will be structural differences of execution, +affecting the relative extent of the different parts of the whole, as well +as every other point by which a work can be judged. A wise editor will not +attempt any strong measures of correction: he will remember that if some +portions be below the rest, which is a disadvantage, it follows that some +portions must be above the rest, which is an advantage. The only practical +level, if {286} level there must be, is that of mediocrity, if not of +absolute worthlessness: any attempt to secure equality of strength will +result in equality of weakness. Efficient development may be cut down into +meager brevity, and in this way only can apparent equality of plan be +secured throughout. It is far preferable to count upon differences of +execution, and to proceed upon the acknowledged expectation that the +prominent merits of the work will be settled by the accidental character of +the contributors; it being held impossible that any editorial efforts can +secure a uniform standard of goodness. Wherever the greatest power is +found, it should be suffered to produce its natural effect. There are, +indeed, critics who think that the merit of a book, like the strength of a +chain, is that of its weakest part: but there are others who know that the +parallel does not hold, and who will remember that the union of many +writers must show exaggeration of the inequalities which almost always +exist in the production of one person. The true plan is to foster all the +good that can be got, and to give development in the directions in which +most resources are found: a Cyclopædia, like a plant, should grow towards +the light. + +The _Penny Cyclopædia_ had its share of this kind of defect or excellence, +according to the way in which the measure is taken. The circumstance is not +so much noticed as might be expected, and this because many a person is in +the habit of using such a dictionary chiefly with relation to one subject, +his own; and more still want it for the pure dictionary purpose, which does +not go much beyond the meaning of the word. But the person of full and +varied reference feels the differences; and criticism makes capital of +them. The Useful Knowledge Society was always odious to the organs of +religious bigotry; and one of them, adverting to the fact that geography +was treated with great ability, and most unusual fullness, in the _Penny +Cyclopædia_, announced it by making it the sole merit of {287} the work +that, with sufficient addition, it would make a tolerably good gazetteer. + +Some of our readers may still have hanging about them the feelings derived +from this old repugnance of a class to all that did not associate direct +doctrinal teaching of religion with every attempt to communicate knowledge. +I will take one more instance, by way of pointing out the extent to which +stupidity can go. If there be an astronomical fact of the telescopic +character which, next after Saturn's ring and Jupiter's satellites, was +known to all the world, it was the existence of multitudes of double stars, +treble stars, etc. A respectable quarterly of the theological cast, which +in mercy we refrain from naming, was ignorant of this common +knowledge,--imagined that the mention of such systems was a blunder of one +of the writers in the _Penny Cyclopædia_, and lashed the presumed ignorance +of the statement in the following words, delivered in April, 1837: + + "We have forgotten the name of that Sidrophel who lately discovered + that the fixed stars were not single stars, but appear in the heavens + like soles at Billingsgate, in pairs; while a second astronomer, under + the influence of that competition in trade which the political + economists tell us is so advantageous to the public, professes to show + us, through his superior telescope, that the apparently single stars + are really three. Before such wondrous mandarins of science, how + continually must _homunculi_ like ourselves keep in the background, + lest we come between the wind and their nobility." + +Certainly these little men ought to have kept in the background; but they +did not: and the growing reputation of the work which they assailed has +chronicled them in literary history; grubs in amber. + +This important matter of inequality, which has led us so far, is one to +which the _Encyclopædia_ is as subject as the _Cyclopædia_; but it is not +so easily recognized as a fault. {288} We receive the first book as mainly +a collection of treatises: we know their authors, and we treat them as +individuals. We see, for instance, the names of two leading writers on +Optics, Brewster[466] and Herschel.[467] It would not at all surprise us if +either of these writers should be found criticising the other by name, even +though the very view opposed should be contained in the same _Encyclopædia_ +with the criticism. And in like manner, we should hold it no wonder if we +found some third writer not comparable to either of those we have named. It +is not so in the _Cyclopædia_: here we do not know the author, except by +inference from a list of which we never think while consulting the work. We +do not dissent from this or that author: we blame the book. + +The _Encyclopædia Britannica_ is an old friend. Though it holds a proud +place in our present literature, yet the time was when it stood by itself, +more complete and more clear than anything which was to be found elsewhere. +There must be studious men alive in plenty who remember when they were +studious boys, what a literary luxury it was to pass a few days in the +house of a friend who had a copy of this work. The present edition is a +worthy successor of those which went before. The last three editions, +terminating in 1824, 1842, and 1861, seem to show that a lunar cycle cannot +pass without an amended and augmented edition. Detailed criticism is out of +the question; but we may notice the effective continuance of the plan of +giving general historical dissertations on the progress of knowledge. Of +some of these dissertations we have had to take separate notice; and all +will be referred to in our ordinary treatment of current literature.[468] + +The literary excellence of these two extensive undertakings is of the same +high character. To many this will {289} need justification: they will not +easily concede to the cheap and recent work a right to stand on the same +shelf with the old and tried magazine, newly replenished with the best of +everything. Those who are cognizant by use of the kind of material which +fills the _Penny Cyclopædia_ will need no further evidence: to others we +shall quote a very remarkable and certainly very complete testimony. The +_Cyclopædia of the Physical Sciences_, published by Dr. Nichol[469] in 1857 +(noticed by us, April 4), is one of the most original of our special +dictionaries. The following is an extract from the editor's preface: + + "When I assented to Mr. Griffin's proposal that I should edit such a + Cyclopædia, I had it in my mind that I might make the _scissors_ + eminently effective. Alas! on narrowly examining our best Cyclopædias, + I found that the scissors had become blunted through too frequent and + vigorous use. One great exception exists: viz., the _Penny Cyclopædia_ + of Charles Knight.[470] The cheapest and the least pretending, it is + really the most philosophical of our _scientific_ dictionaries. It is + not made up of a series of treatises, some good and many indifferent, + but is a thorough _Dictionary_, well proportioned and generally written + by the best men of the time. The more closely it is examined, the more + deeply will our obligation be felt to the intelligence and + conscientiousness of its projector and editor." + +After Dr. Nichol's candid and amusing announcement of his scissorial +purpose, it is but fair to state that nothing of the kind was ultimately +carried into effect, even upon the work in which he found so much to +praise. I quote this testimony because it is of a peculiar kind. + +{290} + +The success of the _Penny Magazine_ led Mr. Charles Knight in 1832 to +propose to the Useful Knowledge Society a Cyclopædia in weekly penny +numbers. These two works stamp the name of the projector on the literature +of our day in very legible characters. Eight volumes of 480 pages each were +contemplated; and Mr. Long[471] and Mr. Knight were to take the joint +management. The plan embraced a popular account of Art and Science, with +very brief biographical and geographical information. The early numbers of +the work had some of the _Penny Magazine_ character: no one can look at the +pictures of the Abbot and Abbess in their robes without seeing this. By the +time the second volume was completed, it was clearly seen that the plan was +working out its own extension: a great development of design was submitted +to, and Mr. Long became sole editor. Contributors could not be found to +make articles of the requisite power in the assigned space. One of them +told us that when he heard of the eight volumes, happening to want a shelf +to be near at hand for containing the work as it went on, he ordered it to +be made to hold twenty-five volumes easily. But the inexorable logic of +facts beat him after all: for the complete work contained twenty-six +volumes and two thick volumes of Supplement. + +The penny issue was brought to an end by the state of the law, which +required, in 1833, that the first and last page of everything sold +separately should contain the name and address of the printer. The penny +numbers contained this imprint on the fold of the outer leaf: and _qui +tam_[472] informations were laid against the agents in various towns. {291} +It became necessary to call in the stock; and the penny issue was +abandoned. Monthly parts were substituted, which varied in bulk, as the +demands of the plan became more urgent, and in price from one sixpence to +three. The second volume of Supplement appeared in 1846, and during the +fourteen years of issue no one monthly part was ever behind its time. This +result is mainly due to the peculiar qualities of Mr. Long, who unites the +talents of the scholar and the editor in a degree which is altogether +unusual. If any one should imagine that a mixed mass of contributors is a +punctual piece of machinery, let him take to editing upon that hypothesis, +and he shall see what he shall see and learn what he shall learn. + +The _English_ contains about ten per cent more matter than the _Penny +Cyclopædia_ and its supplements; including the third supplementary volume +of 1848, which we now mention for the first time. The literary work of the +two editions cost within 500l. and 50,000l.: that of the two editions of +the _Britannica_ cost 41,000l. But then it is to be remembered that the +_Britannica_ had matter to begin upon, which had been paid for in the +former editions. Roughly speaking, it is probable that the authorship of a +page of the same size would have cost nearly the same in one as in the +other. + +The longest articles in the _Penny Cyclopædia_ were "Rome" in 98 columns +and "Yorkshire" in 86 columns. The only article which can be called a +treatise is the Astronomer Royal's "Gravitation," founded on the method of +Newton in the eleventh section, but carried to a much greater extent. In +the _English Cyclopædia_, the longest article of geography is "Asia," in 45 +columns. In natural history the antelopes demand 36 columns. In biography, +"Wellington" uses up 42 columns, and his great military opponent 41 +columns. In the division of Arts and Sciences, which includes much of a +social and commercial character, the length of articles often depends upon +the state of the {292} times with regard to the subject. Our readers would +not hit the longest article of this department in twenty guesses: it is +"Deaf and Dumb" in 60 columns. As other specimens, we may cite Astronomy, +19; Banking, 36; Blind, 24; British Museum, 35; Cotton, 27; Drama, 26; +Gravitation, 50; Libraries, 50; Painting, 34; Railways, 18; Sculpture, 36; +Steam, etc., 37; Table, 40; Telegraph, 30; Welsh language and literature, +39; Wool, 21. These are the long articles of special subdivisions: the +words under which the _En_cyclopædia gives treatises are not so prominent. +As in Algebra, 10; Chemistry, 12; Geometry, 8; Logic, 14; Mathematics, 5; +Music, 9. But the difference between the collection of treatises and the +dictionary may be illustrated thus: though "Mathematics" have only five +columns, "Mathematics, recent terminology of," has eight: and this article +we believe to be by Mr. Cayley,[473] who certainly ought to know his +subject, being himself a large manufacturer of the new terms which he +explains. Again, though "Music" _in genere_, as the schoolmen said, has +only nine columns, "Temperament and Tuning," has eight, and "Chord" alone +has two. And so on. + +In a dictionary of this kind it is difficult to make a total clearance of +_personality_: by which we mean that exhibition of peculiar opinion which +is offensive to taste when it is shifted from the individual on the +corporate book. The treatise of the known author may, as we have said, +carry that author's controversies on its own shoulders: and even his +crotchets, if we may use such a word. But {293} the dictionary should not +put itself into antagonism with general feeling, nor even with the feelings +of classes. We refer particularly to the ordinary and editorial teaching of +the article. If, indeed, the writer, being at issue with mankind, should +confess the difference, and give abstract of his full grounds, the case is +altered: the editor then, as it were, admits a correspondent to a statement +of his own individual views. The dictionary portion of the Britannica is +quite clear of any lapses on this point, so far as we know: the treatises +and dissertations rest upon their authors. The Penny Cyclopædia was all but +clear: and great need was there that it should have been so. The Useful +Knowledge Society, starting on the principle of perfect neutrality in +politics and religion, was obliged to keep strict watch against the +entrance of all attempt even to look over the hedge. There were two--we +believe only two--instances of what we have called personality. The first +was in the article "Bunyan." It is worth while to extract all that is +said--in an article of thirty lines--about a writer who is all but +universally held to be the greatest master of allegory that ever wrote: + + "His works were collected in two volumes, folio, 1736-7: among them + 'The Pilgrim's Progress' has attained the greatest notoriety. If a + judgment is to be formed of the merits of a book by the number of times + it has been reprinted, and the many languages into which it has been + translated, no production in English literature is superior to this + coarse allegory. On a composition which has been extolled by Dr. + Johnson, and which in our own times has received a very high critical + opinion in its favor [probably Southey], it is hazardous to venture a + disapproval, and we, perhaps, speak the opinion of a small minority + when we confess that to us it appears to be mean, jejune and + wearisome." + +--If the unfortunate critic who thus individualized himself had been a +sedulous reader of Bunyan, his power over {294} English would not have been +so _jejune_ as to have needed that fearful word. This little bit of +criticism excited much amusement at the time of its publication: but it was +so thoroughly exceptional and individual that it was seldom or never +charged on the book. The second instance occurred in the article +"Socinians." It had been arranged that the head-words of Christian sects +should be intrusted to members of the sects themselves, on the +understanding that the articles should simply set forth the accounts which +the sects themselves give of their own doctrines. Thus the article on the +Roman Church was written by Dr. Wiseman.[474] But the Unitarians were not +allowed to come within the rule: as in other quarters, they were treated as +the gypsies of Christianity. Under the head "Socinians"--a name repudiated +by themselves--an opponent was allowed not merely to state their alleged +doctrines in his own way, but to apply strong terms, such as "audacious +unfairness," to some of their doings. The protests which were made against +this invasion of the understanding produced, in due time, the article +"Unitarians," written by one of that persuasion. We need not say that these +errors have been amended in the English Cyclopædia: and our chief purpose +in mentioning them is to remark, that this is all we can find on the points +in question against twenty-eight large volumes produced by an editor whose +task was monthly, and whose issue was never delayed a single hour. How much +was arrested before publication none but himself can say. We have not +alluded to one or two remonstrances on questions of absolute fact, which +are beside the present purpose. + +Both kinds of encyclopædic works have been fashioned upon predecessors, +from the very earliest which had a predecessor to be founded upon; and the +undertakings before us will be themselves the ancestors of a line of +successors. Those who write in such collections should be {295} careful +what they say, for no one can tell how long a mis-statement may live. On +this point we will give the history of a pair of epithets. When the +historian De Thou[475] died, and left the splendid library which was +catalogued by Bouillaud[476] and the brothers Dupuis[477] (Bullialdus and +Puteanus), there was a manuscript of De Thou's friend Vieta,[478] the +_Harmonicon Coeleste_, of which it is on record, under Bouillaud's hand, +that he himself lent it to Cosmo de' Medici,[479] to which must be added +that M. Libri[480] found it in the Magliabecchi Library at Florence in our +own day. Bouillaud, it seems, entirely forgot what he had done. Something, +probably, that Peter Dupuis said to Bouillaud, while they were at work on +the catalogue, remained on his memory, and was published by him in 1645, +long after; to the effect that Dupuis lent the manuscript to Mersenne,[481] +from whom it was procured by some intending plagiarist, who would not give +it back. This was repeated by Sherburne,[482] in 1675, who speaks of the +work, which "being communicated to Mersennus was, by some perfidious +acquaintance of that honest-minded person, surreptitiously taken from him, +and irrecoverably lost or suppressed, to the unspeakable detriment of the +lettered world." Now let the {296} reader look through the dictionaries of +the last century and the present, scientific or general, at the article, +"Vieta," and he will be amused with the constant recurrence of +"honest-minded" Mersenne, and his "surreptitious" acquaintance. We cannot +have seen less than thirty copies of these epithets. + + + +REVIEW OF MACCLESFIELD LETTERS. + + October 18, 1862. _Correspondence of Scientific Men of the Seventeenth + Century, in the Collection of the Earl of Macclesfield._[483] 2 vols. + (Oxford, University Press.) + +Though the title-page of this collection bears the date 1841, it is only +just completed by the publication of its Table of Contents and Index. +Without these, a work of the kind is useless for consultation, and cannot +make its way. The reason of the delay will appear: its effect is well known +to us. We have found inquirers into the history of science singularly +ignorant of things which this collection might have taught them. + +In the same year, 1841, the Historical Society of Science, which had but a +brief existence, published a collection of letters, eighty-three in number, +edited by Mr. Halliwell,[484] of English men of science, which dovetails +with the one before us, and is for the most part of a prior date. The two +should be bound up together. The smaller collection runs from 1562 to 1682; +the larger, from 1606 to past 1700. We shall speak of the two as the Museum +collection and the Macclesfield collection. And near them should be placed, +in every scientific library, the valuable collection published, by Mr. +Edleston,[485] for Trinity College, in 1850. + +{297} + +The history of these letters runs back to famous John Collins, the +attorney-general of the mathematics, as he has been called, who wrote to +everybody, heard from everybody, and sent copies of everybody's letter to +everybody else. He was in England what Mersenne[486] was in France: as +early as 1671, E. Bernard[487] addresses him as "the very Mersennus and +intelligence of this age." John Collins[488] was never more than accountant +to the Excise Office, to which he was promoted from teaching writing and +ciphering, at the Restoration: he died in 1682. We have had a man of the +same office in our own day, the late Prof. Schumacher,[489] who made the +little Danish Observatory of Altona the junction of all the lines by which +astronomical information was conveyed from one country to another. When the +collision took place between Denmark and the Duchies, the English +Government, moved by the Astronomical Society, instructed its diplomatic +agents to represent strongly to the Danish Government, when occasion should +arise, the great importance of the Observatory of Altona to the +astronomical communications of the whole world. But Schumacher had his own +celebrated journal, the _Astronomische Nachrichten_, by which to work out +part of his plan; private correspondence was his supplementary assistant. +Collins had only correspondence to rely on. Nothing is better known than +that it was Collins's collection which furnished the materials put forward +by the Committee of the Royal Society in 1712, as a defence of Newton +against the partisans of Leibnitz. The noted _Commercium Epistolicum_ is +but the abbreviation of a title which runs on with "D. Johannis Collins et +aliorum ..." + +The whole of this collection passed into the hands of {298} William +Jones,[490] the father of the Indian Judge of the same name, who died in +1749. Jones was originally a teacher, but was presented with a valuable +sinecure by the interest of George, second Earl of Macclesfield, the mover +of the bill for the change of style in Britain, who died President of the +Royal Society. This change of style may perhaps be traced to the union of +energies which were brought into concert by the accident of a common +teacher: Lord Macclesfield and Lord Chesterfield,[491] the mover and the +seconder, and Daval,[492] who drew the bill, were pupils of De Moivre.[493] +Jones, who was a respectable mathematician though not an inventor, +collected the largest mathematical library of his day, and became possessor +of the papers of Collins, which contained those of Oughtred[494] and +others. Some of these papers passed into the custody of the Royal Society: +but the bulk was either bequeathed to, or purchased by, Lord Macclesfield; +and thus they found their way to Shirburn Castle, where they still remain. + +A little before 1836, this collection attracted the attention of a +searching inquirer into points of mathematical history, the late Professor +Rigaud,[495] who died in 1839. He examined the whole collection of letters, +obtained Lord Macclesfield's consent to their publication, and induced the +Oxford Press to bear the expense. It must be particularly remembered that +there still remains at Shirburn Castle a {299} valuable mass of +non-epistolary manuscripts. So far as we can see, the best chance of a +further examination and publication lies in public encouragement of the +collection now before us: the Oxford Press might be induced to extend its +operations if it were found that the results were really of interest to the +literary and scientific world. Rigaud died before the work was completed, +and the publication was actually made by one of his sons, S. Jordan +Rigaud,[496] who died Bishop of Antigua. But this publication was little +noticed, for the reasons given. The completion now published consists of a +sufficient table of contents, of the briefest kind, by Professor De Morgan, +and an excellent index by the Rev. John Rigaud.[497] The work is now fairly +started on its career. + +If we were charged to write a volume with the title "Small things in their +connection with great," we could not do better than choose the small part +of this collection of letters as our basis. The names, as well as the +contents, are both great and small: the great names, those which are known +to every mathematician who has any infusion of the history of his pursuit, +are Briggs,[498] Oughtred, Charles Cavendish,[499] Gascoigne,[500] Seth +Ward,[501] Wallis,[502] {300} Hu[y]gens,[503] Collins,[504] William +Petty,[505] Hooke,[506] Boyle,[507] Pell,[508] Oldenburg,[509] +Brancker,[510] Slusius,[511] Bertit,[512] Bernard,[513] Borelli,[514] +Mouton,[515] Pardies,[516] Fermat,[517] Towneley,[518] Auzout,[519] {301} +D. Gregory,[520] Halley,[521] Machin,[522] Montmort,[523] Cotes,[524] +Jones,[525] Saunderson,[526] Reyneau,[527] Brook Taylor,[528] +Maupertuis,[529] Bouguer,[530] La Condamine,[531] Folkes,[532] +Macclesfield,[533] {302} Baker,[534] Barrow,[535] Flamsteed,[536] Lord +Brounker,[537] J. Gregory,[538] Newton[539] and Keill.[540] To these the +Museum collection adds the names of Thomas Digges,[541] Dee,[542] Tycho +Brahe,[543] Harriot,[544] Lydyat,[545] Briggs,[546] Warner,[547] Tarporley, +Pell,[548] Lilly,[549] Oldenburg,[550] Collins,[551] Morland.[552] + +{303} + +The first who appears on the scene is the celebrated Oughtred, who is +related to have died of joy at the Restoration: but it should be added, by +way of excuse, that he was eighty-six years old. He is an animal of extinct +race, an Eton mathematician. Few Eton men, even of the minority which knows +what a sliding rule is, are aware that the inventor was of their own school +and college: but they may be excused, for Dr. Hutton,[553] so far as his +Dictionary bears witness, seems not to have known it any more than they. A +glance at one of his letters reminds us of a letter from the Astronomer +Royal on the discovery of Neptune, which we printed March 20, 1847. Mr. +Airy[554] there contends, and proves it both by Leverrier[555] and by +Adams,[556] that the limited publication of a private letter is more +efficient than the more general publication of a printed memoir. The same +may be true of a dead letter, as opposed to a dead book. Our eye was caught +by a letter of Oughtred (1629), containing systematic use of contractions +for the words _sine_, _cosine_, etc., prefixed to the symbol of the angle. +This is so very important a step, simple as it is, that Euler[557] is +justly held to have greatly advanced trigonometry by its introduction. +Nobody that we know of has noticed that Oughtred was master of the +improvement, and willing to have taught it, if people would have learnt. +After looking at his dead letter, we naturally turned to his dead book on +trigonometry, and there we found the abbreviations _s_, _sco_, _t_, _tco_, +_se_, _seco_, regularly established as part of the system of the work. But +not one of those who have investigated the contending claims of Euler and +Thomas {304} Simpson[558] has chanced to know of Oughtred's +"Trigonometrie": and the present revival is due to his letter, not to his +book. + +A casual reader, turning over the pages, would imagine that almost all the +letters had been printed, either in the General Dictionary, or in +Birch,[559] etc.: so often does the supplementary remark begin with "this +letter has been printed in ----." For ourselves we thought, until we +counted, that a large majority of the letters had been given, either in +whole or in part. But the positive strikes the mind more forcibly than the +negative: we find that all of which any portion has been in type makes up +very little more than a quarter; the cases in which the whole letter is +given being a minority of this quarter. The person who has been best +ransacked is Flamsteed: of 36 letters from him, 34 had been previously +given in whole or in part. Of 59 letters to and from Newton, only 17 have +been culled. + +The letters have been modernized in spelling, and, to some extent, in +algebraical notation; it also seems that conjectural methods of introducing +interpolations into the text have been necessary. For all this we are +sorry: the scientific value of the collection is little altered, but its +literary value is somewhat lowered. But it could not be helped: the +printers could not work from the originals, and Professor Rigaud had to +copy everything himself. A fac-simile must have been the work of more time +than he had to give: had he attempted it, his death would have cut short +the whole undertaking, instead of allowing him to prepare everything but a +preface, and to superintend the printing of one of the volumes. We may also +add, that we believe we have notices of _all_ the letters in the +Macclesfield collection. We judge this because several which are too +trivial to print are numbered and described; and those would certainly not +have been noticed if _any_ omissions had {305} been made. And we know that +every letter was removed from Shirburn Castle to Oxford. + +Two persons emerge from oblivion in this series of letters. The first is +Michael Dary,[560] an obscure mathematician, who was in correspondence with +Newton and other stars. He was a gauger at Bristol, by the interest of +Collins; afterwards a candidate for the mathematical school at Christ's +Hospital, with a certificate from Newton: he was then a gunner in the +Tower, and is lastly described by Wallis as "Mr. Dary, the tobacco-cutter, +a knowing man in algebra." In 1674, Dary writes to Newton at Cambridge, as +follows:--"Although I sent you three papers yesterday, I cannot refrain +from sending you this. I have had fresh thoughts this morning." Two months +afterwards poor Newton writes to Collins, "Mr. Dary is very solicitous +about mathematics": but in spite of the persecution, he subscribes himself +to Dary "your loving friend." Dary's _problem_ is that of finding the rate +of interest of an annuity of which the value and term are given. Dary's +_theorem_, which he seems to have invented specially for the solution of +his problem, though it is of wide range, can be exhibited to mathematical +readers even in our columns. In modern language, it is that the limit of +[phi]^{_n_}_x_, when _n_ increases without limit, is a solution of [phi]_x_ += _x_. We have mentioned the I. Newton to whom Dary looked up; we add a +word about the one on whom he looked down. Dr. John Newton,[561] a sedulous +publisher of logarithms, tables of interest, etc., who began his career +before Isaac Newton, sometimes puzzles those who do not know him, when +described as I. Newton. The scientific world was of opinion that all that +was valuable in one of his works was taken from Dary's private +communications. + +{306} + +The second character above alluded to is one who carried mathematical +researches a far greater length than Newton himself: the assistance which +he rendered in this respect, even to Newton, has never been acknowledged in +modern times: though the work before us shows that his contemporaries were +fully aware of it, and never thought of concealing it. In his theory of +gravitation, in which, so far as he went, we have every reason to believe +he was prior to Newton, he did not extend his calculations to the distance +of the moon; his views in this matter were purely terrestrial, and led him +to charge according to weight. He was John Stiles, the London and Cambridge +carrier: his name is a household word in the Macclesfield Letters, and is +even enshrined in the depths of Birch's quartos. Dary informs Newton--let +us do his memory this justice--that he had paid John Stiles for the +carriage. At the time when the railroad to Cambridge was opened, a +correspondent recommended the directors, in our columns, to call an engine +by the name of John Stiles, and never to let that name go off the road. We +do not know whether the advice was followed: if not, we repeat it. + +Little points of life and manners come out occasionally. Baker, the author +of a work on algebra much esteemed at the time, wrote to Collins that their +circumstances are alike, "having a just and equal number of chargeable +olive-branches, and being in the same predicament and blessed condemnation +with you, not more preaching than unpaid, and preaching the art of +contentment to others, am forced to practise it." But the last sentence of +his letter runs as follows: "I have sent by the bearer ... twenty +shillings, as a token to you; desiring you to accept of it, as a small +taste from Yours, Thos. Baker." In our day, men of a station to pay parish +taxes do not offer their friends hard money to buy liquor. But +Flamsteed[562] writes to Collins as follows: "Last week he sent us down the +counterpart, which {307} my father has scaled, and I return up to you by +the carrier, with 5l. to be paid to Mr. Leneve for the writing, I have +added 2s. 6d. over, which will pay the expenses and serve to drink, with +him." This would seem as odd to us as it would have seemed thirty years ago +that half-a-crown should pay carriage for a deed from Derby to London, and +leave margin for a bottle of wine: in our day, the Post-office and the +French treaty would just manage it between them. But Flamsteed does not +limit his friend to one bottle; he adds, "If you expend more than the +half-crown, I will make it good after Whitsuntide." Collins does not +remember exactly where he had met James Gregory, and mentions two equally +likely places thus: "Sir, it was once my good hap to meet with you in an +alehouse or in Sion College." There is a little proof how universally the +dinner-hour was twelve o'clock. Astronomers well know the method of finding +time by equal altitudes of the sun before and after noon: Huyghens calls it +"le moyen de deux égales hauteurs du soleil devant et après _dîner_."[563] + +There is one mention of "Mr. Cocker,[564] our famous English graver and +writer, now a schoolmaster at Northampton." This is the true Cocker: his +genuine works are specimens of writing, such as engraved copy-books, +including some on arithmetic, with copper-plate questions and space for the +working; also a book of forms for law-stationers, with specimens of legal +handwriting. It is recorded somewhere that Cocker and another, whose name +we forget, competed with the Italians in the beauty of their flourishes. +This was his real fame: and in these matters he was great. The eighth +edition of his book of law forms (1675), published shortly after Cocker's +death, has a preface signed "J. H." This was John Hawkins, who became +possessed of Cocker's papers--at least he said so--and {308} subsequently +forged the famous Arithmetic,[565] a second work on Decimal Arithmetic, and +an English dictionary, all attributed to Cocker. The proofs of this are set +out in De Morgan's _Arithmetical Books_. Among many other corroborative +circumstances, the clumsy forger, after declaring that Cocker to his dying +day resisted strong solicitation to publish his Arithmetic, makes him write +in the preface _Ille ego qui quondam_[566] of this kind: "I have been +instrumental to the benefit of many, by virtue of those useful arts, +writing and engraving; and do _now_, with the same _wonted alacrity_, cast +this my arithmetical mite into the public treasury." The book itself is not +comparable in merit to at least half-a-dozen others. How then comes Cocker +to be the impersonation of Arithmetic? Unless some one can show proof, +which we have never found, that he was so before 1756, the matter is to be +accounted for thus. + +Arthur Murphy,[567] the dramatist, was by taste a man of letters, and ended +by being the translator of Tacitus; though many do not know that the two +are one. His friends had tried to make him a man of business; and no doubt +he had been well plied with commercial arithmetic. His first dramatic +performance, the farce of "The Apprentice," produced in 1756, is about an +idle young man who must needs turn actor. Two of the best known books of +the day in arithmetic were those of Cocker and Wingate.[568] Murphy chooses +_Wingate_ to be the name of an old merchant who {309} delights in vulgar +fractions, and _Cocker_ to be his arithmetical catchword--"You read +Shakespeare! get Cocker's Arithmetic! you may buy it for a shilling on any +stall; best book that ever was wrote!" and so on. The farce became very +popular, and, as we believe, was the means of elevating Cocker to his +present pedestal, where Wingate would have been, if his name had had the +droller sound of the two to English ears. + +A notoriety of an older day turns up, Major-General Lambert.[569] The +common story is that he was banished to Guernsey, where he passed thirty +years in confinement, rearing and painting flowers. But Baker, in 1678, +represents him as a prisoner at Plymouth, sending equations for solution as +a challenge: probably his place of confinement was varied, and his +occupation also. + +[General Lambert was removed to Plymouth, probably about 1668. His daughter +captured the son of the Governor of Guernsey, who therefore probably was +reckoned an unsafe custodier thenceforward; though he assured the king that +he had turned the young couple out of doors, and had never given them a +penny. Great importance was attached to Lambert's safe detention: probably +the remaining republicans looked upon him as to be their next Cromwell, if +such a thing were to be. There were standing orders to shoot him at once on +the first appearance of any enemy before the island. See _Notes and +Queries_, 3d S. iv. 89.] + +Collins informs James Gregory that "some of the Royal Academy wrote over to +Mr. Oldenburg, who was desired to impart the same to the Council of the +Royal Society, that the French King was willing to allow pensions to one or +two learned Englishmen, but they never made any answer {310} to such a +proposal." This was written in 1671, and the thing probably happened +several years before. Mr. De Morgan communicated the account of the +proposal to Lord Macaulay, who replied that he did not think that any +Englishman _received_ a literary pension from Louis; but that there is a +curious letter, about 1664, from the French Ambassador, in which he says +that he has, by his master's orders, been making inquiries as to the state +of learning in England, and that he is sorry to find that the best writer +is _the infamous Miltonus_. On two such independent testimonies it may be +held proved that the French King had attempted to buy a little adherence +from English literature and science; and the silent contempt of the Royal +Society is an honorable fact in their history. + +Another little bit of politics is as follows. Oughtred is informed that +"Mr. Foster,[570] our Lecturer on Astronomy at Gresham College, is put out +because he will not kneel down at the communion-table. A Scotsman [Mungo +Murray], one that is _verbi bis minister_,[571] is now lecturer in Mr. +Foster's place." Ward in his work on the Gresham Professors,[572] +suppresses the reason, and the suppression lowers the character of his +book. Foster was expelled in 1636, and re-elected on a vacancy in 1641, +when Puritanism had gained strength. + +The correspondence of Newton would require deeper sifting than could be +given in such an article as the present. The first of the letters (1669) is +curious, as presenting the {311} appearance of forms belonging to the great +calculus which, in this paragraph, we ought to call that of fluxions. We +find, of the date February 18, 1669-70, what we believe is the earliest +manifestation of that morbid part of Newton's temperament which has been so +variously represented. He had solved a problem--being that which we have +called Dary's--on which he writes as follows: "The solution of the annuity +problem, if it will be of any use, you have my leave to insert into the +_Philosophical Transactions_, so it be without my name to it. For I see not +what there is desirable in public esteem, were I able to acquire and +maintain it. It would perhaps increase my acquaintance, the thing which I +chiefly study to decline." + +Three letters touch upon "the experiment of glass rubbed to cause various +motions in bits of paper underneath": they are supplements to the account +given by Newton to the Royal Society, and printed by Birch. It was Newton, +so far as appears, who added _glass_ to the substances known to be +electric. Soon afterwards we come to a little bit of the history of the +appointment to the Mint. It has appeared from the researches of late years +that Newton was long an aspirant for public employment: the only coolness +which is known to have taken place between him and Charles Montague[573] +[Halifax] arose out of his imagining that his friend was not in earnest +about getting him into the public service. March 14, 1696, Newton writes +thus to Halley: "And if the rumour of preferment for me in the Mint should +hereafter, upon the death of Mr. Hoar [the comptroller], or any other +occasion, be revived, I pray that you would {312} endeavour to obviate it +by acquainting your friends that I neither _put in_ for _any_ place in the +Mint, nor would meddle with _Mr. Hoar's place_, were it offered to me." +This means that Mr. Hoar's place had been suggested, which Newton seems to +have declined. Five days afterwards, Montague writes to Newton that he is +to have the _Wardenship_. It is fair to Newton to say that in all +probability this was not--or only in a smaller degree--a question of +personal dignity, or of salary. It must by this time have been clear to him +that the minister, though long bound to make him an object of patronage, +was actually seeking him for the Mint, because he wanted both Newton's name +and his talents for business--which he knew to be great--in the weighty and +dangerous operation of restoring the coinage. It may have been, and +probably was, the case that Newton had a tolerably accurate notion of what +he would have to do, and of what degree of power would be necessary to +enable him to do it in his own way. + +We have said that the non-epistolary manuscripts are still unexamined. +There is a chance that one of them may answer a question of two centuries' +standing, which is worth answering, because it has been so often asked. +About 1640, Warner,[574] afterwards assisted by Pell,[575] commenced a +table of _antilogarithms_, of the kind which Dodson[576] afterwards +constructed anew and published. In the Museum collection there is inquiry +after inquiry from Charles Cavendish,[577] first, as to when the +_Analogics_, as he called them, would be finished; next, when they would be +printed. Pell answers, in 1644, that Warner left his papers to a kinsman, +who had become bankrupt, and proceeds thus: + +"I am not a little afraid that all Mr. Warner's papers, {313} and no small +share of my labours therein, are seazed upon, and most unmathematically +divided between the sequestrators and creditors, who (not being able to +ballance the account where there appeare so many numbers, and much troubled +at the sight of so many crosses and circles in the superstitious Algebra +and that black art of Geometry) will, no doubt, determine once in their +lives to become figure-casters, and so vote them all to be throwen into the +fire, if some good body doe not reprieve them for pye-bottoms, for which +purposes you know analogicall numbers are incomparably apt, if they be +accurately calculated." + +Pell afterwards told Wallis[578] that the papers had fallen into the hands +of Dr. Busby,[579] and Collins[580] writes that they were left in the hands +of Dr. Thorndike,[581] a prebendary of Westminster; whence Rigaud[582] +seems to say that Thorndike had left them to Dr. Busby. Birch[583] says +that he procured for the Royal Society four boxes from Busby's trustees, +containing papers of Warner and Pell: but there is no other tradition of +such things in the Society. But in the Birch manuscripts at the British +Museum, there turns up, as printed in what we call the Museum collection, a +list of Warner's papers, with _Collins's_ receipt to Dr. Thorndike at the +bottom, and engagement to restore them on demand. The date is December 14, +1667; Wallis's statement being in 1693. It is possible that Busby may be a +mistake altogether: he was very unlikely to have had charge of any +mathematical papers: there may have been a confusion between the Prebendary +of Westminster and the Head Master of Westminster School. If so, in all +probability Thorndike handed {314} the cumbrous lot over to the notorious +collector of mathematical papers, blessing himself that he got rid of them +in a manner which would insure their return if he were called upon by the +owners to restore them. It is much against this hypothesis that Dodson, who +certainly recalculated, can say nothing more about Warner than a repetition +of Wallis's story: though, had Collins kept the papers, they would probably +have been in Jones's possession at the very time when Dodson, who was a +friend of Jones and a user of his library, was engaged on his own +computations. But even books, and still more manuscripts, are often +singularly overlooked; and it remains not very improbable that Warner's +table is now at Shirburn Castle, among the unexamined manuscripts. + + + +CYCLOMETRY AND STEEL PENS. + +_Redit labor actus in orbem._[584] Among the matters which have come to me +since the Budget opened, there is a pamphlet of quadrature of two pages and +a half from Professor Recalcati,[585] already mentioned. It ends with +"Quelque objection qu'on fasse touchant les raisonnements ci-dessus on +tombera toujours dans l'absurde."[586] A civil engineer--so he says--has +made the quadrature "no longer a problem, but an axiom." As follows: "Take +the quadrant of a circle whose circumference is given, square the quadrant +which gives the true square of the circle. Because 30 ÷ 4 = 7.5 × 7.5 = +56.25 = the positive square of a circle whose circumference is 30." +Brevity, the soul of wit, is the "wings of mighty-winds" to quadrature, and +sends it "flying all abroad." A _surbodhicary_--something like M.A. or +LL.D., I understand--at Calcutta, published in 1863 the division of an +{315} angle into any odd number of parts, demonstration and all in--when +the diagram is omitted--one page, good-sized, well-leaded type, small +duodecimo. But in the Preface he acknowledges "sheer inability" to execute +his task. Mr. William Dean, of Todmorden, in 1863, announced 3-9/64 as +proved both practically and geometrically: he has been already mentioned +anonymously. Next I have the tract of Don Juan Larriva, published at Leiria +in 1856, and dedicated to Queen Victoria. Mr. W. Peters,[587] already +mentioned, who has for some months been circulating diagrams on a card, +publishes (August, 1865) _The Circle Squared_. He agrees with the +Archpriest of St. Vitus. He hints that a larger publication will depend +partly on the support he receives, and partly on the castigation, for which +last, of course, he looks to me. Cyclometers have their several styles of +wit; so have anticyclometers too, for that matter. Mr. Peters will not +allow me any extra-journal being: I am essentially a quotation from the +_Athenæum_; "A. De Morgan" _et præterea nihil_.[588] If he had to pay for +keeping me set up, he would find out his mistake, and would be glad to +compound handsomely for a stereotype. Next comes a magnificent sheet of +pasteboard, printed on both sides. Having glanced at it and detected +quadrature, I began methodically at the beginning--"By Royal Command," with +the lion and unicorn, and all that comes between. Mercy on us! thought I to +myself: has Her Majesty referred the question to the Judicial Committee of +the Privy Council, where all the great difficulties go now-a-days, and is +this proclamation the result? On reading further I was relieved by finding +that the first side is entirely an advertisement of Joseph Gillott's[589] +steel pens, with engraving of his {316} premises, and notice of novel +application of his unrivalled machinery. The second side begins with "the +circle rectified" by W. E. Walker,[590] who finds [pi] = +3.141594789624155.... This is an off-shoot from an accurate geometrical +rectification, on which is to be presumed Mr. Gillott's new machinery is +founded. I have no doubt that Mr. Walker's error, which is only in the +sixth place of decimals, will not hurt the pens, unless it be by the +slightest possible increase of the tendency to open at the points. This +arises from Mr. Walker having rectified above proof by .000002136034362.... + +Lastly, I, even I myself, who have long felt that I was a quadrature below +par, have solved the problem by means which, in the present state of the +law of libel, I dare not divulge. But the result is permitted; and it goes +far to explain all the discordances. The ratio of the circumference to the +diameter is not always the same! Not that it varies with the radius; the +geometers are right enough on that point: but it varies with the time, in a +manner depending upon the difference of the true longitudes of the Sun and +Moon. A friend of mine--at least until he misbehaved--insisted on the mean +right ascensions: but I served him as Abraham served his guest in +Franklin's parable. The true formula is, A and a being the Sun's and Moon's +longitudes, + + [pi] = 3-13/80 + 3/80 cos(A - a). + +Mr. James Smith obtained his quadrature at full moon; the Archpriest of St. +Vitus and some others at new moon. Until I can venture to publish the +demonstration, I recommend the reader to do as I do, which is to adopt +3.14159..., and to think of the matter only at the two points of the lunar +month at which it is correct. The _Nautical Almanac_ will no doubt give +these points in a short time: I am in correspondence with the Admiralty, +with nothing {317} to get over except what I must call a perverse notion on +the part of the Superintendent of the _Almanac_, who suspects one +correction depending on the Moon's latitude; and the Astronomer Royal leans +towards another depending on the date of the Queen's accession. I have no +patience with these men: what can the Moon's node of the Queen's reign +possibly have to do with the ratio in question? But this is the way with +all the regular men of science; Newton is to them etc. etc. etc. etc. + +The following method of finding the circumference of a circle (taken from a +paper by Mr. S. Drach[591] in the _Phil. Mag._, Jan. 1863, Suppl.) is as +accurate as the use of 3.14159265. From three diameters deduct +8-thousandths and 7-millionths of a diameter; to the result add five per +cent. We have then not quite enough; but the shortcoming is at the rate of +about an inch and a sixtieth of an inch in 14,000 miles. + + + +JACOB BEHMEN. + +Though I have met with nothing but a little tract from the school of Jacob +Behmen[592] (or Böhme; I keep to the old English version of his name), yet +there has been more, and of a more recent date. I am told of an +"Introduction to Theosophy [_Theo_ private, I suppose, as in theological]; +or, the Science of the Mystery of Christ," published in 1854, mostly from +the writings of William Law[593]: and also of a volume of 688 pages, of the +same year, printed for private circulation, containing notes for a +biography of William Law. The editor of the first work wishes to grow "a +{318} generation of perfect Christians" by founding a Theosophic College, +for which he requests the public to raise a hundred thousand pounds. There +is a good account of Jacob Behmen in the _Penny Cyclopædia_. The author +mentions inaccurate accounts, one of which he quotes, as follows: "He +derived all his mystical and rapturous doctrine from Wood's[594] _Athenæ +Oxonienses_, Vol. I, p. 610, and _Hist. et Antiq. Acad. Oxon._, Vol. II, p. +308." On which the author remarks that Wood was born after Behmen's death. +There must have been a few words which slipped out: what is meant is that +Behmen "derived his doctrine from _Robert Fludd_,[595] _for whom see_ +Wood's etc. etc." Even this is absurd enough: for Behmen began to publish +in 1610, and Fludd in 1616. Fludd was a Rosicrucian, and a mystic of a +different type from Behmen. I have some of his works, and could produce out +of them paradoxes enough, according to our ways of thinking, to fit out a +host. But the Rosicrucian system was a recognized school of its day, and +Fludd, a man of great learning, had abettors enough in all which he +advanced, and predecessors in most of it. + +[A Correspondent has recently sent a short summary of the claims of Jacob +Behmen to rank higher than I have placed him. I shall gladly insert this +summary in the book I contemplate, as a statement of what is said of Behmen +far less liable to suspicion of exaggeration than anything I could write. I +shall add a few extracts from Behmen himself, in support of his right to be +in my list.] + +"_Jacob Behmen._--That Prof. De Morgan classes Jacob Behmen among +paradoxers can only be attributed to the fact of his being avowedly +unacquainted with the writings {319} of that author. Perhaps you may think +a few words from one who knows them well of sufficient interest to the +learned Professor, and your readers in general, to be worthy of space in +your columns. The metaphysical system of Behmen--the most perfect and only +true one--still awaits a qualified commentator. Behmen's countryman, +Dionysius Andreas Freher,[596] who spent the greater part of his life in +this country, and whose exposition of Behmen exists only in MS., filling +many volumes, written in English, with the exception of two, written in +German, with numerous beautiful, highly ingenious, and elaborate +illustrations,--copies of some of which are in the British Museum, but all +the originals of which are in the possession of the gentleman who is the +editor of the two works alluded to by Professor De Morgan,--this Freher was +the first to philosophically expound Behmen's system, which was afterwards, +with the help of these MSS., as it were, popularized by William Law; but +both Freher and Law confined themselves chiefly to its theological aspect. +In Behmen, however, is to be found, not only the true ground of all +theology, but also that of all physical science. He demonstrated with a +fullness, accuracy, completeness and certainty that leave nothing to be +desired, the innermost ground of Deity and Nature; and, confining myself to +the latter, I can from my own knowledge assert, that in Behmen's writings +is to be found the true and clear demonstration of every physical fact that +has been discovered since his day. Thus, the science of electricity, which +was not yet in existence when he wrote, is there anticipated; and not only +does Behmen describe all the now known phenomena of that force, but he even +gives us the origin, generation and birth of electricity itself. Again, +positive evidence can be adduced that Newton derived all his knowledge of +gravitation and its {320} laws from Behmen, with whom gravitation or +attraction is, and very properly so, as he shows us, the first of the seven +properties of Nature. The theory defended by Mr. Grove,[597] at the +Nottingham meeting of last year, that all the apparently distinct causes of +moral and physical phenomena are but so many manifestations of one central +force, and that Continuity is the law of nature, is clearly laid down, and +its truth demonstrated, by Behmen, as well as the distinction between +spirit and matter, and that the moral and material world is pervaded by a +sublime unity. And though all this was not admitted in Behmen's days, +because science was not then sufficiently advanced to understand the deep +sense of our author, many of his passages, then unintelligible, or +apparently absurd, read by the light of the present age, are found to +contain the positive enunciation of principles at whose discovery and +establishment science has only just arrived by wearisome and painful +investigations. Every new scientific discovery goes to prove his profound +and intuitive insight into the most secret workings of nature; and if +scientific men, instead of sharing the prejudice arising from ignorance of +Behmen's system, would place themselves on the vantage ground it affords, +they would at once find themselves on an eminence whence they could behold +all the arcana of nature. Behmen's system, in fact, shows us the _inside_ +of things, while modern physical science is content with looking at the +_outside_. Behmen traces back every outward manifestation or development to +its one central root,--to that one central energy which, as yet, is only +suspected; every link in the chain of his demonstration is perfect, and +there is not one link wanting. He carries us from the out-births of the +circumference, along the radius to the center, {321} or point, and beyond +that even to the zero, demonstrating the constitution of the zero, or +nothing, with mathematical precision. C. W. H." + +And so Behmen is no subject for the Budget! I waited until I should chance +to light on one of his volumes, knowing that any volume would do, and +almost any page. My first hap was on the second volume of the edition of +1664 (4to, published by M. Richardson) and opening near the beginning, a +turn or two brought me to page 13, where I saw about _sulphur_ and +_mercurius_ as follows: + + + +"Thus SUL is the soul, in an herb it is the oil, and in man also, according +to the spirit of _this_ world in the third principle, which is continually +generated out of the anguish of the will in the mind, and the +Brimstone-worm is the Spirit, which hath the fire and _burneth_: PHUR is +the sour wheel in itself which causeth that. + +"_Mercurius_ comprehendeth all the four forms, even as the life springeth +up, and yet hath not its dark beginning in the Center as the PHUR hath, but +after the flash of fire, when the sour dark form is terrified, where the +hardness is turned into pliant sharpness, and where the second will (_viz._ +the will of nature, which is called the Anguish) ariseth, there Mercurius +hath its original. For MER is the shivering wheel, very horrible, sharp, +venomous, and hostile; which assimulateth it thus in the sourness in the +flash of fire, where the sour wrathful life _ariseth_. The syllable CU is +the pressing out, of the _Anxious_ will of the mind, from Nature: which is +climbing up, and _willeth_ to be out aloft. RI is the comprehension of the +flash of fire, which in MER giveth a clear sound and tune. For the flash +maketh the tune, and it is the Salt-Spirit which _soundeth_, and its form +(or quality) is gritty like sand, and herein arise noises, sounds and +voices, and thus CU comprehendeth the flash, and so the pressure is as a +_wind_ which thrusteth, and giveth a spirit to the flash, so that it liveth +and burneth. Thus the {322} syllable US is called the burning fire, which +with the spirit continually driveth itself forth: and the syllable CU +presseth continually upon the flash." + + + +Shades of Tauler[598] and Paracelsus,[599] how strangely you do mix! Well +may Hallam call Germany the native soil of Mysticism. Had Behmen been the +least of a scholar, he would not have divided _sulph-ur_ and _merc-ur-i-us_ +as he has done: and the inflexion _us_, that boy of all work, would have +been rejected. I think it will be held that a writer from whom hundreds of +pages like the above could be brought together, is fit for the Budget. If +Sampson Arnold Mackay[600] had tied his etymologies to a mystical +Christology, instead of a mystical infidelity, he might have had a school +of followers. The nonsense about Newton borrowing gravitation from Behmen +passes only with those who know neither what Newton did, nor what was done +before him. + +The above reminds me of a class of paradoxers whom I wonder that I forgot; +they are without exception the greatest bores of all, because they can put +the small end of their paradox into any literary conversation whatever. I +mean the people who have heard the local pronunciation of celebrated names, +and attempt not only to imitate it, but to impose on others their broken +German or Arabic, or what not. They also learn the vernacular names of +those who are generally spoken of in their Latin forms; at least, they +learn a few cases, and hawk them as evidences of erudition. They are +miserably mistaken: scholarship, as a rule, {323} always accepts the +vernacular form of a name which has vernacular celebrity. Hallam writes +Behmen: his index-maker, rather superfluously, gives "_Behmen_ or Boehm." +And he retains Melanchthon,[601] the name given by Reuchlin[602] to his +little kinsman Schwartzerd, because the world has adopted it: but he will +none of Capnio, the name which Reuchlin fitted on to himself, because the +world has not adopted it. He calls the old forms pedantry: but he sees that +the rejection of well-established results of pedantry would be greater +pedantry still. The paradoxers assume the question that it is more +_correct_ to sound a man by lame imitation of his own countrymen than as +usual in the country in which the sound is to be made. Against them are, +first, the world at large; next, an overpowering majority of those who know +something about surnames and their history. Some thirty years ago--a +fact--there appeared at the police-office a complainant who found his own +law. In the course of his argument, he asked, "What does Kitty +say?"--"Who's Kitty?" said the magistrate, "your wife, or your +nurse?"--"Sir! I mean Kitty, the celebrated lawyer."--"Oh!" said the +magistrate, "I suspect you mean Mr. Chitty,[603] the author of the great +work on pleading."--"I do sir! But Chitty is an Italian name, and ought to +be pronounced _Kitty_." This man was a full-blown flower: but there is many +a modest bud; and all ought either to blush when seen or to waste their +pronunciation on the desert air. + +{324} + + + +A PLEA FOR KING CUSTOM. + +I stand up for King Custom, or _Usus_, as Horace called him, with whom is +_arbitrium_ the decision, and _jus_ the right, and _norma_ the way of +deciding, simply because he has _potestas_ the power. He may admit one and +another principle to advise: but Custom is not a constitutional king; he +may listen to his cabinet, but he decides for himself: and if the ministry +should resign, he blesses his stars and does without them. We have a +glorious liberty in England of owning neither dictionary, grammar, nor +spelling-book: as many as choose write by either of the three, and decide +all disputed points their own way, those following them who please. + +Throughout this book I have called people by the names which denote them in +their books, or by our vernacular names. This is the intelligible way of +proceeding. I might, for instance (Vol. I, p. 44), have spoken of Charles +de Bovelles,[604] of Lefèvre d'Étaples,[605] of Pèlerin,[606] and of +Etienne.[607] But I prefer the old plan. Those who like another plan +better, are welcome to substitute with a pen, when they know what to write; +when they do not, it is clear that they would not have understood me if I +had given modern names. + +The principal advisers of King Custom are as follows. First, there is +Etymology, the _chiffonnier_, or general rag-merchant, who has made such a +fortune of late years in his own business that he begins to be considered +highly respectable. He gives advice which is more thought of than followed, +partly on account of the fearful extremes into which he runs. He lately +asked some boys of sixteen, at a matriculation examination in _English_, to +what branch of {325} the Indo-Germanic family they felt inclined to refer +the Pushto language, and what changes in the force of the letters took +place in passing from Greek into Moeso-Gothic. Because all syllables were +once words, he is a little inclined to insist that they shall be so still. +He would gladly rule English with a Saxon rod, which might be permitted +with a certain discretion which he has never attained: and when opposed, he +defends himself with analogies of the Aryan family until those who hear him +long for the discovery of an Athanasyus. He will transport a word beyond +seas--he is recorder of Rhematopolis--on circumstantial evidence which +looks like mystery gone mad; but, strange to say, something very often +comes to light after sentence is passed which proves the soundness of the +conviction. + +The next adviser is Logic, a swearing old justice of peace, quorum, and +rotulorum, whose excesses brought on such a fit of the gout that for many +years he was unable to move. He is now mending, and his friends say he has +sown his wild oats. He has some influence with the educated subjects of +Custom, and will have more, if he can learn the line at which interference +ought to stop: with them he has succeeded in making an affirmative of two +negatives; but the vulgar won't never have nothing to say to him. He has +always railed at Milton for writing that Eve was the fairest of her +daughters; but has never satisfactorily shown what Milton ought to have +said instead. + +The third adviser has more influence with the mass of the subjects of King +Custom than the other two put together; his name is Fiddlefaddle, the +toy-shop keeper; and the other two put him forward to do their worst work. +In return, he often uses their names without authority. He took Etymology +to witness that _means_ to an end must be plural: and he would have any one +method to be a _mean_. But Etymology proved him wrong, King Custom referred +him to his Catechism, in which is "a means whereby we receive the same," +and Analogy--a subordinate of {326} Etymology--asked whether he thought it +a great _new_ to hear that he was wrong. It was either this Fiddlefaddle, +or Lindley Murray[608] his traveler, who persuaded the Miss Slipslops, of +the Ladies Seminary, to put "The Misses Slipslop" over the gate. Sixty +years ago, this bagman called at all the girls' schools, and got many of +the teachers to insist on the pupils saying "Is it not" and "Can I not" for +"Isn't it" and "Can't I": of which it came that the poor girls were +dreadfully laughed at by their irreverent brothers when they went home for +the holidays. Had this bad adviser not been severely checked, he might by +this time have proposed our saying "The Queen's of England son," declaring, +in the name of Logic, that the prince was the Queen's son, not England's. + +Lastly, there is Typography the metallurgist, an executive officer who is +always at work in secret, and whose lawless mode of advising is often done +by carrying his notions into effect without leave given. He it is who never +ceases suggesting that the same word is not to occur in a second place +within sight of the first. When the Authorized Version was first printed, +he began this trick at the passage, "Let there be light, and there was +light;" he drew a line on the proof under the second _light_, and wrote +"_luminosity?_" opposite. He is strongest in the punctuations and other +signs; he has a pepper-box full of commas always by his side. He puts +everything under marks of quotation which he has ever heard before. An +earnest preacher, in a very moving sermon, used the phrase Alas! and alack +a day! Typography stuck up the inverted commas because he had read the old +Anglo-Indian toast, "A lass and a lac a day!" If any one should have the +sense to leave out of his Greek {327} the unmeaning scratches which they +call accents, he goes to a lexicon and puts them in. He is powerful in +routine; but when two routines interlace or overlap, he frequently takes +the wrong one. + +Subject to bad advice, and sometimes misled for a season, King Custom goes +on his quiet way and is sure to be right at last. + + "Treason does never prosper: what's the reason? + Why, when it prospers, none dare call it treason." + +Language is in constant fermentation, and all that is thrown in, so far as +it is not fit to assimilate, is thrown off; and this without any obvious +struggle. In the meanwhile every one who has read good authors, from +Shakspeare downward, knows what is and what is not English; and knows, +also, that our language is not one and indivisible. Two very different +turns of phrase may both be equally good, and as good as can be: we may be +relieved of the consequences of contempt of one court by _habeas corpus_ +issuing out of another. + + + +TEST OF LANGUAGE. + +Hallam remarks that the Authorized Version of the Bible is not in the +language of the time of James the First: that it is not the English of +Raleigh or of Bacon. Here arises the question whether Raleigh and Bacon are +the true expositors of the language of their time; and whether they were +not rather the incipient promoters of a change which was successfully +resisted by--among other things--the Authorized Version of the Testaments. +I am not prepared to concede that I should have given to the English which +would have been fashioned upon that of Bacon by imitators, such as they +usually are, the admiration which is forced from me by Bacon's English from +Bacon's pen. On this point we have a notable parallel. Samuel Johnson {328} +commands our admiration, at least in his matured style: but we nauseate his +followers. It is an opinion of mine that the works of the leading writers +of an age are seldom the proper specimens of the language of their day, +when that language is in its state of progression. I judge of a language by +the colloquial idiom of educated men: that is, I take this to be the best +medium between the extreme cases of one who is ignorant of grammar and one +who is perched upon a style. Dialogue is what I want to judge by, and plain +dialogue: so I choose Robert Recorde[609] and his pupil in the _Castle of +Knowledge_, written before 1556. When Dr. Robert gets into his altitudes of +instruction, he differs from his own common phraseology as much as probably +did Bacon when he wrote morals and philosophy. But every now and then I +come to a little plain talk about a common thing, of which I propose to +show a specimen. Anything can be made to look old by such changes as +_makes_ into _maketh_, with a little old spelling. I shall invert these +changes, using the newer form of inflexion, and the modern spelling: with +no other variation whatever. + +"_Scholar._ Yet the reason of that is easy enough to be conceived, for when +the day is at the longest the Sun must needs shine the more time, and so +must it needs shine the less time when the day is at the shortest: this +reason I have heard many men declare. + +_Master._ That may be called a crabbed reason, for it {329} goes backward +like a crab. The day makes not the Sun to shine, but the Sun shining makes +the day. And so the length of the day makes not the Sun to shine long, +neither the shortness of the day causes not [_sic_] the Sun to shine the +lesser time, but contrariwise the long shining of the Sun makes the long +day, and the short shining of the Sun makes the lesser day: else answer me +what makes the days long or short? + +_Scholar._ I have heard wise men say that Summer makes the long days, and +Winter makes the long nights. + +_Master._ They might have said more wisely, that long days make summer and +short days make winter. + +_Scholar._ Why, all that seems one thing to me. + +_Master._ Is it all one to say, God made the earth, and the earth made God? +Covetousness overcomes all men, and all men overcome covetousness? + +_Scholar._ No, not so; for here the effect is turned to be the cause, and +the agent is made the patient. + +_Master._ So is it to say Summer makes long days, when you should say: Long +days make summer. + +_Scholar._ I perceive it now: but I was so blinded with the vulgar error, +that if you had demanded of me further what did make the summer, I had been +like to have answered that green leaves do make summer; and the sooner by +remembrance of an old saying that a year should come in which the summer +should not be known but by the green leaves. + +_Master._ Yet this saying does not import that green leaves do make summer, +but that they betoken summer; so are they the sign and not the cause of +summer." + +I have taken a whole page of our author, without omission, that the reader +may see that I do not pick out sentences convenient for my purpose. I have +done nothing but alter the third person of the verb and the spelling: but +great is the effect thereof. We say "the Sun shining makes the day"; +Recorde, "the Sonne shynynge maketh the daye." {330} These points apart, we +see a resemblance between our English and that of three hundred years ago, +in the common talk of educated persons, which will allow us to affirm that +the language of the authorized Bible must have been very close to that of +its time. For I cannot admit that much change can have taken place in fifty +years: and the language of the version represents both our common English +and that of Recorde with very close approximation. Take sentences from +Bacon and Raleigh, and it will be apparent that these writers will be held +to differ from all three, Recorde, the version, and ourselves, by +differences of the same character. But we speak of Recorde's conversation, +and of our own. We conclude that it is the plain and almost colloquial +character of the Authorized Version which distinguishes it from the English +of Bacon and Raleigh, by approximating it to the common idiom of the time. +If any one will cast an eye upon the letters of instruction written by +Cecil[610] and the Bishop of London to the translators themselves, or to +the general directions sent to them in the King's name, he will find that +these plain business compositions differ from the English of Bacon and +Raleigh by the same sort of differences which distinguish the version +itself. + + + +PRONUNCIATION. + +The foreign word, or the word of a district, or class of people, passes +into the general vernacular; but it is long before the specially learned +will acknowledge the right of those with whom they come in contact to +follow general usage. The rule is simple: so long as a word is technical or +local, those who know its technical or local pronunciation may reasonably +employ it. But when the word has become general, the specialist is not very +wise if he refuse to follow {331} the mass, and perfectly foolish if he +insist on others following him. There have been a few who demanded that +Euler should be pronounced in the German fashion:[611] Euler has long been +the property of the world at large; what does it matter how his own +countrymen pronounce the letters? Shall we insist on the French pronouncing +_Newton_ without that final _tong_ which they never fail to give him? They +would be wise enough to laugh at us if we did. We remember that a pedant +who was insisting on all the pronunciations being retained, was met by a +maxim in contradiction, invented at the moment, and fathered upon +Kaen-foo-tzee,[612] an authority which he was challenged to dispute. Whom +did you speak of? said the bewildered man of accuracy. Learn your own +system, was the answer, before you impose it on others; Confucius says that +too.[613] + +The old English has _fote_, _fode_, _loke_, _coke_, _roke_, etc., for +_foot_, etc. And _above_ rhymes in Chaucer to _remove_. Suspecting that the +broader sounds are the older, we may surmise that _remove_ and _food_ have +retained their old sounds, and that _cook_, once _coke_, would have rhymed +to our _Luke_, the vowel being brought a little nearer, perhaps, to the _o_ +in our present _coke_, the fuel, probably so called as used by cooks. If +this be so, the Chief Justice _Cook_[614] of our lawyers, and the _Coke_ +(pronounced like the fuel) of the greater part of the world, are equally +wrong. The lawyer has no right whatever to fasten his pronunciation upon +us: even leaving aside the general custom, he cannot prove himself right, +and is probably wrong. Those who {332} know the village of Rokeby +(pronounced Rookby) despise the world for not knowing how to name Walter +Scott's poem: that same world never asked a question about the matter, and +the reception of the parody of _Jokeby_, which soon appeared, was a +sufficient indication of their notion. Those who would fasten the hodiernal +sound upon us may be reminded that the question is, not what they call it +now, but what it was called in Cromwell's time. Throw away general usage as +a lawgiver, and this is the point which emerges. Probably _R[=u]ke-by_ +would be right, with a little turning of the Italian [=u] towards [=o] of +modern English. + +[Some of the above is from an old review. I do not always notice such +insertions: I take nothing but my own writings. A friend once said to me, +"Ah! you got that out of the _Athenæum_!" "Excuse me," said I. "the +_Athenæum_ got that out of me!"] + + + +APOLOGIES TO CLUVIER. + +It is part of my function to do justice to any cyclometers whose methods +have been wrongly described by any orthodox sneerers (myself included). In +this character I must notice _Dethlevus Cluverius_,[615] as the Leipzig +Acts call him (probably Dethleu Cluvier), grandson of the celebrated +geographer, Philip Cluvier. The grandson was a Fellow of the Royal Society, +elected on the same day as Halley,[616] November 30, 1678: I suppose he +lived in England. This {333} man is quizzed in the Leipzig Acts for 1686; +and, if Montucla insinuate rightly, by Leibnitz, who is further suspected +of wanting to embroil Cluvier with his own opponent Nieuwentiit,[617] on +the matter of infinitesimals. So far good: I have nothing against Leibnitz, +who though he was ironical, told us what he laughed at. But Montucla has +behaved very unfairly: he represents Cluvier as placing the essence of his +method in the solution of the problem _construere mundum divinæ menti +analogum_, to construct a world corresponding to the divine mind. Nothing +to begin with: no way of proceeding. Now, it ought to have been _ex data +linea construere_,[618] etc.: there is a given line, which is something to +go on. Further, there is a way of proceeding: it is to find the product of +1, 2, 3, 4, etc. for ever. Moreover, Montucla charges Cluvier with +_unsquaring_ the parabola, which Archimedes had squared as tight as a +glove. But he never mentions how very nearly Cluvier agrees with the Greek: +they only differ by 1 divided by 3n^2, where n is the infinite number of +parts of which a parabola is composed. This must have been the conceit that +tickled Leibnitz, and made him wish that Cluvier and Nieuwentiit should +fight it out. Cluvier, was admitted, on terms of irony, into the Leipzig +Acts: he appeared on a more serious footing in London. It is very rare for +one cyclometer to refute another: _les corsaires ne se battent pas_.[619] +The only instance I recall is that of M. Cluvier, who (_Phil. Trans._, +1686, No. 185) refuted M. Mallemont de Messange,[620] who {334} published +at Paris in 1686. He does it in a very serious style, and shows himself a +mathematician. And yet in the year in which, in the _Phil. Trans._, he was +a geometer, and one who rebukes his squarer for quoting Matthew xi. 25, in +that very year he was the visionary who, in the Leipzig Acts, professed to +build a world resembling the divine mind by multiplying together 1, 2, 3, +4, etc. up to infinity. + + + +THE RAINBOW PARADOX. + +There is a very pretty opening for a paradox which has never found its +paradoxer in print. The philosophers teach that the rainbow is not +material: it comes from rain-drops, but those rain-drops do not _take_ +color. They only _give_ it, as lenses and mirrors; and each one drop gives +_all_ the colors, but throws them in different directions. Accordingly, the +same drop which furnishes red light to one spectator will furnish violet to +another, properly placed. Enter the paradoxer whom I have to invent. The +philosopher has gulled you nicely. Look into the water, and you will see +the reflected rainbow: take a looking-glass held sideways, and you see +another reflection. How could this be, if there were nothing colored to +reflect? The paradoxer's facts are true: and what are called the reflected +rainbows are _other_ rainbows, caused by those _other_ drops which are +placed so as to give the colors to the eye after reflection, at the water +or the looking-glass. A few years ago an artist exhibited a picture with a +rainbow and its apparent reflection: he simply copied what he had seen. +When his picture was examined, some started the idea that there could be no +reflection of a rainbow; they were right: they inferred that the artist had +made a mistake; they were wrong. When it was explained, some agreed and +some dissented. Wanted, {335} immediately, an able paradoxer: testimonials +to be forwarded to either end of the rainbow, No. 1. No circle-squarer need +apply, His Variegatedness having been pleased to adopt 3.14159... from Noah +downwards. + + + +TYCHO BRAHE REVIVED. + +The system of Tycho Brahé,[621] with some alteration and addition, has been +revived and contended for in our own day by a Dane, W. Zytphen,[622] who +has published _The Motion of the Sun in the Universe_, (second edition) +Copenhagen, 1865, 8vo, and _Le Mouvement Sidéral_, 1865, 8vo. I make an +extract. + +"How can one explain Copernically that the velocity of the Moon must be +added to the velocity of the Earth on the one place in the Earth's orbit, +to learn how far the Moon has advanced from one fixed star to another; but +in another place in the orbit these velocities must be subtracted (the +movements taking place in opposite directions) to attain the same result? +In the Copernican and other systems, it is well known that the Moon, +abstracting from the insignificant excentricity of the orbit, always in +twenty-four hours performs an equally long distance. Why has Copernicus +never been denominated Fundamentus or Fundator? Because he has never +convinced anybody so thoroughly that this otherwise so natural epithet has +occurred to the mind." + +Really the second question is more effective against Newton than against +Copernicus; for it upsets gravity: the first is of great depth. + +{336} + + + +JAMES SMITH WILL NOT DOWN. + +The _Correspondent_ journal makes a little episode in the history of my +Budget (born May, 1865, died April, 1866). It consisted entirely of letters +written by correspondents. In August, a correspondent who signed "Fair +Play"--and who I was afterwards told was a lady--thought it would be a good +joke to bring in the Cyclometers. Accordingly a letter was written, +complaining that though Mr. Sylvester's[623] demonstration of Newton's +theorem--then attracting public attention--was duly lauded, the possibly +greater discovery of the quadrature seemed to be blushing unseen, and +wasting etc. It went on as follows: + +"Prof. De Morgan, who, from his position in the scientific world, might +fairly afford to look favourably on less practised efforts than his own, +seems to delight in ridiculing the discoverer. Science is, of course, a +very respectable person when he comes out and makes himself useful in the +world [it must have been a lady; each sex gives science to the other]: but +when, like a monk of the Middle Ages, he shuts himself up [it must have +been a lady; they always snub the bachelors] in his cloistered cell, +repeating his mumpsimus from day to day, and despising the labourers on the +outside, we begin to think of Galileo,[624] Jenner,[625] Harvey,[626] and +other glorious trios, who have been contemned ..." + +The writer then called upon Mr. James Smith[627] to come {337} forward. The +irony was not seen; and that day fortnight appeared the first of more than +thirty letters from his pen. Mr. Smith was followed by Mr. Reddie,[628] +Zadkiel,[629] and others, on their several subjects. To some of the letters +I have referred; to others I shall come. The _Correspondent_ was to become +a first-class scientific journal; the time had arrived at which truth had +an organ: and I received formal notice that I could not stifle it by +silence, nor convert it into falsehood by ridicule. When my reader sees my +extracts, he will readily believe my declaration that I should have been +the last to stifle a publication which was every week what James Mill[630] +would call a dose of capital for my Budget. A few anti-paradoxers brought +in common sense: but to the mass of the readers of the journal it all +seemed to be the difference between Tweedledum and Tweedledee. Some said +that the influx of scientific paradoxes killed the journal: but my belief +is that they made it last longer than it otherwise would have done. Twenty +years ago I recommended the paradoxers to combine and publish their views +in a common journal: with a catholic editor, who had no pet theory, but a +stern determination not to exclude anything merely for absurdity. I suspect +it would answer very well. A strong title, or motto, would be wanted: not +so coarse as was roared out in a Cambridge mob when I was an +undergraduate--"No King! No Church! No House of Lords! No nothing, blast +me!"--but something on that _principle_. + +At the end of 1867 I addressed the following letter to the _Athenæum_: + +PSEUDOMATH, PHILOMATH, AND GRAPHOMATH. + +_December 31, 1867_ + +Many thanks for the present of Mr. James Smith's letters {338} of Sept. 28 +and of Oct. 10 and 12. He asks where you will be if you read and digest his +letters: you probably will be somewhere first. He afterwards asks what the +WE of the _Athenæum_ will be if, finding it impossible to controvert, it +should refuse to print. I answer for you, that We-We of the _Athenæum_, not +being Wa-Wa the wild goose, so conspicuous in "Hiawatha," will leave what +controverts itself to print itself, if it please. + +_Philomath_ is a good old word, easier to write and speak than +_mathematician_. It wants the words between which I have placed it. They +are not well formed: _pseudomathete_ and _graphomathete_ would be better: +but they will do. I give an instance of each. + +The _pseudomath_ is a person who handles mathematics as the monkey handled +the razor. The creature tried to shave himself as he had seen his master +do; but, not having any notion of the angle at which the razor was to be +held, he cut his own throat. He never tried a second time, poor animal! but +the pseudomath keeps on at his work, proclaims himself clean-shaved, and +all the rest of the world hairy. So great is the difference between moral +and physical phenomena! Mr. James Smith is, beyond doubt, the great +pseudomath of our time. His 3-1/8 is the least of a wonderful chain of +discoveries. His books, like Whitbread's barrels, will one day reach from +Simpkin & Marshall's to Kew, placed upright, or to Windsor laid +length-ways. The Queen will run away on their near approach, as Bishop +Hatto did from the rats: but Mr. James Smith will follow her were it to +John o' Groats. + +The _philomath_, for my present purpose, must be exhibited as giving a +lesson to presumption. The following anecdote is found in Thiébault's[631] +_Souvenirs de vingt ans de séjours à Berlin_, published in 1804. The book +itself got a high character for truth. In 1807 Marshal Mollendorff[632] +{339} answered an inquiry of the Duc de Bassano,[633] by saying that it was +the most veracious of books, written by the most honest of men. Thiébault +does not claim personal knowledge of the anecdote, but he vouches for its +being received as true all over the north of Europe.[634] + +Diderot[635] paid a visit to Russia at the invitation of Catherine the +Second. At that time he was an atheist, or at least talked atheism: it +would be easy to prove him either one thing or the other from his writings. +His lively sallies on this subject much amused the Empress, and all the +younger part of her Court. But some of the older courtiers suggested that +it was hardly prudent to allow such unreserved exhibitions. The Empress +thought so too, but did not like to muzzle her guest by an express +prohibition: so a plot was contrived. The scorner was informed that an +eminent mathematician had an algebraical proof of the existence of God, +which he would communicate before the whole Court, if agreeable. Diderot +gladly consented. The mathematician, who is not named, was Euler.[636] He +came to Diderot with the gravest air, and in a tone of perfect conviction +said, "_Monsieur!_ + + (a + b^n)/n = x + +_donc Dieu existe; répondez!_"[637] Diderot, to whom algebra was Hebrew, +though this is expressed in a very roundabout way by Thiébault--and whom we +may suppose to have expected some verbal argument of alleged algebraical +closeness, was disconcerted; while peals of laughter sounded on all sides. +Next day he asked permission to return to France, which was granted. An +algebraist would have {340} turned the tables completely, by saying, +"Monsieur! vous savez bien que votre raisonnement demande le développement +de x suivant les puissances entières de n".[638] Goldsmith could not have +seen the anecdote, or he might have been supposed to have drawn from it a +hint as to the way in which the Squire demolished poor Moses. + +The _graphomath_ is a person who, having no mathematics, attempts to +describe a mathematician. Novelists perform in this way: even Walter Scott +now and then burns his fingers. His dreaming calculator, Davy Ramsay, +swears "by the bones of the immortal Napier." Scott thought that the the +philomaths worshiped relics: so they do, in one sense. Look into +Hutton's[639] Dictionary for _Napier's Bones_, and you shall learn all +about the little knick-knacks by which he did multiplication and division. +But never a bone of his own did he contribute; he preferred elephants' +tusks. The author of _Headlong Hall_[640] makes a grand error, which is +quite high science: he says that Laplace proved the precession of the +equinoxes to be a periodical inequality. He should have said the variation +of the obliquity. But the finest instance is the following: Mr. +Warren,[641] in his well-wrought tale of the martyr-philosopher, was +incautious enough to invent the symbols by which his _savant_ satisfied +himself Laplace[642] was right on a doubtful point. And this is what he put +together-- + + [sqrt]-3a^2, [rectangle]y^2 / z^2 + 9 - n = 9, n × log e. + +Now, to Diderot and the mass of mankind this might be Laplace all over: +and, in a forged note of Pascal, would {341} prove him quite up to +gravitation. But I know of nothing like it, except in the lately received +story of the American orator, who was called on for some Latin, and +perorated thus: "Committing the destiny of the country to your hands, +Gentlemen, I may without fear declare, in the language of the noble Roman +poet, + + E pluribus unum, + Multum in parvo, + Ultima Thule, + Sine qua non."[643] + +But the American got nearer to Horace than the martyr-philosopher to +Laplace. For all the words are in Horace, except _Thule_, which might have +been there. But [rectangle] is not a symbol wanted by Laplace; nor can we +see how it could have been; in fact, it is not recognized in algebra. As to +the junctions, etc., Laplace and Horace are about equally well imitated. + +Further thanks for Mr. Smith's letters to you of Oct. 15, 18, 19, 28, and +Nov. 4, 15. The last of these letters has two curious discoveries. First, +Mr. Smith declares that he has _seen_ the editor of the _Athenæum_: in +several previous letters he mentions a name. If he knew a little of +journalism he would be aware that editors are a peculiar race, obtained by +natural selection. They are never seen, even by their officials; only heard +down a pipe. Secondly, "an ellipse or oval" is composed of four arcs of +circles. Mr. Smith has got hold of the construction I was taught, when a +boy, for a pretty four-arc oval. But my teachers knew better than to call +it an ellipse: Mr. Smith does not; but he produces from it such +confirmation of 3-1/8 as would convince any _honest_ editor. + +Surely the cyclometer is a Darwinite development of a spider, who is always +at circles, and always begins again when his web is brushed away. He +informs you that he {342} has been privileged to discover truths unknown to +the scientific world. This we know; but he proceeds to show that he is +equally fortunate in art. He goes on to say that he will make use of you to +bring those truths to light, "just as an artist makes use of a dummy for +the purpose of arranging his drapery." The painter's lay-figure is for +flowing robes; the hairdresser's dummy is for curly locks. Mr. James Smith +should read Sam Weller's pathetic story of the "four wax dummies." As to +_his_ use of a dummy, it is quite correct. When I was at University +College, I walked one day into a room in which my Latin colleague was +examining. One of the questions was, "Give the lives and fates of Sp. +Mælius,[644] and Sp. Cassius."[645] Umph! said I, surely all know that +Spurius Mælius was whipped for adulterating flour, and that Spurius Cassius +was hanged for passing bad money. Now, a robe arranged on a dummy would +look just like the toga of Cassius on the gallows. Accordingly, Mr. Smith +is right in the drapery-hanger which he has chosen: he has been detected in +the attempt to pass bad circles. He complains bitterly that his geometry, +instead of being read and understood by you, is handed over to me to be +treated after my scurrilous fashion. It is clear enough that he would +rather be handled in this way than not handled at all, or why does he go on +writing? He must know by this time that it is a part of the institution +that his "untruthful and absurd trash" shall be distilled into mine at the +rate of about 3-1/8 pages of the first to one column of the second. Your +readers will never know how much they gain by the process, until Mr. James +Smith publishes it all in a big book, or until they get hold of what he has +already published. I have six pounds avoirdupois of pamphlets and letters; +and there is more than half a pound of letters {343} written to you in the +last two months. Your compositor must feel aggrieved by the rejection of +these clearly written documents, without erasures, and on one side only. +Your correspondent has all the makings of a good contributor, except the +knowledge of his subject and the sense to get it. He is, in fact, only a +mask: of whom the fox + + "O quanta species, inquit, cerebrum non habet."[646] + +I do not despair of Mr. Smith on any question which does not involve that +unfortunate two-stick wicket at which he persists in bowling. He has +published many papers; he has forwarded them to mathematicians: and he +cannot get answers; perhaps not even readers. Does he think that he would +get more notice if you were to print him in your journal? Who would study +his columns? Not the mathematician, we know; and he knows. Would others? +His balls are aimed too wide to be blocked by any one who is near the +wicket. He has long ceased to be worth the answer which a new invader may +get. Rowan Hamilton,[647] years ago, completely knocked him over; and he +has never attempted to point out any error in the short and easy method by +which that powerful investigator condescended to show that, be right who +may, he must be wrong. There are some persons who feel inclined to think +that Mr. Smith should be argued with: let those persons understand that he +has been argued with, refuted, and has never attempted to stick a pen into +the refutation. He stated that it was a remarkable paradox, easily +explicable; and that is all. After this evasion, Mr. James Smith is below +the necessity of being told that he is unworthy of answer. His friends +complain that I do nothing but _chaff_ him. Absurd! I winnow him; and if +nothing but chaff results, whose fault is that? I am usefully employed: for +he is the type of a class which ought to be known, and which I have done +much to make known. + +{344} + +Nothing came of this until July 1869, when I received a reprint of the +above letter, with a comment, described as Appendix D of a work in course +of publication on the geometry of the circle. The _Athenæum_ journal +received the same: but the Editor, in his private capacity, received the +whole work, being _The Geometry of the Circle and Mathematics as applied to +Geometry by Mathematicians, shown to be a mockery, delusion, and a snare_, +Liverpool, 8vo, 1869. Mr. J. S. here appears in deep fight with Professor +Whitworth,[648] and Mr. Wilson,[649] the author of the alleged amendment of +Euclid. How these accomplished mathematicians could be inveigled into +continued discussion is inexplicable. Mr. Whitworth began by complaining of +Mr. Smith's attacks upon mathematicians, continued to correspond after he +was convinced that J. S. proved an arc and its chord to be equal, and only +retreated when J. S. charged him with believing in 3-1/8, and refusing +acknowledgment. Mr. Wilson was introduced to J. S. by a volunteer defense +of his geometry from the assaults of the _Athenæum_. This the editor would +not publish; so J. S. sent a copy to Mr. Wilson himself. Some +correspondence ensued, but Mr. Wilson soon found out his man, and withdrew. + +There is a little derision of the _Athenæum_ and a merited punishment for +"that unscrupulous critic and contemptible mathematical twaddler, De +Morgan." + + + +MR. REDDIE'S ASTRONOMY. + +At p. 183 I mentioned Mr. Reddie,[650] the author of _Vis Inertiæ Victa_ +and of _Victoria toto coelo_,[651] which last is not {345} an address to +the whole heaven, either from a Roman Goddess or a British Queen, whatever +a scholar may suppose. Between these Mr. Reddie has published _The +Mechanics of the Heavens_, 8vo, 1862: this I never saw until he sent it to +me, with an invitation to notice it, he very well knowing that it would +catch. His speculations do battle with common notions of mathematics and of +mechanics, which, to use a feminine idiom, he blasphemes so you can't +think! and I suspect that if you do not blaspheme them too, _you_ can't +think. He appeals to the "truly scientific," and would be glad to have +readers who have read what he controverts, i.e., Newton's _Principia_: I +wish he may get them; I mean I hope he may obtain them. To none but these +would an account of his speculations be intelligible: I accordingly +disposed of him in a very short paragraph of description. Now many +paradoxers desire notice, even though it be disparaging. I have letters +from more than one--besides what have been sent to the Editor of the +_Athenæum_--complaining that they are not laughed at; although they deserve +it, they tell me, as much as some whom I have inserted. Mr. Reddie informs +me that I have not said a single word against his books, though I have +given nearly a column to sixteen-string arithmetic, and as much to +animalcule universes. What need to say anything to readers of Newton +against a book from which I quoted that revolution by gravitation is +_demonstrably_ impossible? It would be as useless as evidence against a man +who has pleaded guilty. Mr. Reddie derisively thanks me for "small +mercies"; he wrote me private letters; he published them, and more, in the +_Correspondent_. He gave me, _pro viribus suis_,[652] such a dressing you +can't think, both for my Budget non-notice, and for reviews which he +assumed me to have written. He outlawed himself by declaring +(_Correspondent_, Nov. 11, 1856) that I--in a review--had made a quotation +which was "garbled, evidently on purpose {346} to make it appear that" he +"was advocating solely a geocentric hypothesis, which is not true." In +fact, he did his best to get larger "mercy." And he shall have it; and at a +length which shall content him, unless his mecometer be an insatiable +apparatus. But I fear that in other respects I shall no more satisfy him +than the Irish drummer satisfied the poor culprit when, after several times +changing the direction of the stroke at earnest entreaty, he was at last +provoked to call out, "Bad cess to ye, ye spalpeen! strike where one will, +there's no _plasing_ ye!" + +Mr. Reddie attaches much force to Berkeley's[653] old arguments against the +doctrine of fluxions, and advances objections to Newton's second section, +which he takes to be new. To me they appear "such as have been often made," +to copy a description given in a review: though I have no doubt Mr. Reddie +got them out of himself. But the whole matter comes to this: Mr. Reddie +challenged answer, especially from the British Association, and got none. +He presumes that this is because he is right, and cannot be answered: the +Association is willing to risk itself upon the counter-notion that he is +wrong, and need not be answered; because so wrong that none who could +understand an answer would be likely to want one. + +Mr. Reddie demands my attention to a point which had already particularly +struck me, as giving the means of showing to _all_ readers the kind of +confusion into which paradoxers are apt to fall, in spite of the clearest +instruction. It is a very honest blunder, and requires notice: it may +otherwise mislead some, who may suppose that no one able to read could be +mistaken about so simple a matter, {347} let him be ever so wrong about +Newton. According to his own mis-statement, in less than five months he +made the Astronomer Royal abandon the theory of the solar motion in space. +The announcement is made in August, 1865, as follows: the italics are not +mine: + + "The third (_Victoria ..._), although only published in September, + 1863, has already had its triumph. _It is the book that forced the + Astronomer Royal of England, after publicly teaching the contrary for + years, to come to the conclusion, "strange as it may appear," that "the + whole question of solar motion in space is at the present time in doubt + and abeyance."_ This admission is made in the Annual Report of the + Council of the Royal Astronomical Society, published in the Society's + _Monthly Notices_ for February, 1864." + +It is added that solar motion is "full of self-contradiction, which "the +astronomers" simply overlooked, but which they dare not now deny after +being once pointed out." + +The following is another of his accounts of the matter, given in the +_Correspondent_, No. 18, 1865: + + "... You ought, when you came to put me in the 'Budget,' to have been + aware of the Report of the Council of the Royal Astronomical Society, + where it appears that Professor Airy,[654] with a better appreciation + of my demonstrations, had admitted--'strange,' say the Council, 'as it + may appear,'--that 'the whole question of solar motion in space [and + here Mr. Reddie omits some words] is now in _doubt and abeyance_.' You + were culpable as a public teacher of no little pretensions, if you were + 'unaware' of this. If aware of it, you ought not to have suppressed + such an important testimony to my really having been 'very successful' + in drawing the teeth of the pegtops, though you thought them so firmly + fixed. And if you still suppress {348} it, in your Appendix, or when + you reprint your 'Budget,' you will then be guilty of a _suppressio + veri_, also of further injury to me, who have never injured you...." + +Mr. Reddie must have been very well satisfied in his own mind before he +ventured such a challenge, with an answer from me looming in the distance. +The following is the passage of the Report of the Council, etc., from which +he quotes: + + "And yet, strange to say, notwithstanding the near coincidence of all + the results of the before-mentioned independent methods of + investigation, the inevitable logical inference deduced by Mr. Airy is, + that the whole question of solar motion in space, _so far at least as + accounting for the proper motion of the stars is concerned_, [I have + put in italics the words omitted by Mr. Reddie] appears to remain at + this moment in doubt and abeyance." + +Mr. Reddie has forked me, as he thinks, on a dilemma: if unaware, culpable +ignorance; if aware, suppressive intention. But the thing is a _trilemma_, +and the third horn, on which I elect to be placed, is surmounted by a +doubly-stuffed seat. First, Mr. Airy has not changed his opinion about the +_fact_ of solar motion in space, but only suspends it as to the sufficiency +of present means to give the amount and direction of the motion. Secondly, +all that is alluded to in the Astronomical Report was said and printed +before the Victoria proclamation appeared. So that the author, instead of +drawing the tooth of the Astronomer Royal's pegtop, has burnt his own +doll's nose. + +William Herschel,[655] and after him about six other astronomers, had aimed +at determining, by the proper motions of the stars, the point of the +heavens towards which the solar system is moving: their results were +tolerably accordant. Mr. Airy, in 1859, proposed an improved method, and, +applying it to stars of large proper motion, produced {349} much the same +result as Herschel. Mr. E. Dunkin,[656] one of Mr. Airy's staff at +Greenwich, applied Mr. Airy's method to a very large number of stars, and +produced, again, nearly the same result as before. This paper was read to +the Astronomical Society in _March_, 1863, was printed in abstract in the +_Notice_ of that month, was printed in full in the volume then current, and +was referred to in the Annual Report of the Council in _February_, 1864, +under the name of "the Astronomer Royal's elaborate investigation, as +exhibited by Mr. Dunkin." Both Mr. Airy and Mr. Dunkin express grave doubts +as to the sufficiency of the data: and, regarding the coincidence of all +the results as highly curious, feel it necessary to wait for calculations +made on better data. The report of the Council states these doubts. Mr. +Reddie, who only published in _September_, 1863, happened to see the Report +of February, 1864, assumes that the doubts were then first expressed, and +declares that his book of September had the triumph of forcing the +Astronomer Royal to abandon the _fact_ of motion of the solar system by the +February following. Had Mr. Reddie, when he saw that the Council were +avowedly describing a memoir presented some time before, taken the +precaution to find out _when_ that memoir was presented, he would perhaps +have seen that doubts of the results obtained, expressed by one astronomer +in March, 1863, and by another in 1859, could not have been due to his +publication of September, 1863. And any one else would have learnt that +neither astronomer doubts the _solar motion_, though both doubt the +sufficiency of present means to determine its _amount_ and _direction_. +This is implied in the omitted words, which Mr. Reddie--whose omission +would have been dishonest if he had seen their meaning--no doubt took for +pleonasm, superfluity, overmuchness. The rashness which pushed him headlong +{350} into the quillet that _his_ thunderbolt had stopped the chariot of +the Sun and knocked the Greenwich Phaeton off the box, is the same which +betrayed him into yet grander error--which deserves the full word, +_quidlibet_--about the _Principia_ of Newton. There has been no change of +opinion at all. When a person undertakes a long investigation, his opinion +is that, at a certain date, there is _prima facie_ ground for thinking a +sound result may be obtained. Should it happen that the investigation ends +in doubt upon the sufficiency of the grounds, the investigator is not put +in the wrong. He knew beforehand that there was an alternative: and he +takes the horn of the alternative indicated by his calculations. The two +sides of this case present an instructive contrast. Eight astronomers +produce nearly the same result, and yet the last two doubt the sufficiency +of their means: compare them with the what's-his-name who rushes in where +thing-em-bobs fear to tread. + +I was not aware, until I had written what precedes, that Mr. Airy had given +a sufficient answer on the point. Mr. Reddie says (_Correspondent_, Jan. +20, 1866): + + "I claim to have forced Professor Airy to give up the notion of 'solar + motion in space' altogether, for he admits it to be 'at present in + doubt and abeyance.' I first made that claim in a letter addressed to + the Astronomer Royal himself in June, 1864, and in replying, very + courteously, to other portions of my letter, he did not gainsay that + part of it." + +Mr. Reddie is not ready at reading satire, or he never would have so missed +the meaning of the courteous reply on one point, and the total silence upon +another. Mr. Airy must be one of those peculiar persons who, when they do +not think an assertion worth notice, let it alone, without noticing it by a +notification of non-notice. He would never commit the bull of "Sir! I will +not say a word on that subject." He would put it thus, "Sir! I will only +say ten words on that subject,"--and, having thus said them, would {351} +proceed to something else. He assumed, as a matter of form, that Mr. Reddie +would draw the proper inference from his silence: and this because he did +not care whether or no the assumption was correct. + +The _Mechanics of the Heavens_, which Mr. Reddie sends to be noticed, shall +be noticed, so far as an extract goes: + + + +"My connection with this subject is, indeed, very simply explained. In +endeavoring to understand the laws of physical astronomy as generally +taught, I happened to entertain some doubt whether gravitating bodies could +revolve, and having afterwards imbibed some vague idea that the laws of the +universe were chemical and physical rather than mechanical, and somehow +connected with electricity and magnetism as opposing correlative +forces--most probably suggested to my mind, as to many others, by the +transcendent discoveries made in electro-magnetism by Professor +Faraday[657]--my former doubts about gravitation were revived, and I was +led very naturally to try and discover whether a gravitating body really +could revolve; and I became convinced it could not, before I had ever +presumed to look into the demonstrations of the _Principia_." + + + +This is enough against the book, without a word from me: I insert it only +to show those who know the subject what manner of writer Mr. Reddie is. It +is clear that "presumed" is a slip of the pen; it should have been +_condescended_. + +Mr. Reddie represents me as dreaming over paltry paradoxes. He is right; +many of my paradoxes are paltry: he is wrong; I am wide awake to them. A +single moth, beetle, or butterfly, may be a paltry thing; but when a +cabinet is arranged by genus and species, we then begin to admire the {352} +infinite variety of a system constructed on a wonderful sameness of leading +characteristics. And why should paradoxes be denied that collective +importance, paltry as many of them may individually be, which is accorded +to moths, beetles, or butterflies? Mr. Reddie himself sees that "there is a +method in" my "mode of dealing with paradoxes." I hope I have atoned for +the scantiness of my former article, and put the demonstrated impossibility +of gravitation on that level with Hubongramillposanfy arithmetic and +inhabited atoms which the demonstrator--not quite without reason--claims +for it. + +In the Introduction to a collected edition of the three works, Mr. Reddie +describes his _Mechanism of the Heavens_, from which I have just quoted, +as-- + + + +"a public challenge offered to the British Association and the +mathematicians at Cambridge, in August, 1862, calling upon them to point to +a single demonstration in the _Principia_ or elsewhere, which even attempts +to prove that Universal Gravitation is possible, or to show that a +gravitating body could possibly revolve about a center of attraction. The +challenge was not accepted, and never will be. No such demonstration +exists. And the public must judge for themselves as to the character of a +so-called "certain science," which thus shrinks from rigid examination, and +dares not defend itself when publicly attacked: also of the character of +its teachers, who can be content to remain dumb under such circumstances." + + + +ON PARADOXERS IN GENERAL. + +The above is the commonplace talk of the class, of which I proceed to speak +without more application to this paradoxer than to that. It reminds one of +the funny young rascals who used, in times not yet quite forgotten, to +abuse the passengers, as long as they could keep up with the {353} stage +coach; dropping off at last with "Why don't you get down and thrash us? +You're afraid, you're afraid!" They will allow the public to judge for +themselves, but with somewhat of the feeling of the worthy uncle in _Tom +Jones_, who, though he would let young people choose for themselves, would +_have them_ choose wisely. They try to be so awfully moral and so ghastly +satirical that they must be answered: and they are best answered in their +own division. We have all heard of the way in which sailors cat's-pawed the +monkeys: they taunted the dwellers in the trees with stones, and the +monkeys taunted them with cocoa-nuts in return. But these were silly +dendrobats: had they belonged to the British Association they would have +said--No! No! dear friends; it is not in the itinerary: if you want nuts, +you must climb, as we do. The public has referred the question to Time: the +procedure of this great king I venture to describe, from precedents, by an +adaptation of some smart anapæstic tetrameters--your anapæst is the foot +for satire to halt on, both in Greek and English--which I read about twenty +years ago, and with the point of which I was much tickled. Poetasters were +laughed at; but Mr. Slum, whom I employed--Mr. Charles Dickens obliged me +with his address--converted the idea into that of a hit at +mathematicasters, as easily as he turned the Warren acrostic into Jarley. +As he observed, when I settled his little account, it is cheaper than any +prose, though the broom was not stolen quite ready made: + + _Forty stripes save one for the smaller Paradoxers._ + + Hark to the wisdom the sages preach + Who never have learnt what they try to teach. + We are the lights of the age, they say! + We are the men, and the thinkers we! + So we build up guess-work the livelong day, + In a topsy-turvy sort of way, + Some with and some wanting _a_ plus b. + Let the British Association fuss; + What are theirs to the feats to be wrought by us? + {354} + Shall the earth stand still? Will the round come square? + Must Isaac's book be the nest of a mare? + Ought the moon to be taught by the laws of space + To turn half round without right-about-face? + Our whimsey crotchets will manage it all; + Deep! Deep! posterity will them call! + Though the world, for the present, lets them fall + Down! Down! to the twopenny box of the stall! + + Thus they--But the marplot Time stands by, + With a knowing wink in his funny old eye. + He grasps by the top an immense fool's cap, + Which he calls a philosophaster-trap: + And rightly enough, for while these little men + Croak loud as a concert of frogs in a fen, + He first singles out one, and then another, + Down goes the cap--lo! a moment's pother, + A spirit like that which a rushlight utters + As just at the last it kicks and gutters: + When the cruel smotherer is raised again + Only snuff, and but little of that, will remain. + + But though _uno avulso_ thus comes every day + _Non deficit alter_ is also in play: + For the vacant parts are, one and all, + Soon taken by puppets just as small; + Who chirp, chirp, chirp, with a grasshopper's glee, + We're the lamps of the Universe, We! We! We! + But Time, whose speech is never long,-- + He hasn't time for it--stops the song + And says--Lilliput lamps! leave the twopenny boxes, + And shine in the Budget of Paradoxes! + +When a paradoxer parades capital letters and diagrams which are as good as +Newton's to all who know nothing about it, some persons wonder why science +does not rise and triturate the whole thing. This is why: all who are fit +to read the refutation are satisfied already, and can, if they please, +detect the paradoxer for themselves. Those who are not fit to do this would +not know the difference between the true answer and the new capitals and +diagrams on which the delighted paradoxer would declare {355} that he had +crumbled the philosophers, and not they him. Trust him for having the last +word: and what matters it whether he crow the unanswerable sooner or later? +There are but two courses to take. One is to wait until he has committed +himself in something which all can understand, as Mr. Reddie has done in +his fancy about the Astronomer Royal's change of opinion: he can then be +put in his true place. The other is to construct a Budget of Paradoxes, +that the world may see how the thing is always going on, and that the +picture I have concocted by cribbing and spoiling a bit of poetry is drawn +from life. He who wonders at there being no answer has seen one or two: he +does not know that there are always fifty with equal claims, each of whom +regards his being ranked with the rest as forty-nine distinct and several +slanders upon himself, the great Mully Ully Gue. And the fifty would soon +be five hundred if any notice were taken of them. They call mankind to +witness that science _will not_ defend itself, though publicly attacked in +terms which might sting a pickpocket into standing up for his character: +science, in return, allows mankind to witness or not, at pleasure, that it +_does not_ defend itself, and yet receives no injury from centuries of +assault. Demonstrative reason never raises the cry of _Church in Danger_! +and it cannot have any Dictionary of Heresies except a Budget of Paradoxes. +Mistaken claimants are left to Time and his extinguisher, with the +approbation of all thinking non-claimants: there is no need of a succession +of exposures. Time gets through the job in his own workmanlike manner as +already described. + +On looking back more than twenty years, I find among my cuttings the +following passage, relating to a person who had signalized himself by an +effort to teach comets to the conductor of the _Nautical Almanac_: + + + +"Our brethren of the literary class have not the least idea of the small +amount of appearance of knowledge {356} which sets up the scientific +charlatan. Their world is large, and there are many who have that moderate +knowledge, and perception of what is knowledge, before which extreme +ignorance is detected in its first prank. There is a public of moderate +cultivation, for the most part sound in its judgment, always ready in its +decisions. Accordingly, all their successful pretenders have _some +pretension_. It is not so in science. Those who have a right to judge are +fewer and farther between. The consequence is, that many scientific +pretenders have _nothing but pretension_." + + + +This is nearly as applicable now as then. It is impossible to make those +who have not studied for themselves fully aware of the truth of what I have +quoted. The best chance is collection of cases; in fact, a Budget of +Paradoxes. Those who have no knowledge of the subject can thus argue from +the seen to the unseen. All can feel the impracticability of the +Hubongramillposanfy numeration, and the absurdity of the equality of +contour of a regular pentagon and hexagon in one and the same circle. Many +may accordingly be satisfied, on the assurance of those who have studied, +that there is as much of impracticability, or as much of absurdity, in +things which are hidden under + + "Sines, tangents, secants, radius, cosines + Subtangents, segments and all those signs; + Enough to prove that he who read 'em + Was just as mad as he who made 'em." + +Not that I mean to be disrespectful to mathematical terms: they are short +and easily explained, and compete favorably with those of most other +subjects: for instance, with + + "Horse-pleas, traverses, demurrers, + Jeofails, imparlances, and errors, + Averments, bars, and protestandos, + And puis d'arreign continuandos." + +{357} + +From which it appears that, taking the selections made by satirists for our +samples, there are, one with another, four letters more in a law term than +in one of mathematics. But pleading has been simplified of late years. + +All paradoxers can publish; and any one who likes may read. But this is not +enough; they find that they cannot publish, or those who can find they are +_not_ read, and they lay their plans athwart the noses of those who, they +think, ought to read. To recommend them to be content with publication, +like other authors, is an affront: of this I will give the reader an +amusing instance. My good nature, of which I keep a stock, though I do not +use it all up in this Budget, prompts me to conceal the name. + +I received the following letter, accompanied by a prospectus of a work on +metaphysics, physics, astronomy, etc. The author is evidently one whom I +should delight to honor: + +"Sir,--A friend of mine has mentioned your name in terms of panigeric +[_sic_], as being of high standing in mathematics, and of greatly original +thought. I send you the enclosed without comment; and, assuming that the +bent of your mind is in free inquiry, shall feel a pleasure in showing you +my portfolio, which, as a mathematician, you will acknowledge to be deeply +interesting, even in an educational point of view. The work is complete, +and the system so far perfected as to place it above criticism; and, so far +as regards astronomy, as will Ptolemy beyond rivalry [_sic_: no doubt some +words omitted]. Believe me to be, Sir, with the profoundest respect, etc. +The work is the result of thirty-five years' travel and observation, labor, +expense, and self-abnegation." + +I replied to the effect that my time was fully occupied, and that I was +obliged to decline discussion with many persons who have views of their +own; that the proper way is to publish, so that those who choose may read +when they can find leisure. I added that I should advise a precursor in the +shape of a small pamphlet, as two octavo volumes {358} would be too much +for most persons. This was sound advice; but it is not the first, second, +or third time that it has proved very unpalatable. I received the following +answer, to which I take the liberty of prefixing a bit of leonine wisdom: + + "Si doceas stultum, lætum non dat tibi vultum; + Odit te multum; vellet te scire sepultum.[658]" + +"Sir,--I pray you pardon the error I unintentionally have fallen into; +deceived by the F.R.S. [I am not F.R.S.] I took you to be a man of science +[_omnis homo est animal, Sortes est homo, ergo Sortes est animal_][659] +instead of the mere mathematician, or human calculating-machine. Believe +me, Sir, you also have mistaken your mission, as I have mine. I wrote to +you as I would to any other man well up in mathematics, with the intent to +call your attention to a singular fact of omission by Euclid, and other +great mathematicians: and, in selecting you, I did you an honor which, from +what I have just now heard, was entirely out of place. I think, considering +the nature of the work set forth in the prospectus, you are guilty of both +folly and presumption, in assuming the character of a patron; for your own +sense ought to have assured you that was such my object I should not have +sought him in a De Morgan, who exists only by patronage of others. On the +other hand, I deem it to be an unpardonable piece of presumption in +offering your advice upon a subject the magnitude, importance, and real +utility of which you know nothing about: by doing so you have offered me a +direct insult. The system is a manual of Philosophy, a one inseparable +whole of metaphysics and physic; embracing points the most interesting, +laws the most important, {359} doctrines the most essential to advance man +in accordance with the spirit of the times. I may not live to see it in +print; for, at ----, life at best is uncertain: but, live or die, be +assured Sir, it is not my intention to debase the work by seeking +patronage, or pandering to the public taste. Your advice was the less +needed, seeing I am an old-established ----. I remain, etc.--P.S. You will +oblige me by returning the prospectus of my work." + + + +My reader will, I am sure, not take this transition from the "profoundest +respect" to the loftiest insolence for an _apocraphical_ correspondence, to +use a word I find in the Prospectus: on my honor it is genuine. He will be +better employed in discovering whether I exist by patronizing others, or by +being patronized by them. I make any one who can find it out a fair offer: +I will give him my patronage if I turn out to be Bufo, on condition he +gives me his, if I turn out to be Bavius.[660] I need hardly say that I +considered the last letter to be one of those to which no answer is so good +as no answer. + +These letters remind me in one respect of the correspondents of the +newspapers. My other party wrote because a friend had pointed me out: but +he would not have written if he had known what another friend told him just +in time for the second letter. The man who sends his complaint to the +newspaper very often says, in effect, "Don't imagine, Sir, that I read your +columns; but a friend who sometimes does has told me ..." It is worded +thus: "My attention {360} has been directed to an article in your paper of +..." Many thanks to my friend's friends for not mentioning the Budget: had +my friend's attention been directed to it I might have lost a striking +example of the paradoxer in search of a patron. That my Friend was on this +scent in the first letter is revealed in the second. Language was given to +man to conceal his thoughts; but it is not every one who can do it. + +Among the most valuable information which my readers will get from me is +comparison of the reactions of paradoxers, when not admitted to argument, +or when laughed at. Of course, they are misrepresented; and at this they +are angry, or which is the same thing, take great pains to assure the +reader that they are not. So far natural, and so far good; anything short +of concession of a case which must be seriously met by counter-reasons is +sure to be misrepresentation. My friend Mr. James Smith and my friend Mr. +Reddie are both terribly misrepresented: they resent it by some +insinuations in which it is not easy to detect whether I am a conscious +smotherer of truth, or only muddle-headed and ignorant. [This was written +before I received my last communication from Mr. James Smith. He tells me +that I am wrong in saying that his work in which I stand in the pillory is +all reprint: I have no doubt I confounded some of it with some of the +manuscript or slips which I had received from my much not-agreed-with +correspondent. He adds that my mistake was intentional, and that my reason +is obvious to the reader. This _is_ information, as the sea-serpent said +when he read in the newspaper that he had a mane and tusks.] + + + +THE DOUBLE VAHU PROCESS. + +My friend Dr. Thorn[661] sees deeper into my mystery. By the way, he still +sends an occasional touch at the old {361} subject; and he wants me +particularly to tell my readers that the Latin numeral letters, if M be +left out, give 666. And so they do: witness DCLXVI. A person who thinks of +the origin of symbols will soon see that 666 is our number because we have +five fingers on each hand: had we had but four, our mystic number would +have been expressed by 555, and would have stood for our present 365. Had n +been the number on each hand, the great number would have been + + (n + 1) (4n^2 + 2n + 1) + +With no finger on each hand, the number would have been 1: with one finger +less than none at all on each hand, it would have been 0. But what does +this mean? Here is a question for an algebraical paradoxer! So soon as we +have found out how many fingers the inhabitants of any one planet have on +each hand, we have the means of knowing their number of the Beast, and +thence all about them. Very much struck with this hint of discovery, I +turned my attention to the means of developing it. The first point was to +clear my vision of all the old cataracts. I propose the following +experiment, subject of course to the consent of parties. Let Dr. Thorn +Double-Vahu Mr. James Smith, and Thau Mr. Reddie: if either be deparadoxed +by the treatment, I will consent to undergo it myself. Provided always that +the temperature required be not so high as the Doctor hints at: if the +Turkish Baths will do for this world, I am content. + +The three paradoxers last named and myself have a pentasyllable convention, +under which, though we go far beyond civility, we keep within civilization. +Though Mr. James Smith pronounced that I must be dishonest if I did not see +his argument, which he knew I should not do [to say nothing of recent +accusation]; though Dr. Thorn declared me a competitor for fire and +brimstone--and my wife, too, which doubles the joke: though Mr. Reddie +{362} was certain I had garbled him, evidently on purpose to make falsehood +appear truth; yet all three profess respect for me as to everything but +power to see truth, or candor to admit it. And on the other hand, though +these were the modes of opening communication with me, and though I have no +doubt that all three are proper persons of whom to inquire whether I should +go up-stairs or down-stairs, etc., yet I am satisfied they are thoroughly +respectable men, as to everything but reasoning. And I dare say our several +professions are far more true in extent than in many which are made under +more parliamentary form. We find excuses for each other: they make +allowances for my being hoodwinked by Aristotle, by Newton, by the Devil; +and I permit them to feel, for I know they cannot get on without it, that +their reasons are such as none but a knave or a sinner can resist. But +_they_ are content with cutting a slice each out of my character: neither +of them is more than an uncle, a Bone-a-part; I now come to a dreadful +nephew, Bone-the-whole. + +I will not give the name of the poor fellow who has fallen so far below +both the _honestum_ and the _utile_, to say nothing of the _decorum_ or the +_dulce_.[662] He is the fourth who has taken elaborate notice of me; and my +advice to him would be, _Nec quarta loqui persona laboret_.[663] According +to him, I scorn humanity, scandalize learning, and disgrace the press; it +admits of no manner of doubt that my object is to mislead the public and +silence truth, at the expense of the interests of science, the wealth of +the nation, and the lives of my fellow men. The only thing left to be +settled is, whether this is due to ignorance, natural distaste for truth, +personal malice, a wish to curry favor with the Astronomer Royal, or mere +toadyism. The only accusation which has truth in it is, that I have made +myself a "public scavenger of science": the assertion, which is the {363} +most false of all is, that the results of my broom and spade are "shot +right in between the columns of" the _Athenæum_. I declare I never in my +life inserted a word between the columns of the _Athenæum_: I feel huffed +and miffed at the very supposition. I _have_ made myself a public +scavenger; and why not? Is the mud never to be collected into a heap? I +look down upon the other scavengers, of whom there have been a few--mere +historical drudges; Montucla, Hutton, etc.--as not fit to compete with me. +I say of them what one crossing-sweeper said of the rest: "They are well +enough for the common thing; but put them to a bit of fancy-work, such as +sweeping round a post, and see what a mess they make of it!" Who can touch +me at sweeping round a paradoxer? If I complete my design of publishing a +separate work, an old copy will be fished up from a stall two hundred years +hence by the coming man, and will be described in an article which will end +by his comparing our century with his own, and sighing out in the best New +Zealand pronunciation-- + + "Dans ces tems-là + C'était déjà comme ça!"[664] + + + +ORTHODOX PARADOXERS. + +And pray, Sir! I have been asked by more than one--do your orthodox never +fall into mistake, nor rise into absurdity? They not only do both, but they +admit it of each other very freely; individually, they are convinced of +sin, but not of any particular sin. There is not a syndoxer among them all +but draws his line in such a way as to include among paradoxers a great +many whom I should exclude altogether from this work. My worst specimens +are but exaggerations of what may be found, occasionally, in the thoughts +of sagacious investigators. At the end of the {364} glorious dream, we +learn that there is a way to Hell from the gates of Heaven, as well as from +the City of Destruction: and that this is true of other things besides +Christian pilgrimage is affirmed at the end of the Budget of Paradoxes. If +D'Alembert[665] had produced _enough_ of a quality to match his celebrated +mistake on the chance of throwing head in two throws, he would have been in +my list. If Newton had produced _enough_ to match his reception of the +story that Nausicaa, Homer's Phæacian princess, invented the celestial +sphere, followed by his serious surmise that she got it from the +Argonauts,--then Newton himself would have had an appearance entered for +him, in spite of the _Principia_. In illustration, I may cite a few words +from _Tristram Shandy_: + + + +"'A soldier,' cried my uncle Toby, interrupting the Corporal, 'is no more +exempt from saying a foolish thing, Trim, than a man of letters.'--'But not +so often, an' please your honor,' replied the Corporal. My uncle Toby gave +a nod." + + + +I now proceed to die out. Some prefatory remarks will follow in time.[666] +I shall have occasion to insist that all is not barren: I think I shall +find, on casting up, that two out of five of my paradoxers are not to be +utterly condemned. Among the better lot will be found all gradations of +merit; at the same time, as was remarked on quite a different subject, +there may be little to choose between the last of the saved and the first +of the lost. The higher and better class is worthy of blame; the lower and +worse class is worthy of praise. The higher men are to be reproved for not +taking up things in which they could do some good: the lower men are to be +commended for taking up things in which they can do no great harm. The +circle problem is like Peter Peebles's lawsuit: + +{365} + + + +"'But, Sir, I should really spoil any cause thrust on me so hastily.'--'Ye +cannot spoil it, Alan,' said my father, 'that is the very cream of the +business, man,--... the case is come to that pass that Stair or Arniston +could not mend it, and I don't think even you, Alan, can do it much harm.'" + + + +I am strongly reminded of the monks in the darker part of the Middle Ages. +To a certain proportion of them, perhaps two out of five, we are indebted +for the preservation of literature, and their contemporaries for good +teaching and mitigation of socials evils. But the remaining three were the +fleas and flies and thistles and briars with whom the satirist lumps them, +about a century before the Reformation: + + "Flen, flyys, and freris, populum domini male cædunt; + Thystlis and breris crescentia gramina lædunt. + Christe nolens guerras qui cuncta pace tueris, + Destrue per terras breris, flen, flyys, and freris. + Flen, flyys, and freris, foul falle hem thys fyften yeris, + For non that her is lovit flen, flyys ne freris."[667] + +I should not be quite so savage with my second class. Taken together, they +may be made to give useful warning to those who are engaged in learning +under better auspices: aye, even useful hints; for bad things are very +often only good things spoiled or misused. My plan is that of a predecessor +in the time of Edward the Second: + + "Meum est propositum genti imperitæ + Artes frugi reddere melioris vitæ."[668] + +To this end I have spoken with freedom of books as books, of opinions as +opinions, of ignorance as ignorance, of {366} presumption as presumption; +and of writers as I judge may be fairly inferred from what they have +written. Some--to whom I am therefore under great obligation--have +permitted me to enlarge my plan by assaults to which I have alluded; +assaults which allow a privilege of retort, of which I have often availed +myself; assaults which give my readers a right of partnership in the +amusement which I myself have received. + +For the present I cut and run: a Catiline, pursued by a chorus of Ciceros, +with _Quousque tandem? Quamdiu nos? Nihil ne te?_[669] ending with, _In te +conferri pestem istam jam pridem oportebat, quam tu in nos omnes jamdiu +machinaris!_ I carry with me the reflection that I have furnished to those +who need it such a magazine of warnings as they will not find elsewhere; _a +signatis cavetote_:[670] and I throw back at my pursuers--_Valete, doctores +sine doctrina; facite ut proxima congressu vos salvos corporibus et sanos +mentibus videamus._[671] Here ends the Budget of Paradoxes. + +{367} + + * * * * * + + +APPENDIX. + +I think it right to give the proof that the ratio of the circumference to +the diameter is incommensurable. This method of proof was given by +Lambert,[672] in the _Berlin Memoirs_ for 1761, and has been also given in +the notes to Legendre's[673] Geometry, and to the English translation of +the same. Though not elementary algebra, it is within the reach of a +student of ordinary books.[674] + +Let a continued fraction, such as + + a + ----- + b + c + ----- + d + e + - + f + etc., + +be abbreviated into a/b+ c/d+ e/f+ etc.: each fraction being understood as +falling down to the side of the preceding sign +. In every such fraction we +may suppose b, d, f, etc. {368} positive; a, c, e, &c. being as required: +and all are supposed integers. If this succession be continued ad +infinitum, and if a/b, c/d, e/f, etc. all lie between -1 and +1, exclusive, +the limit of the fraction must be incommensurable with unity; that is, +cannot be A/B, where A and B are integers. + +First, whatever this limit may be, it lies between -1 and +1. This is +obviously the case with any fraction p/(q + [omega]), where [omega] is +between ±1: for, p/q, being < 1, and p and q integer, cannot be brought up +to 1, by the value of [omega]. Hence, if we take any of the fractions + + a/b, a/b+ c/d, a/b+ c/d+ e/f, etc. + +say a/b+ c/d+ e/f+ g/h we have, g/h being between ±1, so is e/f+ g/h, so +therefore is c/d+ e/f+ g/h; and so therefore is a/b+ c/d+ e/f+ g/h. + +Now, if possible, let a/b+ c/d+ etc. be A/B at the limit; A and B being +integers. Let + + P = A c/d+ e/f+ etc., Q = P e/f+ g/h+ etc., R = Q g/h + i/k + etc. + +P, Q, R, etc. being integer or fractional, as may be. It is easily shown +that all must be integer: for + +{369} + + A/B = a/b+ P/A, or, P = aB - bA + + P/A = c/d+ Q/P, or, Q = cA - dP + + Q/P = e/f+ R/Q, or, R = eP - fQ + +etc., etc. Now, since a, B, b, A, are integers, so also is P; and thence Q; +and thence R, etc. But since A/B, P/A, Q/P, R/Q, etc. are all between -1 +and +1, it follows that the unlimited succession of integers P, Q, R, are +each less in numerical value than the preceding. Now there can be no such +_unlimited_ succession of _descending_ integers: consequently, it is +impossible that a/b+ c/d+, etc. can have a commensurable limit. + +It easily follows that the continued fraction is incommensurable if a/b, +c/d, etc., being at first greater than unity, become and continue less than +unity after some one point. Say that i/k, l/m,... are all less than unity. +Then the fraction i/k+ l/m+ ... is incommensurable, as proved: let it be +[kappa]. Then g/(h + [kappa]) is incommensurable, say [lambda]; e/(f + +[lambda]) is the same, say [mu]; also c/(d + [mu]), say [nu], and a/(b + +[nu]), say [rho]. But [rho] is the fraction a/b+ c/d+ ... itself; which is +therefore incommensurable. + +Let [phi]z represent + + a a^2 a^3 + 1 + - + ------- + -------------- + .... + z 2z(z+1) 2·3·z(z+1)(z+2) + +{370} Let z be positive: this series is convergent for all values of a, and +approaches without limit to unity as z increases without limit. Change z +into z + 1, and form [phi]z - [phi](z+1): the following equation will +result-- + + a + [phi]z-[phi](z+1) = ------([phi](z+2)) + z(z+1) + + a [phi](z+1) a [phi](z+1) a [phi](z+2) + or a = - ---------- · z + - ---------- · --- ---------- + z [phi]z z [phi]z z+1 [phi](z+1) + + a = [psi]z(z+[psi](z+1)) + +[psi]z being (a/z)([phi](z+1)/[phi]z); of which observe that it diminishes +without limit as z increases without limit. Accordingly, we have + + [psi]z = a/z+ [psi](z+1) = a/z+ a/(z+1)+ [psi](z+2) + = a/z+ a/(z+1)+ a/(z+2)+ [psi](z+3), etc. + +And, [psi](z + n) diminishing without limit, we have + + a/z · [phi](z+1)/[phi]z = (a/z+) (a/(z+1)+) (a/(z+2)+) (a/((z+3)+ ...)) + +Let z = ½; and let 4a = -x^2. Then (a/z)[phi](z+1) is -(x^2/2) ( 1 - +x^2/(2·3) + x^4/(2·3·4·5...)) or -(x/2) sin x. Again [phi]z is 1 - x^2/2 + +x^4/(2·3·4) or cos x: and the continued fraction is + + (¼)x^2/(½)+ (¼)x^2/(3/2)+ (¼)x^2/(5/2)+ ... or -x/2 x/1+ -x^2/3+ -x^2/5+ + ... + +{371} whence tan x = x/1+ -x^2/3+ -x^2/5+ -x^2/7+ ... + +Or, as written in the usual way, + + tan x = x + ------- + 1 - x^2 + ------- + 3 - x^2 + ------- + 5 - x^2 + ------- + 7 - ... + +This result may be proved in various ways: it may also be verified by +calculation. To do this, remember that if + + a_1/b_1+ a_2/b_2+ a_3/b_3+ ... a_n/b_n = P_n/Q_n; then + + P_1=a_1, P_2=b_2 P_1, P_3=b_3 P_2+a_3 P_1, P_4=b_4 P_3+a_4 P_2, etc. + Q_1=b_1, Q_2=b_2 Q_1+a_2, Q_3=b_3 Q_2+a_3 Q_1, Q_4=b_4 Q_3+a_4 Q_2, etc. + +in the case before us we have + + a_1=x, a_2=-x^2, a_3=-x^2, a_4=-x^2, a_5=-x^2, etc. + b_1=1, b_2=3, b_3=5, b_4=7, b_5=9, etc. + + P_1=x Q_1=1 + P_2=3x Q_2=3-x^2 + P_3=15x-x^3 Q_3=15-6x^2 + P_4=105x-10x^3 Q_4=105-45x^2+x^4 + P_5=945x-105x^3+x^5 Q_5=945-420x^2+15x^4 + P_6=10395x-1260x^3+21x^5 Q_6=10395-4725x^2+210x^4-x^6 + +We can use this algebraically, or arithmetically. If we divide P_n by Q_n, +we shall find a series agreeing with the known series for tan x, _as far +as_ n _terms_. That series is + + x + x^3/3 + 2x^5/15 + 17x^7/315 + 62x^9/2835 + ... + +{372} Take P_5, and divide it by Q_5 in the common way, and the first five +terms will be as here written. Now take _x_ = .1, which means that the +angle is to be one tenth of the actual unit, or, in degrees 5°.729578. We +find that when x = .1, P_6 = 1038.24021, Q_6 = 10347.770999; whence P_6 +divided by Q_6 gives .1003346711. Now 5°.729578 is 5°43'46½"; and from the +old tables of Rheticus[675]--no modern tables carry the tangents so +far--the tangent of this angle is .1003347670. + +Now let x = ¼[pi]; in which case tan x = 1. If ¼[pi] be commensurable with +the unit, let it be (m/n), m and n being integers: we know that ¼[pi] < 1. +We have then + + 1=(m/n)/1- (m^2/n^2)/3- (m^2/n^2)/5- ... = m/n- m^2/3n- m^2/5n- m^2/7n- + ... + +Now it is clear that m^2/3n, m^2/5n, m^2/7n, etc. must at last become and +continue severally less than unity. The continued fraction is therefore +incommensurable, and cannot be unity. Consequently [pi]^2 cannot be +commensurable: that is, [pi] is an incommensurable quantity, and so also is +[pi]^2. + + + +I thought I should end with a grave bit of appendix, deeply mathematical: +but paradox follows me wherever I go. The foregoing is--in my own +language--from Dr. (now Sir David) Brewster's[676] English edition of +Legendre's Geometry, (Edinburgh, 1824, 8vo.) translated by some one who is +not named. I picked up a notion, which others had at Cambridge in 1825, +that the translator was the late Mr. Galbraith,[677] then known at +Edinburgh as a writer and teacher. + +{373} But it turns out that it was by a very different person, and one +destined to shine in quite another walk; it was a young man named Thomas +Carlyle.[678] He prefixed, from his own pen, a thoughtful and ingenious +essay on Proportion, as good a substitute for the fifth Book of Euclid as +could have been given in the space; and quite enough to show that he would +have been a distinguished teacher and thinker on first principles. But he +left the field immediately. + + * * * * * + +(The following is the passage referred to at Vol. II, page 54.) + +Michael Stifelius[679] edited, in 1554, a second edition of the Algebra +(_Die Coss._), of Christopher Rudolff.[680] This is one of the earliest +works in which + and - are used. + +Stifelius was a queer man. He has introduced into this very work of Rudolff +his own interpretation of the number of the Beast. He determined to fix the +character of Pope Leo: so he picked the numeral letters from LEODECIMVS, +and by taking in X from LEO X. and striking out M as standing for +_mysterium_, he hit the number exactly. This discovery completed his +conversion to Luther, and his determination to throw off his monastic vows. +Luther dealt with him as straight-forwardly as with Melanchthon about his +astrology: he accepted the conclusions, but told him to clear his mind of +all the premises about the Beast. Stifelius {374} did not take the advice, +and proceeded to settle the end of the world out of the prophet Daniel: he +fixed on October, 1533. The parishioners of some cure which he held, having +full faith, began to spend their savings in all kinds of good eating and +drinking; we may charitably hope this was not the way of preparing for the +event which their pastor pointed out. They succeeded in making themselves +as fit for Heaven as Lazarus, so far as beggary went: but when the time +came, and the world lasted on, they wanted to kill their deceiver, and +would have done so but for the interference of Luther. {375} + + * * * * * + + +INDEX. + +Pages denoted by numerals of this kind (_287_) refer to biographical notes, +chiefly by the editor. Numerals like 426 refer to books discussed by De +Morgan, or to leading topics in the text. Numerals like 126 indicate minor +references. + + Abbott, Justice, I, _181_. + Abernethy, J., II, _219_. + Aboriginal Britons, a poem, II, 270. + Academy of Sciences, French, I, 163. + Adair, J., I, _223_. + Adam, M., I, _65_. + Adams, J. C., I, _43_, 82, 385, 388; II, 131, 135, 140, 303. + Ady, Joseph, II, 42, _42_. + Agnew, H. C., I, 328. + Agricola, J., I, 394. + Agricultural Laborer's letter, II, 16. + Agrippa, H. C., I, _48_, 48. + Ainsworth, W. H., II, _132_. + Airy, I, _85_, 88, 152, 242; II, 85, 140, 150, 303, 347. + Alchemy, I, 125. + Alfonso X (El Sabio), II, _269_. + Alford, H., II, _221_. + Alfred, King, Ballad of, II, 22. + Algebra, I, 121. + Algebraic symbols, I, 121. + Almanac, I, 300; II, 147, 148, 207. + (_See Easter._) + Aloysius Lilius, I, 362. + Alsted, J. H., II, _282_. + Ameen Bey, II, 15. + Amicable Society, I, 347. + Ampère, I, 86. + Amphisbæna serpent, I, 31. + Anagrams, De Morgan, I, 138. + Anaxagoras, II, _59_. + Angherà, II, 60, _60_, 61, 279. + Annuities, Fallacies of, I, 157. + Antichrist, I, 130. + Antimony, I, 125. + Antinewtonism, I, 162. + Antinomians, I, 394. + Antiphon, II, _59_. + Antonie, F., I, _126_, 126. + Apollonius, I, 41, 107. + Apparitions, II, 47. + Arago, I, _243_, 390. + Aratus, II, _167_. + Arbuthnot, I, _133_, 134. + Archer, H., II, 90. + Archimedes, I, 5, 11, 42, 83, 107. + Archytas, I, _53_. + Argoli, I, _104_. + Aristocrat, as a scientist, I, 131. + Aristotle, I, 5, 331. + Arnobius, II, _73_. + Arson, P. J., II, _207_. + Ashton, R., II, _99_. + Astrology, I, 118, 127, 128, 350; II, 43. + Astronomer's Drinking Song, I, 380. + Astronomical Aphorisms, I, 398. + Paradox, I, 394. + Police Report, I, 390. + Society. (_See Royal Astronomical Society._) + Astronomy, Bailly's exaggerated view of, I, 166. + Astunica, Didacas, I, 90. + Athanasian Creed, I, 371. + Atheists, Philosophical, I, 1. + Atoms, II, 191. + {376} + Attraction, I, 136, 151, 155. + Augustine, St., II, _23_. + Aurora borealis, I, 134. + Austen, Jane, I, 191. + Auzout, A., II, _300_. + Aviation, Early ideas of, II, 8. + + Babbage, C., I, _207_, 290, 291; II, 181. + Bachet, de Méziriac, I, _161_. + Bacon, F., I, 5, _75_, 75, 76, 79, 89, 145, 331. + Bacon, R., I, 5, _126_, 126, 360; II, 94. + Baconian controversy, I, 141. + Baden Powell, II, _267_. + Bailly, J. S., I, 166, _166_, 308. + Baily, F., I, 308, _309_; II, 16, 143, 188. + Baily, R., II, 16. + Baker, T., II, _302_. + Bakewell, F. C., II, 156, _156_. + Banks, J., I, 28. + Barberini, M., II, _267_. + Barker, C., II, _262_. + Baronius, I, 33, 35; II, _62_. + Barrême, I, _42_. + Barrett, G., II, _188_. + Barrow, I., I, _160_; II, 302. + Baruel, de, I, 165. + Bassano, Duc de, II, 3, 339. + Baxter, T., I, 146. + Bayle, P., II, _73_. + Beaufort, F., II, _267_. + Beaugrand, I, 119, _121_. + Beaulieu, I, _119_, 119, 121. + Beaune, de, II, _59_. + Bécourt, R., II, 277. + Bedford, Duke of, (6th), I, _182_. + Behmen, I, _168_, 254; II, 317. + Bellenden, W., I, _175_. + Bentley, I, _110_. + Berkeley, G., II, 346. + Bernard, E., II, _297_, 300. + Bernardus Trevisanus, I, _126_, 126. + Bernoullis, I, 130, _150_, _335_, 336. + Bertius, P., II, _300_. + Bèse, I, _66_. + Bessel, I, _384_; II, 2. + Bethune, I, _99_, 279, 291. + Bettesworth, I, 19. + Beza. (_See Bèse._) + Bickersteth, E. H., I, _238_. + Bidder, I, _86_. + Biden, J., II, 158, _160_. + Bidle, (Biddle), I, 239. + Biot, I, _85_. + Birch, T., I, _108_; II, 304, 313. + Birks, T. R., II, 158, _158_. + Bishop, G., I, _386_. + Bishops as Paradoxers, I, 226. + Boccaccio, I, 38. + Boethius, I, _42_, 45. + Böhme. (_See Behmen._) + Boncompagni, I, _298_. + Boniface, St., I, 32. + Bonnycastle, J., II, _16_. + Booker, I, 115. + Boole, G., I, _261_, 332; II, 75, 79. + --A tribute to, II, 79. + Borelli, G. A., II, _300_. + Borello, I, _69_. + Boreman, I, 113. + Borron, Mrs., II, 7. + Boscovich, I, _156_, 164. + Bouguer, II, _301_. + Bouillaud, I, _87_; II, 295. + Bouvard, A., I, _327_. + Bovillus, I, _44_; II, 324. + --Epitome of, I, 44. + Bowdler, H. M., I, _194_. + Bowring, J., I, _352_; II, 256. + Boyle, R., I, 24, _125_; II, 300. + Bradley, I, 24. + Bradwardine, I, _227_, 228, 229. + Brahe. (_See Tycho B._) + Brancker, I, 107; II, _300_. + Brenan, J., I, 330, _330_. + Brewster, D., I, 39, _137_, 140; II, 214, 288, 372. + Briggs, I, _69_; II, 299, 302. + Bright, J., II, _235_. + Brinkley, J., I, _311_. + Britannicus, D., II, 8. + British Museum library, I, 151. + Brothers, R., I, _315_; II, 97. + Brougham, Henry, Lord, I, _191_. + Brouncker (Brounker), I, _132_; II, 302. + Brown, W., II, _168_. + Browne, T., I, 31. + Brucker, I, _61_. + Brunet, I, _402_. + Brünnow, I, _386_. + Bruno, I, _59_, 59. + Bryson, II, _59_. + Bürgi, I, 52. + Buffon, I, _282_. + Bulstrode, II, 84. + Bungus, I, _55_, 55, 57. + Buoncompagno, U., I, _362_. + {377} + Burgon, J. W., II, _30_. + Buridan, I, _37_. + --Questiones morales, I, 37. + Buridan's Ass, I, 37. + Burke, E., I, _173_. + Burlesque, Frend's, I, 208. + Burnet, G., I, _107_. + Burney, Frances, I, _190_. + Burton, Frances B., I, 374. + Busby, R., II, _313_. + Buteo, I, _51_. + Butler, G., I, _199_. + Butler, S., II, _218_. + Buxton, J., I, _86_. + Byrgius. (_See Bürgi._) + Byrne, O., I, _329_; II, 186, 190. + Byron, I, 186; II, 270, 273. + + Cabbala, I, 272. + Calculating Boys, I, 86. + Calculus, I, 129. + Calendar. (_See Easter._) + Cambridge Poets, II, 269. + Campanus, I, 42, _43_. + Canning, Geo., II, _145_. + Carcavi, I, _106_. + Cardanus, II, _59_. + Carlile, R., I, _271_. + Carlyle, T., II, _373_. + Carnot, I, 107. + Caroline tables, I, 124. + Casaubon, I, _111_. + Case, J., I, _128_, 128. + Cassini, J., I, _172_. + Castel, I, _148_, 148. + Castiglioni, I, _139_. + Castlereagh, I, 185, _186_. + Cataldi, I, _69_, 69. + Catcott, A., I, _237_. + Causans, de, I, _298_. + Cavalieri, I, _106_. + Cavendish, C., I, _106_; II, 299, 312. + Cavendish, W., I, _290_. + Caxton, W., II, _281_. + Cayley, A., II, _292_. + Cecil, R. (1st Earl of Salisbury), II, _330_. + Centrifugal force, II, 268. + Ceulen. (_See Van Ceulen._) + Challis, J., I, _390_; II, 141. + Chalmers, I, _102_; II, 219. + Chambers, E., II, _282_. + Chambers, R., I, _344_, 344. + Charles IX, II, 94. + Charles X, II, 1. + Chasles, I, _39_, 229. + Chesterfield, Earl of (4th), II, _298_. + Chiffinch, W., II, _50_. + Ch'in Chiu-shang, II, 66. + Chitty, J., II, _323_. + Chiu-chang, Suan-shu, II, 67. + Christian Evidence Society, I, 270. + Christie, I, 27. + Christmann, I, 272, _272_. + Church question, I, 62. + Church, The word, II, 30. + Circle squarers. (_See Squaring the Circle._) + Circulating media of mathematics, I, 107. + Ciruelo. (_See Sanchez._) + Clairaut, I, _219_, 382. + Clarence, Duke of, I, 179. + Clarke, R., I, _255_. + Clavius, I, 11, _69_, 111, 112, 335, 362, 363, 372; II, + 59. + Clayton., Geo., II, _98_. + Cluvier, D., II, 332, _332_. + Cobb, Mary, II, 117. + Cobbett, W., I, _177_, 200, 399. + Cobden, R., II, 217. + Cocker, I, _42_; II, 64, 173, 251, 307. + Cody, P., II, 208. + Coke, E., II, _331_. + Colburn, Z., I, _86_. + Colenso, I, _63_, 247; II, 191. + Collins, J., I, _107_; II, 297, 300, 302, 313. + Colvill, W. H., II, 68. + Cometic astrology, I, 128. + Comets, I, 128; II, 68, 83. + Cominale, C., I, _162_, 162. + Compton, S. J. A., II, _19_. + Computation, Paradoxes of, II, 251, 267. + Condamine, C. M. de la, II, _301_. + Conduitt, John, I, _397_. + Conduitt, Mrs., I, _136_. + Congregation of the Index, I, 90. + Converse propositions, I, 295. + Convocation at Oxford, I, 96. + Cooke, Margaret, I, _310_. + Cooper, A. A. (Shaftsbury), II, _181_. + Copernicus, I, 5, 6, _76_, 90, 121, 172, 380; II, 165, 335. + Copley, J. S., I, _198_. + Cormouls, I, 225. + Cosmology, I, 172. + {378} + Cotes, R., II, _301_. + Cottle, Mrs., II, 97, _97_, 161. + Craig, J., I, _129_, 129. + Creed, Mathematics of a, I, 329. + Cribb, T., I, _314_. + Crotus, J., I, 318. + Cruickshank, G., I, _186_. + Cube, Duplication of, I, 349. + Cumyns, Eliza, I, 299. + Cunningham, I, 172, _172_. + Curabelle, I, _221_. + Curious Calculations, II, 66. + Curll, E., II, _279_. + Cusa, I, _44_, 47, 360. + Custom, II, 324. + Cyclometry, II, 208. (_See Squaring of the Circle._) + Cyclopædias, Review of, II, 280. + + D'Alembert, I, _382_; II, 283, 364. + Dalgarno, I, 116, _117_. + Dalton, J., I, _255_. + D'Arblay, Mme., I, _190_. + Darwin, E., II, _8_. + Darwinism, Primitive, I, 344. + Dary, M., II, _305_. + Daval, P., II, _298_. + Davies, T. S., II, 151, _151_, 188. + Day, A., I, 295, _295_. + De Baruel, I, 165. + De Beaune. (_See Beaune._) + De Becourt, II, 277, _277_. + Debenham, J., I, _393_. + De Causans. (_See Causans._) + Dechales. (_See de Challes._) + De Challes, I, _45_. + Decimal coinage, II, 80, 168, 169. + Decimals run riot, II, 80. + Dee, J., II, _302_. + De Fauré, I, 149. + De la Leu, I, _297_. + Delambre, I, _160_, 167, 354; II, 165. + Democritus, II, _34_. + De Moivre, I, 24, _376_; II, 298. + De Molières, I, _220_. + De Molina, I, _297_. + Demonville, I, 291, 293. + De Morgan, A., I, 191, 383; II, 194. + --Refusal of LL. D., I, 191. + De Morgan, G. C., I, 383. + De Morgan, Mrs., I, _196_; II, 194. + Denison, J., I, 348, 353. + Desaguliers, I, _153_, 156, 157. + Desargues, I, _119_, 221. + Descartes, I, 5, 59, 105, 132, 165, 204, 220; II, 94. + De Serres, II, _60_. + De Sluse. (_See Sluse._) + De Thou, I, 51, _111_, 113; II, 295. + De Vausenville, I, 12. + Devonshire, Duke of (7th), I, _290_. + Diamandi, I, 86. + Didacus Astunica, I, 90. + Diderot, II, _4_, 283, 339. + Digby, K., I, _108_. + Digges, T., and L., II, _302_. + Dionysius Exiguus, I, _360_. + Dircks, H., II, 138, _138_. + Discoverers and discoveries, II, 206. + Discovery, Basis of, I, 85. + D'Israeli, I., I, _115_, 118, 136, 188, 227. + Ditton, I, _133_, 133. + Division, Nature of, II, 248. + Dobson, J., I, _234_, 234. + Dodson, J., II, _312_. + Dodt, I, _52_. + Doggerel verse, I, 341. + Dolland, I, _377_. + Double Vahu Process, II, 360. + Douglas, G., I, _232_. + Drach, S. M., II, _317_. + Drayson, G. A. W., II, _132_, 132. + Dryden, II, _71_. + Dual arithmetic, II, 186. + Duchesne, I, _52_. + Dumortier, I, 313. + Duncan, A., I, _179_. + Dunkin, E., II, _349_. + Duodecimal scale, II, 68. + Duplication Problem, I, 349. + Dupuy, J. and P., II, _295_. + Dutens, L., II, _90_. + Dyer, G., I, _178_. + + Earth, Figure of, II, 54. + Easter, I, 359. + Easter Day Paradoxes, I, 353. + Ebrington, Thos., I, _247_. + Edgeworth, Maria, I, _191_. + Editorial System, I, 15. + Edleston, I, _140_; II, 296. + Edwards, J., I, _144_. + Edwards, T., I, _112_. + Eirenæus Philalethes, I, _125_, 125, 126. + Eldon, Lord (1st), II, _197_. + Elephant story, I, 58. + Elizabeth, Queen, I, 128. + Ellenborough, Baron, I, _181_. + {379} + Ellicot, I, 24. + Ellis, I, _76_, 82. + Engel, I, 230. + English language, Origin of, I, 215. + Enriques, F., II, _367_. + Epps, J., I, _153_; II, 143. + Equation of fifth degree, I, 250, 373. + Erasmus, I, 110. + Erastus, I, _65_. + Erichsen, I, 163. + Ersch, II, _193_, 282. + Erskine, T., II, _127_. + Esperanto, Forerunner of, I, 116. + Euclid, I, 5, 43; II, 118, 151. + --Without Axioms, I, 287. + Eudoxus, II, _164_. + Euler, I, 221, _382_; II, 3, 4, 303, 331, 339. + Eusebius, II, _220_. + Eustace, J. C., II, _46_. + Eutocius, I, _41_; II, 60. + Evelyn, J., I, _108_. + Everett, J., I, _346_. + Evidence, I, 57, 58. + + Faber. (_See Stapulensis._) + Fairfax, Mary, I, _242_. + Falco, I, 53. + Faraday, M., II, _351_. + Fauré, de, I, 149; II, 238. + Fawcett, H., II, _249_. + Ferguson, J., II, _20_. + Fermat, I, 122, 221; II, _300_. + Ferrari, S., II, 68. + Fiction, New era in, I, 189. + Fienus, I, _74_, 74. + Filopanti, Q. B., II, _93_. + Finæus, I, _50_, 50, 113. + Finleyson, J., I, 314, _314_. + Flamsteed, I, _87_, 309; II, 45, 143, 302, 306. + Fletcher, I, 378. + Fludd, II, _318_. + Fly-leaf Paradox, II, 264. + Folkes, M., I, _136_; II, 301. + Fontenelle, I, _103_. + Forbes, D., I, _237_. + Forman, W., I, 296, _296_, 306. + Forster, T. I. M., I, 320, _320_. + Foscarini, I, _90_. + Foster, S., II, _310_. + Fourier, II, _66_. + Fox, G., I, _397_. + Francis, P., II, _96_. + Francoeur, I, _365_. + Frankland, W. B., I, 230, 287. + Franklin, J., II, _265_. + Freedom of opinion, Growth of, I, 265. + Freher, A., II, 319. + French academy on circle squaring, I, 163. + Frend, W., I, _196_, 196, 206, 208, 252. + Fresnel, II, _48_. + Fromondus, I, _74_, 74, 99. + Frost, I. and J., I, 394. + Fry, Elizabeth, I, 224. + Fuller, T., I, _86_. + Fulton, R., I, _148_. + + Gadbury, J., I, _115_, 115. + Galbraith, J. A., II, 372. + Galileo, I, 5, 6, 32, _76_, 82, 83, 96, 122, 381. + Galle, J. G., I, _386_; II, 7. + Galloway, I, _56_, 57; II, 143. + Gamblers, I, 280. + Garrick, I, 21. + Gascoigne, W., II, _299_. + Gassendi, I, _107_. + Gauss, I, 86, 107, 310. + Gemistus, G., I, _188_. + Gentleman's Monthly, Miscellany, I, 208. + Gephryander. (_See Salicetus._) + Gergonne, I, _336_. + Ghetaldi, I, _83_; II, 59. + Ghost paradox, II, 47. + Giddy (Gilbert), II, _174_. + Gilbert, Davies, II, 66, _174_. + Gilbert, William, I, 6, _68_, 68, 76. + Gillot, II, _315_. + Glazier (Glazion), II, 7. + Godwin, F., I, _103_. + Godwin, W., I, _174_. + Golius, I, _106_. + Gompertz, B., I, _378_. + Goulburn, I, _288_. + Goulden, S., II, 88. + Graham, I, 24. + Grandamicus, I, _104_, 104. + Granger, J., I, _156_. + Grant, A. R., II, 131. + Grant, R., I, _392_; II, 131. + Grassi, O., I, _262_. + Grassini, I, _231_. + Graunt, J., I, 113, _114_, 154. + Gravity, I, 151, 244, 348, 353. + {380} + --Newton's apple, I, 136. + Greek numerals, II, _77_. + Greene, R., I, _135_, 135. + Greenhill, Sir G., I, 136. + Greenwich observatory, I, 87. + Gregg, T. D., II, 75, _75_. + Gregorian Calendar, I, 363. + Gregory, D., I, _66_; II, 301. + Gregory, J., I, _118_, 118, 207; II, 302. + Gregory O., II, _71_. + Gregory, Pope, I, 362. + Grevil, I, _202_. + Grey, C., (2d Earl), I, _315_; II, 247. + Grosart, I, _141_, 141, 145. + Grove, W. R., II, _320_. + Gruber, II, _193_, 282. + Gruenberger, I, _70_. + Grynaeus, I, _66_. + Guaricus, I, _43_. + Guillim, J., II, _28_. + Guldin, I, _83_. + Gumpach, Von, II, 137, _137_. + Gunning, H., I, _198_. + Gurney. (_See Fry, E._) + Guthrie, W., I, _395_. + + Hailes, J. D., II, 135, _135_. + Hailesean system of astronomy, II, 135. + Hale, M., I, _123_, 123. + Hales, S., I, _123_. + Hall, B., II, _181_. + Hallam, I, 159. + Halley, I, 24, _124_, 311; II, 301, 332. + Halliwell-Phillips, II, _148_, 296. + Hamilton, W., I, _112_, 117, 331, 335, 339, 341, 342; II, + 52, 53, 111. + Hamilton, W. Rowan, I, _332_; II, 104, 256, 343. + Hanover, King of, I, 201. + Hardy, C., I, _298_. + Hardy, T., I, _178_. + Harriot, T., II, _302_. + Harvey, I, _76_, 78; II, 201. + Hauff, I, _230_. + Haughton, S., II, 372. + Hauksbee, F., I, _156_. + Hayes, C., I, _132_, 132. + Heath, D. D., I, _76_. + Heinfetter, H., II, 94, _94_. + Helmont, J. B. van, I, _125_. + Henson, II, 8. + Heraclitus, II, _34_. + Herbart, J. F., I, 253, _253_; II, 78. + Hérigone, II, _59_. + Herschel, J., I, _80_, 299, 326, 383, 386; II, 88, 95, 181, + 255, 261, 262. + Herschel, W., I, _81_, 151, 192, 225, 233, 299; II, 288, 348. + Heywood, F., II, _49_. + Hicks, J. P., II, _67_. + Higgins, G., I, _257_, 274. + Hilarius, Pope, I, _359_. + Hill, J., I, 21, 22, 23, 24. + Hill, Rev. R., I, _192_. + Hill, Sir R., I, _165_, 232. + Hind, J. R., I, _384_. + Hippocrates, II, _59_. + Hoax, An interesting, I, 163. + --Lunar Caustic, I, 288. + --Moon (Herschel), I, 326; II, 131. + Hobbes, I, _105_, 109, 143, 144; II, 80. + Hobhouse, J. C., II, _126_. + Hodder, J., II, _265_. + Hodge, C. B., I, 114. + Hodges, W., I, 237. + Hoffmann, J. J., II, _282_. + Hoffmann, J. J. I. von, I, _230_. + Holloway, B., I, _237_. + Holmes, O. W., I, 109. + Holyoake, G. J., I, _399_, 399. + Hone, W., I, 124, 180, 184, 185. + Hook, T. E., II, _261_. + Hooke, I, _77_; II, 300. + Hooker, R., II, _201_. + Hopkins, J., II, 41. + Horace, I, 40. + Horne, G., I, _152_, 152, 154, 155, 236. + Horne, J., I, _178_. + Horner, L., I, _176_. + Horner, W. G., II, _66_, 151, 187. + Houlston, W., II, 156, _156_. + Howard, E., I, 131. + Howison, W., I, 256, _256_. + Howitt, W., II, 193, _193_. + Howley, I, 63. + Hulls, I, _147_, 147; II, 8. + Hume, J., I, _352_; II, 174. + Husaín Rifki, II, 16. + Hussein Effendi, II, 15. + Hutchinson, J., I, 154, _154_. + Hutton, C., I, _153_, 161; II, 303, 340. + Huyghens, I, _100_, 133; II, 300. + + Imaginary numbers, II, 186. + Impalement by request, II, 133. + Inaudi, I, 86. + Index Expurgatorius, I, 90. + {381} + Infant prodigies, I, 86. + Inglis, J. B., II, _52_. + Inglis, R. H., I, _352_. + Ingliz Selim Effendi, II, 15. + Innocent I., I, _359_. + Irving, E., II, _54_. + Ivory, J., II, 142, _142_. + + Jabir ben Aflah, II, _59_. + Jack, R., I, 149. + Jacotot, J., I, 278, _278_. + Jameson, Mrs., II, _63_. + Jeffreys, G., I, _183_. + Jenner, E., II, _205_. + Jesuit contributions, I, 164. + Johnson, H. C., I, 350. + Johnson, S., I, 20, _190_, 259; II, 117. + Johnston, W. H., II, 67. + Jombert, I, _161_. + Jonchère, I, _146_, 146. + Jones, W., I, _135_; II, 298, 301. + Jones, Rev. W., I, _237_. + Jonson, B., I, 13. + Journals, Three classes of, II, 144. + + Kantesian Jeweler, I, 258. + Karsten, I, _230_. + Kästner, I, _43_, 110, 112. + Kater, I, 11. + Keckermann, I, 3. + Keill, J., II, _302_. + Kepler, I, 52, _76_, 82, 381; II, 166. + Kerigan, T., I, _308_, 353. + Keroualle, De, II, 50. + Kersey, I, 107. + King, Wm., I, _246_. + Kircher, Adolphe, I, 229. + Kircher, Athanasius, I, _103_. + Kirkringius, T., I, 125, _125_. + Kittle, I, 236. + Klein, F., II, 367. + Knight, C., II, _109_, 280, 289. + Knight, G., I, 151, _151_. + Knight, R. P., II, _274_. + Knight, Wm., I, _97_. + Koenig, S., I, _150_. + + Lacomme, I, 46. + La Condamine, II, _301_. + Lacroix, I, 41, 159, 207. + Lactantius, I, 33, _96_. + Lagrange, I, 221, _288_, 313, 382; II, 86. + Laing, F. H., II, _186_, 186. + Lalande, I, _159_. + Lamb, C., I, 178; II, 270. + Lambert, J. H., I, _336_; II, 214, 367. + Lambert, John, II, _309_. + Language, Test of, II, 327. + Lansbergius, I, _70_, 70. + Laplace, I, 24, _255_, 382; II, 1, 340. + Lardner, D., II, _253_. + Lardner, N., I, 14; II, _221_. + Laud, I, _145_. + Lauder, W., I, 297. + Laurent, P., I, _309_, 309. + Laurie, J., II, 4. + Laurie, P., II, _42_. + Laurus, I, 381. + Law, Edmund, I, _181_. + Law, Edward, I, _181_. + Law, W., I, 168, _254_; II, 317. + Le Coq, I, _86_. + Lee, R., I, _66_. + Lee, S., I, _131_. + Lee, W., I, 157. + Legate, I, _59_. + Legendre, I, _229_; II, 215, 367. + Legh, P., II, _68_, 83. + Leibnitz, I, 5, 7; II, 46. + Leo, St., I, _359_. + Leverrier, I, _43_, 82, 383, 386, 388, 390; II, 7, 135, 140, + 303. + Lewis, G. C., II, 162, _162_. + Libri, I, _40_, 62; II, 295. + Lilius, Aloysius, I, 362. + Lilly, I, _115_; II, 302. + Lipen, M., I, _298_. + Little, J., I, 206. + Livingston, R., I, _148_. + Locke, J., I, _142_, 142, 144; + --and Socinianism, I, 142. + Locke, R., I, 146. + Locke, R. A., I, _326_; II, 86, 131. + Logan, W. E., I, _337_. + Logic, Formal, I, 158; II, 75. + --Has no paradoxes, I, 330. + London Mathematical Society, I, 383. + London, University of, I, 259; II, 71. + Long, G., II, _290_. + Long, J. St. J., II. _38_, 205. + Longitude problems, I, 132, 146, 249. + Longley, C. T., I, _325_. + Longomontanus, I, _105_, 105. + Lottery, I. 281. + Lovett, R., I, 165, _166_. + Lowe, R., II, _169_. + Lowndes, W. T., I. _402_. + Lubbock, J., I, _279_; II, 148. + {382} + Lucas, F., II, _28_. + Lucian, I, _102_. + Lunar Caustic Joke, I, 288. + Lunn, J. R., II, _66_. + Lydiat, T., II, _302_. + Lyndhurst, I, _198_. + + Macclesfield, Earls of, I, 7; II, _296_, 301. + Macclesfield, Letters, II, 296. + MacElshender, II, 87. + Machin, J., II, _301_. + Mackey, John, I, 349. + Mackey, S. A., I, _256_. + Maclear, T., II, _181_. + Macleod, H. D., II, 184, _184_. + Magic, I, 118. + Magna Charta, I, 25. + Magnus, I, 42. + Maitland, S., I, _63_, 163. + Malacarne, I, 119. + Malden, H., II, _162_. + Malius, II, _342_. + Mallemens, II, _333_. + Mankind gullible, I, 115. + Manning, H. E., (Card.), II, _233_. + Mansel, H. L., II, _162_. + Marcelis, J., I, _129_, 129. + Maret, II, _3_. + Margarita Philosophica. (_See Reisch._) + Marryat, Capt., II, _87_. + Marsh, H., I, _199_, 271. + Martin, B., I, _152_, 153. + Martin, R., II, _236_. + Maseres, F., I, _197_, 203. + Mason, M., II, _132_. + Mathematical Illustrations of Doctrine, II, 70; + --Psychology, I, 253; + --Society, I, 374, 376, 382; + --Theology, I, 149. + Mathematics, Condensed history of, II, 58. + Matter to Spirit, II, 194. + Maty, I, 23. + Maupertuis, II, _301_. + Maurice, F. D., II, _101_. + Maurolycus, I, _121_. + Maxwell, A., I, _102_. + Meadley, G. W., I, _223_. + Mechanics Magazine, II, 141, 145. + Medici, Cosmo de, II, _295_. + Medicine, Status of, I, 266. + Melanchthon, II, _323_. + Menestrier, I, _127_, 127. + Mercator, G., II, _92_. + Mercator's projection, I, 84. + Mersenne, I, _106_, 107; II, 295, 297. + Meslier, J., II, _195_. + Meteorologist, An early, I, 320. + Meteorology, I, 327. + Metius, A. and P., I, _52_, _99_, 99. + Meton, II, 167. + Metric System, Forerunner of, I, 171. + Méziriac, I, 161. + Milbanke, A. I., I, 225. + Mill, Jas., I, 260. + Miller, Joe, I, _182_. + Miller, S., I, 167. + Mills, Elizabeth, W., II, 7. + Milne, J., I, _286_. + Milner, I., I, _251_, 251. + Milner, J., II, _23_. + Milner's lamp, I, 252. + Milward, II, _250_. + Miracles _vs_. Nature, II, 6. + Mitchell, J., I, _242_. + Molière, I, _232_. + Molina, A. C. de, I, _297_. + Mollendorff, von, II, _3_, 338. + Mondeux, I, 86. + Montague, C., II, _311_. + Montmort, P. R. de, II, _301_. + Montucla, I, 40, 45, 54, 65, 117, 120, 159, 163; II, 60. + Moon Hoax, I, 326; II, 131. + Moon, Nature of, II, 84; + --Rotation of, II, 4, 19, 84, 87. + More, Hannah, I, _189_, 192. + More, Henry, I, 123. + Moore, Dr. John, I, _190_. + Moore, Sir John, I, _190_. + Morgan, S., I, 6. + Morgan, T., I, 191. + Morgan, W., I, _223_, 224. + Morhof, I, _61_. + Morin, I, _99_, 99. + Morinus, J. B., I, 149. + Morland, S., II, _302_. + Mormonism, II, 69. + Morrison, R. J., I, _321_; II, 43. + Mose, H., II, _266_. + Mottelay, I, 68. + Motti, II, 60. + Mouton, I, _172_; II, 300. + Muggleton, I, 394, _395_. + Multiplication, Nature of, II, 251. + Murchison, R. I., I, _384_. + Murhard, I, _43_, 298. + {383} + Murphy, A., II, _308_. + Murphy, J. L., II, 54, _54_. + Murphy, P., I, _327_, 398. + Murphy, R., I, 349, _349_. + Murray, J., I, _186_; II, 145. + Murray, L., II, _326_. + Murray, Mungo, II, 310. + Musgrave, T., I, _324_. + Mydorge, I, _298_. + Mystrom, J. W., II, 182. + Mythological paradoxes, I, 256. + + Names of Religious Bodies, II, 22. + Napier, J., I, 5, 66, _67_, 82. + Napoleon, Doubts as to, I, 246. + Nautical Almanac, I, 300; II, 147. + Neal, I, _98_. + Negative numbers, I, 196, 203. + Neile, W., II, _190_. + Neptune, Discovery of, I, 387; II, 140. (_See Adams, Leverrier._) + Nesse, C, I, _128_, 128. + Newcomb, S., I, 162. + Newcomen, T., I, _147_. + Newton, Sir Isaac, I, 5, 6, 8, 24, 39, 84, 88, 130, + 136, 139, 144, 145, 148, 152, 154, 155, 162, 165, + 167, 197, 225, 237, 242, 257, 282, 296, 297, 309, + 311, 382, 394, 395, 396, 397; II, 2, 70, 184, 297, _302_, + 305. + Newton, John, II, _305_. + Nicene Creed, I, 371. + Nichol, J. P., II, _289_. + Nicholas. (_See Cusa._) + Nichols, J., I, _175_. + Nicolas, N. H., I, _354_. + Nicollet, I, _326_; II, 131. + Nicolson, W., I, _201_. + Nieuwentijt, II, _333_. + Nizzoli, M., II, 275. + Non-Euclidean geometry, II, 83. + Northampton, Marquis of (2d), II, _19_. + Novum Organum Moralium, II, 74. + Number, Mystery of, I, 55, 56, 169. + Number of the Beast (666), I, 55, 130, 272, 298, 352; II, 77, + 159, 217, 218, 361, 373. + Numeral system, II, 68. + Nursery rhymes, II, 150. + + Occam, Wm. of, II, _40_. + Odgers, N., II, 191, _191_. + Oinopides of Chios, II, _59_. + Oldenburgh, H., II, _300_, 302. + Orthodox Paradoxes, II, 363. + Orthography, Paradoxes of, II, 267. + Ortwinus, I, 319. + Oughtred, W., II, _298_, 303. + Owenson, I, _191_. + Ozanam, I, _161_, 312. + + Pagi, I, 32. + Paine, T., I, 173, _173_, 271. + Paley, W., I, _222_; II, 226. + Palmer, C., I, 225. + Palmer, H., I, _141_, 141, 145. + Palmer, J., II, _253_. + Palmer, T. F., II, _254_. + Palmer, W., II, _37_. + Palmerston, Viscount (3d), I, _290_, 352. + Palmézeaux, I, 167. + Panizzi, A., I, _151_. + Papist, II, 26. + Paracelsus, II, 322. + Paradox defined, I, 2, 31. + Paradox, religious, I, 236. + Paradoxers in general, II, 352. + Parallels, Theory of, I, 229, 344. + Pardies, I. G., II, _300_. + Park, Mungo, II, _91_, 132. + Parker, F., II, _94_. + Parker, G. (Earl of Macclesfield), II, _296_. + Parr, S., I, 173, _173_, 175, 176, 184. + Parsey, I, 293, _293_. + Partridge, J., I, _305_. + Pasbergius, I, 381. + Pascal, I, 39, 119, 122, _220_, _221_; II, 73. + Pascal's Hexagram, I, 221. + Passot, I, 279, _279_. + Passover, I, 358, 372. + Patriotic paradox, I, 231. + Paucton, I, _172_. + Paulian, I, 165, _165_. + Peacock, Geo., I, _196_, 350. + Peacock, T. L., I, _190_, 340. + Pearce, A. J., II, 43. + Pearne, T., I, _239_. + Peel, Sir R., I, 290, _352_. + Peel, W. Y., I, _290_. + Pèlerin, J., II, _324_. + Pell, J., I, _105_, 105, 107; II, 300, 302, 312. + Pepys, I, _113_, 114. + Perigal, H., II, 19, _20_. + {384} + Perpetual motion, I, 118, 348; II, 55, 138. + Perspective, New theory of, I, 293. + Peters, W., II, 11, 315. + Petitioning Comet, I, 127. + Petrie, W. M. F., I, _328_. + Petty, I, _114_; II, 300. + Philalethes, Eirenaeus, I, _125_, 125, 126. + Philalethes, Eugenius, I, _255_. + Phillips, R., I, 242, _242_, 245. + Philo of Gadara, I, 40, _40_. + Philosopher's stone, I, 118, 125. + Philosophical atheists, II, 1. + Philosophy and Religion, II, 37. + Phonetic spelling, II, 81. + [pi], values of, I, 11, 43, 45, 46, 52, 69, 100, 110, + 129, 135, 146, 245, 283, 284, 294, 347, 348, 349, + 350; II, 60, 63, 105, 110, 118, 135, 156, 209, 279, 315, 316. + Pighius, I, _372_. + Pike, S., I, 236, _236_. + Pindar, P., II, _272_. + Piozzi, Mrs., I, _235_; II, 272. + Piscator, B., II, 25. + Pitman, F., II, 81, _81_. + Place, F., I, _199_. + Planets inhabitable, I, 100, 102. + Plato, I, 5. + Platt, H., I, _126_, 126. + Playfair, J., I, _233_. + Pletho, G., I, _188_. + Pliny, II, 280. + Ploucquet, I, _336_, 337. + Poe, E. A., II, 132. + Poincaré, I, 136. + Poisson, I, _292_; II, 2. + Pollock, J. F., II, _174_. + Pons, II, _45_. + Pope, Wm., I, 277, _277_. + Porta, I, _68_, 68, 83. + Porteus, B., I, _193_, 203. + Porteus, H. F. A., II, 157, _157_. + Porus, I, 44. + Powell, Baden, II, _267_. + Powell, W. S., I, _222_. + Pratt, H. F. A., II, 157, _157_. + Pratt, O., II, _69_. + Predaval, Count de, I, _348_. + Prescot, B., I, 270, _270_, 278. + Prester John, I, 70, _71_, 152. + Price, R., I, _223_. + Probability, Discourse on, I, 279. + Proclus, I, 188, _188_. + Prodigies, Youthful, I, 219, 332. + Pronunciation, II, 330. + Protestant and Papal Christendom, II, 33. + Protimalethes, II, 6. + Ptolemy, I, 5, 33, _380_. + Pullicino, II, 61, _61_. + Pusey, I, _64_. + Pyramids, The, I, 328; II, 95, 136. + Pythagoras, II, _59_. + + Quadrature problem. (_See Squaring the circle._) + Quarles, F., II, _277_. + Quintilian, II, 280. + Quotem, C., I, 399. + + Rabelais, I, _102_. + Rainbow Paradox, II, 334. + Ramachandra, Y., I, _374_. + Ramchundra, I, 374. + Ramus, I, 5. + Recalcati, II, 208, 314. + Recorde, R., II, _328_. + Reddie, Jas., II, 183, _183_, 344, 360. + Reeve, J., I, _395_. + Regiomontanus, I, _48_, 360. + Reisch, I, _45_; II, 281. + Religion and Philosophy, II, 37. + Religious bodies, Names of, II, 22; + --customs, Attacks on, I, 177; + --Insurance, I, 345; + --Paradox, I, 236; + --Tract society, I, 192. + Remigius, I, _50_. + Reuchlin, J., II, _323_. + Revelations, Napier on, I, 66. + Revilo, (O. Byrne), I, 241, 329, _329_. + Reyneau, C. R., II, _301_. + Rheticus, I, _69_; II, 372. + Rhonius, II, 300. + Ribadeneira, P. de, II, _62_. + Riccioli, I, _96_. + Richards, G., II, _270_. + Rigaud, J., II, _299_. + Rigaud, S. J., II, _299_. + Rigaud, S. P., I, _140_; II, 298, 313. + Ringelbergh, J. S., II, _281_. + Ripley, G., I, _126_, 126. + Ritchie, W., I, 295, _295_. + Ritterhusius, I, _60_. + Rive, J.-J., I, _160_. + Robertson, Jas., I, _237_. + Roberval, I, _105_, 122. + {385} + Robinson, B., I, _148_, 148. + Robinson, H. C., I, _314_; II, 52, 275. + Robinson, R., I, _177_. + Robinson, T. R., II, _181_. + Roblin, J., II, 136. + Rogers, S., II, _260_. + Roget, P. M., I, _398_. + Roomen, A. van, I, _110_. + Ross, J. C., I, _303_. + Rosse, I, 26. + Rossi, G., I, 231, _231_. + Rotation of the Moon, II, 4, 19. + Rough, W., I, 198. + Rowning, J., I, _155_. + Royal Astronomical Society, I, 27; + --Forerunner of, I, 374. + Royal Society, I, 21, 22, 24-30, 56, 57, 136, 153, 163, + 164, 165. + Rudio, I, 159; II, 367. + Rudolff, C., II, 373. + Russell, Earl (1st), I, _296_. + Rutherford, W., II, _109_. + + Sabatíer, A., II, _267_. + Sabellius, I, _241_. + Sacrobosco, I, _360_. + Sadler, T., I, _238_, 241. + Saint-Martin, I, 167, _168_, 206. + St.-Mesmin, M. de., I, 280. + St. Vincent, G. de., I, _110_, 117. + St. Vitus, Patron of Cyclometers, II, 60. + Sales, de, I, 167. + Salicetus, I, 64. + Salisbury, Earl of (1st), II, _330_. + Salmasius, Claudius, II, _168_. + Salusbury, Hester, I, _235_. + Sanchez, Petro, I, 229, _229_. + Sanders, W., I, 207. + Sanderson, R., I, _135_. + Sara, R., I, _297_. + Saunderson, N., I, _377_; II, 301. + Scaliger, I, _44_, 110, 111, 112, 113; II, 238. + Scévole de St. Marthe, I, 113. + Schooten, Van, II, _59_. + Schopp, I, _60_. + Schott, I, _64_; II, 64. + Schumacher, H. C., I, _107_; II, 297. + Schwab, I, _230_. + Scientific paradoxes, I, 232. + Scott, Michael, I, _38_. + Scott's Devils, I, 38. + Scott, W., I, 20, 27, 38, 39, 155, _191_. + Scripture and Science, II, 261. + Search, John, I, 247. + Selden, J., II, _250_. + Sénarmont, II, _48_. + Serres, De, II, _60_. + Shaftesbury, Earl of, II, _181_. + Shakespeare, I, 13. + Shanks, II, _63_, 65, 109. + Shaw, P., I, _142_. + Sheepshanks, J., I, _147_. + Sheepshanks, R., I, _290_. + Shelley, I, 174. + Shepherd, S., I, _124_. + Sherburne, E., II, _295_. + Sheridan, R. B., I, _175_. + Sheridan, T., I, _175_. + Shoberl, F., II, _270_. + Shrewsbury, I, _108_. + Siddons, Mrs., I, 189. + Simms, W., I, _152_. + Simplicius, II, _164_. + Simpson, T., I, 377; II, 304. + Simson, R., I, _197_, 202, 233. + Sinclair, G., I, _207_. + Slander Paradoxes, II, 138. + Sloane, I, 24. + Sluse, R. de, I, _118_, 118; II, 300. + Smith, Adam, II, _112_. + Smith, Jas., I, _46_; II, 103, _103_, 154, 236, 237, 238, 241, 336, + 360. + Smith, Jas., II, _217_. + Smith, Jas. (Shepherd), II, _55_, 193. + Smith, Joseph, II, _69_. + Smith, Richarda, I, _242_. + Smith, Thomas, I, 346, _346_. + Smith, Wm., II, _152_. + Smyth, C. P., I, _328_; II, 65. + Snell, I, _75_, 75. + Socinianism, I, 142, 143. + Socinus, I, 3, _143_. + Socrates Scholasticus, I, _358_. + Sohncke, L. A., II, _131_. + Somerville, Mrs., I, _242_. + South, J., II, _181_. + Southcott, Joanna, II, _58_, 97, 239. + Spearman, R., I, _237_. + Speculative thought in England, I, 374. + Spedding, I, _76_, 82, 142. + Speed, J., I, _201_. + Speke, I, _70_. + Spelling, phonetic, II, 81. + Spence, W., I, _231_, 231. + Spencer, Earl (3d), II, _9_. + {386} + Spinoza, I, 3, _37_. + Spiritualism, II, 47, 55, 207. + Spurius Cassius Viscellinus, II, _342_. + Spurius Maelius, II, _342_. + Squaring the circle, I, 8, 42, 44, 46, 47, 50, 52, 53, + 69, 70, 75, 109, 117, 119, 129, 135, 146, 149, + 159, 163, 164, 347, 348, 374; II, 10, 11, 60, 105, 154, + 156, 208, 278, 314. + Stäckel, I, 230. + Stanhope, P. D., (Earl of Chesterfield), II, _298_. + Stapulensis, I, _44_; II, 324. + Star polygons, I, 229. + Starkie, G., I, _126_, 126. + Statter, D., II, 80. + Steamship suggested, I, 147. + Steel, Jas., II, 68. + Stenography, II, 81. + Stephens, I, _44_; II, 324. + Stephenson, G., II, _138_. + Stephenson, R., II, _138_. + Stevin, I, _83_, 313; II, 59. + Stewart, D., II, _53_. + Stewart, R., I, _186_. + Stifel, M., II, _373_. + Strafford, Earl of, I, _240_. + Stratford, W. S., I, _300_. + Street, T., I, _124_. + Stukely, W., I, _236_. + Suffield, G., II, _66_. + Suidas, II, _29_. + Sumner, C. R., I, _324_. + Sumner, J. B., I, _324_. + Sun as an electric space, II, 41. + Supernatural, The, II, 193. + Suvaroff, II, _85_. + Swastika, II, 231. + Swedenborg, E., I, _255_. + Swift, I, 19, 133. + Sylvester, J. J., II, _336_. + Symington, W., I, _148_. + Symons, II, 4, 5, 20, 84, 85. + Sympathetic powder, I, 108. + Synesius, I, 125. + + Talbot, G., I, _22_, _108_. + Talbot's powder, I, 108. + Tartaglia, II, 59. + Tasse, I, _106_. + Tate, J., I, _199_. + Tauler, J., II, _322_. + Taylor, Brook, II, _301_. + Taylor, John, I, _352_; II, 95. + Taylor, Robt., I, _270_. + Taylor, T., I, 188, _188_. + Teissier, I, _113_. + Temple, H. J., I, 290. + Tenterden, Chief Justice, I, _181_. + Thales, II, _59_, 83. + Theism independent of Revelation, I, 399. + Thelwall, J., I, _178_. + Theodoretus, I, _358_. + Theological Paradoxes, I, 316. + Theology, Mathematical, I, 129, 149. + Theophrastus, II, _167_. + Thiébault, II, _3_, 338. + Thom, D., II, _226_, 240. + Thom, J. H., II, _226_. + Thompson, P., I, _7_. + Thompson, T. P., I, _252_, 287, 344; II, 83, 185. + Thomson, Dr., I, 21. + Thomson, W., I, _325_. + Thorn, W., II, 158, _158_, 360. + Thorndike, H., II, _313_. + Thrale, Mrs., I, _235_. + Thurlow, Baron, I, _222_. + Thyræus, I, 50. + Tides, New theory of, I, 393. + Tombstones of mathematicians, I, 106. + Tonal System, II, 182. + Tooke, H., I, _178_. + Torriano, E., I, 250. + Towneley, II, 300. + Townley, C., II, _300_. + Trisection problem, I, 118; II, 10, 12, 13, 15. + Troughton, I, _152_. + Turnor, E., I, _137_. + Tycho Brahe, I, 5, _76_, 381; II, 302, 335. + + Upton, W., II, 12, _12_, 15. + Ursus, I, _52_. + + Valentine, B., I, _125_, 125. + Van Ceulen, I, 52, 70, 100. + Van de Weyer, I, _313_. + Van Etten, I, _161_. + Van Helmont, I, _125_, 125. + Van Roomen, I, _110_. + Van Schooten, II, _59_. + Vaughan, T., I, _255_. + Victorinus, I, _359_. + Viète, I, _51_; II, 210, 295. + Virgil, St., I, 32, _33_, 34, 99. + {387} + Virginia, University of, I, 233. + Viscellinus, II, _342_. + Vitruvius, II, _281_. + Vivian, T., I, 172, _172_. + Vogel, A. F., I, 373. + Voltaire, I, 103, 165, 166, 167, 168, 248; II, 268. + Von Gumpach, II, 137, _137_. + Von Hutten, I, 318. + Von Wolzogen. (_See Wolzogen._) + Vyse, R. W. H., I, _328_. + + Walker, W. E., II, _316_. + Walkingame, F., II, _173_. + Wallich, N., II, _14_. + Wallis, J., I, 107, 109, 110; II, 299, 313. + Walpole, I, _23_, 131. + Walsh, John, I, 260, _260_; II, 157. + Wapshare, J., II, _230_. + Warburton, H., I, _349_. + Warburton, Wm., I, _55_, 112; II, 174. + Ward, S., II, _299_. + Waring, E., I, _203_, 222. + Warner, W., II, _302_, 312. + Warren, S., II, _340_. + Watkins, J., II, _270_. + Watson, Bp., I, _223_. + Watt, R., I, _102_, 402. + Watts, I., II, 18. + Weddle, T., II, _187_. + Wentworth, Thos., I, _240_. + Wharton, I, 115. + Whately, R., I, 246, _246_, 324. + Whately's Paradox, I, 246. + Whewell, I, _101_, 101, 273, 314, 380; II, 104, 246, 247. + Whigs, II, 22. + Whiston, J., I, _147_. + Whiston, W., I, 133, _133_, 146, 156, 311. + White, H. K., II, _271_. + White, J. B., I, 248. + White, R., I, 11. + Whitford, I, 105. + Whitworth, W. A., II, _344_. + Whizgig, On the, I, 254. + Wightman, I, 59. + Wilberforce, W., II, _236_. + Wilkins, J., I, 96, _100_, 116, 226. + Williams, J. B., I, _378_. + Williams, T., I, 171, _171_. + Wilson, Sir J., I, _221_. + Wilson, J. M., II, _344_. + Wilson, R., II, 7, _7_. + Wilson's Theorem, I, _222_. + Wingate, E., II, _308_. + Winter, I, 46. + Wirgman, T., I, 258, _258_. + Wiseman, N. P. S., II, _26_, 61, 294. + Wolcot, J. (Peter Pindar), II, _272_. + Wollstonecraft, I, 173, _173_. + Wolzogen, I, _106_. + Wood, A., I, _98_. + Wood, John, I, _233_. + Wood, Wm., I, 246, _246_. + Woodley, W., I, 307, _307_. + Wordsworth, II, 273. + Wright, E., I, 84. + Wright, T., I, 151, _151_, 152, 153. + Wright, W., II, 9. + Wronski, I, 249, _250_. + Wrottesley, J. (Baron), II, _181_. + + Young, B., II, _69_. + Young, J. W. A., II, 367. + Young, T., I, 24, 30, _250_. + Youthful Prodigies, I, 219. + Yvon, I, _297_. + + Zach, von, II, _45_, 196. + Zachary, Pope, I, 32, 34. + Zadkiel, I, _321_; II, 43. + Zetetic Astronomy, II, 88. + Zodiac, II, 136. + Zytphen, II, _335_. + + * * * * * + + +Notes + +Transcriber's note: References to Notes in Volume I are shown as in the +printed book, with the resequenced footnote numbers in the Project +Gutenberg Edition (EText-No. 23100) added thus {123}. + +[1] See Vol. I, page 255, note 6 {584}. + +[2] "I have no need for this hypothesis." + +[3] "Ah, it is a beautiful hypothesis; it explains many things." + +[4] "What we know is very slight; what we don't know is immense." + +[5] Brewster relates (_Life of Sir Isaac Newton_, Vol. II, p. 407) that, a +short time before his death, Newton remarked: "I do not know what I may +appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy +playing on the seashore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a +smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean +of truth lay all undiscovered before me." + +[6] See Vol. I, p. 292, note 1 {632}. + +[7] "What is all that!" + +[8] "I have some good news to tell you: at the Bureau of Longitudes they +have just received a letter from Germany announcing that M. Bessel has +verified by observation your theoretical discoveries on the satellites of +Jupiter." + +[9] "Man follows only phantoms." + +[10] See Vol. I, page 382, note 13 {786}. + +[11] Dieudonné Thiébault (1733-1807) was a Jesuit in his early life, but he +left the order and took up the study of law. In 1765 he went to Prussia and +became a favorite of Frederick the Great. He returned to France in 1785 and +became head of the Lycée at Versailles. + +[12] _Memories of Twenty Years of Residence in Berlin._ There was a second +French and an English edition in 1805. + +[13] Richard Joachim Heinrich von Mollendorff (1724-1816) began his career +as a page of Frederick the Great (1740) and became field marshal (1793) and +commander of the Prussian army on the Rhine (1794). + +[14] Hugues Bernard Maret (1763-1839) was not Duc de Bassano in 1807, this +title not being conferred upon him until 1809. He was ambassador to England +in 1792 and to Naples in 1793. Napoleon made him head of the cabinet and +his special confidant. The Bourbons exiled him in 1816. + +[15] Denis Diderot (1713-1784), whose _Lettre sur les aveugles_ (1749) +introduced him to the world as a philosopher, and whose work on the +_Encyclopédie_ is so well known. + +[16] "Sir, (a + b^{n}) / n = x, whence God exists; answer!" + +[17] This was one James Laurie of Musselburgh. + +[18] Jelinger Cookson Symons (1809-1860) was an office-holder with a +decided leaning towards the improvement of education and social conditions. +He wrote _A Plea for Schools_ (1847), _The Industrial Capacities of South +Wales_ (1855), and _Lunar Motion_ (1856), to which last work the critic +probably refers. + +[19] "Protimalethes" followed this by another work along the same line the +following year, _The Independence of the Testimony of St. Matthew and St. +John tested and vindicated by the theory of chances_. + +[20] Wilson had already taken up the lance against science in his +_Strictures on Geology and Astronomy, in reference to a supposed want of +harmony between these sciences and some parts of Divine Revelation_, +Glasgow, 1843. He had also ventured upon poetry in his _Pleasures of +Piety_, Glasgow, 1837. + +[21] Mrs. Borron was Elizabeth Willesford Mills before her marriage. She +made an attempt at literature in her _Sibyl's Leaves_, London (printed at +Devonport), 1826. + +[22] See Vol. I, page 386, note 10 {801}. + +[23] See Vol. I, page 43, notes 7 {32} and 8 {33}. + +[24] His flying machine, designed in 1843, was one of the earliest attempts +at aviation on any extensive scale. + +[25] Erasmus Darwin (1731-1802) was the grandfather of Charles Darwin. The +work here mentioned had great influence, being translated into French, +Portuguese, and Italian. Canning parodied it in his _Loves of the +Triangles_. + +[26] See Vol. I, page 147, note 1 {312}. + +[27] The notes on this page were written on the day of the funeral of +Wilbur Wright, June 1, 1912, the man who realized all of these prophecies, +and then died a victim of municipal crime,--of typhoid fever. + +[28] John Charles, third Earl Spencer (1782-1845), to whose efforts the +Reform Bill was greatly indebted for its final success. + +[29] This was published in London in 1851 instead of 1848. + +[30] This appeared in 1846. + +[31] This was done in _The Circle Squared_, published at Brighton in 1865. + +[32] It first appeared in 1847, under the title, _The Scriptural Calendar +and Chronological Reformer, 1848. Including a review of tracts by Dr. +Wardlaw and others on the Sabbath question. By W. H. Black._ The one above +mentioned, for 1849, was printed in 1848, and was also by Black +(1808-1872). He was pastor of the Seventh Day Baptists and was interested +in archeology and in books. He catalogued the manuscripts of the Ashmolean +Museum at Oxford. + +[33] William Upton, a Trinity College man, Dublin. He also wrote _Upton's +Physioglyphics_, London, 1844; _Pars prima. Geometria vindicata; +antiquorumque Problematum, ad hoc tempus desperatorum, Trisectionis Anguli, +Circulique Quadraturae, Solutio, per Eucliden effecta, London_ (printed at +Southampton), 1847; _The Uptonian Trisection_, London, 1866; and _The +Circle Squared_, London, 1872. + +[34] For example, if [theta] = 90° we should have 3 cos 30° = 1 + [root](4 +- sin^2 90°), or 3.½ [root]3 = 1 + [root]3, or ½ [root]3 = 1. + +[35] Nathaniel Wallich (1786-1854) was surgeon at the Danish settlement at +Serampore when the East India Company took over the control in 1807. He +entered the British medical service and was invalided to England in 1828. +His _Plantae Asiaticae Rariores_ (3 vols., London, 1830-1832) was +recognized as a standard. He became vice-president of the Linnean Society, +F. R. S., and fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society. + +[36] But if [theta] = 90° this asserts that + + cos 30° = (sin 270° . cos 225° + sin^2 90° . sin 225°) / [root](sin^2 + 270° . cos^2 225° + sin^{4} 90° + sin 270° . sin 450° . sin^2 90°), + +or that + + ½ [root]3 = (-1 . (-1 /[root]2) + 1 . (-1/[root]2) / [root]1 . ½ + 1 - 1 + . 1 . 1) = 0 / [root]½, + +so that De Morgan must have made some error in copying. + +[37] John Bonnycastle (died in 1821) was professor of mathematics at +Woolwich. His edition of Bossut's _History of Mathematics_ (1803), and his +works on elementary mathematics were well known. + +[38] The bibliographies give Husaín Rifki as the translator, a practical +geometry as the work, and 1802 as the date. + +[39] See Vol. I, page 309, note 2 {670}. + +[40] Probably in _The Improvement of the Mind_ which Isaac Watts +(1674-1748) published in 1741. His _Horae Lyricae_ appeared in 1706, and +the _Hymns_, by which he is still well known, in 1707. + +[41] Spencer Joshua Alwyne Compton, second Marquis of Northampton +(1790-1851), was a poet, a scientist, and a statesman. He was president of +the Royal Society from 1838 to 1849. + +[42] Besides the writings here mentioned Perigal published a work on +_Geometric Maps_ (London, 1853), and _Graphic Demonstrations of Geometric +Problems_ (1891). + +[43] See Vol. II, page 5, note 18. + +[44] James Ferguson (1710-1776) was a portrait painter, an astronomer, and +a popular writer and lecturer on various subjects. + +[45] In the old ballad of King Alfred and the Shepherd, when the latter is +tempting the disguised king into his service, he says: + + "Of whig and whey we have good store, + And keep good pease-straw fire." + +_Whig_ is then a preparation of milk. But another commonly cited derivation +may be suspected from the word _whiggamor_ being used before _whig_, as +applied to the political party; _whig_ may be a contraction. Perhaps both +derivations conspired: the word _whiggamor_, said to be a word of command +to the horses, might contract into _whig_, and the contraction might be +welcomed for its own native meaning.--A. De M. + +[46] This was p. 147 in the first edition. + +[47] St. Augustine (354-430) was bishop of Hippo. His _Confessiones_, in 13 +books, was written in 397, and his _De Civitate Dei_ in 426. + +[48] "He was wont to indulge in certain Punic subtleties lest he should +weary the reader by much speaking." + +[49] John Milner (1751-1826), bishop of Castabala, a well-known +antiquarian. + +[50] It will be said that when the final happiness is spoken of in "sure +and certain hope," it is _the_ Resurrection, generally; but when afterwards +application is made to the individual, simple "hope" is all that is +predicated which merely means "wish?" I know it: but just before the +general declaration, it is declared that it _has_ pleased God of his great +mercy to _take unto Himself_, the soul of our dear brother: and between the +"hopes" hearty thanks are given that it _has_ pleased God to deliver our +dear brother out of the miseries of this wicked world, with an additional +prayer that the number of the elect may shortly be accomplished. All which +means, that our dear brother is declared to be taken to God, to be in a +place not so miserable as this world--a description which excludes the +"wicked place"--and to be of the elect. Yes, but it will be said again! do +you not know that when this Liturgy was framed, all who were not in the +road to Heaven were excommunicated burial service read over them. Supposing +the fact to have been true in old time, which is a very spicy supposition, +how does that excuse the present practice? Have you a right _always_ to say +what you believe _cannot always_ be true, because you think it was once +_always_ true? Yes, but, choose whom you please, you cannot be _certain_ He +is _not_ gone to Heaven. True, and choose which Bishop you please, you +cannot be demonstratively _certain_, he is _not_ a concealed unbeliever: +may I therefore say of the whole bench, _singulatim et seriatim_, that they +_are_ unbelievers? No! No! The voice of common sense, of which common logic +is a part, is slowly opening the eyes of the multitude to the unprincipled +reasoning of theologians. Remember 1819. What chance had Parliamentary +Reform when the House of Commons thanked the Manchester sabre-men? If you +do not reform your Liturgy, it will be reformed for you, and sooner than +you think! The dishonest interpretations, by defence of which even the +minds of children are corrupted, and which throw their shoots into +literature and commerce, will be sent to the place whence they came: and +over the door of the established organization for teaching religion will be +posted the following notice: + + "Shift and Subterfuge, Shuffle and Dodge, + No longer here allowed to lodge!" + +All this ought to be written by some one who belongs to the Establishment: +in him, it would be quite prudent and proper; in me, it is kind and +charitable.--A. De M. + +[51] But few do have access to it, for the work is not at all common, and +this Piscator is rarely mentioned. + +[52] This derivation has been omitted.--S. E. De M. + +[53] A blow for a blow. Roland and Oliver were two of the paladins of +Charlemagne whose exploits were so alike that each was constantly receiving +credit for what the other did. Finally they met and fought for five days on +an island in the Rhine, but even at the end of that period it was merely a +drawn battle. + +[54] "In the name of the church." + +[55] "From the chair," officially. + +[56] Nicholas Patrick Stephen Wiseman (1802-1865), whose elevation to the +archbishopric of Westminster and the cardinalate (1850) led to the act +prohibiting Roman Catholics from assuming episcopal titles in England, a +law that was never enforced. + +[57] He was born in 1812 and was converted to Catholicism in 1839. He +founded the _Tablet_ in London in 1840, removing its office to Dublin in +1849. He became M. P. in 1852, and at the time of his death (1855) he was +preparing a memorial to the Pope asking him to annul the proclamation of an +Irish bishop prohibiting his priests from taking part in politics. + +[58] John Guillim (1565-1621) was the first to systematize and illustrate +the whole science of heraldry. He published _A display of Heraldrie: +manifesting a more easie accesse to the knowledge thereof_ in 1610. + +[59] "Faith." + +[60] "Faithful." + +[61] "For the faith vindicated." + +[62] The words are of the same root, and hence our word _fiddle_. Some +suppose this root means a _rope_, which, as that to which you trust, +becomes, in one divergence, confidence itself--just as a _rock_, and other +words, come to mean reliance--and in another, a little string.--A. De M. + +[63] The Greek lexicographer, a Christian, living after 1000 A. D. His +lexicon was first printed at Milan in 1499. + +[64] _Skindapsos._ + +[65] This was John William Burgon (1813-1888), Gresham professor of +theology (1867) and dean of Chichester. He was an ultra-conservative, +opposing the revised version of the New Testament, and saying of the +admission of women to the university examinations that it was "a thing +inexpedient and immodest." + +[66] _Ekklesia_, or _ecclesia_. + +[67] _Ennomos ekklesia._ + +[68] "Without doubt I shall perish forever." + +[69] "Every man is an animal." "Sortes is a man." "Sortes is an animal." + +[70] "For a special purpose." + +[71] Heraclitus of Ephesus, the weeping philosopher, 6th century B. C. + +[72] Democritus, the laughing philosopher, founder of the atomistic theory, +5th century B. C. + +[73] "Ends to which." + +[74] "Ends from which." + +[75] "In just as many syllables," "With just as many letters," "In just as +many words." + +[76] "I shall make a way," "I shall find a way." + +[77] The notion that the Evil Spirit is a functionary liable to be +dismissed for not attending to his duty, is, so far as my reading goes, +utterly unknown in theology. My first wrinkle on the subject was the remark +of the Somersetshire farmer upon Palmer the poisoner-- "Well! if the Devil +don't take he, he didn't ought to be allowed to be devil no longer."--A. De +M. + +William Palmer (1824-1856) was a member of the Royal College of Surgeons +and practised medicine at London. He was hanged in 1856 for having poisoned +a friend and was also suspected of having poisoned his wife and brother for +their insurance money, besides being guilty of numerous other murders. His +trial was very much in the public attention at the time. + +[78] Advantages and dangers. + +[79] The old priory of St. Mary of Bethlehem in London, was used as an +asylum for the insane. The name was corrupted to Bedlam. + +[80] Referring to the common English pronunciation of St. John, almost +Sinjin. John St. John Long (1798-1834), an Irishman by birth, practised +medicine in London. He claimed to have found a specific for rheumatism and +tuberculosis, but upon the death of one of his patients in 1830 he was +tried for manslaughter. He died of tuberculosis four years later, refusing +to take his own treatment. + +[81] William of Occam (d. 1349), so called from his birthplace, Ockham, in +Surrey. He was a Franciscan, and lectured on philosophy in the Sorbonne. + +[82] He signs himself "James Hopkins, schoolmaster," and this seems to have +been his only published effort. + +[83] Joseph Ady (1770-1852) was a famous swindler. One of his best-known +schemes was to send out letters informing the recipients that they would +learn something to their advantage on payment of a certain sum. He spent +some time in prison. + +[84] Sir Peter Laurie (c. 1779-1861) was worth referring to, for he was +prominent as a magistrate and was honored because of his interest in all +social reforms. He made a fortune as a contractor, became sheriff of London +in 1823, and was knighted in the following year. He became Lord Mayor of +London in 1832. + +[85] See Vol. I, page 321, note 2 {691}. The _Astronomy in a nutshell_ +appeared in 1860. _The Herald of Astrology_ was first published in London +in 1831, "by Zadkiel the Seer." It was continued as _The Astrological +Almanac_ (London, 1834), as _Zadkiel's Almanac and Herald of Astrology_ +(_ibid._, 1835, edited by R. J. Morrison, and subsequently by A. J. +Pearce), and as _Raphael's Prophetic Almanac_ (1840-1855). + +[86] See Vol. I, page 172, note 3 {382}. + +[87] See Vol. I, page 87, note 4 {133}. + +[88] Franz Xaver, Freiherr von Zach (1754-1832) was director of the +observatory at Seeberge near Gotha. He wrote the _Tabulae speciales +aberrationis et mutationis_ (1806-7), _Novae et correctae tabulae solis_ +(1792), and _L'attraction des montagnes et ses effets sur le fil à plomb_ +(1814). + +[89] Jean Louis Pons (1761-1831) was connected with the observatory at +Marseilles for thirty years (1789-1819). He later became director of the +observatory at Marlia, near Lucca, and subsequently filled the same office +at Florence. He was an indefatigable searcher for comets, discovering 37 +between 1801 and 1827, among them being the one that bears Encke's name. + +[90] This hypothesis has now become an established fact. + +[91] John Chetwode Eustace (c. 1762-1815) was born in Ireland. Although a +Roman Catholic priest he lived for a time at Cambridge where he did some +tutoring. His _Classical Tour_ appeared in 1813 and went through several +editions. + +[92] "Crimes should be exposed when they are punished, but disgraceful acts +should be hidden." + +[93] Henri Hureau de Sénarmont (1808-1862) was professor of mineralogy at +the _Ecole des mines_ and examiner at the _Ecole polytechnique_ at Paris. + +[94] Augustin Jean Fresnel (1788-1827), "Ingenieur des ponts et chaussées," +gave the first experimental proofs of the wave theory of light. He studied +the questions of interference and polarization, and determined the +approximate velocity of light. + +[95] "As is my custom." + +[96] Francis Heywood (1796-1858) made the first English translation of +Kant's _Critick of Pure Reason_ (1838, reprinted in 1848). The _Analysis_ +came out, as here stated, in 1844. + +[97] Louise Renée de Keroualle, Duchess of Portsmouth and Aubigny +(1649-1734), was a favorite of Charles II. She used her influence to keep +him under the control of Louis XIV. + +[98] William Chiffinch (c. 1602-1688) was page of the king's bed-chamber +and keeper of the private closet to Charles II. He was one of the king's +intimates and was an unscrupulous henchman. + +[99] "Well devised." + +[100] "John Bellingham Inglis. His _Philobiblion_ "translated from the +first edition (of Ricardus d'Aungervile, Bishop of Durham), 1473," appeared +at London in 1832. It was republished in America (Albany, N. Y.) in 1864. + +[101] "What are you laughing at?" + +[102] See Vol. I, page 314, note 4 {681}. + +[103] See Vol. I, page 112, note 7 {211}. + +[104] Referring to Hamilton's edition of the _Collected Works of Dugald +Stewart_, 10 volumes, Edinburgh, 1854-58. It is not commonly remembered +that Stewart (1753-1828) taught mathematics at the University of Edinburgh +before he took up philosophy. + +[105] This was Hamilton's edition of the _Works of Thomas Reid_ (2 vols., +Edinburgh, 1846-1863). Reid (1710-1796) included mathematics in his work in +philosophy at Aberdeen. In 1764 he succeeded Adam Smith at Glasgow. + +[106] Edward Irving (1792-1834), the famous preacher. At first he assisted +Dr. Chalmers at Glasgow, but in 1822 he went to London where he met with +great success. A few years later he became mentally unbalanced and was +finally expelled from his church (1832) for heresy. He was a great friend +of Carlyle. + +[107] He also wrote a number of other paradoxes, including _An Essay +towards a Science of Consciousness_ (1838), _Instinctive Natural Religion_ +(1858), _Popular Treatise on the structure, diseases, and treatment of the +human teeth_ (1837), and _On Headache_ (1859). + +[108] James Smith (1801-1857), known as Shepherd Smith, was a socialist and +a mystic, with a philosophy that was wittily described as "Oriental +pantheism translated into Scotch." He was editor of several journals. + +[109] Joanna Southcott (1750-1814) was known for her rhyming prophecies in +which she announced herself as the woman spoken of in Revelations xii. She +had at one time as many as 100,000 disciples, and she established a sect +that long survived her. + +[110] Thales, c. 640-548 B. C. + +[111] Pythagoras, 580-501 B. C. + +[112] Anaxagoras, 499-428 B. C., the last of the Ionian school, teacher of +Euripides and Pericles. Plutarch speaks of him as having squared the +circle. + +[113] Oinopides of Chios, contemporary of Anaxagoras. Proclus tells us that +Oinopides was the first to show how to let fall a perpendicular to a line +from an external point. + +[114] Bryson and Antiphon, contemporaries of Socrates, invented the +so-called method of exhaustions, one of the forerunners of the calculus. + +[115] He wrote, c. 440 B. C., the first elementary textbook on mathematics +in the Greek language. The "lunes of Hippocrates" are well known in +geometry. + +[116] Jabir ben Aflah. He lived c. 1085, at Seville, and wrote on astronomy +and spherical trigonometry. The _Gebri filii Affla Hispalensis de +astronomia libri_ IX was published at Nuremberg in 1533. + +[117] Hieronymus Cardanus, or Girolamo Cardano (1501-1576), the great +algebraist. His _Artis magnae sive de regulis Algebrae_ was published at +Nuremberg in 1545. + +[118] Nicolo Tartaglia (c. 1500-1557), the great rival of Cardan. + +[119] See note 5 {98}, Vol. I, page 69. + +[120] See note 10 {124}, Vol. I., page 83. + +[121] See note 9 {123}, Vol. I, page 83. + +[122] Pierre Hérigone lived in Paris the first half of the 17th century. +His _Cours mathématique_ (6 vols., 1634-1644) had some standing but was not +at all original. + +[123] Franciscus van Schooten (died in 1661) was professor of mathematics +at Leyden. He edited Descartes's _La Géométrie_. + +[124] Florimond de Beaune (1601-1652) was the first Frenchman to write a +commentary on Descartes's _La Géométrie_. He did some noteworthy work in +the theory of curves. + +[125] See note 3 {23}, Vol. I, page 41. + +[126] Olivier de Serres (b. in 1539) was a writer on agriculture. Montucla +speaks of him in his _Quadrature du cercle_ (page 227) as having asserted +that the circle is twice the inscribed equilateral triangle, although, as +De Morgan points out, this did not fairly interpret his position. + +[127] Angherà wrote not only the three works here mentioned, but also the +_Problemi del più alto interesse scientifico, geometricamente risoluti e +dimostrati_, Naples, 1861. His quadrature was defended by Giovanni Motti in +a work entitled _Matematica Vera. Falsità del sistema ciclometrico +d'Archimede, quadratura del cerchio d'Angherà, ricerca algebraica dei lati +di qualunque poligono regolare inscritto in un circolo_, Voghera, 1877. The +_Problemi_ of 1861 contains Angherà's portrait, and states that he lived at +Malta from 1849 to 1861. It further states that the Malta publications are +in part reproduced in this work. + +[128] This was his friend Paolo Pullicino whose _Elogio_ was pronounced by +L. Farrugia at Malta in 1890. He wrote a work _La Santa Effegie della Blata +Vergine Maria_, published at Valetta in 1868. + +[129] St. Vitus, St. Modestus, and St. Crescentia were all martyred the +same day, being torn limb from limb after lions and molten lead had proved +of no avail. At least so the story runs. + +[130] The reference is to Cardinal Wiseman. See Vol. II, page 26, note 56. + +[131] "Worthy of esteem." + +[132] Pedro de Ribadeneira (Ribadeneyra, Rivadeneira), was born at Toledo +in 1526 and died in 1611. He held high position in the Jesuit order. The +work referred to is the _Flos Sanctorum o libro de las vidas de los +santos_, of which there was an edition at Barcelona in 1643. His life of +Loyola (1572) and _Historia ecclesiástica del Cisma del reino de +Inglaterra_ were well known. + +[133] Cæsar Baronius (1538-1607) was made a cardinal in 1595 and became +librarian at the Vatican in 1597. The work referred to appeared at Rome in +1589. + +[134] Mrs. Jameson's (1794-1860) works were very popular half a century +ago, and still have some circulation among art lovers. The first edition of +the work mentioned appeared in 1848. + +[135] The barnyard cock. + +[136] Shanks did nothing but computing. The title should, of course, read +"to 607 Places of _Decimals_." He later carried the computation to 707 +decimal places. (_Proc. Roy. Society_, XXI, p. 319.) He also prepared a +table of prime numbers up to 60,000. (_Proc. Roy. Society_, XXII, p. 200.) + +[137] See Vol. I, page 42, note 4 {24}. + +[138] See Vol. I, page 64, note 1 {78}. + +[139] See Vol. I, page 328, note 1 {704}. + +[140] George Suffield published _Synthetic Division in Arithmetic_, to +which reference is made, in 1863. + +[141] John Robert Lunn wrote chiefly on Church matters, although he +published a work on motion in 1859. + +[142] Jean Baptiste Joseph, Baron Fourier (1768-1830), sometime professor +in the Military School at Paris, and later at the _Ecole polytechnique_. He +is best known by his _Théorie analytique de la chaleur_ (Paris, 1822), in +which the Fourier series is used. The work here referred to is the _Analyse +des équations déterminées_ (Paris, 1831). + +[143] William George Horner (1786-1837) acquired a name for himself in +mathematics in a curious manner. He was not a university man nor was he a +mathematician of any standing. He taught school near Bristol and at Bath, +and seems to have stumbled upon his ingenious method for finding the +approximate roots of numerical higher equations, including as a special +case the extracting of the various roots of numbers. Davies Gilbert +presented the method to the Royal Society in 1819, and it was reprinted in +the _Ladies' Diary_ for 1838, and in the _Mathematician_ in 1843. The +method was original as far as Horner was concerned, but it is practically +identical with the one used by the Chinese algebraist Ch'in Chiu-shang, in +his _Su-shu Chiu-chang_ of 1247. But even Ch'in Chiu-shang can hardly be +called the discoverer of the method since it is merely the extension of a +process for root extracting that appeared in the _Chiu-chang Suan-shu_ of +the second century B. C. + +[144] He afterwards edited Loftus's _Inland Revenue Officers' Manual_ +(London, 1865). The two equations mentioned were x^3 - 2x = 5 and y^3 - +90y^2 + 2500y - 16,000 = 0, in which y = 30 - 10x. Hence each place of y is +the complement of the following place of x with respect to 9. + +[145] Probably the John Power Hicks who wrote a memoir on T. H. Key, +London, 1893. + +[146] Possibly the one who wrote on the quadrature of the circle in 1881. + +[147] As it is. But what a pity that we have not 12 fingers, with +duodecimal fractions instead of decimals! We should then have 0.6 for ½, +0.4 for 1/3, 0.8 for 2/3, 0.3 for ¼, 0.9 for ¾, and 0.16 for 1/8, instead +of 0.5, 0.333+, 0.666+, 0.25, 0.75, and 0.125 as we now have with our +decimal system. In other words, the most frequently used fractions in +business would be much more easily represented on the duodecimal scale than +on the decimal scale that we now use. + +[148] He wrote Hints for an _Essay on Anemology and Ombrology_ (London, +1839-40) and _The Music of the Eye_ (London, 1831). + +[149] Brigham Young (1801-1877) was born at Whitingham, Vermont, and +entered the Mormon church in 1832. In 1840 he was sent as a missionary to +England. After the death of Joseph Smith he became president of the Mormons +(1847), leading the church to Salt Lake City (1848). + +[150] Joseph Smith (1805-1844) was also born in Vermont, and was four years +the junior of Brigham Young. The _Book of Mormon_ appeared in 1827, and the +church was founded in 1830. He was murdered in 1844. + +[151] Orson Pratt (1811-1881) was one of the twelve apostles of the Mormon +Church (1835), and made several missionary journeys to England. He was +professor of mathematics in the University of Deseret (the Mormon name for +Utah). Besides the paper mentioned Pratt wrote the _Divine Authenticity of +the Book of Mormon_ (1849), _Cubic and Biquadratic Equations_ (1866), and a +_Key to the Universe_ (1866). + +[152] "It does not follow." + +[153] Dryden (1631-1700) published his _Religio Laici_ in 1682. The use of +the word "proportion" in the sense of ratio was common before his time, but +he uses it in the sense of having four terms; that is, that price is to +price as offence is to offence. + +[154] Olinthus Gilbert Gregory (1774-1841) succeeded Hutton as professor of +mathematics at Woolwich. He was, with De Morgan, much interested in +founding the University of London. He wrote on astronomy (1793), mechanics +(1806), practical mathematics (1825), and Christian evidences (1811). + +[155] See Vol. I, page 220, note 6 {482}. The _Pensées_ appeared +posthumously in 1670. + +[156] "The right thing to do is not to wager at all." "Yes, but you ought +to wager; you have started out; and not to wager at all that God exists is +to wager that he does not exist." + +[157] He lived about 300 A.D., in Africa, and wrote _Libri septem adversus +Gentes_. This was printed at Rome in 1542-3. + +[158] Pierre Bayle (1647-1706) was professor of philosophy at the +Prostestant University at Sedan from 1675 until its dissolution in 1681. He +then became professor at Rotterdam (1681-1693). In 1684 he began the +publication of his journal of literary criticism _Nouvelles de la +République des Lettres_. He is best known for his erudite _Dictionnaire +historique et critique_ (1697). + +[159] "But Christ himself does not prove what he promises. It is true. For, +as I have said, there cannot be any absolute proof of future events. +Therefore since it is a condition of future events that they cannot be +grasped or comprehended by any efforts of anticipation, is it not more +reasonable, out of two alternatives that are uncertain and that are hanging +in doubtful expectation, to give credence to the one that gives some hope +rather than to the one that offers none at all? For in the former case +there is no danger if, as is said to threaten, it becomes empty and void; +while in the latter case the danger is greatest, that is, the loss of +salvation, if when the time comes it is found that it was not a falsehood." + +[160] Gregg wrote several other paradoxes, including the following: _The +Authentic Report of the extraordinary case of Tresham Dames Gregg ... his +committal to Bridewell for refusing to give his recognizance_ (Dublin, +1841), _An Appeal to Public Opinion upon a Case of Injury and Wrong ... in +the case of a question of prerogative that arose between_ [R. Whately] _... +Archbishop of Dublin and the author_ (London, 1861), _The Cosmology of Sir +Isaac Newton proved to be in accordance with the Bible_ (London, 1871), +_The Steam Locomotive as revealed in the Bible_ (London 1863) and _On the +Sacred Law of 1866, conferring perpetual life with immunity from decay and +disease. A cento of decisive scriptural oracles strangely discovered_ +(London and Dublin, 1875). These titles will help the reader to understand +the man whom De Morgan so pleasantly satirizes. + +[161] See Vol. I, page 261, note 2 {592}. + +[162] "They have found it." + +[163] The late Greeks used the letters of their alphabet as numerals, +adding three early alphabetic characters. The letter [chi] represented 600, +[xi] represented 60, and [digamma] stood for 6. This gives 666, the number +of the Beast given in the Revelation. + +[164] "Allowing for necessary exceptions." + +[165] Mr. Gregg is not alone in his efforts to use the calculus in original +lines, as any one who has read Herbart's application of the subject to +psychology will recall. + +[166] See Vol. I, page 105, note 4 {188}; page 109, note 1 {197}. + +[167] The full title shows the plan,--_The Decimal System as a whole, in +its relation to time, measure, weight, capacity, and money, in unison with +each other._ But why is this so much worse than the French plan of which we +have only the metric system and the decimal division of the angle left? + +[168] One of the brothers of Sir Isaac Pitman (1813-1897), the inventor of +modern stenography. Of these brothers, Benjamin taught the art in America, +Jacob in Australia, and Joseph, Henry, and Frederick in England. + +[169] For example, _The Phonographic Lecturer_ (London, 1871 etc.), _The +Phonographic Student_ (1867, etc.), and _The Shorthand Magazine_ (1866, +etc.). + +[170] See Vol. II, page 68, note 148. + +[171] It involves the theory of non-Euclidean geometry, Euclid's postulate +of parallels being used in proving this theorem. + +[172] Referring to the fact that none of the works of Thales is extant. + +[173] The author was one B. Bulstrode. Parts 4 and 5 were printed at +Calcutta. + +[174] See Vol. II, page 5, note 18. + +[175] See Vol. I, page 85, note 2 {129}. + +[176] Alexander Vasilievich Suvaroff (1729-1800), a Russian general who +fought against the Turks, in the Polish wars, and in the early Napoleonic +campaigns. When he took Ismail in 1790 he sent this couplet to Empress +Catherine. + +[177] "Newton hath determined rightly," "Newton hath not determined +rightly." + +[178] See Vol. I, page 288, note 3 {621}. + +[179] See Vol. I, page 326, note 1 {700}. + +[180] "With great honor." + +[181] Apparently unknown to biographers. He seems to have written nothing +else. + +[182] Captain Marryat (1792-1848) published _Snarley-yow, or the Dog Fiend_ +in 1837. + +[183] He is not known to biographers, and published nothing else under this +name. + +[184] See Vol. I, page 80, note 5 {119}. + +[185] He published a _Family and Commercial Illustrated Almanack and Year +Book ... for 1861_ (Bath, 1860). + +[186] Louis Dutens (1730-1812) was born at Tours, but went to England as a +young man. He made the first collection of the works of Leibnitz, against +the advice of Voltaire, who wrote to him: "Les écrits de Leibnitz sont +épars comme les feuilles de la Sybille, et aussi obscurs que les écrits de +cette vieille." The work appeared at Geneva, in six volumes, in 1769. + +[187] Mungo Park (1771-1806), the first European to explore the Niger +(1795-6). His _Travels in the Interior of Africa_ appeared in 1799. He died +in Africa. + +[188] Gerhard Mercator (1512-1594) the well-known map maker of Louvain. The +"Mercator's Projection" was probably made as early as 1550, but the +principle of its construction was first set forth by Edward Wright (London, +1599). + +[189] Quirico Barilli Filopanti wrote a number of works and monographs. He +succeeded in getting his _Cesare al Rubicone_ and _Degli_ _usi idraulici +della Tela_ in the _Memoria letta ... all' Accademia delle Scienze in +Bologna_ (1847, 1866). He also wrote _Dio esiste_ (1881), _Dio Liberale_ +(1880), and _Sunto della memoria sulle geuranie ossia di alcune singolari +relazioni cosmiche della terra e del cielo_ (1862). + +[190] The periods of disembodiment may be interesting. They will be seen +from the following dates: Descartes (1596-1650), William III (1650-1702); +Roger Bacon (1214 to c. 1294), Boccaccio (1313-1375). Charles IX was born +in 1550 and died in 1574. + +[191] His real name was Frederick Parker, and he wrote several works on the +Greek language and on religion. Among these were a translation of the New +Testament from the Vatican MS. (1864), _The Revealed History of Man_ +(1854), _An Enquiry respecting the Punctuation of Ancient Greek_ (1841), +and _Rules for Ascertaining the sense conveyed in Ancient Greek +Manuscripts_ (1848, the seventh edition appearing in 1862). + +[192] See Vol. I, page 352, second note 1 {736}. + +The literature on the subject of the Great Pyramid, considered from the +standpoint of metrology, is extensive. + +[193] See Vol. I, page 80, note 5 {119}. + +[194] Sir Philip Francis (1740-1818) was a Whig politician. The evidence +that he was the author of the _Letters of Junius_ (1769-1772) is purely +circumstantial. He was clerk in the war office at the time of their +publication. In 1774 he was made a member of the Supreme Council of Bengal, +and was a vigorous opponent of Warren Hastings, the two fighting a duel in +1780. He entered parliament in 1784 and was among the leaders in the +agitation for parliamentary reform. + +[195] Mrs. Cottle published a number of letters that attracted attention at +the time. Among these were letters to the emperor of France and king of +Sardinia (1859) relating to the prophecies of the war between France and +Austria; to G. C. Lavis and Her Majesty's Ministers (1859) relating to her +claims as a prophetess; and to the "Crowned Heads" at St. James, the King +of Prussia, and others (1860), relating to certain passages of Scripture. +She also wrote _The Lamb's Book of Life for the New Jerusalem Church and +Kingdom, interpreted for all nations_ (1861). + +[196] See Vol. I, page 315, note 2 {685}, and Vol. II, page 58, note 109. + +[197] A Congregational minister, who published a number of sermons, chiefly +obituaries, between 1804 and 1851. His _Frailty of Human Life_, two sermons +delivered on the occasion of the death of Princess Charlotte, went through +at least three editions. + +[198] He was secretary of the Congregational Board and editor of the +_Congregational Year Book_ (from 1846) and the _Congregational Manual_. + +[199] Frederick Denison Maurice (1805-1872) began his preaching as a +Unitarian but entered the Established Church in 1831, being ordained in +1834. He was professor of English and History at King's College, London, +from 1840 to 1853. He was one of the founders of Queen's College for women, +and was the first principal of the Working Men's College, London. The +subject referred to by De Morgan is his expression of opinion in his +_Theological Essays_ (1853) that future punishment is not eternal. As a +result of this expression he lost his professorship at King's College. In +1866 he was made Knightbridge Professor of Casuistry, Moral Theology, and +Moral Philosophy at Cambridge. + +[200] See Vol. I, page 46, note 1 {42}. Besides the books mentioned in +this list he wrote _The Ratio between Diameter and Circumference +demonstrated by angles, and Euclid's Theorem, Proposition 32, Book I, +proved to be fallacious_ (Liverpool, 1870). This is the theorem which +asserts that the exterior angle of a triangle is equal to the sum of the +two opposite interior angles, and that the sum of the interior angles +equals two right angles. He also published his _Curiosities of Mathematics_ +in 1870, a work containing an extensive correspondence with every one who +would pay any attention to him. De Morgan was then too feeble to show any +interest in the final effort of the subject of some of his keenest satire. + +[201] See Vol. I, page 332, note 4 {709}. + +[202] See Vol. I, page 101, note 4 {174}. + +[203] "The circle-squaring disease"; literally, "the circle-measuring +disease." + +[204] See Vol. II, page 63, note 136. + +[205] William Rutherford (c. 1798-1871), teacher of mathematics at +Woolwich, secretary of the Royal Astronomical Society, editor of _The +Mathematician_, and author of various textbooks. _The Extension of [pi] to +440 places_, appeared in the _Proceedings_ of the Royal Society in 1853 (p. +274). + +[206] Charles Knight (1791-1873) was associated with De Morgan for many +years. After 1828 he superintended the publications of the Society for the +Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, to which De Morgan contributed, and he +edited the _Penny Cyclopedia_ (1833-1844) for which De Morgan wrote the +articles on mathematics. + +[207] Sir William Hamilton. See Vol. I, page 112, note 7 {211}. + +[208] Adam Smith (1723-1790) was not only known for his _Wealth of Nations_ +(1776), but for his _Theory of Moral Sentiments_ (1759), published while he +was professor of moral philosophy at Glasgow (1752-1764). He was Lord +Rector of the university in 1787. + +[209] See Vol. I, page 332, note 4 {709}. + +[210] "Whip." + +[211] "Terrible lash." + +[212] "An accomplished fact [an accomplished fault]." + +[213] See _Extracts from the Diary and Letters of Mrs. Mary Cobb_, London, +1805. + +[214] "Gentle in manner." + +[215] "Brave in action." The motto of Earl Newborough was "Suaviter in +modo, fortiter in re." + +[216] "Reduction to an absurdity," a method of proof occasionally used in +geometry and in logic. + +[217] "He has lost the right of being moved (struck) by evidence." + +[218] For _radix quadratus_. The usual root sign is supposed to be derived +from _r_ (for radix), and at one time _q_ was commonly used for square, as +in Viète's style of writing Aq for A^2. + +[219] The Garde Douloureuse was a castle in the marches of Wales and +received its name because of its exposure to attacks by the Welsh. + +[220] "Out of the fight." + +[221] "Hidden." + +[222] John Cam Hobhouse (1786-1869), Baron Broughton, was committed to +Newgate for two months in 1819 for his anonymous pamphlet, _A Trifling +Mistake_. This was a great advertisement for him, and upon his release he +was at once elected to parliament for Westminster. He was a strong +supporter of all reform measures, and was Secretary for War in 1832. He was +created Baron Broughton de Gyfford in 1851. + +[223] Thomas Erskine (1750-1823), the famous orator. He became Lord +Chancellor in 1806, but sat in the House of Commons most of his life. + +[224] The above is explained in the MS. by a paragraph referring to some +anagrams, in one of which, by help of the orthography suggested, a +designation for this cyclometer was obtained from the letters of his +name.--S. E. De M. + +[225] "A personal verb agrees with its subject." + +[226] See Vol. I, page 326, note 1 {700}. + +[227] See Vol. I, page 326, note 2 {701}. + +[228] Apparently unknown to biographers. + +[229] The _Bibliotheca Mathematica_ of Ludwig Adolph Sohncke (1807-1853), +professor of mathematics at Königsberg and Halle, covered the period from +1830 to 1854, being completed by W. Engelmann. It appeared in 1854. + +[230] See Vol. I, page 392, note 2 {805}. + +[231] See Vol. I, page 43, note 7 {32}. + +[232] See Vol. II, page 91, note 187. + +[233] Mason made a notable balloon trip from London to Weilburg, in the +Duchy of Nassau, in November, 1836, covering 500 miles in 18 hours. He +published an account of this trip in 1837, and a work entitled +_Aeronautica_ in 1838. + +[234] William Harrison Ainsworth (1805-1885) the novelist. + +[235] On this question see Vol. I, page 326, note 2 {701}. + +[236] Major General Alfred Wilks Drayson, author of various works on +geology, astronomy, military surveying, and adventure. + +[237] Hailes also wrote several other paradoxes on astronomy and circle +squaring during the period 1843-1872. + +[238] See Vol. I, page 43, note 8 {33}. + +[239] See Vol. I, page 43, note 7 {32}. + +[240] "Very small errors are not to be condemned." + +[241] He seems to have written nothing else. + +[242] Besides the paradoxes here mentioned by De Morgan he wrote several +other works, including the following: _Abriss der Babylonisch-Assyrischen +Geschichte_ (Mannheim, 1854), _A Popular Inquiry into the Moon's rotation +on her axis_ (London, 1856), _Practical Tables for the reduction of the +Mahometan dates to the Christian kalendar_ (London, 1856), _Grundzüge einer +neuen Weltlehre_ (Munich, 1860), and _On the historical Antiquity of the +People of Egypt_ (London, 1863). + +[243] Dircks (1806-1873) was a civil engineer of prominence, and a member +of the British Association and the Royal Society of Edinburgh. He wrote +(1863) on "Pepper's Ghost," an ingenious optical illusion invented by him. +There was a second edition of the _Perpetuum Mobile_ in 1870. + +[244] George Stephenson (1781-1848), the inventor of the first successful +steam locomotive. His first engine was tried in 1814. + +[245] Robert Stephenson (1803-1859), the only son of George. Most of the +early improvements in locomotive manufacture were due to him. He was also +well known for his construction of great bridges. + +[246] "In its proper place." + +[247] "A fool always finds a bigger fool to admire him." + +[248] See Vol. I, page 43, note 7 {32}. + +[249] See Vol. I, page 43, note 8 {33}. + +[250] See Vol. I, page 85, note 2 {129}. + +[251] See Vol. I, page 390, note 1 {390}. + +[252] From 1823 to 1852 it was edited by I. C. Robertson; from 1852 to 1857 +by R. A. Brooman; and from 1857 to 1863 by Brooman and E. J. Reed. + +[253] Sir James Ivory (1765-1842) was, as a young man, manager of a flax +mill in Scotland. In 1804 he was made professor of mathematics at the Royal +Military College, then at Marlow and later at Sandhurst. He was deeply +interested in mathematical physics, and there is a theorem on the +attraction of ellipsoids that bears his name. He was awarded three medals +of the Royal Society, and was knighted together with Herschel and Brewster, +in 1831. + +[254] See Vol. I, page 56, note 1 {64}. + +[255] See Vol. I, page 153, note 5 {338}. + +[256] See Vol. I, page 309, note 2 {670}. + +[257] See Vol. I, page 87, note 4 {133}. + +[258] George Canning (1770-1857), the Tory statesman and friend of Scott, +was much interested in founding the _Quarterly Review_ (1808) and was a +contributor to its pages. + +[259] See Vol. I, page 186, note 14 {418}. + +[260] See Vol. II, page 141, note 252. + +[261] De Morgan had a number of excellent articles in this publication. + +[262] See Vol. I, page 279, note 1 {611}. + +[263] James Orchard Halliwell (1820-1889), afterwards Halliwell-Phillips, +came into prominence as a writer at an early age. When he was seventeen he +wrote a series of lives of mathematicians for the _Parthenon_. His _Rara +Mathematica_ appeared when he was but nineteen. He was a great bibliophile +and an enthusiastic student of Shakespeare. + +[264] This was written at the age of twenty-two. + +[265] The subject of this criticism is of long past date, and as it has +only been introduced by the author as an instance of faulty editorship, I +have omitted the name of the writer of the libel, and a few lines of +further detail.--S. E. De M. + +[266] "Condemned souls." + +[267] The editor of the _Mechanics' Magazine_ died soon after the above was +written.--S. E. De M. + +[268] Thomas Stephens Davies (1795-1851) was mathematical master at +Woolwich and F. R. S. He contributed a series of "Geometrical Notes" to the +_Mechanics' Magazine_ and edited the _Mathematician_. He also published a +number of text-books. + +[269] See Vol. II, page 66, note 143. + +[270] The _Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography_ (1849), edited by Sir +William Smith (1813-1893), whose other dictionaries on classical and +biblical matters are well known. + +[271] "O J. S.! This is the worst! the greatest possible injury!" + +[272] See Vol. I, page 44, note 9 {34} and page 110, note 5 {201}. + +[273] + + "If there's a man whom the judge's pitiless sentence awaiteth, + His head condemned to penalties and tribulations, + Let neither penitentiaries tire him with laborer's burdens + Nor let his stiffened hands be harrassed by work in the mines. + He must square the circle! For what else do I care?--all + Known punishments this one task hath surely included." + +[274] Houlston was in the customs service. He also published _Inklings of +Areal Autometry_, London, 1874. + +[275] This is Frederick C. Bakewell. He had already published _Natural +Evidence of a Future Life_ (London, 1835), _Philosophical Conversations_ +(London, 1833, with other editions), and _Electric Science_ (London, 1853, +with other editions). + +[276] Henry F. A. Pratt had already published _A Dissertation on the power +of the intercepted pressure of the Atmosphere_ (London, 1844) and _The +Genealogy of Creation_ (1861). Later he published a work _On Orbital +Motion_ (1863), and _Astronomical Investigations_ (1865). + +[277] See Vol. I, page 260, note 1 {591}. + +[278] Thomas Rawson Birks (1810-1883), a theologian and controversialist, +fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, and (1872) professor of moral +philosophy in that university. He wrote _Modern Rationalism_ (1853), _The +Bible and Modern Thought_ (1861), _The First Principles of Moral Science_ +(1873), and _Modern Physical Fatalism and the Doctrine of Evolution_ +(1876), the last being an attack on Herbert Spencer's _First Principles_. + +[279] Pseudonym for William Thorn. In the following year (1863) he +published a second work, _The Thorn-Tree: being a History of Thorn +Worship_, a reply to Bishop Colenso's work entitled _The Pentateuch and the +Book of Joshua critically examined_. + +[280] Besides _The Pestilence_ (1866) he published _The True Church_ +(1851), _The Church and her destinies_ (1855), _Religious reformation +imperatively demanded_ (1864), and _The Bible plan unfolded_ (second +edition, 1872). + +[281] See Vol. II, page 97, note 195. + +[282] Sir George Cornewall Lewis (1806-1863) also wrote an _Essay on the +Origin and Formation of the Romance Languages_ (1835), an _Essay on the +Government of Dependencies_ (1841), and an _Essay on Foreign Jurisdiction +and the Extradition of Criminals_ (1859). He was Chancellor of the +Exchequer in 1855 and Home Secretary in 1859. + +[283] Henry Malden (1800-1876), a classical scholar, fellow of Trinity +College, Cambridge, and professor of Greek at University College +(1831-1876), then (1831) the University of London. He wrote a _History of +Rome to 390 B. C._ (1830), and _On the Origin of Universities and +Academical Degrees_ (1835). + +[284] Henry Longueville Mansel (1820-1871), theologian and metaphysician, +reader in theology at Magdalen College, Oxford (1855), and professor of +ecclesiastical history and Dean of St. Paul's (1866). He wrote on +metaphysics, and his Bampton Lectures (1858) were reprinted several times. + +[285] "Hejus gave freely, gave freely. God is propitious, God is favorable +to him who gives freely. God is honored with a banquet of eggs at the cross +roads, the god of the world. God, with benignant spirit, desired in +sacrifice a goat, a bull to be carried within the precincts of the holy +place. God, twice propitiated, blesses the pit of the sacred libation." + +[286] Eudoxus of Cnidus (408-355 B. C.) had much to do with the early +scientific astronomy of the Greeks. The fifth book of Euclid is generally +attributed to him. His astronomical works are known chiefly through the +poetical version of Aratus mentioned in note 13, page 167. + +[287] Simplicius, a native of Cilicia, lived in the 6th century of our era. +He was driven from Athens by Justinian and went to Persia (531), but he +returned later and had some fame as a teacher. + +[288] See Vol. I, page 160, note 3 {348}. + +[289] See Vol. I, page 76, note 3 {112}. + +[290] "Through right and wrong." + +[291] "It is therefore to arrive at this parallelism, or to preserve it, +that Copernicus feared to be obliged to have recourse to this equal and +opposite movement which destroys the effect which he attributed so freely +to the first, of deranging the parallelism." + +[292] A contemporary of Plato and a disciple of Aristotle. + +[293] Meton's solstice, the beginning of the Metonic cycles, has been +placed at 432 B. C. Ptolemy states that he made the length of the year 365¼ ++ 1/72 days. + +[294] Aratus lived about 270 B. C., at the court of Antigonus of Macedonia, +and probably practiced medicine there. He was the author of two +astronomical poems, the [Greek: Phainomena], apparently based on the lost +work of Eudoxus, and the [Greek: Diosêeia] based on Aristotle's +_Meteorologica_ and _De Signis Ventorum_ of Theophrastus. + +[295] "The nineteen (-year) cycle of the shining sun." + +[296] Claudius Salmasius (1588-1653), or Claude Saumaise, was a +distinguished classicist, and professor at the University of Leyden. The +word [Greek: êleioio] means Elian, thus making the phrase refer to the +brilliant one of Elis. + +[297] Sir William Brown (1784-1864). In 1800 the family moved to Baltimore, +and there the father, Alexander Brown, became prominent in the linen trade. +William went to Liverpool where he acquired great wealth as a merchant and +banker. He was made a baronet in 1863. + +[298] Robert Lowe (1811-1892), viscount Sherbrooke, was a fellow of +Magdalen College, Oxford (1835). He went to Australia in 1842 and was very +successful at the bar. He returned to England in 1850 and became leader +writer on the _Times_. He was many years in parliament, and in 1880 was +raised to the peerage. + +[299] See Vol. I, page 42, note 4 {24}. + +[300] Francis Walkingame (fl. about 1751-1785), whose _Tutor's Assistant_ +went through many editions from 1751-1854. + +[301] Davies Gilbert (1767-1839). His family name was Giddy, but he assumed +his wife's name. He sat in parliament from 1806 to 1832. In 1819 he secured +the establishment of the Cape of Good Hope observatory. He was Treasurer +(1820-1827) and President (1827-1830) of the Royal Society. + +[302] See Vol. I, page 55, note 2 {63}. + +[303] Sir Jonathan Frederick Pollock (1783-1870) entered parliament in 1831 +and was knighted in 1834. + +[304] Joseph Hume (1777-1855) entered parliament in 1812 and for thirty +years was leader of the Radical party. + +[305] "What! when I say, 'Nicole, bring me my slippers,' is that prose?" + +[306] Captain Basil Hall (1788-1844), a naval officer, carried on a series +of pendulum observations in 1820-1822, while on a cruise of the west coast +of North America. The results were published in 1823 in the _Philosophical +Transactions_. He also wrote two popular works on travel that went through +numerous editions. + +[307] Anthony Ashley Cooper (1801-1885), Earl of Shaftesbury. His name is +connected with philanthropic work and factory legislation. + +[308] See Vol. I, page 207, note 12 {469}. + +[309] See Vol. I, page 80, note 5 {119}. + +[310] Sir Thomas Maclear (1794-1879), an Irishman by birth, became +Astronomer Royal at the Cape of Good Hope in 1833. He was an indefatigable +observer. He was knighted in 1860. + +[311] Thomas Romney Robinson (1792-1882), another Irish astronomer of +prominence. He was a deputy professor at Trinity College, Dublin, but took +charge of the Armagh observatory in 1823 and remained there until his +death. + +[312] Sir James South (1785-1867) was in early life a surgeon, but gave up +his practice in 1816 and fitted up a private observatory. He contributed to +the science of astronomy, particularly with respect to the study of double +stars. + +[313] Sir John Wrottesley (1798-1867), second Baron Wrottesley. Like Sir +James South, he took up the study of astronomy after a professional +career,--in his case in law. He built a private observatory in 1829 and +made a long series of observations, publishing three star catalogues. He +was president of the Astronomical Society from 1841 to 1843, and of the +Royal Society from 1854 to 1857. + +[314] He seems to have written nothing else. + +[315] See Vol. II, page 68, note 147. + +[316] "The wills are free, and I wish neither the one nor the other." + +[317] "The force of inertia conquered." + +[318] Reddie also wrote _The Mechanics of the Heavens_, referred to later +in this work. He must not be confused with Judge James Reddie (1773-1852), +of Glasgow, who wrote on international law, although this is done in the +printed edition of the British Museum catalogue, for he is mentioned by De +Morgan somewhat later as alive in 1862. + +[319] Henry Dunning Macleod (1821-1902), a lawyer and writer on political +economy, was a Scotchman by birth. He wrote on economical questions, and +lectured on banking at Cambridge (1877) and at King's College, London +(1878). He was a free lance in his field, and was not considered orthodox +by the majority of economists of his time. He was an unsuccessful candidate +for the chairs of political economy at Cambridge (1863), Edinburgh (1871), +and Oxford (1888). + +[320] See Vol. I, page 252, note 2 {576}. + +[321] Francis Henry Laing (1816-1889) was a graduate of Queen's College, +Cambridge, and a clergyman in the Church of England until 1846, when he +entered the Church of Rome. He taught in various Jesuit colleges until +1862, when his eccentricity was too marked to warrant the Church in +allowing him to continue. He published various controversial writings +during his later years. Of course if he had known the works of Wessel, +Gaus, Buée, Argand, and others, he would not have made such a sorry +exhibition of his ignorance of mathematics. + +[322] See Vol. I, page 329, note 1 {705}. The book went into a second +edition in 1864. + +[323] Thomas Weddle (1817-1853) was, at the time of publishing this paper, +a teacher in a private school. In 1851 he became professor of mathematics +at Sandhurst. He contributed several papers to the _Cambridge and Dublin +Mathematical Journal_, chiefly on geometry. + +[324] See Vol. II, page 109, note 205. + +[325] See Vol. II, page 66, note 143. + +[326] See Vol. II, page 151, note 268. + +[327] George Barrett (1752-1821) worked from 1786 to 1811 on a set of life +insurance and annuity tables. He invented a plan known as the "columnar +method" for the construction of such tables, and as De Morgan states, this +was published by Francis Baily, appearing in the appendix to his work on +annuities, in the edition of 1813. Some of his tables were used in +Babbage's _Comparative View of the various Institutions for the Assurance +of Lives_ (1826). + +[328] See Vol. I, page 309, note 2 {670}. + +[329] This was his _Practical short and direct Method of Calculating the +Logarithm of any given Number, and the Number corresponding to any given +Logarithm_ (1849). + +[330] This is William Neile (1637-1670), grandson of Richard Neile (not +Neal), Archbishop of York. At the age of 19, in 1657, he gave the first +rectification of the semicubical parabola. Although he communicated it to +Brouncker, Wren, and others, it was not published until 1639, when it +appeared in John Wallis's _De Cycloide_. + +[331] I myself "was a considerable part." + +[332] He also wrote _A Glance at the Universe_ ("2d thousand" in 1862), and +_The Resurrection Body_ (1869). + +[333] See Vol. I, page 63, note 1 {74}. + +[334] As Swift gave it in his _Poetry. A Rhapsody_, it is as follows: + + "So, naturalists observe, a flea + Has smaller fleas that on him prey; + And these have smaller still to bite 'em. + And so proceed _ad infinitum_." + +[335] Perhaps 1,600,000,000 years, if Boltwood's recent computations based +on radium disintegration stand the test. This would mean, according to +MacCurdy's estimate, 60,000,000 years since life first appeared on the +earth. + +[336] De Morgan wrote better than he knew, for this work, the _Allgemeine +Encyclopädie der Wissenschaften und Künste_, begun at Leipsic in 1818, is +still (1913) unfinished. Section I, A-G, consists of 99 parts in 56 +volumes; Section II, H-N, consists of 43 volumes and is not yet completed; +and Section III, O-Z, consists of 25 volumes thus far, with most of the +work still to be done. Johann Samuel Ersch (1766-1828), the founder, was +head librarian at Halle. Johann Gottfried Gruber (1774-1851), his +associate, was professor of philosophy at the same university. + +[337] William Howitt (1792-1879) was a poet, a spiritualist, and a +miscellaneous writer. He and his wife became spiritualists about 1850. He +wrote numerous popular works on travel, nature and history. + +[338] See Vol. II, page 55, note 108. + +[339] As will be inferred from the text, C. D. was Mrs. De Morgan, and +A. B. was De Morgan. + +[340] Jean Meslier (1678-1733), curé of Estrepigny, in Champagne, was a +skeptic, but preached only strict orthodoxy to his people. It was only in +his manuscript, _Mon Testament_, that was published after his death, and +that caused a great sensation in France, that his antagonism to +Christianity became known. + +[341] Baron Zach relates that a friend of his, in a writing intended for +publication, said _Un esprit doit se frotter contre un autre_. The censors +struck it out. The Austrian police have a keen eye for consequences.--A. De +M. + +"One mind must rub against another." On Baron Zach, see Vol. II, page 45, +note 4. + +[342] Referring to the first Lord Eldon (1751-1838), who was Lord +Chancellor from 1799 to 1827, with the exception of one year. + +[343] "Sleeping power." + +[344] "Causes sleep." + +[345] Richard Hooker (c. 1554-1600), a theologian, "the ablest living +advocate of the Church of England as by law established." + +[346] See Vol. I, page 76, note 3 {112}. + +[347] "Other I,"--other self. + +[348] This "utter rejection" has been repeated (1872) by the same +writer.--S. E. De M. + +[349] Edward Jenner (1749-1823) was a physician and biologist. His first +experiments in vaccination were made in 1796, and his discovery was +published in 1798. + +[350] See Vol. II, page 38, note 80. + +[351] "You will go most safely in the middle (way)." + +[352] Pierre Joseph Arson was known early in the 19th century for his +controversy with Hoëné Wronski the mathematician, whom he attacked in his +_Document pour l'histoire des grands fourbes qui ont figuré sur la terre_ +(1817-1818). + +[353] "We enter the course by night and are consumed by fire." + +[354] See Vol. I, page 51, note 3 {51}. + +[355] See Vol. I, page 336, note 8 {713}. + +[356] See Vol. I, page 137, note 8 {286}. + +[357] See Vol. I, page 229, note 2 {515}. + +[358] Richard Cobden (1804-1865), the cotton manufacturer and statesman who +was prominent in his advocacy of the repeal of the Corn Laws. + +[359] James Smith (1775-1839), solicitor to the Board of Ordnance. With his +brother Horatio he wrote numerous satires. His _Horace in London_ (1813) +imitated the Roman poet. His works were collected and published in 1840. + +[360] Samuel Butler (1612-1680), the poet and satirist, author of +_Hudibras_ (1663-1678). + +[361] "Is it not fine to be sure of one's action when entering in a combat +with another? There, push me a little in order to see. NICOLE. Well! what's +the matter? M. JOURDAIN. Slowly. Ho there! Ho! gently. Deuce take the +rascal! NICOLE. You told me to push. M. JOURDAIN. Yes, but you pushed me +_en tierce_, before you pushed _en quarte_, and you did not give me time to +parry." + +[362] John Abernethy (1764-1831), the famous physician and surgeon. + +[363] See Vol. I, page 102, note 5 {175}. + +[364] "With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again." + +[365] Eusebius of Cæsarea (c. 260-340), leader of the moderate party at the +Council of Nicæa, and author of a _History of the Christian Church_ in ten +books (c. 324 A. D.). + +[366] Nathaniel Lardner (1684-1768), a non-conformist minister and one of +the first to advocate the scientific study of early Christian literature. + +[367] Henry Alford (1810-1871) Dean of Canterbury (1857-1871) and editor of +the Greek Testament (1849-1861). + +[368] The work was _The Number and Names of the Apocalyptic Beasts: with an +explanation and application. Part I._ London, 1848, as mentioned below. +Thom also wrote _The Assurance of Faith, or Calvinism identified with +Universalism_ (London, 1833), and various other religious works. + +[369] See Vol. I, page 222, note 14 {490}. + +[370] John Hamilton Thom (1808-1894) was converted to Unitarianism and was +long a minister in that church, preaching in the Renshaw Street Chapel from +1831 to 1866. De Morgan refers to the Liverpool Unitarian controversy +conducted by James Martineau and Henry Giles in response to a challenge by +thirteen Anglican Clergy. In 1839 Thom contributed four lectures and a +letter to this controversy. Among his religious works were a _Life of +Blanco White_ (1845) and _Hymns, Chants, and Anthems_ (1854). + +[371] The spelling of these names is occasionally changed to meet the +condition that the numerical value of the letters shall be 666, "the number +of the beast" of Revelations. The names include Julius Cæsar; Valerius +Jovius Diocletianus (249-313), emperor from 287 to 305, persecutor of the +Christians; Louis, presumably Louis XIV; Gerbert (940-1003), who reigned as +Pope Sylvester II from 999 to 1003, known to mathematicians for his abacus +and his interest in geometry, and accused by his opponents as being in +league with the devil; Linus, the second Bishop of Rome, the successor of +Peter; Camillo Borghese (1552-1621), who reigned as Pope Paul V from 1605 +to 1621, and who excommunicated all Venice in 1606 for its claim to try +ecclesiastics before lay tribunals, thus taking a position which he was +forced to abandon; Luther, Calvin; Laud (see Vol. I, page 145, note 7 +{307}); Genseric (c. 406-477), king of the Vandals, who sacked Rome in 455 +and persecuted the orthodox Christians in Africa; Boniface III, who was +pope for nine months in 606; Beza (see Vol. I, page 66, note 6 {83}); +Mohammed; [Greek: braski], who was Giovanni Angelo Braschi (1717-1799), and +who reigned as Pope Pius VI from 1775 to 1799, dying in captivity because +he declined to resign his temporal power to Napoleon; Bonaparte; and, under +[Greek: Ion Paune], possibly Pope John XIV, who reigned in 983 and 984 +during the absence of Boniface VII in Constantinople. + +[372] The Greek words and names are also occasionally misspelled so as to +fit them to the number 666. They are [Greek: Lateinos] (Latin), [Greek: hê +latinê basileia] (the Latin kingdom), [Greek: ekklêsia italika] (the +Italian Church), [Greek: euanthas] (blooming), [Greek: teitan] (Titan), +[Greek: arnoume] (renounce), [Greek: lampetis] (the lustrous), [Greek: ho +nikêtês] (conqueror), [Greek: kakos hodêgos] (bad guide), [Greek: alêthês +blaberos] (truthful harmful one), [Greek: palai baskanos] (a slanderer of +old), [Greek: amnos adikos] (unmanageable lamb), [Greek: antemos] +(Antemos), [Greek: gensêrikos] (Genseric), [Greek: euinas] (with stout +fibers), [Greek: Benediktos] (Benedict), [Greek: Bonibazios g. papa x. ê. +e. e. a.] (Boniface III, pope 68, bishop of bishops I), [Greek: oulpios] +(baneful), [Greek: dios eimi hê hêras] (I, a god, am the), [Greek: hê missa +hê papikê] (the papal brief), [Greek: loutherana] (Lutheran), [Greek: +saxoneios] (Saxon), [Greek: Bezza antitheos] (Beza antigod), [Greek: hê +alazoneia biou] (the illusion of life), [Greek: Maometis] (Mahomet); +[Greek: Maometês b.] (Mahomet II), [Greek: theos eimi epi gaiês] (I am lord +over the earth), [Greek: iapetos] (Iapetos, father of Atlas), [Greek: +papeiskos] (Papeiskos), [Greek: dioklasianos] (Diocletian), [Greek: cheina] +(Cheina = Cain? China?), [Greek: braski] (Braschi, as explained in note +10), [Greek: Ion Paune] (Paunian violet, but see note 10), [Greek: koupoks] +(cowpox), [Greek: Bonnepartê] (Bonneparte), [Greek: N. Bonêparte] (N. +Boneparte), [Greek: euporia] (facility), [Greek: paradosis] (surrender), +[Greek: to megathêrion] (the megathereum, the beast). + +[373] James Wapshare, whose _Harmony of the Word of God in Spirit and in +Truth_ appeared in 1849. + +[374] The literature relating to the _Swastika_ is too extended to permit +of any adequate summary in these notes. + +[375] Henry Edward Manning (1808-1892), at first an Anglican clergyman, he +became a Roman Catholic priest in 1851, and became Cardinal in 1875. He +succeeded Cardinal Wiseman as Archbishop of Westminster in 1865. He wrote a +number of religious works. + +[376] John Bright (1811-1889), Quaker, cotton manufacturer, and statesman. +He worked with Cobden for free trade, peace, and reform of the electorate. + +[377] "The fallacy of many questions." + +[378] William Wilberforce (1759-1833), best known for his long fight for +the abolition of the slave trade. + +[379] Richard Martin (1754-1834), high sheriff of County Galway and owner +of a large estate in Connemara. Curiously enough, he was known both for his +readiness in duelling and for his love for animals. He was known as +"Humanity Martin," and in 1822 secured the passage of an act "to prevent +the cruel and improper treatment of cattle." He was one of the founders +(1824) of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. He is +usually considered the original of Godfrey O'Malley in Lever's novel, +_Charles O'Malley_. + +[380] See Vol. I, page 149, note 1 {323}, also text on same page. + +[381] See Vol. I, page 44, note 9 {34}, also text, Vol. I, page 110. + +[382] "Penitential seat." + +[383] "Well placed upon the cushion." + +[384] See Vol. II, page 58, note 109. + +[385] "He has lost the right of being influenced by evidence." + +[386] "Hung up." + +[387] "A few things to the wise, nothing to the unlettered." + +[388] The fallacy results from dividing both members of an equation by 0, x +- 1 being the same as 1 - 1, and calling the quotients finite. + +[389] "If you order him to the sky he will go." + +[390] _Similia similibus curanter_, "Like cures like," the homeopathic +motto. + +[391] "Without harm to the proprieties." + +[392] "What are you doing? I am standing here." + +[393] Lors feist l'Anglois tel signe. La main gausche toute ouverte il leva +hault en l'aer, puis ferma au poing les quatres doigtz d'icelle et le +poulce estendu assit sus la pinne du nez. Soubdain après leva la dextre +toute ouverte, et toute ouverte la baissa, joignant la poulce au lieu que +fermait le petit doigt de la gausche, et les quatre doigtz d'icelle mouvoit +lentement en l'aer. Puis au rebours feit de la dextre ce qu'il avoit faict +de la gausche, et de la gausche ce que avoit faict de la dextre.--A. De M. + +[394] _Suaviter in modo, fortiter in re_, "Gentle in manners, firm in +action." + +[395] See Vol. I, page 101, note 4 {174}. + +[396] See Vol. I, page 315, note 3 {686}. + +[397] Henry Fawcett (1833-1884) became totally blind in 1858, but in spite +of this handicap he became professor of political economy at Cambridge and +sat in parliament for a number of years. He championed the cause of reform +and in particular he was prominent in the protection of the native +interests of India. The establishing of the parcels post (1882) took place +while he was postmaster general (1880-1884). + +[398] Of course the whole thing depends upon what definition of division is +taken. We can multiply 2 ft. by 3 ft. if we define multiplication so as to +allow it, or 2 ft. by 3 lb, getting foot-pounds, as is done in physics. + +[399] Richard Milward (1609-1680), for so the name is usually given, was +rector of Great Braxted (Essex) and canon of Windsor. He was long the +amanuensis of John Selden, and the _Table Talk_ was published nine years +after Milward's death, from notes that he left. Some doubt has been cast +upon the authenticity of the work owing to many of the opinions that it +ascribes to Selden. + +[400] John Selden (1584-1654) was a jurist, legal antiquary, and Oriental +scholar. He sat in the Long Parliament, and while an advocate of reform he +was not an extremist. He was sent to the Tower for his support of the +resolution against "tonnage and poundage," in 1629. His _History of Tythes_ +(1618) was suppressed at the demand of the bishops. His _De Diis Syriis_ +(1617) is still esteemed a classic on Semitic mythology. + +[401] See Vol. I, page 42, note 4 {24}. + +[402] See Vol. II, page 249, note 398. + +[403] John Palmer (1742-1818) was a theatrical manager. In 1782 he set +forth a plan for forwarding the mails by stage coaches instead of by +postmen. Pitt adopted the plan in 1784. Palmer was made comptroller-general +of the post office in 1786 and was dismissed six years later for +arbitrarily suspending a deputy. He had been verbally promised 2½% on the +increased revenue, but Pitt gave him only a pension of £3000. In 1813 he +was awarded £50,000 in addition to his pension. + +[404] Dionysius Lardner (1793-1859), professor of natural philosophy in +London University (now University College). His _Cabinet Cyclopædia_ +(1829-1849) contained 133 volumes. De Morgan wrote on probabilities, and +Lardner on various branches of mathematics, and there were many other +well-known contributors. Lardner is said to have made $200,000 on a lecture +tour in America. + +[405] Thomas Fysche Palmer (1747-1802) joined the Unitarians in 1783, and +in 1785 took a charge in Dundee. He was arrested for sedition because of an +address that it was falsely alleged that he gave before a society known as +the "Friends of Liberty." As a matter of fact the address was given by an +uneducated weaver, and Palmer was merely asked to revise it, declining to +do even this. Nevertheless he was sentenced to Botany Bay (1794) for seven +years. The trial aroused great indignation. + +[406] See Vol. I, page 80, note 5 {119}. + +[407] See Vol. II, page 244, note 394. + +[408] See Vol. I, page 352, note 1 {731}. + +[409] See Vol. I, page 332, note 4 {709}. + +[410] "The lawyers are brought into court; let them accuse each other." + +[411] Samuel Rogers (1763-1855), the poet and art connoisseur. He declined +the laureateship on the death of Wordsworth (1850). Byron, his pretended +friend, wrote a lampoon (1818) ridiculing his cadaverous appearance. + +[412] Theodore Edward Hook (1788-1841), the well-known wit. He is satirized +as Mr. Wagg in _Vanity Fair_. The _John Bull_ was founded in 1820 and Hook +was made editor. + +[413] "On pitying the heretic." + +[414] A term of medieval logic. Barbara: All M is P, all S is M, hence all +S is P. Celarent: No M is P, all S is M, hence no S is P. + +[415] "Simply," "According to which," "It does not follow." + +[416] + + "O sweet soul, what good shall I declare + That heretofore was thine, since such are thy remains!" + +[417] "Stupid fellow!" + +[418] Christopher Barker (c. 1529-1599), also called Barkar, was the +Queen's printer. He began to publish books in 1569, but did no actual +printing until 1576. In 1575 the Geneva Bible was first printed in England, +the work being done for Barker. He published 38 partial or complete +editions of the Bible from 1575 to 1588, and 34 were published by his +deputies (1588-1599). + +[419] James Franklin (1697-1735) was born in Boston, Mass., and was sent to +London to learn the printer's trade. He returned in 1717 and started a +printing house. Benjamin, his brother, was apprenticed to him but ran away +(1723). James published the _New England Courant_ (1721-1727), and Benjamin +is said to have begun his literary career by writing for it. + +[420] James Hodder was a writing master in Tokenhouse Yard, Lothbury, in +1661, and later kept a boarding school in Bromley-by-Bow. His famous +arithmetic appeared at London in 1661 and went through many editions. It +was the basis of Cocker's work. (See Vol. I, page 42, note 4 {24}.) It was +long thought to have been the first arithmetic published in America, and it +was the first English one. There was, however, an arithmetic published much +earlier than this, in Mexico, the _Sumario compendioso ... con algunas +reglas tocantes al Aritmética_, by "Juan Diaz Freyle," in 1556. + +[421] Henry Mose, Hodder's successor, kept a school in Sherborne Lane, +London. + +[422] Rear Admiral Sir Francis Beaufort (1774-1857), F.R.S., was +hydrographer to the Navy from 1829 to 1855. He prepared an atlas that was +printed by the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. + +[423] Antoine Sabatier (1742-1817), born at Castres, was known as the Abbé +but was really nothing more than a "clerc tonsuré." He lived at Court and +was pensioned to write against the philosophers of the Voltaire group. He +posed as the defender of morality, a commodity of which he seems to have +possessed not the slightest trace. + +[424] Maffeo Barberini was pope, as Urban VIII, from 1623 to 1644. It was +during his ambitious reign that Galileo was summoned to Rome to make his +recantation (1633), the exact nature of which is still a matter of dispute. + +[425] This Baden Powell (1796-1860) was the Savilian professor of geometry +(1827-1860) at Oxford. + +[426] "Memoirs of the famous bishop of Chiapa, by which it appears that he +had butchered or burned or drowned ten million infidels in America in order +to convert them. I believe that this bishop exaggerated; but if we should +reduce these sacrifices to five million victims, this would still be +admirable." + +[427] Alfonso X (1221-1284), known as El Sabio (the Wise), was interested +in astronomy and caused the Alphonsine Tables to be prepared. These table +were used by astronomers for a long time. It is said that when the +Ptolemaic system of the universe was explained to him he remarked that if +he had been present at the Creation he could have shown how to arrange +things in a much simpler fashion. + +[428] George Richards (c. 1767-1837), fellow of Oriel (1790-1796), Bampton +lecturer (1800), Vicar of St. Martin's-in-the-Fields, Westminster (1824), +and a poet of no mean ability. + +[429] The "Aboriginal Britons," an excellent poem, by Richards. (Note by +Byron.)--A. De M. + +[430] John Watkins (d. after 1831), a teacher and miscellaneous writer. + +[431] Frederic Shoberl (1775-1853), a miscellaneous writer. + +[432] He wrote, besides the _Aboriginal Britons_, _Songs of the Aboriginal +Bards_ (1792), _Modern France: a Poem_ (1793), _Odin, a drama_ (1804), +_Emma, a drama on the model of the Greek theatre_ (1804), _Poems_ (2 +volumes, 1804), and a _Monody on the Death of Lord Nelson_ (1806). + +[433] Henry Kirke White (1785-1806), published his first volume of poems at +the age of 18. Southey and William Wilberforce became interested in him and +procured for him a sizarship at St. John's College, Cambridge. He at once +showed great brilliancy, but he died of tuberculosis at the age of 21. + +[434] John Wolcot, known as Peter Pindar (1738-1819), was a London +physician. He wrote numerous satirical poems. His _Bozzy and Piozzi, or the +British Biographers_, appeared in 1786, and reached the 9th edition in +1788. + +[435] See Vol. I, page 235, note 8 {532}. + +[436] Richard Payne Knight (1750-1824) was a collector of bronzes, gems, +and coins, many of his pieces being now in the British Museum. He sat in +parliament for twenty-six years (1780-1806), but took no active part in +legislation. He opposed the acquisition of the Elgin Marbles, holding them +to be of little importance. His _Analytical Inquiry into the Principles of +Taste_ appeared in 1808. + +[437] Mario Nizzoli (1498-1566), a well-known student of Cicero, was for a +time professor at the University of Parma. His _Observationes in M. Tullium +Ciceronem_ appeared at Pratalboino in 1535. It was revised by his nephew +under the title _Thesaurus Ciceronianus_ (Venice, 1570). + +[438] See Vol. I, page 314, note 4 {681}. + +[439] + + "Like the geometer, who bends all his powers + To measure the circle, and does not succeed, + Thinking what principle he needs." + +[440] Francis Quarles (1592-1644), a religious poet. He wrote paraphrases +of the Bible and numerous elegies. In the early days of the revolutionary +struggle he sided with the Royalists. One of his most popular works was the +_Emblems_ (1635), with illustrations by William Marshall. + +[441] Regnault de Bécourt wrote _La Création du monde, ou Système +d'organisation primitive suivi de l'interprétation des principaux +phénomènes et accidents que se sont opérés dans la nature depuis l'origine +de univers jusqu'à nos jours_ (1816). This may be the work translated by +Dalmas. + +[442] "Because it lacks a holy prophet." + +[443] Angherà. See Vol. II, page 60, note 127. + +[444] Edmund Curll (1675-1747), a well-known bookseller, publisher, and +pamphleteer. He was for a time at "The Peacock without Temple Bar," and +later at "The Dial and Bible against St. Dunstan's Church." He was fined +repeatedly for publishing immoral works, and once stood in the pillory for +it. He is ridiculed in the _Dunciad_ for having been tossed in a blanket by +the boys of Westminster School because of an oration that displeased them. + +[445] See Vol. II, page 109, note 206. + +[446] Encyclopædia. + +[447] Author of the _Historia Naturalis_ (77 A.D.) + +[448] Author of the _De Institutione Oratorio Libri_ XII (c. 91 A.D.) + +[449] His _De Architectures Libri_ X was not merely a work on architecture +and building, but on the education of the architect. + +[450] Cyclophoria. + +[451] William Caxton (c. 1422-c.1492), sometime Governor of the Company of +Merchant Adventurers in Bruges (between 1449 and 1470). He learned the art +of printing either at Bruges or Cologne, and between 1471 and 1477 set up a +press at Westminster. Tradition says that the first book printed in England +was his _Game and Playe of Chesse_ (1474). The _Myrrour of the Worlde and +th'ymage of the same_ appeared in 1480. It contains a brief statement on +arithmetic, the first mathematics to appear in print in England. + +[452] See Vol. I, page 45, note 6 {40}. De Morgan is wrong as to the date +of the _Margarita Philosophica_. The first edition appeared at Freiburg in +1503. + +[453] Reisch was confessor to Maximilian I (1459-1519), King of the Romans +(1486) and Emperor (1493-1519). + +[454] Joachim Sterck Ringelbergh (c. 1499-c. 1536), teacher of philosophy +and mathematics in various cities of France and Germany. His _Institutionum +astronomicarum libri III_ appeared at Basel in 1528, his _Cosmographia_ at +Paris in 1529, and his _Opera_ at Leyden in 1531. + +[455] Johannes Heinrich Alsted (1588-1638) was professor of philosophy and +theology at his birthplace, Herborn, in Nassau, and later at Weissenberg. +He published several works, including the _Elementale mathematicum_ (1611), +_Systema physicae harmonicae_ (1612), _Methodus admirandorum +mathematicorum_ (1613), _Encyclopædia septem tomis distincta_ (1630), and +the work mentioned above. + +[456] Johann Jakob Hoffmann (1635-1706), professor of Greek and history at +his birthplace, Basel. He also wrote the _Epitome metrica historiæ +universalis civilis et sacræ ab orbe condito_ (1686). + +[457] Ephraim Chambers (c. 1680-1740), a crotchety, penurious, but +kind-hearted freethinker. His _Cyclopædia, or an Universal Dictionary_ was +translated into French and is said to have suggested the great +_Encyclopédie_. + +[458] _Encyclopédie, ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des +métiers, par un société de gens de lettres. Mis en ordre et publié par M. +Diderot, et quant à la partie mathématique, par M. d'Alembert._ Paris, +1751-1780, 35 volumes. + +[459] "From the egg" (state). + +[460] See Vol. I, page 382, note 12 {785}. + +[461] See Vol. II, page 4, note 15. + +[462] "In morals nothing should serve man as a model but God; in the arts, +nothing but nature." + +[463] _Encyclopédie Méthodique, ou par ordre de matières._ Paris, +1782-1832, 166½ volumes. + +[464] See Vol. II, page 193, note 336. + +[465] _Encyclopædia Metropolitana; or, Universal Dictionary of Knowledge._ +London, 1845, 29 volumes. A second edition came out in 1848-1858 in 40 +volumes. + +[466] See Vol. I, page 137, note 8 {286}. + +[467] See Vol. I, page 80, note 5 {119}. + +[468] De Morgan should be alive to satirize some of the statements on the +history of mathematics in the eleventh edition. + +[469] John Pringle Nichol (1804-1859), Regius professor of astronomy at +Glasgow and a popular lecturer on the subject. He lectured in the United +States in 1848-1849. His _Views of the Architecture of the Heavens_ (1838) +was a very popular work, and his _Planetary System_ (1848, 1850) contains +the first suggestion for the study of sun spots by the aid of photography. + +[470] See Vol. II, page 109, note 206. + +[471] George Long (1800-1879), a native of Poulton, in Lancashire, was +called to the University of Virginia when he was only twenty-four years old +as professor of ancient languages. He returned to England in 1828 to become +professor of Greek at London University. From 1833 to 1849 he edited the +twenty-nine volumes of the _Penny Cyclopædia_. He was an authority on Roman +law. + +[472] A legal phrase, "Qui tam pro domina regina, quam pro se ipso +sequitur,"--"Who sues as much on the Queen's account as on his own." + +[473] Arthur Cayley (1821-1895) was a fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge +(1842-1846) and was afterwards a lawyer (1849-1863). During his fourteen +years at the bar he published some two hundred mathematical papers. In 1863 +he became professor of mathematics at Cambridge, and so remained until his +death. His collected papers, nine hundred in number, were published by the +Cambridge Press in 13 volumes (1889-1898). He contributed extensively to +the theory of invariants and covariants. De Morgan's reference to his +coining of new names is justified, although his contemporary, Professor +Sylvester, so far surpassed him in this respect as to have been dubbed "the +mathematical Adam." + +[474] See Vol. II, page 26, note 56. + +[475] See Vol. I, page 111, note 3 {207}. + +[476] See Vol. I, page 87, note 6 {135}. + +[477] Pierre Dupuy (1582-1651) was a friend and relative of De Thou. With +the collaboration of his brother and Nicolas Rigault he published the 1620 +and 1626 editions of De Thou's History. He also wrote on law and history. +His younger brother, Jacques (died in 1656), edited his works. The two had +a valuable collection of books and manuscripts which they bequeathed to the +Royal Library at Paris. + +[478] See Vol. I, page 51, note 3 {51}. + +[479] It was Cosmo de' Medici (1590-1621) who was the patron of Galileo. + +[480] See Vol. I, page 40, note 4 {20}. + +[481] See Vol. I, page 106, note 4 {188}. + +[482] Sir Edward Sherburne (1618-1702), a scholar of considerable +reputation. The reference by De Morgan is to _The Sphere of Marcus +Manilius_, in the appendix to which is a _Catalogue of Astronomers, ancient +and modern_. + +[483] George Parker, second Earl of Macclesfield (1697-1764). He erected an +observatory at Shirburn Castle, Oxfordshire, in 1739, and fitted it out +with the best equipment then available. He was President of the Royal +Society in 1752. + +[484] See Vol. II, page 148, note 263. + +[485] See Vol. I, page 140, note 7 {296}. + +[486] See Vol. I, page 106, note 4 {188}. + +[487] Edward Bernard (1638-1696), although Savilian professor of astronomy +at Oxford, was chiefly interested in archeology. + +[488] See Vol. I, page 107, note 1 {190}. + +[489] See Vol. I, page 107, note 1 {190}. + +[490] See Vol. I, page 135, note 3 {281}. + +[491] Philip Dormer Stanhope, fourth Earl of Chesterfield (1694-1773), well +known for the letters written to his son which were published posthumously +(1774). + +[492] Peter Daval (died in 1763), Vice-President of the Royal Society, and +an astronomer of some ability. + +[493] See Vol. I, page 376, note 1 {766}. + +[494] William Oughtred (c. 1573-1660), a fellow of King's College, +Cambridge, and afterwards vicar of Aldbury, Surrey, wrote the best-known +arithmetic and trigonometry of his time. His _Arithmeticæ in Numero & +Speciebus Institutio ... quasi Clavis Mathematicæ est_ (1631) went through +many editions and appeared in English as _The Key to the Mathematicks new +forged and filed_ in 1647. + +[495] See Vol. I, page 140, note 5 {294}. + +[496] Stephen Jordan Rigaud (1816-1859) was senior assistant master of +Westminster School (1846) and head master of Queen Elizabeth's School at +Ipswich (1850). He was made Bishop of Antigua in 1858 and died of yellow +fever the following year. + +[497] He also wrote a memoir of his father, privately printed at Oxford in +1883. + +[498] See Vol. I, page 69, note 3 {96}. + +[499] See Vol. I, page 106, note 4 {188}. + +[500] William Gascoigne was born at Middleton before 1612 and was killed in +the battle of Marston Moor in 1644. He was an astronomer and invented the +micrometer with movable threads (before 1639). + +[501] Seth Ward (1617-1689) was deprived of his fellowship at Cambridge for +refusing to sign the covenant. He became professor of astronomy at Oxford +(1649), Bishop of Exeter (1662), Bishop of Salisbury (1667), and Chancellor +of the Garter (1671). He is best known for his solution of Kepler's problem +to approximate a planet's orbit, which appeared in his _Astronomia +geometrica_ in 1656. + +[502] See Vol. I, page 110, note 2 {198}. + +[503] See Vol. I, page 100, note 2 {172}. + +[504] See Vol. I, page 107, note 1 {190}. + +[505] See Vol. I page 114, note 6 {220}. + +[506] See Vol. I, page 77, note 4 {118}. + +[507] See Vol. I, page 125, note 3 {253}. + +[508] See Vol. I, page 105, note 2 {186}. + +[509] Heinrich Oldenburgh (1626-1678) was consul in England for the City of +Bremen, his birthplace, and afterwards became a private teacher in London. +He became secretary of the Royal Society and contributed on physics and +astronomy to the _Philosophical Transactions_. + +[510] Thomas Brancker, or Branker (1636-1676) wrote the _Doctrinæ sphæricæ +adumbratio et usus globorum artificialium_ (1662) and translated the +algebra of Rhonius with the help of Pell. The latter work appeared under +the title of _An Introduction to Algebra_ (1668), and is noteworthy as +having brought before English mathematicians the symbol ÷ for division. The +symbol never had any standing on the Continent for this purpose, but +thereafter became so popular in England that it is still used in all the +English-speaking world. + +[511] See Vol. I, page 118, note 1 {230}. + +[512] Pierre Bertius (1565-1629) was a native of Flanders and was educated +at London and Leyden. He became a professor at Leyden, and later held the +chair of mathematics at the Collège de France. He wrote chiefly on +geography. + +[513] See Vol. II, page 297, note 487. + +[514] Giovanni Alphonso Borelli (1608-1679) was professor of mathematics at +Messina (1646-1656) and at Pisa (1656-1657), after which he taught in Rome +at the Convent of St. Panteleon. He wrote several works on geometry, +astronomy, and physics. + +[515] See Vol. I, page 172, note 2 {381}. + +[516] Ignace Gaston Pardies (c. 1636-1673), a Jesuit, professor of ancient +languages and later of mathematics and physics at the Collège of Pau, and +afterwards professor of rhetoric at the Collège Louis-le-Grand at Paris. He +wrote on geometry, astronomy and physics. + +[517] Pierre Fermat was born in 1608 (or possibly in 1595) near Toulouse, +and died in 1665. Although connected with the parliament of Toulouse, his +significant work was in mathematics. He was one of the world's geniuses in +the theory of numbers, and was one of the founders of the theory of +probabilities and of analytic geometry. After his death his son published +his edition of Diophantus (1670) and his _Varia opera mathematica_ (1679). + +[518] This may be Christopher Townley (1603-1674) the antiquary, or his +nephew, Richard, who improved the micrometer already invented by Gascoigne. + +[519] Adrien Auzout a native of Rouen, who died at Rome in 1691. He +invented a screw micrometer with movable threads (1666) and made many +improvements in astronomical instruments. + +[520] See Vol. I, page 66, note 9 {86}. + +[521] See Vol. I, page 124, note 7 {248}. + +[522] John Machin (d. 1751) was professor of astronomy at Gresham College +(1713-1751) and secretary of the Royal Society. He translated Newton's +_Principia_ into English. His computation of [pi] to 100 places is given in +William Jones's _Synopsis palmariorum matheseos_ (1706). + +[523] Pierre Rémond de Montmort (1678-1719) was canon of Notre Dame until +his marriage. He was a gentleman of leisure and devoted himself to the +study of mathematics, especially of probabilities. + +[524] Roger Cotes (1682-1716), first Plumian professor of astronomy and +physics at Cambridge, and editor of the second edition of Newton's +_Principia_. His posthumous _Harmonia Mensurarum_ (1722) contains "Cotes's +Theorem" on the binomial equation. Newton said of him, "If Mr. Cotes had +lived we had known something." + +[525] See Vol. I, page 135, note 3 {281}. + +[526] See Vol. I, page 377, note 4 {769}. + +[527] Charles Réné Reyneau (1656-1728) was professor of mathematics at +Angers. His _Analyse démontrée, ou Manière de resoudre les problèmes de +mathématiques_ (1708) was a successful attempt to popularize the theories +of men like Descartes, Newton, Leibnitz, and the Bernoullis. + +[528] Brook Taylor (1685-1731), secretary of the Royal Society, and student +of mathematics and physics. His _Methodus incrementorum directa et inversa_ +(1715) was the first treatise on the calculus of finite differences. It +contained the well-known theorem that bears his name. + +[529] Pierre Louis Moreau de Maupertuis (1698-1759) was sent with Clairaut +(1735) to measure an arc of a meridian in Lapland. He was head of the +physics department in the Berlin Academy from 1745 until 1753. He wrote +_Sur la figure de la terre_ (1738) and on geography and astronomy. + +[530] Pierre Bouguer (1698-1758) was professor of hydrography at Paris, and +was one of those sent by the Academy of Sciences to measure an arc of a +meridian in Peru (1735). The object of this and the work of Maupertuis was +to determine the shape of the earth and see if Newton's theory was +supported. + +[531] Charles Marie de la Condamine (1701-1774) was a member of the Paris +Academy of Sciences and was sent with Bouguer to Peru, for the purpose +mentioned in the preceding note. He wrote on the figure of the earth, but +was not a scientist of high rank. + +[532] See Vol. I, page 136, note 5 {283}. + +[533] See Vol. II, page 296, note 483. + +[534] Thomas Baker (c. 1625-1689) gave a geometric solution of the +biquadratic in his _Geometrical Key, or Gate of Equations unlocked_ (1684). + +[535] See Vol. I, page 160, note 5 {350}. + +[536] See Vol. I, page 87, note 4 {133}. + +[537] See Vol. I, page 132, note 2 {272}. + +[538] See Vol. I, page 118, second note 1 {231}. + +[539] The name of Newton is so well known that no note seems necessary. He +was born at Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire, in 1642, and died at Kensington in +1727. + +[540] John Keill (1671-1721), professor of astronomy at Oxford from 1710, +is said to have been the first to teach the Newtonian physics by direct +experiment, the apparatus being invented by him for the purpose. He wrote +on astronomy and physics. His _Epistola de legibus virium centripetarum_, +in the Philosophical Transactions for 1708, accused Leibnitz of having +obtained his ideas of the calculus from Newton, thus starting the priority +controversy. + +[541] Thomas Digges (d. in 1595) wrote _An Arithmeticall Militare Treatise, +named Stratioticos_ (1579), and completed _A geometrical practise, named +Pantometria_ (1571) that had been begun by his father, Leonard Digges. + +[542] John Dee (1527-1608), the most famous astrologer of his day, and +something of a mathematician, wrote a preface to Billingsley's translation +of Euclid into English (1570). + +[543] See Vol. I, page 76, note 3 {112}. + +[544] Thomas Harriot (1560-1621) was tutor in mathematics to Sir Walter +Raleigh, who sent him to survey Virginia (1585). He was one of the best +English algebraists of his time, but his _Artis Analyticæ Praxis ad +Aequationes Algebraicas resolvendas_ (1631) did not appear until ten years +after his death. + +[545] Thomas Lydiat (1572-1626), rector of Alkerton, devoted his life +chiefly to the study of chronology, writing upon the subject and taking +issue with Scaliger (1601). + +[546] See Vol. I, page 69, note 3 {96}. + +[547] Walter Warner edited Harriot's _Artis Analyticae Praxis_ (1631). +Tarporley is not known in mathematics. + +[548] See Vol. I, page 105, note 2 {186}. + +[549] See Vol. I, page 115, note 3 {224}. + +[550] See Vol. II, page 300, note 509. + +[551] See Vol. I, page 107, note 1 {190}. + +[552] Sir Samuel Morland (1625-1695) was a diplomat and inventor. For some +years he was assistant to John Pell, then ambassador to Switzerland. He +wrote on arithmetical instruments invented by him (1673), on hydrostatics +(1697) and on church history (1658). + +[553] See Vol. I, page 153, note 4 {337}. + +[554] See Vol. I, page 85, note 2 {129}. + +[555] See Vol. I, page 43, note 8 {33}. + +[556] See Vol. I, page 43, note 7 {32}. + +[557] See Vol. I, page 382, note 13 {786}. The history of the subject may +be followed in Braunmühl's _Geschichte der Trigonometrie_. + +[558] See Vol. I, page 377, note 3 {768}. + +[559] See Vol. I, page 108, note 2 {192}. + +[560] Michael Dary wrote _Dary's Miscellanies_ (1669), _Gauging epitomised_ +(1669), and _The general Doctrine of Equation_ (1664). + +[561] John Newton (1622-1678), canon of Hereford (1673), educational +reformer, and writer on elementary mathematics and astronomy. + +[562] See Vol. I, page 87, note 4 {133}. + +[563] "The average of the two equal altitudes of the sun before and after +dinner." + +[564] See Vol. I, page 42, note 4 {24}. + +[565] London, 1678. It went though many editions. + +[566] "This I who once ..." + +[567] Arthur Murphy (1727-1805) worked in a banking house until 1754. He +then went on the stage and met with some success at Covent Garden. His +first comedy, _The Apprentice_ (1756) was so successful that he left the +stage and took to play writing. His translation of Tacitus appeared in +1793, in four volumes. + +[568] Edmund Wingate (1596-1656) went to Paris in 1624 as tutor to Princess +Henrietta Maria and remained there several years. He wrote _L'usage de la +règle de proportion_ (Paris, 1624, with an English translation in 1626), +_Arithmétique Logarithmétique_ (Paris, 1626, with an English translation in +1635), and _Of Natural and Artificial Arithmetick_ (London, 1630, revised +in 1650-1652), part I of which was one of the most popular textbooks ever +produced in England. + +[569] John Lambert (1619-1694) was Major-General during the Revolution and +helped to draw up the request for Cromwell to assume the protectorate. He +was imprisoned in the Tower by the Rump Parliament. He was confined in +Guernsey until the clandestine marriage of his daughter Mary to Charles +Hatton, son of the governor, after which he was removed (1667) to St. +Nicholas in Plymouth Sound. + +[570] Samuel Foster (d. in 1652) was made professor of astronomy at Gresham +College in March, 1636, but resigned in November of that year, being +succeeded by Mungo Murray. Murray vacated his chair by marriage in 1641 and +Foster succeeded him. He wrote on dialling and made a number of +improvements in geometric instruments. + +[571] "Twice of the word a minister," that is, twice a minister of the +Gospel. + +[572] This is _The Lives of the Professors of Gresham College to which is +prefixed the Life of the Founder, Sir Thomas Gresham_, London, 1740. It was +written by John Ward (c. 1679-1758), professor of rhetoric (1720) at +Gresham College and vice-president (1752) of the Royal Society. + +[573] Charles Montagu (1661-1715), first Earl of Halifax, was Lord of the +Treasury in 1692, and was created Baron Halifax in 1700 and Viscount +Sunbury and Earl of Halifax in 1714. He introduced the bill establishing +the Bank of England, the bill becoming a law in 1694. He had troubles of +his own, without considering Newton, for he was impeached in 1701, and was +the subject of a damaging resolution of censure as auditor of the exchequer +in 1703. Although nothing came of either of these attacks, he was out of +office during much of Queen Anne's reign. + +[574] See Vol. II, page 302, note 547. + +[575] See Vol. I, page 105, note 2 {186}. + +[576] James Dodson (d. 1757) was master of the Royal Mathematical School, +Christ's Hospital. He was De Morgan's great-grandfather. The +_Anti-Logarithmic Canon_ was published in 1742. + +[577] See Vol. I, page 106, note 4 {188}. + +[578] See Vol. I, page 110, note 2 {198}. + +[579] Richard Busby, (1606-1695), master of Westminster School (1640) had +among his pupils Dryden and Locke. + +[580] See Vol. I, page 107, note 1 {190}. + +[581] Herbert Thorndike (1598-1672), fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge +(1620-1646), and Prebend of Westminster (1661), was a well-known +theological writer of the time. + +[582] See Vol. I, page 140, note 5 {294}. + +[583] See Vol. I, page 108, note 2 {192}. + +[584] "Labor performed returns in a circle." + +[585] See Vol. II, page 208. + +[586] "Whatever objections one may make to the above arguments, one always +falls into an absurdity." + +[587] See Vol. II. page 11, note 29. _The Circle Squared; and the solution +of the problem adapted to explain the difference between square and +superficial measurement_ appeared at Brighton in 1865. + +[588] "And beyond that nothing." + +[589] Gillott (1759-1873) was the pioneer maker of steel pens by machinery, +reducing the price from 1s. each to 4d. a gross. He was a great collector +of paintings and old violins. + +[590] William Edward Walker wrote five works on circle squaring (1853, +1854, 1857, 1862, 1864), mostly and perhaps all published at Birmingham. + +[591] Solomon M. Drach wrote _An easy Rule for formulizing all Epicyclical +Curves_ (London, 1849), _On the Circle area and Heptagon-chord_ (London, +1864), _An easy general Rule for filling up all Magic Squares_ (London, +1873), and _Hebrew Almanack-Signs_ (London, 1877), besides numerous +articles in journals. + +[592] See Vol. I, page 168, note 3 {371}. + +[593] See Vol. I, page 254, note 2 {580}. + +[594] See Vol. I, page 98, note 6 {163}. + +[595] Robert Fludd or Flud (1574-1637) was a physician with a large London +practice. He denied the diurnal rotation of the earth, and was attacked by +Kepler and Mersenne, and accused of magic by Gassendi. His _Apologia +Compendiania, Fraternitatem de Rosea Cruce suspicionis ... maculis +aspersam, veritatis quasi Fluctibus abluens_ (Leyden, 1616) is one of a +large number of works of the mystic type. + +[596] Consult _To the Christianity of the Age. Notes ... comprising an +elucidation of the scope and contents of the writings ... of Dionysius +Andreas Freher_ (1854). + +[597] Sir William Robert Grove (1811-1896), although called to the bar +(1835) and to the bench (1853), is best known for his work as a physicist. +He was professor of experimental philosophy (1840-1847) at the London +Institution, and invented a battery (1839) known by his name. His +_Correlation of Physical Forces_ (1846) went through six editions and was +translated into French. + +[598] Johann Tauler (c. 1300-1361), a Dominican monk of Strassburg, a +mystic, closely in touch with the Gottesfreunde of Basel. His _Sermons_ +first appeared in print at Leipsic in 1498. + +[599] Paracelsus (c. 1490-1541). His real name was Theophrastes Bombast von +Hohenheim, and he took the name by which he is generally known because he +held himself superior to Celsus. He was a famous physician and pharmacist, +but was also a mystic and neo-Platonist. He lectured in German on medicine +at Basel, but lost his position through the opposition of the orthodox +physicians and apothecaries. + +[600] See Vol. I, page 256, note 2 {588}. + +[601] Philip Schwarzerd (1497-1560) was professor of Greek at Wittenberg. +He helped Luther with his translation of the Bible. + +[602] Johann Reuchlin (1455-1522), the first great German humanist, was +very influential in establishing the study of Greek and Hebrew in Germany. +His lectures were mostly delivered privately in Heidelberg and Stuttgart. +Unlike Melanchthon, he remained in the Catholic Church. + +[603] Joseph Chitty (1776-1841) published his _Precedents of Pleading_ in +1808 and his _Reports of Cases on Practice and Pleading_ in 1820-23 (2 +volumes). + +[604] See Vol. I, page 44, note 1 {35}. + +[605] See Vol. I, page 44, note 4 {38}. + +[606] Jean Pèlerin, also known as Viator, who wrote on perspective. His +work appeared in 1505, with editions in 1509 and 1521. + +[607] Henry Stephens. See Vol. I, page 44, note 3 {37}. + +[608] The well-known grammarian (1745-1826). He was born at Swatara, in +Pennsylvania, and practised law in New York until 1784, after which he +resided in England. His grammar (1795) went through 50 editions, and the +abridgment (1818) through 120 editions. Murray's friend Dalton, the +chemist, said that "of all the contrivances invented by human ingenuity for +puzzling the brains of the young, Lindley Murray's grammar was the worst." + +[609] Robert Recorde (c. 1510-1558) read and probably taught mathematics +and medicine at Cambridge up to 1545. After that he taught mathematics at +Oxford and practised medicine in London. His _Grounde of Artes_, published +about 1540, was the first arithmetic published in English that had any +influence. It went through many editions. The _Castle of Knowledge_ +appeared in 1551. It was a textbook on astronomy and the first to set forth +the Copernican theory in England. Like Recorde's other works it was written +on the catechism plan. His _Whetstone of Witte ... containying thextraction +of Rootes: The Cosike practise, with the rule of Equation: and the woorkes +of Surde Nombres_ appeared in 1557, and it is in this work that the modern +sign of equality first appears in print. The word "Cosike" is an adjective +that was used for a long time in Germany as equivalent to algebraic, being +derived from the Italian _cosa_, which stood for the unknown quantity. + +[610] Robert Cecil (c. 1563-1612), first Earl of Salisbury, Secretary of +State under Elizabeth (1596-1603) and under James I (1603-1612). + +[611] In America the German pronunciation is at present universal among +mathematicians, as in the case of most other German names. This is due, no +doubt, to the great influence that Germany has had on American education in +the last fifty years. + +[612] The latest transliteration is substantially K'ung-fu-tz[vu]. + +[613] The tendency seems to be, however, to adopt the forms used of +individuals or places as rapidly as the mass of people comes to be prepared +for it. Thus the spelling Leipzig, instead of Leipsic, is coming to be very +common in America. + +[614] Sir Edward Coke (1552-1634), the celebrated jurist. + +[615] Dethlef Cluvier or Clüver (d. 1708 at Hamburg) was a nephew, not a +grandson, of Philippe Cluvier, or Philipp Clüver (1580-c. 1623). Dethlef +traveled in France and Italy and then taught mathematics in London. He +wrote on astronomy and philosophy and also published in the _Acta +Eruditorum_ (1686) his _Schediasma geometricum de nova infinitorum +scientia_. _Quadratura circuli infinitis modis demonstrata_, and his +_Monitum ad geometras_ (1687). Philippe was geographer of the Academy of +Leyden. His _Introductionis in universam geographiam tam veterem quam novam +libri sex_ appeared at Leyden in 1624, about the time of his death. + +[616] See Vol. I, page 124, note 7 {248}. + +[617] Bernard Nieuwentijt (1654-1718), a physician and burgomaster at +Purmerend. His _Considerationes circa Analyseos ad quantitates infinite +parvas applicatæ Principia et Calculi Differentialis usum_ (Amsterdam, +1694) was attacked by Leibnitz. He replied in his _Considerationes secundæ_ +(1694), and also wrote the _Analysis Infinitorum, seu Curvilineorum +Proprietates ex Polygonorum Natura deductæ_ (1695). His most famous work +was on the existence of God, _Het Regt Gebruik der Werelt Beschouwingen_ +(1718). + +[618] "From a given line to construct" etc. + +[619] "Pirates do not fight one another." + +[620] Claude Mallemens (Mallement) de Messanges (1653-1723) was professor +of philosophy at the Collège du Plessis, in Paris, for 34 years. The work +to which De Morgan refers is probably the _Fameux Problème de la quadrature +du cercle, résolu géometriquement par le cercle et a ligne droite_ that +appeared in 1683. + +[621] On Tycho Brahe see Vol. I, page 76, note 3 {112}. + +[622] Wilhelm Frederik von Zytphen also published the _Tidens Ström_, a +chronological table, in 1840. The work to which De Morgan refers, the +_Solens Bevægelse i Verdensrummet_, appeared first in 1861. De Morgan seems +to have missed his _Nogl Ord om Cirkelens Quadratur_ which appeared in +1865, at Copenhagen. + +[623] James Joseph Sylvester (1814-1897), professor of natural philosophy +at University College, London (1837-1841), professor of mathematics at the +University of Virginia (1841-1845), actuary in London (1845-1855), +professor of mathematics at Woolwich (1877-1884) and at Johns Hopkins +University, Baltimore (1877-1884), and Savilian professor of geometry at +Oxford (1884-1894). + +[624] See Vol. I, page 76, note 3 {112}. + +[625] See Vol. II, page 205, note 349. + +[626] See Vol. I, page 76, note 3 {112}. + +[627] See Vol. I, page 46, note 1 {42}. + +[628] See Vol. II, page 183, note 318. + +[629] See Vol. I, page 321, note 2 {691}. + +[630] James Mill, born 1773, died 1836. + +[631] See Vol. II, page 3, note 11. + +[632] See Vol. II, page 3, note 13. + +[633] See Vol. II, page 3, note 14. + +[634] This anecdote is printed at page 4 (Vol. II); but as it is used in +illustration here, and is given more in detail, I have not omitted +it.--S.E. De M. + +[635] See Vol. II, page 4, note 15. + +[636] See Vol. I, page 382, note 13 {786}. + +[637] "Monsieur, (a + b^{n})/n = x, whence God exists; answer that!" + +[638] "Monsieur, you know very well that your argument requires the +development of x according to integral powers of n." + +[639] See Vol. I, page 153, note 4 {337}. + +[640] Thomas Love Peacock (1785-1866) an English novelist and poet. + +[641] Perhaps Dr. Samuel Warren (1807-1877), the author of _Ten Thousand a +Year_ (serially in Blackwood's in 1839; London, 1841). + +[642] See Vol. I, page 255, note 6 {584}. + +[643] "From many, one; much in little; Ultima Thule (the most remote +region); without which not." + +[644] Spurius Mælius (fl. 440 B. C.), who distributed corn freely among the +poor in the famine of 440 B. C. and was assassinated by the patricians. + +[645] Spurius Cassius Viscellinus, Roman consul in 502, 493, and 486 B. C. +Put to death in 485. + +[646] "O what a fine bearing, he said, that has no brain." + +[647] Sir William Rowan Hamilton. See Vol. I, page 332, note 4 {709}. + +[648] William Allen Whitworth, the author of the well-known _Choice and +Chance_ (Cambridge, 1867), and other works. + +[649] James Maurice Wilson, whose _Elementary Geometry_ appeared in 1868 +and went through several editions. + +[650] See Vol. II, page 183, note 315. + +[651] "Force of inertia conquered," and "Victory in the whole heavens." + +[652] "With all his might." + +[653] George Berkeley (1685-1753), Bishop of Cloyne, the idealistic +philosopher and author of the _Principles of Human Knowledge_ (1710), _The +Analyst, or a Discourse addressed to an Infidel Mathematician_ (1734), and +_A Defense of Freethinking in Mathematics_ (1735). He asserted that space +involves the idea of movement without the sensation of resistance. Space +sensation less than the "minima sensibilia" is, therefore, impossible. From +this he argues that infinitesimals are impossible concepts. + +[654] See Vol. I, page 85, note 2 {129}. + +[655] See Vol. I, page 81, note 6 {120}. + +[656] Edwin Dunkin revised Lardner's _Handbook of Astronomy_ (1869) and +Milner's _The Heavens and the Earth_ (1873) and wrote _The Midnight Sky_ +(1869). + +[657] Michael Faraday (1791-1867) the celebrated physicist and chemist. He +was an assistant to Sir Humphrey Davy (1813) and became professor of +chemistry at the Royal Institution, London, in 1827. + +[658] "If you teach a fool he shows no joyous countenance; he cordially +hates you; he wishes you buried." + +[659] "Every man is an animal, Sortes is a man, therefore Sortes is an +animal." + +[660] + + "May some choice patron bless each grey goose quill; + May every Bavius have his Bufo still."--POPE, _Prologue to the Satires._ + +Bavius has become proverbial as a bad poet from the lines in Vergil's +_Eclogues_ (III, 90): + + "Qui Bavium non odit, amet tua carmina, Maevi, + Atque idem jungat vulpes, et mulgeat hircos." + +"He who does not hate Bavius shall love thy verses, O Maevius; and the same +shall yoke foxes and shall milk he-goats." + +Bavius and Maevius were the worst of Latin poets, condemned by Horace as +well as Vergil. + +[661] See Vol. II, page 158, note 279. + +[662] "Honest," "useful," "handsome," "sweet." + +[663] "Let not the fourth man attempt to speak." + +[664] + + "In those old times,--ah + 'Twas just like this, ah!" + +[665] See Vol. I, page 382, note 12 {785}. + +[666] These remarks were never written.--S. E. De M. + +[667] + + "Fleas, flies, and friars, are masters who sadly the people abuse, + And thistles and briars are sure growing grains to abuse. + O Christ, who hatest strife and slayst all things in peace, + Destroy where'er are rife, briars, friars, flies and fleas. + Fleas, flies, and friars foul fall them these fifteen years + For none that there is loveth fleas, flies, nor freres." + +[668] "It is my plan to restore to an unskilled race the worthy arts of a +better life." + +[669] The first sentences of the first oration of Cicero against Catiline: +"Quo usque tandem abutere, Catilina, patientia nostra?" (How long, O +Catiline, will you abuse our patience?) "Quamdiu etiam furor iste tuus nos +eludet?" (How long will this your madness baffle us?) "Nihilne te nocturnum +praesidium Palati, ... nihil horum ora voltusque moverunt?" (Does the night +watch of the Palatium, ... do the faces and expressions of all these men +fail to move you?) "In te conferri ..." (This plague should have been +inflicted upon you long ago, which you have plotted against us so long.) + +[670] "Beware of the things that are marked." + +[671] "Farewell, ye teachers without learning! See to it that at our next +meeting we may find you strong in body and sound in mind." + +[672] See Vol. I, page 336, note 8 {713}. + +[673] See Vol. I, page 229, note 2 {515}. + +[674] This proof, although capable of improvement, is left as in the +original. Those who may be interested in the mathematics of the question, +may consult F. Enriques, _Fragen der Elementargeometrie_ (German by +Fleischer), Leipsic, 1907, Part II, p. 267; F. Rudio, _Archimedes_, +_Huygens_, _Lambert_, _Legendre_. _Vier Abhandlungen über die +Kreismessung_, Leipsic, 1892; F. Klein, _Famous Problems of Elementary +Geometry_ (English by Beman and Smith), Boston, 1895; J. W. A. Young, +_Monographs on Modern Mathematics_, New York, 1911, Chap. IX (by the editor +of the present edition of De Morgan.) + +[675] See Vol. I, page 69, note 2 {95}. + +[676] See Vol. I, page 137, note 8 {286}. + +[677] Joseph Allen Galbraith who, with Samuel Haughton, wrote the Galbraith +and Haughton's _Scientific Manuals_. (Euclid, 1856; Algebra, 1860; +Trigonometry, 1854; Optics, 1854, and others.) + +[678] This note on Carlyle (1795-1881) is interesting. The translation of +Legendre appeared in the same year (1824) as his translation of Goethe's +_Wilhelm Meister_. + +[679] Michael Stifel (1487-1567), also known as Stiefel, Styfel, and +Stifelius, was an Augustine monk but became a convert to Lutheranism. He +was professor of mathematics at Jena (1559-1567). His edition of the _Coss_ +appeared at Königsberg in 1553, the first edition having been published in +1525. The + and - signs first appeared in print in Widman's arithmetic of +1489, but for purposes of algebra this book was one of the first to make +them known. + +[680] Christoff Rudolff was born about 1500 and died between 1540 and 1552. +_Die Coss_ appeared in 1525 and his arithmetic in 1526. + + * * * * * + + +Corrections made to printed original. + +Page 9, "long-fostered prejudice": 'perjudice' in original. + +Page 73, "Pensées, ch. 7": 'Pansées' in original. + +Page 127, "and pulled out a plum": 'und' in original. + +Page 147, "did not come forward": 'forword' in original. + +Page 172, "come into general circulation": 'circulalation' in original. + +Ibid., "the more difficult fractions which we have got": 'he have got' in +original. + +Page 192, "it has been stated": 'started' in original. + +Page 216, "the obsolete word tetch of the same meaning": 'meaing' in +original. + +Page 228, "[Greek: dioklasianos]": 'dioklalasianos' in original. + +Page 233. After `Henry E. Manning' were printed two paragraphs `Shilling +versus Franc.' and `Teutonic Long Hundred 120 versus 100 or the Decimal +question.' These appear to have been set in error, there is no applicable +context. + +Page 316, "in a manner depending upon the difference": 'maner' in original. + +Page 322, "neither what Newton did, nor what was done before him.": 'not' +(for 'nor') in original. + +Page 344, "Victoria toto coelo": 'tolo' in original. + +Page 368, "cannot be brought up to 1": 'up to ±' in original. + +Page 371, "Q_2=b_2 Q_1+a_2": 'Q_2=b_2 Q_1-a_2' in original. + +Note 50, "all who were not in the road to Heaven were excommunicated": +'excomunicated' in original. + +Note 372, "[Greek: hê alazoneia biou]": 'alaxoneia' in original. + +Ibid., "Iapetos": 'Ispetos' in original. + +Ibid., "Papeiskos": 'Paspeisoks' in original. + +Ibid., "[Greek: dioklasianos]": 'dioklalasianos' in original. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A BUDGET OF PARADOXES, VOLUME II (OF +II)*** + + +******* This file should be named 26408-8.txt or 26408-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/6/4/0/26408 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: A Budget of Paradoxes, Volume II (of II)</p> +<p>Author: Augustus de Morgan</p> +<p>Editor: David Eugene Smith</p> +<p>Release Date: August 23, 2008 [eBook #26408]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A BUDGET OF PARADOXES, VOLUME II (OF II)***</p> +<p> </p> +<h3>E-text prepared by David Starner, Keith Edkins,<br /> + and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br /> + (http://www.pgdp.net)</h3> +<p> </p> +<table border="0" cellpadding="10" style="background-color: #ccccff;"> +<tr> +<td style="width:25%; vertical-align:top"> +Transcriber's note: +</td> +<td> +A few typographical errors have been corrected. They +appear in the text <span class="correction" title="explanation will pop up">like this</span>, and the +explanation will appear when the mouse pointer is moved over the marked +passage. +</td> +</tr> +</table> +<p> </p> +<hr class="pg" /> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<h3>BY AUGUSTUS DE MORGAN</h3> + +<h1>A BUDGET OF<br /> +PARADOXES</h1> + +<p class="cenhead"><span class="scac">REPRINTED WITH THE AUTHOR'S ADDITIONS FROM THE ATHENAEUM</span></p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">SECOND EDITION EDITED BY DAVID EUGENE SMITH</p> + +<p class="cenhead">WITH A NEW INTRODUCTION BY ERNEST NAGEL</p> + +<p class="cenhead">PROFESSOR OF PHILOSOPHY, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY</p> + +<p class="cenhead">UNABRIDGED EDITION—TWO VOLUMES BOUND AS ONE</p> + + <p> </p> + +<h1>Volume II</h1> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">DOVER PUBLICATIONS, INC., NEW YORK</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<p class="cenhead"><i>This new Dover Edition, published in 1954,<br /> +is an unabridged republication of the Second Edition<br /> +of 1915, with a new introduction by Professor Ernest Nagel.</i></p> + +<p class="cenhead"><i>Copyright 1954 by Dover Publications, Inc.<br /> +Manufactured in the United States of America</i></p> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<p><!-- Page 1 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page1"></a>[1]</span></p> + +<h2>A BUDGET OF PARADOXES.</h2> + +<h3>VOLUME II.</h3> + +<p class="cenhead">ON SOME PHILOSOPHICAL ATHEISTS.</p> + + <p>With the general run of the philosophical atheists of the last century + the notion of a God was an hypothesis. There was left an admitted + possibility that the vague somewhat which went by more names than one, + might be personal, intelligent, and superintendent. In the works of + Laplace,<a name="NtA_1" href="#Nt_1"><sup>[1]</sup></a> who is sometimes + called an atheist from his writings, there is nothing from which such an + inference can be drawn: unless indeed a Reverend Fellow of the Royal + Society may be held to be the fool who said in his heart, etc., etc., if + his contributions to the <i>Philosophical Transactions</i> go no higher + than <i>nature</i>. The following anecdote is well known in Paris, but + has never been printed entire. Laplace once went in form to present some + edition of his "Système du Monde" to the First Consul, or Emperor. + Napoleon, whom some wags had told that this book contained no mention of + the name of God, and who was fond of putting embarrassing questions, + received it with—"M. Laplace, they tell me you have written this + large book on the system of the universe, and have never even mentioned + its Creator." Laplace, who, though the most supple of politicians, was as + stiff as a martyr on every point of his philosophy or religion (e. g., + even under Charles X he never concealed his dislike of the priests), drew + himself up and answered <!-- Page 2 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page2"></a>[2]</span>bluntly, "Je n'avais pas besoin de cette + hypothèse-là."<a name="NtA_2" href="#Nt_2"><sup>[2]</sup></a> Napoleon, + greatly amused, told this reply to Lagrange, who exclaimed, "Ah! c'est + une belle hypothèse; ça explique beaucoup de choses."<a name="NtA_3" + href="#Nt_3"><sup>[3]</sup></a></p> + + <p>It is commonly said that the last words of Laplace were, "Ce que nous + connaissons est peu de chose; ce que nous ignorons est immense."<a + name="NtA_4" href="#Nt_4"><sup>[4]</sup></a> This looks like a parody on + Newton's pebbles:<a name="NtA_5" href="#Nt_5"><sup>[5]</sup></a> the + following is the true account; it comes to me through one remove from + Poisson.<a name="NtA_6" href="#Nt_6"><sup>[6]</sup></a> After the + publication (in 1825) of the fifth volume of the <i>Mécanique + Céleste</i>, Laplace became gradually weaker, and with it musing and + abstracted. He thought much on the great problems of existence, and often + muttered to himself, <i>Qu'est ce que c'est que tout cela!</i><a + name="NtA_7" href="#Nt_7"><sup>[7]</sup></a> After many alternations, he + appeared at last so permanently prostrated that his family applied to his + favorite pupil, M. Poisson, to try to get a word from him. Poisson paid a + visit, and after a few words of salutation, said, "J'ai une bonne + nouvelle à vous annoncer: on a reçu au Bureau des Longitudes une lettre + d'Allemagne annonçant que M. Bessel a vérifié par l'observation vos + découvertes théoriques sur les satellites de Jupiter."<a name="NtA_8" + href="#Nt_8"><sup>[8]</sup></a> Laplace opened his eyes and answered with + deep <!-- Page 3 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page3"></a>[3]</span>gravity, "<i>L'homme ne poursuit que des + chimères</i>."<a name="NtA_9" href="#Nt_9"><sup>[9]</sup></a> He never + spoke again. His death took place March 5, 1827.</p> + + <p>The language used by the two great geometers illustrates what I have + said: a supreme and guiding intelligence—apart from a blind rule + called <i>nature of things</i>—was an <i>hypothesis</i>. The + absolute denial of such a ruling power was not in the plan of the higher + philosophers: it was left for the smaller fry. A round assertion of the + non-existence of anything which stands in the way is the refuge of a + certain class of minds: but it succeeds only with things subjective; the + objective offers resistance. A philosopher of the appropriative class + tried it upon the constable who appropriated <i>him</i>: I deny your + existence, said he; Come along all the same, said the unpsychological + policeman.</p> + + <p>Euler<a name="NtA_10" href="#Nt_10"><sup>[10]</sup></a> was a believer + in God, downright and straightforward. The following story is told by + Thiébault,<a name="NtA_11" href="#Nt_11"><sup>[11]</sup></a> in his + <i>Souvenirs de vingt ans de séjour à Berlin</i>,<a name="NtA_12" + href="#Nt_12"><sup>[12]</sup></a> published in his old age, about 1804. + This volume was fully received as trustworthy; and Marshall Mollendorff<a + name="NtA_13" href="#Nt_13"><sup>[13]</sup></a> told the Duc de Bassano<a + name="NtA_14" href="#Nt_14"><sup>[14]</sup></a> in 1807 that it was the + most veracious of books written by the most honest of men. Thiébault says + that he has no personal knowledge of the truth of the story, but <!-- + Page 4 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page4"></a>[4]</span>that it was + believed throughout the whole of the north of Europe. Diderot<a + name="NtA_15" href="#Nt_15"><sup>[15]</sup></a> paid a visit to the + Russian Court at the invitation of the Empress. He conversed very freely, + and gave the younger members of the Court circle a good deal of lively + atheism. The Empress was much amused, but some of her councillors + suggested that it might be desirable to check these expositions of + doctrine. The Empress did not like to put a direct muzzle on her guest's + tongue, so the following plot was contrived. Diderot was informed that a + learned mathematician was in possession of an algebraical demonstration + of the existence of God, and would give it him before all the Court, if + he desired to hear it. Diderot gladly consented: though the name of the + mathematician is not given, it was Euler. He advanced towards Diderot, + and said gravely, and in a tone of perfect conviction: <i>Monsieur,</i> + (<i>a</i> + <i>b</i><sup><i>n</i></sup>) / <i>n</i> = <i>x</i>, <i>donc + Dieu existe; répondez!</i><a name="NtA_16" + href="#Nt_16"><sup>[16]</sup></a> Diderot, to whom algebra was Hebrew, + was embarrassed and disconcerted; while peals of laughter rose on all + sides. He asked permission to return to France at once, which was + granted.</p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">ROTATION OF THE MOON.</p> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p>An examination of the Astronomical doctrine of the Moon's rotation. By + J. L.<a name="NtA_17" href="#Nt_17"><sup>[17]</sup></a> Edinburgh, 1847, + 8vo.</p> + +</blockquote> + + <p>A systematic attack of the character afterwards made with less skill + and more notice by Mr. Jellinger Symons.</p> + + <p>July 1866, J. L. appears as Mr. James Laurie, with a new pamphlet "The + Astronomical doctrines of the Moon's rotation ..." Edinburgh. Of all the + works I have seen on the question, this is the most confident, and the + sorest. <!-- Page 5 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page5"></a>[5]</span>A writer on astronomy said of Mr. Jellinger + Symons,<a name="NtA_18" href="#Nt_18"><sup>[18]</sup></a> "Of course he + convinced no one who knew anything of the subject." This "ungenerous + slur" on the speculator's memory appears to have been keenly felt; but + its truth is admitted. Those who knew anything of the subject are "the + so-called men of science," whose three P's were assailed; prestige, + pride, and prejudice: this the author tries to effect for himself with + three Q's; quibble, quirk, and quiddity. He explains that the Scribes and + Pharisees would not hear Jesus, and that the lordly bishop of Rome will + not cast his tiara and keys at the feet of the "humble presbyter" who now + plays the part of pope in Scotland. I do not know whom he means: but + perhaps the friends of the presbyter-pope may consider this an ungenerous + slur. The best proof of the astronomer is just such "as might have been + expected from the merest of blockheads"; but as the giver is of course + not a blockhead, this circumstance shows how deeply blinded by prejudice + he must be.</p> + + <p>Of course the paradoxers do not persuade any persons who know their + subjects: and so these Scribes and Pharisees reject the Messiah. We must + suppose that the makers of this comparison are Christians: for if they + thought the Messiah an enthusiast or an impostor, they would be absurd in + comparing those who reject what they take for truth with others who once + rejected what they take for falsehood. And if Christians, they are both + irreverent and blind to all analogy. The Messiah, with His Divine mission + proved by miracles which all might see who chose to look, is degraded + into a prototype of James Laurie, ingeniously astronomizing upon ignorant + geometry and false logic, and comparing to blockheads those who expose + his nonsense. Their comparison is as foolish as—supposing <!-- Page + 6 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page6"></a>[6]</span>them + Christians—it is profane: but, like errors in general, its other + end points to truth. There were Pseudochrists and Antichrists; and a + Concordance would find the real forerunners of all the paradoxers. But + they are not so clever as the old false prophets: there are none of whom + we should be inclined to say that, if it were possible, they would + deceive the very educated. Not an Egyptian among them all can make uproar + enough to collect four thousand men that are murderers—of common + sense—to lead out into the wilderness. Nothing, says the motto of + this work, is so difficult to destroy as the errors and false facts + propagated by illustrious men whose words have authority. I deny it + altogether. There are things much more difficult to destroy: it is much + more difficult to destroy the truths and real facts supported by such + men. And again, it is much more difficult to prevent men of no authority + from setting up false pretensions; and it is much more difficult to + destroy assertions of fancy speculation. Many an error of thought and + learning has fallen before a gradual growth of thoughtful and learned + opposition. But such things as the quadrature of the circle, etc., are + never put down. And why? Because thought can influence thought, but + thought cannot influence self-conceit: learning can annihilate learning: + but learning cannot annihilate ignorance. A sword may cut through an iron + bar; and the severed ends will not reunite: let it go through the air, + and the yielding substance is whole again in a moment.</p> + + <p> </p> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p>Miracles <i>versus</i> Nature: being an application of certain + propositions in the theory of chances to the Christian miracles. By + Protimalethes.<a name="NtA_19" href="#Nt_19"><sup>[19]</sup></a> + Cambridge, 1847, 8vo.</p> + +</blockquote> + + <p>The theory, as may be supposed, is carried further than most students + of the subject would hold defensible.</p> + +<p><!-- Page 7 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page7"></a>[7]</span></p> + + <p> </p> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p>An astronomical Lecture. By the Rev. R. Wilson.<a name="NtA_20" + href="#Nt_20"><sup>[20]</sup></a> Greenock, 1847, 12mo.</p> + +</blockquote> + + <p>Against the moon's rotation on her axis.</p> + + <p> </p> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p>[Handed about in the streets in 1847: I quote the whole:] Important + discovery in astronomy, communicated to the Astronomer Royal, December + 21st, 1846. That the Sun revolve round the Planets in 25748-2/5 years, in + consequence of the combined attraction of the planets and their + satellites, and that the Earth revolve round the Moon in 18 years and 228 + days. <span class="sc">D. T. Glazier</span> [altered with a pen into + <span class="sc">Glazion</span>.] Price one penny.</p> + +</blockquote> + + <p>1847. In the <i>United Service Magazine</i> for September, 1847, Mrs. + Borron,<a name="NtA_21" href="#Nt_21"><sup>[21]</sup></a> of Shrewsbury, + published some remarks tending to impeach the fact that Neptune, the + planet found by Galle,<a name="NtA_22" href="#Nt_22"><sup>[22]</sup></a> + really was the planet which Le Verrier and Adams<a name="NtA_23" + href="#Nt_23"><sup>[23]</sup></a> had a right to claim. This was followed + (September 14) by two pages, separately circulated, of "Further + Observations upon the Planets Neptune and Uranus, with a Theory of + Perturbations"; and (October 19, 1848) by three pages of "A Review of M. + Leverrier's Exposition." Several persons, when the remarkable discovery + was made, contended that the planet actually discovered was an intruder; + and the future histories of the discovery must contain some account of + this little afterpiece. Tim Linkinwater's theory that there is no place + like London for coincidences, would have been utterly overthrown in favor + of what they used to call the celestial spaces, if there had been a + planet which by chance was put <!-- Page 8 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page8"></a>[8]</span>near the place assigned to Neptune at the time + when the discovery was made.</p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">EARLY IDEAS OF AVIATION.</p> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p>Aerial Navigation; containing a description of a proposed flying + machine, on a new principle. By Dædalus Britannicus. London, 1847, + 8vo.</p> + +</blockquote> + + <p>In 1842-43 a Mr. Henson<a name="NtA_24" + href="#Nt_24"><sup>[24]</sup></a> had proposed what he called an aeronaut + steam-engine, and a Bill was brought in to incorporate an "Aerial Transit + Company." The present plan is altogether different, the moving power + being the explosion of mixed hydrogen and air. Nothing came of + it—not even a Bill. What the final destiny of the balloon may be no + one knows: it may reasonably be suspected that difficulties will at last + be overcome. Darwin,<a name="NtA_25" href="#Nt_25"><sup>[25]</sup></a> in + his "Botanic Garden" (1781), has the following prophecy:</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="hg3">"Soon shall thy arm, unconquered Steam! afar</p> + <p>Drag the slow barge, or drive the rapid car;</p> + <p>Or, on wide-waving wings expanded, bear</p> + <p>The flying chariot through the fields of air."</p> + </div> + </div> + <p>Darwin's contemporaries, no doubt, smiled pity on the poor man. It is + worth note that the two true prophecies have been fulfilled in a sense + different from that of the predictions. Darwin was thinking of the + suggestion of Jonathan Hulls,<a name="NtA_26" + href="#Nt_26"><sup>[26]</sup></a> when he spoke of dragging the slow + barge: it is only very recently that the steam-tug has been employed on + the canals. The car was to be driven, not drawn, and on the common roads. + Perhaps, the flying chariot will <!-- Page 9 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page9"></a>[9]</span>be something of a character which we cannot + imagine, even with the two prophecies and their fulfilments to help us.<a + name="NtA_27" href="#Nt_27"><sup>[27]</sup></a></p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">THE SECRET OF THE UNIVERSE DIVULGED.</p> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p>A book for the public. New Discovery. The causes of the circulation of + the blood; and the true nature of the planetary system. London, 1848, + 8vo.</p> + +</blockquote> + + <p>Light is the sustainer of motion both in the earth and in the blood. + The natural standard, the pulse of a person in health, four beats to one + respiration, gives the natural second, which is the measure of the + earth's progress in its daily revolution. The Greek fable of the Titans + is an elaborate exposition of the atomic theory: but any attempt to + convince learned classics would only meet their derision; so much does + long-fostered <span class="correction" title="text reads `perjudice'" + >prejudice</span> stand in the way of truth. The author complains + bitterly that men of science will not attend to him and others like him: + he observes, that "in the time occupied in declining, a man of science + might test the merits." This is, alas! too true; so well do applicants of + this kind know how to stick on. But every rule has its exception: I have + heard of one. The late Lord Spencer<a name="NtA_28" + href="#Nt_28"><sup>[28]</sup></a>—the Lord Althorp of the House of + Commons—told me that a speculator once got access to him at the + Home Office, and was proceeding to unfold his way of serving the public. + "I do not understand these things," said Lord Althorp, "but I happen to + have —— (naming an eminent engineer) upstairs; suppose you + talk to him on the subject." The discoverer went up, and in half-an-hour + returned, and said, "I am very much obliged to your Lordship for + introducing me to Mr. ——; he has convinced me <!-- Page 10 + --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page10"></a>[10]</span>that I am quite + wrong." I supposed, when I heard the story—but it would not have + been seemly to say it—that Lord A. exhaled candor and sense, which + infected those who came within reach: he would have done so, if + anybody.</p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">THE TRISECTION AND QUADRATURE AGAIN.</p> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p>A method to trisect a series of angles having relation to each other; + also another to trisect any given angle. By James Sabben. 1848 (two + quarto pages).</p> + +</blockquote> + + <p>"The consequence of years of intense thought": very likely, and very + sad.</p> + + <p>1848. The following was sent to me in manuscript. I give the whole of + it:</p> + + <p>"<i>Quadrature of the Circle</i>.—A quadrant is a curvilinear + angle traversing round and at an equal distance from a given point, + called a center, no two points in the curve being at the same angle, but + irreptitiously graduating from 90 to 60. It is therefore a mean angle of + 90 and 60, which is 75, because it is more than 60, and less than 90, + approximately from 60 to 90, and from 90 to 60, with equal generation in + each irreptitious approximation, therefore meeting in 75, and which is + the mean angle of the quadrant.</p> + + <p>"Or suppose a line drawn from a given point at 90, and from the same + point at 60. Let each of these lines revolve on this point toward each + other at an equal ratio. They will become one line at 75, and bisect the + curve, which is one-sixth of the entire circle. The result, taking 16 as + a diameter, gives an area of 201.072400, and a circumference of + 50.2681.</p> + + <p>"The original conception, its natural harmony, and the result, to my + own mind is a demonstrative truth, which I presume it right to make + known, though perhaps at the hazard of unpleasant if not uncourteous + remarks."</p> + + <p>I have added punctuation: the handwriting and spelling <!-- Page 11 + --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page11"></a>[11]</span>are those of an + educated person; the word <i>irreptitious</i> is indubitable. The whole + is a natural curiosity.</p> + + <p> </p> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p>The quadrature and exact area of the circle demonstrated. By Wm. + Peters. 8vo. <i>n. d.</i> (circa 1848).<a name="NtA_29" + href="#Nt_29"><sup>[29]</sup></a></p> + + <p>Suggestions as to the necessity for a revolution in philosophy; and + prospectus for the establishment of a new quarterly, to be called the + <i>Physical Philosopher and Heterodox Review</i>. By Q. E. D. 8vo. + 1848.</p> + +</blockquote> + + <p>These works are by one author, who also published, as appears by + advertisement,</p> + + <p>"Newton rescued from the precipitancy of his followers through a + century and a half,"<a name="NtA_30" href="#Nt_30"><sup>[30]</sup></a> + and "Dangers along a coast by correcting (as it is called) a ship's + reckoning by bearings of the land at night fall, or in a fog, nearly out + of print. Subscriptions are requested for a new edition."</p> + + <p>The area of a circle is made four-fifths of the circumscribed square: + proved on an assumption which it is purposed to explain in a longer + essay.<a name="NtA_31" href="#Nt_31"><sup>[31]</sup></a> The author, as + Q. E. D., was in controversy with the <i>Athenæum</i> journal, and + criticised a correspondent, D., who wrote against a certain class of + discoverers. He believed the common theories of hydrostatics to be wrong, + and one of his questions was:</p> + + <p>"Have you ever taken into account anent gravity and gravitation the + fact that a five grain cube of cork will of itself half sink in the + water, whilst it will take 20 grains of brass, which will sink of itself, + to pull under the other half? Fit this if you can, friend D., to your + notions of gravity and specific gravity, as applied to the construction + of a universal law of gravitation."</p> + + <p>This the <i>Athenæum</i> published—but without some Italics, for + which the editor was sharply reproved, as a sufficient <!-- Page 12 + --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page12"></a>[12]</span>specimen of the + <i>quod erat</i> D. <i>monstrandum</i>: on which the author + remarks—"D,—Wherefore the e caret? is it D apostrophe? D', + D'M, D'Mo, D'Monstrandum; we cannot find the <i>wit</i> of it." This I + conjecture to contain an illusion to the name of the supposed author; but + whether De Mocritus, De Mosthenes, or De Moivre was intended, I am not + willing to decide.</p> + + <p> </p> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p>The Scriptural Calendar and Chronological Reformer, for the statute + year 1849. Including a review of recent publications on the Sabbath + question. London, 1849, 12mo.<a name="NtA_32" + href="#Nt_32"><sup>[32]</sup></a></p> + +</blockquote> + + <p>This is the almanac of a sect of Christians who keep the Jewish + Sabbath, having a chapel at Mill Yard, Goodman's Fields. They wrote + controversial works, and perhaps do so still; but I never chanced to see + one.</p> + + <p> </p> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p>Geometry <i>versus</i> Algebra; or the trisection of an angle + geometrically solved. By W. Upton, B.A.<a name="NtA_33" + href="#Nt_33"><sup>[33]</sup></a> Bath (circa 1849). 8vo.</p> + +</blockquote> + + <p>The author published two tracts under this title, containing different + alleged proofs: but neither gives any notice of the change. Both contain + the same preface, complaining of the British Association for refusing to + examine the production. I suppose that the author, finding his first + proof wrong, invented the second, of which the Association never had the + offer; and, feeling sure that they would have equally refused to examine + the second, thought it justifiable to <!-- Page 13 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page13"></a>[13]</span>present that second as + the one which they had refused. Mr. Upton has discovered that the common + way of finding the circumference is wrong, would set it right if he had + leisure, and, in the mean time, has solved the problem of the duplication + of the cube.</p> + + <p><i>The trisector of an angle, if he demand attention from any + mathematician, is bound to produce, from his construction, an expression + for the sine or cosine of the third part of any angle, in terms of the + sine or cosine of the angle itself, obtained by help of no higher than + the square root.</i> The mathematician knows that such a thing cannot be; + but the trisector virtually says it can be, and is bound to produce it, + to save time. This is the misfortune of most of the solvers of the + celebrated problems, that they have not knowledge enough to present those + consequences of their results by which they can be easily judged. + Sometimes they have the knowledge and quibble out of the use of it. In + many cases a person makes an honest beginning and presents what he is + sure is a solution. By conference with others he at last feels uneasy, + fears the light, and puts self-love in the way of it. Dishonesty + sometimes follows. The speculators are, as a class, very apt to imagine + that the mathematicians are in fraudulent confederacy against them: I + ought rather to say that each one of them consents to the mode in which + the rest are treated, and fancies conspiracy against himself. The mania + of conspiracy is a very curious subject. I do not mean these remarks to + apply to the author before me.</p> + + <p>One of Mr. Upton's trisections, if true, would prove the truth of the + following equation:</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>3 cos (<span class="grk">θ</span> / 3) = 1 + √(4 - sin<sup>2</sup><span class="grk">θ</span>)</p> + </div> + </div> + <p>which is certainly false.<a name="NtA_34" + href="#Nt_34"><sup>[34]</sup></a></p> + +<p><!-- Page 14 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page14"></a>[14]</span></p> + + <p>In 1852 I examined a terrific construction, at the request of the late + Dr. Wallich,<a name="NtA_35" href="#Nt_35"><sup>[35]</sup></a> who was + anxious to persuade a poor countryman of his, that trisection of the + angle was waste of time. One of the principles was, that "magnitude and + direction determine each other." The construction was equivalent to the + assertion that, <span class="grk">θ</span> being any angle, the + cosine of its third part is</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>sin 3<span class="grk">θ</span> . cos(5<span class="grk">θ</span>/2) + sin<sup>2</sup> <span class="grk">θ</span> sin (5<span class="grk">θ</span>/2)</p> + </div> + </div> + <p>divided by the square root of</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>sin<sup>2</sup> 3<span class="grk">θ</span> . cos<sup>2</sup> (5<span class="grk">θ</span>/2) + sin<sup>4</sup> <span class="grk">θ</span> + sin 3<span class="grk">θ</span> . sin 5<span class="grk">θ</span> . sin<sup>2</sup> <span class="grk">θ</span>.</p> + </div> + </div> + <p>This is from my rough notes, and I believe it is correct.<a + name="NtA_36" href="#Nt_36"><sup>[36]</sup></a> It is so nearly true, + unless the angle be very obtuse, that common drawing, applied to the + construction, will not detect the error. There are many formulae of this + kind: and I have several times found a speculator who has discovered the + corresponding construction, has seen the approximate success of his + drawing—often as great as absolute truth could give in graphical + practice,—and has then set about his demonstration, in which he + always succeeds to his own content.</p> + + <p>There is a trisection of which I have lost both cutting and reference: + I think it is in the <i>United Service Journal</i>. I could not detect + any error in it, though certain there must <!-- Page 15 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page15"></a>[15]</span>be one. At least I + discovered that two parts of the diagram were incompatible unless a + certain point lay in line with two others, by which the angle to be + trisected—and which was trisected—was bound to be either 0° + or 180°.</p> + + <p>Aug. 22, 1866. Mr. Upton sticks to his subject. He has just published + "The Uptonian Trisection. Respectfully dedicated to the schoolmasters of + the United Kingdom." It seems to be a new attempt. He takes no notice of + the sentence I have put in italics: nor does he mention my notice of him, + unless he means to include me among those by whom he has been "ridiculed + and sneered at" or "branded as a brainless heretic." I did neither one + nor the other: I thought Mr. Upton a paradoxer to whom it was likely to + be worth while to propound the definite assertion now in italics; and Mr. + Upton does not find it convenient to take issue on the point. He prefers + general assertions about algebra. So long as he cannot meet algebra on + the above question, he may issue as many "respectful challenges" to the + mathematicians as he can find paper to write: he will meet with no + attention.</p> + + <p> </p> + + <p>There is one trisection which is of more importance than that of the + angle. It is easy to get half the paper on which you write for margin; or + a quarter; but very troublesome to get a third. Show us how, easily and + certainly, to fold the paper into three, and you will be a real + benefactor to society.</p> + + <p>Early in the century there was a Turkish trisector of the angle, + Hussein Effendi, who published two methods. He was the father of Ameen + Bey, who was well known in England thirty years ago as a most amiable and + cultivated gentleman and an excellent mathematician. He was then a + student at Cambridge; and he died, years ago, in command of the army in + Syria. Hussein Effendi was instructed in mathematics by Ingliz Selim + Effendi, who translated a work <!-- Page 16 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page16"></a>[16]</span>of Bonnycastle<a name="NtA_37" + href="#Nt_37"><sup>[37]</sup></a> into Turkish.<a name="NtA_38" + href="#Nt_38"><sup>[38]</sup></a> This Englishman was Richard Baily, + brother of Francis Baily<a name="NtA_39" + href="#Nt_39"><sup>[39]</sup></a> the astronomer, who emigrated to Turkey + in his youth, and adopted the manners of the Turks, but whether their + religion also I never heard, though I should suppose he did.</p> + + <p>I now give the letters from the agricultural laborer and his friend, + described on page 12, Vol. I. They are curiosities; and the history of + the quadrature can never be well written without some specimens of this + kind:</p> + + <p>"Doctor Morgan, Sir. Permit me to address you</p> + + <p>"Brute Creation may perhaps enjoy the faculty of beholding visible + things with a more penitrating eye than ourselves. But Spiritual objects + are as far out of their reach as though they had no being</p> + + <p>"Nearest therefore to the brute Creation are those men who Suppose + themselves to be so far governed by external objects as to believe + nothing but what they See and feel And Can accomedate to their Shallow + understanding and Imaginations</p> + + <p>"My Dear Sir Let us all Consult ourselves by the wise proverb.</p> + + <p>"I believe that evry man<sup>s</sup> merit & ability aught to be + appreciated and valued In proportion to its worth & utility</p> + + <p>"In whatever State or Circumstances they may fortunately or + unfortunately be placed</p> + + <p>"And happy it is for evry man to know his worth and place</p> + + <p>"When a Gentleman of your Standing in Society Clad with those honors + Can not understand or Solve a problem That is explicitly explained by + words and Letters and <!-- Page 17 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page17"></a>[17]</span>mathematically operated by figuers He had + best consult the wise proverd</p> + + <p>"Do that which thou Canst understand and Comprehend for thy good.</p> + + <p>"I would recommend that Such Gentleman Change his business</p> + + <p>"And appropriate his time and attention to a Sunday School to Learn + what he Could and keep the Litle Children form durting their Close</p> + + <p>"With Sincere feelings of Gratitude for your weakness and Inability I + am</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="hg3">"Sir your Superior in Mathematics ——"</p> + </div> + </div> + <p>"1849 June th29."</p> + + <p> </p> + + <p>"Dor Morgin Sir</p> + + <p>"I wrote and Sent my work to Professor —— of + —— State of —— United States</p> + + <p>"I am now in the possession of the facts that he highly approves of my + work. And Says he will Insure me Reward in the States</p> + + <p>"I write this that you may understand that I have knowledge of the + unfair way that I am treated In my own nati County</p> + + <p>"I am told and have reasons to believe that it is the Clergy that + treat me so unjust.</p> + + <p>"I am not Desirous of heaping Disonors upon my own nation. But if I + have to Leave this kingdom without my Just dues. The world Shall know how + I am and have been treated.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="hg3">"I am Sir Desirous of my</p> + <p class="i12hg3">"Just dues ——"</p> + </div> + </div> + <p>"1849 July 3."</p> + + <p> </p> + + <p class="author">"July 7th, 1849.</p> + + <p>"Sir, I have been given to understand that a friend of mine one whom I + shall never be ashamed to acknowledge as <!-- Page 18 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page18"></a>[18]</span>such tho' lowly his + origine; nay not only not ashamed but proud of doing so for I am one of + those who esteem and respect a man according to his ability and probity, + deeming with Dr. Watts 'that the mind is the standard of the man,'<a + name="NtA_40" href="#Nt_40"><sup>[40]</sup></a> has laid before you and + asked your opinion of his extraordinary performance, viz. the quadrature + of the circle, he did this with the firmest belief that you would not + only treat the matter in a straightforward manner but with the conviction + that from your known or supposed knowledge of mathematicks would have + given an upright and honorable decision upon the subject; but the + question is have you done so? Could I say yes I would with the greatest + of pleasure and have congratulated you upon your decision whatever it + might have been but I am sorry to say that I cannot your letter is a + paltry evasion, you say 'that it is a great pity that you (Mr. + ——) should have attempted this (the quadrature of the circle) + for your mathematical knowledge is not sufficient to make you know in + what the problem consists,' you don't say in what it does consist + <i>according to your ideas</i>, oh! no nothing of the sort, you enter + into no disquisition upon the subject in order to show where you think + Mr. —— is wrong and why you have not is + simply—<i>because you cannot</i>—you know that he has done it + and what is if I am not wrongly informed <i>you have been heard to say + so</i>. He has done what you nor any other mathematician as those who + call themselves such have done. And what is the reason that you will not + candidly acknowledge to him as you have to others that he has squared the + circle shall I tell you? it is because he has performed the feat to + obtain the glory of which mathematicians have battled from time + immemorial that they might encircle their brows with a wreath of laurels + far more glorious than ever conqueror won it is simply this that it is a + poor man a <!-- Page 19 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page19"></a>[19]</span>humble artisan who has gained that victory + that you don't like to acknowledge it you don't like to be beaten and + worse to acknowledge that you have miscalculated, you have in short too + small a soul to acknowledge that he is right.</p> + + <p>"I was asked my opinion and <i>I</i> gave it unhesitatingly in the + affirmative and I am backed in my opinion not only by Mr. —— + a mathematician and watchmaker residing in the boro of Southwark but by + no less an authority than the Professor of mathematics of —— + College —— —— United States Mr. —— + and I presume that he at least is your equal as an authority and Mr. + —— says that the government of the U.S. will recompense M. D. + for the discovery he has made if so what a reflection upon Old england + the boasted land of freedom the nursery of arts and sciences that her + sons are obliged to go to a foreign country to obtain that recompense to + which they are justly entitled</p> + + <p>"In conclusion I had to contradict an assertion you made to the effect + that 'there is not nor ever was any reward offered by the government of + this country for the discovery of the quadrature of the circle.' I beg to + inform you that there <i>was</i> but that it having been deemed an + impossibility the government has withdrawn it. I do this upon no less an + authority than the Marquis of Northampton.<a name="NtA_41" + href="#Nt_41"><sup>[41]</sup></a></p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="hg3">"I am, sir, yours ——"</p> + </div> + </div> + <p>"Dr. Morgan."</p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">THE MOON'S ROTATION.</p> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p>Notes on the Kinematic Effects of Revolution and Rotation, with + reference to the Motions of the Moon and of the earth. By Henry Perigal, + Jun. Esq. London, 1846-1849, 8vo.</p> + + <p>On the misuse of technical terms. Ambiguity of the terms + <i>Rotation</i> and <i>Revolution</i>, owing to the double meaning + improperly <!-- Page 20 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page20"></a>[20]</span>attributed to each of the words. (No date + nor place, but by Mr. Perigal,<a name="NtA_42" + href="#Nt_42"><sup>[42]</sup></a> I have no doubt, and containing letters + of 1849 and 1850.)</p> + + <p>The moon controversy. Facts <i>v.</i> Definitions. By H. P., Jun. + London, 1856, 8vo. (pp. 4.)</p> + +</blockquote> + + <p>Mr. Henry Perigal helped me twenty years ago with the diagrams, direct + from the lathe to the wood, for the article "Trochoidal Curves," in the + <i>Penny Cyclopædia</i>: these cuts add very greatly to the value of the + article, which, indeed, could not have been made intelligible without + them. He has had many years' experience, as an amateur turner, in + combination of double and triple circular motions, and has published + valuable diagrams in profusion. A person to whom the double circular + motion is familiar in the lathe naturally looks upon one circle moving + upon another as in <i>simple</i> motion, if the second circle be fixed to + the revolving radius, so that one and the same point of the moving circle + travels upon the fixed circle. Mr. Perigal commenced his attack upon the + moon for moving about her axis, in the first of the tracts above, ten + years before Mr. Jellinger Symons;<a name="NtA_43" + href="#Nt_43"><sup>[43]</sup></a> but he did not think it necessary to + make it a subject for the <i>Times</i> newspaper. His familiarity with + combined motions enabled him to handle his arguments much better than Mr. + J. Symons could do: in fact, he is the clearest assailant of the lot + which turned out with Mr. J. Symons. But he is as wrong as the rest. The + assault is now, I suppose, abandoned, until it becomes epidemic again. + This it will do: it is one of those fallacies which are very tempting. + There was a dispute on the subject in 1748, between James Ferguson<a + name="NtA_44" href="#Nt_44"><sup>[44]</sup></a> and an anonymous + opponent; and I think there have been others.</p> + +<p><!-- Page 21 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page21"></a>[21]</span></p> + + <p>A poet appears in the field (July 19, 1863) who calls himself Cyclops, + and writes four octavo pages. He makes a distinction between + <i>rotation</i> and <i>revolution</i>; and his doctrines and phrases are + so like those of Mr. Perigal that he is a follower at least. One of his + arguments has so often been used that it is worth while to cite it:</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="hg3">"Would Mathematicals—forsooth—</p> + <p>If true, have failed to prove its truth?</p> + <p>Would not they—if they could—submit</p> + <p>Some overwhelming proofs of it?</p> + <p>But still it totters <i>proofless</i>! Hence</p> + <p>There's strong presumptive evidence</p> + <p>None do—or can—such proof profound</p> + <p>Because <i>the dogma is unsound</i>.</p> + <p>For, were there means of doing so,</p> + <p>They would have proved it long ago."</p> + </div> + </div> + <p>This is only one of the alternatives. Proof requires a person who can + give and a person who can receive. I feel inspired to add the + following:</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="hg3">"A blind man said, As to the Sun,</p> + <p>I'll take my Bible oath there's none;</p> + <p>For if there had been one to show</p> + <p>They would have shown it long ago.</p> + <p>How came he such a goose to be?</p> + <p>Did he not know he couldn't see?</p> + <p class="i16">Not he!"</p> + </div> + </div> + <p>The absurdity of the verses is in the argument. The writer was not so + ignorant or so dishonest as to affirm that nothing had been offered by + the other side as proof; accordingly, his syllogism amounts to this: If + your proposition were true, you could have given proof satisfactory to + <i>me</i>; but this you have not done, therefore, your proposition is not + true.</p> + + <p>The echoes of the moon-controversy reached Benares in 1857, in which + year was there published a pamphlet "Does the Moon Rotate?" in Sanskrit + and English. The <!-- Page 22 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page22"></a>[22]</span>arguments are much the same as those of the + discussion at home.</p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">ON THE NAMES OF RELIGIOUS BODIES.</p> + + <p>We see that there are paradoxers in argument as well as in assertion + of fact: my plan does not bring me much into contact with these; but + another instance may be useful. Sects, whether religious or political, + give themselves names which, in meaning, are claimed also by their + opponents; loyal, liberal, conservative (of good), etc. have been + severally appropriated by parties. <i>Whig</i> and <i>Tory</i> are + unobjectionable names: the first—which occurs in English ballad as + well as in Scotland—is sour milk;<a name="NtA_45" + href="#Nt_45"><sup>[45]</sup></a> the second is a robber. In theology, + the Greek Church is <i>Orthodox</i>, the Roman is <i>Catholic</i>, the + modern Puritan is <i>Evangelical</i>, etc.</p> + + <p>The word <i>Christian</i> (Vol. I, p. 248<a name="NtA_46" + href="#Nt_46"><sup>[46]</sup></a>) is an instance. When words begin, they + carry their meanings. The Jews, who had their Messiah to come, and the + followers of Jesus of Nazareth, who took <i>Him</i> for their Messiah, + were both <i>Christians</i> (which means <i>Messianites</i>): the Jews + would never have invented the term to signify <i>Jesuans</i>, nor would + the disciples have invented such an ambiguous term for themselves; had + they done so, the Jews would have disputed it, as they would have done in + later times if they had had fair play. The Jews of our day, I see by + their newspapers, speak of Jesus Christ as the <i>Rabbi Joshua</i>. But + the <!-- Page 23 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page23"></a>[23]</span>heathens, who knew little or nothing about + the Jewish hope, would naturally apply the term <i>Christians</i> to the + only followers of a <i>Messiah</i> of whom they had heard. For the + <i>Jesuans</i> invaded them in a missionary way; while the Jews did not + attempt, at least openly, to make proselytes.</p> + + <p>All such words as Catholic, etc., are well enough as mere + nomenclature; and the world falls for the most part, into any names which + parties choose to give themselves. Silly people found inferences on this + concession; and, as usually happens, they can cite some of their betters. + St. Augustine,<a name="NtA_47" href="#Nt_47"><sup>[47]</sup></a> a + freakish arguer, or, to put it in the way of an old writer, <i>lectorem + ne multiloquii tædio fastidiat, Punicis quibusdam argutiis recreare + solet</i>,<a name="NtA_48" href="#Nt_48"><sup>[48]</sup></a> asks, with + triumph, to what chapel a stranger would be directed, if he inquired the + way to the <i>Catholic assembly</i>. But the best exhibition of this kind + in our own century is that made by the excellent Dr. John Milner,<a + name="NtA_49" href="#Nt_49"><sup>[49]</sup></a> in a work (first + published in 1801 or 1802) which I suppose still circulates, "The End of + Religious Controversy": a startling title which, so far as its truth is + concerned, might as well have been "The floor of the bottomless pit." + This writer, whom every one of his readers will swear to have been a + worthy soul, though many, even of his own sect, will not admire some of + his logic, speaks as follows:</p> + + <p>"Letter xxv. <i>On the true Church being Catholic.</i> In treating of + this third mark of the true Church, as expressed in our common creed, I + feel my spirits sink within me, and I am almost tempted to throw away my + pen in despair. For what chance is there of opening the eyes of candid + Protestants to the other marks of the Church, if they are capable of + keeping them shut to this? Every time they address the <!-- Page 24 + --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page24"></a>[24]</span>God of Truth, + either in solemn worship or in private devotion [stretch of rhetoric], + they are forced, each of them, to repeat: <i>I believe in</i> <span + class="sc">the Catholic</span> <i>Church</i>, and yet if I ask any of + them the question: <i>Are you a</i> <span class="sc">Catholic</span>? he + is sure to answer me, <i>No, I am a</i> <span + class="sc">Protestant</span>! Was there ever a more glaring instance of + inconsistency and self-condemnation among rational beings!"</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="hg3">"John Milner, honest and true,</p> + <p>Did what honest people still may do,</p> + <p>If they write for the many and not for the few,</p> + <p>But what by and bye they must eschew."</p> + </div> + </div> + <p>He <i>shortened his clause</i>; and for a reason. If he had used the + whole epithet which he knew so well, any one might have given his + argument a half-turn. Had he written, as he ought, "the <i>Holy</i> + Catholic Church" and then argued as above, some sly Protestant would have + parodied him with "and yet if I ask any of them the question: <i>Are + you</i> <span class="scac">HOLY</span>? he is sure to answer me <i>No, I + am a</i> <span class="scac">SINNER</span>." To take the adjective from + the Church, and apply it to the individual partisan, is recognized + slipslop, but not ground of argument. If Dr. M. had asked his Protestant + whether he belonged to the Catholic <i>Church</i>, the answer would have + been Yes, but not to the Roman branch. When he put his question as he + did, he was rightly answered and in his own division. This leaving out + words is a common practice, especially when the omitter is in authority, + and cannot be exposed. A year or two ago a bishop wrote a snubbing letter + to a poor parson, who had complained that he was obliged, in burial, to + send the worst of sinners to everlasting happiness. The bishop sternly + said, "<i>hope</i><a name="NtA_50" href="#Nt_50"><sup>[50]</sup></a> is + not <i>assurance</i>." <!-- Page 25 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page25"></a>[25]</span>Could the clergyman have dared to answer, he + would have said, "No, my Lord! but '<i>sure and certain</i> hope' is as + like assurance as a <i>minikin</i> man is like a dwarf." Sad to say, a + theologian must be illogical: I feel sure that if you took the clearest + headed writer on logic that ever lived, and made a bishop of him, he + would be shamed by his own books in a twelvemonth.</p> + + <p>Milner's sophism is glaring: but why should Dr. Milner be wiser than + St. Augustine, one of his teachers? I am tempted to let out the true + derivation of the word <i>Catholic, as exclusively applied to the Church + of Rome</i>. All can find it who have access to the <i>Rituale</i> of + Bonaventura Piscator<a name="NtA_51" href="#Nt_51"><sup>[51]</sup></a> + (lib. i. c. 12, <i>de nomine Sacræ Ecclesiæ</i>, p. 87 of the Venice <!-- + Page 26 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page26"></a>[26]</span>folio of + 1537). I am told that there is a <i>Rituale</i> in the Index + Expurgatorius, but I have not thought it worth while to examine whether + this be the one: I am rather inclined to think, as I have heard + elsewhere, that the book was held too dangerous for the faithful to know + of it, even by a prohibition: it would not surprise me at all if Roman + Christians should deny its existence.<a name="NtA_52" + href="#Nt_52"><sup>[52]</sup></a></p> + + <p>It amuses me to give, at a great distance of time, a small Rowland for + a small Oliver,<a name="NtA_53" href="#Nt_53"><sup>[53]</sup></a> which I + received, <i>de par l'Eglise</i>,<a name="NtA_54" + href="#Nt_54"><sup>[54]</sup></a> so far as lay in the Oliver-carrier + more than twenty years ago. The following contribution of mine to + <i>Notes and Queries</i> (3d Ser. vi. p. 175, Aug. 27, 1864) will explain + what I say. There had been a complaint that a contributor had used the + term <i>Papist</i>, which a very excellent dignitary of the Papal system + pronounced an offensive term:</p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">PAPIST.</p> + + <p>The term <i>papist</i> should be stripped of all except its + etymological meaning, and applied to those who give the higher and final + authority to the declaration <i>ex cathedrâ</i><a name="NtA_55" + href="#Nt_55"><sup>[55]</sup></a> of the Pope. See Dr. Wiseman's<a + name="NtA_56" href="#Nt_56"><sup>[56]</sup></a> article, <i>Catholic + Church</i>, in the <i>Penny Cyclopædia</i>.</p> + + <p>What is one to do about these names? First, it is clear that offence + should, when possible, be avoided: secondly, no one must be required to + give a name which favors <i>any</i> assumption made by those to whom it + is given, and not <!-- Page 27 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page27"></a>[27]</span>granted by those who give it. Thus the + subdivision which calls itself distinctly <i>Evangelical</i> has no right + to expect others to concede the title. Now the word <i>Catholic</i>, of + course, falls under this rule; and even <i>Roman Catholic</i> may be + refused to those who would restrict the word <i>Catholic</i> to + themselves. <i>Roman Christian</i> is unobjectionable, since the Roman + Church does not deny the name of Christian to those whom she calls + heretics. No one is bound in this matter by Acts of Parliament. In many + cases, no doubt, names which have offensive association are used merely + by habit, sometimes by hereditary transmission. Boswell records of + Johnson that he always used the words "dissenting teacher," refusing + <i>minister</i> and <i>clergyman</i> to all but the recipients of + episcopal ordination.</p> + + <p>This distinctive phrase has been widely adopted: it occurs in the + Index of 3d S. iv. [<i>Notes and Queries</i>]. Here we find "Platts (Rev. + John), Unitarian teacher, 412;" the article indexed has "Unitarian + minister."</p> + + <p>This, of course is habit: an intentional refusal of the word + <i>minister</i> would never occur in an index. I remember that, when I + first read about Sam Johnson's little bit of exclusiveness, I said to + myself: "Teacher? Teacher? surely I remember One who is often called + <i>teacher</i>, but never <i>minister</i> or <i>clergyman</i>: have not + the dissenters got the best of it?"</p> + + <p>When I said that the Roman Church concedes the epithet Christians to + Protestants, I did not mean that all its adherents do the same. There is, + or was, a Roman newspaper, the <i>Tablet</i>, which, seven or eight years + ago, was one of the most virulent of the party journals. In it I read, + referring to some complaint of grievance about mixed marriages, that if + <i>Christians</i> would marry <i>Protestants</i> they must take the + consequences. My memory notes this well; because I recollected, when I + saw it, that there was in the stable a horse fit to run in the curricle + with this one. About seventeen years ago an Oxford M. A., who hated <!-- + Page 28 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page28"></a>[28]</span>mathematics like a genuine Oxonian of the + last century, was writing on education, and was compelled to give some + countenance to the nasty subject. He got out cleverly; for he gave as his + reason for the permission, that man is an arithmetical, geometrical, and + mechanical <i>animal</i>, as well as a rational <i>soul</i>.</p> + + <p>The <i>Tablet</i> was founded by an old pupil of mine, Mr. Frederic + Lucas,<a name="NtA_57" href="#Nt_57"><sup>[57]</sup></a> who availed + himself of his knowledge of me to write some severe articles—even + abusive, I was told, but I never saw them—against me, for + contributing to the <i>Dublin Review</i>, and poking my heretic nose into + orthodox places. Dr. Wiseman, the editor, came in for his share, and + ought to have got all. Who ever blamed the pig for intruding himself into + the cabin when the door was left open? When Mr. Lucas was my pupil, he + was of the Society of Friends—in any article but this I should say + <i>Quaker</i>—and was quiet and gentlemanly, as members of that + Church—in any article but this I should, from mere habit, say + <i>sect</i>—usually are. This is due to his memory; for, by all I + heard, when he changed his religion he ceased to be Lucas couchant, and + became Lucas rampant, fanged and langued gules. (I looked into Guillim<a + name="NtA_58" href="#Nt_58"><sup>[58]</sup></a> to see if my terms were + right: I could not find them; but to prove I have been there, I notice + that he calls a violin a <i>violent</i>. How comes the word to take this + form?) I met with several Roman Christians, born and bred, who were very + much annoyed at Mr. Lucas and his doings; and said some severe things + about new converts needing kicking-straps.</p> + +<p><!-- Page 29 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page29"></a>[29]</span></p> + + <p>The mention of Dr. Wiseman reminds me of another word, appropriated by + Christians to themselves: <i>fides</i>;<a name="NtA_59" + href="#Nt_59"><sup>[59]</sup></a> the Roman faith is <i>fides</i>, and + nothing else; and the adherents are <i>fideles</i>.<a name="NtA_60" + href="#Nt_60"><sup>[60]</sup></a> Hereby hangs a retort. When Dr. Wiseman + was first in England, he gave a course of lectures in defence of his + creed, which were thought very convincing by those who were already + convinced. They determined to give him a medal, and there was a very + serious discussion about the legend. Dr. Wiseman told me himself that he + had answered to his subscribers that he would not have the medal at all + unless—(naming some Italian authority, whom I forget) approved of + the legend. At last <i>pro fide vindicata</i><a name="NtA_61" + href="#Nt_61"><sup>[61]</sup></a> was chosen: this may be read either in + a Popish or heretical sense. The feminine substantive <i>fides</i> means + confidence, trust, (it is made to mean <i>belief</i>), but <i>fidis</i>, + with the same ablative, <i>fide</i>, and also feminine, is a + <i>fiddle-string</i>.<a name="NtA_62" href="#Nt_62"><sup>[62]</sup></a> + If a Latin writer had had to make a legend signifying "For the defence of + the fiddle-string," he could not have done it otherwise, in the terseness + of a legend, than by writing <i>pro fide vindicata</i>. Accordingly, when + a Roman Christian talks to you of the <i>faith</i>, as a thing which is + his and not yours, you may say <i>fiddle</i>. I have searched Bonaventura + Piscator in vain for notice of this ambiguity. But the Greeks said + fiddle; according to Suidas,<a name="NtA_63" + href="#Nt_63"><sup>[63]</sup></a> <span title="skindapsos" class="grk" + >σκινδαψος</span><a + name="NtA_64" href="#Nt_64"><sup>[64]</sup></a>—a word meaning a + four stringed instrument played with a quill—was an exclamation of + contemptuous dissent. How the wits of different races jump!</p> + +<p><!-- Page 30 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page30"></a>[30]</span></p> + + <p>I am reminded of a case of <i>fides vindicata</i>, which, being in a + public letter, responding to a public invitation, was not meant to be + confidential. Some of the pupils of University College, in which all + subdivisions of religion are (1866; <i>were</i>, 1867) on a level, have + of course changed their views in after life, and become adherents of + various high churches. On the occasion of a dinner of old students of the + College, convened by circular, one of these students, whether then Roman + or Tractarian Christian I do not remember, not content with simply giving + negative answer, or none at all, concocted a jorum of theological rebuke, + and sent it to the Dinner Committee. Heyday! said one of them, this man + got out of bed backwards! How is that? said the rest. Why, read his name + backwards, and you will see. As thus read it was—<i>No grub</i>!<a + name="NtA_65" href="#Nt_65"><sup>[65]</sup></a></p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">THE WORD CHURCH.</p> + + <p>To return to <i>Notes and Queries</i>. The substitution in the + (editorial) index of "Unitarian teacher," for the contributor's + "Unitarian minister," struck me very much. I have seldom found such + things unmeaning. But as the journal had always been free from editorial + sectarianisms,—and very apt to check the contributorial,—I + could not be sure in this case. True it was, that the editor and + publisher had been changed more than a year before; but this was not of + much force. Though one swallow does not make a summer, I have generally + found it show that summer is coming. However, thought I to myself, if + this be Little Shibboleth, we shall have Big Shibboleth by-and-bye. At + last it came. About a twelvemonth afterwards, (3d S. vii. p. 36) the + following was the <i>editorial</i> answer to the question when the + establishment was first called the "Church of England and Ireland":</p> + +<p><!-- Page 31 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page31"></a>[31]</span></p> + + <p>"That unmeaning clause, 'The United Church of England and Ireland,' + which occurs on the title-page of <i>The Book of Common Prayer</i>, was + first used at the commencement of the present century. The authority for + this phrase is the fifth article of the Union of 1800: 'That the Churches + of England and Ireland be united into one <i>Protestant</i> (!) episcopal + Church, to be called "The United Church of England and Ireland."' Of + course, churchmen are not responsible for the theology of Acts of + Parliament, especially those passed during the dark ages of the Georgian + era."</p> + + <p>That is to say, the journal gives its adhesion to the party + which—under the assumed title of <i>the</i> Church of + England—claims for the endowed corporation for the support of + religion rights which Parliament cannot control, and makes it, in fact, a + power above the State. The State has given an inch: it calls this + corporation by the name of the "United <i>Church</i> of England and + Ireland," as if neither England nor Ireland had any other Church. The + corporation, accordingly aspires to an ell. But this the nation will only + give with the aspiration prefixed. To illustrate my allusion in a + delicate way to polite ears, I will relate what happened in a Johnian + lecture-room at Cambridge, some fifty years ago, my informant being + present. A youth of undue aspirations was giving a proposition, and at + last said, "Let E F be produced to 'L':" "Not quite so far, Mr. + ——," said the lecturer, quietly, to the great amusement of + the class, and the utter astonishment of the aspirant, who knew no more + than a Tractarian the tendency of his construction.</p> + + <p>This word <i>Church</i> is made to have a very mystical meaning. The + following dialogue between Ecclesiastes and Hæreticus, which I cannot + vouch for, has often taken place in spirit, if not in letter: E. The word + <i>Church</i> (<span title="ekklêsia" class="grk" + >ἐκκλησια</span>)<a + name="NtA_66" href="#Nt_66"><sup>[66]</sup></a> is never used in the New + Testament except generally or locally for that holy and mystical body to + which the sacraments and the ordinances of Christianity are entrusted. + <!-- Page 32 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page32"></a>[32]</span>H. + Indeed! E. It is beyond a doubt (here he quoted half a dozen texts in + support). H. Do you mean that any doctrine or ordinance which was + solemnly practised by the <span title="ekklêsia" class="grk" + >ἐκκλησια</span> is + binding upon you and me? E. Certainly, unless we should be cut off from + the congregation of the faithful. H. Have you a couple of hours to spare? + E. What for? H. If you have, I propose we spend them in crying, Great is + Diana of the Ephesians! E. What do you mean? H. You ought to know the + solemn service of the <span title="ekklêsia" class="grk" + >ἐκκλησια</span> (Acts + xix. 32, 41), at Ephesus; which any one might take to be true Church, by + the more part not knowing wherefore they were come together, and which + was dismissed, after one of the most sensible sermons ever preached, by + the Recorder. E. I see your meaning: it is true, there is that one + exception! H. Why, the Recorder's sermon itself contains another, the + <span title="ennomos ekklêsia" class="grk" + >ἐννομος + ἐκκλησια</span>,<a + name="NtA_67" href="#Nt_67"><sup>[67]</sup></a> legislative assembly. E. + Ah! the New Testament can only be interpreted by the Church! H. I see! + the Church interprets itself into existence out of the New Testament, and + then interprets the New Testament out of existence into itself!</p> + + <p>I look upon all the Churches as fair game which declare of me that + <i>absque dubio in æternum peribo</i>;<a name="NtA_68" + href="#Nt_68"><sup>[68]</sup></a> not for their presumption towards God, + but for their personal insolence towards myself. I find that their + sectaries stare when I say this. Why! they do not speak of you in + <i>particular</i>! These poor reasoners seem to think that there could be + no meaning, as against me, unless it should be propounded that "without + doubt he shall perish everlastingly, especially A. De Morgan." But I + hold, with the schoolmen, that "<i>Omnis</i> homo est animal" in + conjunction with "Sortes est homo" amounts to "<i>Sortes</i> est + animal."<a name="NtA_69" href="#Nt_69"><sup>[69]</sup></a> But they do + not mean it <i>personally</i>! Every universal proposition is <!-- Page + 33 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page33"></a>[33]</span>personal to + every instance of the subject. If this be not conceded, then I retort, in + their own sense and manner, "Whosoever would serve God, before all things + he must not pronounce God's decision upon his neighbor. Which decision, + except every one leave to God himself, without doubt he is a bigoted + noodle."</p> + + <p>The reasoning habit of the educated community, in four cases out of + five, permits universal propositions to be stated at one time, and + denied, <i>pro re nata</i>,<a name="NtA_70" + href="#Nt_70"><sup>[70]</sup></a> at another. "Before we proceed to + consider any question involving physical principles, we should set out + with <i>clear ideas</i> of the naturally possible and impossible." The + eminent man who said this, when wanting it for his views of mental + education (!) never meant it for more than what was in hand, never + assumed it in the researches which will give him to posterity! I have + heard half-a-dozen defences of his having said this, not one of which + affirmed the truth of what was said. A worthy clergyman wrote that if + A. B. had said a certain thing the point in question would have been + established. It was shown to him that A. B. <i>had</i> said it, to which + the reply was a refusal to admit the point because A. B. said it in a + second pamphlet and in answer to objections. And I might give fifty such + instances with very little search. Always assume more than you want; + because you cannot tell how much you may want: put what is over into the + didn't-mean-that basket, or the extreme case what-not.</p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">PROTESTANT AND PAPAL CHRISTENDOM.</p> + + <p>Something near forty years of examination of the theologies on and + off—more years very much on than quite off—have given me a + good title—to myself, I ask no one else for leave—to make the + following remarks: A conclusion has <i>premises</i>, facts or doctrines + from proof or authority, and <i>mode of inference</i>. There may be + invention or <!-- Page 34 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page34"></a>[34]</span>falsehood of premise, with good logic; and + there may be tenable premise, followed by bad logic; and there may be + both false premise <i>and</i> bad logic. The Roman system has such a + powerful manufactory of premises, that bad logic is little wanted; there + is comparatively little of it. The doctrine-forge of the Roman Church is + one glorious compound of everything that could make Heraclitus<a + name="NtA_71" href="#Nt_71"><sup>[71]</sup></a> sob and Democritus<a + name="NtA_72" href="#Nt_72"><sup>[72]</sup></a> snigger. But not the only + one. The Protestants, in tearing away from the Church of Rome, took with + them a fair quantity of the results of the Roman forge, which they could + not bring themselves to give up. They had more in them of Martin than of + Jack. But they would have no premises, except from the New Testament; + though some eked out with a few general Councils. The consequence is that + they have been obliged to find such a logic as would bring the + conclusions they require out of the canonical books. And a queer logic it + is; nothing but the Roman forge can be compared with the Protestant loom. + The picking, the patching, the piecing, which goes to the Protestant + <i>termini ad quem</i>,<a name="NtA_73" href="#Nt_73"><sup>[73]</sup></a> + would be as remarkable to the general eye, as the Roman manufacture of + <i>termini a quo</i>,<a name="NtA_74" href="#Nt_74"><sup>[74]</sup></a> + if it were not that the world at large seizes the character of an + asserted fact better than that of a mode of inference. A grand step + towards the deification of a lady, made by alleged revelation 1800 years + after her death, is of glaring evidence: two or three additional + shiffle-shuffles towards defence of saying the Athanasian curse in church + and unsaying it out of church, are hardly noticed. Swift has bungled his + satire where he makes Peter a party to finding out what he wants, + <i>totidem syllabis</i> and <i>totidem literis</i>, <!-- Page 35 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page35"></a>[35]</span>when he cannot find it + <i>totidem verbis</i><a name="NtA_75" href="#Nt_75"><sup>[75]</sup></a> + This is Protestant method: the Roman plan is <i>viam faciam</i>; the + Protestant plan is <i>viam inveniam</i>.<a name="NtA_76" + href="#Nt_76"><sup>[76]</sup></a> The public at large begins to be + conversant with the ways of <i>wriggling out</i>, as shown in the + interpretations of the damnatory parts of the Athanasian Creed, the + phrases of the Burial Service, etc. The time will come when the same + public will begin to see the ways of <i>wriggling in</i>. But one thing + at a time: neither Papal Rome nor Protestant Rome was built—nor + will be pulled down—in a day.</p> + + <p>The distinction above drawn between the two great antitheses of + Christendom may be illustrated as follows. Two sets of little general + dealers lived opposite to one another: all sold milk. Each vaunted its + own produce: one set said that the stuff on the other side the way was + only chalk and water; the other said that the opposites sold all sorts of + filth, of which calves' brain was the least nasty. Now the fact was that + both sets sold milk, and from the same dairy: but adulterated with + different sorts of dirty water: and both honestly believed that the + mixture was what they were meant to sell and ought to sell. The great + difference between them, about which the apprentices fought each other + like Trojans, was that the calves' brain men poured milk into the water, + and the chalk men poured water into the milk. The Greek and Roman sects + on one side, the Protestant sects on the other, must all have + <i>churches</i>: the Greek and Roman sects pour the New Testament into + their churches; the Protestant sects pour their churches into the New + Testament. The Greek and Roman insist upon the New Testament being no + more than part and parcel of their churches: the Protestant insist upon + their churches being as much part and parcel of the New Testament. All + dwell vehemently upon the doctrine that there must be milk <!-- Page 36 + --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page36"></a>[36]</span>somewhere; and + each says—I have it. The doctrine is true: and can be verified by + any one who can and will go to the dairy for himself. Him will the + several traders declare to have no milk at all. They will bring their own + wares, and challenge a trial: they want nothing but to name the judges. + To vary the metaphor, those who have looked at Christianity in open day, + know that all who see it through painted windows shut out much of the + light of heaven and color the rest; it matters nothing that the stains + are shaped into what are meant for saints and angels.</p> + + <p>But there is another side to the question. To decompose any substance, + it must be placed between the poles of the battery. Now theology is but + one pole; philosophy is the other. No one can make out the combinations + of our day unless he read the writings both of the priest and the + philosopher: and if any one should hold the first word offensive, I tell + him that I mean <i>both</i> words to be <i>significant</i>. In reading + these writings, he will need to bring both wires together to find out + what it is all about. Time was when most priests were very explicit about + the fate of philosophers, and most philosophers were very candid about + their opinion of priests. But though some extremes of the old sorts still + remain, there is now, in the middle, such a fusion of the two pursuits + that a plain man is wofully puzzled. The theologian writes a philosophy + which seems to tell us that the New Testament is a system of psychology; + and the philosopher writes a Christianity which is utterly unintelligible + as to the question whether the Resurrection be a fact or a transcendental + allegory. What between the theologian who assents to the Athanasian + denunciation in what seems the sense of no denunciation, and the + philosopher who parades a Christianity which looks like no revelation, + there is a maze which threatens to have the only possible clue in the + theory that everything is something else, and nothing is anything at all. + But this is a paradox far beyond my handling: it is a Budget of itself. + <!-- Page 37 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page37"></a>[37]</span></p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY.</p> + + <p>Religion and Philosophy, the two best gifts of Heaven, set up in + opposition to each other at the revival of letters; and never did + competing tradesmen more grossly misbehave. Bad wishes and bad names flew + about like swarms of wasps. The Athanasian curses were intended against + philosophers; who, had they been a corporation, with state powers to + protect them, would have formulized a <i>per contra</i>. But the + tradesmen are beginning to combine: they are civil to each other; too + civil by half. I speak especially of Great Britain. Old theology has run + off to ritualism, much lamenting, with no comfort except the discovery + that the cloak Paul left at Troas was a chasuble. Philosophy, which + always had a little sense sewed up in its garments—to pay for its + funeral?—has expended a trifle in accommodating itself to the new + system. But the two are poles of a battery; and a question arises.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>If Peter Piper picked a peck of pepper,</p> + <p>Where is the peck of pepper Peter Piper picked?</p> + </div> + </div> + <p>If Religion and Philosophy be the two poles of a battery, whose is the + battery Religion and Philosophy have been made the poles of? Is the + change in the relation of the wires any presumption of a removal of the + managers? We know pretty well who handled the instrument: has he resigned + or been<a name="NtA_77" href="#Nt_77"><sup>[77]</sup></a> turned out? Has + he been put under <!-- Page 38 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page38"></a>[38]</span>restriction? A fool may ask more questions + than twenty sages can answer: but there is hope; for twenty sages cannot + ask more questions than one reviewer can answer. I should like to see the + opposite sides employed upon the question, What are the <i>commoda</i>, + and what the <i>pericula</i>,<a name="NtA_78" + href="#Nt_78"><sup>[78]</sup></a> of the current approximation of + Religion and Philosophy?</p> + + <p>All this is very profane and irreverent! It has always been so held by + those whose position demands such holding. To describe the Church as it + is passes for assailing the Church as it ought to be with all who cannot + do without it. In Bedlam<a name="NtA_79" + href="#Nt_79"><sup>[79]</sup></a> a poor creature who fancied he was St. + Paul, was told by another patient that he was an impostor; the first + maniac lodged a complaint against the second for calling St. Paul an + impostor, which, he argued, with much appearance of sanity, ought not to + be permitted in a well regulated madhouse. Nothing could persuade him + that he had missed the question, which was whether <i>he</i> was St. + Paul. The same thing takes place in the world <i>at large</i>. And + especially must be noted the refusal to permit to the <i>profane</i> the + millionth part of the licence assumed by the <i>sacred</i>. I give a + sound churchman the epitaph of St. John Long; the usual pronunciation of + whose name must be noted—</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="hg3">"Behold! ye quacks, the vengeance strong</p> + <p class="i2">On deeds like yours impinging:</p> + <p>For here below lies St. John Long<a name="NtA_80" href="#Nt_80"><sup>[80]</sup></a></p> + <p class="i2">Who now must be <i>long singeing</i>."</p> + </div> + </div> + <p>How shameful to pronounce this of the poor man! What, Mr. Orthodox! + may I not do in joke to one pretender what <!-- Page 39 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page39"></a>[39]</span>you do in + earnest—unless you quibble—to all the millions of the Greek + Church, and a great many others. Enough of you and your reasoning! Go and + square the circle!</p> + + <p>The few years which end with 1867 have shown, not merely the + intermediate fusion of Theology and Philosophy of which I have spoken, + but much concentration of the two extremes, which looks like a gathering + of forces for some very hard fought Armageddon. Extreme theology has been + aiming at a high Church in England, which is to show a new front to all + heresy: and extreme philosophy is contriving a physical organization + which is to <i>think</i>, and to show that mind is a consequence of + matter, or thought a recreation of brain. The physical speculators begin + with a possible hypothesis, in which they aim at explanation: and so the + bold aspirations of the author of the <i>Vestiges</i> find + standing-ground in the variation of species by "natural selection." Some + relics—so supposed—of extremely ancient men are brought to + help the general cause. Only distant hints are given that by possibility + it may end in the formation of all living organisms from a very few, if + not from one. The better heads above mentioned know that their theory, if + true, does not bear upon morals. The formation of solar systems from a + nebular hypothesis, followed by organizations gradually emerging from + some curious play of particles, nay, the very evolution of mind and + thought from such an apparatus, are all as consistent with a Personal + creative power to whom homage and obedience are due, and who has declared + himself, as with a blind Nature of Things. A pure materialist, as to all + things visible, may be even a bigotted Christian: this is not frequent, + but it is possible. There is a proverb which says, A pig may fly, but it + isn't a likely bird. But when the psychological speculator comes in, he + often undertakes to draw inferences from the physical conclusions, by + joining on his tremendous apparatus of <i>a priori</i> knowledge. He + deduces that he can <i>do without</i> a God: he can deduce all things + <!-- Page 40 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page40"></a>[40]</span>without any such necessity. With Occam<a + name="NtA_81" href="#Nt_81"><sup>[81]</sup></a> and Newton he will have + no more causes than are necessary to explain phenomena <i>to him</i>: and + if by pure head-work combined with results of physical observation he can + construct his universe, he must be a very <i>unphilosophical</i> man who + would encumber himself with a useless Creator! There is something + tangible about my method, says he; yours is vague. He requires it to be + granted that his system is <i>positive</i> and that yours is + <i>impositive</i>. So reasoned the stage coachman when the railroads + began to depose him—"If you're upset in a stage-coach, why, there + you are! but if you're upset on the railroad, where are you?" The answer + lies in another question, Which is most positive knowledge, God deduced + from man and his history, or the postulates of the few who think they can + reason <i>a priori</i> on the tacit assumption of unlimited command of + data?</p> + + <p>We are not yet come to the existence of a school of philosophers who + explicitly deny a Creator: but we are on the way, though common sense may + interpose. There are always straws which show the direction of the wind. + I have before me the printed letter of a medical man—to whose + professional ability I have good testimony—who finds the vital + principle in highly rarefied oxygen. With the usual logic of such + thinkers, he dismisses the "eternal personal identity" because "If soul, + spirit, mind, which are merely modes of sensation, be the attribute or + function of nerve-tissue, it cannot possibly have any existence apart + from its material organism!" How does he know this <i>impossibility</i>? + If all the mind <i>we</i> know be from nerve-tissue, how does it appear + that mind in other planets may not be another thing? Nay, when we come to + <i>possibilities</i>, does not his own system give a queer one? If highly + rarefied oxygen be vital power, more highly rarefied oxygen <!-- Page 41 + --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page41"></a>[41]</span>may be more + vital and more powerful. Where is this to stop? Is it <i>impossible</i> + that a finite quantity, rarefied <i>ad infinitum</i>, may be an + Omnipotent? Perhaps the true Genesis, when written, will open with "In + the beginning was an imperial quart of oxygen at 60° of Fahrenheit, and + the pressure of the atmosphere; and this oxygen was infinitely rarefied; + and this oxygen became God." For myself, my aspirations as to this system + are Manichæan. The quart of oxygen is the Ormuzd, or good principle: + another quart, of hydrogen, is the Ahriman, or evil principle! My author + says that his system explains Freewill and Immortality so obviously that + it is difficult to read previous speculations with becoming gravity. My + deduction explains the conflict of good and evil with such clearness that + no one can henceforward read the New Testament with becoming reverence. + The surgeon whom I have described is an early bud which will probably be + nipped by the frost and wither on the ground: but there is a good crop + coming. Material pneuma is destined to high functions; and man is to read + by gas-light.</p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">THE SUN AN ELECTRIC SPACE.</p> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p>The solar system truly solved; demonstrating by the perfect harmony of + the planets, founded on the four universal laws, the Sun to be an + electric space; and a source of every natural production displayed + throughout the solar system. By James Hopkins.<a name="NtA_82" + href="#Nt_82"><sup>[82]</sup></a> London, 1849, 8vo.</p> + +</blockquote> + + <p>The author says:</p> + + <p>"I am satisfied that I have given the true <i>laws</i> constituting + the <i>Sun</i> to be <i>space</i>; and I call upon those disposed to + maintain the contrary, to give true <i>laws</i> showing him to be a body: + until such can be satisfactorily established, I have an undoubted claim + to the credit of my theory,—That the Sun is an <i>Electric + Space</i>, fed and governed by the <!-- Page 42 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page42"></a>[42]</span>planets, which have the + property of attracting heat from it; and the means of supplying the + necessary <i>pabulum</i> by their degenerated air driven off towards the + central space—the wonderful alembic in which it becomes transmuted + to the revivifying necessities of continuous action; and the central + space or Sun being perfectly electric, has the counter property of + repulsing the bodies that attract it. How wonderful a conception! How + beautiful, how magnificent an arrangement!</p> + + <p>"O Centre! O Space! O Electric Space!"</p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">JOSEPH ADY.</p> + + <p>1849. <i>Joseph Ady</i><a name="NtA_83" + href="#Nt_83"><sup>[83]</sup></a> is entitled to a place in this list of + discoverers: his great fault, like that of some others, lay in pushing + his method too far. He began by detecting unclaimed dividends, and + disclosing them to their right owners, exacting his fee before he made + his communication. He then generalized into trying to get fees from all + of the <i>name</i> belonging to a dividend; and he gave mysterious hints + of danger impending. For instance, he would write to a clergyman that a + legal penalty was hanging over him; and when the alarmed divine forwarded + the sum required for disclosure, he was favored with an extract from some + old statute or canon, never repealed, forbidding a clergyman to be a + member of a corporation, and was reminded that he had insured his life in + the —— Office, which had a royal charter. He was facetious, + was Joseph: he described himself in his circulars as "personally known to + Sir Peter Laurie<a name="NtA_84" href="#Nt_84"><sup>[84]</sup></a> and + all other aldermen"; which was nearly true, <!-- Page 43 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page43"></a>[43]</span>as he had been before + most of them on charges of false pretence; but I believe he was nearly + always within the law. Sir James Duke, when Lord Mayor, having + particularly displeased him by a decision, his circulars of 1849 contain + the following:</p> + + <p>"Should you have cause to complain of any party, Sir J. Duke has + contrived a new law of evidence, viz., write to him, he will consider + your letter sufficient proof, and make the parties complained of pay + without judge or jury, and will frank you from every expense."</p> + + <p>I strongly suspect that Joseph Ady believed in himself.</p> + + <p>He sometimes issued a second warning, of a Sibylline character:</p> + + <p>"Should you find cause to complain of anybody, my voluntary referee, + the Rt. Hon. Sir Peter Laurie, Kt., perpetual Deputy Lord Mayor, will see + justice done you without any charge whatever: he and his toady, — + —— ——. The accursed of Moses can hang any man: + thus, by catching him alone and swearing Naboth spake evil against God + and the King. Therefore (!) I admit no strangers to a personal conference + without a prepayment of 20<i>s.</i> each. Had you attended to my former + notice you would have received twice as much: neglect this and you will + lose all."</p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">ON MODERN ASTROLOGY.</p> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p>Zadkiel's Almanac for 1849. Nineteenth number.</p> + + <p>Raphael's Prophetic Almanac for 1849. Twenty-ninth number.</p> + + <p>Reasons for belief in judicial astrology, and remarks on the dangerous + character of popish priestcraft. London, 1849, 12mo.</p> + + <p>Astronomy in a nutshell: or the leading problems of the solar system + solved by simple proportion only, on the theory of magnetic attraction. + By Lieut. Morrison,<a name="NtA_85" href="#Nt_85"><sup>[85]</sup></a> + N. N. London (<i>s. a.</i>) 12mo.</p> + +</blockquote> + +<p><!-- Page 44 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page44"></a>[44]</span></p> + + <p>Lieut. Morrison is Zadkiel Tao Sze, and declares himself in real + earnest an astrologer. There are a great many books on astrology, but I + have not felt interest enough to preserve many of them which have come in + my way. If anything ever had a fair trial, it was astrology. The idea + itself is natural enough. A human being, set down on this earth, without + any tradition, would probably suspect that the heavenly bodies had + something to do with the guidance of affairs. I think that any one who + tries will ascertain that the planets do not prophesy: but if he should + find to the contrary, he will of course go on asking. A great many + persons class together belief in astrology and belief in apparitions: the + two things differ in precisely the way in which a science of observation + differs from a science of experiment. Many make the mistake which M. le + Marquis made when he came too late, and hoped M. Cassini<a name="NtA_86" + href="#Nt_86"><sup>[86]</sup></a> would do the eclipse over again for his + ladies. The apparition chooses its own time, and comes as seldom or as + often as it pleases, be it departed spirit, nervous derangement, or + imposition. Consequently it can only be observed, and not experimented + upon. But the heavens, if astrology be true, are prophesying away day and + night all the year round, and about every body. Experiments can be made, + then, except only on rare phenomena, such as eclipses: anybody may choose + his time and his question. This is the great difference: and experiments + were made, century after century. If astrology had been true, it must + have lasted in an ever-improving state. If it be true, it is a truth, and + a useful truth, which had experience and prejudice both in its favor, and + yet lost ground as soon as astronomy, its working tool, began to + improve.</p> + + <p> </p> + + <p>1850. A letter in the handwriting of an educated man, dated from a + street in which it must be taken that educated persons live, is addressed + to the Secretary of the <!-- Page 45 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page45"></a>[45]</span>Astronomical Society about a matter on which + the writer says "his professional pursuit will enable him to give a + satisfactory reply." In a question before a court of law it is sworn on + one side that the moon was shining at a certain hour of a certain night + on a certain spot in London; on the other side it is affirmed that she + was clouded. The Secretary is requested to decide. This is curious, as + the question is not astrological. Persons still send to Greenwich, now + and then, to have their fortunes told. In one case, not very many years + ago, a young gentleman begged to know who his wife was to be, and what + fee he was to remit.</p> + + <p>Sometimes the astronomer turns conjurer for fun, and his prophesies + are fulfilled. It is related of Flamsteed<a name="NtA_87" + href="#Nt_87"><sup>[87]</sup></a> that an old woman came to know the + whereabouts of a bundle of linen which had strayed. Flamsteed drew a + circle, put a square into it, and gravely pointed out a ditch, near her + cottage, in which he said it would be found. He meant to have given the + woman a little good advice when she came back: but she came back in great + delight, with the bundle in her hand, found in the very place. The late + Baron Zach<a name="NtA_88" href="#Nt_88"><sup>[88]</sup></a> received a + letter from Pons,<a name="NtA_89" href="#Nt_89"><sup>[89]</sup></a> a + successful finder of comets, complaining that for a certain period he had + found no comets, though he had searched diligently. Zach, a man of much + sly humor, told him that no spots had been seen on the sun for about the + same time—which was true,—and assured him that when the spots + came back, the comets would come with them. Some time after he got a + letter <!-- Page 46 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page46"></a>[46]</span>from Pons, who informed him with great + satisfaction that he was quite right, that very large spots had appeared + on the sun, and that he had found a fine comet shortly after. I do not + vouch for the first story, but I have the second in Zach's handwriting. + It would mend the joke exceedingly if some day a real relation should be + established between comets and solar spots: of late years good reason has + been shown for advancing a connection between these spots and the earth's + magnetism.<a name="NtA_90" href="#Nt_90"><sup>[90]</sup></a> If the two + things had been put to Zach, he would probably have chosen the comets. + Here is a hint for a paradox: the solar spots are the dead comets, which + have parted with their light and heat to feed the sun, as was once + suggested. I should not wonder if I were too late, and the thing had been + actually maintained. My list does not contain the twentieth part of the + possible whole.</p> + + <p>The mention of coincidences suggests an everlasting source of + explanations, applicable to all that is extraordinary. The great paradox + of coincidence is that of Leibnitz, known as the <i>pre-established + harmony</i>, or <i>law of coincidences</i>, by which, separately and + independently, the body receives impressions, and the mind proceeds as if + it had perceived them from without. Every sensation, and the consequent + state of the soul, are independent things coincident in time by the + pre-established law. The philosopher could not otherwise <i>account + for</i> the connection of mind and matter; and he never goes by so vulgar + a rule as <i>Whatever is, is</i>; to him that which is not clear as to + how, is not at all. Philosophers in general, who tolerate each other's + theories much better than Christians do each other's failings, seldom + revive Leibnitz's fantasy: they seem to act upon the maxim quoted by + Father Eustace<a name="NtA_91" href="#Nt_91"><sup>[91]</sup></a> from the + <!-- Page 47 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page47"></a>[47]</span>Decretals, <i>Facinora ostendi dum + puniuntur, flagitia autem abscondi debent</i>.<a name="NtA_92" + href="#Nt_92"><sup>[92]</sup></a></p> + + <p>The great <i>ghost-paradox</i>, and its theory of <i>coincidences</i>, + will rise to the surface in the mind of every one. But the use of the + word <i>coincidence</i> is here at variance with its common meaning. When + A is constantly happening, and also B, the occurrence of A and B at the + same moment is the mere coincidence which may be casualty. But the case + before us is that A is constantly happening, while B, when it does + happen, almost always happens with A, and very rarely without it. That is + to say, such is the phenomenon asserted: and all who rationally refer it + to casualty, affirm that B is happening very often as well as A, but that + it is not thought worthy of being recorded except when A is simultaneous. + Of course A is here a death, and B the spectral appearance of the person + who dies. In talking of this subject it is necessary to put out of the + question all who play fast and loose with their secret convictions: these + had better give us a reason, when they feel internal pressure for + explanation, that there is no weathercock at Kilve; this would do for all + cases. But persons of real inquiry will see that first, experience does + not bear out the asserted frequency of the spectre, without the alleged + coincidence of death: and secondly, that if the crowd of purely casual + spectres were so great that it is no wonder that, now and then the person + should have died at or near the moment, we ought to expect a much larger + proportion of cases in which the spectre should come at the moment of the + death of one or another of all the cluster who are closely connected with + the original of the spectre. But this, we know, is almost without + example. It remains then, for all, who speculate at all, to look upon the + asserted phenomenon, think what they may of it, the thing which is to be + explained, as a <i>connection</i> in time of the death, and the <!-- Page + 48 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page48"></a>[48]</span>simultaneous + appearance of the dead. Any person the least used to the theory of + probabilities will see that purely casual coincidence, the <i>wrong + spectre</i> being comparatively so rare that it may be said never to + occur, is not within the rational field of possibility.</p> + + <p>The purely casual coincidence, from which there is no escape except + the actual doctrine of special providences, carried down to a very low + point of special intention, requires a junction of the things the like of + each of which is always happening. I will give three instances which have + occurred to myself within the last few years: I solemnly vouch for the + literal truth of every part of all three:</p> + + <p>In August 1861, M. Senarmont,<a name="NtA_93" + href="#Nt_93"><sup>[93]</sup></a> of the French Institute, wrote to me to + the effect that Fresnel<a name="NtA_94" href="#Nt_94"><sup>[94]</sup></a> + had sent to England, in or shortly after 1824, a paper for translation + and insertion in the <i>European Review</i>, which shortly afterwards + expired. The question was what had become of that paper. I examined the + <i>Review</i> at the Museum, found no trace of the paper, and wrote back + to that effect at the Museum, adding that everything now depended on + ascertaining the name of the editor, and tracing his papers: of this I + thought there was no chance. I posted this letter on my way home, at a + Post Office in the Hampstead Road at the junction with Edward Street, on + the opposite side of which is a bookstall. Lounging for a moment over the + exposed books, <i>sicut meus est mos</i>,<a name="NtA_95" + href="#Nt_95"><sup>[95]</sup></a> I saw, within a few minutes of the + posting of the letter, a little catch-penny book of anecdotes of + Macaulay, which I bought, and ran over for a minute. My eye was soon + caught by this sentence: "One of the young fellows immediately wrote to + the editor (Mr. Walker) <!-- Page 49 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page49"></a>[49]</span>of the <i>European Review</i>." I thus got + the clue by which I ascertained that there was no chance of recovering + Fresnel's paper. Of the mention of current reviews, not one in a thousand + names the editor.</p> + + <p>In the summer of 1865 I made my first acquaintance with the tales of + Nathaniel Hawthorne, and the first I read was about the siege of Boston + in the War of Independence. I could not make it out: everybody seemed to + have got into somebody else's place. I was beginning the second tale, + when a parcel arrived: it was a lot of old pamphlets and other rubbish, + as he called it, sent by a friend who had lately sold his books, had not + thought it worth while to send these things for sale, but thought I might + like to look at them and possibly keep some. The first thing I looked at + was a sheet which, being opened, displayed "A plan of Boston and its + environs, shewing the true situation of his Majesty's army and also that + of the rebels, drawn by an engineer, at Boston Oct. 1775." Such detailed + plans of current sieges being then uncommon, it is explained that "The + principal part of this plan was surveyed by Richard Williams, Lieutenant + at Boston; and sent over by the son of a nobleman to his father in town, + by whose permission it was published." I immediately saw that my + confusion arose from my supposing that the king's troops were besieging + the rebels, when it was just the other way.</p> + + <p>April 1, 1853, while engaged in making some notes on a logical point, + an idea occurred which was perfectly new to me, on the mode of + conciliating the notions <i>omnipresence</i> and <i>indivisibility into + parts</i>. What it was is no matter here: suffice it that, since it was + published elsewhere (in a paper on <i>Infinity</i>, <i>Camb. Phil. + Trans.</i> vol. xi. p. 1) I have not had it produced to me. I had just + finished a paragraph on the subject, when a parcel came in from a + bookseller containing Heywood's<a name="NtA_96" + href="#Nt_96"><sup>[96]</sup></a> <i>Analysis of Kant's Critick</i>, + 1844.</p> + +<p><!-- Page 50 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page50"></a>[50]</span></p> + + <p>On turning over the leaves I found (p. 109) the identical thought + which up to this day, I only know as in my own paper, or in Kant. I feel + sure I had not seen it before, for it is in Kant's first edition, which + was never translated to my knowledge; and it does not appear in the later + editions. Mr. Heywood gives some account of the first edition.</p> + + <p>In the broadsheet which gave account of the dying scene of Charles II, + it is said that the Roman Catholic priest was introduced by + P. M. A. C. F. The chain was this: the Duchess of Portsmouth<a + name="NtA_97" href="#Nt_97"><sup>[97]</sup></a> applied to the Duke of + York, who may have consulted his Cordelier confessor, Mansuete, about + procuring a priest, and the priest was smuggled into the king's room by + the Duchess and Chiffinch.<a name="NtA_98" + href="#Nt_98"><sup>[98]</sup></a> Now the letters are a verbal acrostic + of <i>Père Mansuete a Cordelier Friar</i>, and a syllabic acrostic of + <i>PortsMouth and ChifFinch</i>. This is a singular coincidence. Macaulay + adopted the first interpretation, preferring it to the second, which I + brought before him as the conjecture of a near relative of my own. But + Mansuete is not mentioned in his narrative: it may well be doubted + whether the writer of a broadside for English readers would use + <i>Père</i> instead of <i>Father</i>. And the person who really + "reminded" the Duke of "the duty he owed to his brother," was the Duchess + and not Mansuete. But my affair is only with the coincidence.</p> + + <p>But there are coincidences which are really connected without the + connection being known to those who find in them matter of astonishment. + Presentiments furnish marked cases: sometimes there is no mystery to + those who have the clue. In the <i>Gentleman's Magazine</i> (vol. 80, + part 2, p. 33) we read, the subject being presentiment of death, as + follows: "In 1778, to come nearer the recollection of <!-- Page 51 + --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page51"></a>[51]</span>survivors, at + the taking of Pondicherry, Captain John Fletcher, Captain De Morgan, and + Lieutenant Bosanquet, each distinctly foretold his own death on the + morning of his fate." I have no doubt of all three; and I knew it of my + grandfather long before I read the above passage. He saw that the battery + he commanded was unduly exposed: I think by the sap running through the + fort when produced. He represented this to the engineer officers, and to + the commander-in-chief; the engineers denied the truth of the statement, + the commander believed them, my grandfather quietly observed that he must + make his will, and the French fulfilled his prediction. His will bore + date the day of his death; and I always thought it more remarkable than + the fulfilment of the prophecy that a soldier should not consider any + danger short of one like the above, sufficient reason to make his will. I + suppose the other officers were similarly posted. I am told that military + men very often defer making their wills until just before an action: but + to face the ordinary risks intestate, and to wait until speedy death must + be the all but certain consequence of a stupid mistake, is carrying the + principle very far. In the matter of coincidences there are, as in other + cases, two wonderful extremes with every intermediate degree. At one end + we have the confident people who can attribute anything to casual + coincidence; who allow Zadok Imposture and Nathan Coincidence to anoint + Solomon Selfconceit king. At the other end we have those who see + something <i>very curious</i> in any coincidence you please, and whose + minds yearn for a deep reason. A speculator of this class happened to + find that Matthew viii. 28-33 and Luke viii. 26-33 contain the same + account, that of the demons entering into the swine. Very odd! chapters + tallying, and verses so nearly: is the versification rightly managed? + Examination is sure to show that there are monstrous inconsistencies in + the mode of division, which being corrected, the verses tally as well as + the chapters. And then how comes it? I cannot go on, <!-- Page 52 + --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page52"></a>[52]</span>for I have no + gift at torturing a coincidence, but I would lay twopence, if I could + make a bet—which I never did in all my life—that some one or + more of my readers will try it. Some people say that the study of chances + tends to awaken a spirit of gambling: I suspect the contrary. At any + rate, I myself, the writer of a mathematical book and a comparatively + popular book, have never laid a bet nor played for a stake, however + small: not one single time.</p> + + <p>It is useful to record such instances as I have given, with precision + and on the solemn word of the recorder. When such a story as that of + Flamsteed is told, <i>a priori</i> assures us that it could not have + been: the story may have been a <i>ben trovato</i>,<a name="NtA_99" + href="#Nt_99"><sup>[99]</sup></a> but not the bundle. It is also useful + to establish some of the good jokes which all take for inventions. My + friend Mr. J. Bellingham Inglis,<a name="NtA_100" + href="#Nt_100"><sup>[100]</sup></a> before 1800, saw the tobacconist's + carriage with a sample of tobacco in a shield, and the motto <i>Quid + rides</i><a name="NtA_101" href="#Nt_101"><sup>[101]</sup></a> (<i>N.</i> + & <i>Q.</i>, 3d S. i. 245). His father was able to tell him all about + it. The tobacconist was Jacob Brandon, well known to the elder Mr. + Inglis, and the person who started the motto, the instant he was asked + for such a thing, was Harry Calender of Lloyd's, a scholar and a wit. My + friend Mr. H. Crabb Robinson<a name="NtA_102" + href="#Nt_102"><sup>[102]</sup></a> remembers the King's Counsel (Samuel + Marryat) who took the motto <i>Causes produce effects</i>, when his + success enabled him to start a carriage.</p> + + <p>The coincidences of errata are sometimes very remarkable: it may be + that the misprint has a sting. The death of Sir W. Hamilton<a + name="NtA_103" href="#Nt_103"><sup>[103]</sup></a> of Edinburgh was known + in London on a Thursday, and the editor of the <i>Athenæum</i> wrote to + <!-- Page 53 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page53"></a>[53]</span>me + in the afternoon for a short obituary notice to appear on Saturday. I + dashed off the few lines which appeared without a moment to think: and + those of my readers who might perhaps think me capable of contriving + errata with meaning will, I am sure, allow the hurry, the occasion, and + my own peculiar relation to the departed, as sufficient reasons for + believing in my entire innocence. Of course I could not see a proof: and + two errata occurred. The words "addition to Stewart"<a name="NtA_104" + href="#Nt_104"><sup>[104]</sup></a> require "<i>for</i> addition to + <i>read</i> edition of." This represents what had been insisted on by the + Edinburgh publisher, who, frightened by the edition of Reid,<a + name="NtA_105" href="#Nt_105"><sup>[105]</sup></a> had stipulated for a + simple reprint without notes. Again "principles of logic and mathematics" + required "<i>for</i> mathematics <i>read</i> metaphysics." No four words + could be put together which would have so good a title to be Hamilton's + motto.</p> + + <p> </p> + + <p>April 1850, found in the letter-box, three loose leaves, well printed + and over punctuated, being</p> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p>Chapter VI. Brethren, lo I come, holding forth the word of life, for + so I am commanded.... Chapter VII. Hear my prayer, O generations! and + walk by the way, to drink the waters of the river.... Chapter VIII. + Hearken o earth, earth, earth, and the kings of the earth, and their + armies....</p> + +</blockquote> + + <p>A very large collection might be made of such apostolic writings. They + go on well enough in a misty—meant for mystical—imitation of + St. Paul or the prophets, until at last some prodigious want of keeping + shows the education of the writer. For example, after half a page which + might <!-- Page 54 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page54"></a>[54]</span>pass for Irving's<a name="NtA_106" + href="#Nt_106"><sup>[106]</sup></a> preaching—though a person to + whom it was presented as such would say that most likely the head and + tail would make something more like head and tail of it—we are + astounded by a declaration from the <i>Holy Spirit</i>, speaking of + himself, that he is "not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ." It would be + long before we should find in <i>educated</i> rhapsody—of which + there are specimens enough—such a thing as a person of the Trinity + taking merit for moral courage enough to stand where St. Peter fell. The + following declaration comes next—"I will judge between cattle and + cattle, that use their tongues."</p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">THE FIGURE OF THE EARTH.</p> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p>The figure of the earth. By J. L. Murphy,<a name="NtA_107" + href="#Nt_107"><sup>[107]</sup></a> of Birmingham. (London and + Birmingham, 4 pages, 12mo.) (1850?)</p> + +</blockquote> + + <p>Mr. Murphy invites attention and objection to some assertions, as that + the earth is prolate, not oblate. "If the philosopher's conclusion be + right, then the pole is the center of a valley (!) thirteen miles deep." + Hence it would be very warm. It is answer enough to ask—Who knows + that it is not?</p> + + <p> </p> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p>*** A paragraph in the MS. appears to have been inserted in this place + by mistake. It will be found in the Appendix at the end of this + volume.—S. E. De M.</p> + +</blockquote> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">PERPETUAL MOTION.</p> + + <p>1851. The following letter was written by one of a class of persons + whom, after much experience of them, I <!-- Page 55 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page55"></a>[55]</span>do <i>not</i> pronounce + insane. But in this case the second sentence gives a suspicion of actual + delusion of the senses; the third looks like that eye for the main chance + which passes for sanity on the Stock Exchange and elsewhere:</p> + + <p class="author">15th Sept. 1851.</p> + + <p>"Gentlemen,—I pray you take steps to make known that yesterday I + completed my invention which will give motion to every country on the + Earth;—to move Machinery!—the long sought in vain 'Perpetual + Motion'!!—I was supported at the time by the Queen and H.R.H. + Prince Albert. If, Gentlemen, you can advise me how to proceed to claim + the reward, if any is offered by the Government, or how to secure the + <span class="sc">Patent</span> for the machine, or in any way assist me + by advice in this great work, I shall most graciously acknowledge your + consideration.</p> + + <p>These are my convictions that my <span class="scac">SEVERAL</span> + discoveries will be realized: and this great one can be at once acted + upon: although at this moment it only exists in my mind, from my + knowledge of certain fixed principles in nature:—the Machine I have + not made, as I only completed the discovery <span + class="scac">YESTERDAY</span>, Sunday!</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i8">I have, etc. —— ——"</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>To the Directors of the</p> + <p>London University, Gower Street.</p> + </div> + </div> + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">ON SPIRITUALISM.</p> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p>The Divine Drama of History and Civilisation. By the Rev. James Smith, + M.A.<a name="NtA_108" href="#Nt_108"><sup>[108]</sup></a> London, 1854, + 8vo.</p> + +</blockquote> + + <p>I have several books on that great paradox of our day, + <i>Spiritualism</i>, but I shall exclude all but three. The bibliography + of this subject is now very large. The question is one both of evidence + and speculation;—Are the facts <!-- Page 56 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page56"></a>[56]</span>true? Are they caused by + spirits? These I shall not enter upon: I shall merely recommend this work + as that of a spiritualist who does not enter on the subject, which he + takes for granted, but applies his derived views to the history of + mankind with learning and thought. Mr. Smith was a man of a very peculiar + turn of thinking. He was, when alive, the editor, or <i>an</i> editor, of + the <i>Family Herald</i>: I say when alive, to speak according to + knowledge; for, if his own views be true, he may have a hand in it still. + The answers to correspondents, in his time, were piquant and original + above any I ever saw. I think a very readable book might be made out of + them, resembling "Guesses at Truth:" the turn given to an inquiry about + morals, religion, or socials, is often of the highest degree of + <i>unexpectedness</i>; the poor querist would find himself right in a + most unpalatable way.</p> + + <p>Answers to correspondents, in newspapers, are very often the fag ends + of literature. I shall never forget the following. A person was invited + to name a rule without exception, if he could: he answered "A man + <i>must</i> be present when he is shaved." A lady—what right have + ladies to decide questions about shaving?—said this was not + properly a rule; and the oracle was consulted. The editor agreed with the + lady; he said that "a man <i>must</i> be present when he is shaved" is + not a <i>rule</i>, but a <i>fact</i>.</p> + + <p> </p> + + <p>[Among my anonymous communicants is one who states that I have done + injustice to the Rev. James Smith in "referring to him as a + spiritualist," and placing his "Divine Drama" among paradoxes: "it is no + paradox, nor do <i>spiritualistic</i> views mar or weaken the execution + of the design." Quite true: for the design is to produce and enforce + "spiritualistic views"; and leather does not mar nor weaken a shoemaker's + plan. I knew Mr. Smith well, and have often talked to him on the subject: + but more testimony from me is unnecessary; his book will speak for + itself. <!-- Page 57 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page57"></a>[57]</span>His peculiar style will justify a little + more quotation than is just necessary to prove the point. Looking at the + "battle of opinion" now in progress, we see that Mr. Smith was a + prescient:</p> + + <p>(P. 588.) "From the general review of parties in England, it is + evident that no country in the world is better prepared for the great + Battle of Opinion. Where else can the battle be fought but where the + armies are arrayed? And here they all are, Greek, Roman, Anglican, + Scotch, Lutheran, Calvinist, Established and Territorial, with Baronial + Bishops, and Nonestablished of every grade—churches with living + prophets and apostles, and churches with dead prophets and apostles, and + apostolical churches without apostles, and philosophies without either + prophets or apostles, and only wanting one more, 'the Christian Church,' + like Aaron's rod, to swallow up and digest them all, and then bud and + flourish. As if to prepare our minds for this desirable and inevitable + consummation, different parties have been favored with a revival of that + very spirit of revelation by which the Church itself was originally + founded. There is a complete series of spiritual revelations in England + and the United States, besides mesmeric phenomena that bear a resemblance + to revelation, and thus gradually open the mind of the philosophical and + infidel classes, as well as the professed believers of that old + revelation which they never witnessed in living action, to a better + understanding of that Law of Nature (for it is a Law of Nature) in which + all revelation originates and by which its spiritual communications are + regulated."</p> + + <p>Mr. Smith proceeds to say that there are <i>only</i> thirty-five + incorporated churches in England, all formed from the New Testament + except five, to each of which five he concedes a revelation of its own. + The five are the Quakers, the Swedenborgians, the Southcottians, the + Irvingites, and the Mormonites. Of Joanna Southcott he speaks as follows: + <!-- Page 58 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page58"></a>[58]</span></p> + + <p>(P. 592.) "Joanna Southcott<a name="NtA_109" + href="#Nt_109"><sup>[109]</sup></a> is not very gallantly treated by the + gentlemen of the Press, who, we believe, without knowing anything about + her, merely pick up their idea of her character from the rabble. We once + entertained the same rabble idea of her; but having read her + works—for we really have read them—we now regard her with + great respect. However, there is a great abundance of chaff and straw to + her grain; but the grain is good, and as we do not eat either the chaff + or straw if we can avoid it, nor even the raw grain, but thrash it and + winnow it, and grind it and bake it, we find it, after undergoing this + process, not only very palatable, but a special dainty of its kind. But + the husk is an insurmountable obstacle to those learned and educated + gentlemen who judge of books entirely by the style and the grammar, or + those who eat grain as it grows, like the cattle. Such men would reject + all prological revelation; for there never was and probably never will be + a revelation by voice and vision communicated in classical manner. It + would be an invasion of the rights and prerogatives of Humanity, and as + contrary to the Divine and Established order of mundane government, as a + field of quartern loaves or hot French rolls."</p> + + <p> </p> + + <p>Mr. Smith's book is spiritualism from beginning to end; and my + anonymous gainsayer, honest of course, is either ignorant of the work he + thinks he has read, or has a most remarkable development of the organ of + imperception.]</p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">A CONDENSED HISTORY OF MATHEMATICS.</p> + + <p>I cut the following from a Sunday paper in 1849:</p> + + <p>"X. Y.—The Chaldeans began the mathematics, in which the + Egyptians excelled. Then crossing the sea, by means <!-- Page 59 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page59"></a>[59]</span>of Thales,<a + name="NtA_110" href="#Nt_110"><sup>[110]</sup></a> the Milesian, they + came into Greece, where they were improved very much by Pythagoras,<a + name="NtA_111" href="#Nt_111"><sup>[111]</sup></a> Anaxagoras,<a + name="NtA_112" href="#Nt_112"><sup>[112]</sup></a> and Anopides<a + name="NtA_113" href="#Nt_113"><sup>[113]</sup></a> of Chios. These were + followed by Briso,<a name="NtA_114" href="#Nt_114"><sup>[114]</sup></a> + Antipho, [two circle-squarers; where is Euclid?] and Hippocrates,<a + name="NtA_115" href="#Nt_115"><sup>[115]</sup></a> but the excellence of + the algebraic art was begun by Geber,<a name="NtA_116" + href="#Nt_116"><sup>[116]</sup></a> an Arabian astronomer, and was + carried on by Cardanus,<a name="NtA_117" + href="#Nt_117"><sup>[117]</sup></a> Tartaglia,<a name="NtA_118" + href="#Nt_118"><sup>[118]</sup></a> Clavius,<a name="NtA_119" + href="#Nt_119"><sup>[119]</sup></a>, Stevinus,<a name="NtA_120" + href="#Nt_120"><sup>[120]</sup></a> Ghetaldus,<a name="NtA_121" + href="#Nt_121"><sup>[121]</sup></a> Herig<i>e</i>nius,<a name="NtA_122" + href="#Nt_122"><sup>[122]</sup></a> Fran. Van Schooten [meaning Francis + Van Schooten<a name="NtA_123" href="#Nt_123"><sup>[123]</sup></a>], + Florida de Beau<i>m</i>e,<a name="NtA_124" + href="#Nt_124"><sup>[124]</sup></a> etc."</p> + + <p>Bryso was a mistaken man. Antipho had the disadvantage of being in + advance of his age. He had the notion of which the modern geometry has + made so much, that of <!-- Page 60 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page60"></a>[60]</span>a circle being the polygon of an infinitely + great number of sides. He could make no use of it, but the notion itself + made him a sophist in the eyes of Aristotle, Eutocius,<a name="NtA_125" + href="#Nt_125"><sup>[125]</sup></a> etc. Geber, an Arab astronomer, and a + reputed conjurer in Europe, seems to have given his name to + unintelligible language in the word <i>gibberish</i>. At one time + <i>algebra</i> was traced to him; but very absurdly, though I have heard + it suggested that <i>algebra</i> and <i>gibberish</i> must have had one + inventor.</p> + + <p>Any person who meddles with the circle may find himself the crane who + was netted among the geese: as Antipho for one, and Olivier de Serres<a + name="NtA_126" href="#Nt_126"><sup>[126]</sup></a> for another. This last + gentleman ascertained, by weighing, that the area of the circle is very + nearly that of the square on the side of the inscribed equilateral + triangle: which it is, as near as 3.162 ... to 3.141.... He did not + pretend to more than approximation; but Montucla and others misunderstood + him, and, still worse, misunderstood their own misunderstanding, and made + him say the circle was exactly double of the equilateral triangle. He was + let out of limbo by Lacroix, in a note to his edition of Montucla's + <i>History of Quadrature</i>.</p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">ST. VITUS, PATRON OF CYCLOMETERS.</p> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p>Quadratura del cerchio, trisezione dell' angulo, et duplicazione del + cubo, problemi geometricamente risolute e dimostrate dal Reverendo + Arciprete di San Vito D. Domenico Angherà,<a name="NtA_127" + href="#Nt_127"><sup>[127]</sup></a> Malta, 1854, 8vo.</p> + +<p><!-- Page 61 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page61"></a>[61]</span></p> + + <p>Equazioni geometriche, estratte dalla lettera del Rev. Arciprete ... + al Professore Pullicino<a name="NtA_128" + href="#Nt_128"><sup>[128]</sup></a> sulla quadratura del cerchio. Milan, + 1855 or 1856, 8vo.</p> + + <p>Il Mediterraneo gazetta di Malta, 26 Decembre 1855, No. 909: also 911, + 912, 913, 914, 936, 939.</p> + + <p>The Malta Times, Tuesday, 9th June 1857.</p> + + <p>Misura esatta del cerchio, dal Rev. D. Angherà. Malta, 1857, 12mo.</p> + + <p>Quadrature of the circle ... by the Rev. D. Angherà, Archpriest of St. + Vito. Malta, 1858, 12mo.</p> + +</blockquote> + + <p>I have looked for St. Vitus in catalogues of saints, but never found + his legend, though he figures as a day-mark in the oldest almanacs. He + must be properly accredited, since he was an archpriest. And I pronounce + and ordain, by right accruing from the trouble I have taken in this + subject, that he, St. Vitus, who leads his votaries a never-ending and + unmeaning dance, shall henceforth be held and taken to be the patron + saint of the circle-squarer. His day is the 15th of June, which is also + that of St. Modestus,<a name="NtA_129" + href="#Nt_129"><sup>[129]</sup></a> with whom the said circle-squarer + often has nothing to do. And he must not put himself under the first + saint with a slantendicular reference to the other, as is much to be + feared was done by the Cardinal who came to govern England with a title + containing St. Pudentiana,<a name="NtA_130" + href="#Nt_130"><sup>[130]</sup></a> who shares a day with <i>St. + Dunstan</i>. The Archpriest of St. Vitus will have it that the square + inscribed in a semicircle is half of the semicircle, or the circumference + 3-1/5 diameters. He is active and able, with <!-- Page 62 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page62"></a>[62]</span>nothing wrong about him + except his paradoxes. In the second tract named he has given the + testimonials of crowned heads and ministers, etc. as follows. + Louis-Napoleon gives thanks. The minister at Turin refers it to the + Academy of Sciences, and hopes so much labor will be judged <i>degna di + pregio</i>.<a name="NtA_131" href="#Nt_131"><sup>[131]</sup></a> The + Vice-Chancellor of Oxford—a blunt Englishman—begs to say that + the University has never proposed the problem, as some affirm. The Prince + Regent of Baden has received the work with lively interest. The Academy + of Vienna is not in a position to enter into the question. The Academy of + Turin offers the most <i>distinct</i> thanks. The Academy della Crusca + attends only to literature, but gives thanks. The Queen of Spain has + received the work with the highest appreciation. The University of + Salamanca gives infinite thanks, and feels true satisfaction in having + the book. Lord Palmerston gives thanks, by the hand of "William San." The + Viceroy of Egypt, not being yet up in Italian, will spend his first + moments of leisure in studying the book, when it shall have been + translated into French: in the mean time he congratulates the author upon + his victory over a problem so long held insoluble. All this is seriously + published as a rate in aid of demonstration. If these royal compliments + cannot make the circumference of a circle about 2 per cent. larger than + geometry will have it —which is all that is wanted—no wonder + that thrones are shaky.</p> + + <p>I am informed that the legend of St. Vitus is given by Ribadeneira<a + name="NtA_132" href="#Nt_132"><sup>[132]</sup></a> in his lives of + Saints, and that Baronius,<a name="NtA_133" + href="#Nt_133"><sup>[133]</sup></a> in <!-- Page 63 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page63"></a>[63]</span>his <i>Martyrologium + Romanum</i>, refers to several authors who have written concerning him. + There is an account in Mrs. Jameson's<a name="NtA_134" + href="#Nt_134"><sup>[134]</sup></a> <i>History of Sacred and Legendary + Art</i> (ed. of 1863, p. 544). But it seems that St. Vitus is the patron + saint of <i>all</i> dances; so that I was not so far wrong in making him + the protector of the cyclometers. Why he is represented with a cock is a + disputed point, which is now made clear: next after <i>gallus + gallinaceus</i><a name="NtA_135" href="#Nt_135"><sup>[135]</sup></a> + himself, there is no crower like the circle-squarer.</p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">CELEBRATED APPROXIMATIONS OF <span class="grk">π</span>.</p> + + <p>The following is an extract from the <i>English Cyclopædia</i>, Art. + <span class="sc">Tables</span>:</p> + + <p>"1853. William Shanks,<a name="NtA_136" + href="#Nt_136"><sup>[136]</sup></a> <i>Contributions to Mathematics, + comprising chiefly the Rectification of the Circle to 607 Places of + Tables</i>, London, 1853. (<span class="sc">Quadrature of the + Circle.</span>) Here is a <i>table</i>, because it tabulates the results + of the subordinate steps of this enormous calculation as far as 527 + decimals: the remainder being added as results only during the printing. + For instance, one step is the calculation of the reciprocal of + 601.5<sup>601</sup>; and the result is given. The number of pages + required to describe these results is 87. Mr. Shanks has also thrown off, + as chips or splinters, the values of the base of Napier's logarithms, and + of its logarithms of 2, 3, 5, 10, to 137 decimals; and the value of the + modulus .4342 ... to 136 decimals: with the 13th, 25th, 37th ... up to + the 721st powers of 2. These tremendous stretches of calculation—at + least we so call them in our day—are useful in several respects; + they prove more than <!-- Page 64 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page64"></a>[64]</span>the capacity of this or that computer for + labor and accuracy; they show that there is in the community an increase + of skill and courage. We say in the community: we fully believe that the + unequalled turnip which every now and then appears in the newspapers is a + sufficient presumption that the average turnip is growing bigger, and the + whole crop heavier. All who know the history of the quadrature are aware + that the several increases of numbers of decimals to which <span + class="grk">π</span> has been carried have been indications of a + general increase in the power to calculate, and in courage to face the + labor. Here is a comparison of two different times. In the day of + Cocker,<a name="NtA_137" href="#Nt_137"><sup>[137]</sup></a> the pupil + was directed to perform a common subtraction with a voice-accompaniment + of this kind: '7 from 4 I cannot, but add 10, 7 from 14 remains 7, set + down 7 and carry 1; 8 and 1 which I carry is 9, 9 from 2 I cannot, etc.' + We have before us the announcement of the following <i>table</i>, + undated, as open to inspection at the Crystal Palace, Sydenham, in two + diagrams of 7 ft. 2 in, by 6 ft. 6 in.: 'The figure 9 involved into the + 912th power, and antecedent powers or involutions, containing upwards of + 73,000 figures. Also, the proofs of the above, containing upwards of + 146,000 figures. By Samuel Fancourt, of Mincing Lane, London, and + completed by him in the year 1837, at the age of sixteen. N.B. The whole + operation performed by simple arithmetic.' The young operator calculated + by successive squaring the 2d, 4th, 8th, etc., powers up to the 512th, + with proof by division. But 511 multiplications by 9, in the short (or + 10-1) way, would have been much easier. The 2d, 32d, 64th, 128th, 256th, + and 512th powers are given at the back of the announcement. The powers of + 2 have been calculated for many purposes. In Vol. II of his <i>Magia + Universalis Naturæ et Artis</i>, Herbipoli, 1658, 4to, the Jesuit Gaspar + Schott<a name="NtA_138" href="#Nt_138"><sup>[138]</sup></a> having + discovered, on some grounds of theological <!-- Page 65 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page65"></a>[65]</span>magic, that the degrees + of grace of the Virgin Mary were in number the 256th power of 2, + calculated that number. Whether or no his number correctly represented + the result he announced, he certainly calculated it rightly, as we find + by comparison with Mr. Shanks."</p> + + <p> </p> + + <p>There is a point about Mr. Shanks's 608 figures of the value of <span + class="grk">π</span> which attracts attention, perhaps without + deserving it. It might be expected that, in so many figures, the nine + digits and the cipher would occur each about the same number of times; + that is, each about 61 times. But the fact stands thus: 3 occurs 68 + times; 9 and 2 occur 67 times each; 4 occurs 64 times; 1 and 6 occur 62 + times each; 0 occurs 60 times; 8 occurs 58 times; 5 occurs 56 times; and + 7 occurs only 44 times. Now, if all the digits were equally likely, and + 608 drawings were made, it is 45 to 1 against the number of sevens being + as distant from the probable average (say 61) as 44 on one side or 78 on + the other. There must be some reason why the number 7 is thus deprived of + its fair share in the structure. Here is a field of speculation in which + two branches of inquirers might unite. There is but one number which is + treated with an unfairness which is incredible as an accident; and that + number is the mystic number <i>seven</i>! If the cyclometers and the + apocalyptics would lay their heads together until they come to a + unanimous verdict on this phenomenon, and would publish nothing until + they are of one mind, they would earn the gratitude of their + race.—I was wrong: it is the Pyramid-speculator who should have + been appealed to. A correspondent of my friend Prof. Piazzi Smyth<a + name="NtA_139" href="#Nt_139"><sup>[139]</sup></a> notices that 3 is the + number of most frequency, and that 3-1/7 is the nearest approximation to + it in simple digits. Professor Smyth himself, whose word on Egypt is + paradox of a very high order, backed by a great quantity of useful labor, + the results which will be made available by those who do not receive <!-- + Page 66 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page66"></a>[66]</span>the + paradoxes, is inclined to see confirmation for some of his theory in + these phenomena.</p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">CURIOUS CALCULATIONS.</p> + + <p>These paradoxes of calculation sometimes appear as illustrations of + the value of a new method. In 1863, Mr. G. Suffield,<a name="NtA_140" + href="#Nt_140"><sup>[140]</sup></a> M.A., and Mr. J. R. Lunn,<a + name="NtA_141" href="#Nt_141"><sup>[141]</sup></a> M.A., of Clare College + and of St. John's College, Cambridge, published the whole quotient of + 10000 ... divided by 7699, throughout the whole of one of the recurring + periods, having 7698 digits. This was done in illustration of Mr. + Suffield's method of <i>Synthetic division</i>.</p> + + <p>Another instance of computation carried to paradoxical length, in + order to illustrate a method, is the solution of <i>x</i><sup>3</sup> - + 2<i>x</i> = 5, the example given of Newton's method, on which all + improvements have been tested. In 1831, Fourier's<a name="NtA_142" + href="#Nt_142"><sup>[142]</sup></a> posthumous work on equations showed + 33 figures of solution, got with enormous labor. Thinking this a good + opportunity to illustrate the superiority of the method of W. G. + Horner,<a name="NtA_143" href="#Nt_143"><sup>[143]</sup></a> not yet + known in France, and not much known in <!-- Page 67 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page67"></a>[67]</span>England, I proposed to + one of my classes, in 1841, to beat Fourier on this point, as a Christmas + exercise. I received several answers, agreeing with each other, to 50 + places of decimals. In 1848, I repeated the proposal, requesting that 50 + places might be exceeded: I obtained answers of 75, 65, 63, 58, 57, and + 52 places. But one answer, by Mr. W. Harris Johnston,<a name="NtA_144" + href="#Nt_144"><sup>[144]</sup></a> of Dundalk, and of the Excise Office, + went to 101 decimal places. To test the accuracy of this, I requested Mr. + Johnston to undertake another equation, connected with the former one in + a way which I did not explain. His solution verified the former one, but + he was unable to see the connection, even when his result was obtained. + My reader may be as much at a loss: the two solutions are:</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>2.0945514815423265...</p> + <p>9.0544851845767340...</p> + </div> + </div> + <p>The results are published in the <i>Mathematician</i>, Vol. III, p. + 290. In 1851, another pupil of mine, Mr. J. Power Hicks,<a name="NtA_145" + href="#Nt_145"><sup>[145]</sup></a> carried the result to 152 decimal + places, without knowing what Mr. Johnston had done. The result is in the + <i>English Cyclopædia</i>, article <span class="sc">Involution and + Evolution</span>.</p> + + <p>I remark that when I write the initial of a Christian name, the most + usual name of that initial is understood. I never saw the name of W. G. + Horner written at length, until I applied to a relative of his, who told + me that he was, as I supposed, Wm. <i>George</i>, but that he was named + after a relative of that <i>surname</i>.</p> + + <p>The square root of 2, to 110 decimal places, was given <!-- Page 68 + --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page68"></a>[68]</span>me in 1852 by my + pupil, Mr. William Henry Colvill, now (1867) Civil Surgeon at Baghdad. It + was</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>1.4142135623730950488016887242096980785696</p> + <p> 7187537694807317667973799073247846210703</p> + <p> 885038753432764157273501384623</p> + </div> + </div> + <p>Mr. James Steel<a name="NtA_146" href="#Nt_146"><sup>[146]</sup></a> + of Birkenhead verified this by actual multiplication, and produced</p> + +<table class="math"><tr><td> +2 -</td><td>2580413<br /><img src="images/$line.png" style="width:100%; height:1px; line-height:1px;" alt="/" /><br />10<sup>117</sup> +</td></tr></table> + + <p>as the square.</p> + + <p> </p> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p>Calcolo decidozzinale del Barone Silvio Ferrari. Turin, 1854, 4to.</p> + +</blockquote> + + <p>This is a serious proposal to alter our numeral system and to count by + twelves. Thus 10 would be twelve, 11 thirteen, etc., two new symbols + being invented for ten and eleven. The names of numbers must of course be + changed. There are persons who think such changes practicable. I thought + this proposal absurd when I first saw it, and I think so still:<a + name="NtA_147" href="#Nt_147"><sup>[147]</sup></a> but the one I shall + presently describe beats it so completely in that point, that I have not + a smile left for this one.</p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">ON COMETS.</p> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p>The successful and therefore probably true theory of Comets. London, + 1854. (4pp. duodecimo.)</p> + +</blockquote> + + <p>The author is the late Mr. Peter Legh,<a name="NtA_148" + href="#Nt_148"><sup>[148]</sup></a> of Norbury Booths Hall, Knutsford, + who published for eight or ten <!-- Page 69 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page69"></a>[69]</span>years the <i>Ombrological Almanac</i>, a + work of asserted discovery in meteorology. The theory of comets is that + the joint attraction of the new moon and several planets in the direction + of the sun, draws off the gases from the earth, and forms these cometic + meteors. But how these meteors come to describe orbits round the sun, and + to become capable of having their returns predicted, is not + explained.</p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">A NEW PHASE OF MORMONISM.</p> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p>The Mormon, New York, Saturday, Oct. 27, 1855.</p> + +</blockquote> + + <p>A newspaper headed by a grand picture of starred and striped banners, + beehive, and eagle surmounting it. A scroll on each side: on the left, + "Mormon creed. Mind your own business. Brigham Young;"<a name="NtA_149" + href="#Nt_149"><sup>[149]</sup></a> on the right, "Given by inspiration + of God. Joseph Smith."<a name="NtA_150" + href="#Nt_150"><sup>[150]</sup></a> A leading article on the discoveries + of Prof. Orson Pratt<a name="NtA_151" href="#Nt_151"><sup>[151]</sup></a> + says, "Mormonism has long taken the lead in religion: it will soon be in + the van both in science and politics." At the beginning of the paper is + Professor Pratt's "Law of Planetary Rotation." The cube roots of the + densities of the planets are as the square roots of their periods of + rotation. The squares of the cube roots of the masses divided by the + squares of the diameters are as the periods of rotation. Arithmetical + verification attempted, and the whole very modestly stated <!-- Page 70 + --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page70"></a>[70]</span>and commented + on. Dated G. S. L. City, Utah Ter., Aug. 1, 1855. If the creed, as above, + be correctly given, no wonder the Mormonites are in such bad odor.</p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">MATHEMATICAL ILLUSTRATIONS OF DOCTRINE.</p> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p>The two estates; or both worlds mathematically considered. London, + 1855, small (pp. 16).</p> + +</blockquote> + + <p>The author has published mathematical works with his name. The present + tract is intended to illustrate mathematically a point which may be + guessed from the title. But the symbols do very little in the way of + illustration: thus, <i>x</i> being the <i>present value</i> of the future + estate (eternal happiness), and <i>a</i> of all that this world can give, + the author impresses it on the mathematician that, <i>x</i> being + infinitely greater than <i>a</i>, <i>x</i> + <i>a</i> = <i>x</i>, so that + <i>a</i> need not be considered. This will not act much more powerfully + on a mathematician by virtue of the symbols than if those same symbols + had been dispensed with: even though, as the author adds, "It was this + method of neglecting infinitely small quantities that Sir Isaac Newton + was indebted to for his greatest discoveries."</p> + + <p>There has been a moderate quantity of well-meant attempt to enforce, + sometimes motive, sometimes doctrine, by arguments drawn from + mathematics, the proponents being persons unskilled in that science for + the most part. The ground is very dangerous: for the illustration often + turns the other way with greater power, in a manner which requires only a + little more knowledge to see. I have, in my life, heard from the pulpit + or read, at least a dozen times, that all sin is infinitely great, proved + as follows. The greater the being, the greater the sin of any offence + against him: therefore the offence committed against an infinite being is + infinitely great. Now the mathematician, of which the proposers of this + argument are not aware, is perfectly familiar with quantities which + increase together, and never cease increasing, but so that one of them + remains finite when <!-- Page 71 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page71"></a>[71]</span>the other becomes infinite. In fact, the + argument is a perfect <i>non sequitur</i>.<a name="NtA_152" + href="#Nt_152"><sup>[152]</sup></a> Those who propose it have in their + minds, though in a cloudy and indefinite form, the idea of the increase + of guilt being <i>proportionate</i> to the increase of greatness in the + being offended. But this it would never do to state: for by such + statement not only would the argument lose all that it has of the + picturesque, but the asserted premise would have no strong air of exact + truth. How could any one undertake to appeal to conscience to declare + that an offence against a being 4-7/10 times as great as another is + exactly, no more and no less, 4-7/10 times as great an offence against + the other?</p> + + <p>The infinite character of the offence against an infinite being is + laid down in Dryden's <i>Religio Laici</i>,<a name="NtA_153" + href="#Nt_153"><sup>[153]</sup></a> and is, no doubt, an old + argument:</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="hg3">"For, granting we have sinned, and that th' offence</p> + <p>Of man is made against Omnipotence,</p> + <p>Some price that bears proportion must be paid,</p> + <p>And infinite with infinite be weighed.</p> + <p>See then the Deist lost; remorse for vice</p> + <p>Not paid; or, paid, inadequate in price."</p> + </div> + </div> + <p>Dryden, in the words "bears proportion" is in verse more accurate than + most of the recent repeaters in prose. And this is not the only case of + the kind in his argumentative poetry.</p> + + <p>My old friend, the late Dr. Olinthus Gregory,<a name="NtA_154" + href="#Nt_154"><sup>[154]</sup></a> who was a sound and learned + mathematician, adopted this dangerous kind of illustration in his + <i>Letters on the Christian Religion</i>. <!-- Page 72 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page72"></a>[72]</span>He argued, by parallel, + from what he supposed to be the necessarily mysterious nature of the + <i>impossible</i> quantity of algebra to the necessarily mysterious + nature of certain doctrines of his system of Christianity. But all the + difficulty and mystery of the impossible quantity is now cleared away by + the advance of algebraical thought: and yet Dr. Gregory's book continues + to be sold, and no doubt the illustration is still accepted as + appropriate.</p> + + <p>The mode of argument used by the author of the tract above named has a + striking defect. He talks of reducing this world and the next to "present + value," as an actuary does with successive lives or next presentations. + Does value make interest? and if not, why? And if it do, then the present + value of an eternity is <i>not</i> infinitely great. Who is ignorant that + a perpetual annuity at five per cent is worth only twenty years' + purchase? This point ought to be discussed by a person who treats heaven + as a deferred perpetual annuity. I do not ask him to do so, and would + rather he did not; but if he <i>will</i> do it, he must either deal with + the question of discount, or be asked the reason why.</p> + + <p>When a very young man, I was frequently exhorted to one or another + view of religion by pastors and others who thought that a mathematical + argument would be irresistible. And I heard the following more than once, + and have since seen it in print, I forget where. Since eternal happiness + belonged to the particular views in question, a benefit infinitely great, + then, even if the probability of their arguments were small, or even + infinitely small, yet the product of the chance and benefit, according to + the usual rule, might give a result which no one ought in prudence to + pass over. They did not see that this applied to all systems as well as + their own. I take this argument to be the most perverse of all the + perversions I have heard or read on the subject: there is some high + authority for it, whom I forget.</p> + + <p>The moral of all this is, that such things as the preceding should be + kept out of the way of those who are not <!-- Page 73 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page73"></a>[73]</span>mathematicians, because + they do not understand the argument; and of those who are, because they + do.</p> + + <p>[The high authority referred to above is Pascal, an early cultivator + of mathematical probability, and obviously too much enamoured of his new + pursuit. But he conceives himself bound to wager on one side or the + other. To the argument (<i><span class="correction" title="text reads `Pansées'" + >Pensées</span></i>, ch. 7)<a name="NtA_155" + href="#Nt_155"><sup>[155]</sup></a> that "le juste est de ne point + parier," he answers, "Oui: mais il faut parier: vous êtes embarqué; et ne + parier point que Dieu est, c'est parier qu'il n'est pas."<a + name="NtA_156" href="#Nt_156"><sup>[156]</sup></a> Leaving Pascal's + argument to make its way with a person who, <i>being a sceptic</i>, is + yet positive that the issue is salvation or perdition, if a God there + be,—for the case as put by Pascal requires this,—I shall + merely observe that a person who elects to believe in God, as the best + chance of gain, is not one who, according to Pascal's creed, or any other + worth naming, will really secure that gain. I wonder whether Pascal's + curious imagination ever presented to him in sleep his convert, in the + future state, shaken out of a red-hot dice-box upon a red-hot + hazard-table, as perhaps he might have been, if Dante had been the later + of the two. The original idea is due to the elder Arnobius,<a + name="NtA_157" href="#Nt_157"><sup>[157]</sup></a> who, as cited by + Bayle,<a name="NtA_158" href="#Nt_158"><sup>[158]</sup></a> speaks + thus:</p> + + <p>"Sed et ipse [Christus] quæ pollicetur, non probat. Ita est. Nulla + enim, ut dixi, futurorum potest existere comprobatio. Cum ergo hæc sit + conditio futurorum, ut teneri et comprehendi nullius possint + anticipationis attactu; nonne <!-- Page 74 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page74"></a>[74]</span>purior ratio est, ex duobus incertis, et in + ambigua expectatione pendentibus, id potius credere, quod aliquas spes + ferat, quam omnino quod nullas? In illo enim periculi nihil est, si quod + dicitur imminere, cassum fiat et vacuum: in hoc damnum est maximum, id + est salutis amissio, si cum tempus advenerit aperiatur non fuisse + mendacium."<a name="NtA_159" href="#Nt_159"><sup>[159]</sup></a></p> + + <p>Really Arnobius seems to have got as much out of the notion, in the + third century, as if he had been fourteen centuries later, with the + arithmetic of chances to help him.]</p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">NOVUM ORGANUM MORALIUM.</p> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p>The Sentinel, vol. ix. no. 27. London, Saturday, May 26, 1855.</p> + +</blockquote> + + <p>This is the first London number of an Irish paper, Protestant in + politics. It opens with "Suggestions on the subject of a <i>Novum Organum + Moralium</i>," which is the application of algebra and the differential + calculus to morals, socials, and politics. There is also a leading + article on the subject, and some applications in notes to other articles. + A separate publication was afterwards made, with the addition of a long + Preface; the author being a clergyman who I presume must have been the + editor of the <i>Sentinel</i>.</p> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p>Suggestions as to the employment of a <i>Novum Organum Moralium</i>. + Or, thoughts on the nature of the Differential Calculus, and on the + application of its principles to metaphysics, with a view to the + attainment of demonstration and certainty in moral, <!-- Page 75 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page75"></a>[75]</span>political and + ecclesiastical affairs. By Tresham Dames Gregg,<a name="NtA_160" + href="#Nt_160"><sup>[160]</sup></a> Chaplain of St. Mary's, within the + church of St. Nicholas intra muros, Dublin. London, 1859, 8vo. (pp. xl + + 32).</p> + +</blockquote> + + <p>I have a personal interest in this system, as will appear from the + following extract from the newspaper:</p> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p>"We were subsequently referred to De Morgan's <i>Formal Logic</i> and + Boole's <i>Laws of Thought</i><a name="NtA_161" + href="#Nt_161"><sup>[161]</sup></a> both very elaborate works, and + greatly in the direction taken by ourselves. That the writers amazingly + surpass us in learning we most willingly admit, but we venture to + pronounce of both their learned treatises, that they deal with the + subject in a mode that is scholastic to an excess.... That their works + have been for a considerable space of time before the world and effected + nothing, would argue that they have overlooked the vital nature of the + theme.... On the whole, the writings of De Morgan and Boole go to the + full justification of our principle without in any wise so trenching upon + our ground as to render us open to reproach in claiming our Calculus as a + great discovery.... But we renounce any paltry jealousy as to a matter so + vast. If De Morgan and Boole have had a priority in the case, to them we + cheerfully shall resign the glory and honor. If such be the truth, they + have neither done justice to the discovery, nor to themselves [quite + true]. They have, under the circumstances, acted like 'the foolish man, + who roasteth not that which he taketh <!-- Page 76 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page76"></a>[76]</span>in hunting.... It will be + sufficient for us, however, to be the Columbus of these great Americi, + and popularize what they found, <i>if</i> they found it. We, as from the + mountain top, will then become <i>their</i> trumpeters, and cry glory to + De Morgan and glory to Boole, under Him who is the source of all glory, + the only good and wise, to Whom be glory for ever! <i>If</i> they be our + predecessors in this matter, they have, under Him, taken moral questions + out of the category of probabilities, and rendered them perfectly + certain. In that case, let their books be read by those who may doubt the + principles this day laid before the world as a great discovery, by our + newspaper. Our cry shall be <span title="eurêkasi" class="grk" + >ευρηκασι</span>!<a + name="NtA_162" href="#Nt_162"><sup>[162]</sup></a> Let us hope that they + will join us, and henceforth keep their light [<i>sic</i>] from under + their bushel."</p> + +</blockquote> + + <p>For myself, and for my old friend Mr. Boole, who I am sure would join + me, I disclaim both priority, simultaneity, and posteriority, and request + that nothing may be trumpeted from the mountain top except our abjuration + of all community of thought or operation with this <i>Novum + Organum</i>.</p> + + <p>To such community we can make no more claim than Americus could make + to being the forerunner of Columbus who popularized his discoveries. We + do not wish for any <span title="eurêkasi" class="grk" + >ευρηκασι</span> and not + even for <span title="heurêkasi" class="grk" + >εὑρηκασι</span>. For self + and Boole, I point out what would have convinced either of us that this + house is divided against itself.</p> + + <p><span class="grk">Α</span> being an apostolic element, <span + class="grk">δ</span> the doctrinal element, and <span + class="grk">Χ</span> the body of the faithful, the church is <span + class="grk">Α</span> <span class="grk">δ</span> <span + class="grk">Χ</span>, we are told. Also, that if <span + class="grk">Α</span> become negative, or the Apostolicity become + Diabolicity [my words]; or if <span class="grk">δ</span> become + negative, and doctrine become heresy; or if <span + class="grk">Χ</span> become negative, that is, if the faithful become + unfaithful; the church becomes negative, "the very opposite to what it + ought to be." For self and Boole, I admit this. But—which is not + noticed—if <span class="grk">Α</span> and <span + class="grk">δ</span> should <i>both</i> become negative, diabolical + origin <!-- Page 77 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page77"></a>[77]</span>and heretical doctrine, then the church, + <span class="grk">Α</span> <span class="grk">δ</span> <span + class="grk">Χ</span>, is still positive, what it ought to be, unless + <span class="grk">Χ</span> be also negative, or the people unfaithful + to it, in which case it is a bad church. Now, self and Boole—though + I admit I have not asked my partner—are of opinion that a + diabolical church with false doctrine does harm when the people are + faithful, and can do good only when the people are unfaithful. We may be + wrong, but this is what we <i>do</i> think. Accordingly, we have caught + nothing, and can therefore roast nothing of our own: I content myself + with roasting a joint of Mr. Gregg's larder.</p> + + <p>These mathematical vagaries have uses which will justify a large + amount of quotation: and in a score of years this may perhaps be the only + attainable record. I therefore proceed.</p> + + <p>After observing that by this calculus juries (heaven help them! say I) + can calculate damages "almost to a nicety," and further that it is made + abundantly evident that <i>c e x</i> is "the general expression for an + individual," it is noted that the number of the Beast is not given in the + Revelation in words at length, but as <span title="chxw'" class="grk" + >χξϜ'</span>.<a name="NtA_163" + href="#Nt_163"><sup>[163]</sup></a> On this the following remark is + made:</p> + + <p>"Can it be possible that we have in this case a specimen given to us + of the arithmetic of heaven, and an expression revealed, which indicates + by its function of addibility, the name of the church in question, and of + each member of it; and by its function of multiplicability the doctrine, + the mission, and the members of the great Synagogue of Apostacy? We + merely propound these questions;—we do not pretend to solve + them."</p> + + <p>After a translation in blank verse—a very pretty one—of + the 18th Psalm, the author proceeds as follows, to render it into + differential calculus:</p> + +<p><!-- Page 78 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page78"></a>[78]</span></p> + + <p>"And the whole tells us just this, that David did what he could. He + augmented those elements of his constitution which were (<i>exceptis + excipiendis</i>)<a name="NtA_164" href="#Nt_164"><sup>[164]</sup></a> + subject to himself, and the Almighty then augmented his personal + qualities, and his vocational <i>status</i>. Otherwise, to throw the + matter into the expression of our notation, the variable <i>e</i> was + augmented, and <i>c x</i> rose proportionally. The law of the variation, + according to our theory, would be thus expressed. The resultant was David + the king <i>c e x</i> [<i>c</i> = <i>r</i>?] (who had been David the + shepherd boy), and from the conditions of the theorem we have</p> + +<table class="math"><tr><td> +<i>du</i><br /><img src="images/$line.png" style="width:100%; height:1px; line-height:1px;" alt="/" /><br /><i>de</i></td><td>= <i>ce</i></td><td><i>dx</i><br /><img src="images/$line.png" style="width:100%; height:1px; line-height:1px;" alt="/" /><br /><i>de</i></td><td>+ <i>ex</i></td><td><i>dc</i><br /><img src="images/$line.png" style="width:100%; height:1px; line-height:1px;" alt="/" /><br /><i>de</i></td><td><i>x</i> + <i>cx</i> +</td></tr></table> + + <p>which, in the terms of ordinary language, just means, the increase of + David's educational excellence or qualities—his piety, his + prayerfulness, his humility, obedience, etc.—was so great, that + when multiplied by his original talent and position, it produced a + product so great as to be equal in its amount to royalty, honor, wealth, + and power, etc.: in short, to all the attributes of majesty."<a + name="NtA_165" href="#Nt_165"><sup>[165]</sup></a></p> + + <p>The "solution of the family problem" is of high interest. It is to + determine the effect on the family in general from a change [of conduct] + in one of them. The person chosen is one of the maid-servants.</p> + + <p>"Let <i>c e x</i> be the father; + <i>c</i><sub>1</sub><i>e</i><sub>1</sub><i>x</i><sub>1</sub> the mother, + etc. The family then consists of the maid's master, her mistress, her + young master, her young mistress, and fellow servant. Now the master's + calling (or <i>c</i>) is to exercise his share of control over this + servant, and mind the rest of his business: call this remainder <i>a</i>, + and let his calling generally, or all his affairs, be to his maid-servant + as <i>m</i> : <i>y</i>, i.e., <i>y</i> = (<i>mz</i>/<i>c</i>); ... <!-- + Page 79 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page79"></a>[79]</span>and this + expression will represent his relation to the servant. Consequently,</p> + +<table class="math"><tr><td> +<i>c e x</i> = </td><td><img src="images/$lbracket.png" style="height:5ex; width:0.5em" alt="left bracket" /></td><td><i>a</i> +</td><td><i>mz</i><br /><img src="images/$line.png" style="width:100%; height:1px; line-height:1px;" alt="/" /><br /><i>c</i></td><td><img src="images/$rbracket.png" style="height:5ex; width:0.5em" alt="right bracket" /></td><td></td><td><i>e x</i>; otherwise </td><td><img src="images/$lbracket.png" style="height:5ex; width:0.5em" alt="left bracket" /></td><td><i>a</i> +</td><td><i>mz</i><br /><img src="images/$line.png" style="width:100%; height:1px; line-height:1px;" alt="/" /><br /><i>c</i></td><td><img src="images/$rbracket.png" style="height:5ex; width:0.5em" alt="right bracket" /></td><td></td><td><i>e x</i> +</td></tr></table> + + <p>is the expression for the father when viewed as the girl's + master."</p> + + <p>I have no objection to repeat so far; but I will not give the formula + for the maid's relation to her young master; for I am not quite sure that + all young masters are to be trusted with it. Suffice it that the son will + be affected directly as his influence over her, and inversely as his + vocational power: if then he should have some influence and no vocational + power, the effect on him would be infinite. This is dismal to think of. + Further, the formula brings out that if one servant improve, the other + must deteriorate, and <i>vice versa</i>. This is not the experience of + most families: and the author remarks as follows:</p> + + <p>"That is, we should venture to say, a very beautiful result, and we + may say it yielded us no little astonishment. What our calculation might + lead to we never dreamt of; that it should educe a conclusion so + recondite that our unassisted power never could have attained to, and + which, if we could have conjectured it, would have been at best the most + distant probability, that conclusion being itself, as it would appear, + the quintessence of truth, afforded us a measure of satisfaction that was + not slight."</p> + + <p>That the writings of Mr. Boole and myself "go to the full + justification of" this "principle," is only true in the sense in which + the Scotch use, or did use, the word <i>justification</i>.</p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">A TRIBUTE TO BOOLE.</p> + + <p>[The last number of this Budget had stood in type for months, waiting + until there should be a little cessation of correspondence more connected + with the things of the day. <!-- Page 80 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page80"></a>[80]</span>I had quite forgotten what it was to + contain; and little thought, when I read the proof, that my allusions to + my friend Mr. Boole, then in life and health, would not be printed till + many weeks after his death. Had I remembered what my last number + contained, I should have added my expression of regret and admiration to + the numerous obituary testimonials, which this great loss to science has + called forth.</p> + + <p>The system of logic alluded to in the last number of this series is + but one of many proofs of genius and patience combined. I might + legitimately have entered it among my <i>paradoxes</i>, or things counter + to general opinion: but it is a paradox which, like that of Copernicus, + excited admiration from its first appearance. That the symbolic processes + of algebra, invented as tools of numerical calculation, should be + competent to express every act of thought, and to furnish the grammar and + dictionary of an all-containing system of logic, would not have been + believed until it was proved. When Hobbes,<a name="NtA_166" + href="#Nt_166"><sup>[166]</sup></a> in the time of the Commonwealth, + published his <i>Computation or Logique</i>, he had a remote glimpse of + some of the points which are placed in the light of day by Mr. Boole. The + unity of the forms of thought in all the applications of reason, however + remotely separated, will one day be matter of notoriety and common + wonder: and Boole's name will be remembered in connection with one of the + most important steps towards the attainment of this knowledge.]</p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">DECIMALS RUN RIOT.</p> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p>The Decimal System as a whole. By Dover Statter.<a name="NtA_167" + href="#Nt_167"><sup>[167]</sup></a> London and Liverpool, 1856, 8vo.</p> + +</blockquote> + +<p><!-- Page 81 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page81"></a>[81]</span></p> + + <p>The proposition is to make everything decimal. The day, now 24 hours, + is to be made 10 hours. The year is to have ten months, Unusber, Duober, + etc. Fortunately there are ten commandments, so there will be neither + addition to, nor deduction from, the moral law. But the twelve apostles! + Even rejecting Judas, there is a whole apostle of difficulty. These + points the author does not touch.</p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">ON PHONETIC SPELLING.</p> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p>The first book of Phonetic Reading. London, Fred. Pitman,<a + name="NtA_168" href="#Nt_168"><sup>[168]</sup></a> Phonetic Depot, 20, + Paternoster Row, 1856, 12mo.</p> + + <p>The Phonetic Journal. Devoted to the propagation of phonetic reading, + phonetic longhand, phonetic shorthand, and phonetic printing. No. 46. + Saturday, 15 November 1856. Vol. 15.</p> + +</blockquote> + + <p>I write the titles of a couple out of several tracts which I have by + me. But the number of publications issued by the promoters of this + spirited attempt is very large indeed.<a name="NtA_169" + href="#Nt_169"><sup>[169]</sup></a> The attempt itself has had no success + with the mass of the public. This I do not regret. Had the world found + that the change was useful, I should have gone contentedly with the + stream; but not without regretting our old language. I admit the + difficulties which our unpronounceable spelling puts in the way of + learning to read: and I have no doubt that, as affirmed, it is easier to + teach children phonetically, and afterwards to introduce them to our + common system, than to proceed in the usual way. But by the usual way I + mean proceeding by letters from the very beginning. If, which I am sure + is a better plan, children be taught at the commencement very much by + <i>complete words</i>, as if they were learning Chinese, and be gradually + accustomed to <!-- Page 82 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page82"></a>[82]</span>resolve the known words into letters, a + fraction, perhaps a considerable one, of the advantage of the phonetic + system is destroyed. It must be remembered that a phonetic system can + only be an approximation. The differences of pronunciation existing among + educated persons are so great, that, on the phonetic system, different + persons ought to spell differently.</p> + + <p>But the phonetic party have produced something which will immortalize + their plan: I mean their <i>shorthand</i>, which has had a fraction of + the success it deserves. All who know anything of shorthand must see that + nothing but a phonetic system can be worthy of the name: and the system + promulgated is skilfully done. Were I a young man I should apply myself + to it systematically. I believe this is the only system in which books + were ever published. I wish some one would contribute to a public journal + a brief account of the dates and circumstances of the phonetic movement, + not forgetting a list of the books published in shorthand.</p> + + <p>A child beginning to read by himself may owe terrible dreams and + waking images of horror to our spelling, as I did when six years old. In + one of the common poetry-books there is an admonition against confining + little birds in cages, and the child is asked what if a great giant, + amazingly strong, were to take you away, shut you up,</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>And feed you with vic-tu-als you ne-ver could bear.</p> + </div> + </div> + <p>The book was hyphened for the beginner's use; and I had not the least + idea that <i>vic-tu-als</i> were <i>vittles</i>: by the sound of the word + I judged they must be of iron; and it entered into my soul.</p> + + <p>The worst of the phonetic shorthand book is that they nowhere, so far + as I have seen, give <i>all</i> the symbols, in every stage of + advancement, together, in one or following pages. It is symbols and talk, + more symbols and more talk, etc. A universal view of the signs ought to + begin the works. <!-- Page 83 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page83"></a>[83]</span></p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">A HANDFUL OF LITTLE PARADOXERS.</p> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p>Ombrological Almanac. Seventeenth year. An essay on Anemology and + Ombrology. By Peter Legh,<a name="NtA_170" + href="#Nt_170"><sup>[170]</sup></a> Esq. London, 1856, 12mo.</p> + +</blockquote> + + <p>Mr. Legh, already mentioned, was an intelligent country gentleman, and + a legitimate speculator. But the clue was not reserved for him.</p> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p>The proof that the three angles of a triangle are equal to two right + angles looked for in the inflation of the circle. By Gen. Perronet + Thompson. London, 1856, 8vo. (pp. 4.)</p> + +</blockquote> + + <p>Another attempt, the third, at this old difficulty, which cannot be + put into few words of explanation.<a name="NtA_171" + href="#Nt_171"><sup>[171]</sup></a></p> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p>Comets considered as volcanoes, and the cause of their velocity and + other phenomena thereby explained. London (<i>circa</i> 1856), 8vo.</p> + +</blockquote> + + <p>The title explains the book better than the book explains the + title.</p> + + <p> </p> + + <p>1856. A stranger applied to me to know what the ideas of a friend of + his were worth upon the magnitude of the earth. The matter being one + involving points of antiquity, I mentioned various persons whose + speculations he seemed to have ignored; among others, Thales. The reply + was, "I am instructed by the author to inform you that he is perfectly + acquainted with the works of Thales, Euclid, Archimedes, ..." I had some + thought of asking whether he had used the Elzevir edition of Thales,<a + name="NtA_172" href="#Nt_172"><sup>[172]</sup></a> which is known to be + very incomplete, or that of Professor Niemand with the lections, Nirgend, + 1824, 2 vols. folio; just to see whether the <!-- Page 84 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page84"></a>[84]</span>last would not have been + the very edition he had read. But I refrained, in mercy.</p> + + <p> </p> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p>The moon is the image of the Earth, and is not a solid body. By + T<sup>he</sup> Longitude.<a name="NtA_173" + href="#Nt_173"><sup>[173]</sup></a> (Private Circulation.) In five parts. + London, 1856, 1857, 1857; Calcutta, 1858, 1858, 8vo.</p> + +</blockquote> + + <p>The earth is "brought to a focus"; it describes a "looped orbit round + the sun." The eclipse of the sun is thus explained: "At the time of + eclipses, the image is more or less so directly before or behind the + earth that, in the case of new moon, bright rays of the sun fall and bear + upon the spot where the figure of the earth is brought to a focus, that + is, bear upon the image of the earth, when a darkness beyond is produced + reaching to the earth, and the sun becomes more or less eclipsed." How + the earth is "brought to a focus" we do not find stated. Writers of this + kind always have the argument that some things which have been ridiculed + at first have been finally established. Those who put into the lottery + had the same kind of argument; but were always answered by being reminded + how many blanks there were to one prize. I am loath to pronounce against + anything: but it does force itself upon me that the author of these + tracts has drawn a blank.</p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">LUNAR MOTION AGAIN.</p> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p><i>Times</i>, April 6 or 7, 1856. The moon has no rotary motion.</p> + +</blockquote> + + <p>A letter from Mr. Jellinger Symons,<a name="NtA_174" + href="#Nt_174"><sup>[174]</sup></a> inspector of schools, which commenced + a controversy of many letters and pamphlets. This dispute comes on at + intervals, and will continue to do so. It sometimes arises from inability + to understand the character of simple rotation, geometrically; sometimes + from not understanding the mechanical doctrine of rotation.</p> + +<p><!-- Page 85 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page85"></a>[85]</span></p> + + <p> </p> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p>Lunar Motion. The whole argument stated, and illustrated by diagrams; + with letters from the Astronomer Royal. By Jellinger C. Symons. London, + 1856, 8vo.</p> + +</blockquote> + + <p>The Astronomer Royal endeavored to disentangle Mr. J. C. Symons, but + failed. Mr. Airy<a name="NtA_175" href="#Nt_175"><sup>[175]</sup></a> can + correct the error of a ship's compasses, because he can put her head + which way he pleases: but this he cannot do with a speculator.</p> + + <p>Mr. Symons, in this tract, insinuated that the rotation of the moon is + one of the silver shrines of the craftsmen. To see a thing so clearly as + to be satisfied that all who say they do not see it are telling wilful + falsehood, is the nature of man. Many of all sects find much comfort in + it, when they think of the others; many unbelievers solace themselves + with it against believers; priests of old time founded the right of + persecution upon it, and of our time, in some cases, the right of + slander: many of the paradoxers make it an argument against students of + science. But I must say for men of science, for the whole body, that they + are fully persuaded of the honesty of the paradoxers. The simple truth + is, that all those I have mentioned, believers, unbelievers, priests, + paradoxers, are not so sure they are right in their points of difference + that they can safely allow themselves to be persuaded of the honesty of + opponents. Those who know demonstration are differently situated. I + suspect a train might be laid for the formation of a better habit in this + way. We know that Suvaroff<a name="NtA_176" + href="#Nt_176"><sup>[176]</sup></a> taught his Russians at Ismail not to + fear the Turks by accustoming them to charge bundles of faggots dressed + in turbans, etc.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>At which your wise men sneered in phrases witty,</p> + <p>He made no answer—but he took the city!</p> + </div> + </div> + <p>Would it not be a good thing to exercise boys, in pairs, in the + following dialogue:—Sir, you are quite wrong!—Sir, <!-- Page + 86 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page86"></a>[86]</span>I am sure you + honestly think so! This was suggested by what used to take place at + Cambridge in my day. By statute, every B.A. was obliged to perform a + certain number of disputations, and the <i>father</i> of the college had + to affirm that it had been done. Some were performed in earnest: the rest + were huddled over as follows. Two candidates occupied the places of the + respondent and the opponent: <i>Recte statuit Newtonus</i>, said the + respondent: <i>Recte non statuit Newtonus</i>,<a name="NtA_177" + href="#Nt_177"><sup>[177]</sup></a> said the opponent. This was repeated + the requisite number of times, and counted for as many <i>acts</i> and + <i>opponencies</i>. The parties then changed places, and each unsaid what + he had said on the other side of the house: I remember thinking that it + was capital drill for the House of Commons, if any of us should ever get + there. The process was repeated with every pair of candidates.</p> + + <p>The real disputations were very severe exercises. I was badgered for + two hours with arguments given and answered in Latin,—or what we + called Latin—against Newton's first section, Lagrange's<a + name="NtA_178" href="#Nt_178"><sup>[178]</sup></a> derived functions, and + Locke<a name="NtA_179" href="#Nt_179"><sup>[179]</sup></a> on innate + principles. And though I <i>took off</i> everything, and was pronounced + by the moderator to have disputed <i>magno honore</i>,<a name="NtA_180" + href="#Nt_180"><sup>[180]</sup></a> I never had such a strain of thought + in my life. For the inferior opponents were made as sharp as their + betters by their tutors, who kept lists of queer objections, drawn from + all quarters. The opponents used to meet the day before to compare their + arguments, that the same might not come twice over. But, after I left + Cambridge, it became the fashion to invite the respondent to be present, + who therefore learnt all that was to be brought against him. This made + the whole thing a farce: and the disputations were abolished.</p> + +<p><!-- Page 87 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page87"></a>[87]</span></p> + + <p> </p> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p>The Doctrine of the Moon's Rotation, considered in a letter to the + Astronomical Censor of the <i>Athenæum</i>. By Jones L. MacElshender.<a + name="NtA_181" href="#Nt_181"><sup>[181]</sup></a> Edinburgh, 1856, + 8vo.</p> + +</blockquote> + + <p>This is an appeal to those cultivated persons who will read it "to + overrule the <i>dicta</i> of judges who would sacrifice truth and justice + to professional rule, or personal pique, pride, or prejudice"; meaning, + the great mass of those who have studied the subject. But how? Suppose + the "cultivated persons" were to side with the author, would those who + have conclusions to draw and applications to make consent to be wrong + because the "general body of intelligent men," who make no special study + of the subject, are against them? They would do no such thing: they would + request the general body of intelligent men to find their own astronomy, + and welcome. But the truth is, that this intelligent body knows better: + and no persons know better that they know better than the speculators + themselves.</p> + + <p>But suppose the general body were to combine, in opposition to those + who have studied. Of course all my list must be admitted to their trial; + and then arises the question whether both sides are to be heard. If so, + the general body of the intelligent must hear all the established side + have to say: that is, they must become just as much of students as the + inculpated orthodox themselves. And will they not then get into + <i>professional rule</i>, pique, pride, and prejudice, as the others did? + But if, which I suspect, they are intended to judge as they are, they + will be in a rare difficulty. All the paradoxers are of like pretensions: + they cannot, as a class, be right, for each one contradicts a great many + of the rest. There will be the puzzle which silenced the crew of the + cutter in Marryat's novel of the Dog Fiend.<a name="NtA_182" + href="#Nt_182"><sup>[182]</sup></a> "A tog is a tog," said + Jansen.—"Yes," replied another, "we all know a dog is a dog; but + the question is—Is <i>this</i> dog <!-- Page 88 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page88"></a>[88]</span>a dog?" And this question + would arise upon every dog of them all.</p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">ZETETIC ASTRONOMY.</p> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p>Zetetic Astronomy: Earth not a globe. 1857 (Broadsheet).</p> + +</blockquote> + + <p>Though only a traveling lecturer's advertisement, there are so many + arguments and quotations that it is a little pamphlet. The lecturer + gained great praise from provincial newspapers for his ingenuity in + proving that the earth is a flat, surrounded by ice. Some of the journals + rather incline to the view: but the <i>Leicester Advertiser</i> thinks + that the statements "would seem very seriously to invalidate some of the + most important conclusions of modern astronomy," while the <i>Norfolk + Herald</i> is clear that "there must be a great error on one side or the + other." This broadsheet is printed at Aylesbury in 1857, and the lecturer + calls himself <i>Parallax</i>: but at Trowbridge, in 1849, he was S. + Goulden.<a name="NtA_183" href="#Nt_183"><sup>[183]</sup></a> In this + last advertisement is the following announcement: "A paper on the above + subjects was read before the Council and Members of the Royal + Astronomical Society, Somerset House, Strand, London (Sir John F. W. + Herschel,<a name="NtA_184" href="#Nt_184"><sup>[184]</sup></a> + President), Friday, Dec. 8, 1848." No account of such a paper appears in + the <i>Notice</i> for that month: I suspect that the above is Mr. S. + Goulden's way of representing the following occurrence: Dec. 8, 1848, the + Secretary of the Astronomical Society (De Morgan by name) said, at the + close of the proceedings,—"Now, gentlemen, if you will promise not + to tell the Council, I will read something for your amusement": and he + then read a few of the arguments which had been transmitted by the + lecturer. The fact is worth noting that from 1849 to 1857, arguments on + the roundness or flatness of the earth did itinerate. I have <!-- Page 89 + --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page89"></a>[89]</span>no doubt they + did much good: for very few persons have any distinct idea of the + evidence for the rotundity of the earth. The <i>Blackburn Standard</i> + and <i>Preston Guardian</i> (Dec. 12 and 16, 1849) unite in stating that + the lecturer ran away from his second lecture at Burnley, having been + rather too hard pressed at the end of his first lecture to explain why + the large hull of a ship disappeared before the sails. The persons + present and waiting for the second lecture assuaged their disappointment + by concluding that the lecturer had slipped off the icy edge of his flat + disk, and that he would not be seen again till he peeped up on the + opposite side.</p> + + <p>But, strange as it may appear, the opposer of the earth's roundness + has more of a case—or less of a want of case—than the + arithmetical squarer of the circle. The evidence that the earth is round + is but cumulative and circumstantial: scores of phenomena ask, separately + and independently, what other explanation can be imagined except the + sphericity of the earth. The evidence for the earth's figure is + tremendously powerful of its kind; but the proof that the circumference + is 3.14159265... times the diameter is of a higher kind, being absolute + mathematical demonstration.</p> + + <p>The Zetetic system still lives in lectures and books; as it ought to + do, for there is no way of teaching a truth comparable to opposition. The + last I heard of it was in lectures at Plymouth, in October, 1864. Since + this time a prospectus has been issued of a work entitled "The Earth not + a Globe"; but whether it has been published I do not know. The contents + are as follows:</p> + + <p> </p> + + <p>"The Earth a Plane—How circumnavigated.—How time is lost + or gained.—Why a ship's hull disappears (when outward bound) before + the mast head.—Why the Polar Star sets when we proceed Southward, + etc.—Why a pendulum vibrates with less velocity at the Equator than + <!-- Page 90 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page90"></a>[90]</span>at + the Pole.—The allowance for rotundity <i>supposed</i> to be made by + surveyors, not made in practice.—Measurement of Arcs of the + Meridian unsatisfactory.—Degrees of Longitude North and South of + the Equator considered.—Eclipses and Earth's form + considered.—The Earth no motion on axis or in orbit.—How the + Sun moves above the Earth's surface concentric with the North + Pole.—Cause of Day and Night, Winter and Summer; the long + alternation of light and darkness at the Pole.—Cause of the Sun + rising and setting.—Distance of the Sun from London, 4,028 + miles—How measured.—<i>Challenge to + Mathematicians.</i>—Cause of Tides.—Moon self-luminous, NOT a + reflector.—Cause of Solar and Lunar eclipses.—Stars <i>not + worlds</i>; their distance.—Earth, the <i>only material</i> world; + its true position in the universe; its condition and ultimate destruction + by fire (2 Peter iii.), etc."</p> + + <p>I wish there were geoplatylogical lectures in every town; in England + (<i>platylogical</i>, in composition, need not mean <i>babbling</i>). The + late Mr. Henry Archer<a name="NtA_185" + href="#Nt_185"><sup>[185]</sup></a> would, if alive, be very much obliged + to me for recording his vehement denial of the roundness of the earth: he + was excited if he heard any one call it a globe. I cannot produce his + proof from the Pyramids, and from some caves in Arabia. He had other + curious notions, of course: I should no more believe that a flat earth + was a man's only paradox, than I should that Dutens,<a name="NtA_186" + href="#Nt_186"><sup>[186]</sup></a> the editor of Leibnitz, was eccentric + only in supplying a tooth which he had lost by one which he found in an + Italian tomb, and fully believed that it had once belonged to Scipio + Africanus, whose family vault was discovered, it is supposed, in 1780. + Mr. Archer is of note as <!-- Page 91 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page91"></a>[91]</span>the suggester of the perforated border of + the postage-stamps, and, I think, of the way of doing it; for this he got + 4000<i>l.</i> reward. He was a civil engineer.</p> + + <p>(<i>August 28, 1865.</i>) The <i>Zetetic Astronomy</i> has come into + my hands. When, in 1851, I went to see the Great Exhibition, I heard an + organ played by a performer who seemed very desirous to exhibit one + particular stop. "What do you think of that stop?" I was + asked.—"That depends on the name of it," said I.—"Oh! what + can the name have to do with the sound? 'that which we call a rose,' + etc."—"The name has everything to do with it: if it be a + flute-stop, I think it very harsh; but if it be a railway-whistle-stop, I + think it very sweet." So as to this book: if it be childish, it is + clever; if it be mannish, it is unusually foolish. The flat earth, + floating tremulously on the sea; the sun moving always over the flat, + giving day when near enough, and night when too far off; the + self-luminous moon, with a semi-transparent invisible moon, created to + give her an eclipse now and then; the new law of perspective, by which + the vanishing of the hull before the masts, usually thought to prove the + earth globular, really proves it flat;—all these and other things + are well fitted to form exercises for a person who is learning the + elements of astronomy. The manner in which the sun dips into the sea, + especially in tropical climates, upsets the whole. Mungo Park,<a + name="NtA_187" href="#Nt_187"><sup>[187]</sup></a> I think, gives an + African hypothesis which explains phenomena better than this. The sun + dips into the western ocean, and the people there cut him in pieces, fry + him in a pan, and then join him together again, take him round the + underway, and set him up in the east. I hope this book will be read, and + that many will be puzzled by it: for there are many whose notions of + astronomy deserve no better fate. There is no subject on which there is + so little <!-- Page 92 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page92"></a>[92]</span>accurate conception as that of the motions + of the heavenly bodies. The author, though confident in the extreme, + neither impeaches the honesty of those whose opinions he assails, nor + allots them any future inconvenience: in these points he is worthy to + live on a globe, and to revolve in twenty-four hours.</p> + + <p> </p> + + <p>(<i>October, 1866.</i>) A follower appears, in a work dedicated to the + preceding author: it is <i>Theoretical Astronomy examined and exposed by + Common Sense</i>. The author has 128 well-stuffed octavo pages. I hope he + will not be the last. He prints the newspaper accounts of his work: the + <i>Church Times</i> says—not seeing how the satire might be + retorted—"We never began to despair of Scripture until we + discovered that 'Common Sense' had taken up the cudgels in its defence." + This paper considers our author as the type of a <i>Protestant</i>. The + author himself, who gives a summary of his arguments in verse, has one + couplet which is worth quoting:</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="hg3">"How is't that sailors, bound to sea, with <i>a 'globe'</i> would never start,</p> + <p>But in its place will always take <i>Mercator's</i><a name="NtA_188" href="#Nt_188"><sup>[188]</sup></a> <span class="sc">Level</span> <i>chart</i>!"</p> + </div> + </div> + <p>To which I answer:</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Why, really Mr. Common Sense, you've never got so far</p> + <p>As to think Mercator's planisphere shows countries as they are;</p> + <p>It won't do to measure distances; it points out how to steer,</p> + <p>But this distortion's not for you; another is, I fear.</p> + <p>The earth must be a cylinder, if seaman's charts be true,</p> + <p>Or else the boundaries, right and left, are one as well as two;</p> + <p>They contradict the notion that we dwell upon a plain,</p> + <p>For straight away, without a turn, will bring you home again.</p> + <p>There are various plane projections; and each one has its use:</p> + <p>I wish a milder word would rhyme—but really you're a goose!</p> + </div> + </div> + <p>The great wish of persons who expose themselves as above, is to be + argued with, and to be treated as reputable <!-- Page 93 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page93"></a>[93]</span>and refutable opponents. + "Common Sense" reminds us that no amount of "blatant ridicule" will turn + right into wrong. He is perfectly correct: but then no amount of bad + argument will turn wrong into right. These two things balance; and we are + just where we were: but you should answer our arguments, for whom, I ask? + Would reason convince this kind of reasoner? The issue is a short and a + clear one. If these parties be what I contend they are, then ridicule is + made for them: if not, for what or for whom? If they be right, they are + only passing through the appointed trial of all good things. Appeal is + made to the future: and my Budget is intended to show samples of the long + line of heroes who have fallen without victory, each of whom had his day + of confidence and his prophecy of success. Let the future decide: they + say roundly that the earth is flat; I say flatly that it is round.</p> + + <p>The paradoxers all want reason, and not ridicule: they are all + accessible, and would yield to conviction. Well then, let them reason + with one another! They divide into squads, each with a subject, and as + many different opinions as persons in each squad. If they be really what + they say they are, the true man of each set can put down all the rest, + and can come crowned with glory and girdled with scalps, to the attack on + the orthodox misbelievers. But they know, to a man, that the rest are not + fit to be reasoned with: they pay the regulars the compliment of + believing that the only chance lies with them. They think in their + hearts, each one for himself, that ridicule is of fit appliance to the + rest.</p> + + <p> </p> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p>Miranda. A book divided into three parts, entitled Souls, Numbers, + Stars, on the Neo-Christian Religion ... Vol. i. London, 1858, 1859, + 1860. 8vo.</p> + +</blockquote> + + <p>The name of the author is Filopanti.<a name="NtA_189" + href="#Nt_189"><sup>[189]</sup></a> He announces himself as the 49th and + last Emanuel: his immediate <!-- Page 94 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page94"></a>[94]</span>predecessors were Emanuel Washington, + Emanuel Newton, and Emanuel Galileo. He is to collect nations into one + family. He knows the transmigrations of the whole human race. Thus + Descartes became William III of England: Roger Bacon became Boccaccio. + But Charles IX,<a name="NtA_190" href="#Nt_190"><sup>[190]</sup></a> in + retribution for the massacre of St. Bartholomew, was hanged in London + under the name of Barthélemy for the murder of Collard: and many of the + Protestants whom he killed as King of France were shouting at his death + before the Old Bailey.</p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">THE SABBATH—THE GREAT PYRAMID</p> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p>A Letter to the members of the Anglo-Biblical Institute, dated Sept. + 7, 1858, and signed 'Herman Heinfetter.'<a name="NtA_191" + href="#Nt_191"><sup>[191]</sup></a> (Broadsheet.)</p> + +</blockquote> + + <p>This gentleman is well known to the readers of the <i>Athenæum</i>, in + which, for nearly twenty years, he has inserted, as advertisements, long + arguments in favor of Christians keeping the Jewish Sabbath, beginning on + Friday Evening. The present letter maintains that, by the force of the + definite article, the <i>days</i> of creation may not be consecutive, but + may have any time—millions of years—between them. This + ingenious way of reconciling the author of Genesis and the indications of + geology is worthy to be added to the list, already pretty numerous. Mr. + Heinfetter has taken such pains to make himself a public agitator, that + <!-- Page 95 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page95"></a>[95]</span>I + do not feel it to be any invasion of private life if I state that I have + heard he is a large corn-dealer. No doubt he is a member of the + congregation whose almanac has already been described.</p> + + <p> </p> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p>The great Pyramid. Why was it built? And who built it? By John Taylor, + 1859,<a name="NtA_192" href="#Nt_192"><sup>[192]</sup></a> 12mo.</p> + +</blockquote> + + <p>This work is very learned, and may be referred to for the history of + previous speculations. It professes to connect the dimensions of the + Pyramid with a system of metrology which is supposed to have left strong + traces in the systems of modern times; showing the Egyptians to have had + good approximate knowledge of the dimensions of the earth, and of the + quadrature of the circle. These are points on which coincidence is hard + to distinguish from intention. Sir John Herschel<a name="NtA_193" + href="#Nt_193"><sup>[193]</sup></a> noticed this work, and gave several + coincidences, in the <i>Athenæum</i>, Nos. 1696 and 1697, April 28 and + May 5, 1860: and there are some remarks by Mr. Taylor in No. 1701, June + 2, 1860.</p> + + <p>Mr. Taylor's most recent publication is—</p> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p>The battle of the Standards: the ancient, of four thousand years, + against the modern, of the last fifty years—the less perfect of the + two. London, 1864, 12mo.</p> + +</blockquote> + + <p>This is intended as an appendix to the work on the Pyramid. Mr. Taylor + distinctly attributes the original system to revelation, of which he says + the Great Pyramid is the record. We are advancing, he remarks, towards + the end of the Christian dispensation, and he adds that it is + satisfactory to see that we retain the standards which were given by + unwritten revelation 700 years before Moses. This is lighting the candle + at both ends; for myself, I shall not undertake to deny or affirm either + what is said about the dark past or what is hinted about the dark + future.</p> + +<p><!-- Page 96 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page96"></a>[96]</span></p> + + <p>My old friend Mr. Taylor is well known as the author of the argument + which has convinced many, even most, that Sir Philip Francis<a + name="NtA_194" href="#Nt_194"><sup>[194]</sup></a> was Junius: pamphlet, + 1813; supplement, 1817; second edition "The Identity of Junius with a + distinguished living character established," London, 1818, 8vo. He told + me that Sir Philip Francis, in a short conversation with him, made only + this remark, "You may depend upon it you are quite mistaken:" the phrase + appears to me remarkable; it has an air of criticism on the book, free + from all personal denial. He also mentioned that a hearer told him that + Sir Philip said, speaking of writers on the question,—"Those + fellows, for half-a-crown, would prove that Jesus Christ was Junius."</p> + + <p>Mr. Taylor implies, I think, that he is the first who started the + suggestion that Sir Philip Francis was Junius, which I have no means + either of confirming or refuting. If it be so [and I now know that Mr. + Taylor himself never heard of any predecessor], the circumstance is very + remarkable: it is seldom indeed that the first proposer of any solution + of a great and vexed question is the person who so nearly establishes his + point in general opinion as Mr. Taylor has done.</p> + + <p>As to the Junius question in general, there is a little bit of the + philosophy of horse-racing which may be usefully applied. A man who is so + confident of his horse that he places him far above any other, may + nevertheless, and does, refuse to give odds against all in the field: for + many small adverse chances united make a big chance for one or other of + the opponents. I suspect Mr. Taylor has made it at least 20 to 1 for + Francis against any one competitor who has been named: but what the odds + may be against the <!-- Page 97 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page97"></a>[97]</span>whole field is more difficult to settle. + What if the real Junius should be some person not yet named?</p> + + <p>Mr. Jopling, <i>Leisure Hour</i>, May 23, 1863, relies on the porphyry + coffer of the Great Pyramid, in which he finds "the most ancient and + accurate standard of measure in existence."</p> + + <p>I am shocked at being obliged to place a thoughtful and learned + writer, and an old friend, before such a successor as he here meets with. + But chronological arrangement defies all other arrangement.</p> + + <p>(I had hoped that the preceding account would have met Mr. Taylor's + eye in print: but he died during the last summer. For a man of a very + thoughtful and quiet temperament, he had a curious turn for vexed + questions. But he reflected very long and very patiently before he + published: and all his works are valuable for their accurate learning, + whichever side the reader may take.)</p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">MRS. ELIZABETH COTTLE.</p> + + <p>1859. <i>The Cottle Church.</i>—For more than twenty years + printed papers have been sent about in the name of Elizabeth Cottle.<a + name="NtA_195" href="#Nt_195"><sup>[195]</sup></a> It is not so + remarkable that such papers should be concocted as that they should + circulate for such a length of time without attracting public attention. + Eighty years ago Mrs. Cottle might have rivalled Lieut. Brothers or + Joanna Southcott.<a name="NtA_196" href="#Nt_196"><sup>[196]</sup></a> + Long hence, when the now current volumes of our journals are + well-ransacked works of reference, those who look into them will be glad + to see this <!-- Page 98 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page98"></a>[98]</span>feature of our time: I therefore make a few + extracts, faithfully copied as to type. The Italic is from the New + Testament; the Roman is the requisite interpretation:</p> + + <p>"Robert Cottle '<i>was numbered</i> (5196) <i>with the + transgressors</i>' at the back of the Church in Norwood Cemetery, May 12, + 1858—Isa. liii. 12. The Rev. J. G. Collinson, Minister of St. + James's Church, Chapham, the then district church, before All Saints was + built, read the funeral service <i>over the Sepulchre wherein never + before man was laid</i>.</p> + + <p>"<i>Hewn on the stone</i>, 'at the mouth of the Sepulchre,' is his + name,—Robert Cottle, born at Bristol, June 2, 1774; died at + Kirkstall Lodge, Clapham Park, May 6, 1858. <i>And that day</i> (May 12, + 1858) <i>was the preparation</i> (day and year for 'the <span + class="scac">PREPARED</span> place for you'—Cottleites—-by + the widowed mother of the Father's house, at Kirkstall Lodge—John + xiv. 2, 3). <i>And the Sabbath</i> (Christmas Day, Dec. 25, 1859) <i>drew + on</i> (for the resurrection of the Christian body on 'the third + [Protestant Sun]-day'—1 Cor. xv. 35). <i>Why seek ye the living</i> + (God of the New Jerusalem—Heb. xii. 22; Rev. iii. 12) <i>among the + dead</i> (men): <i>he</i> (the God of Jesus) <i>is not here</i> (in the + grave), <i>but is risen</i> (in the person of the Holy Ghost, from the + supper of 'the dead in the second death' of Paganism). <i>Remember how he + spake unto you</i> (in the church of the Rev. George Clayton,<a + name="NtA_197" href="#Nt_197"><sup>[197]</sup></a> April 14, 1839). <i>I + will not drink henceforth</i> (at this last Cottle supper) <i>of the + fruit of this</i> (Trinity) <i>vine, until that day</i> (Christmas Day, + 1859), <i>when I</i> (Elizabeth Cottle) <i>drink it new with you</i> + (Cottleites) <i>in my Father's kingdom</i>—John xv. <i>If this</i> + (Trinitarian) <i>cup may not pass away from me</i> (Elizabeth Cottle, + April 14, 1839), <i>except I drink it</i> ('new with you Cottleites, in + my Father's Kingdom'), <i>thy will be done</i>—Matt. xxvi. 29, 42, + 64. 'Our Father which art (God) in Heaven,' <i>hallowed be thy name, + thy</i> (Cottle) <i>kingdom</i> <!-- Page 99 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page99"></a>[99]</span><i>come, thy will be done in earth, as it + is</i> (done) <i>in</i> (the new) <i>Heaven</i> (and new earth of the new + name of Cottle—Rev. xxi. 1; iii. 12).</p> + + <p>"... Queen Elizabeth, from A.D. 1558 to 1566. <i>And this</i> <span + class="scac">WORD</span> <i>yet once more</i> (by a second + Elizabeth—the <span class="scac">WORD</span> of his oath) + <i>signifieth</i> (at John Scott's baptism of the Holy Ghost) <i>the + removing of those things</i> (those Gods and those doctrines) <i>that are + made</i> (according to the Creeds and Commandments of men) <i>that those + things</i> (in the moral law of God) <i>which cannot be shaken</i> (as a + rule of faith and practice) <i>may remain, wherefore we receiving</i> + (from Elizabeth) <i>a kingdom</i> (of God,) <i>which cannot be moved</i> + (by Satan) <i>let us have grace</i> (in his Grace of Canterbury) + <i>whereby we may serve God acceptably</i> (with the acceptable sacrifice + of Elizabeth's body and blood of the communion of the Holy Ghost) <i>with + reverence</i> (for truth) <i>and godly fear</i> (of the unpardonable sin + of blasphemy against the Holy Ghost) <i>for our God</i> (the Holy Ghost) + <i>is a consuming fire</i> (to the nation that will not serve him in the + Cottle Church). We cannot defend ourselves against the Almighty, and if + He is our defence, no nation can invade us.</p> + + <p>"In verse 4 the Church of St. Peter is <i>in prison between four + quaternions of soldiers</i>—the Holy Alliance of 1815. Rev. vii. i. + Elizabeth, <i>the Angel of the Lord</i> Jesus <i>appears</i> to the + Jewish and Christian body with <i>the vision</i> of prophecy to the Rev. + Geo. Clayton and his clerical brethren, April 8th, 1839. <i>Rhoda</i> was + the name of her maid at Putney Terrace who used <i>to open the door to + her Peter</i>, the Rev. Robert Ashton,<a name="NtA_198" + href="#Nt_198"><sup>[198]</sup></a> the Pastor of 'the little flock' 'of + 120 names together, assembled in an upper (school) room' at Putney + Chapel, to which little flock she gave the revelation (Acts. i. 13, 15) + <i>of Jesus the same</i> King of the Jews <i>yesterday</i> at the prayer + meeting, Dec. 31, 1841, <i>and to-day</i>, <!-- Page 100 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page100"></a>[100]</span>Jan. 1, 1842, <i>and + for ever</i>. See book of Life, page 24. Matt. xviii. 19, xxi. 13-16. In + verse 6 the Italian body of St. Peter <i>is sleeping</i> 'in the second + death' <i>between the two</i> Imperial <i>soldiers</i> of France and + Austria. The Emperor of France from Jan. 1, to July 11, 1859, causes the + Italian <i>chains of St. Peter to fall off from his</i> Imperial + <i>hands</i>.</p> + + <p>"<i>I say unto thee</i>, Robert Ashton, <i>thou art Peter</i>, a + stone, <i>and upon this rock</i>, of truth, <i>will I</i> Elizabeth, the + angel of Jesus, <i>build my</i> Cottle <i>Church, and the gates of + hell</i>, the doors of St. Peter, at Rome, shall not prevail against + it—Matt. xvi. 18. Rev. iii. 7-12."</p> + + <p>This will be enough for the purpose. When any one who pleases can + circulate new revelations of this kind, uninterrupted and unattended to, + new revelations will cease to be a good investment of excentricity. I + take it for granted that the gentlemen whose names are mentioned have + nothing to do with the circulars or their doctrines. Any lady who may + happen to be intrusted with a revelation may nominate her own pastor, or + any other clergyman, one of her apostles; and it is difficult to say to + what court the nominees can appeal to get the commission abrogated.</p> + + <p><i>March 16, 1865.</i> During the last two years the circulars have + continued. It is hinted that funds are low: and two gentlemen who are + represented as gone "to Bethlehem asylum in despair" say that Mrs. Cottle + "will spend all that she hath, while Her Majesty's Ministers are + flourishing on the wages of sin." The following is perhaps one of the + most remarkable passages in the whole:</p> + + <p>"<i>Extol and magnify Him</i> (Jehovah, the Everlasting God, see the + Magnificat and Luke i. 45, 46—68—73—79), <i>that + rideth</i> (by rail and steam over land and sea, from his holy habitation + at Kirkstall Lodge, Psa. lxxvii. 19, 20), <i>upon the</i> (Cottle) + <i>heavens, as it were</i> (Sept. 9, 1864, see pages 21, 170), <i>upon + an</i> (exercising, Psa. cxxxi. 1), <i>horse</i>-(chair, bought of Mr. + John Ward, Leicester-square)." <!-- Page 101 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page101"></a>[101]</span></p> + + <p>I have pretty good evidence that there is a clergyman who thinks Mrs. + Cottle a very sensible woman.</p> + + <p>[<i>The Cottle Church.</i> Had I chanced to light upon it at the time + of writing, I should certainly have given the following. A printed letter + to the <i>Western Times</i>, by Mr. Robert Cottle, was accompanied by a + manuscript letter from Mrs. Cottle, apparently a circular. The date was + Nov<sup>r</sup>. 1853, and the subject was the procedure against Mr. + Maurice<a name="NtA_199" href="#Nt_199"><sup>[199]</sup></a> at King's + College for doubting that God would punish human sins by an existence of + torture lasting through years numbered by millions of millions of + millions of millions (repeat the word <i>millions</i> without end,) etc. + The memory of Mr. Cottle has, I think, a right to the quotation: he seems + to have been no participator in the notions of his wife:</p> + + <p>"The clergy of the Established Church, taken at the round number of + 20,000, may, in their first estate, be likened to 20,000 gold blanks, + destined to become sovereigns, in succession,—they are placed + between the matrix of the Mint, when, by the pressure of the screw, they + receive the impress that fits them to become part of the current coin of + the realm. In a way somewhat analogous this great body of the clergy have + each passed through the crucibles of Oxford and Cambridge,—have + been assayed by the Bishop's chaplain, touching the health of their + souls, and the validity of their call by the Divine Spirit, and then the + gentle pressure of a prelate's hand upon their heads; and the + words—'Receive the Holy Ghost,' have, in a brief space of time, + wrought a <!-- Page 102 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page102"></a>[102]</span>change in them, much akin to the miracle + of transubstantiation—the priests are completed, and they become + the current ecclesiastical coin of our country. The whole body of clergy, + here spoken of, have undergone the preliminary induction of baptism and + confirmation; and all have been duly ordained, <i>professing</i> to hold + one faith, and to believe in the selfsame doctrines! In short, to be as + identical as the 20,000 sovereigns, if compared one with the other. But + mind is not malleable and ductile, like gold; and all the preparations of + tests, creeds, and catechisms will not insure uniformity of belief. No + stamp of orthodoxy will produce the same impress on the minds of + different men. Variety is manifest, and patent, upon everything mental + and material. The Almighty has not created, nor man fashioned, two things + alike! How futile, then, is the attempt to shape and mould man's + apprehension of divine truth by one fallible standard of man's invention! + If proof of this be required, an appeal might be made to history and the + experience of eighteen hundred years."</p> + + <p>This is an argument of force against the reasonableness of expecting + tens of thousands of educated readers of the New Testament to find the + doctrine above described in it. The lady's argument against the doctrine + itself is very striking. Speaking of an outcry on this matter among the + Dissenters against one of their body, who was the son of "the White Stone + (Rev. ii. 17), or the Roman cement-maker," she says—</p> + + <p>"If the doctrine for which they so wickedly fight were true, what + would become of the black gentlemen for whose redemption I have been + sacrificed from April 8 1839."</p> + + <p>There are certainly very curious points about this revelation. There + have been many surmises about the final restoration of the infernal + spirits, from the earliest ages of Christianity until our own day: a + collection of them would be worth making. On reading this in proof, I see + a possibility that by "black gentlemen" may be meant the clergy: <!-- + Page 103 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page103"></a>[103]</span>I + suppose my first interpretation must have been suggested by context: I + leave the point to the reader's sagacity.]</p> + + <p> </p> + + <p>JAMES SMITH, ARCH-PARADOXER.</p> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p>The Problem of squaring the circle solved; or, the circumference and + area of the circle discovered. By James Smith.<a name="NtA_200" + href="#Nt_200"><sup>[200]</sup></a> London, 1859, 8vo.</p> + + <p>On the relations of a square inscribed in a circle. Read at the + British Association, Sept. 1859, published in the Liverpool Courier, Oct. + 8, 1859, and reprinted in broadsheet.</p> + + <p>The question: Are there any commensurable relations between a circle + and other Geometrical figures? Answered by a member of the British + Association ... London, 1860, 8vo.—[This has been translated into + French by M. Armand Grange, Bordeaux, 1863, 8vo.]</p> + + <p>The Quadrature of the Circle. Correspondence between an eminent + mathematician and James Smith, Esq. (Member of the Mersey Docks and + Harbour Board), London, 1861, 8vo. (pp. 200).</p> + + <p>Letter to the ... British Association ... by James Smith, Esq. + Liverpool, 1861, 8vo.</p> + + <p>Letter to the ... British Association ... by James Smith, Esq. + Liverpool, 1862, 8vo.—[These letters the author promised to + continue.]</p> + + <p>A Nut to crack for the readers of Professor De Morgan's 'Budget of + Paradoxes.' By James Smith, Esq. Liverpool, 1863, 8vo.</p> + + <p>Paper read at the Liverpool Literary and Philosophical Society, + reported in the Liverpool Daily Courier, Jan. 26, 1864. Reprinted as a + pamphlet.</p> + + <p>The Quadrature of the circle, or the true ratio between the diameter + and circumference geometrically and mathematically demonstrated. By James + Smith, Esq. Liverpool, 1865, 8vo.</p> + +<p><!-- Page 104 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page104"></a>[104]</span></p> + + <p>[On the relations between the dimensions and distances of the Sun, + Moon, and Earth; a paper read before the Literary and Philosophical + Society of Liverpool, Jan. 25, 1864. By James Smith, Esq.</p> + + <p>The British Association in Jeopardy, and Dr. Whewell, the Master of + Trinity, in the stocks without hope of escape. Printed for the authors + (J. S. confessed, and also hidden under <i>Nauticus</i>). (No date, + 1865).</p> + + <p>The British Association in Jeopardy, and Professor De Morgan in the + Pillory without hope of escape. London, 1866, 8vo.]</p> + +</blockquote> + + <p>When my work appeared in numbers, I had not anything like an adequate + idea of Mr. James Smith's superiority to the rest of the world in the + points in which he is superior. He is beyond a doubt the ablest head at + unreasoning, and the greatest hand at writing it, of all who have tried + in our day to attach their names to an error. Common cyclometers sink + into puny orthodoxy by his side.</p> + + <p>The behavior of this singular character induces me to pay him the + compliment which Achilles paid Hector, to drag him round the walls again + and again. He was treated with unusual notice and in the most gentle + manner. The unnamed mathematician, E. M. bestowed a volume of mild + correspondence upon him; Rowan Hamilton<a name="NtA_201" + href="#Nt_201"><sup>[201]</sup></a> quietly proved him wrong in a way + accessible to an ordinary schoolboy; Whewell,<a name="NtA_202" + href="#Nt_202"><sup>[202]</sup></a> as we shall see, gave him the means + of seeing himself wrong, even more easily than by Hamilton's method. + Nothing would do; it was small kick and silly fling at all; and he + exposed his conceit by alleging that he, James Smith, had placed Whewell + in the stocks. He will therefore be universally pronounced a proper + object of the severest literary punishment: but the opinion of all who + can put two propositions together will be that of the many strokes I have + given, the hardest and most telling are my republications of his own + attempts to reason.</p> + + <p>He will come out of my hands in the position he ought <!-- Page 105 + --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page105"></a>[105]</span>to hold, the + Supreme Pontiff of cyclometers, the vicegerent of St. Vitus upon earth, + the Mamamouchi of burlesque on inference. I begin with a review of him + which appeared in the <i>Athenæum</i> of May 11, 1861. Mr. Smith says I + wrote it: this I neither affirm nor deny; to do either would be a sin + against the editorial system elsewhere described. Many persons tell me + they know me by my style; let them form a guess: I can only say that many + have declared as above while fastening on me something which I had never + seen nor heard of.</p> + + <p> </p> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p>The Quadrature of the Circle: Correspondence between an Eminent + Mathematician and James Smith, Esq. (Edinburgh, Oliver & Boyd; + London, Simpkin, Marshall & Co.)</p> + +</blockquote> + + <p>"A few weeks ago we were in perpetual motion. We did not then suppose + that anything would tempt us on a circle-squaring expedition: but the + circumstances of the book above named have a peculiarity which induces us + to give it a few words.</p> + + <p>"Mr. James Smith, a gentleman residing near Liverpool, was some years + ago seized with the <i>morbus cyclometricus</i>.<a name="NtA_203" + href="#Nt_203"><sup>[203]</sup></a> The symptoms soon took a defined + form: his circumference shrank into exactly 3-1/8 times his diameter, + instead of close to 3-16/113, which the mathematician knows to be so near + to truth that the error is hardly at the rate of a foot in 2,000 miles. + This shrinking of the circumference remained until it became absolutely + necessary that it should be examined by the British Association. This + body, which as Mr. James Smith found to his sorrow, has some interest in + 'jealously guarding the mysteries of their profession,' refused at first + to entertain the question. On this Mr. Smith changed his 'tactics' and + the name of his paper, and smuggled in the subject under the form of 'The + Relations of a Circle inscribed in a Square'! The paper was thus forced + upon the Association, for Mr. Smith informs us that he <!-- Page 106 + --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page106"></a>[106]</span>'gave the + Section to understand that he was not the man that would permit even the + British Association to trifle with him.' In other words, the Association + bore with and were bored with the paper, as the shortest way out of the + matter. Mr. Smith also circulated a pamphlet. Some kind-hearted man, who + did not know the disorder as well as we do, and who appears in Mr. + Smith's handsome octavo as E. M.—the initials of 'eminent + mathematician'—wrote to him and offered to show him in a page that + he was all wrong. Mr. Smith thereupon opened a correspondence, which is + the bulk of the volume. When the correspondence was far advanced, Mr. + Smith announced his intention to publish. His benevolent + instructor—we mean in intention—protested against the + publication, saying 'I do not wish to be gibbeted to the world as having + been foolish enough to enter upon what I feel now to have been a + ridiculous enterprise.'</p> + + <p>"For this Mr. Smith cared nothing: he persisted in the publication, + and the book is before us. Mr. Smith has had so much grace as to conceal + his kind adviser's name under E. M., that is to say, he has divided the + wrong among all who may be suspected of having attempted so hopeless a + task as that of putting a little sense into his head. He has violated the + decencies of private life. Against the will of the kind-hearted man who + undertook his case, he has published letters which were intended for no + other purpose than to clear his poor head of a hopeless delusion. He + deserves the severest castigation; and he will get it: his abuse of + confidence will stick by him all his days. Not that he has done his + benefactor—in intention, again—any harm. The patience with + which E. M. put the blunders into intelligible form, and the perseverance + with which he tried to find a cranny-hole for common reasoning to get in + at, are more than respectable: they are admirable. It is, we can assure + E. M., a good thing that the nature of the circle-squarer should be so + completely exposed as in this volume. The benefit which he intended Mr. + James Smith may be <!-- Page 107 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page107"></a>[107]</span>conferred upon others. And we should very + much like to know his name, and if agreeable to him, to publish it. As to + Mr. James Smith, we can only say this: he is not mad. Madmen reason + rightly upon wrong premises: Mr. Smith reasons wrongly upon no premises + at all.</p> + + <p>"E. M. very soon found out that, to all appearance, Mr. Smith got a + circle of 3-1/8 times the diameter by making it the supposition to set + out with that there was such a circle; and then finding certain + consequences which, so it happened, were not inconsistent with the + supposition on which they were made. Error is sometimes self-consistent. + However, E. M., to be quite sure of his ground, wrote a short letter, + stating what he took to be Mr. Smith's hypothesis, containing the + following: 'On AC as diameter, describe the circle D, which by hypothesis + shall be equal to three and one-eighth times the length of AC.... I beg, + before proceeding further, to ask whether I have rightly stated your + argument.' To which Mr. Smith replied: 'You have stated my argument with + perfect accuracy.' Still E. M. went on, and we could not help, after the + above, taking these letters as the initials of Everlasting Mercy. At + last, however, when Mr. Smith flatly denied that the area of the circle + lies between those of the inscribed and circumscribed polygons, E. M. was + fairly beaten, and gave up the task. Mr. Smith was left to write his + preface, to talk about the certain victory of truth—which, oddly + enough, is the consolation of all hopelessly mistaken men; to compare + himself with Galileo; and to expose to the world the perverse behavior of + the Astronomer Royal, on whom he wanted to fasten a conversation, and who + replied, 'It would be a waste of time, Sir, to listen to anything you + could have to say on such a subject.'</p> + + <p>"Having thus disposed of Mr. James Smith, we proceed to a few remarks + on the subject: it is one which a journal would never originate, but + which is rendered necessary from time to time by the attempts of the + autopseustic to become <!-- Page 108 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page108"></a>[108]</span>heteropseustic. To the mathematician we + have nothing to say: the question is, what kind of assurance can be given + to the world at large that the wicked mathematicians are not acting in + concert to keep down their superior, Mr. James Smith, the current Galileo + of the quadrature of the circle.</p> + + <p>"Let us first observe that this question does not stand alone: + independently of the millions of similar problems which exist in higher + mathematics, the finding of the diagonal of a square has just the same + difficulty, namely, the entrance of a pair of lines of which one cannot + be definitely expressed by means of the other. We will show the reader + who is up to the multiplication-table how he may go on, on, on, ever + nearer, never there, in finding the diagonal of a square from the + side.</p> + + <p>"Write down the following rows of figures, and more, if you like, in + the way described:</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>1 2 5 12 29 70 169 408 985</p> + <p>1 3 7 17 41 99 239 577 1393</p> + </div> + </div> + <p>After the second, each number is made up of double the last increased + by the last but one: thus, 5 is 1 more than twice 2, 12 is 2 more than + twice 5, 239 is 41 more than twice 99. Now, take out two adjacent numbers + from the upper line, and the one below the first from the lower: as</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>70 169</p> + <p>99.</p> + </div> + </div> + <p>Multiply together 99 and 169, giving 16,731. If, then, you will say + that 70 diagonals are exactly equal to 99 sides, you are in error about + the diagonal, but an error the amount of which is not so great as the + 16,731st part of the diagonal. Similarly, to say that five diagonals make + exactly seven sides does not involve an error of the 84th part of the + diagonal.</p> + + <p>"Now, why has not the question of <i>crossing the square</i> been as + celebrated as that of <i>squaring the circle</i>? Merely because Euclid + demonstrated the impossibility of the first <!-- Page 109 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page109"></a>[109]</span>question, while that of + the second was not demonstrated, completely, until the last century.</p> + + <p>"The mathematicians have many methods, totally different from each + other, of arriving at one and the same result, their celebrated + approximation to the circumference of the circle. An intrepid calculator + has, in our own time, carried his approximation to what they call 607 + decimal places: this has been done by Mr. Shanks,<a name="NtA_204" + href="#Nt_204"><sup>[204]</sup></a> of Houghton-le-Spring, and Dr. + Rutherford<a name="NtA_205" href="#Nt_205"><sup>[205]</sup></a> has + verified 441 of these places. But though 607 looks large, the general + public will form but a hazy notion of the extent of accuracy acquired. We + have seen, in Charles Knight's<a name="NtA_206" + href="#Nt_206"><sup>[206]</sup></a> <i>English Cyclopædia</i>, an account + of the matter which may illustrate the unimaginable, though rationally + conceivable, extent of accuracy obtained.</p> + + <p>"Say that the blood-globule of one of our animalcules is a millionth + of an inch in diameter. Fashion in thought a globe like our own, but so + much larger that our globe is but a blood-globule in one of its + animalcules: never mind the microscope which shows the creature being + rather a bulky instrument. Call this the first globe <i>above</i> us. Let + the first globe above us be but a blood-globule, as to size, in the + animalcule of a still larger globe, which call the second globe above us. + Go on in this way to the twentieth globe above us. Now go down just as + far on the other side. Let the blood-globule with which we started be a + globe peopled with animals like ours, but rather smaller: <!-- Page 110 + --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page110"></a>[110]</span>and call this + the first globe below us. Take a blood-globule out of this globe, people + it, and call it the second globe below us: and so on to the twentieth + globe below us. This is a fine stretch of progression both ways. Now give + the giant of the twentieth globe <i>above</i> us the 607 decimal places, + and, when he has measured the diameter of his globe with accuracy worthy + of his size, let him calculate the circumference of his equator from the + 607 places. Bring the little philosopher from the twentieth globe + <i>below</i> us with his very best microscope, and set him to see the + small error which the giant must make. He will not succeed, unless his + microscopes be much better for his size than ours are for ours.</p> + + <p>"Now it must be remembered by any one who would laugh at the closeness + of the approximation, that the mathematician generally goes + <i>nearer</i>; in fact his theorems have usually no error at all. The + very person who is bewildered by the preceding description may easily + forget that if there were <i>no error at all</i>, the Lilliputian of the + millionth globe below us could not find a flaw in the Brobdingnagian of + the millionth globe above. The three angles of a triangle, of perfect + accuracy of form, are <i>absolutely</i> equal to two right angles; no + stretch of progression will detect <i>any</i> error.</p> + + <p>"Now think of Mr. Lacomme's mathematical adviser (<i>ante</i>, Vol. I, + p. 46) making a difficulty of advising a stonemason about the quantity of + pavement in a circular floor!</p> + + <p>"We will now, for our non-calculating reader, put the matter in + another way. We see that a circle-squarer can advance, with the utmost + confidence, the assertion that when the diameter is 1,000, the + circumference is accurately 3,125: the mathematician declaring that it is + a trifle more than 3,141½. If the squarer be right, the mathematician has + erred by about a 200th part of the whole: or has not kept his accounts + right by about 10<i>s.</i> in every 100<i>l.</i> Of course, if he set out + with such an error he will accumulate blunder upon blunder. Now, if there + be a process in which <!-- Page 111 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page111"></a>[111]</span>close knowledge of the circle is + requisite, it is in the prediction of the moon's place—say, as to + the time of passing the meridian at Greenwich—on a given day. We + cannot give the least idea of the complication of details: but common + sense will tell us that if a mathematician cannot find his way round the + circle without a relative error four times as big as a stockbroker's + commission, he must needs be dreadfully out in his attempt to predict the + time of passage of the moon. Now, what is the fact? His error is less + than a second of time, and the moon takes 27 days odd to revolve. That is + to say, setting out with 10<i>s.</i> in 100<i>l.</i> of error in his + circumference, he gets within the fifth part of a farthing in + 100<i>l.</i> in predicting the moon's transit. Now we cannot think that + the respect in which mathematical science is held is great + enough—though we find it not small—to make this go down. That + respect is founded upon a notion that right ends are got by right means: + it will hardly be credited that the truth can be got to farthings out of + data which are wrong by shillings. Even the celebrated Hamilton<a + name="NtA_207" href="#Nt_207"><sup>[207]</sup></a> of Edinburgh, who held + that in mathematics there was no way of going wrong, was fully impressed + with the belief that this was because error was avoided from the + beginning. He never went so far as to say that a mathematician who begins + wrong must end right somehow.</p> + + <p>"There is always a difficulty about the mode in which the thinking man + of common life is to deal with subjects he has not studied to a + professional extent. He must form opinions on matters theological, + political, legal, medical, and social. If he can make up his mind to + choose a guide, there is, of course, no perplexity: but on all the + subjects mentioned the direction-posts point different ways. Now why + should he not form his opinion upon an abstract mathematical question? + Why not conclude that, as to the circle, it is possible Mr. James Smith + may be the man, just <!-- Page 112 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page112"></a>[112]</span>as Adam Smith<a name="NtA_208" + href="#Nt_208"><sup>[208]</sup></a> was the man of things then to come, + or Luther, or Galileo? It is true that there is an unanimity among + mathematicians which prevails in no other class: but this makes the + chance of their all being wrong only different in degree. And more than + this, is it not generally thought among us that priests and physicians + were never so much wrong as when there was most appearance of unanimity + among them? To the preceding questions we see no answer except this, that + the individual inquirer may as rationally decide a mathematical question + for himself as a theological or a medical question, so soon as he can put + himself into a position in mathematics, level with that in which he + stands in theology or medicine. The every-day thought and reading of + common life have a certain resemblance to the thought and reading + demanded by the learned faculties. The research, the balance of evidence, + the estimation of probabilities, which are used in a question of + medicine, are closely akin in character, however different the matter of + application, to those which serve a merchant to draw his conclusions + about the markets. But the mathematicians have methods of their own, to + which nothing in common life bears close analogy, as to the nature of the + results or the character of the conclusions. The logic of mathematics is + certainly that of common life: but the data are of a different species; + they do not admit of doubt. An expert arithmetician, such as is Mr. J. + Smith, may fancy that calculation, merely as such, is mathematics: but + the value of his book, and in this point of view it is not small, is the + full manner in which it shows that a practised arithmetician, venturing + into the field of mathematical demonstration, may show himself utterly + destitute of all that distinguishes the reasoning geometrical + investigator from the calculator.</p> + +<p><!-- Page 113 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page113"></a>[113]</span></p> + + <p>"And further, it should be remembered that in mathematics the power of + verifying results far exceeds that which is found in anything else: and + also the variety of distinct methods by which they can be attained. It + follows from all this that a person who desires to be as near the truth + as he can will not judge the results of mathematical demonstration to be + open to his criticism, in the same degree as results of other kinds. + Should he feel compelled to decide, there is no harm done: his circle may + be 3⅛ times its diameter, if it please him. But we must warn him + that, in order to get this circle, he must, as Mr. James Smith has done, + <i>make it at home</i>: the laws of space and thought beg leave + respectfully to decline the order."</p> + + <p> </p> + + <p>I will insert now at length, from the <i>Athenæum</i> of June 8, 1861, + the easy refutation given by my deceased friend, with the remarks which + precede.</p> + + <p>"Mr. James Smith, of whose performance in the way of squaring the + circle we spoke some weeks ago in terms short of entire acquiescence, has + advertised himself in our columns, as our readers will have seen. He has + also forwarded his letter to the Liverpool <i>Albion</i>, with an + additional statement, which he did not make in <i>our</i> journal. He + denies that he has violated the decencies of private life, since his + correspondent revised the proofs of his own letters, and his 'protest had + respect only to making his name public.' This statement Mr. James Smith + precedes by saying that we have treated as true what we well knew to be + false: and he follows by saying that we have not read his work, or we + should have known the above facts to be true. Mr. Smith's pretext is as + follows. His correspondent E. M. says, 'My letters were not intended for + publication, and I protest against their being published,' and he + subjoins 'Therefore I must desire that my name may not be used.' The + obvious meaning is that E. M. protested against the publication + altogether, but, judging that Mr. Smith was <!-- Page 114 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page114"></a>[114]</span>determined to publish, + desired that his name should not be used. That he afterwards corrected + the proofs merely means that he thought it wiser to let them pass under + his own eyes than to leave them entirely to Mr. Smith.</p> + + <p>"We have received from Sir W. Rowan Hamilton<a name="NtA_209" + href="#Nt_209"><sup>[209]</sup></a> a proof that the circumference is + more than 3⅛ diameters, requiring nothing but a knowledge of four + books of Euclid. We give it in brief as an exercise for our juvenile + readers to fill up. It reminds us of the old days when real geometers + used to think it worth while seriously to demolish pretenders. Mr. + Smith's fame is now assured: Sir W. R. Hamilton's brief and easy exposure + will procure him notice in connection with this celebrated problem.</p> + + <p>"It is to be shown that the perimeter of a regular polygon of 20 sides + is greater than 3⅛ diameters of the circle, and still more, of + course, is the circumference of the circle greater than 3⅛ + diameters.</p> + + <p>"1. It follows from the 4th Book of Euclid, that the rectangle under + the side of a regular decagon inscribed in a circle, and that side + increased by the radius, is equal to the square of the radius. But the + product 791 (791 + 1280) is less than 1280 × 1280; if then the radius be + 1280 the side of the decagon is greater than 791.</p> + + <p>"2. When a diameter bisects a chord, the square of the chord is equal + to the rectangle under the doubles of the segments of the diameter. But + the product 125 (4 × 1280 - 125) is less than 791 × 791. If then the + bisected chord be a side of the decagon, and if the radius be still 1280, + the double of the lesser segment exceeds 125.</p> + + <p>"3. The rectangle under this doubled segment and the radius is equal + to the square of the side of an inscribed regular polygon of 20 sides. + But the product 125 × 1280 is equal to 400 × 400; therefore, the side of + the last-mentioned polygon is greater than 400, if the radius be still + 1280. In other words, if the radius be represented by the new <!-- Page + 115 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page115"></a>[115]</span>member 16, + and therefore the diameter by 32, this side is greater than 5, and the + perimeter exceeds 100. So that, finally, if the diameter be 8, the + perimeter of the inscribed regular polygon of 20 sides, and still more + the circumference of the circle, is greater than 25: that is, the + circumference is more than 3⅛ diameters."</p> + + <p>The last work in the list was thus noticed in the <i>Athenæum</i>, May + 27, 1865.</p> + + <p>"Mr. James Smith appears to be tired of waiting for his place in the + Budget of Paradoxes, and accordingly publishes a long letter to Professor + De Morgan, with various prefaces and postscripts. The letter opens by a + hint that the Budget appears at very long intervals, and 'apparently + without any sufficient reason for it.' As Mr. Smith hints that he should + like to see Mr. De Morgan, whom he calls an 'elephant of mathematics,' + 'pumping his brains' 'behind the scenes'—an odd thing for an + elephant to do, and an odd place to do it in—to get an answer, we + think he may mean to hint that the Budget is delayed until the pump has + worked successfully. Mr. Smith is informed that we have had the whole + manuscript of the Budget, excepting only a final summing-up, in our hands + since October, 1863. [This does not refer to the Supplement.] There has + been no delay: we knew from the beginning that a series of historical + articles would be frequently interrupted by the things of the day. Mr. + James Smith lets out that he has never been able to get a private line + from Mr. De Morgan in answer to his communications: we should have + guessed it. He says, 'The Professor is an old bird and not to be easily + caught, and by no efforts of mine have I been able, up to the present + moment, either to induce or twit him into a discussion....' Mr. Smith + curtails the proverb: old birds are not to be caught with <i>chaff</i>, + nor with <i>twit</i>, which seems to be Mr. Smith's word for his own + chaff, and, so long as the first letter is sounded, a very proper word. + Why does he not try a little grain of sense? Mr. Smith evidently <!-- + Page 116 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page116"></a>[116]</span>thinks that, in his character as an + elephant, the Professor has not pumped up brain enough to furnish forth a + bird. In serious earnest, Mr. Smith needs no answer. In one thing he + excites our curiosity: what is meant by demonstrating 'geometrically + <i>and</i> mathematically?'"</p> + + <p>I now proceed to my original treatment of the case.</p> + + <p> </p> + + <p>Mr. James Smith will, I have no doubt, be the most uneclipsed + circle-squarer of our day. He will not owe this distinction to his being + an influential and respected member of the commercial world of Liverpool, + even though the power of publishing which his means give him should + induce him to issue a whole library upon one paradox. Neither will he owe + it to the pains taken with him by a mathematician who corresponded with + him until the joint letters filled an octavo volume. Neither will he owe + it to the notice taken of him by Sir William Hamilton, of Dublin, who + refuted him in a manner intelligible to an ordinary student of Euclid, + which refutation he calls a remarkable paradox easily explainable, but + without explaining it. What he will owe it to I proceed to show.</p> + + <p>Until the publication of the <i>Nut to Crack</i> Mr. James Smith stood + among circle-squarers in general. I might have treated him with ridicule, + as I have done others: and he says that he does not doubt he shall come + in for his share at the tail end of my Budget. But I can make a better + job of him than so, as Locke would have phrased it: he is such a very + striking example of something I have said on the use of logic that I + prefer to make an example of his writings. On one point indeed he well + deserves the <i>scutica</i>,<a name="NtA_210" + href="#Nt_210"><sup>[210]</sup></a> if not the <i>horribile + flagellum</i>.<a name="NtA_211" href="#Nt_211"><sup>[211]</sup></a> He + tells me that he will bring his solution to me in such a form as shall + compel me to admit it as <i>un fait accompli</i> [<i>une faute + accomplie?</i>]<a name="NtA_212" href="#Nt_212"><sup>[212]</sup></a> <!-- + Page 117 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page117"></a>[117]</span>or + leave myself open to the humiliating charge of mathematical ignorance and + folly. He has also honored me with some private letters. In the first of + these he gives me a "piece of information," after which he cannot imagine + that I, "as an honest mathematician," can possibly have the slightest + hesitation in admitting his solution. There is a tolerable reservoir of + modest assurance in a man who writes to a perfect stranger with what he + takes for an argument, and gives an oblique threat of imputation of + dishonesty in case the argument be not admitted without hesitation; not + to speak of the minor charges of ignorance and folly. All this is blind + self-confidence, without mixture of malicious meaning; and I rather like + it: it makes me understand how Sam Johnson came to say of his old friend + Mrs. Cobb,<a name="NtA_213" href="#Nt_213"><sup>[213]</sup></a>—"I + love Moll Cobb for her impudence." I have now done with my friend's + <i>suaviter in modo</i>,<a name="NtA_214" + href="#Nt_214"><sup>[214]</sup></a> and proceed to his <i>fortiter in + re</i><a name="NtA_215" href="#Nt_215"><sup>[215]</sup></a>: I shall show + that he <i>has</i> convicted himself of ignorance and folly, with an + honesty and candor worthy of a better value of <span + class="grk">π</span>.</p> + + <p>Mr. Smith's method of proving that every circle is 3⅛ diameters + is to assume that it is so,—"if you dislike the term datum, then, + by hypothesis, let 8 circumferences be exactly equal to 25 + diameters,"—and then to show that every other supposition is + thereby made absurd. The right to this assumption is enforced in the + "Nut" by the following analogy:</p> + + <p>"I think you (!) will not dare (!) to dispute my right to this + hypothesis, when I can prove by means of it that every other value of + <span class="grk">π</span> will lead to the grossest absurdities; + unless indeed, you are prepared to dispute the right of Euclid to adopt a + false line hypothetically for the purpose <!-- Page 118 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page118"></a>[118]</span>of a '<i>reductio ad + absurdum</i>'<a name="NtA_216" href="#Nt_216"><sup>[216]</sup></a> + demonstration, in pure geometry."</p> + + <p> </p> + + <p>Euclid assumes what he wants to <i>disprove</i>, and shows that his + <i>assumption</i> leads to absurdity, and so <i>upsets itself</i>. Mr. + Smith assumes what he wants to <i>prove</i>, and shows that <i>his</i> + assumption makes <i>other propositions</i> lead to absurdity. This is + enough for all who can reason. Mr. James Smith cannot be argued with; he + has the whip-hand of all the thinkers in the world. Montucla would have + said of Mr. Smith what he said of the gentleman who squared his circle by + giving 50 and 49 the same square root, <i>Il a perdu le droit d'être + frappé de l'évidence</i>.<a name="NtA_217" + href="#Nt_217"><sup>[217]</sup></a></p> + + <p>It is Mr. Smith's habit, when he finds a conclusion agreeing with its + own assumption, to regard that agreement as proof of the assumption. The + following is the "piece of information" which will settle me, if I be + honest. Assuming <span class="grk">π</span> to be 3⅛, he finds + out by working instance after instance that the mean proportional between + one-fifth of the area and one-fifth of eight is the radius. That is,</p> + +<table class="math"><tr><td> +if <span class="grk">π</span> =</td><td>25<br /><img src="images/$line.png" style="width:100%; height:1px; line-height:1px;" alt="/" /><br />8</td><td>,</td><td><img src="images/$sqrt.png" style="height:5ex; width:0.5em" alt="square root" /></td><td><img src="images/$lbracket.png" style="height:5ex; width:0.5em" alt="left bracket" /></td><td><span class="grk">π</span><i>r</i><sup>2</sup><br /><img src="images/$line.png" style="width:100%; height:1px; line-height:1px;" alt="/" /><br />5</td><td>·</td><td>8<br /><img src="images/$line.png" style="width:100%; height:1px; line-height:1px;" alt="/" /><br />5</td><td><img src="images/$rbracket.png" style="height:5ex; width:0.5em" alt="right bracket" /></td><td></td><td>= <i>r</i>. +</td></tr></table> + + <p>This "remarkable general principle" may fail to establish Mr. Smith's + quadrature, even in an honest mind, if that mind should happen to know + that, <i>a</i> and <i>b</i> being any two numbers whatever, we need only + assume—</p> + +<table class="math"><tr><td> +if <span class="grk">π</span> =</td><td><i>a</i><sup>2</sup><br /><img src="images/$line.png" style="width:100%; height:1px; line-height:1px;" alt="/" /><br /><i>b</i></td><td>, to get at </td><td><img src="images/$sqrt.png" style="height:5ex; width:0.5em" alt="square root" /></td><td><img src="images/$lbracket.png" style="height:5ex; width:0.5em" alt="left bracket" /></td><td><span class="grk">π</span><i>r</i><sup>2</sup><br /><img src="images/$line.png" style="width:100%; height:1px; line-height:1px;" alt="/" /><br /><i>a</i></td><td>·</td><td><i>b</i><br /><img src="images/$line.png" style="width:100%; height:1px; line-height:1px;" alt="/" /><br /><i>a</i></td><td><img src="images/$rbracket.png" style="height:5ex; width:0.5em" alt="right bracket" /></td><td></td><td>= <i>r</i>. +</td></tr></table> + + <p>We naturally ask what sort of glimmer can Mr. Smith have of the + subject which he professes to treat? On this point he has given + satisfactory information. I had mentioned the old problem of finding two + mean proportionals, <!-- Page 119 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page119"></a>[119]</span>as a preliminary to the duplication of the + cube. On this mention Mr. Smith writes as follows. I put a few words in + capitals; and I write <i>rq</i><a name="NtA_218" + href="#Nt_218"><sup>[218]</sup></a> for the sign of the square root, + which embarrasses small type:</p> + + <p>"This establishes the following <i>infallible</i> rule, for finding + two mean proportionals <span class="scac">OF EQUAL VALUE</span>, and is + more than a preliminary, to the famous old problem of 'Squaring the + circle.' Let any finite number, say 20, and its fourth part = ¼(20) = 5, + be given numbers. Then <i>rq</i>(20 × 5) = <i>rq</i> 100 = 10, is their + mean proportional. Let this be a given mean proportional <span + class="scac">TO FIND ANOTHER MEAN PROPORTIONAL OF EQUAL VALUE</span>. + Then</p> + +<table class="math"><tr><td> +20 ×</td><td><span class="grk">π</span><br /><img src="images/$line.png" style="width:100%; height:1px; line-height:1px;" alt="/" /><br />4</td><td>= 20 ×</td><td>3.125<br /><img src="images/$line.png" style="width:100%; height:1px; line-height:1px;" alt="/" /><br />4</td><td>= 20 × .78125 = 15.625 +</td></tr></table> + + <p>will be the first number; as</p> + +<table class="math"><tr><td> +25 : 16 :: <i>rq</i> 20 : <i>rq</i> 8.192: and (<i>rq</i> 8.192)<sup>2</sup> ×</td><td><span class="grk">π</span><br /><img src="images/$line.png" style="width:100%; height:1px; line-height:1px;" alt="/" /><br />4</td><td>= 8.192 × .78125 = 6.4 +</td></tr></table> + + <p>will be the second number; therefore <i>rq</i>(15.625 × 6.4) = + <i>rq</i> 100 = 10, is the required mean proportional.... Now, my good + Sir, however competent you may be to prove every man a fool [not + <i>every</i> man, Mr. Smith! only <i>some</i>; pray learn logical + quantification] who now thinks, or in times gone by has thought, the + 'Squaring of the Circle' <i>a possibility</i>; I doubt, and, on the + evidence afforded by your Budget, I cannot help doubting, whether you + were ever before competent to find two mean proportionals <i>by my unique + method</i>."—(<i>Nut</i>, pp. 47, 48.) [That I never was, I + solemnly declare!]</p> + + <p>All readers can be made to see the following exposure. When 5 and 20 + are given, <i>x</i> is a mean proportional when in 5, <i>x</i>, 20, 5 is + to <i>x</i> as <i>x</i> to 20. And <i>x</i> must be 10. But <i>x</i> and + <i>y</i> are <i>two</i> mean proportionals when in 5, <i>x</i>, <i>y</i>, + 20, <i>x</i> <!-- Page 120 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page120"></a>[120]</span>is a mean proportional between 5 and + <i>y</i>, and <i>y</i> is a mean proportional between <i>x</i> and 20. + And these means are <i>x</i> = 5 ³√4, <i>y</i> = 5 ³√16. But + Mr. Smith finds <i>one</i> mean, finds it <i>again</i> in a roundabout + way, and produces 10 and 10 as the two (equal!) means, in solution of the + "famous old problem." This is enough: if more were wanted, there is more + where this came from. Let it not be forgotten that Mr. Smith has found a + translator abroad, two, perhaps three, followers at home, and—most + surprising of all—a real mathematician to try to set him right. And + this mathematician did not discover the character of the subsoil of the + land he was trying to cultivate until a goodly octavo volume of letters + had passed and repassed. I have noticed, in more quarters than one, an + apparent want of perception of the <i>full</i> amount of Mr. Smith's + ignorance: persons who have not been in contact with the non-geometrical + circle-squarers have a kind of doubt as to whether anybody can carry + things so far. But I am an "old bird" as Mr. Smith himself calls me; a + Simorg, an "all-knowing Bird of Ages" in matters of cyclometry.</p> + + <p>The curious phenomena of thought here exhibited illustrate, as above + said, a remark I have long ago made on the effect of proper study of + logic. Most persons reason well enough on matter to which they are + accustomed, and in terms with which they are familiar. But in + unaccustomed matter, and with use of strange terms, few except those who + are practised in the abstractions of pure logic can be tolerably sure to + keep their feet. And one of the reasons is easily stated: terms which are + not quite familiar partake of the vagueness of the X and Y on which the + student of logic learns to see the formal force of a proposition + independently of its material elements.</p> + + <p>I make the following quotation from my fourth paper on logic in the + <i>Cambridge Transactions</i>:</p> + + <p>"The uncultivated reason proceeds by a process almost entirely + material. Though the necessary law of thought <!-- Page 121 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page121"></a>[121]</span>must determine the + conclusion of the ploughboy as much as that of Aristotle himself, the + ploughboy's conclusion will only be tolerably sure when the matter of it + is such as comes within his usual cognizance. He knows that geese being + all birds does not make all birds geese, but mainly because there are + ducks, chickens, partridges, etc. A beginner in geometry, when asked what + follows from 'Every A is B,' answers 'Every B is A.' That is, the + necessary laws of thought, except in minds which have examined their + tools, are not very sure to work correct conclusions except upon familiar + matter.... As the cultivation of the individual increases, the laws of + thought which are of most usual application are applied to familiar + matter with tolerable safety. But difficulty and risk of error make a new + appearance with a new subject; and this, in most cases, until new + subjects are familiar things, unusual matter common, untried nomenclature + habitual; that is, until it is a habit to be occupied upon a novelty. It + is observed that many persons reason well in some things and badly in + others; and this is attributed to the consequence of employing the mind + too much upon one or another subject. But those who know the truth of the + preceding remarks will not have far to seek for what is often, perhaps + most often, the true reason.... I maintain that logic tends to make the + power of reason over the unusual and unfamiliar more nearly equal to the + power over the usual and familiar than it would otherwise be. The second + is increased; but the first is almost created."</p> + + <p>Mr. James Smith, by bringing ignorance, folly, dishonesty into contact + with my name, in the way of conditional insinuation, has done me a good + turn: he has given me right to a freedom of personal remark which I might + have declined to take in the case of a person who is useful and respected + in matters which he understands.</p> + + <p>Tit for tat is logic all the world over. By the way, what has become + of the rest of the maxim: we never hear it <!-- Page 122 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page122"></a>[122]</span>now. When I was a boy, + in some parts of the country at least, it ran thus:</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="hg3">"Tit for tat;</p> + <p>Butter for fat:</p> + <p>If you kill my dog,</p> + <p>I'll kill your cat."</p> + </div> + </div> + <p>He is a glaring instance of the truth of the observations quoted + above. I will answer for it that, at the Mersey Dock Board, he never + dreams of proving that the balance at the banker's is larger than that in + the book by assuming that the larger sum is there, and then proving that + the other supposition—the smaller balance—is upon that + assumption, an absurdity. He never says to another director, How can you + dare to refuse me a right to assume the larger balance, when you + yourself, the other day, said,—Suppose, for argument's sake, we had + 80,000<i>l.</i> at the banker's, though you knew the book only showed + 30,000<i>l.</i>? This is the way in which he has supported his + geometrical paradox by Euclid's example: and this is not the way he + reasons at the board; I know it by the character of him as a man of + business which has reached my ears from several quarters. But in geometry + and rational arithmetic he is a smatterer, though expert at computation; + at the board he is a trained man of business. The language of geometry is + so new to him that he does not know what is meant by "two mean + proportionals:" but all the phrases of commerce are rooted in his mind. + He is most unerasably booked in the history of the squaring of the + circle, as the speculator who took a right to assume a proposition for + the destruction of other propositions, on the express ground that Euclid + assumes a proposition to show that it destroys itself: which is as if the + curate should demand permission to throttle the squire because St. + Patrick drove the vermin to suicide to save themselves from slaughter. He + is conspicuous as a speculator who, more visibly than almost any other + known to history, reasoned in a circle by way of reasoning on a circle. + But <!-- Page 123 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page123"></a>[123]</span>what I have chiefly to do with is the + force of instance which he has lent to my assertion that men who have not + had real training in pure logic are unsafe reasoners in matter which is + not familiar. It is hard to get first-rate examples of this, because + there are few who find the way to the printer until practice and + reflection have given security against the grossest slips. I cannot but + think that his case will lead many to take what I have said into + consideration, among those who are competent to think of the great mental + disciplines. To this end I should desire him to continue his efforts, to + amplify and develop his great principle, that of proving a proposition by + assuming it and taking as confirmation every consequence that does not + contradict the assumption.</p> + + <p>Since my Budget commenced, Mr. Smith has written me notes: the portion + which I have preserved—I suppose several have been + mislaid—makes a hundred and seven pages of note-paper, closely + written. To all this I have not answered one word: but I think I cannot + have read fewer than forty pages. In the last letter the writer informs + me that he will not write at greater length until I have given him an + answer, according to the "rules of good society." Did I not know that for + every inch I wrote back he would return an ell? Surely in vain the net is + spread in the eyes of anything that hath a wing. There were several good + excuses for not writing to Mr. J. Smith: I will mention five. First, I + distinctly announced at the beginning of this Budget that I would not + communicate with squarers of the circle. Secondly, any answer I might + choose to give might with perfect propriety be reserved for this article; + had the imputation of incivility been made after the first note, I should + immediately have replied to this effect: but I presumed it was quite + understood. Thirdly, Mr. Smith, by his publication of E. M.'s letters + against the wish of the writer, had put himself out of the pale of + correspondence. Fourthly, he had also gone beyond the rules of good + society in sending <!-- Page 124 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page124"></a>[124]</span>letter after letter to a person who had + shown by his silence an intention to avoid correspondence. Fifthly, these + same rules of good society are contrived to be flexible or frangible in + extreme cases: otherwise there would be no living under them; and good + society would be bad. Father Aldrovand has laid down the necessary + distinction—"I tell thee, thou foolish Fleming, the text speaketh + but of promises made unto Christians, and there is in the rubric a + special exemption of such as are made to Welchmen." There is also a + rubric to the rules of good society; and squarers of the circle are among + those whom there is special permission not to answer: they are the wild + Welchmen of geometry, who are always assailing, but never taking, the + Garde Douloureuse<a name="NtA_219" href="#Nt_219"><sup>[219]</sup></a> of + the circle. "At this commentary," proceeds the story, "the Fleming + grinned so broadly as to show his whole case of broad strong white + teeth." I know not whether the Welchman would have done the like, but I + hope Mr. James Smith will: and I hope he has as good a case to show as + Wilkin Flammock. For I wish him long life and long health, and should be + very glad to see so much energy employed in a productive way. I hope he + wishes me the same: if not, I will give him what all his judicious + friends will think a good reason for doing so. His pamphlets and letters + are all tied up together, and will form a curious lot when death or + cessation of power to forage among book-shelves shall bring my little + library to the hammer. And this time may not be far off: for I was X + years old in <span class="scac">A.D.</span> X<sup>2</sup>; not 4 in <span + class="scac">A.D.</span> 16, nor 5 in <span class="scac">A.D.</span> 25, + but still in one case under that law. And now I have made my own age a + problem of quadrature, and Mr. J. Smith may solve it. But I protest + against his method of assuming a result, and making itself prove itself: + he might in this way, as sure as eggs is eggs (a corruption of X is X), + make me 1,864 years old, which is a great deal too much.</p> + +<p><!-- Page 125 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page125"></a>[125]</span></p> + + <p><i>April 5, 1864.</i>—Mr. Smith continues to write me long + letters, to which he hints that I am to answer. In his last, of 31 + closely written sides of note-paper, he informs me, with reference to my + obstinate silence, that though I think myself and am thought by others to + be a mathematical Goliath, I have resolved to play the mathematical + snail, and keep within my shell. A mathematical <i>snail</i>! This cannot + be the thing so called which regulates the striking of a clock; for it + would mean that I am to make Mr. Smith sound the true time of day, which + I would by no means undertake upon a clock that gains 19 seconds odd in + every hour by false quadrature. But he ventures to tell me that pebbles + from the sling of simple truth and common sense will ultimately crack my + shell, and put me <i>hors de combat</i>.<a name="NtA_220" + href="#Nt_220"><sup>[220]</sup></a> The confusion of images is amusing: + Goliath turning himself into a snail to avoid <span + class="grk">π</span> = 3⅛, and James Smith, Esq., of the Mersey + Dock Board: and put <i>hors de combat</i>—which should have been + <i>caché</i><a name="NtA_221" + href="#Nt_221"><sup>[221]</sup></a>—by pebbles from a sling. If + Goliath had crept into a snail-shell, David would have cracked the + Philistine with his foot. There is something like modesty in the + implication that the crack-shell pebble has not yet taken effect; it + might have been thought that the slinger would by this time have been + singing—</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="hg3">"And thrice [and one-eighth] I routed all my foes,</p> + <p>And thrice [and one-eighth] I slew the slain."</p> + </div> + </div> + <p>But he promises to give the public his nut-cracker if I do not, before + the Budget is concluded, "unravel" the paradox, which is the + mathematico-geometrical nut he has given me to crack. Mr. Smith is a + crack man: he will crack his own nut; he will crack my shell; in the mean + time he cracks himself up. Heaven send he do not crack himself into + lateral contiguity with himself.</p> + + <p>On June 27 I received a letter, in the handwriting of Mr. James Smith, + signed Nauticus. I have ascertained <!-- Page 126 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page126"></a>[126]</span>that one of the letters + to the <i>Athenæum</i> signed Nauticus is in the same handwriting. I make + a few extracts:</p> + + <p>"... The important question at issue has been treated by a brace of + mathematical birds with too much levity. It may be said, however, that + sarcasm and ridicule sometimes succeed, where reason fails.... Such a + course is not well suited to a discussion.... For this reason I shall for + the future [this implies there has been a past, so that Nauticus is not + before me for the first time] endeavor to confine myself to dry reasoning + from incontrovertible premises.</p> + + <p>... It appears to me that so far as his theory is concerned he comes + off unscathed. You might have found "a hole in Smith's circle" (have you + seen a pamphlet bearing this title? [I never heard of it until now]), but + after all it is quite possible the hole may have been left by design, for + the purpose of entrapping the unwary."</p> + + <p>[On the publication of the above, the author of the pamphlet + obligingly forwarded a copy to me of <i>A Hole in Smith's + Circle</i>—by a Cantab: Longman and Co., 1859, (pp. 15). "It is + pity to lose any fun we can get out of the affair," says my almamaternal + brother: to which I add that in such a case warning without joke is worse + than none at all, as giving a false idea of the nature of the danger. The + Cantab takes some absurdities on which I have not dwelt: but there are + enough to afford a Cantab from every college his own separate hunting + ground.]</p> + + <p>Does this hint that his mode of proof, namely, assuming the thing to + be proved, was a design to entrap the unwary? if so, it bangs Banagher. + Was his confounding two mean proportionals with one mean proportional + found twice over a trick of the same intent? if so, it beats + cockfighting. That Nauticus is Mr. Smith appears from other internal + evidence. In 1819, Mr. J. C. Hobhouse<a name="NtA_222" + href="#Nt_222"><sup>[222]</sup></a> was sent to Newgate for a <!-- Page + 127 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page127"></a>[127]</span>libel on + the House of Commons which was only intended for a libel on Lord + Erskine.<a name="NtA_223" href="#Nt_223"><sup>[223]</sup></a> The + ex-Chancellor had taken Mr. Hobhouse to be thinking of him in a certain + sentence; this Mr. Hobhouse denied, adding, "There is but one man in the + country who is always thinking of Lord Erskine." I say that there is but + one man of our day who would couple me and Mr. James Smith as a "brace of + mathematical birds."</p> + + <p>Mr. Smith's "theory" is unscathed by me. Not a doubt about it: but how + does he himself come off? I should never think of refuting a theory + proved by assumption of itself. I left Mr. Smith's <span + class="grk">π</span> untouched: or, if I put in my thumb <span + class="correction" title="text reads `und'">and</span> pulled out a plum, + it was to give a notion of the cook, not of the dish. The "important + question at issue" was not the circle: it was, wholly and solely, whether + the abbreviation of <i>James</i> might be spelled <i>Jimm</i>.<a + name="NtA_224" href="#Nt_224"><sup>[224]</sup></a> This is personal to + the verge of scurrility: but in literary controversy the challenger names + the weapons, and Mr. Smith begins with charge of ignorance, folly, and + dishonesty, by conditional implication. So that the question is, not the + personality of a word, but its applicability to the person designated: it + is enough if, as the Latin grammar has it, <i>Verbum personale concordat + cum nominativo</i>.<a name="NtA_225" + href="#Nt_225"><sup>[225]</sup></a></p> + + <p>I may plead precedent for taking a liberty with the orthography of + <i>Jem</i>. An instructor of youth was scandalized at the abrupt and + irregular—but very effective—opening of Wordsworth's little + piece:</p> + +<p><!-- Page 128 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page128"></a>[128]</span></p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i8hg3">"A simple child</p> + <p>That lightly draws its breath,</p> + <p>And feels its life in every limb,</p> + <p>What should it know of death?"</p> + </div> + </div> + <p>So he mended the matter by instructing his pupils to read the first + line thus:</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="hg3">"A simple child, dear brother ——."</p> + </div> + </div> + <p>The brother, we infer from sound, was to be James, and the blank must + therefore be filled up with <i>Jimb</i>.</p> + + <p>I will notice one point of the letter, to make a little more + distinction between the two birds. Nauticus lays down—quite + correctly—that the sine of an angle is less than its circular + measure. He then takes 3.1416 for 180°, and finds that 36' is .010472. + But this is exactly what he finds for the sine of 36' in tables: he + concludes that either 3.1416 or the tables must be wrong. He does not + know that sines, as well as <span class="grk">π</span>, are + interminable decimals, of which the tables, to save printing, only take + in a finite number. He is a six-figure man: let us go thrice again to + make up nine, and we have as follows:</p> + +<table class="nob"> +<tr><td>Circular measure of 36'</td><td>.010471975...</td></tr> +<tr><td>Sine of 36'</td><td>.010471784...</td></tr> +<tr><td>Excess of measure over sine </td><td>.000000191...</td></tr> +</table> + + <p>Mr. Smith invites me to say which is wrong, the quadrature, or the + tables: I leave him to guess. He says his assertions "arise naturally and + necessarily out of the arguments of a circle-squarer:" he might just as + well lay down that all the pigs went to market because it is recorded + that "<i>This</i> pig went to market." I must say for circle-squarers + that very few bring their pigs to so poor a market. I answer the above + argument because it is, of all which Mr. James Smith has produced, the + only one which rises to the level of a schoolboy: to meet him halfway I + descend to that level.</p> + + <p>Mr. Smith asks me to solve a problem in the <i>Athenæum</i>: <!-- Page + 129 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page129"></a>[129]</span>and I will + do it, because the question will illustrate what is <i>below</i> + schoolboy level.</p> + + <p>"Let <i>x</i> represent the circular measure of an angle of 15°, and + <i>y</i> half the sine of an angle of 30° = area of the square on the + radius of a circle of diameter unity = .25. If <i>x</i> - <i>y</i> = + <i>xy</i>, firstly, what is the arithmetical value of <i>xy</i>? + secondly, what is the angle of which <i>xy</i> represents the circular + measure?"</p> + + <p>If <i>x</i> represent 15° and <i>y</i> be ¼, <i>xy</i> represents 3° + 45', whether <i>x</i> - <i>y</i> be <i>xy</i> or no. But, <i>y</i> being + ¼, <i>x</i> - <i>y</i> is <i>not</i> <i>xy</i> unless <i>x</i> be + ⅓, that is, unless 12<i>x</i> or <span class="grk">π</span> be + 4, which Mr. Smith would not admit. How could a person who had just + received such a lesson as I had given immediately pray for further + exposure, furnishing the stuff so liberally as this? Is it possible that + Mr. Smith, because he signs himself Nauticus, means to deny his own very + regular, legible, and peculiar hand? It is enough to make the other + members of the Liverpool Dock Board cry, Mersey on the man!</p> + + <p>Mr. Smith says that for the future he will give up what he calls + sarcasm, and confine himself, "as far as possible," to what he calls dry + reasoning from incontrovertible premises. If I have fairly taught him + that <i>his</i> sarcasm will not succeed, I hope he will find that his + wit's end is his logic's beginning.</p> + + <p>I now reply to a question I have been asked again and again since my + last Budget appeared: Why do you take so much trouble to expose such a + reasoner as Mr. Smith? I answer as a deceased friend of mine used to + answer on like occasions—A man's capacity is no measure of his + power to do mischief. Mr. Smith has untiring energy, which does + something; self-evident honesty of conviction, which does more; and a + long purse, which does most of all. He has made at least ten + publications, full of figures which few readers can criticize. A great + many people are staggered to this extent, that they imagine there must be + <!-- Page 130 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page130"></a>[130]</span>the indefinite <i>something</i> in the + mysterious <i>all this</i>. They are brought to the point of suspicion + that the mathematicians ought not to treat "all this" with such + undisguised contempt, at least. Now I have no fear for <span + class="grk">π</span>: but I do think it possible that general opinion + might in time demand that the crowd of circle-squarers, etc. should be + admitted to the honors of opposition; and this would be a time-tax of + five per cent., one man with another, upon those who are better employed. + Mr. James Smith may be made useful, in hands which understand how to do + it, towards preventing such opinion from growing. A speculator who + expressly assumes what he wants to prove, and argues that all which + contradicts it is absurd, <i>because</i> it cannot stand side by side + with his assumption, is a case which can be exposed to all. And the best + person to expose it is one who has lived in the past as well as the + present, who takes misthinking from points of view which none but a + student of history can occupy, and who has something of a turn for the + business.</p> + + <p>Whether I have any motive but public good must be referred to those + who can decide whether a missionary chooses his pursuit solely to convert + the heathen. I shall certainly be thought to have a little of the spirit + of Col. Quagg, who delighted in strapping the Grace-walking Brethren. I + must quote this myself: if I do not, some one else will, and then where + am I? The Colonel's principle is described as follows:</p> + + <p>"I licks ye because I kin, and because I like, and because ye'se + critters that licks is good for. Skins ye have on, and skins I'll have + off; hard or soft, wet or dry, spring or fall. Walk in grace if ye like + till pumpkins is peaches; but licked ye must be till your toe-nails drop + off and your noses bleed blue ink. + And—licked—they—were—accordingly."</p> + + <p>I am reminded of this by the excessive confidence with which Mr. James + Smith predicted that he would treat me as Zephaniah Stockdolloger (Sam + Slick calls it <i>slockdollager</i>) treated Goliah Quagg. He has + announced his <!-- Page 131 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page131"></a>[131]</span>intention of bringing me, with a contrite + heart, and clean shaved,—4159265... razored down to 25,—to a + camp-meeting of circle-squarers. But there is this difference: Zephaniah + only wanted to pass the Colonel's smithy in peace; Mr. James Smith sought + a fight with me. As soon as this Budget began to appear, he oiled his own + strap, and attempted to treat me as the terrible Colonel would have + treated the inoffensive brother.</p> + + <p>He is at liberty to try again.</p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">THE MOON HOAX.</p> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p>The Moon-hoax; or the discovery that the moon has a vast population of + human beings. By Richard Adams Locke.<a name="NtA_226" + href="#Nt_226"><sup>[226]</sup></a> New York, 1859, 8vo.</p> + +</blockquote> + + <p>This is a reprint of the hoax already mentioned. I suppose R. A. Locke + is the name assumed by M. Nicollet.<a name="NtA_227" + href="#Nt_227"><sup>[227]</sup></a> The publisher informs us that when + the hoax first appeared day by day in a morning paper, the circulation + increased fivefold, and the paper obtained a permanent footing. Besides + this, an edition of 60,000 was sold off in less than one month.</p> + + <p>The discovery was also published under the name of A. R. Grant.<a + name="NtA_228" href="#Nt_228"><sup>[228]</sup></a> Sohncke's<a + name="NtA_229" href="#Nt_229"><sup>[229]</sup></a> <i>Bibliotheca + Mathematica</i> confounds this Grant with Prof. R. Grant<a name="NtA_230" + href="#Nt_230"><sup>[230]</sup></a> of Glasgow, the author of the + <i>History of Physical Astronomy</i>, who is accordingly made to + guarantee the discoveries in the moon. I hope Adams Locke will not merge + in J. C. Adams,<a name="NtA_231" href="#Nt_231"><sup>[231]</sup></a> the + co-discoverer of Neptune. Sohncke gives the titles of <!-- Page 132 + --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page132"></a>[132]</span>three French + translations of the Moon hoax at Paris, of one at Bordeaux, and of + Italian translations at Parma, Palermo, and Milan.</p> + + <p>A Correspondent, who is evidently fully master of details, which he + has given at length, informs me that the Moon hoax appeared first in the + <i>New York Sun</i>, of which R. A. Locke was editor. It so much + resembled a story then recently published by Edgar A. Poe, in a Southern + paper, "Adventures of Hans Pfaal," that some New York journals published + the two side by side. Mr. Locke, when he left the <i>New York Sun</i>, + started another paper, and discovered the manuscript of Mungo Park;<a + name="NtA_232" href="#Nt_232"><sup>[232]</sup></a> but this did not + deceive. The <i>Sun</i>, however, continued its career, and had a great + success in an account of a balloon voyage from England to America, in + seventy-five hours, by Mr. Monck Mason,<a name="NtA_233" + href="#Nt_233"><sup>[233]</sup></a> Mr. Harrison Ainsworth,<a + name="NtA_234" href="#Nt_234"><sup>[234]</sup></a> and others. I have no + doubt that M. Nicollet was the author of the Moon hoax,<a name="NtA_235" + href="#Nt_235"><sup>[235]</sup></a> written in a way which marks the + practised observatory astronomer beyond all doubt, and by evidence seen + in the most minute details. Nicollet had an eye to Europe. I suspect that + he took Poe's story, and made it a basis for his own. Mr. Locke, it would + seem, when he attempted a fabrication for himself, did not succeed.</p> + + <p> </p> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p>The Earth we inhabit, its past, present, and future. By Capt. + Drayson.<a name="NtA_236" href="#Nt_236"><sup>[236]</sup></a> London, + 1859, 8vo.</p> + +</blockquote> + + <p>The earth is growing; absolutely growing larger: its diameter + increases three-quarters of an inch per mile every year. The foundations + of our buildings will give way in <!-- Page 133 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page133"></a>[133]</span>time: the telegraph + cables break, and no cause ever assigned except ships' anchors, and such + things. The book is for those whose common sense is unwarped, who can + judge evidence as well as the ablest philosopher. The prospect is not a + bad one, for population increases so fast that a larger earth will be + wanted in time, unless emigration to the Moon can be managed, a proposal + of which it much surprises me that Bishop Wilkins has a monopoly.</p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">IMPALEMENT BY REQUEST.</p> + + <p><i>Athenæum</i>, August, 19, 1865. <i>Notice to + Correspondents.</i></p> + + <p>"R. W.—If you will consult the opening chapter of the Budget of + Paradoxes, you will see that the author presents only works in his own + library at a given date; and this for a purpose explained. For ourselves + we have carefully avoided allowing any writers to present themselves in + our columns on the ground that the Budget has passed them over. We gather + that Mr. De Morgan contemplates additions at a future time, perhaps in a + separate and augmented work; if so, those who complain that others of no + greater claims than themselves have been ridiculed may find themselves + where they wish to be. We have done what we can for you by forwarding + your letter to Mr. De Morgan."</p> + + <p>The author of "An Essay on the Constitution of the Earth," published + in 1844, demanded of the <i>Athenæum</i>, as an <i>act of fairness</i>, + that a letter from him should be published, proving that he had as much + right to be "impaled" as Capt. Drayson. He holds, on speculative grounds, + what the other claims to have proved by measurement, namely, that the + earth is growing; and he believes that in time—a good long time, + not <i>our</i> time—the earth and other planets may grow into suns, + with systems of their own.</p> + + <p>This gentleman sent me a copy of his work, after the commencement of + my Budget; but I have no recollection of having received it, and I cannot + find it on the (nursery? <!-- Page 134 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page134"></a>[134]</span>quarantine?) shelves on which I keep my + unestablished discoveries. Had I known of this work in time, (see the + Introduction) I should of course, have impaled it (heraldically) with the + other work; but the two are very different. Capt. Drayson professes to + prove his point by results of observation; and I think he does not + succeed. The author before me only speculates; and a speculator can get + any conclusion into his premises, if he will only build or hire them of + shape and size to suit. It reminds me of a statement I heard years ago, + that a score of persons, or near it, were to dine inside the skull of one + of the aboriginal animals, dear little creatures! Whereat I wondered + vastly, nothing doubting; facts being stubborn and not easy drove, as + Mrs. Gamp said. But I soon learned that the skull was not a real one, but + artificially constructed by the methods—methods which have had + striking verifications, too—which enable zoologists to go the whole + hog by help of a toe or a bit of tail. This took off the edge of the + wonder: a hundred people can dine inside an inference, if you draw it + large enough. The method might happen to fail for once: for instance, the + toe-bone might have been abnormalized by therian or saurian malady; and + the possibility of such failure, even when of small probability, is of + great alleviation. The author before me is, apparently, the sole + fabricator of his own premises. With vital force in the earth and + continual creation on the part of the original Creator, he expands our + bit of a residence as desired. But, as the Newtoness of Cookery observed, + First catch your hare. When this is done, when you <i>have</i> a growing + earth, you shall dress it with all manner of proximate causes, and serve + it up with a growing Moon for sauce, a growing Sun, if it please you, at + the other end, and growing planets for side-dishes. Hoping this amount of + impalement will be satisfactory, I go on to something else. <!-- Page 135 + --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page135"></a>[135]</span></p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">THE HAILESEAN SYSTEM OF ASTRONOMY.</p> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p><i>The Hailesean System of Astronomy.</i> By John Davey Hailes<a + name="NtA_237" href="#Nt_237"><sup>[237]</sup></a> (two pages duodecimo, + 1860).</p> + +</blockquote> + + <p>He offers to <i>take</i> 100,000<i>l.</i> to 1,000<i>l.</i> that he + shows the sun to be less than seven millions of miles from the earth. The + earth in the center, revolving eastward, the sun revolving westward, so + that they "meet at half the circle distance in the 24 hours." The + diameter of the circle being 9839458303, the circumference is + 30911569920.</p> + + <p>The following written challenge was forwarded to the Council of the + Astronomical Society: it will show the "general reader"—and help + him towards earning his name—what sort of things come every now and + then to our scientific bodies. I have added punctuation:</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i16"><i>Challenge.</i></p> + <p class="i16">1,000 to 30,000.</p> + <p class="hg3">"Leverrier's<a name="NtA_238" href="#Nt_238"><sup>[238]</sup></a> name stand placed first. Do the worthy Frenchman justice.</p> + <p>By awarding him the medal in a trice.</p> + <p>Give Adams<a name="NtA_239" href="#Nt_239"><sup>[239]</sup></a> an extra—of which neck and neck the race.</p> + <p>Now I challenge to meet them and the F.R.S.'s all,</p> + <p>For good will and <i>one</i> thousand pounds to their <i>thirty</i> thousand withall,</p> + <p>That I produce a system, which shall measure the time,</p> + <p>When the Sun was vertical to Gibeon, afterward to Syene.</p> + <p>To meet any time in London—name your own period,</p> + <p>To be decided by a majority of twelve persons—a President, <i>odd</i>.</p> + <p>That mean, if the twelve equally divide, the President decide,</p> + <p>I should prefer the Bishop of London, over the meeting to preside.</p> + <p class="i30"><span class="sc">John Davy Hailes.</span>"</p> + <p>Feb. 17, 1847."</p> + </div> + </div> + <p>Mr. Hailes still issues his flying sheets. The last I have met with + (October 7, 1863) informs us that the latitude of <!-- Page 136 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page136"></a>[136]</span>England is slowly + increasing, which is the true cause of the alteration in the variation of + the magnet.</p> + + <p>[Mr. Hailes continues his researches. Witness his new Hailesean system + of Astronomy, displaying Joshua's miracle-time, origin of time from + science, with Bible and Egyptian history. Rewards offered for + astronomical problems. With magnetism, etc. etc. Astronomical challenge + to all the world. Published at Cambridge, in 1865. The author agrees with + Newton in one marked point. <i>Errores quam minimi non sunt + contemnendi</i>,<a name="NtA_240" href="#Nt_240"><sup>[240]</sup></a> + says Isaac: meaning in figures, not in orthography. Mr. Hailes enters + into the spirit, both positive and negative, of this dictum, by giving + the distance of <i>Sidius</i> from the center of the earth at 163,162,008 + miles 10 feet 8 inches 17-28ths of an inch. Of course, he is aware that + the center of <i>figure</i> of the earth is 17.1998 inches from the + center of <i>gravity</i>. Which of the two is he speaking of?]</p> + + <p> </p> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p>The Divine Mystery of Life. London [1861], 18mo. (pp.32).</p> + +</blockquote> + + <p>The author has added one class to zoology, which is printed in + capitals, as derived from <i>zoé</i>, life, not from <i>zôon</i>, animal. + That class is of <i>Incorporealia</i>, order I., <i>Infinitum</i>, of one + genus without plurality, <i>Deus</i>: order II., <i>Finita</i>, angels + good and evil. The rest is all about a triune system, with a diagram. The + author is not aware that <span title="zôon" class="grk" + >ζωον</span> is not <i>animal</i>, but <i>living + being</i>. Aristotle had classed gods under <span title="zôa" class="grk" + >ζωα</span>, and has been called to account for it by + moderns who have taken the word to mean <i>animal</i>.</p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">A CHANCE FOR INVENTORS.</p> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p>Explication du Zodiaque de Denderah, des Pyramides, et de Genèse. Par + le Capitaine au longcours Justin Roblin.<a name="NtA_241" + href="#Nt_241"><sup>[241]</sup></a> Caen, 1861. 8vo.</p> + +</blockquote> + +<p><!-- Page 137 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page137"></a>[137]</span></p> + + <p>Capt. Roblin, having discovered the sites of gold and diamond mines by + help of the zodiac of Denderah, offered half to the shareholders of a + company which he proposed to form. One of our journals, by help of the + zodiac of Esné, offered, at five francs a head, to tell the shareholders + the exact amount of gold and diamonds which each would get, and to make + up the amount predicted to those who got less. There are moods of the + market in England in which this company could have been formed: so we + must not laugh at our neighbors.</p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">JOHANNES VON GUMPACH.</p> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p>A million's worth of property, and five hundred lives annually lost at + sea by the Theory of Gravitation. A letter on the true figure of the + earth, addressed to the Astronomer Royal, by Johannes von Gumpach.<a + name="NtA_242" href="#Nt_242"><sup>[242]</sup></a> London, 1861, 8vo. + (pp. 54).</p> + + <p>The true figure and dimensions of the earth, in a letter addressed to + the Astronomer Royal. By Joh. von Gumpach. 2nd ed. entirely recast. + London, 1862, 8vo. (pp. 266).</p> + + <p>Two issues of a letter published with two different title-pages, one + addressed to the Secretary of the Royal Society, the other to the + Secretary of the Royal Astronomical Society. It would seem that the same + letter is also issued with two other titles, addressed to the British + Association and the Royal Geographical Society. By Joh. von Gumpach. + London, 1862, 8vo.</p> + + <p>Baby-Worlds. An essay on the nascent members of our solar household. + By Joh. von Gumpach. London, 1863, 8vo.</p> + +</blockquote> + + <p>The earth, it appears, instead of being flattened, is elongated at the + poles: by ignorance of which the loss above mentioned occurs yearly. + There is, or is to be, a substitute for attraction and an "application + hitherto neglected, of a <!-- Page 138 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page138"></a>[138]</span>recognized law of optics to the + astronomical theory, showing the true orbits of the heavenly bodies to be + perfectly circular, and their orbital motions to be perfectly uniform." + all irregularities being, I suppose, optical delusions. Mr. Von Gumpach + is a learned man; what else, time must show.</p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">SLANDER PARADOXES.</p> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p>Perpetuum Mobile: or Search for self-motive Power. By Henry Dircks.<a + name="NtA_243" href="#Nt_243"><sup>[243]</sup></a> London, 1861, 8vo.</p> + +</blockquote> + + <p>A useful collection on the history of the attempts at perpetual + motion, that is, at obtaining the consequences of power without any power + to produce them. September 7, 1863, a correspondent of the <i>Times</i> + gave an anecdote of George Stephenson,<a name="NtA_244" + href="#Nt_244"><sup>[244]</sup></a> which he obtained from Robert + Stephenson.<a name="NtA_245" href="#Nt_245"><sup>[245]</sup></a> A + perpetual motionist wanted to explain his method; to which George + replied—"Sir! I shall believe it when I see you take yourself up by + the waistband, and carry yourself about the room." Never was the problem + better stated.</p> + + <p>There is a paradox of which I ought to give a specimen, I mean the + <i>slander-paradox</i>; the case of a person who takes it into his head, + upon evidence furnished entirely by the workings of his own thoughts, + that some other person has committed a foul act of which the world at + large would no more suppose him guilty than they would suppose that the + earth is a flat bordered by ice. If I were to determine on giving cases + in which the self-deluded person imagines <!-- Page 139 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page139"></a>[139]</span>a conspiracy against + <i>himself</i>, there would be no end of choices. Many of the grosser + cases are found at last to be accompanied by mental disorder, and it is + difficult to avoid referring the whole class to something different from + simple misuse of the reasoning power. The first instance is one which + puts in a strong light the state of things in which we live, brought + about by our glorious freedom of thought, speech, and writing. The + Government treated it with neglect, the press with silent contempt, and I + will answer for it many of my readers now hear of it for the first time, + when it comes to be enrolled among circle-squarers and earth-stoppers, + where, as the old philosopher said, it will not gravitate, being <i>in + proprio loco</i>.<a name="NtA_246" + href="#Nt_246"><sup>[246]</sup></a></p> + + <p>1862. On new year's day, 1862, when the nation was in the full tide of + sympathy with the Queen, and regret for its own loss, a paper called the + <i>Free Press</i> published a number devoted to the consideration of the + causes of the death of the Prince Consort. It is so rambling and + inconsecutive that it takes more than one reading to understand it. It is + against the <i>Times</i> newspaper. First, the following insinuation:</p> + + <p>"To the legal mind, the part of [the part taken by] the <i>Times</i> + will present a <i>prima facie</i> case of the gravest nature, in the + evident fore-knowledge of the event, and the preparation to turn it to + account when it should have occurred. The article printed on Saturday + must have been written on Friday. That article could not have appeared + had the Prince been intended to live."</p> + + <p>Next, it is affirmed that the <i>Times</i> intended to convey the idea + that the Prince had been poisoned.</p> + + <p>"Up to this point we are merely dealing with words which the + <i>Times</i> publishes, and these can leave not a shadow of doubt that + there is an intention to promulgate the idea that Prince Albert had been + poisoned."</p> + + <p>The article then goes on with a strange olio of <!-- Page 140 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page140"></a>[140]</span>insinuations to the + effect that the Prince was the obstacle to Russian intrigue, and that if + he should have been poisoned,—which the writer strongly hints may + have been the case,—some Minister under the influence of Russia + must have done it. Enough for this record. <i>Un sot trouve toujours un + plus sot qui l'admire</i>:<a name="NtA_247" + href="#Nt_247"><sup>[247]</sup></a> who can he be in this case?</p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">THE NEPTUNE CONTROVERSY.</p> + + <p>1846. At the end of this year arose the celebrated controversy + relative to the discovery of Neptune. Those who know it are well aware + that Mr. Adams's<a name="NtA_248" href="#Nt_248"><sup>[248]</sup></a> now + undoubted right to rank with Le Verrier<a name="NtA_249" + href="#Nt_249"><sup>[249]</sup></a> was made sure at the very outset by + the manner in which Mr. Airy,<a name="NtA_250" + href="#Nt_250"><sup>[250]</sup></a> the Astronomer Royal, came forward to + state what had taken place between himself and Mr. Adams. Those who know + all the story about Mr. Airy being arrested in his progress by the + neglect of Mr. Adams to answer a letter, with all the imputations which + might have been thrown upon himself for laxity in the matter, know also + that Mr. Airy's conduct exhibited moral courage, honest feeling, and + willingness to sacrifice himself, if need were, to the attainment of the + ends of private justice, and the establishment of a national claim. A + writer in a magazine, in a long and elaborate article, argued the + supposition—put in every way except downright assertion, after the + fashion of such things—that Mr. Airy had communicated Mr. Adams's + results to M. Le Verrier, with intention that they should be used. His + presumption as to motive is that, had Mr. Adams been recognized, "then + the discovery must have been indisputably an <i>Englishman's</i>, and + that Englishman not the Astronomer Royal." Mr. Adams's conclusions were + "retouched in France, and sent <!-- Page 141 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page141"></a>[141]</span>over the year after." The proof given is + that it cannot be "imagined" otherwise.</p> + + <p>"Can it then be imagined that the Astronomer Royal received such + results from Mr. Adams, supported as they were by Professor Challis's<a + name="NtA_251" href="#Nt_251"><sup>[251]</sup></a> valuable testimony as + to their probable accuracy, and did not bring the French astronomer + acquainted with them, especially as he was aware that his friend was + engaged in matters bearing directly upon these results?"</p> + + <p>The whole argument the author styles "evidence which I consider it + difficult to refute." He ends by calling upon certain persons, of whom I + am one, to "see ample justice done." This is the duty of every one, + according to his opportunities. So when the reputed author—the + article being anonymous—was, in 1849, proposed as a Fellow of the + Astronomical Society, I joined—if I remember right, I + originated—an opposition to his election, until either the + authorship should be denied, or a proper retraction made. The friends of + the author neither denied the first, nor produced the second: and they + judged it prudent to withdraw the proposal. Had I heard of any subsequent + repentance, I would have taken some other instance, instead of this: + should I yet hear of such a thing, I will take care to notice it in the + continuation of this list, which I confidently expect, life and health + permitting, to be able to make in a few years. This much may be said, + that the author, in a lecture on the subject, given in 1849, and + published with his name, did <i>not</i> repeat the charge.</p> + + <p>[The libel was published in the <i>Mechanics' Magazine</i>,<a + name="NtA_252" href="#Nt_252"><sup>[252]</sup></a> (vol. for 1846, pp. + 604-615): and the editor supported it as follows, (vol. for 1847, p. + 476). In answer to Mr. Sheepshanks's charitable hope that he had been + hoaxed, <!-- Page 142 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page142"></a>[142]</span>he says: "Mr. Sheepshanks cannot certainly + have read the article referred to.... Severe and inculpatory it + is—unjust some may deem it (though we ourselves are out of the + number.)... A 'hoax' forsooth! May we be often the dupes of such hoaxes!" + He then goes on to describe the article as directed against the + Astronomer Royal's alleged neglect to give Mr. Adams that "encouragement + and protection" which was his due, and <i>does not hint one word</i> + about the article containing the charge of having secretly and + fraudulently transmitted news of Mr. Adams's researches to France, that + an Englishman might not have the honor of the discovery. Mr. Sheepshanks + having called this a "deliberate calumny," without a particle of proof or + probability to support it, the editor says "what the reverend gentleman + means by this, we are at a loss to understand." He then proceeds + <i>not</i> to remember. I repeat here, what I have said elsewhere, that + the management of the journal has changed hands; but from 1846 to 1856, + it had the collar of S.S. (scientific slander). The prayer for more such + things was answered (See p. 349).]</p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">JAMES IVORY.<a name="NtA_253" href="#Nt_253"><sup>[253]</sup></a></p> + + <p>I have said that those who are possessed with the idea of conspiracy + against themselves are apt to imagine both conspirators and their bad + motives and actions. A person who should take up the idea of combination + against himself without feeling ill-will and originating accusations + would be indeed a paradox. But such a paradox has existed. It is very + well known, both in and beyond the scientific world, that the late James + Ivory was subject to the <!-- Page 143 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page143"></a>[143]</span>impression of which I am speaking; and the + diaries and other sources of anecdote of our day will certainly, sooner + or later, make it a part of his biography. The consequence will be that + to his memory will be attached the unfavorable impression which the usual + conduct of such persons creates; unless it should happen that some one + who knows the real state of the case puts the two sides of it properly + together. Ivory was of that note in the scientific world which may be + guessed from Laplace's description of him as the first geometer in + Britain and one of the first in Europe. Being in possession of accurate + knowledge of his peculiarity in more cases than one; and in one case + under his own hand: and having been able to make full inquiry about him, + especially from my friend the late Thomas Galloway<a name="NtA_254" + href="#Nt_254"><sup>[254]</sup></a>—who came after him at + Sandhurst—one of the few persons with whom he was intimate:—I + have decided, after full deliberation, to forestall the future + biographies.</p> + + <p>That Ivory was haunted by the fear of which I have spoken, to the + fullest extent, came to my own public and official knowledge, as + Secretary of the Astronomical Society. It was the duty of Mr. Epps,<a + name="NtA_255" href="#Nt_255"><sup>[255]</sup></a> the Assistant + Secretary, at the time when Francis Baily<a name="NtA_256" + href="#Nt_256"><sup>[256]</sup></a> first announced his discovery of the + Flamsteed Papers, to report to me that Mr. Ivory had called at the + Society's apartments to inquire into the contents of those papers, and to + express his hope that Mr. Baily was not attacking living persons under + the names of Newton and Flamsteed.<a name="NtA_257" + href="#Nt_257"><sup>[257]</sup></a> Mr. Galloway, to whom I communicated + this, immediately went to Mr. Ivory, and succeeded, after some + explanation, in setting him right. This is but one of many instances in + which a man of thoroughly sound judgment in every other respect seemed to + be under a complete chain of delusions about the conduct of <!-- Page 144 + --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page144"></a>[144]</span>others to + himself. But the paradox is this:—I never could learn that Ivory, + passing his life under the impression that secret and unprovoked enemies + were at work upon his character, ever originated a charge, imputed a bad + motive, or allowed himself an uncourteous expression. Some letters of + his, now in my possession, referring to a private matter, are, except in + the main impression on which they proceed, unobjectionable in every + point: they might have been written by a cautious friend, whose object + was, if possible, to prevent a difference from becoming a duel without + compromising his principal's rights or character. Knowing that in some + quarters the knowledge of Ivory's peculiarity is more or less connected + with a notion that the usual consequences followed, I think the preceding + statement due to his memory.</p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">THREE CLASSES OF JOURNALS.</p> + + <p>In such a record as the present, which mixes up the grossest + speculative absurdities with every degree of what is better, an instance + of another kind may find an appropriate place. The faults of journalism, + when merely exposed by other journalism pass by and are no more regarded. + A distinct account of an undeniable meanness, recorded in a work of + amusement and reference both, may have its use: such a thing may act as a + warning. An editor who is going to indulge his private grudge may be + prevented from counting upon oblivion as a matter of certainty.</p> + + <p>There are three kinds of journals, with reference to the mode of + entrance of contributors. First, as a thing which has been, but which now + hardly exists, there is the journal in which the editor receives a fixed + sum to <i>find the matter</i>. In such a journal, every article which the + editor can get a friend to give him is so much in his own pocket, which + has a great tendency to lower the character of the articles; but I am not + concerned with this point. Secondly, there is the journal which is + supported by voluntary contributions of <!-- Page 145 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page145"></a>[145]</span>matter, the editor + selecting. Thirdly, there is the journal in which the contributor is paid + by the proprietors in a manner with which the literary editor has nothing + to do.</p> + + <p>The third class is the safe class, as its editors know: and, as a + usual rule, they refuse unpaid contributions of the editorial cast. It is + said that when Canning<a name="NtA_258" + href="#Nt_258"><sup>[258]</sup></a> declined a cheque forwarded for an + article in the <i>Quarterly</i>, John Murray<a name="NtA_259" + href="#Nt_259"><sup>[259]</sup></a> sent it back with a blunt threat that + if he did not take his money he could never be admitted again. The great + publisher told him that if men like himself in position worked for + nothing, all the men like himself in talent who could not afford it would + not work for the <i>Quarterly</i>. If the above did not happen between + Canning and Murray, it <i>must have happened</i> between some other two. + Now journals of the second class—and of the first, if such there + be—have a fault to which they alone are very liable, to say nothing + of the editorial function (see the paper at the beginning, p. 11 et + seq.), being very much cramped, a sort of gratitude towards effective + contributors leads the journal to help their personal likes and dislikes, + and to sympathize with them. Moreover, this sort of journal is more + accessible than others to articles conveying personal imputation: and + when these provoke discussion, the journal is apt to take the part of the + assailant to whom it lent itself in the first instance.</p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">THE MECHANICS' MAGAZINE.</p> + + <p>Among the journals which went all lengths with contributors whom they + valued, was the <i>Mechanics' Magazine</i><a name="NtA_260" + href="#Nt_260"><sup>[260]</sup></a> in the period 1846-56. I cannot say + that matters have not mended in the last ten years: and I draw some <!-- + Page 146 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page146"></a>[146]</span>presumption that they have mended from my + not having heard, since 1856, of anything resembling former proceedings. + And on actual inquiry, made since the last sentence was written, I find + that the property has changed hands, the editor is no longer the same, + and the management is of a different stamp. This journal is chiefly + supported by voluntary articles: and it is the journal in which, as above + noted, the ridiculous charge against the Astronomer Royal was made in + 1849. The following instance of attempt at revenge is so amusing that I + select it as the instance of the defect which I intend to illustrate; for + its puerility brings out in better relief the points which are not so + easily seen in more adult attempts.</p> + + <p>The <i>Mechanics' Magazine</i>, which by its connection with + engineering, etc., had always taken somewhat of a mathematical character, + began, a little before 1846, to have more to do with abstract science. + Observing this, I began to send short communications, which were always + thankfully received, inserted, and well spoken of. Any one who looks for + my name in that journal in 1846-49, will see nothing but the most + respectful and even laudatory mention. In May 1849 occurred the affair at + the Astronomical Society, and my share in forcing the withdrawal of the + name of the alleged contributor to the journal. In February 1850 occurred + the opportunity of payment. The <i>Companion to the Almanac</i><a + name="NtA_261" href="#Nt_261"><sup>[261]</sup></a> had to be noticed, in + which, as then usual, was an article signed with my name. I shall give + the review of this article entire, as a sample of a certain style, as + well as an illustration of my point. The reader will observe that my name + is not mentioned. This would not have done; the readers of the Magazine + would have stared to see a name of not infrequent occurrence in previous + years all of a sudden fallen from the heaven of respect into the pit of + contempt, like Lucifer, son of the morning. But before <!-- Page 147 + --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page147"></a>[147]</span>giving the + review, I shall observe that Mr. Adams, in whose <i>favor</i> the attack + on the Astronomer Royal was made, did not appreciate the favor; and of + course did not come <span class="correction" title="text reads `forword'" + >forward</span> to shield his champion. This gave deadly offence, as + appear from the following passage, (February 16, 1850):</p> + + <p>"It was our intention to enter into a comparison of the contents of + our Nautical Almanack with those of its rival, the <i>Connaissance des + Temps</i>; but we shall defer it for the present. The Nautical Almanack + for 1851 will contain Mr. Adams's paper 'On the Perturbation of Uranus'; + and when it comes, in due course, before the public, we are quite sure + that that gentleman will expect that we shall again enter upon the + subject with peculiar delight. Whilst we have a thorough loathing for + mean, cowardly, crawlers—we have an especial pleasure in + maintaining the claims of men who are truly grateful as well as highly + talented: Mr. Adams, therefore, will find that he cannot be + disappointed—and the occasion will afford us an opportunity for + making the comparison to which we have adverted."</p> + + <p>This passage illustrates what I have said on the editorial function + (Vol. I, p. 15). What precedes and follows has some criticism on the + Government, the Astronomer Royal, etc., but reserved in allusion, oblique + in sarcasm, and not fiercely uncourteous. The coarseness of the passage I + have quoted shows editorial insertion, which is also shown by its + blunder. The inserter is waiting for the Almanac of 1851 that he may + review Mr. Adams's paper, which is to be contained in it. His own + contributor, only two sentences before the insertion, had said, "The + Nautical Almanac, we believe, is published three or four years in + advance." In fact, the Almanac for 1851—with Mr. Adams's paper at + the end—was published at the end of 1847 or very beginning of 1848; + it had therefore been more than two years before the public when the + passage quoted was written. And probably every person in the country who + was fit to review Mr. Adams's <!-- Page 148 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page148"></a>[148]</span>paper—and most of those who were fit + to read it—knew that it had been widely circulated, in revise, at + the end of 1846: my copy has written on it, "2d revise, December 27, + 1846, at noon," in the handwriting of the Superintendent of the Almanac; + and I know that there was an extensive issue of these revises, brought + out by the Le-Verrier-and-Adams discussion. I now give the review of + myself, (February 23, 1850):</p> + +<p class="cenhead">"<i>The British Almanack and Companion.</i></p> + + <p>"The Companion to this Almanack, for some years after its first + publication, annually contained scientific articles by Sir J. Lubbock<a + name="NtA_262" href="#Nt_262"><sup>[262]</sup></a> and others of a high + order and great interest; we have now, however, closed the publication as + a scientific one in remembrance of what it was, and not in consequence of + what it is. Its list of contributors on science, has grown 'small by + degrees and beautifully less,' until it has dwindled down to one—'a + last rose of summer left withering alone.' The one contributor has + contributed one paper 'On Ancient and Modern Usage in Reckoning.'</p> + + <p>"The learned critic's <i>chef d'œuvre</i>, is considered, by + competent judges, to be an Essay on <i>Old Almanacks</i> printed a few + years ago in this annual, and supposed to be written with the view of + surpassing a profound memoir on the same subject by James O. Halliwell,<a + name="NtA_263" href="#Nt_263"><sup>[263]</sup></a> Esq., F.R. and A.S.S., + but the tremendous effort which the learned writer then made to excel + many titled competitors for honors in the antique line appears to have + had a sad effect upon his mental powers—at any rate, his efforts + have since yearly become duller and duller; happily, at last, we should + suppose, 'the ancient <!-- Page 149 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page149"></a>[149]</span>and modern usage in reckoning' indicates + the lowest point to which the <i>vis inertia</i> of the learned writer's + peculiar genius can force him.</p> + + <p>"We will give a few extracts from the article.</p> + + <p>"The learned author says, 'Those who are accustomed to settle the + meaning of ancient phrases by self-examination will find some + <i>strange</i> conclusions arrived at by us.' The writer never wrote a + more correct sentence—it admits of no kind of dispute.</p> + + <p>"'Language and counting,' says the learned author, 'both came before + the logical discussion of either. It is not allowable to argue that + something is or was, because it ought to be or ought to have been. That + two negatives make an affirmative, ought to be; if <i>no</i> man have + done <i>nothing</i>, the man who has done nothing does not exist, and + <i>every</i> man has done <i>something</i>. But in Greek, and in + uneducated English, it is unquestionable that 'no man has done nothing' + is only an emphatic way of saying that no man has done <i>anything</i>; + and it would be absurd to reason that it could not have been so, because + it should not.'—p. 5.</p> + + <p>"'But there <i>is</i> another difference between old and new times, + yet more remarkable, for we have <i>nothing</i> of it now: whereas in + things indivisible we count with our fathers, and should say in buying an + acre of land, that the result has no parts, and that the purchaser, till + he owns all the ground, owns none, the change of possession being + instantaneous. This second difference lies in the habit of considering + nothing, nought, zero, cipher, or whatever it may be called, to be at the + beginning of the scale of numbers. Count four days from Monday: we should + now say Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday; formerly, it would have + been Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. Had we asked, what at that + rate is the first day from Monday, all would have stared at a phrase they + had never heard. Those who were capable of extending language would have + said, Why it must be Monday itself: the rest would have said, there can + <!-- Page 150 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page150"></a>[150]</span>be no first day from Monday, for the day + after is Tuesday, which must be the second day: Monday, one; Tuesday, + two,'—p. 10.</p> + + <p>"We assure our readers that the whole article is equally lucid, and + its logic alike formal.</p> + + <p>"There are some exceedingly valuable footnotes; we give one of the + most interesting, taken from the learned Mr. Halliwell's profound book on + Nursery Rhymes<a name="NtA_264" + href="#Nt_264"><sup>[264]</sup></a>—a celebrated production, for + which it is supposed the author was made F.R.S.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="hg3">"'<i>One's nine</i>,</p> + <p>Two's some,</p> + <p>Three's a many,</p> + <p>Four's a penny,</p> + <p>Five's a little hundred.'</p> + </div> + </div> + <p>'The last line refers to five score, the so-called hundred being more + usually six score. The first line, looked at etymologically, is <i>one is + not one</i>, and the change of thought by which <i>nine</i>, the decimal + of <i>one</i>, aims to be associated with the decimal of <i>plurality</i> + is curious:'—Very.</p> + + <p>"This valuable and profound essay will very probably be transferred to + the next edition of the learned Mr. Halliwell's rare work, of kindred + worth, entitled '<span class="sc">Rara Mathematica</span>,' it will then + be deservedly handed down to posterity as a covering for cheap + trunks—a most appropriate archive for such a treasure."</p> + + <p> </p> + + <p>In December, 1846, the <i>Mechanics' Magazine</i> published a libel on + Airy in the matter of the discovery of Neptune. In May, 1849, one * * * + was to have been brought forward for election at the Astronomical + Society, and was opposed by me and others, on the ground that he was the + probable author of this libel, and that he would not, perhaps could <!-- + Page 151 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page151"></a>[151]</span>not, + deny it. [N.B. I no more doubt that he was the author then I doubt that I + am the author of this sentence.]<a name="NtA_265" + href="#Nt_265"><sup>[265]</sup></a></p> + + <p>Accordingly, * * * was withdrawn, and a discussion took place, for + which see the <i>Athenæum</i>, No. 1126, May 26, 1849, p. 544. The + <i>Mechanics' Magazine</i> was very sore, but up to this day has never + ventured beyond an attack on Airy, private whisperings against + Adams—(see <i>ante</i>, p. 147),—and the above against + myself. In due time, I doubt not my name will appear as one of the + <i>âmes damnées</i><a name="NtA_266" href="#Nt_266"><sup>[266]</sup></a> + of the <i>Mechanics' Magazine</i>.<a name="NtA_267" + href="#Nt_267"><sup>[267]</sup></a></p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">T. S. DAVIES ON EUCLID.</p> + + <p>First, as to Mr. Halliwell. The late Thomas Stephens Davies,<a + name="NtA_268" href="#Nt_268"><sup>[268]</sup></a> excellent in geometry, + and most learned in its history, was also a good hand at enmity, though + not implacable. He and Mr. Halliwell, who had long before been very much + one, were, at this date, very much two. I do not think T. S. Davies wrote + this article; and I think that by giving my reasons I shall do service to + his memory. It must have been written at the beginning of February; and + within three days of that time T. S. Davies was making over to me, by his + own free act, to be kept until claimed by the relatives, what all who + knew even his writings knew that he considered as the most precious + deposit he had ever had in his keeping—Horner's<a name="NtA_269" + href="#Nt_269"><sup>[269]</sup></a> papers. His letter announcing the + transmission is dated February 2, 1850. This is a strong point; but there + is another quite as strong. Euclid and <!-- Page 152 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page152"></a>[152]</span>his writings were + matters on which T. S. Davies knew neither fear nor favor: he could not + have written lightly about a man who stood high with him as a judge of + Euclid. Now in this very letter of Feb. 2, there is a sentence which I + highly value, because, as aforesaid, it is on a point on which he would + never have yielded anything, to which he had paid life-long attention, + and on which he had the bias of having long stood alone. In fact, + knowing—and what I shall quote confirms me,—that in the + matter of Euclid his hand was against every man, I expected, when I sent + him a copy of my 22-column article, "Eucleides" in Smith's + <i>Dictionary</i>,<a name="NtA_270" href="#Nt_270"><sup>[270]</sup></a> + to have received back a criticism, that would have blown me out of the + water: and I thought it not unlikely that a man so well up in the subject + might have made me feel demolished on some points. Instead of this, I got + the following: "Although on one or two minor points I do not quite accord + with your views, yet as a whole and without regard to any minor points, I + think you are the first who has succeeded in a delineation of Euclid as a + geometer." All this duly considered, it is utterly incredible that T. S. + Davies should have written the review in question. And yet Mr. Halliwell + is treated just as T. S. Davies would have treated him, as to tone and + spirit. The inference in my mind is that we have here a marked instance + of the joining of hatreds which takes place in journals supported by + voluntary contributions of matter. Should anything ever have revived this + article—and no one ever knows what might have been fished up from + the forgotten mass of journals—the treatment of Mr. Halliwell would + certainly have thrown a suspicion on T. S. Davies, a large and regular + contributor to the Magazine. It is good service to his memory to point + out what makes it incredible that he should have written so unworthy an + article.</p> + + <p>The fault is this. There are four extracts: the first <!-- Page 153 + --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page153"></a>[153]</span>three are + perfectly well printed. The printing of the <i>Mechanics' Magazine</i> + was very good. I was always exceedingly satisfied with the manner in + which my articles appeared, without my seeing proof. Most likely these + extracts were printed from my printed paper; if not the extractor was a + good copier. I know this by a test which has often served me. I use the + subjunctive—"if no man <i>have</i> done nothing," an ordinary + transcriber, narrating a quotation almost always lets his own habit write + <i>has</i>. The fourth extract has three alterations, all tending to make + me ridiculous. <i>None</i> is altered, in two places, into <i>nine</i>, + <i>denial</i> into <i>decimal</i>, and <i>comes</i> into <i>aims</i>; so + that "none, the denial of one, comes to be associated with the denial of + plurality," reads as "nine, the decimal of one, aims to be associated + with the decimal of plurality." This is intentional; had it been a + compositor's reading of bad handwriting, these would not have been the + only mistakes; to say nothing of the corrector of the press. And both the + compositor and reader would have guessed, from the first line being + translated into "one is not one," that it must have been "one's none," + not "one's nine." But it was not intended that the gem should be + recovered from the unfathomed cave, and set in a Budget of Paradoxes.</p> + + <p>We have had plenty of slander-paradox. I now give a halfpennyworth of + bread to all this sack, an instance of the paradox of benevolence, in + which an individual runs counter to all the ideas of his time, and sees + his way into the next century. At Amiens, at the end of the last century, + an institution was endowed by a M. de Morgan, to whom I hope I am of kin, + but I cannot trace it; the name is common at Amiens. It was the first of + the kind I ever heard of. It is a Salle d'Asyle for children, who are + taught and washed and taken care of during the hours in which their + parents must be at work. The founder was a large wholesale grocer and + colonial importer, who was made a Baron by Napoleon I for his commercial + success and his charities. <!-- Page 154 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page154"></a>[154]</span></p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">JAS. SMITH AGAIN.</p> + + <p>1862. Mr. Smith replies to me, still signing himself Nauticus: I give + an extract:</p> + + <p>"By hypothesis [what, again!] let 14° 24' be the chord of an arc of + 15° [but I wont, says 14° 24'], and consequently equal to a side of a + regular polygon of 24 sides inscribed in the circle. Then 4 times 14° 24' + = 57° 36' = the radius of the circle ..."</p> + + <p>That is, four times the chord of an arc is the chord of four times the + arc: and the sum of four sides of a certain pentagon is equal to the + fifth. This is the capital of the column, the crown of the arch, the apex + of the pyramid, the watershed of the elevation. Oh! J. S.! J. S.! groans + Geometry—<i>Summum J. S. summa injuria</i>!<a name="NtA_271" + href="#Nt_271"><sup>[271]</sup></a> The other J. S., Joseph Scaliger,<a + name="NtA_272" href="#Nt_272"><sup>[272]</sup></a> as already mentioned, + had his own way of denying that a straight line is always the shortest + distance between two points. A parallel might be instituted, but not in + half a column. And J. S. the <i>second</i> has been so tightly handled + that he may now be dismissed, with an inscription for his circular + shield, obtained by changing <i>Lexica contexat</i> into <i>Circus + quadrandus</i> in an epigram of J. S. the <i>first</i>:</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="hg3">"Si quem dura manet sententia judicis, olim</p> + <p>Damnatum ærumnis suppliciisque caput,</p> + <p>Hunc neque fabrili lassent ergastula massa,</p> + <p>Nec rigidas vexent fossa metalla manus.</p> + <p>Circus quadrandus: nam—cætera quid moror?—omnes</p> + <p>Pœnarum facies hic labor unus habet."<a name="NtA_273" href="#Nt_273"><sup>[273]</sup></a></p> + </div> + </div> +<p><!-- Page 155 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page155"></a>[155]</span></p> + + <p>I had written as far as <i>damnatum</i> when in came the letter of + Nauticus as a printed slip, with a request that I would consider the slip + as a 'revised copy.' Not a word of alteration in the part I have quoted! + And in the evening came a letter desiring that I would alter a gross + error; but not the one above: this is revising without revision! If there + were cyclometers enough of this stamp, they would, as cultivation + progresses—and really, with John Stuart Mill in for Westminster, it + seems on the move, even though, as I learn while correcting the proof, + Gladstone be out from Oxford; for Oxford is no worse than in 1829, while + Westminster is far above what she ever has been: election time excuses + even such a parenthesis as this—be engaged to amuse those who can + afford it with paralogism at their meals, after the manner of the other + jokers who wore the caps and bells. The rich would then order their + dinners with <i>panem et Circenses</i>,—up with the victuals and + the circle-games—as the poor did in the days of old.</p> + + <p>Mr. Smith is determined that half a column shall not do. Not a day + without something from him: letter, printed proof, pamphlet. In what is + the last at this moment of writing he tells me that part of the title of + a work of his will be "Professor De Morgan in the pillory without hope of + escape." And where will he be himself? This I detected by an effort of + reasoning which I never could have made except by following in his steps. + In all matters connected with <span class="grk">π</span> the letters + <i>l</i> and <i>g</i> are closely related: this appears in the well-known + formula for the time of oscillation <span class="grk">π</span> + √(<i>l</i> : <i>g</i>). Hence <i>g</i> may be written for <i>l</i>, + but only once: do it twice, and you require the time to be <span + class="grk">π</span> √(<i>l</i><sup>2</sup> : + <i>g</i><sup>2</sup>). This may be reinforced by observing that if as a + datum, or if you dislike that word, by hypothesis, the first <i>l</i> be + a <i>g</i>, it is absurd that it should be an <i>l</i>. Write <i>g</i> + for the first <i>l</i>, and we have <i>un fait accompli</i>. I shall be + in pillory; and overhead, in a cloud, will sit Mr. James Smith on one + stick laid across two others, under a nimbus of 3⅛ diameters to + <!-- Page 156 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page156"></a>[156]</span>the circumference—in <span + class="grk">π</span>-glory. Oh for a drawing of this scene! Mr. De + Morgan presents his compliments to Mr. James Smith, and requests the + honor of an exchange of photographs.</p> + + <p><i>July 26.</i>—Another printed letter.—Mr. James Smith + begs for a distinct answer to the following plain question: "Have I not + in this communication brought under your notice <i>truths</i> that were + never before dreamed of in your geometrical and mathematical philosophy?" + To which, he having taken the precaution to print the word <i>truths</i> + in italics, I can conscientiously answer, Yes, you have. And now I shall + take no more notice of these <i>truths</i>, until I receive something + which surpasses all that has yet been done.</p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">A FEW SMALL PARADOXERS.</p> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p>The Circle secerned from the Square; and its area gauged in terms of a + triangle common to both. By Wm. Houlston,<a name="NtA_274" + href="#Nt_274"><sup>[274]</sup></a> Esq. London and Jersey, 1862, + 4to.</p> + +</blockquote> + + <p>Mr. Houlston squares at about four poetical quotations in a page, and + brings out <span class="grk">π</span> = 3.14213.... His frontispiece + is a variegated diagram, having parts designated Inigo and Outigo. All + which relieves the subject, but does not remove the error.</p> + + <p> </p> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p>Considerations respecting the figure of the Earth.... By C. F. + Bakewell.<a name="NtA_275" href="#Nt_275"><sup>[275]</sup></a> London, + 1862, 8vo.</p> + +</blockquote> + + <p>Newton and others think that in a revolving sphere the <!-- Page 157 + --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page157"></a>[157]</span>loose surface + matter will tend to the equator: Mr. Bakewell thinks it will tend to the + poles.</p> + + <p> </p> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p>On eccentric and centric force: a new theory of projection. By + H. F. A. Pratt, M.D.<a name="NtA_276" href="#Nt_276"><sup>[276]</sup></a> + London, 1862, 8vo.</p> + +</blockquote> + + <p>Dr. Pratt not only upsets Newton, but cuts away the very ground he + stands on: for he destroys the first law of motion, and will not have the + natural tendency of matter in motion to be rectilinear. This, as we have + seen, was John Walsh's<a name="NtA_277" + href="#Nt_277"><sup>[277]</sup></a> notion. In a more recent work "On + Orbital Motion," London, 1863, 8vo., Dr. Pratt insists on another of + Walsh's notions, namely, that the precession of the equinoxes is caused + by the motion of the solar system round a distant central sun. In this + last work the author refers to a few notes, which completely destroy the + theory of gravitation in terms "perfectly intelligible as well to the + unlearned as to the learned": to me they are quite unintelligible, which + rather tends to confirm a notion I have long had, that I am neither one + thing nor the other. There is an ambiguity of phrase which delights a + writer on logic, always on the look-out for specimens of <i>homonymia</i> + or <i>æquivocatio</i>. The author, as a physician, is accustomed to + "appeal from mere formulæ": accordingly, he sets at nought the whole of + the mathematics, which he does not understand. This equivocation between + the formula of the physician and that of the mathematician is as good, + though not so perceptible to the world at large, as that made by Mr. + Briggs's friend in <i>Punch's</i> picture, which I cut out to paste into + my Logic. Mr. Briggs wrote for a couple of <i>bruisers</i>, meaning to + prepare oats for his horses: his friend sent him the Whitechapel Chicken + and the Bayswater Slasher, with the gloves, all ready.</p> + +<p><!-- Page 158 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page158"></a>[158]</span></p> + + <p> </p> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p>On matter and ether, and the secret laws of physical change. By T. R. + Birks, M.A.<a name="NtA_278" href="#Nt_278"><sup>[278]</sup></a> + Cambridge, 1862, 8vo.</p> + +</blockquote> + + <p>Bold efforts are made at molecular theories, and the one before me is + ably aimed. When the Newton of this subject shall be seated in his place, + books like the present will be sharply looked into, to see what amount of + anticipation they have made.</p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">DR. THORN AND MR. BIDEN.</p> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p>The history of the 'thorn tree and bush' from the earliest to the + present time: in which is clearly and plainly shown the descent of her + most gracious Majesty and her Anglo-Saxon people from the half tribe of + Ephraim, and possibly from the half tribe of Manasseh; and consequently + her right and title to possess, at the present moment, for herself and + for them, a share or shares of the desolate cities and places in the land + of their forefathers! By Theta, M.D.<a name="NtA_279" + href="#Nt_279"><sup>[279]</sup></a> (Private circulation.) London, 1862, + 8vo.</p> + +</blockquote> + + <p>This is much about <i>Thorn</i>, and its connected words, Thor, Thoth, + Theta, etc. It is a very mysterious vagary. The author of it is the + person whom I have described elsewhere as having for his device the round + man in the three-cornered hole, the writer of the little heap of + satirical anonymous letters about the Beast and 666. By accident I + discovered the writer: so that if there be any more thorns to crackle + under the pot, they need not be anonymous.</p> + + <p>Nor will they be anonymous. Since I wrote the above, I have received + <i>onymous</i> letters, as <i>ominous</i> as the rest. The writer, + William Thorn, M.D., is obliged to reveal <!-- Page 159 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page159"></a>[159]</span>himself, since it is + his object to prove that he himself is one 666. By using W for double Vau + (or 12) he cooks the number out of his own name. But he says it is the + number not of a beast but of a man, and adds, "Thereby hangs a tale!" + which sounds like contradiction. He informs me that he will talk the + matter over with me: but I shall certainly have nothing to say to a + gentleman of his number; it is best to keep on the safe side.</p> + + <p>In one letter I am informed that not a line should I have had, but for + my "sneer at 666," which, therefore, I am well pleased to have given. I + am also told that my name means the "'garden of death,' that place in + which the tree of knowledge was plucked, and so you are like your name + 'dead' to the fact that you are an Israelite, like those in Ezekiel 37 + ch." Some hints are given that I shall not fare well in the next world, + which any one who reads the chapter in Ezekiel will see is quite against + his comparison. The reader must not imagine that my prognosticator means + <i>Morgan</i> to be a corruption of <i>Mortjardin</i>; he proves his + point by Hebrew: but any philologist would tell him the true derivation + of the name, and how <i>Glamorgan</i> came to get it. It will be of much + comfort to those young men who have not got through to know that the tree + of knowledge itself was once in the same case. And so good bye to 666 for + the present, and the assumption that the enigma is to be solved by the + united numeral forces of the letters of a word.</p> + + <p>It is worthy of note that, as soon as my Budget commenced, two + guardian spirits started up, fellow men as to the flesh, both totally + unknown to me: they have stuck to me from first to last. James Smith, + Esq., finally Nauticus, watches over my character in this world, and + would fain preserve me from ignorance, folly, and dishonesty, by + inclosing me in a magic circle of 3⅛ diameters in circumference. + The round man in the three-cornered hole, finally William Thorn, M.D., + takes charge of my future destiny, <!-- Page 160 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page160"></a>[160]</span>and tries to bring me + to the truth by unfolding a score of meanings—all right—of + 666. He hints that I, and my wife, are servants of Satan: at least he + desires us both to remember that we cannot serve God and Satan; and he + can hardly mean that we are serving the first, and that he would have us + serve the second. As becomes an interpreter of the Apocalypse, he uses + seven different seals; but not more than one to one letter. If his seals + be all signet-rings, he must be what Aristophanes calls a + sphragidonychargocometical fellow. But—and many thanks to him for + the same—though an M.D., he has not sent me a single vial. And so + much for my tree of secular knowledge and my tree of spiritual life: I + dismiss them with thanks from myself and thanks from my reader. The dual + of the Pythagorean system was Isis and Diana; of the Jewish law, Moses + and Aaron; and of the City of London, Gog and Magog; of the Paradoxiad, + James Smith, Esq., and William Thorn, M.D.</p> + + <p><i>September, 1866.</i> Mr. James Biden<a name="NtA_280" + href="#Nt_280"><sup>[280]</sup></a> has favored me with some of his + publications. He is a rival of Dr. Thorn; a prophet by name-right and + crest-right. He is of royal descent through the De Biduns. He is the + <i>watchman</i> of Ezekiel: God has told him so. He is the author of + <i>The True Church</i>, a phrase which seems to have a book-meaning and a + mission-meaning. He shall speak for himself:</p> + + <p>"A crest of the Bidens has significance. It is a lion rampant between + wings—wings in Scripture denote the flight of time. Thus the beasts + or living creatures of the Revelations have each six wings, intimating a + condition of mankind up to and towards the close of six thousand years of + Bible teaching. The two wings of the crest would thus intimate power + towards the expiration of 2000 years, as time is marked in the history of + Great Britain.</p> + +<p><!-- Page 161 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page161"></a>[161]</span></p> + + <p>"In a recent publication, <i>The Pestilence, Why Inflicted</i>, are + given many reasons why the writer thinks himself to be the appointed + watchman foretold by Ezekiel, chapters iii. and xxxiii. Among the reasons + are many prophecies fulfilled in him. Of these it is now needful to note + two as bearing especially on the subject of the reign of Darius.</p> + + <p>"1.—In Daniel it is said, 'Darius the Median took the kingdom, + being about threescore and two years old.'—Daniel v. 31.</p> + + <p>"When 'Belshazzar' the king of the Chaldeans is found wanting, Darius + takes the kingdom. It is not given him by the popular voice; he asserts + his right, and this is not denied. He takes it when about sixty-two years + of age. The language of Daniel is prophetic, and Darius has in another an + antitype. The writer was born July 18th, 1803; and the claim was asserted + at the close of 1865, when he was about sixty-two years of age.</p> + + <p>"The claims which have been asserted demand a settled faith, and which + could only be reached through a long course of divine teaching."</p> + + <p>When I was a little boy at school, one of my school-fellows took it + into his head to set up a lottery of marbles: the thing took, and he made + a stony profit. Soon, one after another, every boy had his lottery, and + it was, "I won't put into yours unless you put into mine." This knocked + up the scheme. It will be the same with the prophets. Dr. Thorn, Mr. + Biden, Mrs. Cottle,<a name="NtA_281" href="#Nt_281"><sup>[281]</sup></a> + etc. will grow imitators, until we are all pointed out in the Bible: but + A will not admit B's claim unless B admits his. For myself, as elsewhere + shown, I am the first Beast in the Revelations.</p> + + <p>Every contraband prophet gets a few followers: it is a great point to + make these sequacious people into Buridan's asses, which they will become + when prophets are so numerous that there is no choosing.</p> + +<p><!-- Page 162 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page162"></a>[162]</span></p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">SIR G. C. LEWIS.</p> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p>An historical survey of the Astronomy of the Ancients. By the Rt. Hon. + Sir G. C. Lewis.<a name="NtA_282" href="#Nt_282"><sup>[282]</sup></a> + 8vo. 1862.</p> + +</blockquote> + + <p>There are few men of our day whom I admire more than the late Sir G. + Lewis: he was honest, earnest, sagacious, learned, and industrious. He + probably sacrificed his life to his conjunction of literature and + politics: and he stood high as a minister of state in addition to his + character as a man of letters. The work above named is of great value, + and will be read for its intrinsic merit, consulted for its crowd of + valuable references, quoted for its aid to one side of many a discussion, + and opposed for its force against the other. Its author was also a wit + and a satirist. I know of three classical satires of our day which are + inimitable imitations: Mr. Malden's<a name="NtA_283" + href="#Nt_283"><sup>[283]</sup></a> <i>Pragmatized Legends</i>, Mr. + Mansel's<a name="NtA_284" href="#Nt_284"><sup>[284]</sup></a> + <i>Phrontisterion</i>, and Sir G. Cornewall Lewis's <i>Inscriptio + Antiqua</i>. In this last, <span + class="scac">HEYDIDDLEDIDDLETHECATANDTHEFIDDLE</span> etc. is treated as + an Oscan inscription, and rendered into Latin by approved methods. As few + readers have seen it, I give the result:</p> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p>"Hejus dedit libenter, dedit libenter. Deus propitius [est], deus + [donatori] libenter favet. Deus in viarum <!-- Page 163 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page163"></a>[163]</span>juncturâ ovorum dape + [colitur], deus mundi. Deus in litatione voluit, benigno animo, hædum, + taurum intra fines [loci sacri] portandos. Deus, bis lustratus, beat + fossam sacræ libationis."<a name="NtA_285" + href="#Nt_285"><sup>[285]</sup></a></p> + +</blockquote> + + <p>How then comes the history of astronomy among the paradoxes? Simply + because the author, so admirably when writing about what he knew, did not + know what he did not know, and blundered like a circle-squarer. And why + should the faults of so good a writer be recorded in such a list as the + present? For three reasons: First, and foremost, because if the exposure + be not made by some one, the errors will gradually ooze out, and the work + will get the character of inaccurate. Nothing hurts a book of which few + can fathom the depths so much as a plain blunder or two on the surface. + Secondly, because the reviews either passed over these errors or treated + them too gently, rather implying their existence than exposing them. + Thirdly, because they strongly illustrate the melancholy truth, that no + one knows enough to write about what he does not know. The distinctness + of the errors is a merit; it proceeds from the clear-headedness of the + author. The suppression in the journals may be due partly to admiration + of the talent and energy which lived two difficult lives at once, partly + to respect for high position in public affairs, partly to some of the + critics being themselves men of learning only, unable to detect the + errors. But we know that action and reaction are equal and contrary. If + our generation take no notice of defects, and allow them to go down + undetected among merits, the next generation will discover them, will + perhaps believe us incapable of detecting them, at least will pronounce + our judgment good for nothing, and will form an <!-- Page 164 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page164"></a>[164]</span>opinion in which the + merits will be underrated: so it has been, is, and will be. The best + thing that can be done for the memory of the author is to remove the + unsound part that the remainder may thrive. The errors do not affect the + work; they occur in passages which might very well have been omitted: and + I consider that, in making them conspicuous, I am but cutting away a + deleterious fungus from a noble tree.</p> + + <p>(P. 154). The periodic times of the five planets were stated by + Eudoxus,<a name="NtA_286" href="#Nt_286"><sup>[286]</sup></a> as we learn + from Simplicius;<a name="NtA_287" href="#Nt_287"><sup>[287]</sup></a> the + following is his statement, to which the true times are subjoined, for + the sake of comparison:</p> + +<table class="nobctr"> +<tr><td> </td><td><span class="scac">STATEMENT OF EUDOXUS</span></td><td align="center"><span class="scac">TRUE TIME</span></td></tr> +<tr><td>Mercury</td><td align="center"> 1 year</td><td align="right">— 87d. 23h.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Venus</td><td align="center"> 1 " </td><td align="right">— 224d. 16h.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Mars</td><td align="center"> 2 " </td><td align="right">1y. 321d. 23h.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Jupiter</td><td align="center">12 " </td><td align="right">11y. 315d. 14h.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Saturn</td><td align="center">30 " </td><td align="right">29y. 174d. 1h.</td></tr> +</table> + + <p>Upon this determination two remarks may be made. First, the error with + respect to Mercury and Venus is considerable; with respect to Mercury, it + is, in round numbers, 365 instead of 88 days, more than four times too + much. Aristotle remarks that Eudoxus distinguishes Mercury and Venus from + the other three planets by giving them one sphere each, with the poles in + common. The proximity of Mercury to the sun would render its course + difficult to observe and to measure, but the cause of the large error + with respect to Venus (130 days) is not apparent.</p> + +<p><!-- Page 165 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page165"></a>[165]</span></p> + + <p>Sir G. Lewis takes Eudoxus as making the planets move round the sun; + he has accordingly compared the <i>geocentric</i> periods of Eudoxus with + our <i>heliocentric</i> periods. What greater blunder can be made by a + writer on ancient astronomy than giving Eudoxus the Copernican system? If + Mercury were a black spot in the middle of the sun it would of course + move round the earth in a year, or appear to do so: let it swing a little + on one side and the other of the sun, and the average period is still a + year, with slight departures both ways. The same for Venus, with larger + departures. Say that a person not much accustomed to the distinction + might for once write down the mistake; how are we to explain its + remaining in the mind in a permanent form, and being made a ground for + such speculation as that of the difficulty of observing Mercury leading + to a period four times what it ought to be, corrected in proof and + published by an industrious and thoughtful person? Only in one way: the + writer was quite out of his depth. This one case is conclusive; be it + said with all respect for the real staple of the work and of the author. + He knew well the difference of the systems, but not the effect of the + difference: he is another instance of what I have had to illustrate by + help of a very different person, that it is difficult to reason well upon + matter which is not familiar.</p> + + <p> </p> + + <p>(P. 254). Copernicus, in fact, supposed the axis of the earth to be + always turned towards the Sun.<sup>(169)</sup> [(169). See Delambre, + <i>Hist. Astr. Mod.</i>, Vol. I, p. 96]. It was reserved to Kepler to + propound the hypothesis of the constant parallelism of the earth's axis + to itself.</p> + + <p> </p> + + <p>If there be one thing more prominent than another in the work of + Copernicus himself, in the popular explanations of it, and in the page of + Delambre<a name="NtA_288" href="#Nt_288"><sup>[288]</sup></a> cited, it + is that the <i>parallelism of the earth's axis</i> is a glaring part of + the <!-- Page 166 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page166"></a>[166]</span>theory of Copernicus. What Kepler<a + name="NtA_289" href="#Nt_289"><sup>[289]</sup></a> did was to throw away, + as unnecessary, the method by which Copernicus, <i>per fas et + nefas</i>,<a name="NtA_290" href="#Nt_290"><sup>[290]</sup></a> secured + it. Copernicus, thinking of the earth's orbital revolution as those would + think who were accustomed to the <i>solid orbs</i>—and much as the + stoppers of the moon's rotation do now: why do they not strengthen + themselves with Copernicus?—thought that the earth's axis would + always incline the same end towards the sun, unless measures were taken + to prevent it. He <i>did</i> take measures: he invented a + <i>compensating</i> conical motion of the axis to preserve the + parallelism; and, which is one of the most remarkable points of his + system, he obtained the precession of the equinoxes by giving the + necessary trifle more than compensation. What stares us in the face at + the beginning of the paragraph to which the author refers?</p> + + <p>"C'est donc pour arriver à ce parallelisme, ou pour le conserver, que + Copernic a cru devoir recourir à ce mouvement égal et opposé qui détruit + l'effet qu'il attribue si gratuitement au premier, de déranger le + parallelisme."<a name="NtA_291" href="#Nt_291"><sup>[291]</sup></a></p> + + <p>Parallelism at any price, is the motto of Copernicus: you need not pay + so dear, is the remark of Kepler.</p> + + <p>The opinions given by Sir G. Lewis about the effects of modern + astronomy, which he does not understand and singularly undervalues, will + now be seen to be of no authority. He fancies that—to give an + instance—for the determination of a ship's place, the invention of + chronometers has been far more important than any improvement in + astronomical theory (p. 254). Not to speak of latitude,—though the + omission is not without importance,—he ought to have known that + longitude is found by the difference between what o'clock it is at + Greenwich and at the ship's place, at <!-- Page 167 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page167"></a>[167]</span>one absolute moment of + time. Now if a chronometer were quite perfect—which no chronometer + is, be it said—and would truly tell Greenwich mean time all over + the world, it ought to have been clear that just as good a watch is + wanted for the time at <i>the place of observation</i>, before the + longitude of that place with respect to Greenwich can be found. There is + no such watch, except the starry heaven itself: and that watch can only + be read by astronomical observation, aided by the best knowledge of the + heavenly motions.</p> + + <p>I think I have done Sir G. Lewis's very excellent book more good than + all the reviewers put together.</p> + + <p>I will give an old instance in which literature got into confusion + about astronomy. Theophrastus,<a name="NtA_292" + href="#Nt_292"><sup>[292]</sup></a> who is either the culprit or his + historian, attributes to Meton,<a name="NtA_293" + href="#Nt_293"><sup>[293]</sup></a> the contriver of the lunar calendar + of nineteen years, which lasts to this day, that his solstices were + determined for him by a certain Phaeinus of Elis on Mount Lycabettus. + Nobody else mentions this astronomer: though it is pretty certain that + Meton himself made more than one appointment with him for the purpose of + observing solstices; and we may be sure that if either were behind his + time, it was Meton. For <i>Phaeinus Helius</i> is the shining sun + himself; and in the astronomical poet Aratus<a name="NtA_294" + href="#Nt_294"><sup>[294]</sup></a> we read about the nineteen years of + the shining sun:</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p><span title="Enneakaideka kukla phaeinou êelioio" class="grk">Ἐννεακαιδέκα κύκλα φαεινοῦ ἠελίοιο</span>.<a name="NtA_295" href="#Nt_295"><sup>[295]</sup></a></p> + </div> + </div> + <p>Some man of letters must have turned Apollo into Phaeinus of Elis; and + there he is in the histories of astronomy to <!-- Page 168 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page168"></a>[168]</span>this day. Salmasius<a + name="NtA_296" href="#Nt_296"><sup>[296]</sup></a> will have Aratus to + have meant him, and proposes to read <span title="êleioio" class="grk" + >ἠλείοιο</span>: he did + not observe that Phaeinus is a very common adjective of Aratus, and that, + if his conjecture were right, this Phaeinus would be the only + non-mythical man in the poems of Aratus.</p> + + <p>[When I read Sir George Lewis's book, the points which I have + criticized struck me as not to be wondered at, but I did not remember why + at the time. A Chancellor of the Exchequer and a writer on ancient + astronomy are birds of such different trees that the second did not + recall the first. In 1855 I was one of a deputation of about twenty + persons who waited on Sir G. Lewis, as Chancellor of the Exchequer, on + the subject of a decimal coinage. The deputation was one of much force: + Mr. Airy, with myself and others, represented mathematics; William + Brown,<a name="NtA_297" href="#Nt_297"><sup>[297]</sup></a> whose + dealings with the United States were reckoned by yearly millions, counted + duodecimally in England and decimally in America, was the best, but not + the only, representative of commerce. There were bullionists, + accountants, retailers, etc. Sir G. L. walked into the room, took his + seat, and without waiting one moment, began to read the deputation a + smart lecture on the evils of a decimal coinage; it would require + alteration of all the tables, it would impede calculation, etc. etc. Of + those arguments against it which weighed with many of better knowledge + than his, he obviously knew nothing. The members of the deputation began + to make their statements, and met with curious denials. He interrupted me + with "Surely there is no doubt that the calculations of our books of + arithmetic are easier <!-- Page 169 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page169"></a>[169]</span>than those in the French books." He was + not aware that the <i>universally admitted</i> superiority of decimal + <i>calculation</i> made many of those who prefer our system for the + market and the counter cast a longing and lingering look towards + decimals. My answer and the smiles which he saw around, made him give a + queer puzzled look, which seemed to say, "I may be out of my depth here!" + His manner changed, and he listened. I saw both the slap-dash mode in + which he dealt with subjects on which he had not thought, and the + temperament which admitted suspicion when the means of knowledge came in + his way. Having seen his two phases, I wonder neither at his more than + usual exhibition of shallowness when shallow, nor at the intensity of the + contrast when he had greater depth.]</p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">DECIMAL COINAGE.</p> + + <p>Among the paradoxers are the political paradoxers who care not how far + they go in debate, their only object being to carry the House with them + for the current evening. What I have said of editors I repeat of them. + The preservation of a very marked instance, the association of political + recklessness with cyclometrical and Apocalyptic absurdity, may have a + tendency to warn, not indeed any hardened public-man and sinner, but some + young minds which have yearnings towards politics, and are in formation + of habits.</p> + + <p>In the debate on decimal coinage of July 12, 1855, Mr. Lowe,<a + name="NtA_298" href="#Nt_298"><sup>[298]</sup></a> then member for + Kidderminster, an effective speaker and a smart man, exhibited himself in + a speech on which I wrote a comment for the Decimal Association. I have + seldom seen a more wretched attempt to distort the points of a public + question than the whole of this speech. Looking at the intelligence shown + by the speaker on other occasions, <!-- Page 170 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page170"></a>[170]</span>it is clear that if + charity, instead of believing all things, believed only all things but + one, he might tremble for his political character; for the honesty of his + intention on this occasion might be the incredible exception. I give a + few paragraphs with comments:</p> + + <p>"In commenting on the humorous, but still argumentative speech of Mr. + Lowe, the member for Kidderminster, we may observe, in general, that it + consists of points which have been several times set forth, and several + times answered. Mr. Lowe has seen these answers, but does not allude to + them, far less attempt to meet them. There are, no doubt, individuals, + who show in their public speaking the outward and visible signs of a + greater degree of acuteness than they can summon to guide their private + thinking. If Mr. Lowe be not one of these, if the power of his mind in + the closet be at all comparable to the power of his tongue in the House, + it may be suspected that his reserve with respect to what has been put + forward by the very parties against whom he was contending, arises from + one or both of two things—a high opinion of the arguments which he + ignored—a low opinion of the generality of the persons whom he + addressed. [Both, I doubt not].</p> + + +<table class="nomar" summary="Parallel columns" title="Parallel columns"> + <tr> + <td class="spac" style="vertical-align:top; text-align:left"> + <p>"Did they calculate in florins ?"</p> + </td> + <td class="spac" style="vertical-align:top; text-align:left"> + <p>In the name of common sense, how can it be objected to a system + that people do not use it before it is introduced? Let the decimal + system be completed, and calculation shall be made in florins; that + is, florins shall take their proper place. If florins were introduced + <i>now</i>, there must be a column for the odd shilling.</p> + </td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="spac" style="vertical-align:top; text-align:left"> + <p>"He was glad that some hon. gentleman had derived benefit from the + issue of florins. His only experience of their convenience was, that + when he ought to have received half-a-crown, he had generally + received a florin, and when he ought to have paid a florin, he had + generally paid half-a-crown." (Hear, hear, and laughter.)</p> + </td> + <td class="spac" style="vertical-align:top; text-align:left"> + <p>If the hon. gentleman make this assertion of himself, it is not + for us to gainsay it. It only proves that he is one of that class of + <!-- Page 171 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page171"></a>[171]</span>men who are described in the old song, + of which one couplet runs thus:</p> + <p> I sold my cow to buy me a calf;<br /> I never make a + bargain but I lose half,<br /> With a etc. etc. + etc.</p> + </td> + </tr> +</table> + + <p>But he cannot mean that Englishmen in general are so easily managed. + And as to Jonathan, who is but John lengthened out a little, he would see + creation whittled into chips before he would even split what may + henceforth be called the Kidderminster difference. The House, not + unmoved—for it laughed—with sly humor decided that the + introduction of the florin had been "eminently successful and + satisfactory."</p> + + <p>The truth is that Mr. Lowe here attacks nothing except the coexistence + of the florin and half-crown. We are endeavoring to abolish the + half-crown. Let Mr. Lowe join us; and he will, if we succeed, be relieved + from the pressure on his pocket which must arise from having the turn of + the market always against him.</p> + + +<table class="nomar" summary="Parallel columns" title="Parallel columns"> + <tr> + <td class="spac" style="vertical-align:top; text-align:left"> + <p>"From a florin they get to 2 2-5ths of a penny, but who ever + bought anything, who ever reckoned or wished to reckon in such a coin + as that?" (Hear, hear.)</p> + </td> + <td class="spac" style="vertical-align:top; text-align:left"> + <p>Note the sophism of expressing our coin in terms of the penny, + which we abandon, instead of the florin, which we retain. Remember + that this 2 2-5ths is the hundredth part of the pound, which is + called, as yet, a <i>cent</i>. Nobody buys anything at a cent, + because the cent is not yet introduced. Nobody reckons in cents for + the same reason. Everybody wishes to reckon in cents, who wishes to + combine the advantage of decimal reckoning with the preservation of + the pound as <!-- Page 172 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page172"></a>[172]</span>the highest unit of account; amongst + others, a majority of the House of Commons, the Bank of England, the + majority of London bankers, the Chambers of Commerce in various + places, etc. etc. etc.</p> + </td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="spac" style="vertical-align:top; text-align:left"> + <p>"Such a coin could never come into general <span + class="correction" title="text reads `circulalation'" + >circulation</span> because it represents nothing which corresponds + with any of the wants of the people."</p> + </td> + <td class="spac" style="vertical-align:top; text-align:left"> + <p>Does 2½d. never pass from hand to hand? And is 2½d. so precisely + the modulus of popular wants, that an alteration of 4 per cent. would + make it useless? Of all the values which 2½d. measures, from three + pounds of potatoes down to certain arguments used in the House of + Commons, there is not one for which a cent would not do just as well. + Mr. Lowe has fallen into the misconception of the person who admired + the dispensation of Providence by which large rivers are made to run + through cities so great and towns so many. If the cent were to be + introduced to-morrow, straightway the buns and cakes, the soda-water + bottles, the short omnibus fares, the bunches of radishes, etc. etc. + etc., would adapt themselves to the coin.</p> + </td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="spac" style="vertical-align:top; text-align:left"> + <p>"If the proposed system were adopted, they would all be compelled + to live in decimals for ever; if a man dined at a public house he + would have to pay for his dinner in decimal fractions. (Hear, hear.) + He objected to that, for he thought that a man ought to be able to + pay for his dinner in integers." (Hear, hear, and a laugh.)</p> + </td> + <td class="spac" style="vertical-align:top; text-align:left"> + <p>The confusion of ideas here exhibited is most instructive. The + speaker is under the impression that <i>we</i> are introducing + fractions: the truth is, that we only want to abandon the <i>more + difficult</i> fractions which <span class="correction" title="text reads `he'" + >we</span> <i>have got</i>, and to introduce <i>easier fractions</i>. + Does he deny this? Let us trace his denial to its legitimate + consequences. A man ought to pay for his dinner in integers.</p> + </td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p><!-- Page 173 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page173"></a>[173]</span></p> + + <p>Now, if Mr. Lowe insists on it that our integer is the pound, he is + bound to admit that the present integer is the pound, of which a + shilling, etc., are fractions. The next time he has a chop and a pint of + stout in the city, the waiter should say—"A pound, sir, to you," + and should add, "Please to remember the waiter in integers." Mr. Lowe + fancies that when he pays one and sixpence, he pays in integers, and so + he does, if his integer be a penny or a sixpence. Let him bring his mind + to contemplate a mil as the integer, the lowest integer, and the seven + cents five mils which he would pay under the new system would be payment + in integers also. But, as it happens with some others, he looks <i>up</i> + the present system, with Cocker,<a name="NtA_299" + href="#Nt_299"><sup>[299]</sup></a> and Walkingame,<a name="NtA_300" + href="#Nt_300"><sup>[300]</sup></a> and always looks <i>down</i> the + proposed system. The word <i>decimal</i> is obstinately associated with + <i>fractions</i>, for which there is no need. Hence it becomes so much of + a bugbear, that, to parody the lines of Pope, which probably suggested + one of Mr. Lowe's phrases—</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="hg3">"Dinner he finds too painful an endeavor,</p> + <p>Condemned to pay in decimals for ever."</p> + </div> + </div> + +<table class="nomar" summary="Parallel columns" title="Parallel columns"> + <tr> + <td class="spac" style="vertical-align:top; text-align:left"> + <p>"The present system, however, had not yet been changed into + decimal system. That change might appear very easy to accomplished + mathematicians and men of science, but it was one which it would be + very difficult to carry out. (Hear, hear). What would have to be + done? Every sum would have to be reduced into a vulgar fraction of a + pound, and then divided by the decimal of a pound—a pleasant + sum for an old applewoman to work out!" (Hear, hear, and + laughter.)</p> + </td> + <td class="spac" style="vertical-align:top; text-align:left"> + <p>A pleasant sum even for an accomplished mathematician. What does + divided by the decimal of a pound mean? Perhaps it means + <i>reduced</i> to the decimal of a pound! Mr. Lowe supposes, as many + others do, that, after the change, all calculations will be + <i>proposed in old money</i>, and then <i>converted into new</i>. He + cannot hit the <!-- Page 174 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page174"></a>[174]</span>idea that the new coins will take the + place of the old. This lack of apprehension will presently appear + further.</p> + </td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="spac" style="vertical-align:top; text-align:left"> + <p>"It would not be an agreeable task, even for some members of that + House, to reduce 4½d., or nine half-pence, to mils." (Hear, + hear.)</p> + </td> + <td class="spac" style="vertical-align:top; text-align:left"> + <p>Let the members be assured that nine half-pence will be, for every + practical purpose, 18 mils. But now to the fact asserted. Davies + Gilbert<a name="NtA_301" href="#Nt_301"><sup>[301]</sup></a> used to + maintain that during the long period he sat in the House, he never + knew more than three men in it, at one time, who had a tolerable + notion of fractions. [I heard him give the names of three at the time + when he spoke: they were Warburton,<a name="NtA_302" + href="#Nt_302"><sup>[302]</sup></a> Pollock,<a name="NtA_303" + href="#Nt_303"><sup>[303]</sup></a> and Hume.<a name="NtA_304" + href="#Nt_304"><sup>[304]</sup></a> He himself was then out of + Parliament.] Joseph Hume affirmed that he had never met with more + than ten members who were arithmeticians. But both these gentlemen + had a high standard. Mr. Lowe has given a much more damaging opinion. + He evidently means that the general run of members could not do his + question. It is done as follows: Since farthings gain on mils, at the + rate of a whole mil in 24 farthings (24 farthings being 25 mils), it + is clear that 18 farthings being three-quarters of 24 farthings, will + gain three-quarters of a mil; that is, 18 farthings are eighteen <!-- + Page 175 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page175"></a>[175]</span>mils and three-quarters of a mil. Any + number of farthings is as many mils and as many twenty-fourths of a + mil. To a certain extent, we feel able to protest against the manner + in which Kidderminster has treated the other constituencies. We do + not hold it impossible to give the Members of the House in general a + sufficient knowledge of the meaning and consequences of the + <i>decimal</i> succession of units, tens, hundreds, thousands, etc.; + and we believe that there are in the House itself competent men, in + number enough to teach all the rest. All that is wanted is the power + of starting from the known to arrive at the unknown. Now there is one + kind of decimals with which every member is acquainted—the + <i>Chiltern Hundreds</i>. If public opinion would enable the + competent minority to start from this in their teaching, not as a + basis, but as an alternative, in three weeks the fundamentals would + be acquired, and members in general would be as fit to turn 4½d. into + mils, as any boys on the lower forms of a commercial school.</p> + <p>For a long period of years, allusion to the general ignorance of + arithmetic, has been a standing mode of argument, and has always been + well received: whenever one member describes others as + <i>knownothings</i>, those others cry <i>Hear</i> to the country in a + transport of delight. In the meanwhile the country is gradually + arriving at the conclusion that a true joke is no joke.</p> + </td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="spac" style="vertical-align:top; text-align:left"> + <p>"The main objection was, if they went below 6d., that the new + scale of coins would not be commensurate in any finite ratio with + anything in this new currency of mils."</p> + </td> + <td class="spac" style="vertical-align:top; text-align:left"> + <p>Fine words, wrongly used. The new coins are commensurable with, + and in a finite ratio to, the old ones. The farthing is to the mil as + 25 to 24. The speaker has something here in the bud, which we shall + presently meet with in the flower; and fallacies are more easily + nipped in flower than in bud. <!-- Page 176 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page176"></a>[176]</span></p> + </td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="spac" style="vertical-align:top; text-align:left"> + <p>"No less than five of our present coins must be called in, or + else—which would be worse—new values must be given to + them."</p> + </td> + <td class="spac" style="vertical-align:top; text-align:left"> + <p>This dreadful change of value consists in sixpence farthing going + to the half-shilling instead of sixpence. Whether the new farthings + be called mils or not is of no consequence.</p> + </td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="spac" style="vertical-align:top; text-align:left"> + <p>"If a poor man put a penny in his pocket, it would come out a coin + of different value, which he would not understand. Suppose he owed + another man a penny, how was he to pay him ? Was he to pay him in + mils? Four mils would be too little, and five mils would be too much. + The hon. gentlemen said there would be only a mil between them. That + was exactly it. He believed there would be a 'mill' between them." + (Much laughter.)</p> + </td> + <td class="spac" style="vertical-align:top; text-align:left"> + <p>Mr. Lowe, who cannot pass a half-crown for more than a florin, or + get in a florin at less than half-a-crown, has such a high faith in + the sterner stuff of his fellow countrymen, that he believes any two + of them would go to fisty cuffs for the 25th part of a farthing. He + reasons thus: He has often heard in the streets, "I'd fight you for + the fiftieth part of a farden:" and having (that is, for a Member) a + notion both of fractions and logic, he infers that those who would + fight for the 50th of a farthing would, <i>a fortiori</i>, fight for + a 25th. His mistake arises from his not knowing that when a person + offers to fight another for 1/200d., he really means to fight for + love; and that the stake is merely a matter of form, a feigned issue, + a <i>pro forma</i> report of progress. Do the Members of the House + think they have all the forms to themselves?</p> + </td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="spac" style="vertical-align:top; text-align:left"> + <p>"What would be the present expression for four-pence? Why, 0.166 + (a laugh); for threepence? .0125; for a penny? .004166, and so on + <i>ad infinitum</i> (a laugh); for a half-penny? .002083 <i>ad + infinitum</i>. (A laugh). What would be the present expression for a + farthing? Why, .0010416 <i>ad infinitum</i>. (A laugh). And this was + the system which was to cause such a saving in figures, and these + were the quantities into which the poor would have to reduce the + current coin of the realm. (Cheers). With every respect for decimal + fractions, of which he boasted no profound knowledge, he doubted + whether the poor were equal to mental arithmetic of this kind, (hear, + hear) and he hoped the adoption of the system would be deferred until + there were some proof that they would be able to understand it; for, + after all, this was the question of the poor, and the whole weight of + the change would fall upon them. Let the rich by all means have + permission to perplex themselves by any division of a pound they + pleased; but do not let them, by any experiment like this, impose + difficulties upon the poor and compel men to carry ready-reckoners in + their pocket to give them all these fractional quantities." (Hear, + hear.)</p> + </td> + <td class="spac" style="vertical-align:top; text-align:left"> + <p>We should hardly believe all this to be uttered in earnest, if we + had not known <!-- Page 177 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page177"></a>[177]</span>that several persons who have not Mr. + Lowe's humor, nevertheless have his impressions on this point. It + must therefore be answered; but how is this to be done seriously?</p> + <p><i>Dialogue between a member of Parliament and an orange-boy, + three days after the introduction of the complete decimal system. The + member, going down to the House, wants oranges to sustain his voice + in a two hours' speech on moving that 100000l. be placed at the + disposal of Her Majesty, to supply the poor with + ready-reckoners.</i></p> + <p><i>Boy.</i> Fine oranges! two a penny! two a penny! <!-- Page 178 + --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page178"></a>[178]</span></p> + <p><i>Member.</i> Here boy, two! Now, how am I to pay you?</p> + <p><i>Boy.</i> Give you change, your honor.</p> + <p><i>Member.</i> Ah! but how? Where's your ready-reckoner?</p> + <p><i>Boy.</i> I sells a better sort nor them. Mine's real + Cheyny.</p> + <p><i>Member.</i> But you see a farthing is now .0014166666 <i>ad + infinitum</i>, and if we multiply this by 4——</p> + <p><i>Boy.</i> Hold hard, Guv'ner; I sees what you're arter. Now + what'll you stand if I puts you up to it? which Bill Smith he put me + up in two minutes, cause he goes to the Ragged School.</p> + <p><i>Member.</i> You don't mean that you do without a book!</p> + <p><i>Boy.</i> Book be blowed. Come now, old un, here's summut for + both on us. I got a florin, you gives me a half-a-crown for it, and I + larns you the new money, gives you your oranges, and calls you a + brick into the bargain.</p> + <p><i>Member</i> (<i>to himself</i>). Never had such a chance of + getting off half-a-crown for value since that —— fellow + Bowring carried his crochet. (<i>Aloud.</i>) Well, boy, it's a + bargain. Now!</p> + <p><i>Boy.</i> Why, look 'e here, my trump, its a farden more to the + tizzy—that's what it is.</p> + <p><i>Member</i>. What's that?</p> + <p><i>Boy.</i> Why, you knows a sixpence when you sees it. + (<i>Aside</i>). Blest if I think he does! Well, its six browns and a + farden now. A lady buys two oranges, and forks <!-- Page 179 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page179"></a>[179]</span>out a sixpence; + well in coorse, I hands over fippence farden astead of fippence. I + always gives a farden more change, and takes according.</p> + <p><i>Member</i> (<i>in utter surprise, lets his oranges tumble into + the gutter</i>). Never mind! They won't be wanted now. (<i>Walks off + one way. Boy makes a pass of naso-digital mesmerism, and walks off + the other way</i>).</p> + </td> + </tr> +</table> + + <p>To the poor, who keep no books, the whole secret is "Sixpence farthing + to the half shilling, twelve pence halfpenny to the shilling." The <i>new + twopence halfpenny</i>, or cent, will be at once five to the + shilling.</p> + + <p>In conclusion, we remark that three very common misconceptions run + through the hon. Member's argument; and, combined in different + proportions, give variety to his patterns.</p> + + <p>First, he will have it that we design to bring the uneducated into + contact with <i>decimal fractions</i>. If it be so, it will only be as M. + Jourdain was brought into contact with prose. In fact, <i>Quoi! quand je + dis, Nicole, apportez-moi mes pantoufles, c'est de la prose?</i><a + name="NtA_305" href="#Nt_305"><sup>[305]</sup></a> may be rendered: + "What! do you mean that <i>ten to the florin is a cent a piece</i> must + be called decimal reckoning?" If we had to comfort a poor man, + horror-struck by the threat of <i>decimals</i>, we should tell him what + manner of fractions had been inflicted upon him hitherto; nothing less + awful than <i>quarto-duodecimo-vicesimals</i>, we should assure him.</p> + + <p>Secondly, he assumes that the penny, such as it now is, will remain, + as a coin of estimation, after it has ceased to be a coin of exchange; + and that the mass of the people will continue to think of prices in old + pence, and to calculate them in new ones, or else in new mils. No answer + is required to this, beyond the mere statement of the nature of the + assumption and denial.</p> + +<p><!-- Page 180 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page180"></a>[180]</span></p> + + <p>Thirdly, he attributes to the uneducated community a want of + perception and of operative power which really does not belong to them. + The evidence offered to the Committee of the House shows that no fear is + entertained on this point by those who come most in contact with farthing + purchasers. And this would seem to be a rule,—that is, fear of the + intelligence of the lower orders in the minds of those who are not in + daily communication with them, no fear at all in the minds of those who + are.</p> + + <p>A remarkable instance of this distinction happened five-and-twenty + years ago. The Admiralty requested the Astronomical Society to report on + the alterations which should be made in the <i>Nautical Almanac</i>, the + seaman's guide-book over the ocean. The greatest alteration proposed was + the description of celestial phenomena in <i>mean</i> (or clock time), + instead of <i>apparent</i> (or sundial) time, till then always employed. + This change would require that in a great many operations the seaman + should let alone what he formerly altered by addition or subtraction, and + alter by addition or subtraction what he formerly let alone; provided + always that what he formerly altered by addition he should, when he + altered at all, alter by subtraction, and <i>vice versa</i>. This was a + tolerably difficult change for uneducated skippers, working by rules they + had only learned by rote. The Astronomical Society appointed a Committee + of forty, of whom nine were naval officers or merchant seamen [I was on + this Committee]. Some men of science were much afraid of the change. They + could not trust an ignorant skipper or mate to make those alterations in + their routine, on the correctness of which the ship might depend. Had the + Committee consisted of men of science only, the change might never have + been ventured on. But the naval men laughed, and said there was nothing + to fear; and on their authority the alteration was made. The upshot was, + that, after the new almanacs appeared, not a word of complaint was ever + heard on the matter. Had the House of Commons had to <!-- Page 181 + --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page181"></a>[181]</span>decide this + question, with Mr. Lowe to quote the description given by Basil Hall<a + name="NtA_306" href="#Nt_306"><sup>[306]</sup></a> (who, by the way, was + one of the Committee) of an observation on which the safety of the ship + depended, worked out by the light of a lantern in a gale of wind off a + lee shore, this simple and useful change might at this moment have been + in the hands of its tenth Government Commission.</p> + + <p> </p> + + <p>[<i>Aug. 14, 1866.</i> The Committee was appointed in the spring of + 1830: it consisted of forty members. Death, of course, has been busy; + there are now left Lord Shaftesbury,<a name="NtA_307" + href="#Nt_307"><sup>[307]</sup></a> Mr. Babbage,<a name="NtA_308" + href="#Nt_308"><sup>[308]</sup></a> Sir John Herschel,<a name="NtA_309" + href="#Nt_309"><sup>[309]</sup></a> Sir Thomas Maclear<a name="NtA_310" + href="#Nt_310"><sup>[310]</sup></a> (Astronomer Royal at the Cape of Good + Hope), Dr. Robinson<a name="NtA_311" href="#Nt_311"><sup>[311]</sup></a> + (of Armagh), Sir James South,<a name="NtA_312" + href="#Nt_312"><sup>[312]</sup></a> Lord Wrottesley,<a name="NtA_313" + href="#Nt_313"><sup>[313]</sup></a> and myself].</p> + +<p><!-- Page 182 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page182"></a>[182]</span></p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">THE TONAL SYSTEM.</p> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p>Project of a new system of arithmetic, weight, measure, and coins, + proposed to be called the tonal system, with sixteen to the base. By + J. W. Mystrom.<a name="NtA_314" href="#Nt_314"><sup>[314]</sup></a> + Philadelphia, 1862, 8vo.</p> + +</blockquote> + + <p>That is to say, sixteen is to take the place of ten, and to be written + 10. The whole language is to be changed; every man of us is to be + sixteen-stringed Jack and every woman sixteen-stringed Jill. Our old + <i>one</i>, <i>two</i>, <i>three</i>, up to sixteen, are to be + (<i>Noll</i> going for nothing, which will please those who dislike the + memory of <i>Old Noll</i>) replaced by An, De, Ti, Go, Su, By, Ra, Me, + Ni, Ko, Hu, Vy, La, Po, Fy, Ton; and then Ton-an, Ton-de, etc. for 17, + 18, etc. The number which in the system has the symbol</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>28(13)5(11)7(14)0(15)</p> + </div> + </div> + <p>(using our present compounds instead of new types) is to be + pronounced</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Detam-memill-lasan-suton-hubong-ramill-posanfy.</p> + </div> + </div> + <p>The year is to have sixteen months, and here they are:</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Anuary, Debrian, Timander, Gostus,</p> + <p>Suvenary, Bylian, Ratamber, Mesudius,</p> + <p>Nictoary, Kolumbian, Husamber, Vyctorius,</p> + <p>Lamboary, Polian, Fylander, Tonborius.</p> + </div> + </div> + <p>Surely An-month, De-month, etc. would do as well. Probably the wants + of poetry were considered. But what are we to do with our old poets? For + example—</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="hg3">"It was a night of lovely June,</p> + <p>High rose in cloudless blue the moon."</p> + </div> + </div> + <p>Let us translate—</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="hg3">"It was a night of lovely Nictoary,</p> + <p>High rose in cloudless blue the (what, in the name of all that is absurd?)."</p> + </div> + </div> + <p>And again, <i>Fylander</i> thrown into our December! What is <!-- Page + 183 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page183"></a>[183]</span>to become + of those lines of Praed, which I remember coming out when I was at + Cambridge,—</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="hg3">"Oh! now's the time of all the year for flowers and fun, the Maydays;</p> + <p>To trim your whiskers, curl your hair, and sinivate the ladies."</p> + </div> + </div> + <p>If I were asked which I preferred, this system or that of Baron + Ferrari<a name="NtA_315" href="#Nt_315"><sup>[315]</sup></a> already + mentioned, proceeding by <i>twelves</i>, I should reply, with Candide, + when he had the option given of running the gauntlet or being shot: Les + volontés sont libres, et je ne veux ni l'un ni l'autre.<a name="NtA_316" + href="#Nt_316"><sup>[316]</sup></a> We can imagine a speculator providing + such a system for Utopia as it would be in the mind of a Laputan: but to + explain how an engineer who has surveyed mankind from Philadelphia to + Rostof on the Don should for a moment entertain the idea of such a system + being actually adopted, would beat a jury of solar-system-makers, though + they were shut up from the beginning of Anuary to the end of Tonborius. + When I see such a scheme as this imagined to be practicable, I admire the + wisdom of Providence in providing the quadrature of the circle, etc., to + open a harmless sphere of action to the possessors of the kind of + ingenuity which it displays. Those who cultivate mathematics have a right + to speak strongly on such efforts of arithmetic as this: for, to my + knowledge, persons who have no knowledge are frequently disposed to + imagine that their makers are true brothers of the craft, a little more + intelligible than the rest.</p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">SOME SMALL PARADOXERS.</p> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p>Vis inertiae victa,<a name="NtA_317" + href="#Nt_317"><sup>[317]</sup></a> or Fallacies affecting science. By + James Reddie.<a name="NtA_318" href="#Nt_318"><sup>[318]</sup></a> + London, 1862, 8vo.</p> + +</blockquote> + +<p><!-- Page 184 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page184"></a>[184]</span></p> + + <p>An attack on the Newtonian mechanics; revolution by gravitation + demonstrably impossible; much to be said for the earth being the + immovable center. A good analysis of contents at the beginning, a thing + seldom found. The author has followed up his attack in a paper submitted + to the British Association, but which it appears the Association declined + to consider. It is entitled—</p> + + <p> </p> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p><i>Victoria Toto Cœlo</i>; or, Modern Astronomy recast. London, + 1863, 8vo.</p> + +</blockquote> + + <p>At the end is a criticism of Sir G. Lewis's <i>History of Ancient + Astronomy</i>.</p> + + <p> </p> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p>On the definition and nature of the Science of Political Economy. By + H. Dunning Macleod,<a name="NtA_319" href="#Nt_319"><sup>[319]</sup></a> + Esq. Cambridge, 1862, 8vo.</p> + +</blockquote> + + <p>A paper read—but, according to the report, not + understood—at the British Association. There is a notion that + political economy is entirely mathematical; and its negative quantity is + strongly recommended for study: it contains "the whole of the Funds, + Credit, 32 parts out of 33 of the value of Land...." The mathematics are + described as consisting of—first, number, or Arithmetic; secondly, + the theory of dependent quantities, subdivided into dependence by cause + and effect, and dependence by simultaneous variations; thirdly, + "independent quantities or unconnected events, which is the theory of + probabilities." I am not ashamed, having the British Association as a + co-non-intelligent, to say I do not understand this: there is a paradox + in it, and the author should give further explanation, especially of his + negative quantity. Mr. Macleod has gained <!-- Page 185 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page185"></a>[185]</span>praise from great names + for his political economy; but this, I suspect, must have been for other + parts of his system.</p> + + <p> </p> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p>On the principles and practice of just Intonation, with a view to the + abolition of temperament.... By General Perronet Thompson.<a + name="NtA_320" href="#Nt_320"><sup>[320]</sup></a> Sixth Edition. London, + 1862, 8vo.</p> + +</blockquote> + + <p>Here is General Thompson again, with another paradox: but always + master of the subject, always well up in what his predecessors have done, + and always aiming at a useful end. He desires to abolish temperament by + additional keys, and has constructed an enharmonic organ with forty + sounds in the octave. If this can be introduced, I, for one, shall + delight to hear it: but there are very great difficulties in the way, + greater than stood even in the way of the repeal of the bread-tax.</p> + + <p>In a paper on the beats of organ-pipes and on temperament published + some years ago, I said that equal temperament appeared to me insipid, and + not so agreeable as the effect of the instrument when in progress towards + being what is called out of tune, before it becomes offensively wrong. + There is throughout that period unequal temperament, determined by + accident. General Thompson, taking me one way, says I have launched a + declaration which is likely to make an epoch in musical practice; a + public musical critic, taking me another way, quizzes me for preferring + music <i>out of tune</i>. I do not think I deserve either one remark or + the other. My opponent critic, I suspect, takes <i>equally tempered</i> + and <i>in tune</i> to be phrases of one meaning. But by equal temperament + is meant equal distribution among all the keys of the error which an + instrument <i>must</i> have, which, with twelve sounds only in the + octave, professes to be fit for all the keys. I am reminded of the equal + temperament which was once applied to the postmen's jackets. The coats + were all made for the average man: the <!-- Page 186 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page186"></a>[186]</span>consequence was that + all the tall men had their tails too short; all the short men had them + too long. Some one innocently asked why the tall men did not change coats + with the short ones.</p> + + <p> </p> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p>A diagram illustrating a discovery in the relation of circles to + right-lined geometrical figures. London, 1863, 12mo.</p> + +</blockquote> + + <p>The circle is divided into equal sectors, which are joined head and + tail: but a property is supposed which is not true.</p> + + <p> </p> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p>An attempt to assign the square roots of negative powers; or what is + √ -1? By F.H. Laing.<a name="NtA_321" + href="#Nt_321"><sup>[321]</sup></a> London, 1863, 8vo.</p> + +</blockquote> + + <p>If I understand the author, -<i>a</i> and +<i>a</i> are the square + roots of -<i>a</i><sup>2</sup>, as proved by multiplying them together. + The author seems quite unaware of what has been done in the last fifty + years.</p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">BYRNE'S DUAL ARITHMETIC.</p> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p>Dual Arithmetic. A new art. By Oliver Byrne.<a name="NtA_322" + href="#Nt_322"><sup>[322]</sup></a> London, 1863, 8vo.</p> + +</blockquote> + + <p>The plan is to throw numbers into the form + <i>a</i>(1.1)<sup><i>b</i></sup> (1.01)<sup><i>c</i></sup> + (1.001)<sup><i>d</i></sup>... and to operate with this form. This is an + ingenious and elaborate speculation; and I have no doubt the author has + practised his method until he could surprise any one else by his use of + it. But I doubt if he will persuade others to use it. As asked of + Wilkins's universal language, Where is the second man to come from?</p> + + <p>An effective predecessor in the same line of invention <!-- Page 187 + --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page187"></a>[187]</span>was the late + Mr. Thomas Weddle,<a name="NtA_323" href="#Nt_323"><sup>[323]</sup></a> + in his "New, simple, and general method of solving numeric equations of + all orders," 4to, 1842. The Royal Society, to which this paper was + offered, declined to print it: they ought to have printed an organized + method, which, without subsidiary tables, showed them, in six quarto + pages, the solution (<i>x</i>=8.367975431) of the equation</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>1379.664 <i>x</i><sup>622</sup> + 2686034 × 10<sup>432</sup> <i>x</i><sup>152</sup> - 17290224 × 10<sup>518</sup> <i>x</i><sup>60</sup> + 2524156 × 10<sup>574</sup> = 0.</p> + </div> + </div> + <p>The method proceeds by successive factors of the form, <i>a</i> being + the first approximation, <i>a</i> × 1.<i>b</i> × 1.0<i>c</i> × + 1.00<i>d</i>.... In my copy I find a few corrections made by me at the + time in Mr. Weddle's announcement. "It was read before that learned body + [the R. S.] and they were pleased [but] to transmit their thanks to the + author. The en[dis]couragement which he received induces [obliges] him to + lay the result of his enquiries in this important branch of mathematics + before the public [, at his own expense; he being an usher in a school at + Newcastle]." Which is most satirical, Mr. Weddle or myself? The Society, + in the account which it gave of this paper, described it as a "new and + remarkably simple method" possessing "several important advantages." Mr. + Rutherford's<a name="NtA_324" href="#Nt_324"><sup>[324]</sup></a> + extended value of <span class="grk">π</span> was read at the very next + meeting, and was printed in the <i>Transactions</i>; and very properly: + Mr. Weddle's paper was excluded, and very very improperly.</p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">HORNER'S METHOD.</p> + + <p>I think it may be admited that the indisposition to look at and + encourage improvements of calculation which once <!-- Page 188 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page188"></a>[188]</span>marked the Royal + Society is no longer in existence. But not without severe lessons. They + had the luck to accept Horner's<a name="NtA_325" + href="#Nt_325"><sup>[325]</sup></a> now celebrated paper, containing the + method which is far on the way to become universal: but they refused the + paper in which Horner developed his views of this and other subjects: it + was printed by T. S. Davies<a name="NtA_326" + href="#Nt_326"><sup>[326]</sup></a> after Horner's death. I make myself + responsible for the statement that the Society could not reject this + paper, yet felt unwilling to print it, and suggested that it should be + withdrawn; which was done.</p> + + <p>But the severest lesson was the loss of <i>Barrett's Method</i>,<a + name="NtA_327" href="#Nt_327"><sup>[327]</sup></a> now the universal + instrument of the actuary in his highest calculations. It was presented + to the Royal Society, and refused admission into the <i>Transactions</i>: + Francis Baily<a name="NtA_328" href="#Nt_328"><sup>[328]</sup></a> + printed it. The Society is now better informed: "<i>live and learn</i>," + meaning "<i>must live, so better learn</i>," ought to be the especial + motto of a corporation, and is generally acted on, more or less.</p> + + <p>Horner's method begins to be introduced at Cambridge: it was published + in 1820. I remember that when I first went to Cambridge (in 1823) I heard + my tutor say, in conversation, there is no doubt that the true method of + solving equations is the one which was published a few years ago in the + <i>Philosophical Transactions</i>. I wondered it was not taught, but + presumed that it belonged to the higher mathematics. This Horner himself + had in his head: and in a sense it is true; for all lower branches belong + to the higher: but he would have stared to have been told that he, + Horner, <!-- Page 189 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page189"></a>[189]</span>was without a European predecessor, and in + the distinctive part of his discovery was heir-at-law to the nameless + Brahmin—Tartar—Antenoachian—what you please—who + concocted the extraction of the square root.</p> + + <p>It was somewhat more than twenty years after I had thus heard a + Cambridge tutor show sense of the true place of Horner's method, that a + pupil of mine who had passed on to Cambridge was desired by his college + tutor to solve a certain cubic equation—one of an integer root of + two figures. In a minute the work and answer were presented, by Horner's + method. "How!" said the tutor, "this can't be, you know." "There is the + answer, Sir!" said my pupil, greatly amused, for my pupils learnt, not + only Horner's method, but the estimation it held at Cambridge. "Yes!" + said the tutor, "there is the answer certainly; but it <i>stands to + reason</i> that a cubic equation cannot be solved in this space." He then + sat down, went through a process about ten times as long, and then said + with triumph: "There! that is the way to solve a cubic equation!"</p> + + <p>I think the tutor in this case was never matched, except by the + country organist. A master of the instrument went into the organ-loft + during service, and asked the organist to let him <i>play the + congregation out</i>; consent was given. The stranger, when the time + came, began a voluntary which made the people open their ears, and wonder + who had got into the loft: they kept their places to enjoy the treat. + When the organist saw this, he pushed the interloper off the stool, with + "You'll never play 'em out this side Christmas." He then began his own + drone, and the congregation began to move quietly away. "There," said he, + "that's the way to play 'em out!"</p> + + <p>I have not scrupled to bear hard on my own university, on the Royal + Society, and on other respectable existences: being very much the friend + of all. I will now clear the Royal Society from a very small and obscure + slander, simply because I know how. This dissertation began with <!-- + Page 190 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page190"></a>[190]</span>the + work of Mr. Oliver Byrne, the dual arithmetician, etc. This writer + published, in 1849, a method of calculating logarithms.<a name="NtA_329" + href="#Nt_329"><sup>[329]</sup></a> First, a long list of instances in + which, as he alleges, foreign discoverers have been pillaged by + Englishmen, or turned into Englishmen: for example, O'Neill,<a + name="NtA_330" href="#Nt_330"><sup>[330]</sup></a> so called by Mr. + Byrne, the rectifier of the semi-cubical parabola claimed by the Saxons + under the name of <i>Neal</i>: the grandfather of this mathematician was + conspicuous enough as <i>Neal</i>; he was archbishop of York. This list, + says the writer, might be continued without end; but he has mercy, and + finishes with his own case, as follows:—"About twenty years ago, I + discovered this method of directly calculating logarithms. I could + generally find the logarithm of any number in a minute or two without the + use of books or tables. The importance of the discovery subjected me to + all sorts of prying. Some asserted that I committed a table of logarithms + to memory; others attributed it to a peculiar mental property; and when + Societies and individuals failed to extract my secret, they never failed + to traduce the inventor and the invention. Among the learned Societies, + the Royal Society of London played a very base part. When I have more + space and time at my disposal, I will revert to this subject again."</p> + + <p>Such a trumpery story as this remains unnoticed at the time; but when + all are gone, a stray copy from a stall falls into hands which, not + knowing what to make of it, make history of it. It is a very curious + distortion. The reader may take it on my authority, that the Royal + Society played no part, good or bad, nor had the option of playing a + part. <!-- Page 191 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page191"></a>[191]</span>But I myself <i>pars magna fui</i>:<a + name="NtA_331" href="#Nt_331"><sup>[331]</sup></a> and when the author + has "space and time" at his disposal, he must not take all of them; I + shall want a little of both.</p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">ARE ATOMS WORLDS?</p> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p>The mystery of being; or are ultimate atoms inhabited worlds? By + Nicholas Odgers.<a name="NtA_332" href="#Nt_332"><sup>[332]</sup></a> + Redruth and London, 1863, 8vo.</p> + +</blockquote> + + <p>This book, as a paradox, beats quadrature, duplication, trisection, + philosopher's stone, perpetual motion, magic, astrology, mesmerism, + clairvoyance, spiritualism, homœopathy, hydropathy, kinesipathy, + Essays and Reviews, and Bishop Colenso,<a name="NtA_333" + href="#Nt_333"><sup>[333]</sup></a> all put together. Of all the + suppositions I have given as actually argued, this is the one which is + hardest to deny, and hardest to admit. Reserving the question—as + beyond human discussion—whether our particles of carbon, etc. are + <i>clusters</i> of worlds, the author produces his reasons for thinking + that they are at least single worlds. Of course—though not + mentioned—the possibility is to be added of the same thing being + true of the particles which make up our particles, and so down, for ever: + and, on the other hand, of our planets and stars as being particles in + some larger universe, and so up, for ever.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="hg3">"Great fleas have little fleas upon their backs to bite 'em,</p> + <p>And little fleas have lesser fleas, and so <i>ad infinitum.</i></p> + <p>And the great fleas themselves, in turn, have greater fleas to go on;</p> + <p>While these again have greater still, and greater still, and so on."<a name="NtA_334" href="#Nt_334"><sup>[334]</sup></a></p> + </div> + </div> + <p>I have often had the notion that all the nebulæ we see, including our + own, which we call the Milky Way, may be particles of snuff in the box of + a giant of a proportionately <!-- Page 192 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page192"></a>[192]</span>larger universe. Of course the minim of + time—a million of years or whatever the geologists make it<a + name="NtA_335" href="#Nt_335"><sup>[335]</sup></a>—which our little + affair has lasted, is but a very small fraction of a second to the great + creature in whose nose we shall all be in a few tens of thousands of + millions of millions of millions of years.</p> + + <p>All this is quite possible, and the probabilities for and against are + quite out of reach. Perhaps also all the worlds, both above and below us, + are fac-similes of our own. If so, away goes free will for good and all; + unless, indeed, we underpin our system with the hypothesis that all the + fac-simile bodies of different sizes are actuated by a common soul. These + acute supplementary notions of mine go far to get rid of the difficulty + which some have found in the common theory that the soul inhabits the + body: it has been <span class="correction" title="text reads `started'" + >stated</span> that there is, somewhere or another, a world of souls + which communicate with their bodies by wondrous filaments of a nature + neither mental nor material, but of a <i>tertium quid</i> fit to be a + go-between; as it were a corporispiritual copper encased in a + spiritucorporeal gutta-percha. My theory is that every soul is everywhere + <i>in posse</i>, as the schoolmen said, but not anywhere <i>in actu</i>, + except where it finds one of its bodies. These <i>a priori</i> + difficulties being thus removed, the system of particle-worlds is reduced + to a dry question of fact, and remitted to the decision of the + microscope. And a grand field may thus be opened, as optical science + progresses! For the worlds are not fac-similes of ours in time: there is + not a moment of <i>our</i> past, and not a moment of <i>our</i> future, + but is the <i>present</i> of one or more of the particles. A will write + the death of Cæsar, and B the building of the Pyramids, by actual + observation of the processes with a power of a thousand millions; C will + discover the commencement of the Millennium, and D the <!-- Page 193 + --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page193"></a>[193]</span>termination of + Ersch and Gruber's Lexicon,<a name="NtA_336" + href="#Nt_336"><sup>[336]</sup></a> as mere physical phenomena. Against + this glorious future there is a sad omen: the initials of the forerunner + of this discovery are—NO!</p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">THE SUPERNATURAL.</p> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p>The History of the Supernatural in all ages and nations, and in all + Churches, Christian and Pagan: demonstrating a universal faith. By Wm. + Howitt.<a name="NtA_337" href="#Nt_337"><sup>[337]</sup></a> London, 2 + vols. 8vo. 1863.</p> + +</blockquote> + + <p>Mr. Howitt is a preacher of spiritualism. He cements an enormous + collection of alleged facts with a vivid outpouring of exhortation, and + an unsparing flow of sarcasm against the scorners of all classes. He and + the Rev. J. Smith<a name="NtA_338" href="#Nt_338"><sup>[338]</sup></a> + (<i>ante</i>, 1854) are the most thoroughgoing universalists of all the + writers I know on spiritualism. If either can insert the small end of the + wedge, he will not let you off one fraction of the conclusion that all + countries, in all ages, have been the theaters of one vast spiritual + display. And I suspect that this consequence cannot be avoided, if any + part of the system be of truly spiritual origin. Mr. Howitt treats the + philosophers either as ignorant babies, or as conscious spirit-fearers: + and seems much inclined to accuse the world at large of dreading, lest by + the actual presence of the other world their Christianity should imbibe a + spiritual element which would unfit it for the purposes of their + lives.</p> + +<p><!-- Page 194 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page194"></a>[194]</span></p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">FROM MATTER TO SPIRIT.</p> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p>From Matter to Spirit. By C. D. With a preface by A. B.<a + name="NtA_339" href="#Nt_339"><sup>[339]</sup></a> London, 1863, 8vo.</p> + +</blockquote> + + <p>This is a work on Spiritual Manifestations. The author upholds the + facts for spiritual phenomena: the prefator suspends his opinion as to + the cause, though he upholds the facts. The work begins systematically + with the lower class of phenomena, proceeds to the higher class, and + offers a theory, suggested by the facts, of the connection of the present + and future life. I agree in the main with A. B.; but can, of course, make + none but horrescent reference to his treatment of the smaller + philosophers. This is always the way with your paradoxers: they behave + towards orthodoxy as the thresher fish behaves towards the whale. But if + true, as is said, that the drubbing clears the great fish of parasites + which he could not otherwise get rid of, he ought to bear no malice. This + preface retorts a little of that contempt which the "philosophical world" + has bestowed with heaped measure upon those who have believed their + senses, and have drawn natural, even if hasty, inferences. There is + philosophercraft as well as priestcraft, both from one source, both of + one spirit. In English cities and towns, the minister of religion has + been tamed: so many weapons are bared against him when he obtrudes his + office in a dictatory manner, that, as a rule, there is no more quiet and + modest member of society than the urban clergyman. Domination over + religious belief is reserved for the exclusive use of those who admit the + right: the rare exception to this mode of behavior is laughed at as a + bigot, or shunned as a nuisance. But the overbearing minister of nature, + who snaps you with <i>unphilosophical</i> as the clergyman once + frightened you with <i>infidel</i>, is still a recognized member of + society, wants taming, and will get it. He wears the priest's cast-off + <!-- Page 195 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page195"></a>[195]</span>clothes, dyed to escape detection: the + better sort of philosophers would gladly set him to square the + circle.</p> + + <p>The book just named appeared about the same time as this Budget began + in the <i>Athenæum</i>. It was commonly attributed, the book to my wife, + the preface to myself. Some time after, our names were actually announced + by the publisher, who ought to know. It will be held to confirm this + statement that I announce our having in our possession some twenty + reviews of different lengths, and of all characters: who ever collects a + number of reviews of a book, except the author?</p> + + <p>A great many of these reviews settle the matter <i>a priori</i>. If + there had been spirits in the matter, they would have done this, and they + would not have done that. Jean Meslier<a name="NtA_340" + href="#Nt_340"><sup>[340]</sup></a> said there could be no God over all, + for, <i>if</i> there had been one, He would have established a universal + religion. If J. M. <i>knew</i> that, J. M. was right: but if J. M. did + not know that, then J. M. was on the "high priori road," and may be left + to his course. The same to all who know what spirits would do and would + not do.</p> + + <p>A. B. very distinctly said that he knew some of the asserted facts, + believed others on testimony, but did not pretend to know whether they + were caused by spirits, or had some unknown and unimagined origin. This + he said as clearly as I could have said it myself. But a great many + persons cannot understand such a frame of mind: their own apparatus is a + kind of spirit-level, and their conclusion on any subject is the little + bubble, which is always at one end or the other. Many of the reviewers + declare that A. B. is a secret believer in the spirit-hypothesis: and one + of them wishes that he had "endorsed his opinion more boldly." According + to this reviewer, any one who writes "I boldly <!-- Page 196 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page196"></a>[196]</span>say I am unable to + choose," contradicts himself. In truth, a person who does say it has a + good deal of courage, for each side believes that he secretly favors the + other; and both look upon him as a coward. In spite of all this, A. B. + boldly repeats that he feels assured of many of the facts of + <i>spiritualism</i>, and that he cannot pretend to affirm or deny + anything about their cause.</p> + + <p>The great bulk of the illogical part of the educated + community—whether majority or minority I know not; perhaps six of + one and half-a-dozen of the other—have not power to make a + distinction, cannot be made to take a distinction, and of course, never + attempt to shake a distinction. With them all such things are evasions, + subterfuges, come-offs, loopholes, etc. They would hang a man for + horse-stealing under a statute against sheep-stealing; and would laugh at + you if you quibbled about the distinction between a horse and a sheep. I + divide the illogical—I mean people who have not that amount of + natural use of sound inference which is really not uncommon—into + three classes:—First class, three varieties: the Niddy, the Noddy, + and the Noodle. Second class, three varieties: the Niddy-Noddy, the + Niddy-Noodle, and the Noddy-Noodle. Third class, undivided: the + Niddy-Noddy-Noodle. No person has a right to be angry with me for more + than one of these subdivisions.</p> + + <p>The want of distinction was illustrated to me, when a boy, about 1820, + by the report of a trial which I shall never forget: boys read newspapers + more keenly than men. Every now and then a bench of country magistrates + rather astonishes the town populations, accustomed to rub their brains<a + name="NtA_341" href="#Nt_341"><sup>[341]</sup></a> against one another. + Such a story as the following would, <!-- Page 197 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page197"></a>[197]</span>in our day, bring down + grave remarks from above: but I write of the olden (or Eldon<a + name="NtA_342" href="#Nt_342"><sup>[342]</sup></a>) time, when nothing + but conviction in a court of record would displace a magistrate. In that + day the third-class amalgamator of distinct things was often on the bench + of quarter-sessions.</p> + + <p>An attorney was charged with having been out at night poaching. A + clear <i>alibi</i> was established; and perjury had certainly been + committed. The whole gave reason to suspect that some ill-willers thought + the bench disliked the attorney so much that any conviction was certain + on any evidence. The bench did dislike the attorney: but not to the + extent of thinking he could snare any partridges in the fields while he + was asleep in bed, except the dream-partridges which are not always + protected by the dream-laws. So the chairman said, "Mr. ——, + you are discharged; but you should consider this one of the most + fortunate days of your life." The attorney indignantly remonstrated, but + the magistrate was right; for he said, "Mr. ——, you have + frequently been employed to defend poachers: have you been careful to + impress upon them the enormity of their practices?" It appeared in a + wrangling conversation that the magistrates saw little moral difference + between poaching and being a poacher's professional defender without + lecturing him on his wickedness: but they admitted with reluctance, that + there was a legal distinction; and the brain of N<sup>3</sup> could no + further go. This is nearly fifty years ago; and Westernism was not quite + extinct. If the present lords of the hills and the valleys want to shine, + let them publish a true history of their own order. I am just old enough + to remember some of the last of the squires and parsons who protested + against teaching the poor to read and write. They now write books for the + working classes, give them lectures, and the like. There is now no class, + as a class, more highly educated, broadly educated, and deeply educated, + <!-- Page 198 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page198"></a>[198]</span>than those who were, in old times, best + described as partridge-popping squireens. I have myself, when a boy, + heard Old Booby speaking with pride of Young Booby as having too high a + spirit to be confined to books: and I suspected that his dislike to + teaching the poor arose in fact from a feeling that they would, if taught + a little, pass his heir.</p> + + <p>A. B. recommended the spirit-theory as an hypothesis on which to + ground inquiry; that is, as the means of suggestion for the direction of + inquiry. Every person who knows anything of the progress of physics + understands what is meant; but not the reviewers I speak of. Many of them + consider A. B. as <i>adopting</i> the spirit-hypothesis. The whole book + was written, as both the authors point out, to suggest inquiry to those + who are curious; C. D. firmly believing, A. B. as above. Neither C. D. + nor A. B. make any other pretence. Both dwell upon the absence of + authentications and the suppression of names as utterly preventive of + anything like proof. And A. B. says that his reader "will give him + credit, if not himself a goose, for seeing that the tender of an + anonymous cheque would be of equal effect, whether drawn on the Bank of + England or on Aldgate Pump." By this test a number of the reviewers are + found to be geese: for they take the authors as offering proof, and + insist, against the authors, on the very point on which the authors had + themselves insisted beforehand.</p> + + <p>Leaving aside imperceptions of this kind, I proceed to notice a + clerical and medical review. I have lived much in the middle ages, + especially since the invention of printing; and from thence I have + brought away a high respect for and grateful recollection of—the + priest in everything but theology, and the physician in everything but + medicine. The professional harness was unfavorable to all progress, + except on a beaten road; the professional blinkers prevented all but the + beaten road from being seen: the professional reins were pulled at the + slightest attempt to quicken pace, even on the permitted path; and the + <!-- Page 199 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page199"></a>[199]</span>professional whip was heavily laid on at + the slightest attempt to diverge. But when the intelligent man of either + class turned his attention out of his ordinary work, he had, in most + cases, the freshness and vigor of a boy at play, and like the boy, he + felt his freedom all the more from the contrast of school-restraint.</p> + + <p>In the case of medicine, and physics generally, the learned were, in + some essential points, more rational than many of their present + impugners. They pass for having put <i>a priori</i> obstacles in the way + of progress: they might rather be reproved for too much belief in + progress obtained by <i>a priori</i> means. They would have shouted with + laughter at a dunce who—in a review I read, but without making a + note—declared that he would not believe his senses except when what + they showed him was capable of explanation upon some known principle. I + have seen such stuff as this attributed to the schoolmen; but only by + those who knew nothing about them. The following, which I wrote some + years ago, will give a notion of a distinction worth remembering. It is + addressed to the authorities of the College of Physicians.</p> + + <p>"The ignominy of the word <i>empiric</i> dates from the ages in which + scholastic philosophy deduced physical consequences <i>a + priori</i>;—the ages in which, because a lion is strong, rubbing + with lion's fat would have been held an infallible tonic. In those happy + days, if a physician had given decoction of a certain bark, only because + in numberless instances that decoction had been found to strengthen the + patient, he would have been a miserable empiric. Not that the colleges + would have passed over his returns because they were empirical: they knew + better. They were as skilful in finding causes for facts, as facts for + causes. The president and the elects of that day would have walked out + into the forest with a rope, and would have pulled heartily at the tree + which yielded the bark: nor would they ever have left it until they had + pulled out a legitimate <!-- Page 200 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page200"></a>[200]</span>reason. If the tree had resisted all their + efforts, they would have said, 'Ah! no wonder now; the bark of a strong + tree makes a strong man.' But if they had managed to serve the tree as + you would like to serve homœopathy, then it would have been 'We + might have guessed it; all the <i>virtus roborativa</i> has settled in + the bark.' They admitted, as we know from Molière, the <i>virtus + dormitiva</i><a name="NtA_343" href="#Nt_343"><sup>[343]</sup></a> of + opium, for no other reason than that opium <i>facit dormire</i>.<a + name="NtA_344" href="#Nt_344"><sup>[344]</sup></a> Had the medicine not + been previously <i>known</i>, they would, strange as it may seem to + modern pharmacopœists, have accorded a <i>virtus dormitiva</i> to + the new <i>facit dormire</i>. On this point they have been + misapprehended. They were prone to infer <i>facit</i> from a + <i>virtus</i> imagined <i>a priori</i>; and they were ready in supplying + <i>facit</i> in favor of an orthodox <i>virtus</i>. They might have gone + so far, for example, under pre-notional impressions, as the alliterative + allopath, who, when maintenance of truth was busy opposing the progress + of science called <i>vaccination</i>, declared that some of its patients + coughed like cows, and bellowed like bulls; but they never refused to + find <i>virtus</i> when <i>facit</i> came upon them, no matter whence. + They would rather have accepted Tenterden steeple than have rejected the + Goodwin Sands. They would have laughed their modern imitators to scorn: + but as they are not here, we do it for them.</p> + + <p>"The man of our day—the <i>a priori</i> philosopher—tries + the question whether opium can cause sleep by finding out in the recesses + of his own noddle whether the drug can have a dormitive power: Well! but + did not the schoolman do the same? He did; but mark the distinction. The + schoolman had recourse to first principles, when there was no opium to + try it by: our man settles the point in the same way <i>with a lump of + opium before him</i>. The schoolman shifted his principles with his + facts: the man of our drawing-rooms will fight facts with his principles, + just as an old <!-- Page 201 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page201"></a>[201]</span>physician would have done in actual + practice, with the rod of his <i>Church</i> at his back.</p> + + <p>"The story about Galileo—which seems to have been either a joke + made against him, or by him—illustrates this. <i>Nature abhors a + vacuum</i> was the explanation of the water rising in a pump: but they + found that the water would not rise more than 32 feet. They asked for + explanation: what does the satirist make the schoolmen say? That the + stoppage is <i>not</i> a fact, because nature abhors a vacuum? No! but + that the principle should be that nature abhors a vacuum as far as 32 + feet. And this is what would have been done.</p> + + <p>"There are still among us both priests and physicians who would have + belonged, had they lived three or four centuries ago, to the glorious + band of whom I have spoken, the majority of the intelligent, working well + for mankind out of the professional pursuit. But we have a great many who + have helped to abase their classes. Go where we may, we find specimens of + the lower orders of the ministry of religion and the ministry of health + showing themselves smaller than the small of other pursuits. And how is + this? First, because each profession is entered upon a mere working smack + of its knowledge, without any depth of education, general or + professional. Not that this is the whole explanation, nor in itself + objectionable: the great mass of the world must be tended, soul and body, + by those who are neither Hookers<a name="NtA_345" + href="#Nt_345"><sup>[345]</sup></a> nor Harveys<a name="NtA_346" + href="#Nt_346"><sup>[346]</sup></a>: let such persons not venture + <i>ultra crepidam</i>, and they are useful and respectable. But, + secondly, there is a vast upheaving of thought from the depths of + commonplace learning. I am a clergyman! Sir! I am a medical man! Sir! and + forthwith the nature of things is picked to pieces, and there is a race, + with the last the winner, between Philosophy mounted on Folly's donkey, + and Folly mounted on Philosophy's donkey. How fortunate <!-- Page 202 + --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page202"></a>[202]</span>it is for Law + that her battles are fought by politicians in the Houses of Parliament. + Not that it is better done: but then <i>politics</i> bears the + blame."</p> + + <p>I now come to the medical review. After a quantity of remark which has + been already disposed of, the writer shows Greek learning, a field in + which the old physician would have had a little knowledge. A. B., for the + joke's sake, had left untranslated, as being too deep, a remarkably easy + sentence of Aristotle, to the effect that what has happened was possible, + for if impossible it would not have happened. The reviewer, in "simple + astonishment,"—it was simple—at the pretended + incapacity—I was told by A. B. that the joke was intended to draw + out a reviewer—translates:—He says that this sentence is + A. B.'s summing up of the evidence of Spiritualism. Now, being a sort of + <i>alter ego</i><a name="NtA_347" href="#Nt_347"><sup>[347]</sup></a> of + A. B., I do declare that he is not such a fool as to rest the evidence of + Spiritualism—the <i>spirit explanation</i>—upon the + occurrence of certain facts proving the possibility of those very facts. + In truth, A. B. refuses to receive spiritualism, while he receives the + facts: this is the gist of his whole preface, which simply admits + spiritualism among the qualified candidates, and does not know what + others there may be.</p> + + <p>The reviewer speaks of Aristotle as "that clear thinker and concise + writer." I strongly suspect that his knowledge of Aristotle was limited + to the single sentence which he had translated or got translated. + Aristotle is concise in <i>phrase</i>, not in book, and is powerful and + profound in thought: but no one who knows that his writing, all we have + of him, is the very opposite of clear, will pretend to decide that he + thought clearly. As his writing, so probably was his thought; and his + books are, if not anything but clear, at least anything good but clear. + Nobody thinks them clear except a person who always clears difficulties: + which I have no doubt was the reviewer's habit; that is, if he ever took + the field <!-- Page 203 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page203"></a>[203]</span>at all. The gentleman who read Euclid, all + except the As and Bs and the pictures of scratches and scrawls, is the + type of a numerous class.</p> + + <p>The reviewer finds that the word <i>amosgepotically</i>, used by + A. B., is utterly mysterious and incomprehensible. He hopes his + translation of the bit of Greek will shield him from imputation of + ignorance: and thinks the word may be referred to the "obscure dialect" + out of which sprung <i>aneroid</i>, <i>kalos geusis sauce</i>, and + <i>Anaxyridian trousers</i>. To lump the first two phrases with the third + smacks of ignorance in a Greek critic; for <span title="anaxuridia" class="grk" + >ἀναξυριδια</span>, + <i>breeches</i>, would have turned up in the lexicon; and <i>kalos + geusis</i>, though absurd, is not obscure. And <span title="amôsgepôs" class="grk" + >ἀμωσγεπως</span>, + <i>somehow or other</i>, is as easily found as <span title="anaxuridia" class="grk" + >ἀναξυριδια</span>. + The word <i>aneroid</i>, I admit, has puzzled better scholars than the + critic: but never one who knows the unscholarlike way in which words + ending in <span title="eidês" class="grk" + >ειδης</span> have been rendered. The + <i>aneroid barometer</i> does <i>not</i> use a column of air in the same + way as the old instrument. Now <span title="aeroeidês" class="grk" + >ἀεροειδης</span>—properly + <i>like</i> the atmosphere—is by scientific non-scholarship + rendered having to do with the atmosphere; and <span title="anaeroeidês" class="grk" + >ἀναεροειδης</span>—say + <i>anaëroid</i>—denies having to do with the atmosphere; a nice + thing to say of an instrument which is to measure the weight of the + atmosphere. One more absurdity, and we have <i>aneroid</i>, and there you + are. The critic ends with a declaration that nothing in the book shakes + his faith in a <i>Quarterly</i> reviewer who said that suspension of + opinion, until further evidence arrives, is justifiable: a strange + summing up for an article which insists upon utter rejection being + unavoidable.<a name="NtA_348" href="#Nt_348"><sup>[348]</sup></a> The + expressed aim of both A. B. and C. D. was to excite inquiry, and get + further evidence: until this is done, neither asks for a verdict.</p> + + <p>Oh where! and oh where! is old Medicine's learning gone! There + <i>was</i> some in the days of yore, when Popery <!-- Page 204 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page204"></a>[204]</span>was on! And it's oh! + for some Greek, just to find a word upon! The reviewer who, lexicon in + hand, can neither make out <i>anaxyridical</i>, <i>amosgepotical</i>, + <i>kalos geusis</i>, nor distinguish them from <i>aneroid</i>, cannot be + trusted when he says he has translated a sentence of Aristotle. He may + have done it; but, as he says of spiritualism, we must suspend our + opinion until further evidence shall arrive.</p> + + <p>We now come to the theological review. I have before alluded to the + faults of logic which are Protestant necessities: but I never said that + Protestant argument had <i>nothing but</i> paralogism. The writer before + me attains this completeness: from beginning to end he is of that + confusion and perversion which, as applied to interpretation of the New + Testament, is so common as to pass unnoticed by sermon-hearers; but + which, when applied out of church, is exposed with laughter in all + subjects except theology. I shall take one instance, putting some words + in italics.</p> + + +<table class="nomar" summary="Parallel columns" title="Parallel columns"> + <tr> + <td class="spac" style="vertical-align:top; text-align:left"> +<p class="cenhead"><i>A. B.</i></p> + + <p>My state of mind, which refers the whole <i>either</i> to unseen + intelligence, <i>or something which man has never had any conception + of</i>, proves me to be out of the pale of the Royal Society.</p> + </td> + <td class="spac" style="vertical-align:top; text-align:left"> +<p class="cenhead"><i>Theological Critic.</i></p> + + <p>... he proceeds to argue that he himself is outside its sacred + pale because he refers all these strange phenomena to <i>unseen + spiritual intelligence</i>.</p> + </td> + </tr> +</table> + + <p>The possibility of a <i>yet unimagined</i> cause is insisted on in + several places. On this ground it is argued by A. B. that spiritualists + are "incautious" for giving in at once to the spirit doctrine. But, it is + said, they may be justified by the philosophers, who make the flint + <i>axes</i>, as they call them, to be the works of men, because no one + can see <i>what else they can be</i>. This kind of adoption, + <i>condemned</i> as a conclusion, is <i>approved</i> as a provisional + theory, suggestive of direction of inquiry: experience having shown that + <!-- Page 205 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page205"></a>[205]</span>inquiry directed by a <i>wrong</i> theory + has led to more good than inquiry without any theory at all. All this + A. B. has fully set forth, in several pages. On it the reviewer remarks + that "with infinite satisfaction he tries to justify his view of the case + by urging that there is no other way of accounting for it; after the + fashion of the philosophers of our own day, who conclude that certain + flints found in the drift are the work of men, because the geologist does + not see what else they can be." After this twist of meaning, the reviewer + proceeds to say, and A. B. would certainly join him, "There is no need to + combat any such mode of reasoning as this, because it would apply with + equal force and justice to any theory whatever, however fantastic, + profane, or silly." And so, having shown how the reviewer has hung + himself, I leave him funipendulous.</p> + + <p>One instance more, and I have done. A reviewer, not theological, + speaking of the common argument that things which are derided are not + <i>therefore</i> to be rejected, writes as follows:—"It might as + well be said that they who laughed at Jenner<a name="NtA_349" + href="#Nt_349"><sup>[349]</sup></a> and vaccination were, in a certain + but very unsatisfactory way, witnesses to the possible excellence of the + system of St. John Long."<a name="NtA_350" + href="#Nt_350"><sup>[350]</sup></a> Of course it <i>might</i>: and of + course it <i>is</i> said by all people of common sense. In introducing + the word "possible," the reviewer has hit the point: I suspect that this + word was introduced during revision, to put the sentence into fighting + order; hurry preventing it being seen that the sentence was thus made to + fight on the wrong side. Jenner, who was laughed at, was right; + therefore, it is not impossible—that is, it is + <i>possible</i>—that a derided system may be right. Mark the three + gradations: <i>in medio tutissimus ibis</i>.<a name="NtA_351" + href="#Nt_351"><sup>[351]</sup></a></p> + +<p><!-- Page 206 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page206"></a>[206]</span></p> + + <p><i>Reviewer.</i>—If a system be derided, it is no ground of + suspense that derided systems have turned out true: if it were, you would + suspend your opinion about St. John Long on account of + Jenner.—<i>Ans.</i> You ought to do so, as to <i>possibility</i>; + and <i>before examination</i>; not with the notion that J. proves St. J. + <i>probable</i>; only <i>possible</i>.</p> + + <p><i>Common Sense.</i>—The past emergence of truths out of derided + systems proves that there is a practical certainty of like occurrence to + come. But, inasmuch as a hundred speculative fooleries are started for + one truth, the mind is permitted to approach the examination of any one + given novelty with a bias against it of a hundred to one: and this + permission is given because so it will be, leave or no leave. Every one + has licence not to jump over the moon.</p> + + <p><i>Paradoxer.</i>—Great men have been derided, and I am derided: + which proves that my system ought to be adopted. This is a summary of all + the degrees in which paradoxers contend for the former derision of truths + now established, giving their systems <i>probability</i>. I annex a + paragraph which D [e &c.] inserted in the <i>Athenæum</i> of October + 23, 1847.</p> + +<p class="cenhead">"<i>Discoverers and Discoveries.</i></p> + + <p>"Aristotle once sent his servant to the cellar to fetch + wine:—and the fellow brought him back small beer. The Stagirite + (who knew the difference) called him a blockhead. 'Sir,' said the man, + 'all I can say is, that I found it in the cellar.' The philosopher + muttered to himself that an affirmative conclusion could not be proved in + the second figure,—and Mrs. Aristotle, who was by, was not less + effective in her remark, that small beer was not wine because it was in + the same cellar. Both were right enough: and our philosophers might take + a lesson from either—for they insinuate an affirmative conclusion + in the second figure. Great discoverers have been little valued by + established <!-- Page 207 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page207"></a>[207]</span>schools,—and they are little valued. + The results of true science are strange at first,—and so are + their's. Many great men have opposed existing notions,—and so do + they. All great men were obscure at first,—and they are obscure. + Thinking men doubt,—and they doubt. Their small beer, I grant, has + come out of the same cellar as the wine; but this is not enough. If they + had let it stand awhile in the old wine-casks, it might have imbibed a + little of the flavor."</p> + + <p> </p> + + <p>There are better reviews than I have noticed; which, though entirely + dissenting, are unassailable on their own principles. What I have given + represents five-sixths of the whole. But it must be confessed that the + fraction of fairness and moderation and suspended opinion which the + doctrine of <i>Spirit Manifestations</i> has met with—even in the + lower reviews—is strikingly large compared to what would have been + the case fifty years ago. It is to be hoped that our popular and + periodical literatures are giving us one thinker created for twenty geese + double-feathered: if this hope be realized, we shall do! Seeing all that + I see, I am not prepared to go the length of a friend of mine who, after + reading a good specimen of the lower reviewing, exclaimed—Oh! if + all the fools in the world could be rolled up into one fool, what a + reviewer he would make!</p> + + <p> </p> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p>Calendrier Universel et Perpétuel; par le Commandeur P. J. Arson.<a + name="NtA_352" href="#Nt_352"><sup>[352]</sup></a> Publié par ses Enfans + (Œuvre posthume). Nice, 1863, 4to.</p> + +</blockquote> + + <p>I shall not give any account of this curious calendar, with all its + changes and symbols. But there is one proposal, which, could we alter the + general notions of time—a thing of very dubious + possibility—would be convenient. The week is made to wax and wane, + culminating on the Sunday, <!-- Page 208 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page208"></a>[208]</span>which comes in the middle. Thursday, + Friday, Saturday, are ascending or waxing days; Monday, Tuesday, + Wednesday, are descending or waning days. Our six days, lumped together + after the great distinguishing day, Sunday, are too many to be distinctly + thought of together: a division of three preceding and three following + the day of most note would be much more easily used. But all this comes + too late. It may be, nevertheless, that some individuals may be able to + adjust their affairs with advantage by referring Thursday, Friday, + Saturday, to the following Sunday, and Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, to the + preceding Sunday. But M. Arson's proposal to alter the names of the days + is no more necessary than it is practicable.</p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">CYCLOMETRY.</p> + + <p>I am not to enter anything I do not possess. The reader therefore will + not learn from me the feats of many a man-at-arms in these subjects. He + must be content, unless he will bestir himself for himself, not to know + how Mr. Patrick Cody trisects the angle at Mullinavat, or Professor + Recalcati squares the circle at Milan. But this last is to be done by + subscription, at five francs a head: a banker is named who guarantees + restitution if the solution be not perfectly rigorous; the banker + himself, I suppose, is the judge. I have heard of a man of business who + settled the circle in this way: if it can be reduced to a debtor and + creditor account, it can certainly be done; if not, it is not worth + doing. Montucla will give the accounts of the lawsuits which wagers on + the problem have produced in France.</p> + + <p>Neither will I enter at length upon the success of the new squarer who + advertises (Nov. 1863) in a country paper that, having read that the + circular ratio was undetermined, "I thought it very strange that so many + great scholars in all ages should have failed in finding the true ratio, + and have been determined to try myself.... I am about to secure the <!-- + Page 209 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page209"></a>[209]</span>benefit of the discovery, so until then + the public cannot know my new and true ratio." I have been informed that + this trial makes the diameter to the circumference as 64 to 201, giving + <span class="grk">π</span> = 3.140625 exactly. The result was obtained + by the discoverer in three weeks after he first heard of the existence of + the difficulty. This quadrator has since published a little slip, and + entered it at Stationers' Hall. He says he has done it by actual + measurement; and I hear from a private source that he uses a disk of 12 + inches diameter, which he rolls upon a straight rail. Mr. James Smith did + the same at one time; as did also his partisan at Bordeaux. We have, + then, both 3.125 and 3.140625, by actual measurement. The second result + is more than the first by about one part in 200. The second rolling is a + very creditable one; it is about as much below the mark as Archimedes was + above it. Its performer is a joiner, who evidently knows well what he is + about when he measures; he is not wrong by 1 in 3,000.</p> + + <p>The reader will smile at the quiet self-sufficiency with which "I have + been determined to try myself" follows the information that "so many + great scholars in all ages" have failed. It is an admirable spirit, when + accompanied by common sense and uncommon self-knowledge. When I was an + undergraduate there was a little attendant in the library who gave me the + following,—"As to cleaning this library, Sir, if I have spoken to + the Master once about it, I have spoken fifty times: but it is of no use; + he will not employ <i>littery</i> men; and so I am obliged to look after + it myself."</p> + + <p>I do not think I have mentioned the bright form of quadrature in which + a square is made equal to a circle by making each side equal to a quarter + of the circumference. The last squarer of this kind whom I have seen + figures in the last number of the <i>Athenæum</i> for 1855: he says the + thing is no longer a <i>problem</i>, but an <i>axiom</i>. He does not + know that the area of the circle is greater than that of any other figure + of the same circuit. This any one might see without <!-- Page 210 + --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page210"></a>[210]</span>mathematics. + How is it possible that the figure of greatest area should have any one + length in its circuit unlike in form to any other part of the same + length?</p> + + <p>The feeling which tempts persons to this problem is that which, in + romance, made it impossible for a knight to pass a castle which belonged + to a giant or an enchanter. I once gave a lecture on the subject: a + gentleman who was introduced to it by what I said remarked, loud enough + to be heard by all around, "Only prove to me that it is impossible, and I + will set about it this very evening."</p> + + <p>This rinderpest of geometry cannot be cured, when once it has seated + itself in the system: all that can be done is to apply what the learned + call prophylactics to those who are yet sound. When once the virus gets + into the brain, the victim goes round the flame like a moth; first one + way and then the other, beginning where he ended, and ending where he + begun: thus verifying the old line</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="hg3">"In girum imus nocte, ecce! et consumimur igni."<a name="NtA_353" href="#Nt_353"><sup>[353]</sup></a></p> + </div> + </div> + <p>Every mathematician knows that scores of methods, differing altogether + from each other in process, all end in this mysterious 3.14159..., which + insists on calling itself the circumference to a unit of diameter. A + reader who is competent to follow processes of arithmetic may be easily + satisfied that such methods do actually exist. I will give a sketch, + carried out to a few figures, of three: the first two I never met with in + my reading; the third is the old method of Vieta.<a name="NtA_354" + href="#Nt_354"><sup>[354]</sup></a> [I find that both the first and + second methods are contained in a theorem of Euler.]</p> + + <p>What Mr. James Smith says of these methods is worth noting. He says I + have given three "<i>fancy</i> proofs" of the value of <span + class="grk">π</span>: he evidently takes me to be offering + demonstration. He proceeds thus:—</p> + + <p>"His first proof is traceable to the diameter of a circle <!-- Page + 211 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page211"></a>[211]</span>of radius + 1. His second, to the side of any inscribed equilateral triangle to a + circle of radius 1. His third, to a radius of a circle of diameter 1. + Now, it may be frankly admitted that we can arrive at the same result by + many other modes of arithmetical calculation, all of which may be shown + to have some sort of relation to a circle; but, after all, these results + are mere exhibitions of the properties of numbers, and have no more to do + with the ratio of diameter to circumference in a circle than the price of + sugar with the mean height of spring tides. (<i>Corr.</i> Oct. 21, + 1865)."</p> + + <p>I quote this because it is one of the few cases—other than + absolute assumption of the conclusion—in which Mr. Smith's + conclusions would be true if his premise were true. Had I given what + follows as <i>proof</i>, it would have been properly remarked, that I had + only exhibited properties of numbers. But I took care to tell my reader + that I was only going to show him <i>methods</i> which end in 3.14159.... + The proofs that these methods establish the value of <span + class="grk">π</span> are for those who will read and can + understand.</p> + +<table class="nobctr"> +<tr><td align="right">200000000</td><td align="right">31415</td><td align="right">3799</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">66666667</td><td> </td><td align="right">2817</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">26666667</td><td> </td><td align="right">1363</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">11428571</td><td> </td><td align="right">661</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">5079365</td><td> </td><td align="right">321</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">2308802</td><td> </td><td align="right">156</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">1065601</td><td> </td><td align="right">76</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">497281</td><td> </td><td align="right">37</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">234014</td><td> </td><td align="right">18</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">110849</td><td> </td><td align="right">9</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">52785</td><td> </td><td align="right">5</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">25245</td><td> </td><td align="right">2</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">12118</td><td> </td><td align="right">1</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">5834</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">—————</td><td align="right"> ———</td><td align="right">——</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">314153799</td><td align="right">31415</td><td align="right">9265</td></tr> +</table> + +<p><!-- Page 212 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page212"></a>[212]</span></p> + + <p>1. Take any diameter, double it, take 1-3d of that double, 2-5ths of + the last, 3-7ths of the last, 4-9ths of the last, 5-11ths of the last, + and so on. The sum of all is the circumference of that diameter. The + preceding is the process when the diameter is a hundred millions: the + errors arising from rejection of fractions being lessened by proceeding + on a thousand millions, and striking off one figure. Here 200 etc. is + double of the diameter; 666 etc. is 1-3rd of 200 etc.; 266 etc. is 2-5ths + of 666 etc.; 114 etc. is 3-7ths of 266 etc.; 507 etc. is 4-9ths of 114 + etc.; and so on.</p> + + <p>2. To the square root of 3 add its half. Take <i>half</i> the third + part of this; half 2-5ths of the last; half 3-7ths of the last; and so + on. The sum is the circumference to a unit of diameter.</p> + +<table class="nobctr"> +<tr><td align="right">Square root of 3....</td><td align="right">1.73205081</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td align="right">.86602540</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td align="right">—————</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td align="right">2.59807621</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td align="right">.43301270</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td align="right">.08660254</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td align="right">1855768</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td align="right">412393</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td align="right">93726</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td align="right">21629</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td align="right">5047</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td align="right">1188</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td align="right">281</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td align="right">67</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td align="right">16</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td align="right">4</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td align="right">1</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td align="right">—————</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td align="right">3.14159265</td></tr> +</table> + + <p>3. Take the square root of ½; the square root of half of one more than + this; the square root of half of one more <!-- Page 213 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page213"></a>[213]</span>than the last; and so + on, until we come as near to unity as the number of figures chosen will + permit. Multiply all the results together, and divide 2 by the product: + the quotient is an approximation to the circumference when the diameter + is unity. Taking aim at four figures, that is, working to five figures to + secure accuracy in the fourth, we have .70712 for the square root of ½; + .92390 for the square root of half one more than .70712; and so on, + through .98080, .99520, .99880, .99970, .99992, .99998. The product of + the eight results is .63667; divide 2 by this, and the quotient is + 3.1413..., of which four figures are correct. Had the product been + .636363... instead of .63667..., the famous result of Archimedes, + 22-7ths, would have been accurately true. It is singular that no + cyclometer maintains that Archimedes hit it exactly.</p> + + <p>A literary journal could hardly admit as much as the preceding, if it + stood alone. But in my present undertaking it passes as the + halfpennyworth of bread to many gallons of sack. Many more methods might + be given, all ending in the same result, let that result mean what it + may.</p> + + <p>Now since dozens of methods, to which dozens more might be added at + pleasure, concur in giving one and the same result; and since these + methods are declared by all who have shown knowledge of mathematics to be + <i>demonstrated</i>: it is not asking too much of a person who has just a + little knowledge of the first elements that he should learn more, and put + his hand upon the error, before he intrudes his assertion of the + existence of error upon those who have given more time and attention to + it than himself, and who are in possession, over and above many + demonstrations, of many consequences verifying each other, of which he + can know nothing. This is all that is required. Let any one square the + circle, and persuade his friends, if he and they please: let him print, + and let all read who choose. But let him abstain from intruding himself + upon those who have been satisfied by existing demonstration, until he is + prepared <!-- Page 214 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page214"></a>[214]</span>to lay his finger on the point in which + existing demonstration is wrong. Let him also say what this mysterious + 3.14159... really is, which comes in at every door and window, and down + every chimney, calling itself the circumference to a unit of diameter. + This most impudent and successful impostor holds false title-deeds in his + hands, and invites examination: surely those who can find out the + rightful owner are equally able to detect the forgery. All the quadrators + are agreed that, be the right what it may, 3.14159... is wrong. It would + be well if they would put their heads together, and say what this wrong + result really means. The mathematicians of all ages have tried all manner + of processes, with one object in view, and by methods which are admitted + to yield demonstration in countless cases. They have all arrived at one + result. A large number of opponents unite in declaring this result wrong, + and all agree in two points: first, in differing among themselves; + secondly, in declining to point out what that curious result really is + which the mathematical methods all agree in giving.</p> + + <p>Most of the quadrators are not aware that it has been fully + demonstrated that no two numbers whatsoever can represent the ratio of + the diameter to the circumference with perfect accuracy. When therefore + we are told that either 8 to 25 or 64 to 201 is the true ratio, we know + that it is no such thing, without the necessity of examination. The point + that is left open, as not fully demonstrated to be impossible, is the + <i>geometrical</i> quadrature, the determination of the circumference by + the straight line and circle, used as in Euclid. The general run of + circle-squarers, hearing that the quadrature is not pronounced to be + <i>demonstratively</i> impossible, imagine that the <i>arithmetical</i> + quadrature is open to their ingenuity. Before attempting the arithmetical + problem, they ought to acquire knowledge enough to read Lambert's<a + name="NtA_355" href="#Nt_355"><sup>[355]</sup></a> demonstration (last + given in Brewster's<a name="NtA_356" href="#Nt_356"><sup>[356]</sup></a> + translation <!-- Page 215 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page215"></a>[215]</span>of Legendre's<a name="NtA_357" + href="#Nt_357"><sup>[357]</sup></a> Geometry) and, if they can, to refute + it. [It will be given in an Appendix.] Probably some have begun this way, + and have caught a Tartar who has refused to let them go: I have never + heard of any one who, in producing his own demonstration, has laid his + finger on the faulty part of Lambert's investigation. This is the answer + to those who think that the mathematicians treat the arithmetical + squarers too lightly, and that as some person may succeed at last, all + attempts should be examined. Those who have so thought, not knowing that + there is demonstration on the point, will probably admit that a person + who contradicts a theorem of which the demonstration has been + acknowledged for a century by all who have alluded to it as read by + themselves, may reasonably be required to point out the error before he + demands attention to his own result.</p> + + <p><i>Apopempsis of the Tutelaries.</i>—Again and again I am told + that I spend too much time and trouble upon my two tutelaries: but when I + come to my summing-up I shall make it appear that I have a purpose. Some + say I am too hard upon them: but this is quite a mistake. Both of them + beat little Oliver himself in the art and science of asking for more; but + without Oliver's excuse, for I had given good allowance. Both began with + me, not I with them: and both knew what they had to expect when they + applied for a second helping.</p> + + <p>On July 31, the Monday after the publication of my remarks on my 666 + correspondent, I found <i>three</i> notes in separate envelopes, + addressed to me at "7<span class="scac">A</span>, University College." + When I saw the three new digits I was taken rhythmopoetic, as + follows—</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Here's the Doctor again with his figs, and by Heavens!</p> + <p>He was always at sixes, and now he's at sevens.</p> + </div> + </div> + <p>To understand this fully the reader must know that the greater part of + Apocalyptic interpretation has long been condensed, in my mind, into the + Turkish street-cry—In the <!-- Page 216 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page216"></a>[216]</span>name of the Prophet! figs! I make a few + extracts. The reader will observe that Dr. Thorn grumbles at his + <i>private</i> letters being <i>publicly</i> ridiculed. A man was + summoned for a glutolactic assault; he complained of the publication of + his proceeding: I kicked etc. <i>in confidence</i>, he said.</p> + + <p>"After reading your last, which tries in every way to hold me up to + public ridicule for daring to write you privately ['that you would be + d——d,' omitted by accident] one would say, Why have anything + to do with such a testy person? [Wrong word; no testy person can manage + cool and consecutive ridicule. Quære, what is this word? Is it anything + but a corruption of the obsolete word <i>tetchy</i> of the same <span + class="correction" title="text reads `meaing'">meaning</span>? Some think + <i>touchy</i> is our modern form of <i>tetchy</i>, which I greatly + doubt]. My answer is, the poor man is lamentably ignorant; he is not only + so, but 'out of the way' [quite true; my readers know me by this time for + an out-of-the-way person. What other could tackle my squad of paradoxers? + What other would undertake the job?] Can he be brought back and form one + of those who in Ezekiel 37 ch. have the Spirit breathed into them and + live.... Have I any other feeling towards you except that of peace and + goodwill? [Not to your distinct knowledge; but in all those who send + people to 'the other place' for contempt of their interpretations, there + is a lurking wish which is father to the thought; 'you <i>will</i> be + d——d' and 'you <i>be</i> d—d' are Siamese twins]. Of + course your sneer at 666 brought plain words; but when men meddle with + what they do not understand (not having the double <i>Vahu</i>) they must + be dealt with faithfully by those who do.... [They must; which justifies + the Budget of Paradoxes: but no occasion to send them anywhere; no + preachee and floggee too, as the negro said]. Many will find the text + Prov. i. 26 fully realized. [All this contains distinct assumption of a + right 'of course' to declare accursed those who do not respect the + writer's vagary].... If I could but get the <span lang="he" class="heb" + title="A" ><bdo dir="rtl">א</bdo></span>, the Ox-head, which in Old + Hebrew was just the Latin Digamma, F, out <!-- Page 217 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page217"></a>[217]</span>of your name, and could + then Thau you with the Thau of Ezekiel ix, 4, the <span + class="grk">χ</span>, then you would bear the number of a man! But + this is too hard for me, although not so for the Lord! Jer. xxxii. 17.... + And now a word: is ridicule the right thing in so solemn a matter as the + discussion of Holy Writ? [Is food for ridicule the right thing? Did I + discuss Holy Writ? I did not: I concussed profane scribble. Even the + Doctor did not <i>discuss</i>; he only enunciated and denunciated out of + the mass of inferences which a mystical head has found premises for in + the Bible]."</p> + +<table class="nobctr"> +<tr><td>M</td><td align="right">40</td></tr> +<tr><td>O</td><td align="right">70</td></tr> +<tr><td>R</td><td align="right">100</td></tr> +<tr><td>G</td><td align="right">6</td></tr> +<tr><td>N</td><td align="right">50</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td align="right">——</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td align="right">266</td></tr> +<tr><td><span lang="he" class="heb" title="t" ><bdo dir="rtl">ת</bdo></span>=</td><td align="right"><span class="grk">χ</span> 400</td></tr> +</table> + + <p>[That ill opinions are near relations of ill wishes, will be detected + by those who are on the look out. The following was taken down in a + Scotch Church by Mr. Cobden,<a name="NtA_358" + href="#Nt_358"><sup>[358]</sup></a> who handed it to a Roman friend of + mine, for his delectation (in 1855): "Lord, we thank thee that thou hast + brought the Pope into trouble; and we pray that thou wouldst be + mercifully pleased to increase the same."]</p> + + <p>Here is a martyr who quarrels with his crown; a missionary who reviles + his persecutor: send him to New Zealand, and he would disagree with the + Maoris who ate him. Man of unilateral reciprocity! have you, who write to + a stranger with hints that that stranger and his wife are children of + perdition, the bad taste to complain of a facer in return? As James + Smith<a name="NtA_359" href="#Nt_359"><sup>[359]</sup></a>—the + Attorney-wit, not the Dock-cyclometer—said, or nearly said,</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2hg3">"A pretty thing, forsooth!</p> + <p>Is he to burn, all scalding hot,</p> + <p>Me and my wife, and am I not</p> + <p class="i2">To job him out a tooth?"</p> + </div> + </div> +<p><!-- Page 218 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page218"></a>[218]</span></p> + + <p>Those who think parody vulgar will be pleased to substitute for the + above a quotation from Butler<a name="NtA_360" + href="#Nt_360"><sup>[360]</sup></a>:—</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="hg3">"There's nothing so absurd or vain</p> + <p>Or barbarous or inhumane,</p> + <p>But if it lay the least pretence</p> + <p>To piety and godliness,</p> + <p>Or tender-hearted conscience,</p> + <p>And zeal for gospel truths profess,—</p> + <p>Does sacred instantly commence,</p> + <p>And all that dare but question it are straight</p> + <p>Pronounced th' uncircumcised and reprobate,</p> + <p>As malefactors that escape and fly</p> + <p>Into a sanctuary for defence,</p> + <p>Must not be brought to justice thence,</p> + <p>Although their crimes be ne'er so great and high.</p> + <p>And he that dares presume to do't</p> + <p>Is sentenced and delivered up</p> + <p>To Satan that engaged him to't."</p> + </div> + </div> + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST.</p> + + <p>Of all the drolleries of controversy none is more amusing than the + manner in which those who provoke a combat expect to lay down the laws of + retaliation. You must not strike this way! you must not parry that way! + If you don't take care, we shall never meddle with you again! We were not + <i>prepared</i> for such as this! Why did we have anything to do with + such a testy person? M. Jourdain must needs show Nicole, his + servant-maid, how good a thing it was to be sure of fighting without + being killed, by care and tierce.<a name="NtA_361" + href="#Nt_361"><sup>[361]</sup></a> "Et cela n'est il pas beau d'être + assuré de son fait quand on se bat contre quelqu'un? Là, pousse moi un + peu, pour voir. <span class="sc">Nicole</span>. Eh bien! quoi? <span + class="sc">M. Jourdain.</span> Tout beau. Hola! <!-- Page 219 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page219"></a>[219]</span>Ho! doucement. Diantre + soit la coquine! <span class="sc">Nicole.</span> Vous me dites de + pousser. <span class="sc">M. Jourdain.</span> Oui; mais tu me pousses en + tierce, avant que de pousser en quarte, et tu n'as pas la patience que je + pare."</p> + + <p>His colleague, my secular tutelary, who also made an anachronistic + onset, with his repartees and his retorts, before there was anything to + fire at, takes what I give by way of subsequent provocation with a good + humor which would make a convert of me if he could afford .01659265 ... + of a grain of logic. He instantly sent me his photograph for the asking, + and another letter in proof. The Thor-hammerer does nothing but grumble, + except when he tells a good story, which he says he had from Dr. + Abernethy.<a name="NtA_362" href="#Nt_362"><sup>[362]</sup></a> A Mr. + James Dunlop was popping at the Papists with a 666-rifled gun, when Dr. + Chalmers<a name="NtA_363" href="#Nt_363"><sup>[363]</sup></a> quietly + said, "Why, Dunlop, you bear it yourself," and handed him a paper on + which the numerals in</p> + +<table class="nobctr"> +<tr><td> I </td><td> A </td><td> C </td><td> O </td><td> B </td><td> V </td><td> S </td><td> </td><td> D </td><td> V </td><td> N </td><td> L </td><td> O </td><td> P </td><td> V </td><td> S </td></tr> +<tr><td align="center">1</td><td> </td><td align="center">100</td><td colspan="2"> </td><td align="center">5</td><td colspan="2"> </td><td align="center">500</td><td align="center">5</td><td> </td><td align="center">50</td><td colspan="2"> </td><td align="center">5</td></tr> +</table> + + <p>were added up. This is almost as good as the <i>Filii Dei + Vicarius</i>, the numerical letters of which also make 666. No more of + these crazy—I first wrote <i>puerile</i>, but why should young + cricketers be libelled?—attempts to extract religious use from + numerical vagaries, and to make God over all a proposer of <i>salvation + conundrums</i>: and no more of the trumpery hints about future destiny + which is too great a compliment to call blasphemous. If the Doctor will + cipher upon the letter in <span title="en hôi metrôi metreite metrêthêsetai humin" class="grk" + >ἐν ᾡ μετρῳ + μετρειτε + μετρηθησεται + ὑμιν</span><a name="NtA_364" + href="#Nt_364"><sup>[364]</sup></a> with <i>double Vahu</i> cubic + measure, he will perhaps learn to leave off trying to frighten me into + gathering grapes from thorns.</p> + + <p>Mystical hermeneutics may be put to good use by out-of-the-way people. + They may be made to call the attention <!-- Page 220 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page220"></a>[220]</span>of the many to a + distinction well known among the learned. The books of the New Testament + have been for 1,500 years divided into two classes: the + <i>acknowledged</i> (<span title="homologoumena" class="grk" + >ὁμολογουμενα</span>), + which it has always been paradox not to receive; and the + <i>controverted</i> (<span title="antilegomena" class="grk" + >ἀντιλεγομενα</span>), + about which there has always been that difference of opinion which no + scholar overlooks, however he may decide for himself after balance of + evidence. Eusebius,<a name="NtA_365" href="#Nt_365"><sup>[365]</sup></a> + who first (l. 3, c. 25) recorded the distinction—which was much + insisted on by the early Protestants—states the books which are + questioned as doubtful, but which yet are approved and acknowledged by + <i>many</i>—or <i>the many</i>, it is not easy to say which he + means—to be the Epistles of James and Jude, the second of Peter and + the second and third of John. In other places he speaks doubtingly of the + Epistle to the Hebrews. The Apocalypse he does not even admit into this + class, for he proceeds as follows—I use the second edition of the + English folio translation (1709), to avert suspicion of bias from + myself:—</p> + + <p>"Among the <i>spurious</i> [<span title="nothoi" class="grk" + >νοθοι</span>] let there be ranked both the + work entitled the <i>Acts of Paul</i>, and the book called <i>Pastor</i>, + and the <i>Revelation of Peter</i>: and moreover, that which is called + the <i>Epistle of Barnabas</i>, and that named the <i>Doctrines of the + Apostles</i>: and moreover, as I said, the <i>Revelation of John</i> (if + you think good), which some, as I have said, do reject, but others allow + of, and admit among those books which are received as unquestionable and + undoubted."</p> + + <p>Eusebius, though he will not admit the Apocalypse even into the + <i>controverted</i> list, but gives permission to call it + <i>spurious</i>, yet qualifies his permission in a manner which almost + annihilates the distinctive force of <span title="nothos" class="grk" + >νοθος</span>, and gives the book a claim + to rank (if you think good, again) in the controverted list. And this is + the impression received by <!-- Page 221 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page221"></a>[221]</span>the mind of Lardner, who gives Eusebius + fully and fairly, but when he sums up, considers his author as admitting + the Apocalypse into the second list. A stick may easily be found to beat + the father of ecclesiastical history. There are whole faggots in writers + as opposite as Baronius and Gibbon, who are perhaps his two most + celebrated sons. But we can hardly imagine him totally misrepresenting + the state of opinion of those for whom and among whom he wrote. The usual + plan, that of making an author take the views of his readers, is more + easy in his case than in that of any other writer: for, as the riddle + says, he is You-see-by-us; and to this reading of his name he has often + been subjected. Dr. Nathaniel Lardner,<a name="NtA_366" + href="#Nt_366"><sup>[366]</sup></a> who, though heterodox in doctrine, + tries hard to be orthodox as to the Canon, is "sometimes apt to think" + that the list should be collected and divided as in Eusebius. He would + have no one of the controverted books to be allowed, by itself, to + establish any doctrine. Even without going so far, a due use of early + opinion and long continued discussion would perhaps prevent rational + people from being induced by those who have the <i>double Vahu</i> to + place the Apocalypse <i>above</i> the Gospels, which all the Bivahuites + do in effect, and some are said to have done in express words. But my + especial purpose is to point out that an easy way of getting rid of 665 + out of 666 of the mystics is to require them to establish the Apocalypse + before they begin. See if they even know so much as that there is a crowd + of testimonies for and against, running through the first four centuries, + which makes this book the most difficult of the whole Canon. Try this + method, and you will escape beautiful, as the French say. Dean Alford,<a + name="NtA_367" href="#Nt_367"><sup>[367]</sup></a> in Vol. IV, p. 8, of + his New Testament, gives an elaborate handling of this question. He + concludes by saying that he cannot <!-- Page 222 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page222"></a>[222]</span>venture to refuse his + consent to the tradition that the Apostle is the author. This modified + adherence, or non-nonadherence, pretty well represents the feeling of + orthodox Protestants, when learning and common sense come together.</p> + + <p>I have often, in former days, had the attempt made to place the + Apocalypse on my neck as containing prophecies yet unfulfilled. The + preceding method prevents success; and so does the following. It may + almost be taken for granted that theological system-fighters do not read + the New Testament: they hunt it for detached texts; they listen to it in + church in that state of quiescent nonentity which is called reverent + attention: but they never read it. When it is brought forward, you must + pretend to find it necessary to turn to the book itself: you must read + "The revelation ... to show unto his servants <i>things which must + shortly come to pass</i>.... Blessed is he that readeth ... <i>for the + time is at hand</i>." You must then ask your mystic whether things + deferred for 1800 years were shortly to come to pass, etc.? You must tell + him that the Greek <span title="en tachei" class="grk">ἐν + ταχει</span>, rendered "shortly," is as strong + a phrase as the language has to signify <i>soon</i>. The interpreter will + probably look as if he had never read this opening: the chances are that + he takes up the book to see whether you have been committing a fraud. He + will then give you some exquisite evasion: I have heard it pleaded that + the above was a <i>mere preamble</i>. This word <i>mere</i> is + all-sufficient: it turns anything into nothing. Perhaps he will say that + the argument is that of the Papists: if so, tell him that there is no + Christian sect but bears true witness against some one or more + absurdities in other sects.</p> + + <p>An anonyme suggests that <span title="en tachei" class="grk" + >ἐν ταχει</span> may not be "soon," + it may be "quickly, without reference to time when:" he continues thus, + "May not time be 'at hand' when it is ready to come, no matter how long + delayed?" I now understand what *** and *** meant when they borrowed my + books and promised to return them quickly, it was "without <!-- Page 223 + --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page223"></a>[223]</span>reference to + time when." As to time at <i>hand</i>—provided you make a long + <i>arm</i>—I admire the quirk, but cannot receive it: the word is + <span title="engus" class="grk" + >ἐγγυς</span>, which is a word of + <i>closeness</i> in time, in place, in reckoning, in kindred, etc.</p> + + <p>Another gentleman is not surprised that Apocalyptic reading leads to a + doubt of the "canonicity" of the book: it ought not to rest on church + testimony, but on visible miracle. He offers me, or any reader of the + <i>Athenæum</i>, the "sight of a miracle to that effect, and within + forty-eight hours' journey (fare paid)." I seldom travel, and my first + thought was whether my carpet-bag would be found without a regular hunt: + but, on reading further, I found that it was only a concordance that + would be wanted. Forty hours' collection and numerical calculation of + Greek nouns would make it—should I happen to agree with the + writer—many hundred millions to one that Revelation xiii is + superhuman. There is but one verse (the fifth) which the writer does not + see verified. I looked at this verse, and was much startled. The Budget + began in October 1863: should it last until March 1867—it is now + August 1866—it is clear that I am the first Beast, and my + paradoxers are the saints whom I persecute.</p> + + <p>[The Budget <i>did</i> terminate in March 1867: I hope the gentleman + will be satisfied with the resulting interpretation.]</p> + + <p>The same opponent is surprised that I should suppose a thing which + "comes to pass" must be completed, and cannot contain what is to happen + 1800 years after. All who have any knowledge of English idiom know that a + thing <i>comes</i> to pass when it happens, and <i>came</i> to pass + afterwards. But as the original is Greek, we must look at the Greek: it + is <span title="dei genesthai" class="grk">δει + γενεσθαι</span> for "must + come to pass," and we know that <span title="egeneto" class="grk" + >ἐγενετο</span> is what is + usually translated "came to pass." No word of more finished completion + exists in Greek.</p> + + <p>And now for a last round of biter-bit with the Thor-hammerer, of whom, + as in the other case, I shall take no <!-- Page 224 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page224"></a>[224]</span>more notice until he + can contrive to surpass himself, which I doubt his being able to do. He + informs me that by changing A into <span lang="he" class="heb" title="t" + ><bdo dir="rtl">ת</bdo></span> in my name he can make a 666 of + <i>me</i>; adding, "This is too hard for me, although not so for the + Lord!" Sheer nonsense! He could just as easily have directed to "Prof. De + Morg<span lang="he" class="heb" title="t" ><bdo + dir="rtl">ת</bdo></span>n" as have assigned me apartment 7<span + class="scac">A</span> in University College. It would have been seen for + whom it was intended: and if not, it would still have reached me, for my + colleagues have for many a year handed all out-of-the-way things over to + me. There is no 7<span class="scac">A</span>: but 7 is the Museum of + Materia Medica. I took the only hint which the address gave: I inquired + for hellebore, but they told me it was not now recognized, that the old + notion of its value was quite obsolete, and that they had nothing which + was considered a specific in senary or septenary cases. The great + platitude is the reference of such a difficulty as writing <span + lang="he" class="heb" title="t" ><bdo dir="rtl">ת</bdo></span> for + A to the Almighty! Not childish, but fatuous: real childishness is + delightful. I knew an infant to whom, before he could speak plain, his + parents had attempted to give notions of the Divine attributes: a wise + plan, many think. His father had dandled him up-side-down, ending with, + There now! Papa could not dance on his head! The mannikin made a solemn + face, and said, <i>But Dod tood</i>! I think the Doctor has rather + mistaken the way of becoming as a little child, intended in Matt. xviii. + 3: let us hope the will may be taken for the deed.</p> + + <p>Two poets have given images of transition from infancy to manhood: + Dryden,—for the Hind is Dryden himself on all fours! and + Wordsworth, in his own character of broad-nailed, featherless biped:</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="hg3">"The priest continues what the nurse began,</p> + <p>And thus the child imposes on the man."</p> + <p class="i2hg3">"The child's the father of the man,</p> + <p class="i2">And I could wish my days to be</p> + <p class="i2">Bound each to each by natural piety."</p> + </div> + </div> +<p><!-- Page 225 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page225"></a>[225]</span></p> + + <p>In Wordsworth's aspiration it is meant that sense and piety should + grow together: in Dryden's description a combination of Mysticism And + Bigotry (can this be the <i>double Vahu</i>?), personified as "the + priest,"—who always catches it on this score, though the same + spirit is found in all associations,—succeeds the boguey-teaching + of the nurse. Never was the contrast of smile and scowl, of light and + darkness, better seen than in the two pictures. But an acrostic + distinction may be drawn. When mysticism predominates over bigotry, we + have the grotesque picturesque, and the natural order of words gives us + <i>Mab</i>, an appropriate suggestion. But when bigotry has the upper + hand, we see <i>Bam</i>, which is just as appropriate; for bigotry nearly + always deals with facts and logic so as to require the application of at + least one of the minor words by which dishonesty is signified. I think + that M is the Doctor's initial, and that Queen Mab tickles him in his + sleep with the sharp end of a 6.</p> + + <p>(<i>Monday, August 21.</i>) Three weeks having elapsed without notice + from me of the Doctor, I receive a reminder of his existence, in which I + find that as I am the Daniel who judges the Magi of Babylon, it is to be + pointed out that Daniel "bore a certain number, that of a man (beloved), + Daniel, ch. 10. v. 11, and which you certainly do not." Then, "by Greek + power," Belteshazzar is made = 666. Here is another awkward imitation of + the way of a baby child. When you have sported with the tiny creature + until it runs away offended, by the time you have got into conversation + again you will find the game is to be renewed: a little head peeps out + from a hiding-place with "I don't love you." The proper rejoinder is, + "Very well! then I'll have pussy." But in the case before me there is a + rule of three sums to do; as baby : Pussy Dr. :: 666 : the answer + required. I will work it out, if I can.</p> + + <p>The squaring of the circle and the discovery of the Beast are the two + goals—and goals also—of many unbalanced intellects, and of a + few instances of the better kind. <!-- Page 226 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page226"></a>[226]</span>I might have said more + of 666, but I am not deep in its bibliography. A work has come into my + hands which contains a large number of noted cases: to some of my readers + it will be a treat to see the collection; and the sight will perhaps be + of some use to those who have read controversy on the few celebrated + cases which are of general notoriety. It is written by a learned + decipherer, a man who really knew the history of the subject, the Rev. + David Thom,<a name="NtA_368" href="#Nt_368"><sup>[368]</sup></a> of Bold + Street Chapel, Liverpool, who died, I am told, a few years ago.</p> + + <p>Anybody who reads his book will be inclined to parody a criticism + which was once made on Paley's<a name="NtA_369" + href="#Nt_369"><sup>[369]</sup></a> Evidences—"Well! if there be + anything in Christianity, this man is no fool." And, if he should chance + to remember it, he will be strongly reminded of a sentence in my opening + chapter,—"The manner in which a paradoxer will show himself, as to + sense or nonsense, will not depend upon what he maintains, but upon + whether he has or has not made a sufficient knowledge of what has been + done by others, <i>especially as to the mode of doing it</i>, a + preliminary to inventing knowledge for himself." And this is reinforced + by the fact that Mr. Thom, though a scholar, was not conspicuous for + learning, except in this his great pursuit. He was a paradoxer on other + points. He reconciled Calvinism and eternal reprobation with Universalism + and final salvation; showing these two doctrines to be all one.</p> + + <p>This gentleman must not be confounded with the Rev. John Hamilton + Thom<a name="NtA_370" href="#Nt_370"><sup>[370]</sup></a> (no relation), + at or near the same <!-- Page 227 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page227"></a>[227]</span>time and until recently, of Renshaw Street + Chapel, Liverpool who was one of the minority in the Liverpool + controversy when, nearly thirty years ago, <i>three</i> heretical + Unitarian schooners exchanged shotted sermons with <i>thirteen</i> + Orthodox ships of the line, and put up their challengers' dander—an + American corruption of <i>d—d anger</i>—to such an extent, by + quiet and respectful argument, that those opponents actually addressed a + printed intercession to the Almighty for the Unitarian triad, as for + "Jews, Turks, Infidels, and Heretics." So much for the distinction, which + both gentlemen would thank me for making very clear: I take it quite for + granted that a guesser at 666 would feel horrified at being taken for a + Unitarian, and that a Unitarian would feel queerified at being taken for + a guesser at 666. Mr. David Thom's book is <i>The Number and Names of the + Apocalyptic Beasts</i>, Part I, 1848, 8vo.: I think the second part was + never published. I give the Greek and Latin solutions, omitting the + Hebrew: as usual, all the Greek letters are numeral, but only + M D C L X V I of the Latin. I do not give either the decipherers or their + reasons: I have not room for this; nor would I, if I could, bias my + reader for one rather than another.</p> + + <p>D. F. Julianus Cæsar Atheus (or Aug.<a name="NtA_371" + href="#Nt_371"><sup>[371]</sup></a>); Diocles Augustus; Ludovicus; + Silvester Secundus; Linus Secundus; <!-- Page 228 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page228"></a>[228]</span>Vicarius Filii Dei; + Doctor et Rex Latinus; Paulo V. Vice-Deo; Vicarius Generalis Dei in + Terris; Ipse Catholicæ Ecclesiæ Visibile Caput; Dux Cleri; Una, Vera, + Catholica, Infallibilis Ecclesia; Auctoritas politica ecclesiasticaque + Papalis (Latina will also do); Lutherus Ductor Gregis; Calvinus tristis + fidei interpres; Dic Lux ; Ludvvic; Will. Laud; <span title="Lateinos" class="grk" + >Λατεινος</span>;<a + name="NtA_372" href="#Nt_372"><sup>[372]</sup></a> <span title="hê latinê basileia" class="grk" + >ἡ λατινη + βασιλεια</span>; <span + title="ekklêsia italika" class="grk" + >ἐκκλησια + ἰταλικα</span>; <span + title="euanthas" class="grk" + >εὐανθας</span>; <span + title="teitan" class="grk">τειταν</span>; + <span title="arnoume" class="grk" + >ἀρνουμε</span>; <span + title="lampetis" class="grk" + >λαμπετις</span>; <span + title="ho nikêtês" class="grk">ὁ + νικητης</span>; <span title="kakos hodêgos" class="grk" + >κακος + ὁδηγος</span>; <span title="alêthês blaberos" class="grk" + >ἀληθης + βλαβερος</span>; <span + title="palai baskanos" class="grk">παλαι + βασκανος</span>; <span + title="amnos adikos" class="grk">ἀμνος + ἀδικος</span>; <span + title="antemos" class="grk" + >ἀντεμος</span>; <span + title="gensêrikos" class="grk" + >γενσηρικος</span>; + <span title="euinas" class="grk" + >εὐινας</span>; <span + title="Benediktos" class="grk" + >Βενεδικτος</span>; + <span title="Bonibazios g. papa x. ê. e. e. a." class="grk" + >Βονιβαζιος + γ. παπα ξ. η. ε. ε. + α.</span>, meaning Boniface III. Pope 68th, bishop of bishops the + first! <span title="oulpios" class="grk" + >οὐλπιος</span>; <span + title="dios eimi hê hêras" class="grk">διος + εἰμι ἡ ἡρας</span>; + <span title="hê missa hê papikê" class="grk">ἡ + μισσα ἡ + παπικη</span>; <span title="loutherana" class="grk" + >λουθερανα</span>; + <span title="saxoneios" class="grk" + >σαξονειος</span>; + <span title="Bezza antitheos" class="grk" + >Βεζζα + ἀντιθεος</span> (Beza); + <span title="hê alazoneia biou" class="grk">ἡ + ἀλαζονεια + βιου</span>; <span title="Maometis" class="grk" + >Μαομετις</span>; <span + title="Maometês b." class="grk" + >Μαομετης β.</span>; + <span title="theos eimi epi gaiês" class="grk" + >θεος εἰμι + ἐπι γαιης</span>; <span + title="iapetos" class="grk" + >ἰαπετος</span>; <span + title="papeiskos" class="grk" + >παπεισκος</span>; + <span title="dioklasianos" class="grk"><span class="correction" + title="text reads `dioklalasianos'" + >διοκλασιανος</span></span>; + <span title="cheina" class="grk">χεινα</span>; + <span title="braski" class="grk" + >βρασκι</span>; <span title="Ion Paune" class="grk" + >Ιον Παυνε</span>; <span + title="koupoks" class="grk" + >κουποκς</span>; (cowpox, + <span title="s" class="grk">ς</span> being the <i>vau</i>; + certainly the <!-- Page 229 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page229"></a>[229]</span>vaccinated have the mark of the Beast); + <span title="Bonnepartê" class="grk" + >Βοννεπαρτη</span>; <span + title="N. Bonêparte" class="grk">Ν. + Βονηπαρτε</span>; <span + title="euporia" class="grk" + >εὐπορια</span>; <span + title="paradosis" class="grk" + >παραδοσις</span>; + <span title="to megathêrion" class="grk">το + μεγαθηριον</span>.</p> + + <p>All sects fasten this number on their opponents. It is found in + <i>Martin Lauter</i>, affirmed to be the true way of writing the name, by + carrying numbers through the Roman Alphabet. Some Jews, according to Mr. + Thorn, found it in <span lang="he" class="heb" title="JSHW NTSRJ" ><bdo + dir="rtl">ישו נצרי</bdo></span> + <i>Jesus of Nazareth</i>. I find on inquiry that this satire was actually + put forth by some medieval rabbis, but that it is not idiomatic: it + represents quite fairly "Jesus Nazarene," but the Hebrew wants an article + quite as much as the English wants "the."</p> + + <p>Mr. David Thom's own solution hits hard at all sides: he finds a 666 + for both beasts; <span title="hê phrên" class="grk">ἡ + φρην</span> (the mind) for the first, and <span + title="ekklêsiai sarkikai" class="grk" + >ἐκκλησιαι + σαρκικαι</span> (fleshly + churches) for the second. A solution which embodies all mental philosophy + in one beast and all dogmatic theology in the other, is very tempting: + for in these are the two great supports of Antichrist. It will not, + however, mislead me, who have known the true explanation a long time. The + three sixes indicate that any two of the three subdivisions, Roman, + Greek, and Protestant, are, in corruption of Christianity, six of one and + half a dozen of the other: the distinctions of units, tens, hundreds, are + nothing but the old way (1 Samuel xviii. 7, and Concordance at + <i>ten</i>, <i>hundred</i>, <i>thousand</i>) of symbolizing differences + of number in the subdivisions.</p> + + <p>It may be good to know that, even in speculations on 666, there are + different degrees of unreason. All the diviners, when they get a + colleague or an opponent, at once proceed to reckon him up: but some do + it in play and some in earnest. Mr. David Thom found a young gentleman of + the name St. Claire busy at the Beast number: he forthwith added the + letters in <span title="st klaire" class="grk">στ + κλαιρε</span> and found 666: this was + good fun. But my spiritual tutelary, when he found that he could not make + a beast of me, except by changing <span lang="he" class="heb" title="A" + ><bdo dir="rtl">א</bdo></span> into <span lang="he" class="heb" + title="T" ><bdo dir="rtl">ת</bdo></span>, solemnly referred the + difficulty to the Almighty: this was poor earnest. <!-- Page 230 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page230"></a>[230]</span></p> + + <p>I am glad I did not notice, in time to insert it in the + <i>Athenæum</i>, a very remarkable paradoxer brought forward by Mr. Thom, + his friend Mr. Wapshare<a name="NtA_373" + href="#Nt_373"><sup>[373]</sup></a>: it is a little too strong for the + general public. In the <i>Athenæum</i> they would have seen and read it: + but this book will be avoided by the weaker brethren. It is as + follows:</p> + + <p>"God, the Elohim, was six days in creating all things, and having made + <span class="scac">MAN</span> he entered into his rest. He is no more + seen as a Creator, as Elohim, but as Jehovah, the <i>Lord</i> of the + Sabbath, and the Spirit of life in <span class="sc">Man</span>, which + Spirit worketh <i>sin in the flesh</i>; for the Spirit of Love, in all + flesh, is Lust, or the spirit of a beast, So Rom. vii. And which Spirit + is <i>crucified</i> in the flesh. He then, as Jehovah—as the power + of the Law, <i>in</i> and <i>over</i> all flesh, John viii. + 44—increases that which he has made as the Elohim, and his power + shall last for 6 days, or 6 periods of time, computed at a millennium of + years; and at the end of which six days, he who is the Spirit of all + flesh shall manifest himself as the Holy Spirit of Almighty Love, and of + all truth; and so shall the Church have her Sabbath of Rest—all + contention being at an end. This is, as well as I may now express it, my + solution of the mystery in Hebrew, and in Greek, and also in Latin, IHS. + For he that was lifted up <i>is</i> King of the Jews, and is the Lord of + all Life, working in us, both to will and to do; as is manifest in the + Jews—they slaying him that his blood might be <i>good</i> for the + healing of the nations, of all people and tongues. As the Father of all + <i>natural</i> flesh, he is the Spirit of Lust, as in all <i>beasts</i>; + as the Father, or King of the Jews, he is the Devil, as he himself + witnesseth in John viii., already referred to. As lifted up, he is + transformed into the Spirit of Love, a light to the Gentiles, and the + glory of his people Israel.... For there is but <span + class="scac">ONE</span> God, <span class="scac">ONE</span> Lord, <span + class="scac">ONE</span> Spirit, <span class="scac">ONE</span> body, etc. + and he who was Satan, the Spirit of life in that body, is, in <!-- Page + 231 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page231"></a>[231]</span>Christ + crucified, seen in the Spirit that is in all, and through all and over + all, God blessed for ever."</p> + + <p>All this seems well meant, and Mr. Thom prints it as convinced of its + piety, and "pronounces no opinion." Mystics of all sorts! see what you + may come to, or what may come to you! I have inserted the above for your + good.</p> + + <p>There is nothing in this world so steady as some of the paradoxers. + They are like the spiders who go on spinning after they have web enough + to catch all the flies in the neighborhood, if the flies would but come. + They are like the wild bees who go on making honey which they never can + eat, proving <i>sic vos non vobis</i> to be a physical necessity of their + own contriving. But nobody robs their hives: no, unlike the bees, they go + about offering their ware to any who will take it as a gift. I had just + written the last sentence (Oct. 30, 1866, 8.45 <span + class="scac">A.M.</span>) when in comes the second note received this + morning from Dr. Thorn: at 1.30 <span class="scac">P.M.</span> came in a + third. These arise out of the above account of the Rev. D. Thom, + published Oct. 27: three notes had arrived before.</p> + + <p>For curiosity I give one day's allowance, supposing these to be all: + more may arrive before night.</p> + + <p class="author">29th Oct. 1866.</p> + + <p>"Dear Sir,—</p> + +<p class="cenhead">In re <a href="images/bp2swastika.png"><img src="images/bp2swastika.png" class="middle" style="height:1.5ex" alt="swastika" /></a>.<a name="NtA_374" href="#Nt_374"><sup>[374]</sup></a></p> + + <p>"So that 'Zaphnath Paaneah' may be after all the revealer of the + 'Northern Tau' <span title="Phaneroô" class="grk" + >Φανεροω</span>—To make + manifest, shew, or explain; and this may satisfy the House of Joseph in + Amos 5<sup>c</sup>. While Belteshazzar = 666 may be also satisfactory to + the House of David, and so we may have Zech. 10<sup>c</sup>. + 6<sup>v</sup>. in operation when Ezekiel 37<sup>c</sup>. 16<sup>v</sup>. + has been realised;—but there, what is the use of writing, it is all + Coptic <!-- Page 232 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page232"></a>[232]</span>to a man who has not <a + href="images/bp2swastika.png"><img src="images/bp2swastika.png" + class="middle" style="height:1.5ex" alt="swastika" /></a>, The Thau of + the North, the double Vahu <span lang="he" class="heb" title="WAW" ><bdo + dir="rtl">וָו</bdo></span>. Look at Jeremiah + 3<sup>c</sup>. 8<sup>v</sup>. and then to Psalm 83 for 'hidden ones' + <span lang="he" class="heb" title="TSPWNEY YHWAH" ><bdo + dir="rtl">צְפוּנֶי + יְהוָה</bdo></span>—The Zephoni + Jehovah, and say whether they have any connection with the Zephon + <i>Thau</i>. The Hammer of Thor of Jeremiah 23<sup>c</sup>. + 29<sup>v</sup>. as I gave you in No. 3 of my present edition.</p> + +<p class="cenhead">Yours truly</p> + +<p class="cenhead"><span class="sc">Le Chevalier Au Cin."</span></p> + +<p class="cenhead"><i>By Greek Power.</i></p> + +<table class="nobctr"> +<tr><td align="right">C =</td><td align="right">20</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><span class="scac">H</span> =</td><td align="right">8</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><span class="scac">E</span> =</td><td align="right">5</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><span class="scac">V</span> =</td><td align="right">6</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><span class="scac">A</span> =</td><td align="right">1</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><span class="scac">L</span> =</td><td align="right">30</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><span class="scac">I</span> =</td><td align="right">10</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><span class="scac">E</span> =</td><td align="right">5</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><span class="scac">R</span> =</td><td align="right">100</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><span class="scac">A</span> =</td><td align="right">1</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><span class="scac">U</span> =</td><td align="right">400</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">C =</td><td align="right">20</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><span class="scac">I</span> =</td><td align="right">10</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><span class="scac">N</span> =</td><td align="right">50</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td align="right">——</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td align="right">666</td></tr> +</table> + + <p>There will be thousands of Morgans who will be among the wise and + prudent of Hosea 14<sup>c</sup>. 9<sup>v</sup>. when the Seventh Angel + sounds, let me number <i>that One</i> by Greek, Rev. 17<sup>c</sup>. + 1<sup>v</sup>: <!-- Page 233 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page233"></a>[233]</span></p> + +<table class="nobctr"> +<tr><td align="right">S =</td><td align="right">200</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><span class="scac">E</span> =</td><td align="right">5</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">× <span class="scac">V</span> =</td><td align="right">6</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><span class="scac">E</span> =</td><td align="right">5</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><span class="scac">N</span> =</td><td align="right">50</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><span class="scac">T</span> =</td><td align="right">300</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><span class="scac">H</span> =</td><td align="right">8</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">A =</td><td align="right">1</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><span class="scac">N</span> =</td><td align="right">50</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">× <span class="scac">G</span> =</td><td align="right">6</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><span class="scac">E</span> =</td><td align="right">5</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><span class="scac">L</span> =</td><td align="right">30</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td align="right">——</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td align="right">666</td></tr> +</table> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p>V and G = 12 ought to be equal to one Gammadion or <sup>3</sup><a + href="images/bp2swastika.png"><img src="images/bp2swastika.png" + class="middle" style="height:1.5ex" alt="swastika" /></a>3 × 4 = 12, what + say you?</p> + +</blockquote> + + <p class="author">London, October 29, 1866.</p> + + <p>"Dear Sir,—</p> + +<p class="cenhead">In re <a href="images/bp2swastika.png"><img src="images/bp2swastika.png" class="middle" style="height:1.5ex" alt="swastika" /></a> versus <a href="images/bp2maltese.png"><img src="images/bp2maltese.png" class="middle" style="height:1.5ex" alt="maltese cross" /></a>.</p> + + <p>However pretentious the X or <a href="images/bp2maltese.png"><img + src="images/bp2maltese.png" class="middle" style="height:1.5ex" + alt="maltese cross" /></a> may be, and it is peculiarly so just now in + this land; after all it is only made of two Roman V's—and so is + only = <a href="images/bp2twovees.png"><img src="images/bp2twovees.png" + class="middle" style="height:2ex" alt="two Vs" /></a>(10)—and + therefore is not the perfect number 12 of Revel<sup>n</sup>, but is the + mark of the goddess <i>Decima</i>!</p> + +<p class="cenhead">Yours truly</p> + +<p class="cenhead"><span class="sc">Wm. Thorn</span>."</p> + + <p>Had the <i>one</i> who sent forth a pastoral (Romish) the other day, + remained amongst the faithful expectants, see how he would have numbered, + whereas he sold himself for the privilege of signing</p> + +<p class="cenhead"><a href="images/bp2maltese.png"><img src="images/bp2maltese.png" class="middle" style="height:1.5ex" alt="maltese cross" /></a> <span class="sc">Henry E. Manning</span>.<a name="NtA_375" href="#Nt_375"><sup>[375]</sup></a></p> + + <p><span class="correction" title="Here were printed two paragraphs `Shilling versus Franc.' and `Teutonic Long Hundred 120 versus 100 or the Decimal question.' These appear to have been set in error, there is no applicable context." + >Transcriber's note.</span></p> + +<p><!-- Page 234 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page234"></a>[234]</span></p> + +<table class="nobctr"> +<tr><td align="right"><i>By English Key.</i> H =</td><td align="right">8</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><span class="scac">E</span> =</td><td align="right">5</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><span class="scac">N</span> =</td><td align="right">40</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><span class="scac">R</span> =</td><td align="right">80</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><span class="scac">Y</span> =</td><td align="right">140</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">E =</td><td align="right">5</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><span class="scac">D</span> =</td><td align="right">4</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><span class="scac">W</span> =</td><td align="right">120</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><span class="scac">A</span> =</td><td align="right">1</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><span class="scac">R</span> =</td><td align="right">80</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><span class="scac">D</span> =</td><td align="right">4</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">M =</td><td align="right">30</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><span class="scac">A</span> =</td><td align="right">1</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><span class="scac">N</span> =</td><td align="right">40</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><span class="scac">N</span> =</td><td align="right">40</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><span class="scac">I</span> =</td><td align="right">9</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><span class="scac">N</span> =</td><td align="right">40</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><span class="scac">G</span> =</td><td align="right">7</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="images/bp2swastika.png"><img src="images/bp2swastika.png" class="middle" style="height:1.5ex" alt="swastika" /></a> =</td><td align="right">12</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td align="right">——</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td align="right">666</td></tr> +</table> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p>Can you now understand the difference between <a + href="images/bp2swastika.png"><img src="images/bp2swastika.png" + class="middle" style="height:1.5ex" alt="swastika" /></a> and <a + href="images/bp2maltese.png"><img src="images/bp2maltese.png" + class="middle" style="height:1.5ex" alt="maltese cross" /></a> or X? Look + to my challenge.</p> + +</blockquote> + + <p>Cutting from newspaper:—</p> + + <p class="author">ITALY.</p> + + <p class="author">Rome (<i>via</i> Marseilles), October</p> + + <p>Mr. Gladstone has paid a visit to the Pope.</p> + +<table class="nobctr"> +<tr><td align="right"><i>By Greek Power.</i> G =</td><td align="right">6</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><span class="scac">L</span> =</td><td align="right">30</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><span class="scac">A</span> =</td><td align="right">1</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><span class="scac">D</span> =</td><td align="right">4</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><span class="scac">S</span> =</td><td align="right">200</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><span class="scac">T</span> =</td><td align="right">300</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><span class="scac">O</span> =</td><td align="right">70</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><span class="scac">N</span> =</td><td align="right">50</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><span class="scac">E</span> =</td><td align="right">5</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td align="right">——</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td align="right">666</td></tr> +</table> + + <p>And what then <a href="images/bp2swastika.png"><img + src="images/bp2swastika.png" class="middle" style="height:1.5ex" + alt="swastika" /></a>?</p> + +<p><!-- Page 235 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page235"></a>[235]</span></p> + + <p>In other letters <i>John Stuart Mill</i> is 666 if the <i>a</i> be + left out; <i>Chasuble</i> is perfect. <i>John Brighte</i><a + name="NtA_376" href="#Nt_376"><sup>[376]</sup></a> is a <i>fait + accompli</i>; and I am asked whether intellect can account for the final + <i>e</i>. Very easily: this Beast is not the M. P., but another person + who spells his name differently. But if John Sturt Mill and John Brighte + choose so to write themselves, they may.</p> + + <p>A curious collection; a mystical phantasmagoria! There are those who + will try to find meaning: there are those who will try to find + purpose.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="hg3">"And some they said—What are you at?</p> + <p>And some—What are you arter?"</p> + </div> + </div> + <p>My account of Mr. Thom and his 666 appeared on October 27: and on the + 29th I received from the editor a copy of Mr. Thom's sermons published in + 1863 (he died Feb. 27, 1862) with best wishes for my health and + happiness. The editor does not name himself in the book; but he signed + his name in my copy: and may my circumference never be more than + 3⅛ of my diameter if the signature, name and writing both, were + not that of my <a href="images/bp2circlesquare.png"><img + src="images/bp2circlesquare.png" class="middle" style="height:1.5ex" + alt="circle square" /></a> ing friend Mr. James Smith! And so I have come + in contact with him on 666 as well as on <span class="grk">π</span>! I + should have nothing left to live for, had I not happened to hear that he + has a perpetual motion on hand. I returned thanks and kind regards: and + Miss Miggs's words—"Here's forgivenesses of injuries! here's + amicablenesses!"—rang in my ears. But I was made slightly + uncomfortable: how could the war go on after this armistice? Could I ever + make it understood that the truce only extended to the double Vahu and + things thereunto relating? It was once held by seafaring men that there + was no peace with Spaniards beyond the line: I was determined that there + must be no concord with J. S. inside the circle; that this must be a + special exception, like Father Huddleston <!-- Page 236 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page236"></a>[236]</span>and old Grouse in the + gun-room. I was not long in anxiety; twenty-four hours after the book of + sermons there came a copy of the threatened exposure—<i>The British + Association in Jeopardy, and Professor De Morgan in the Pillory without + hope of escape</i>. By James Smith, Esq. London and Liverpool, 8vo., 1866 + (pp. 94). This exposure consists of reprints from the <i>Athenæum</i> and + <i>Correspondent</i>: of things new there is but one. In a short preface + Mr. J. S. particularly recommends to "<i>read to the end</i>." At the end + is an appendix of two pages, in type as large as the work; a very + prominent peroration. It is an article from the <i>Athenæum</i>, left out + of its place. In the last sentence Mr. J. Smith, who had asked whether + his character as an honest Geometer and Mathematician was not at stake, + is warned against the <i>fallacia plurium interrogationum</i>.<a + name="NtA_377" href="#Nt_377"><sup>[377]</sup></a> He is told that there + is not a more honest what's-his-name in the world: but that as to the + counter which he calls his character as a mathematician, he is assured + that it has been staked years ago, and lost. And thus truth has the last + word. There is no occasion to say much about reprints. One of them is a + letter [that given above] of August 25, 1865, written by Mr. J. S. to the + <i>Correspondent</i>. It is one of his quadratures; and the joke is that + I am made to be the writer: it appears as what Mr. J. S. hopes I shall + have the sense to write in the <i>Athenæum</i> and forestall him. When I + saw myself thus quoted—yes! quoted! double commas, first + person—I felt as I suppose did Wm. Wilberforce<a name="NtA_378" + href="#Nt_378"><sup>[378]</sup></a> when he set eyes on the affectionate + benediction of the potato which waggish comrades had imposed on a raw + Irish reporter as part of his speech. I felt as Martin<a name="NtA_379" + href="#Nt_379"><sup>[379]</sup></a> of <!-- Page 237 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page237"></a>[237]</span>Galway—kind + friend of the poor dumb creatures!—when he was told that the + newspapers had put him in Italics. "I appeal to you, Mr. Speaker! I + appeal to the House! Did I speak in Italics? Do I ever speak in Italics?" + I appeal to editor and readers, whether I ever squared the circle until a + week or two ago, when I gave my charitable mode of reconciling the + discrepant cyclometers.</p> + + <p>The absurdity of the imitation of symbolic reasoning is so lusciously + rich, that I shall insert it when I make up my final book. Somebody + mastered Spanish merely to read Don Quixote: it would be worth while to + learn a little algebra merely to enjoy this <i>a b</i>-istical attack on + the windmills. The principle is, Prove something in as roundabout a way + as possible, mention the circle once or twice irrelevantly in the course + of your proof, and then make an act of Q. E. D. in words at length. The + following is hardly caricature:—</p> + + <p>To prove that 2 and 2 make 5. Let <i>a</i> = 2, <i>b</i> = 5: let + <i>c</i> = 658, the number of the House: let <i>d</i> = 666, the number + of the Beast. Then of necessity <i>d</i> = <i>a</i> + <i>b</i> + <i>c</i> + + 1; so that 1 is a harmonious and logical quantification of the number + of which we are to take care. Now, <i>b</i>, the middle of our digital + system, is, by mathematical and geometrical combination, a mean between 5 + + 1 and 2 + 2. Let 1 be removed to be taken care of, a thing no real + mathematician can refuse without serious injury to his mathematical and + geometrical reputation. It follows of necessity that 2 + 2 = 5, <i>quod + erat demonstrumhorrendum</i>. If Simpkin & Marshall have not, after + my notice, to account for a gross of copies more than would have gone off + without me, the world is not worthy of its James Smith!</p> + + <p>The only fault of the above is, that there is more <!-- Page 238 + --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page238"></a>[238]</span>connection + than in the process of Faber Cyclometricus: so much, in fact, that the + blunders are visible. The utter irrelevance of premises to conclusion + cannot be exhibited with the requisite obscurity by any one who is able + to follow reasoning: it is high art displayed in a certain toning down of + the <i>ægri somnia</i>, which brings them to a certain look of reproach + to reasoning which I can only burlesque. Mr. J. S. produces something + which resembles argument much as a chimpanzee in dolor, because balked of + his dinner, resembles a thinking man at his studies. My humble attempt at + imitation of him is more like a monkey hanging by his tail from a tree + and trying to crack a cocoa-nut by his chatter.</p> + + <p>I could forgive Mr. J. S. anything, properly headed. I would allow him + to prove—<i>for himself</i>—that the Quadrature of the Circle + is the child of a private marriage between the Bull Unigenitus and the + Pragmatic Sanction, claiming tithe of onions for repeal of the Mortmain + Act, before the Bishops in Committee under the kitchen table: his mode of + imitating reason would do this with ease. But when he puts his imitation + into my mouth, to make me what <i>he</i> calls a "real mathematician," my + soul rises in epigram against him. I say with the doll's + dressmaker—such a job makes me feel like a puppet's tailor + myself—"He ought to have a little pepper? just a few grains? I + think the young man's tricks and manners make a claim upon his friends + for a little pepper?" De Fauré<a name="NtA_380" + href="#Nt_380"><sup>[380]</sup></a> and Joseph Scaliger<a name="NtA_381" + href="#Nt_381"><sup>[381]</sup></a> come into my head: my reader may look + back for them.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="hg3">"Three circlesquarers to the manner born,</p> + <p>Switzerland, France, and England did adorn,</p> + <p>De Fauré in equations did surpass,</p> + <p>Joseph at contradictions was an ass.</p> + <p>Groaned Folly, I'm used up! What shall I do</p> + <p>To make James Smith? Grinned Momus, <i>Join the two</i>!"</p> + </div> + </div> +<p><!-- Page 239 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page239"></a>[239]</span></p> + + <p>As to my <i>locus pœnitentiæ</i>,<a name="NtA_382" + href="#Nt_382"><sup>[382]</sup></a> the reader who is fit to enjoy the + letter I have already alluded to will see that I have a soft and easy + position; that the thing is really a <i>pillowry</i>; and that I am, like + Perrette's pot of milk,</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="hg3">"Bien posé sur un coussinet."<a name="NtA_383" href="#Nt_383"><sup>[383]</sup></a></p> + </div> + </div> + <p>Joanna Southcott<a name="NtA_384" href="#Nt_384"><sup>[384]</sup></a> + never had a follower who believed in her with more humble piety than Mr. + James Smith believes in himself. After all that has happened to him, he + asks me with high confidence to "favor the writer with a proof" that I + still continue of opinion that "the best of the argument is in my jokes, + and the best of the joke is in his arguments." I will not so favor him. + At the very outset I told him in plain English that he has the whiphand + of all the reasoners in the world, and in plain French that <i>il a perdu + le droit d'être frappé de l'évidence</i><a name="NtA_385" + href="#Nt_385"><sup>[385]</sup></a>; I might have said <i>pendu</i>.<a + name="NtA_386" href="#Nt_386"><sup>[386]</sup></a> To which I now add, in + plain Latin, <i>Sapienti pauca, indocto nihil</i>.<a name="NtA_387" + href="#Nt_387"><sup>[387]</sup></a> The law of Chancery says that he who + will have equity must do equity: the law of reasoning says that he who + will have proof must see proof.</p> + + <p>The introduction of things quite irrelevant, by way of reproach, is an + argument in universal request: and it often happens that the argument so + produced really tells against the producer. So common is it that we + forget how boyish it is; but we are strikingly reminded when it actually + comes from a boy. In a certain police court, certain small boys were + arraigned for conspiring to hoot an obnoxious individual on his way from + one of their school exhibitions. This proceeding was necessary, because + there seemed to be a permanent conspiracy to annoy the gentleman; and the + <!-- Page 240 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page240"></a>[240]</span>masters did not feel able to interfere in + what took place outside the school. So the boys were arraigned; and their + friends, as silly in their way as themselves, allowed one of them to make + the defence, instead of employing counsel; and did not even give them any + useful hints. The defence was as follows; and any one who does not see + how richly it sets off the defences of bigger boys in bigger matters has + much to learn. The innocent conviction that there was answer in the + latter part is delightful. Of course fine and recognizance followed.</p> + + <p>A—— said the boys had received great provocation from + B——. He was constantly threatening them with a horsewhip + which he carried in his hand [the boy did not say what had passed to + induce him to take such a weapon], and he had repeatedly insulted the + master, which the boys could not stand. B—— had in his own + drawing-room told him (A——) that he had drawn his sword + against the master and thrown away the scabbard. B—— knew + well that if he came to the college he would catch it, and then he went + off through a side door—which was no sign of pluck; and then he + brought Mrs. B—— with him, thinking that her presence would + protect him.</p> + + <p>My readers may expect a word on Mr. Thom's sermons, after my account + of his queer doings about 666. He is evidently an honest and devout man, + much wanting in discrimination. He has a sermon about private + <i>judgment</i>, in which he halts between the logical and legal meanings + of the word. He loathes those who apply their private judgment to the + word of God: here he means those who decide what it <i>ought to be</i>. + He seems in other places aware that the theological phrase means taking + right to determine what it <i>is</i>. He uses his own private judgment + very freely, and is strong in the conclusion that others ought not to use + theirs except as he tells them how; he leaves all the rest of mankind + free to think with him. In this he is not original: his fame must rest on + his senary tripod. <!-- Page 241 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page241"></a>[241]</span></p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">JAMES SMITH ONCE MORE.</p> + + <p>Mr. James Smith's procedures are not caricature of reasoning; they are + caricature of blundering. The old way of proving that 2 = 1 is solemn + earnest compared with his demonstrations. As follows:<a name="NtA_388" + href="#Nt_388"><sup>[388]</sup></a></p> + +<table class="nobctr"> +<tr><td>Let</td><td align="center"><i>x</i> = 1</td></tr> +<tr><td>Then</td><td align="center"><i>x</i><sup>2</sup> = <i>x</i></td></tr> +<tr><td>And</td><td align="center"><i>x</i><sup>2</sup> - 1 = <i>x</i> - 1</td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="3">Divide both sides by <i>x</i> - 1; then</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td colspan="2"><i>x</i> + 1 = 1; but <i>x</i> = 1, whence 2 = 1.</td></tr> +</table> + + <p>When a man is regularly snubbed, bullied, blown up, walked into, and + put down, there is usually some reaction in his favor, a kind of + deostracism, which cannot bear to hear him always called the blunderer. I + hope it will be so in this case. There is nothing I more desire than to + see <i>sects</i> of paradoxers. There are fully five thousand adults in + England who ought to be the followers of some one false quadrature. And I + have most hope of 3⅛, because I think Mr. James Smith better + fitted to be the leader of an organized infatuation than any one I know + of. He wants no pity, and will get none. He has energy, means, good + humor, strong conviction, character, and popularity in his own circle. + And, most indispensable point of all, he sticks at nothing;</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="hg3">"In cœlum jusseris, ibit."<a name="NtA_389" href="#Nt_389"><sup>[389]</sup></a></p> + </div> + </div> + <p>When my instructor found I did not print an acceptance of what I have + quoted, he addressed me as follows (<i>Corr.</i>, Sept 23):—</p> + + <p>"In this life, however, we must do our duty, and, when <!-- Page 242 + --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page242"></a>[242]</span>necessary, use + the rod, not in a spirit of revenge, but for the benefit of the culprit + and the good of society. Now, Sir, the opportunity has been thrown in + your way of slipping out of the pillory without risk of serious injury; + but, like an obstinate urchin, you have chosen to quarrel with your + opportunity and remain there, and thus you compel me to deal with you as + schoolmasters used to do with stupid boys in bygone days—that is to + say, you force me to the use of the critic's rod, compel me to put you + where little Jack Horner sat, and, as a warning to other naughty boys, to + ornament you with a dunce's cap. The task I set you was a very simple + one, as I shall make manifest at the proper time."</p> + + <p>In one or more places, as well as this, Mr. Smith shows that he does + not know the legend of little Jack Horner, whom he imagines to be put in + the corner as a bad boy. This is curious; for there had been many + allusions to the story in the journal he was writing in, and the + Christmas pie had become altered into the Seaforth <span + class="grk">π</span>.</p> + + <p>Mr. Smith is satisfied at last that—what between argument and + punishment he has convinced me. He says (<i>Corr.</i>, Jan. 27, 1866): "I + tell him without hesitation that he knows the true ratio of diameter to + circumference as well as I do, and if he be wise he will admit it." I + should hope I do, and better; but there is no occasion to admit what + everybody knows.</p> + + <p>I have often wished that we could have a slight glimpse of the + reception which was given to some of the old cyclometers: but we have + nothing, except the grave disapprobation of historians. I am resolved to + give the New Zealander a chance of knowing a little more than this about + one of them at least; and, by the fortunate entrance into life of the + <i>Correspondent</i>, I am able to do it. I omit sober mathematical + answers, of which there were several. The following letter is grave + earnest:</p> + + <p>"Sir,—I have watched Mr. James Smith's writings on this subject + from the first, and I did hope that, as the more <!-- Page 243 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page243"></a>[243]</span>he departs from truth + the more easy it must be to refute him, [this by no means always true] + some of your correspondents would by this time have done so. I own that I + am unable to detect the fallacy of his argument; and I am quite certain + that '<span class="grk">Π</span>' is wrong, in No. 23, where he + declares that Mr. Smith is 'ignorant of the very elements of mathematical + truth.' I have observed an immense amount of geometrical reasoning on his + part, and I cannot see that it is either fair or honest to deny this, + which may be regarded as the 'elements' of mathematical truth. Would it + not be better for '<span class="grk">Π</span>' to answer Mr. Smith, to + refute his arguments, to point out their fallacies, and to save learners + from error, than to plunge into gross insult and unmanly abuse? Would it + not be well, also, that Professor De Morgan should favour us with a + little reasoning?</p> + + <p>"I have hitherto seen no attempt to overthrow Mr. Smith's arguments; I + trust that this will not continue, since the subject is one of immense + importance to science in general, especially to nautical science, and all + that thereto belongs.</p> + +<p class="cenhead">Yours, etc.,</p> + +<p class="cenhead"><span class="sc">A Captain, R.N.</span>"</p> + + <p>On looking at this homœopathic treatment of the 3⅛ + quadrature—remember, homœopathic, <i>similia similibus</i>,<a + name="NtA_390" href="#Nt_390"><sup>[390]</sup></a> not + infinitesimal—and at the imputation thrown upon it, I asked myself, + what <i>is</i> vulgarity? No two agree, except in this, that every one + sees vulgarity in what is directed against himself. Mark the world, and + see if anything be so common as the description of the other side's + remarks as "vulgar attempt at wit." "I suppose you think that very + witty:" the answer is "No my friend! your remark shows that you feel it + as wit, so that the purpose is answered; I keep my razor for something + else than cutting blocks;" I am inclined to think that "out of place" is + a necessary attribute of true vulgarity. And further, it is to be noticed + that nothing is <!-- Page 244 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page244"></a>[244]</span>unproducible—<i>salvo pudore</i><a + name="NtA_391" href="#Nt_391"><sup>[391]</sup></a>—which has + classical authority, modern or ancient, in its favor. "He is a vulgar + fellow; I asked him what he was upon, and what do you think he answered, + My legs!"—"Well, and has he not justification? what do you find in + Terence? <i>Quid agitur? Statur.</i>"<a name="NtA_392" + href="#Nt_392"><sup>[392]</sup></a> I do not even blench from my + principle where I find that it brings what is called "taking a sight" + within permissible forms of expression: Rabelais not only establishes its + antiquity, but makes it English. Our old translation<a name="NtA_393" + href="#Nt_393"><sup>[393]</sup></a> has it thus (book 2. ch. 19):</p> + + <p>"Then made the Englishman this sign. His left hand, all open, he + lifted up into the air, then instantly shut into his fist the four + fingers thereof; and his thumb extended at length he placed upon the tip + of his nose. Presently after he lifted up his right hand all open and + abased and bent it downwards, putting the thumb thereof in the very place + where the little finger of the left hand did close in the fist, and the + four right hand fingers he softly moved in the air. Then contrarily he + did with the right hand what he had done with the left, and with the left + what he had done with the right."</p> + + <p>An impressive sight! The making of a fist of the left hand is a great + addition of power, and should be followed in modern practice. The gentle + sullation of the front fingers, with the clenched fist behind them, says + as plainly as possible, Put <i>suaviter in modo</i> in the van, but don't + forget to have <i>fortiter in re</i><a name="NtA_394" + href="#Nt_394"><sup>[394]</sup></a> in the rear.</p> + +<p><!-- Page 245 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page245"></a>[245]</span></p> + + <p>My Budget was announced (March 23, 1867) for completion on the 30th. + Mr. James Smith wrote five letters, one before the completion, four after + it; the five contained 68 pages of quarto letter paper. Mr. J. S. had + picked up a clerical correspondent, with whom he was in the heat of + battle.</p> + + <p>"<i>March 27.</i>—Dear Sir. Very truly yours. Duty; for my own + sake; just time left to retrieve my errors; sends copy of letter to + clergyman; new proof never before thought of; merest tyro would laugh if + I were to stifle it, whether by rhodomontade or silent contempt; keep + your temper. I shall be convinced; and if world be right in supposing me + incapable of a foul act, I shall proclaim glorious discovery in the + <i>Athenæum</i>.</p> + + <p>"<i>April 15.</i>—Sir,... My dear Sir, Your sincere tutelary. + Copy of another letter to clergyman; discovery tested by logarithms; + reasons such as none but a knave or a sinner can resist. Let me advise + you to take counsel before it is too late! Keep your temper. Let not your + <i>pride</i> get the better of your discretion! Screw up your courage, my + good friend, and <i>resolve</i> to show the world that you are an + <i>honest</i> man....</p> + + <p>"<i>April 20.</i>—Sir ... Your very sincere and favorite + tutelary. I have long played the <i>cur</i>, snapping and snarling...; + suddenly lost my power, and became <i>half-starved</i> dog without + <i>spirit</i> to bark; try if air cannot restore me; calls himself the + <i>thistle</i> in allusion to my other tutelary, the <i>thorn</i>; Would + I prefer his next work to be, 'A whip for the Mathematical Cur, Prof. De + M.' In some previous letter which I have mislaid, he told me his next + would be 'a muzzle for the Mathematical Bull dog, Prof. De M.'</p> + + <p>"<i>April 23.</i>—Sir. Very sincerely yours. More letters to + clergyman; you may as well knock your head against a stone wall to + improve your intellect as attempt to controvert my proofs. [I thought so + too; and tried neither]. <!-- Page 246 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page246"></a>[246]</span></p> + + <p>"<i>May 6.</i>—My dear Sir. Very sincerely yours. All to myself, + and nothing to note.</p> + + <p>"<i>July 2.</i>—No more in this interval. All that precedes is a + desperate attempt to induce me to continue my descriptions: notoriety at + any price."</p> + + <p>I dare say the matter is finished: the record of so marked an instance + of self-delusion will be useful.</p> + + <p>I append to the foregoing a letter from Dr. Whewell<a name="NtA_395" + href="#Nt_395"><sup>[395]</sup></a> to Mr. James Smith. The Master of + Trinity was conspicuous as a rough customer, an intellectual bully, an + overbearing disputant: the character was as well established as that of + Sam Johnson. But there was a marked difference. It was said of Johnson + that if his pistol missed fire, he would knock you down with the butt end + of it: but Whewell, in like case, always acknowledged the miss, and + loaded again or not, as the case might be. He reminded me of Dennis + Brulgruddery, who says to Dan, Pacify me with a good reason, and you'll + find me a dutiful master. I knew him from the time when he was my teacher + at Cambridge, more than forty years. As a teacher, he was anything but + dictatorial, and he was perfectly accessible to proposal of objections. + He came in contact with me in his slashing way twice in our after joint + lives, and on both occasions he acknowledged himself overcome, by that + change of manner, and apologetic mode of continuance, which I had seen + him employ towards others under like circumstances.</p> + + <p>I had expressed my wish to have a <i>thermometer of probability</i>, + with impossibility at one end, as 2 and 2 make 5, and necessity at the + other, as 2 and 2 make 4, and a graduated rise of examples between them. + Down came a blow: "What! put necessary and contingent propositions + together! It's absurd!" I pointed out that the two kinds of necessity are + but such extremes of probability as 0 and ∞ are of number, and + illustrated by an urn with 1 white and <i>n</i> black <!-- Page 247 + --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page247"></a>[247]</span>balls, + <i>n</i> increasing without limit. It was frankly seen, and the point + yielded; a large company was present.</p> + + <p>Again, in a large party, after dinner, and politics being the subject, + I was proceeding, in discussion with Mr. Whewell, with "I + think"...—"Ugh! <i>you</i> think!" was the answer. I repeated my + phrase, and gave as a reason the words which Lord Grey<a name="NtA_396" + href="#Nt_396"><sup>[396]</sup></a> had used in the House of Lords the + night before (the celebrated advice to the Bishops to set their houses in + order). He had not heard of this, and his manner changed in an instant: + he was the rational discutient all the rest of the evening, having + previously been nothing but a disputant with all the distinctions + strongly marked.</p> + + <p>I have said that Whewell was gentle with his pupils; it was the same + with all who wanted teaching: it was only on an armed enemy that he drew + his weapon. The letter which he wrote to Mr. J. Smith is an instance: and + as it applies with perfect fidelity to the efforts of unreasoning above + described, I give it here. Mr. James Smith is skilfully exposed, and felt + it; as is proved by "putting the writer in the stocks."</p> + + <p class="author">"The Lodge, Cambridge, September 14th, 1862.</p> + + <p>"Sir,—I have received your explanation of your proposition that + the circumference of the circle is to its diameter as 25 to 8. I am + afraid I shall disappoint you by saying that I see no force in your + proof: and I should hope that you will see that there is no force in it + if you consider this: In the whole course of the proof, though the word + cycle occurs, there is no property of the circle employed. You may do + this: you may put the word <i>hexagon</i> or <i>dodecagon</i>, or any + other word describing a polygon in the place of <i>Circle</i> in your + proof, and the proof would be just as good as before. Does not this + satisfy you that you cannot have proved a property of that special + figure—a circle? <!-- Page 248 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page248"></a>[248]</span></p> + + <p>"Or you may do this: calculate the side of a polygon of 24 sides + inscribed in a circle. I think you are a Mathematician enough to do this. + You will find that if the radius of the circle be one, the side of this + polygon is .264 etc. Now, the arc which this side subtends is according + to your proposition 3.125/12 = .2604, and therefore the chord is greater + than its arc, which you will allow is impossible.</p> + + <p>"I shall be glad if these arguments satisfy you, and</p> + +<p class="cenhead">"I am, Sir, your obedient Servant,</p> + +<p class="cenhead">"<span class="sc">W. Whewell</span>."</p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">AN M.P.'S ARITHMETIC.</p> + + <p>In the debate of May, 1866, on Electoral Qualifications, a question + arose about arithmetical capability. Mr. Gladstone asked how many members + of the House could divide 1330<i>l.</i> 7<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i> by + 2<i>l.</i> 13<i>s.</i> 8<i>d.</i> Six hundred and fifty-eight, answered + one member; the thing cannot be done, answered another. There is an old + paradox to which this relates: it arises out of the ignorance of the + distinction between abstract and concrete arithmetic. <i>Magnitude</i> + may be divided by <i>magnitude</i>; and the answer is number: how often + does 12<i>d.</i> contain 4<i>d.</i>; answer three times. <i>Magnitude</i> + may be divided by <i>number</i>, and the answer is <i>magnitude</i>: + 12<i>d.</i> is divided in four equal parts, what is each part? Answer + three <i>pence</i>. The honorable objector, whose name I suppress, + trusting that he has mended his ways, gave the following utterance:</p> + + <p>"With regard to the division sum, it was quite possible to divide by a + sum, but not by money. How could any one divide money by 2<i>l.</i> + 16<i>s.</i> 8<i>d.</i>? (Laughter.) The question might be asked, 'How + many times 2<i>s.</i> will go into 1<i>l.</i>?' but that was not dividing + by money; it was simply dividing 20 by 2. He might be asked, 'How many + times will 6<i>s.</i> 8<i>d.</i> go into a pound?' but it was only + required to divide 240 by 80. If the right hon. gentleman were to ask the + hon. <!-- Page 249 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page249"></a>[249]</span>member for Brighton (Professor Fawcett),<a + name="NtA_397" href="#Nt_397"><sup>[397]</sup></a> or any other + authority, he would receive the same answer—viz., that it was + possible to divide by a sum, but not by money. (Hear.)"</p> + + <p>I shall leave all comment for the second edition, if I publish one.<a + name="NtA_398" href="#Nt_398"><sup>[398]</sup></a> I shall be sure to + have something to laugh at. Anything said from a respectable quarter, or + supposed to be said, is sure to find defenders. Sam Johnson, a sound + arithmetician, comparing himself, and what he alone had done in three + years, with forty French Academicians and their forty years, said it + proved that an Englishman is to a Frenchman as 40 × 40 to 3, or as 1600 + to 3. Boswell, who was no great hand at arithmetic, made him say that an + Englishman is to a Frenchman as 3 to 1600. When I pointed this out, the + supposed Johnson was defended through thick and thin in <i>Notes and + Queries</i>.</p> + + <p>I am now curious to see whether the following will find a palliator. + It is from "Tristram Shandy," book V. chapter 3. There are two curious + idioms, "for for" and "half in half"; but these have nothing to do with + my point:</p> + + <p>"A blessing which tied up my father's tongue, and a misfortune which + set it loose with a good grace, were pretty equal: sometimes, indeed, the + misfortune was the better of the two; for, for instance, where the + pleasure of harangue was as <i>ten</i>, and the pain of the misfortune + but as <i>five</i>, my father gained half in half; and consequently was + as well again off as if it had never befallen him."</p> + + <p>This is a jolly confusion of ideas; and wants nothing but a defender + to make it perfect. A person who invests five <!-- Page 250 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page250"></a>[250]</span>with a return of ten, + and one who loses five with one hand and gains ten with the other, both + leave off five richer than they began, no doubt. The first gains "half in + half," more properly "half <i>on</i> half," that is, of the return, 10, + the second 5 is gain upon the first 5 invested. "Half <i>in</i> half" is + a queer way of saying cent. per cent. If the 5<i>l.</i> invested be all + the man had in the world, he comes out, after the gain, twice as well off + as he began, with reference to his whole fortune. But it is very odd to + say that balance of 5<i>l.</i> gain is <i>twice</i> as good as if nothing + had befallen, either loss or gain. A mathematician thinks 5 an infinite + number of times as great as 0. The whole confusion is not so apparent + when money is in question: for money is money whether gained or lost. But + though pleasure and pain stand to one another in the same algebraical + relation as money gained and lost, yet there is more than algebra can + take account of in the difference.</p> + + <p>Next, Ri. Milward<a name="NtA_399" href="#Nt_399"><sup>[399]</sup></a> + (Richard, no doubt, but it cannot be proved) who published Selden's<a + name="NtA_400" href="#Nt_400"><sup>[400]</sup></a> Table Talk, which he + had collected while serving as amanuensis, makes Selden say, "A subsidy + was counted the fifth part of a man's estate; and so fifty subsidies is + five and forty times more than a man is worth." For <i>times</i> read + <i>subsidies</i>, which seems part of the confusion, and there remains + the making all the subsidies equal to the first, though the whole of + which they are to be the fifths is perpetually diminished.</p> + + <p>Thirdly, there is the confusion of the great misomath <!-- Page 251 + --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page251"></a>[251]</span>of our own + day, who discovered two quantities which he avers to be identically the + same, but the greater the one the less the other. He had a truth in his + mind, which his notions of quantity were inadequate to clothe in + language. This erroneous phraseology has not found a defender; and I am + almost inclined to say, with Falstaff, The poor abuses of the time want + countenance.</p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">ERRONEOUS ARITHMETICAL NOTIONS.</p> + + <p>"Shallow numerists," as Cocker<a name="NtA_401" + href="#Nt_401"><sup>[401]</sup></a> is made to call them, have long been + at work upon the question how to <i>multiply</i> money by money. It is, I + have observed, a very common way of amusing the tedium of a sea voyage: I + have had more than one bet referred to me. Because an oblong of five + inches by four inches contains 5 × 4 or 20 <i>square</i> inches, people + say that five inches multiplied by four inches <i>is</i> twenty + <i>square</i> inches: and, thinking that they have multiplied length by + length, they stare when they are told that money cannot be multiplied by + money. One of my betters made it an argument for the thing being + impossible, that there is no <i>square money</i>: what could I do but + suggest that postage-stamps should be made legal tender. Multiplication + must be <i>repetition</i>: the repeating process must be indicated by + <i>number</i> of times. I once had difficulty in persuading another of my + betters that if you repeat five shillings as often as there are hairs in + a horse's tail, you do not <i>multiply five shillings by a + horsetail</i>.<a name="NtA_402" href="#Nt_402"><sup>[402]</sup></a></p> + + <p>I am very sorry to say that these wrong notions have found + support—I think they do so no longer—in the University of + Cambridge. In 1856 or 1857, an examiner was displaced by a vote of the + Senate. The pretext was that he was too severe an examiner: but it was + well known that <!-- Page 252 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page252"></a>[252]</span>great dissatisfaction had been expressed, + far and wide through the Colleges, at an absurd question which he had + given. He actually proposed such a fraction as</p> + +<table class="math"><tr><td> +6<i>s.</i> 3<i>d.</i><br /><img src="images/$line.png" style="width:100%; height:1px; line-height:1px;" alt="/" /><br />17<i>s.</i> 4<i>d.</i></td><td>. +</td></tr></table> + + <p>As common sense gained a hearing very soon, there is no occasion to + say more. In 1858, it was proposed at a college examination, to divide + 22557 days, 20 hours, 20 minutes, 48 seconds, by 57 minutes, 12 seconds, + and also to explain the fraction</p> + +<table class="math"><tr><td> +32<i>l.</i> 18<i>s.</i> 8<i>d.</i><br /><img src="images/$line.png" style="width:100%; height:1px; line-height:1px;" alt="/" /><br />62<i>l.</i> 12<i>s.</i> 9<i>d.</i></td><td>. +</td></tr></table> + + <p>All paradoxy, in matters of demonstration, arises out of muddle about + first principles. Who can say how much of it is to be laid at the door of + the University of Cambridge, for not taking care of the elements of + arithmetical thought?</p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">ON LITERARY BARGAINS.</p> + + <p>The phenomena of the two ends of society, when brought together, give + interesting comparisons: I mean the early beginnings of thought and + literature, and our own high and finished state, as we think it. There is + one very remarkable point. In the early day, the letter was matter of the + closest adherence, and implied meanings were not admitted.</p> + + <p>The blessing of Isaac meant for Esau, went to false Jacob, in spite of + the imposition; and the writer of Genesis seems to intend to give the + notion that Isaac had no power to pronounce it null and void. And + "Jacob's policy, whereby he became rich"—as the chapter-heading + puts it—in speckled and spotted stock, is not considered as a + violation of the agreement, which contemplated natural proportions. In + <!-- Page 253 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page253"></a>[253]</span>the story of Lycurgus the lawgiver is held + to have behaved fairly when he bound the Spartans to obey his laws until + he returned—intimating a short absence—he intending never to + return. And Vishnoo, when he asked the usurper for three steps of + territory as a dwarf, and then enlarged himself until he could bring + heaven and earth under the bargain, was thought clever, certainly, but + quite fair.</p> + + <p>There is nothing of this kind recognized in our day: so far good. But + there is a bad contrary: the age is apt, in interpretation, to upset the + letter in favor of the view—very often the after thought—of + one side only. The case of John Palmer,<a name="NtA_403" + href="#Nt_403"><sup>[403]</sup></a> the improver of the mail coach + system, is smothered. He was to have an office and a salary, and 2½ per + cent for life on the increased <i>revenue</i> of the Post-Office. His + rights turned out so large, that Government would not pay them. For + misconduct, real or pretended, they turned him out of his <i>office</i>: + but his bargain as to the percentage had nothing to do with his future + conduct; it was payment for his <i>plan</i>. I know nothing, except from + the debates of 1808 in the two Houses: if any one can redeem the credit + of the nation, the field is open. When I was young, the old stagers spoke + of this transaction sparingly, and dismissed it speedily.</p> + + <p>The government did not choose to remember what private persons must + remember, and are made to remember, if needful. When Dr. Lardner<a + name="NtA_404" href="#Nt_404"><sup>[404]</sup></a> made his bargain with + the <!-- Page 254 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page254"></a>[254]</span>publishers for the <i>Cabinet + Cyclopædia</i> he proposed that he, as editor, should have a certain sum + for every hundred sold above a certain number: the publishers, who did + not think there was any chance of reaching the turning sale of this + stipulation, readily consented. But it turned out that Dr. Lardner saw + further than they: the returns under this stipulation gave him a very + handsome addition to his other receipts. The publishers stared; but they + paid. They had no idea of standing out that the amount was too much for + an editor; they knew that, though the editor had a percentage, they had + all the rest; and they would not have felt aggrieved if he had received + ten times as much. But governments, which cannot be brought to book + before a sworn jury, are ruled only by public opinion. John Palmer's day + was also the day of Thomas Fyshe Palmer,<a name="NtA_405" + href="#Nt_405"><sup>[405]</sup></a> and the governments, in their + prosecutions for sedition, knew that these would have a reflex action + upon the minds of all who wrote about public affairs.</p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">DECLARATION OF BELIEF</p> + + <p>1864-65.—It often happens that persons combine to maintain and + enforce an opinion; but it is, in our state of society, a paradox to + unite for the sole purpose of blaming the opposite side. To invite + educated men to do this, and above all, men of learning or science, is + the next paradoxical thing of all. But this was done by a small + combination in 1864. They got together and drew up a <i>declaration</i>, + to be signed by "students of the natural sciences," who were to express + their "sincere regret that researches into <!-- Page 255 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page255"></a>[255]</span>scientific truth are + perverted by some in our own times into occasion for casting doubt upon + the truth and authenticity of the Holy Scriptures." In words of ambiguous + sophistry, they proceeded to request, in effect, that people would be + pleased to adopt the views of churches as to the <i>complete</i> + inspiration of all the canonical books. The great question whether the + Word of God is <i>in</i> the Bible, or whether the Word of God is + <i>all</i> the Bible, was quietly taken for granted in favor of the + second view; to the end that men of science might be induced to blame + those who took the first view. The first public attention was drawn to + the subject by Sir John Herschel,<a name="NtA_406" + href="#Nt_406"><sup>[406]</sup></a> who in refusing to sign the writ sent + to him, administered a rebuke in the <i>Athenæum</i>, which would have + opened most eyes to see that the case was hopeless. The words of a man + whose <i>suaviter in modo</i> makes his <i>fortiter in re</i><a + name="NtA_407" href="#Nt_407"><sup>[407]</sup></a> cut blocks with a + razor are worth preserving:</p> + + <p>"I consider the act of calling upon me publicly to avow or disavow, to + approve or disapprove, in writing, any religious doctrine or statement, + however carefully or cautiously drawn up (in other words, to append my + name to a religious manifesto) to be an infringement of that social + forbearance which guards the freedom of religious opinion in this country + with especial sanctity.... I consider this movement simply mischievous, + having a direct tendency (by putting forward a new Shibboleth, a new + verbal test of religious partisanship) to add a fresh element of discord + to the already too discordant relations of the Christian world.... But no + nicety of wording, no artifice of human language, will suffice to + discriminate the hundredth part of the shades of meaning in which the + most world-wide differences of thought on such subjects may be involved; + or prevent the most gentle worded and apparently justifiable expression + of regret, so embodied, from grating on the <!-- Page 256 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page256"></a>[256]</span>feelings of thousands + of estimable and well-intentioned men with all the harshness of + controversial hostility."</p> + + <p>Other doses were administered by Sir J. Bowring,<a name="NtA_408" + href="#Nt_408"><sup>[408]</sup></a> Sir W. Rowan Hamilton,<a + name="NtA_409" href="#Nt_409"><sup>[409]</sup></a> and myself. The signed + declaration was promised for Christmas, 1864: but nothing presentable was + then ready; and it was near Midsummer, 1865, before it was published. + Persons often incautiously put their names without seeing the + <i>character</i> of a document, because they coincide in its + <i>opinions</i>. In this way, probably, fifteen respectable names were + procured before printing; and these, when committed, were hawked as part + of an application to "solicit the favor" of other signatures. It is + likely enough no one of the fifteen saw that the declaration was, not + <i>maintenance</i> of their own opinion, but <i>regret</i> (a civil word + for <i>blame</i>) that others should <i>think differently</i>.</p> + + <p>When the list appeared, there were no fewer than 716 names! But + analysis showed that this roll was not a specimen of the mature science + of the country. The collection was very miscellaneous: 38 were designated + as "students of the College of Chemistry," meaning young men who attended + lectures in that college. But as all the Royal Society had been applied + to, a test results as follows. Of Fellows of the Royal Society, 600 in + number, 62 gave their signatures; of writers in the <i>Philosophical + Transactions</i>, 166 in number, 19 gave their signatures. Roughly + speaking, then, only one out of ten could be got to express + disapprobation of the free comparison of the results of science with the + statements of the canonical books. And I am satisfied that many of these + thought they were signing only a declaration of difference of opinion, + not of blame for that difference. The number of persons is not small who, + when it comes to signing printed documents, would put their names to a + declaration that the coffee-pot ought to be taken down-stairs, meaning + that the teapot ought to be brought <!-- Page 257 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page257"></a>[257]</span>up-stairs. And many of + them would defend it. Some would say that the two things are not + contradictory; which, with a snort or two of contempt, would be very + effective. Others would, in the candid and quiet tone, point out that it + is all one, because coffee is usually taken before tea, and it keeps the + table clear to send away the coffee-pot before the teapot is brought + up.</p> + + <p>The original signatures were decently interred in the Bodleian + Library: and the advocates of scattering indefinite blame for indefinite + sins of opinion among indefinite persons are, I understand, divided in + opinion about the time at which the next attempt shall be made upon men + of scientific studies: some are for the Greek Calends, and others for the + Roman Olympiads. But, with their usual love of indefiniteness, they have + determined that the choice shall be argued upon the basis that which + comes first cannot be settled, and is of no consequence.</p> + + <p>I give the declaration entire, as a curiosity: and parallel with it I + give a substitute which was proposed in the <i>Athenæum</i>, as worthy to + be signed both by students of theology, and by students of science, + especially in past time. When a new attempt is made, it will be worth + while to look at both:</p> + + +<table class="nomar" summary="Parallel columns" title="Parallel columns"> + <tr> + <td class="spac" style="vertical-align:top; text-align:left"> +<p class="cenhead"><i>Declaration.</i></p> + + <p>We, the undersigned Students of the Natural Sciences, desire to + express our sincere regret, that researches into scientific truth are + perverted by some in our own times into occasion for casting doubt + upon the Truth and Authenticity of the Holy Scriptures.</p> + </td> + <td class="spac" style="vertical-align:top; text-align:left"> +<p class="cenhead"><i>Proposed Substitute.</i></p> + + <p>We, the undersigned Students of Theology and of Nature, desire to + express our sincere regret, that common notions of religious truth + are perverted by some in our own times into occasion for casting + reproach upon the advocates of demonstrated or highly probable + scientific theories.</p> +<p><!-- Page 258 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page258"></a>[258]</span></p> + + </td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="spac" style="vertical-align:top; text-align:left"> + <p>We conceive that it is impossible for the Word of God, as written + in the book of nature, and God's Word written in Holy Scripture, to + contradict one another, however much they may appear to differ.</p> + </td> + <td class="spac" style="vertical-align:top; text-align:left"> + <p>We conceive that it is impossible for the Word of God, as + correctly read in the Book of Nature, and the Word of God, as truly + interpreted out of the Holy Scripture, to contradict one another, + however much they may appear to differ.</p> + </td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="spac" style="vertical-align:top; text-align:left"> + <p>We are not forgetful that Physical Science is not complete, but is + only in a condition of progress, and that at present our finite + reason enables us only to see as through a glass darkly,</p> + </td> + <td class="spac" style="vertical-align:top; text-align:left"> + <p>We are not forgetful that neither theological interpretation nor + physical knowledge is yet complete, but that both are in a condition + of progress; and that at present our finite reason enables us only to + see both one and the other as through a glass darkly [the writers of + the original declaration have distinctively applied to physical + science the phrase by which St. Paul denotes the imperfections of + theological vision, which they tacitly assume to be quite + perfect],</p> + </td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="spac" style="vertical-align:top; text-align:left"> + <p>and we confidently believe, that a time will come when the two + records will be seen to agree in every particular. We cannot but + deplore that Natural Science should be looked upon with suspicion by + many who do not make a study of it, merely on account of the + unadvised manner in which some are placing it in opposition to Holy + Writ.</p> + </td> + <td class="spac" style="vertical-align:top; text-align:left"> + <p>and we confidently believe, that a time will come when the two + records will be seen to agree in every particular. We cannot but + deplore that Religion should be looked upon with suspicion by some + and Science by others, of the students of either who do not make a + study of the <!-- Page 259 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page259"></a>[259]</span>other, merely on account of the + unadvised manner in which some are placing Religion in opposition to + Science, and some are placing Science in opposition to Religion.</p> + </td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="spac" style="vertical-align:top; text-align:left"> + <p>We believe that it is the duty of every Scientific Student to + investigate nature simply for the purpose of elucidating truth,</p> + </td> + <td class="spac" style="vertical-align:top; text-align:left"> + <p>We believe that it is the duty of every theological student to + investigate the Scripture, and of every scientific student to + investigate Nature, simply for the purpose of elucidating truth.</p> + </td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="spac" style="vertical-align:top; text-align:left"> + <p>and that if he finds that some of his results appear to be in + contradiction to the Written Word, or rather to his own + <i>interpretations</i> of it, which may be erroneous, he should not + presumptuously affirm that his own conclusions must be right, and the + statements of Scripture wrong;</p> + </td> + <td class="spac" style="vertical-align:top; text-align:left"> + <p>And if either should find that some of his results appear to be in + contradiction, whether to Scripture or to Nature, or rather to his + own <i>interpretation</i> of one or the other, which may be + erroneous, he should not affirm as with certainty that his own + conclusion must be right, and the other interpretation wrong:</p> + </td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="spac" style="vertical-align:top; text-align:left"> + <p>rather, leave the two side by side till it shall please God to + allow us to see the manner in which they may be reconciled;</p> + </td> + <td class="spac" style="vertical-align:top; text-align:left"> + <p>but should leave the two side by side for further inquiry into + both, until it shall please God to allow us to arrive at the manner + in which they may be reconciled.</p> + </td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="spac" style="vertical-align:top; text-align:left"> + <p>and, instead of insisting upon the seeming differences between + Science and the Scriptures, it would be as well to rest in faith upon + the points in which they agree.</p> + </td> + <td class="spac" style="vertical-align:top; text-align:left"> + <p>In the mean while, instead of insisting, and least of all with + acrimony or injurious <!-- Page 260 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page260"></a>[260]</span>statements about others, upon the + seeming differences between Science and the Scriptures, it would be a + thousand times better to rest in faith as to our future state, in + hope as to our coming knowledge, and in charity as to our present + differences.</p> + </td> + </tr> +</table> + + <p>The distinctness of the fallacies is creditable to the composers, and + shows that scientific habits tend to clearness, even to sophistry. + Nowhere does it so plainly stand out that the <i>Written Word</i> means + the sense in which the accuser takes it, while the sense of the other + side is <i>their interpretation</i>. The infallible church on one side, + arrayed against heretical pravity on the other, is seen in all subjects + in which men differ. At school there were various games in which one or + another advantage was the right of those who first called for it. In + adult argument the same thing is often attempted: we often hear—I + cried <i>Church</i> first!</p> + + <p>I end with the answer which I myself gave to the application: its + revival may possibly save me from a repetition of the like. If there be + anything I hate more than another it is the proposal to place any + persons, especially those who allow freedom to me, under any abridgment + of their liberty to think, to infer, and to publish. If they break the + law, take the law; but do not make the law: <span title="agoraioi agontai enkaleitôsan allêlois." class="grk" + >ἀγοραιοι + ἀγονται + ἐγκαλειτωσαν + ἀλληλοις.</span><a + name="NtA_410" href="#Nt_410"><sup>[410]</sup></a> I would rather be + asked to take shares in an argyrosteretic company (with limited + liability) for breaking into houses by night on fork and spoon errands. I + should put aside this proposal with <i>nothing but laughter</i>. It was a + joke against Sam Rogers<a name="NtA_411" + href="#Nt_411"><sup>[411]</sup></a> that his appearance was very like + that of a corpse. The <i>John Bull</i> <!-- Page 261 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page261"></a>[261]</span>newspaper—suppose + we now say Theodore Hook<a name="NtA_412" + href="#Nt_412"><sup>[412]</sup></a>—averred that when he hailed a + coach one night in St. Paul's Churchyard, the jarvey said, "Ho! ho! my + man; I'm not going to be taken in that way: go back to your grave!" This + is the answer I shall make for the future to any relics of a former time + who shall want to call me off the stand for their own purposes. What + obligation have I to admit that they belong to our world?</p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">"SCRIPTURE AND SCIENCE.</p> + +<p class="cenhead">"<i>The Writ De Hæretico Commiserando.</i><a name="NtA_413" href="#Nt_413"><sup>[413]</sup></a></p> + + <p class="author">Nov. 14, 1864.</p> + + <p>"This document was sent to me four days ago. It 'solicits the + favor'—I thought at first it was a grocer's supplication for tea + and sugar patronage—of my signature to expression of 'sincere + regret' that some persons unnamed—general warrants are + illegal—differ from what I am supposed—by persons whom it + does not concern—to hold about Scripture and Science in their real + or alleged discrepancies.</p> + + <p>"No such favor from me: for three reasons. First, I agree with Sir. J. + Herschel that the solicitation is an intrusion to be publicly repelled. + Secondly, I do <i>not</i> regret that others should differ from me, think + what I may: those others are as good as I, and as well able to think, and + as much entitled to their conclusions. Thirdly, even if I did regret, I + should be ashamed to put my name to bad chemistry made to do duty for + good reasoning. The declaration is an awkward attempt to saturate sophism + with truism; but the sophism is left largely in excess.</p> + +<p><!-- Page 262 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page262"></a>[262]</span></p> + + <p>"I owe the inquisitors a grudge for taking down my conceit of myself. + For two months I have crowed in my own mind over my friend Sir J. + Herschel, fancying that the promoters instinctively knew better than to + bring their fallacies before a writer on logic. Ah! my dear Sir John! + thought I, if you had shown yourself to be well up in <i>Barbara + Celarent</i>,<a name="NtA_414" href="#Nt_414"><sup>[414]</sup></a> and + had ever and anon astonished the natives with the distinction between + <i>simpliciter</i> and <i>secundum quid</i>, no autograph-hunters would + have baited a trap with <i>non sequitur</i><a name="NtA_415" + href="#Nt_415"><sup>[415]</sup></a> to catch your signature. What can I + say now? I hide my diminished head, diminished by the horns which I have + been compelled to draw in.</p> + + <p>"Those who make personal solicitation for support to an opinion about + religion are bound to know their men. The king had a right to Brother + Neale's money, because Brother Neale offered it. Had he put his hand into + purse after purse by way of finding out all who were of Brother Neale's + mind, he would have been justly met by a rap on the knuckles whenever he + missed his mark.</p> + + <p>"The kind of test before me is the utmost our time will allow of that + inquisition into opinion which has been the curse of Christianity ever + since the State took Providence under its protection. The writ <i>de + hæretico commiserando</i> is little more than the smell of the empty + cask: and those who issue it may represent the old woman with her</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="hg3">"O suavis anima, quale in te dicam bonum</p> + <p>Antehac fuisse; tales cum sint reliquiæ."<a name="NtA_416" href="#Nt_416"><sup>[416]</sup></a></p> + </div> + </div> + <p>It is no excuse that the illegitimate bantling is a very little one. + Its parents may think themselves hardly treated when they are called + lineal successors of Tony Fire-the-faggot: <!-- Page 263 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page263"></a>[263]</span>but, degenerate though + they be, such is their ancestry. Let every allowance be made for them: + but their unholy fire must be trodden out; so long as a spark is left, + nothing but fuel is wanted to make a blaze. If this cannot be done, let + the flame be confined to theology, though even there it burns with + diminished vigor: and let charity, candor, sense, and ridicule, be ready + to play upon it whenever there is any chance of its extending to + literature and science.</p> + + <p>"What would be the consequence if this test-signing absurdity were to + grow? Deep would call unto deep; counter-declaration would answer + declaration, each stronger than the one before. The moves would go on + like the dispute of two German students, of whom each is bound to a + sharper retort on a graduated scale, until at last comes <i>dummer + Junge</i>!<a name="NtA_417" href="#Nt_417"><sup>[417]</sup></a>—and + then they must fight. There is a gentleman in the upper fifteen of the + signers of the writ—the hawking of whose names appears to me very + bad taste—whom I met in cordial cooperation for many a year at a + scientific board. All I knew about his religion was that he, as a + clergyman, must in some sense or other receive the 39 Articles:—all + that he could know about mine was that I was some kind of heretic, or so + reputed. If we had come to signing opposite manifestoes, turn-about, we + might have found ourselves in the lowest depths of party discussion at + our very council-table. I trust the list of subscribers to the + declaration, when it comes to be published, will show that the bulk of + those who have really added to our knowledge have seen the thing in its + true light.</p> + + <p>"The promoters—I say nothing about the subscribers—of the + movement will, I trust, not feel aggrieved at the course I have taken or + the remarks I have made. Walter Scott says that before we judge Napoleon + by the temptation to which he yielded, we ought to remember how much he + may have resisted: I invite them to apply this rule to myself; they can + have no idea of the feeling with which I <!-- Page 264 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page264"></a>[264]</span>contemplate all + attempts to repress freedom of inquiry, nor of the loathing with which I + recoil from the proposal to be art and part. They have asked me to give a + public opinion upon a certain point. It is true that they have had the + kindness to tender both the opinion they wish me to form, and the shape + in which they would have it appear: I will let them draw me out, but I + will not let them take me in. If they will put an asterisk to my name, + and this letter to the asterisk, they are welcome to my signature. As I + do not expect them to relish this proposal, I will not solicit the favor + of its adoption. But they have given a right to think, for they have + asked me to think; to publish, for they have asked me to allow them to + publish; to blame them, for they have asked me to blame their betters. + Should they venture to find fault because my direction of disapproval, + publicly given, is half a revolution different from theirs, they will be + known as having presented a loaded document at the head of a traveler in + the highway of discussion, with—Your signature or your + silence!"</p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">THE FLY-LEAF PARADOX.</p> + + <p>The paradox being the proposition of something which runs counter to + what would generally be thought likely, may present itself in many ways. + There is a <i>fly-leaf paradox</i>, which puzzled me for many years, + until I found a probable solution. I frequently saw, in the blank leaves + of old books, learned books, Bibles of a time when a Bible was very + costly, etc., the name of an owner who, by the handwriting and spelling, + must have been an illiterate person or a child, followed by the date of + the book itself. Accordingly, this uneducated person or young child + seemed to be the first owner, which in many cases was not credible. + Looking one day at a Barker's<a name="NtA_418" + href="#Nt_418"><sup>[418]</sup></a> Bible of 1599, I saw an <!-- Page 265 + --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page265"></a>[265]</span>inscription in + a child's writing, which certainly belonged to a much later date. It was + "Martha Taylor, her book, giuen me by Granny Scott to keep for her sake." + With this the usual verses, followed by 1599, the date of the book. But + it so chanced that the blank page opposite the title, on which the above + was written, was a verso of the last leaf of a prayer book, which had + been bound before the Bible; and on the recto of this leaf was a + colophon, with the date 1632. It struck me immediately that uneducated + persons and children, having seen dates written under names, and not + being quite up in chronology, did frequently finish off with the date of + the book, which stared them in the face.</p> + + <p>Always write in your books. You may be a silly person—for though + your reading my book is rather a contrary presumption, yet it is not + conclusive—and your observations may be silly or irrelevant, but + you cannot tell what use they may be of long after you are gone where + Budgeteers cease from troubling.</p> + + <p>I picked up the following book, printed by J. Franklin<a + name="NtA_419" href="#Nt_419"><sup>[419]</sup></a> at Boston, during the + period in which his younger brother Benjamin was his apprentice. And as + Benjamin was apprenticed very early, and is recorded as having learned + the mechanical art very rapidly, there is some presumption that part of + it may be his work, though he was but thirteen at the time. As this set + of editions of Hodder<a name="NtA_420" + href="#Nt_420"><sup>[420]</sup></a> (by <!-- Page 266 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page266"></a>[266]</span>Mose<a name="NtA_421" + href="#Nt_421"><sup>[421]</sup></a>) is not mentioned, to my knowledge, I + give the title in full:</p> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p>"Hodder's Arithmetick: or that necessary art made most easy: Being + explained in a way familiar to the capacity of any that desire to learn + it in a little time. By James Hodder, Writing-master. The Five and + twentieth edition, revised, augmented, and above a thousand faults + amended, by Henry Mose, late servant and successor to the author. Boston: + printed by J. Franklin, for S. Phillips, N. Buttolph, B. Elliot, D. + Henchman, G. Phillips, J. Elliot, and E. Negus, booksellers in Boston, + and sold at their shops. 1719."</p> + +</blockquote> + + <p>The book is a very small octavo, the type and execution are + creditable, the woodcut at the beginning is clumsy. It is a perfect copy, + page for page, of the English editions of Mose's Hodder, of which the one + called seventeenth is of London, 1690. There is not a syllable to show + that the edition above described might not be of Boston in England. + Presumptions, but not very strong ones, might be derived from the name of + <i>Franklin</i>, and from the large number of booksellers who combined in + the undertaking. It chanced, however, that a former owner had made the + following note in my copy:</p> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p>"Wednessday, July y<sup>e</sup> 14, 1796, att ten in y<sup>e</sup> + forenoon we sail<sup>d</sup> from Boston, came too twice, once in King + Rode, and once in y<sup>e</sup> Narrows. Sail<sup>d</sup> by + y<sup>e</sup> lighthouse in y<sup>e</sup> even<sup>g</sup>."</p> + +</blockquote> + +<p><!-- Page 267 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page267"></a>[267]</span></p> + + <p>No ordinary map would decide these points: so I had to apply to my + friend Sir Francis Beaufort,<a name="NtA_422" + href="#Nt_422"><sup>[422]</sup></a> and the charts at the Admiralty + decided immediately for Massachusetts.</p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">PARADOXES OF ORTHOGRAPHY AND COMPUTATION.</p> + + <p>The French are able paradoxers in their spelling of foreign names. The + Abbé Sabatier de Castres,<a name="NtA_423" + href="#Nt_423"><sup>[423]</sup></a> in 1772, gives an account of an + imaginary dialogue between Swif, Adisson, Otwai, and Bolingbrocke. I had + hoped that this was a thing of former days, like the literal roasting of + heretics; but the charity which hopeth all things must hope for + disappointments. Looking at a recent work on the history of the popes, I + found referred to, in the matter of Urban VIII<a name="NtA_424" + href="#Nt_424"><sup>[424]</sup></a> and Galileo, references to the works + of two Englishmen, the Rev. Win Worewel and the Rev. Raden Powen. [Wm. + Whewell and Baden Powell].<a name="NtA_425" + href="#Nt_425"><sup>[425]</sup></a></p> + + <p>I must not forget the "moderate computation" paradox. This is the way + by which large figures are usually obtained. Anything surprisingly great + is got by the "lowest computation," anything as surprisingly small by the + "utmost computation"; and these are the two great subdivisions of + "moderate computation." In this way we learn that 70,000 persons were + executed in one reign, and 150,000 persons <!-- Page 268 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page268"></a>[268]</span>burned for witchcraft + in one century. Sometimes this computation is very close. By a card + before me it appears that all the Christians, including those dispersed + in heathen countries, those of Great Britain and Ireland excepted, are + 198,728,000 people, and pay their clergy 8,852,000<i>l.</i> But 6,400,000 + people pay the clergy of the Anglo-Irish Establishment + 8,896,000<i>l.</i>; and 14,600,000 of other denominations pay + 1,024,000<i>l.</i> When I read moderate computations, I always think of + Voltaire and the "mémoires du fameux évêque de Chiapa, par lesquels il + paraît qu'il avait égorgé, ou brulé, ou noyé dix millions d'infidèles en + Amérique pour les convertir. Je crus que cet évêque exaggérait; mais + quand on réduisait ces sacrifices à cinq millions de victimes, cela + serait encore admirable."<a name="NtA_426" + href="#Nt_426"><sup>[426]</sup></a></p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">CENTRIFUGAL FORCE.</p> + + <p>My Budget has been arranged by authors. This is the only plan, for + much of the remark is personal: the peculiarities of the paradoxer are a + large part of the interest of the paradox. As to subject-matter, there + are points which stand strongly out; the quadrature of the circle, for + instance. But there are others which cannot be drawn out so as to be + conspicuous in a review of writers: as one instance, I may take the + <i>centrifugal force</i>.</p> + + <p>When I was about nine years old I was taken to hear a course of + lectures, given by an itinerant lecturer in a country town, to get as + much as I could of the second half of a good, sound, philosophical + omniscience. The first half (and sometimes more) comes by nature. To this + end I smelt chemicals, learned that they were different kinds of + <i>gin</i>, saw young wags try to kiss the girls under the excuse of what + was called <i>laughing gas</i>—which I was sure <!-- Page 269 + --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page269"></a>[269]</span>was not to + blame for more than five per cent of the requisite assurance—and so + forth. This was all well so far as it went; but there was also the + excessive notion of creative power exhibited in the millions of miles of + the solar system, of which power I wondered they did not give a still + grander idea by expressing the distances in inches. But even this was + nothing to the ingenious contrivance of the centrifugal force. "You have + heard what I have said of the wonderful centripetal force, by which + Divine Wisdom has retained the planets in their orbits round the Sun. + But, ladies and gentlemen, it must be clear to you that if there were no + other force in action, this centripetal force would draw our earth and + the other planets into the Sun, and universal ruin would ensue. To + prevent such a catastrophe, the same wisdom has implanted a centrifugal + force of the same amount, and directly opposite," etc. I had never heard + of Alfonso X of Castile,<a name="NtA_427" + href="#Nt_427"><sup>[427]</sup></a> but I ventured to think that if + Divine Wisdom had just let the planets alone it would come to the same + thing, with equal and opposite troubles saved. The paradoxers deal + largely in speculation conducted upon the above explanation. They provide + external agents for what they call the centrifugal force. Some make the + sun's rays keep the planets off, without a thought about what would + become of our poor eyes if the <i>push</i> of the light which falls on + the earth were a counterpoise to all its gravitation. The true + explanation cannot be given here, for want of room.</p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">CAMBRIDGE POETS.</p> + + <p>Sometimes a person who has a point to carry will assert a singular + fact or prediction for the sake of his point; and <!-- Page 270 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page270"></a>[270]</span>this paradox has almost + obtained the sole use of the name. Persons who have reputation to care + for should beware how they adopt this plan, which now and then eventuates + a spanker, as the American editor said. Lord Byron, in "English Bards, + etc." (1809), ridiculing Cambridge poetry, wrote as follows:</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="hg3">"But where fair Isis rolls her purer wave,</p> + <p>The partial muse delighted loves to lave;</p> + <p>On her green banks a greener wreath she wove,</p> + <p>To crown the bards that haunt her classic grove;</p> + <p>Where Richards<a name="NtA_428" href="#Nt_428"><sup>[428]</sup></a> wakes a genuine poet's fires,</p> + <p>And modern Britons glory in their sires."<a name="NtA_429" href="#Nt_429"><sup>[429]</sup></a></p> + </div> + </div> + <p>There is some account of the Rev. Geo. Richards, Fellow of Oriel and + Vicar of Bampton, (M.A. in 1791) in the <i>Living Authors</i> by + Watkins<a name="NtA_430" href="#Nt_430"><sup>[430]</sup></a> and + Shoberl<a name="NtA_431" href="#Nt_431"><sup>[431]</sup></a> (1816). In + Rivers's <i>Living Authors</i>, of 1798, which is best fitted for + citation, as being published before Lord Byron wrote, he is spoken of in + high terms. The <i>Aboriginal Britons</i> was an Oxford (special) prize + poem, of 1791. Charles Lamb mentions Richards as his school-fellow at + Christ's Hospital, "author of the <i>Aboriginal Britons</i>, the most + spirited of the Oxford Prize Poems: a pale, studious Grecian."</p> + + <p>As I never heard of Richards as a poet,<a name="NtA_432" + href="#Nt_432"><sup>[432]</sup></a> I conclude that his fame is defunct, + except in what may prove to be a very ambiguous kind of immortality, + conferred by Lord Byron. The awkwardness of a case which time has broken + down <!-- Page 271 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page271"></a>[271]</span>is increased by the eulogist himself + adding so powerful a name to the list of Cambridge poets, that his + college has placed his statue in the library, more conspicuously than + that of Newton in the chapel; and this although the greatness of poetic + fame had some serious drawbacks in the moral character of some of his + writings. And it will be found on inquiry that Byron, to get his instance + against Cambridge, had to go back eighteen years, passing over seven + intermediate productions, of which he had either never heard, or which he + would not cite as waking a genuine poet's fires.</p> + + <p>The conclusion seems to be that the <i>Aboriginal Britons</i> is a + remarkable youthful production, not equalled by subsequent efforts.</p> + + <p>To enhance the position in which the satirist placed himself, two + things should be remembered. First, the glowing and justifiable terms in + which Byron had spoken,—a hundred and odd lines before he found it + convenient to say no Cambridge poet could compare with Richards,—of + a Cambridge poet who died only three years before Byron wrote, and + produced greatly admired works while actually studying in the University. + The fame of Kirke White<a name="NtA_433" + href="#Nt_433"><sup>[433]</sup></a> still lives; and future literary + critics may perhaps compare his writings and those of Richards, simply by + reason of the curious relation in which they are here placed alongside of + each other. And it is much to Byron's credit that, in speaking of the + deceased Cambridge poet, he forgot his own argument and its exigencies, + and proved himself only a paradoxer <i>pro re nata</i>.</p> + + <p>Secondly, Byron was very unfortunate in another passage of the same + poem:</p> + +<p><!-- Page 272 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page272"></a>[272]</span></p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="hg3">"What varied wonders tempt us as they pass!</p> + <p>The cow-pox, tractors, galvanism, and gas.</p> + <p>In turns appear, to make the vulgar stare,</p> + <p>Till the swoln bubble bursts—and all is air!"</p> + </div> + </div> + <p>Three of the bubbles have burst to mighty ends. The metallic tractors + are disused; but the force which, if anything, they put in action, is at + this day, under the name of mesmerism, used, prohibited, respected, + scorned, assailed, defended, asserted, denied, declared utterly obscure, + and universally known. It was hard lines to select for candidates for + oblivion not one of whom got in. I shall myself, I am assured, be some + day cited for laughing at the great discovery of ——: the + blank is left for my reader to fill up in his own way; but I think I + shall not be so unlucky in four different ways.</p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">FALSIFIED PREDICTION.</p> + + <p>The narration before the fact, as prophecy has been called, sometimes + quite as true as the narration after the fact, is very ridiculous when it + is wrong. Why, the pre-narrator could not know; the post-narrator might + have known. A good collection of unlucky predictions might be made: I + hardly know one so fit to go with Byron's as that of the Rev. Daniel + Rivers, already quoted, about Johnson's biographers. Peter Pindar<a + name="NtA_434" href="#Nt_434"><sup>[434]</sup></a> may be excused, as + personal satire was his object, for addressing Boswell and Mrs. Piozzi<a + name="NtA_435" href="#Nt_435"><sup>[435]</sup></a> as follows:</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="hg3">"Instead of adding splendor to his name,</p> + <p>Your books are downright gibbets to his fame;</p> + <p>You never with posterity can thrive,</p> + <p class="hg1">'Tis by the Rambler's death alone you live."</p> + </div> + </div> + <p>But Rivers, in prose narrative, was not so excusable. He says:</p> + +<p><!-- Page 273 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page273"></a>[273]</span></p> + + <p>"As admirers of the learning and moral excellence of their hero, we + glow at almost every page with indignation that his weaknesses and his + failings should be disclosed to public view.... Johnson, after the luster + he had reflected on the name of Thrale ... was to have his memory + tortured and abused by her detested itch for scribbling. More injury, we + will venture to affirm, has been done to the fame of Johnson by this Lady + and her late biographical helpmate, than his most avowed enemies have + been able to effect: and if his character becomes unpopular with some of + his successors, it is to those gossiping friends he is indebted for the + favor."</p> + + <p>Poor dear old Sam! the best known dead man alive! clever, + good-hearted, logical, ugly bear! Where would he have been if it had not + been for Boswell and Thrale, and their imitators? What would biography + have been if Boswell had not shown how to write a life?</p> + + <p>Rivers is to be commended for not throwing a single Stone at Mrs. + Thrale's second marriage. This poor lady begins to receive a little + justice. The literary world seems to have found out that a blue-stocking + dame who keeps open house for a set among them has a right, if it so + please her, to marry again without taking measures to carry on the + cake-shop. I was before my age in this respect: as a boy-reader of + Boswell, and a few other things that fell in my way, I came to a + clearness that the conduct of society towards Mrs. Piozzi was + <i>blackguard</i>. She wanted nothing but what was in that day a woman's + only efficient protection, a male relation with a brace of pistols, and a + competent notion of using them.</p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">BYRON AND WORDSWORTH.</p> + + <p>Byron's mistake about Hallam in the Pindar story may be worth placing + among absurdities. For elucidation, suppose that some poet were now to + speak— <!-- Page 274 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page274"></a>[274]</span></p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="hg3">"Of man's first disobedience, and the fruit</p> + <p>Eve gave to Adam in his birthday suit—"</p> + </div> + </div> + <p>and some critic were to call it nonsense, would that critic be + laughing at Milton? Payne Knight,<a name="NtA_436" + href="#Nt_436"><sup>[436]</sup></a> in his <i>Taste</i>, translated part + of Gray's <i>Bard</i> into Greek. Some of his lines are</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p><span title="therma d' ho tengôn dakrua stonachais" class="grk">θερμὰ δ' ὁ τὲγγων δάκρυα στοναχαῖς</span></p> + <p><span title="oulon melos phoberai" class="grk">οὖλον μέλος φοβερᾷ</span></p> + <p><span title="êeide phônai." class="grk">ηἔιδε φωνᾷ.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + <p>Literally thus:</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="hg3">"Wetting warm tears with groans,</p> + <p>Continuous chant with fearful</p> + <p>Voice he sang."</p> + </div> + </div> + <p>On which Hallam remarks: "The twelfth line [our first] is nonsense." + And so it is, a poet can no more wet his tears with his groans than wet + his ale with his whistle. Now this first line is from Pindar, but is only + part of the sense; in full it is:</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p><span title="therma de tengôn dakrua stonachais" class="grk">θερμὰ δὲ τέγγων δάκρυα στοναχαῖς</span></p> + <p class="i4"><span title="horthion phônase." class="grk">ὅρθιον φώνασε.</span></p> + </div> + </div> + <p>Pindar's <span title="tengôn" class="grk" + >τέγγων</span> must be Englished by + <i>shedding</i>, and he stands alone in this use. He says, "shedding warm + tears, he cried out loud, with groans." Byron speaks of</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="hg3">"Classic Hallam, much renowned for Greek:"</p> + </div> + </div> + <p>and represents him as criticising <i>the Greek</i> of all Payne's + lines, and not discovering that "the lines" were Pindar's <!-- Page 275 + --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page275"></a>[275]</span>until after + publication. Byron was too much of a scholar to make this blunder + himself: he either accepted the facts from report, or else took satirical + licence. And why not? If you want to laugh at a person, and he will not + give occasion, whose fault is it that you are obliged to make it? Hallam + did criticise some of Payne Knight's Greek; but with the caution of his + character, he remarked that possibly some of these queer phrases might be + "critic-traps" justified by some one use of some one author. I remember + well having a Latin essay to write at Cambridge, in which I took care to + insert a few monstrous and unusual idioms from Cicero: a person with a + Nizolius,<a name="NtA_437" href="#Nt_437"><sup>[437]</sup></a> and + without scruples may get scores of them. So when my tutor raised his + voice against these oddities, I was up to him, for I came down upon him + with Cicero, chapter and verse, and got round him. And so my own + solecisms, many of them, passed unchallenged.</p> + + <p>Byron had more good in his nature than he was fond of letting out: + whether he was a soured misanthrope, or whether his <i>vein</i> lay that + way in poetry, and he felt it necessary to fit his demeanor to it, are + matters far beyond me. Mr. Crabb Robinson<a name="NtA_438" + href="#Nt_438"><sup>[438]</sup></a> told me the following story more than + once. He was at Charles Lamb's chambers in the Temple when Wordsworth + came in, with the new <i>Edinburgh Review</i> in his hand, and fume on + his countenance. "These reviewers," said he, "put me out of patience! + Here is a young man—they say he is a lord—who has written a + volume of poetry; and these fellows, just because he is a lord, set upon + him, laugh at him, and sneer at his writing. The young man will do + something, if he goes on as he has begun. But these reviewers seem to + think <!-- Page 276 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page276"></a>[276]</span>that nobody may write poetry, unless he + lives in a garret." Crabb Robinson told this long after to Lady Byron, + who said, "Ah! if Byron had known that, he would never have attacked + Wordsworth. He went one day to meet Wordsworth at dinner; when he came + home I said, 'Well, how did the young poet get on with the old one?' + 'Why, to tell you the truth,' said he, 'I had but one feeling from the + beginning of the visit to the end, and that was—<i>reverence</i>!'" + Lady Byron told my wife that her husband had a very great respect for + Wordsworth. I suppose he would have said—as the Archangel said to + his Satan—"Our difference is po[li = e]tical."</p> + + <p>I suspect that Fielding would, if all were known, be ranked among the + unlucky railers at supposed paradox. In his <i>Miscellanies</i> (1742, + 8vo) he wrote a satire on the Chrysippus or Guinea, an animal which + multiplies itself by division, like the polypus. This he supposes to have + been drawn up by Petrus Gualterus, meaning the famous usurer, Peter + Walter. He calls it a paper "proper to be read before the + R——l Society": and next year, 1743, a quarto reprint was made + to resemble a paper in the <i>Philosophical Transactions</i>. So far as I + can make out, one object is ridicule of what the zoologists said about + the polypus: a reprint in the form of the <i>Transactions</i> was + certainly satire on the Society, not on Peter Walter and his knack of + multiplying guineas.</p> + + <p>Old poets have recognized the quadrature of the circle as a well-known + difficulty. Dante compares himself, when bewildered, to a geometer who + cannot find the principle on which the circle is to be measured:</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="hg3">"Quale è 'l geometra che tutto s' affige</p> + <p>Per misurar lo cerchio, e non ritruova,</p> + <p>Pensando qual principio ond' egli indige."<a name="NtA_439" href="#Nt_439"><sup>[439]</sup></a></p> + </div> + </div> +<p><!-- Page 277 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page277"></a>[277]</span></p> + + <p>And Quarles<a name="NtA_440" href="#Nt_440"><sup>[440]</sup></a> + speaks as follows of the <i>summum bonum</i>:</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="hg3">"Or is't a tart idea, to procure</p> + <p>An edge, and keep the practic soul in ure,</p> + <p>Like that dear chymic dust, or puzzling quadrature?"</p> + </div> + </div> + <p>The poetic notion of the quadrature must not be forgotten. + Aristophanes, in the <i>Birds</i>, introduces a geometer who announces + his intention to <i>make a square circle</i>. Pope, in the + <i>Dunciad</i>, delivers himself as follows, with a Greek pronunciation + rather strange in a translator of Homer. Probably Pope recognized, as a + general rule, the very common practice of throwing back the accent in + defiance of quantity, seen in o´rator, au´ditor, se´nator, ca´tenary, + etc.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="hg3">"Mad <i>Mathesis</i> alone was unconfined,</p> + <p>Too mad for mere material chains to bind,—</p> + <p>Now to pure space lifts her ecstatic stare,</p> + <p>Now, running round the circle, finds it square."</p> + </div> + </div> + <p>The author's note explains that this "regards the wild and fruitless + attempts of squaring the circle." The poetic idea seems to be that the + geometers try to make a square circle. Disraeli quotes it as "finds + <i>its</i> square," but the originals do not support this reading.</p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">DE BECOURT.</p> + + <p>I have come in the way of a work, entitled <i>The Grave of Human + Philosophies</i> (1827), translated from the French of R. de Bécourt<a + name="NtA_441" href="#Nt_441"><sup>[441]</sup></a> by A. Dalmas. It + supports, but I suspect not very accurately, the views of the old Hindu + books. <!-- Page 278 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page278"></a>[278]</span>That the sun is only 450 miles from us, + and only 40 miles in diameter, may be passed over; my affair is with the + state of mind into which persons of M. Bécourt's temperament are brought + by a fancy. He fully grants, as certain, four millions of years as the + duration of the Hindu race, and 1956 as that of the universe. It must be + admitted he is not wholly wrong in saying that our errors about the + universe proceed from our ignorance of its origin, antiquity, + organization, laws, and final destination. Living in an age of light, he + "avails himself of that opportunity" to remove this veil of darkness, + etc. The system of the Brahmins is the only true one: he adds that it has + never before been attempted, as it could not be obtained except by him. + The author requests us first, to lay aside prejudice; next, to read all + he says in the order in which he says it: we may then pronounce judgment + upon a work which begins by taking the Brahmins for granted. All the + paradoxers make the same requests. They do not see that compliance would + bring thousands of systems before the world every year: we have scores as + it is. How is a poor candid inquirer to choose. Fortunately, the mind has + its grand jury as well as its little one: and it will not put a book upon + its trial without a <i>prima facie</i> case in its favor. And with most + of those who really search for themselves, that case is never made out + without evidence of knowledge, standing out clear and strong, in the book + to be examined.</p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">BEQUEST OF A QUADRATURE.</p> + + <p>There is much private history which will never come to light, <i>caret + quia vate sacro</i>,<a name="NtA_442" href="#Nt_442"><sup>[442]</sup></a> + because no Budgeteer comes across it. Many years ago a man of business, + whose life was passed in banking, amused his leisure with quadrature, was + successful of course, and bequeathed the result in a sealed book, which + the legatee was enjoined not to sell <!-- Page 279 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page279"></a>[279]</span>under a thousand + pounds. The true ratio was 3.1416: I have the anecdote from the legatee's + executor, who opened the book. That a banker should square the circle is + very credible: but how could a City man come by the notion that a + thousand pounds could be got for it? A friend of mine, one of the twins + of my zodiac, will spend a thousand pounds, if he have not done it + already, in black and white cyclometry: but I will answer for it that he, + a man of sound business notions, never entertained the idea of <span + class="grk">π</span> recouping him, as they now say. I speak of + individual success: of course if a company were formed, especially if it + were of unlimited lie-ability, the shares would be taken. No offence; + there is nothing but what a pun will either sanctify, justify, or + nullify:</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="hg3">"It comes o'er the soul like the sweet South</p> + <p>That breathes upon a bank of <i>vile hits</i>."</p> + </div> + </div> + <p>The shares would be at a premium of 3⅛ on the day after issue. + If they presented me with the number of shares I deserve, for suggestion + and advertisement, I should stand up for the Archpriest of St. Vitus<a + name="NtA_443" href="#Nt_443"><sup>[443]</sup></a> and 3-1/5, with a view + to a little more gold on the bridge.</p> + + <p>I now insert a couple of reviews, one about Cyclopædias, one about + epistolary collections. Should any reader wish for explanation of this + insertion, I ask him to reflect a moment, and imagine me set to justify + all the additions now before him! In truth these reviews are the + repositories of many odds and ends: they were not made to the books; the + materials were in my notes, and the books came as to a ready-made clothes + shop, and found what would fit them. Many remember Curll's<a + name="NtA_444" href="#Nt_444"><sup>[444]</sup></a> bequest of some very + good titles <!-- Page 280 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page280"></a>[280]</span>which only wanted treatises written to + them. Well! here were some tolerable reviews—as times + go—which only wanted books fitted to them. Accordingly, some tags + were made to join on the books; and then as the reader sees.</p> + + <p>I should find it hard to explain why the insertion is made in this + place rather than another. But again, suppose I were put to make such an + explanation throughout the volume. The improver who laid out grounds and + always studied what he called <i>unexpectedness</i>, was asked what name + he gave it for those who walked over his grounds a second time. He was + silenced; but I have an answer: It is that which is given by the very + procedure of taking up my book a second time.</p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">REVIEW OF CYCLOPÆDIAS.</p> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p>October 19, 1861. <i>The English Cyclopædia.</i> Conducted by Charles + Knight.<a name="NtA_445" href="#Nt_445"><sup>[445]</sup></a> 22 vols.: + viz., <i>Geography</i>, 4 vols.; <i>Biography</i>, 6 vols.; <i>Natural + History</i>, 4 vols.; <i>Arts and Sciences</i>, 8 vols. (Bradbury & + Evans.)</p> + + <p><i>The Encyclopædia Britannica: a Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and + General Literature.</i> Eighth Edition. 21 vols. and Index. (Black.)</p> + +</blockquote> + + <p>The two editions above described are completed at the same time: and + they stand at the head of the two great branches into which pantological + undertakings are divided, as at once the largest and the best of their + classes.</p> + + <p>When the works are brought together, the first thing that strikes the + eye is the syllable of difference in the names. The word + <i>Cyclopædia</i> is a bit of modern purism. Though <span + title="enkuklopaideia" class="grk" + >ἐγκυκλοπαιδεια</span><a + name="NtA_446" href="#Nt_446"><sup>[446]</sup></a> is not absolutely + Greek of Greece, we learn from both Pliny<a name="NtA_447" + href="#Nt_447"><sup>[447]</sup></a> and Quintilian<a name="NtA_448" + href="#Nt_448"><sup>[448]</sup></a> that the circle <!-- Page 281 + --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page281"></a>[281]</span>of the + sciences was so called by the Greeks, and Vitruvius<a name="NtA_449" + href="#Nt_449"><sup>[449]</sup></a> has thence naturalized + <i>encyclium</i> in Latin. Nevertheless we admit that the initial + <i>en</i> would have euphonized but badly with the word <i>Penny</i>: and + the <i>English Cyclopædia</i> is the augmented, revised, and distributed + edition of the <i>Penny Cyclopædia</i>. It has indeed been said that + Cyclopædia should mean the education <i>of</i> a circle, just as + Cyropædia is the education <i>of</i> Cyrus. But this is easily upset by + Aristotle's word <span title="kuklophoria" class="grk" + >κυκλοφορία</span>,<a + name="NtA_450" href="#Nt_450"><sup>[450]</sup></a> motion <i>in</i> a + circle, and by many other cases, for which see the lexicon.</p> + + <p>The earliest printed Encyclopædia of this kind was perhaps the famous + "myrrour of the worlde," which Caxton<a name="NtA_451" + href="#Nt_451"><sup>[451]</sup></a> translated from the French and + printed in 1480. The original Latin is of the thirteenth century, or + earlier. This is a collection of very short treatises. In or shortly + after 1496 appeared the <i>Margarita Philosophica</i> of Gregory + Reisch,<a name="NtA_452" href="#Nt_452"><sup>[452]</sup></a> the same we + must suppose, who was confessor to the Emperor Maximilian.<a + name="NtA_453" href="#Nt_453"><sup>[453]</sup></a> This is again a + collection of treatises, of much more pretension: and the estimation + formed of it is proved by the number of editions it went through. In 1531 + appeared the little collection of <i>works</i> of Ringelberg,<a + name="NtA_454" href="#Nt_454"><sup>[454]</sup></a> which is truly called + an Encyclopædia by <!-- Page 282 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page282"></a>[282]</span>Morhof, though the thumbs and fingers of + the two hands will meet over the length of its one volume. There are more + small collections; but we pass on to the first work to which the name of + <i>Encyclopædia</i> is given. This is a ponderous <i>Scientiarum Omnium + Encyclopædia</i> of Alsted,<a name="NtA_455" + href="#Nt_455"><sup>[455]</sup></a> in four folio volumes, commonly bound + in two: published in 1629 and again in 1649; the true parent of all the + Encyclopædias, or collections of treatises, or works in which that + character predominates. The first great <i>dictionary</i> may perhaps be + taken to be Hofman's <i>Lexicon Universale</i><a name="NtA_456" + href="#Nt_456"><sup>[456]</sup></a> (1677); but Chambers's<a + name="NtA_457" href="#Nt_457"><sup>[457]</sup></a> (so called) + <i>Dictionary</i> (1728) has a better claim. And we support our proposed + nomenclature by observing that Alsted accidentally called his work + <i>En</i>cyclopædia, and Chambers simply Cyclopædia.</p> + + <p>We shall make one little extract from the <i>myrrour</i>, and one from + Ringelberg. Caxton's author makes a singular remark for his time; and one + well worthy of attention. The grammar rules of a language, he says, must + have been invented by foreigners: "And whan any suche tonge was perfytely + had and usyd amonge any people, than other people not used to the same + tonge caused rulys to be made wherby they myght lerne the same tonge ... + and suche rulys be called the gramer of that tonge." Ringelberg says that + if the right nostril bleed, the little finger of the right hand should be + crooked, and squeezed with great force; and the same for the left.</p> + +<p><!-- Page 283 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page283"></a>[283]</span></p> + + <p>We pass on to <i>the</i> Encyclopédie,<a name="NtA_458" + href="#Nt_458"><sup>[458]</sup></a> commenced in 1751; the work which + has, in many minds, connected the word <i>encyclopædist</i> with that of + <i>infidel</i>. Readers of our day are surprised when they look into this + work, and wonder what has become of all the irreligion. The truth is, + that the work—though denounced <i>ab ovo</i><a name="NtA_459" + href="#Nt_459"><sup>[459]</sup></a> on account of the character of its + supporters—was neither adapted, nor intended, to excite any + particular remark on the subject: no work of which D'Alembert<a + name="NtA_460" href="#Nt_460"><sup>[460]</sup></a> was co-editor would + have been started on any such plan. For, first, he was a real + <i>sceptic</i>: that is, doubtful, with a mind not made up. Next, he + valued his quiet more than anything; and would as soon have gone to sleep + over an hornet's nest as have contemplated a systematic attack upon + either religion or government. As to Diderot<a name="NtA_461" + href="#Nt_461"><sup>[461]</sup></a>—of whose varied career of + thought it is difficult to fix the character of any one moment, but who + is very frequently taken among us for a pure atheist—we will quote + one sentence from the article "<i>Encyclopédie</i>," which he wrote + himself:—"Dans le moral, il n'y a que Dieu qui doit servir de + modèle a 1'homme; dans les art, que la nature."<a name="NtA_462" + href="#Nt_462"><sup>[462]</sup></a></p> + + <p>A great many readers in our country have but a very hazy idea of the + difference between the political Encyclopædia, as we may call it, and the + <i>Encyclopédie Méthodique</i>,<a name="NtA_463" + href="#Nt_463"><sup>[463]</sup></a> which we always take to be + meant—whether rightly or not we cannot tell—when we hear of + the "great French Encyclopædia." This work, which takes much from its + <!-- Page 284 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page284"></a>[284]</span>predecessor, professing to correct it, was + begun in 1792, and finished in 1832. There are 166 volumes of text, and + 6439 plates, which are sometimes incorporated with the text, sometimes + make about 40 more volumes. This is still the monster production of the + kind; though probably the German Cyclopædia of Ersch and Gruber,<a + name="NtA_464" href="#Nt_464"><sup>[464]</sup></a> which was begun in + 1818, and is still in progress, will beat it in size. The great French + work is a collection of dictionaries; it consists of Cyclopædias of all + the separate branches of knowledge. It is not a work, but a collection of + works, one or another department is to be bought from time to time; but + we never heard of a complete set for sale in one lot. As ships grow + longer and longer, the question arises what limit there is to the length. + One answer is, that it will never do to try such a length that the stern + will be rotten before the prow is finished. This wholesome rule has not + been attended to in the matter before us; the earlier parts of the great + French work were antiquated before the whole were completed: something of + the kind will happen to that of Ersch and Gruber.</p> + + <p>The production of a great dictionary of either of the kinds is far + from an easy task. There is one way of managing the <i>En</i>cyclopædia + which has been largely resorted to; indeed, we may say that no such work + has been free from it. This plan is to throw all the attention upon the + great treatises, and to resort to paste and scissors, or some process of + equally easy character, for the smaller articles. However it may be done, + it has been the rule that the Encyclopædia of treatises should have its + supplemental Dictionary of a very incomplete character. It is true that + the treatises are intended to do a good deal; and that the Index, if it + be good, knits the treatises and the dictionary into one whole of + reference. Still there are two stools, and between them a great deal will + fall to the ground. The dictionary portion of the <i>Britannica</i> is + not to be compared with its <!-- Page 285 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page285"></a>[285]</span>treatises; the part called Miscellaneous + and Lexicographical in the <i>Metropolitana</i><a name="NtA_465" + href="#Nt_465"><sup>[465]</sup></a> is a great failure. The defect is + incompleteness. The biographical portion, for example, of the Britannica + is very defective: of many names of note in literature and science, which + become known to the reader from the treatises, there is no account + whatever in the dictionary. So that the reader who has learnt the results + of a life in astronomy, for example, must go to some other work to know + when that life began and ended. This defect has run through all the + editions; it is in the casting of the work. The reader must learn to take + the results at their true value, which is not small. He must accustom + himself to regard the Britannica as a splendid body of treatises on all + that can be called heads of knowledge, both greater and smaller; with + help from the accompanying dictionary, but not of the most complete + character. Practically, we believe, this defect cannot be avoided: two + plans of essentially different structure cannot be associated on the + condition of each or either being allowed to abbreviate the other.</p> + + <p>The defect of all others which it is most difficult to avoid is + inequality of performance. Take any dictionary you please, of any kind + which requires the association of a number of contributors, and this + defect must result. We do not merely mean that some will do their work + better than others; this of course: we mean that there will be structural + differences of execution, affecting the relative extent of the different + parts of the whole, as well as every other point by which a work can be + judged. A wise editor will not attempt any strong measures of correction: + he will remember that if some portions be below the rest, which is a + disadvantage, it follows that some portions must be above the rest, which + is an advantage. The only practical level, if <!-- Page 286 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page286"></a>[286]</span>level there must be, is + that of mediocrity, if not of absolute worthlessness: any attempt to + secure equality of strength will result in equality of weakness. + Efficient development may be cut down into meager brevity, and in this + way only can apparent equality of plan be secured throughout. It is far + preferable to count upon differences of execution, and to proceed upon + the acknowledged expectation that the prominent merits of the work will + be settled by the accidental character of the contributors; it being held + impossible that any editorial efforts can secure a uniform standard of + goodness. Wherever the greatest power is found, it should be suffered to + produce its natural effect. There are, indeed, critics who think that the + merit of a book, like the strength of a chain, is that of its weakest + part: but there are others who know that the parallel does not hold, and + who will remember that the union of many writers must show exaggeration + of the inequalities which almost always exist in the production of one + person. The true plan is to foster all the good that can be got, and to + give development in the directions in which most resources are found: a + Cyclopædia, like a plant, should grow towards the light.</p> + + <p>The <i>Penny Cyclopædia</i> had its share of this kind of defect or + excellence, according to the way in which the measure is taken. The + circumstance is not so much noticed as might be expected, and this + because many a person is in the habit of using such a dictionary chiefly + with relation to one subject, his own; and more still want it for the + pure dictionary purpose, which does not go much beyond the meaning of the + word. But the person of full and varied reference feels the differences; + and criticism makes capital of them. The Useful Knowledge Society was + always odious to the organs of religious bigotry; and one of them, + adverting to the fact that geography was treated with great ability, and + most unusual fullness, in the <i>Penny Cyclopædia</i>, announced it by + making it the sole merit of <!-- Page 287 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page287"></a>[287]</span>the work that, with sufficient addition, + it would make a tolerably good gazetteer.</p> + + <p>Some of our readers may still have hanging about them the feelings + derived from this old repugnance of a class to all that did not associate + direct doctrinal teaching of religion with every attempt to communicate + knowledge. I will take one more instance, by way of pointing out the + extent to which stupidity can go. If there be an astronomical fact of the + telescopic character which, next after Saturn's ring and Jupiter's + satellites, was known to all the world, it was the existence of + multitudes of double stars, treble stars, etc. A respectable quarterly of + the theological cast, which in mercy we refrain from naming, was ignorant + of this common knowledge,—imagined that the mention of such systems + was a blunder of one of the writers in the <i>Penny Cyclopædia</i>, and + lashed the presumed ignorance of the statement in the following words, + delivered in April, 1837:</p> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p>"We have forgotten the name of that Sidrophel who lately discovered + that the fixed stars were not single stars, but appear in the heavens + like soles at Billingsgate, in pairs; while a second astronomer, under + the influence of that competition in trade which the political economists + tell us is so advantageous to the public, professes to show us, through + his superior telescope, that the apparently single stars are really + three. Before such wondrous mandarins of science, how continually must + <i>homunculi</i> like ourselves keep in the background, lest we come + between the wind and their nobility."</p> + +</blockquote> + + <p>Certainly these little men ought to have kept in the background; but + they did not: and the growing reputation of the work which they assailed + has chronicled them in literary history; grubs in amber.</p> + + <p>This important matter of inequality, which has led us so far, is one + to which the <i>Encyclopædia</i> is as subject as the <i>Cyclopædia</i>; + but it is not so easily recognized as a fault. <!-- Page 288 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page288"></a>[288]</span>We receive the first + book as mainly a collection of treatises: we know their authors, and we + treat them as individuals. We see, for instance, the names of two leading + writers on Optics, Brewster<a name="NtA_466" + href="#Nt_466"><sup>[466]</sup></a> and Herschel.<a name="NtA_467" + href="#Nt_467"><sup>[467]</sup></a> It would not at all surprise us if + either of these writers should be found criticising the other by name, + even though the very view opposed should be contained in the same + <i>Encyclopædia</i> with the criticism. And in like manner, we should + hold it no wonder if we found some third writer not comparable to either + of those we have named. It is not so in the <i>Cyclopædia</i>: here we do + not know the author, except by inference from a list of which we never + think while consulting the work. We do not dissent from this or that + author: we blame the book.</p> + + <p>The <i>Encyclopædia Britannica</i> is an old friend. Though it holds a + proud place in our present literature, yet the time was when it stood by + itself, more complete and more clear than anything which was to be found + elsewhere. There must be studious men alive in plenty who remember when + they were studious boys, what a literary luxury it was to pass a few days + in the house of a friend who had a copy of this work. The present edition + is a worthy successor of those which went before. The last three + editions, terminating in 1824, 1842, and 1861, seem to show that a lunar + cycle cannot pass without an amended and augmented edition. Detailed + criticism is out of the question; but we may notice the effective + continuance of the plan of giving general historical dissertations on the + progress of knowledge. Of some of these dissertations we have had to take + separate notice; and all will be referred to in our ordinary treatment of + current literature.<a name="NtA_468" + href="#Nt_468"><sup>[468]</sup></a></p> + + <p>The literary excellence of these two extensive undertakings is of the + same high character. To many this will <!-- Page 289 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page289"></a>[289]</span>need justification: + they will not easily concede to the cheap and recent work a right to + stand on the same shelf with the old and tried magazine, newly + replenished with the best of everything. Those who are cognizant by use + of the kind of material which fills the <i>Penny Cyclopædia</i> will need + no further evidence: to others we shall quote a very remarkable and + certainly very complete testimony. The <i>Cyclopædia of the Physical + Sciences</i>, published by Dr. Nichol<a name="NtA_469" + href="#Nt_469"><sup>[469]</sup></a> in 1857 (noticed by us, April 4), is + one of the most original of our special dictionaries. The following is an + extract from the editor's preface:</p> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p>"When I assented to Mr. Griffin's proposal that I should edit such a + Cyclopædia, I had it in my mind that I might make the <i>scissors</i> + eminently effective. Alas! on narrowly examining our best Cyclopædias, I + found that the scissors had become blunted through too frequent and + vigorous use. One great exception exists: viz., the <i>Penny + Cyclopædia</i> of Charles Knight.<a name="NtA_470" + href="#Nt_470"><sup>[470]</sup></a> The cheapest and the least + pretending, it is really the most philosophical of our <i>scientific</i> + dictionaries. It is not made up of a series of treatises, some good and + many indifferent, but is a thorough <i>Dictionary</i>, well proportioned + and generally written by the best men of the time. The more closely it is + examined, the more deeply will our obligation be felt to the intelligence + and conscientiousness of its projector and editor."</p> + +</blockquote> + + <p>After Dr. Nichol's candid and amusing announcement of his scissorial + purpose, it is but fair to state that nothing of the kind was ultimately + carried into effect, even upon the work in which he found so much to + praise. I quote this testimony because it is of a peculiar kind.</p> + +<p><!-- Page 290 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page290"></a>[290]</span></p> + + <p>The success of the <i>Penny Magazine</i> led Mr. Charles Knight in + 1832 to propose to the Useful Knowledge Society a Cyclopædia in weekly + penny numbers. These two works stamp the name of the projector on the + literature of our day in very legible characters. Eight volumes of 480 + pages each were contemplated; and Mr. Long<a name="NtA_471" + href="#Nt_471"><sup>[471]</sup></a> and Mr. Knight were to take the joint + management. The plan embraced a popular account of Art and Science, with + very brief biographical and geographical information. The early numbers + of the work had some of the <i>Penny Magazine</i> character: no one can + look at the pictures of the Abbot and Abbess in their robes without + seeing this. By the time the second volume was completed, it was clearly + seen that the plan was working out its own extension: a great development + of design was submitted to, and Mr. Long became sole editor. Contributors + could not be found to make articles of the requisite power in the + assigned space. One of them told us that when he heard of the eight + volumes, happening to want a shelf to be near at hand for containing the + work as it went on, he ordered it to be made to hold twenty-five volumes + easily. But the inexorable logic of facts beat him after all: for the + complete work contained twenty-six volumes and two thick volumes of + Supplement.</p> + + <p>The penny issue was brought to an end by the state of the law, which + required, in 1833, that the first and last page of everything sold + separately should contain the name and address of the printer. The penny + numbers contained this imprint on the fold of the outer leaf: and <i>qui + tam</i><a name="NtA_472" href="#Nt_472"><sup>[472]</sup></a> informations + were laid against the agents in various towns. <!-- Page 291 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page291"></a>[291]</span>It became necessary to + call in the stock; and the penny issue was abandoned. Monthly parts were + substituted, which varied in bulk, as the demands of the plan became more + urgent, and in price from one sixpence to three. The second volume of + Supplement appeared in 1846, and during the fourteen years of issue no + one monthly part was ever behind its time. This result is mainly due to + the peculiar qualities of Mr. Long, who unites the talents of the scholar + and the editor in a degree which is altogether unusual. If any one should + imagine that a mixed mass of contributors is a punctual piece of + machinery, let him take to editing upon that hypothesis, and he shall see + what he shall see and learn what he shall learn.</p> + + <p>The <i>English</i> contains about ten per cent more matter than the + <i>Penny Cyclopædia</i> and its supplements; including the third + supplementary volume of 1848, which we now mention for the first time. + The literary work of the two editions cost within 500<i>l.</i> and + 50,000<i>l.</i>: that of the two editions of the <i>Britannica</i> cost + 41,000<i>l.</i> But then it is to be remembered that the + <i>Britannica</i> had matter to begin upon, which had been paid for in + the former editions. Roughly speaking, it is probable that the authorship + of a page of the same size would have cost nearly the same in one as in + the other.</p> + + <p>The longest articles in the <i>Penny Cyclopædia</i> were "Rome" in 98 + columns and "Yorkshire" in 86 columns. The only article which can be + called a treatise is the Astronomer Royal's "Gravitation," founded on the + method of Newton in the eleventh section, but carried to a much greater + extent. In the <i>English Cyclopædia</i>, the longest article of + geography is "Asia," in 45 columns. In natural history the antelopes + demand 36 columns. In biography, "Wellington" uses up 42 columns, and his + great military opponent 41 columns. In the division of Arts and Sciences, + which includes much of a social and commercial character, the length of + articles often depends upon the state of the <!-- Page 292 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page292"></a>[292]</span>times with regard to + the subject. Our readers would not hit the longest article of this + department in twenty guesses: it is "Deaf and Dumb" in 60 columns. As + other specimens, we may cite Astronomy, 19; Banking, 36; Blind, 24; + British Museum, 35; Cotton, 27; Drama, 26; Gravitation, 50; Libraries, + 50; Painting, 34; Railways, 18; Sculpture, 36; Steam, etc., 37; Table, + 40; Telegraph, 30; Welsh language and literature, 39; Wool, 21. These are + the long articles of special subdivisions: the words under which the + <i>En</i>cyclopædia gives treatises are not so prominent. As in Algebra, + 10; Chemistry, 12; Geometry, 8; Logic, 14; Mathematics, 5; Music, 9. But + the difference between the collection of treatises and the dictionary may + be illustrated thus: though "Mathematics" have only five columns, + "Mathematics, recent terminology of," has eight: and this article we + believe to be by Mr. Cayley,<a name="NtA_473" + href="#Nt_473"><sup>[473]</sup></a> who certainly ought to know his + subject, being himself a large manufacturer of the new terms which he + explains. Again, though "Music" <i>in genere</i>, as the schoolmen said, + has only nine columns, "Temperament and Tuning," has eight, and "Chord" + alone has two. And so on.</p> + + <p>In a dictionary of this kind it is difficult to make a total clearance + of <i>personality</i>: by which we mean that exhibition of peculiar + opinion which is offensive to taste when it is shifted from the + individual on the corporate book. The treatise of the known author may, + as we have said, carry that author's controversies on its own shoulders: + and even his crotchets, if we may use such a word. But <!-- Page 293 + --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page293"></a>[293]</span>the dictionary + should not put itself into antagonism with general feeling, nor even with + the feelings of classes. We refer particularly to the ordinary and + editorial teaching of the article. If, indeed, the writer, being at issue + with mankind, should confess the difference, and give abstract of his + full grounds, the case is altered: the editor then, as it were, admits a + correspondent to a statement of his own individual views. The dictionary + portion of the Britannica is quite clear of any lapses on this point, so + far as we know: the treatises and dissertations rest upon their authors. + The Penny Cyclopædia was all but clear: and great need was there that it + should have been so. The Useful Knowledge Society, starting on the + principle of perfect neutrality in politics and religion, was obliged to + keep strict watch against the entrance of all attempt even to look over + the hedge. There were two—we believe only two—instances of + what we have called personality. The first was in the article "Bunyan." + It is worth while to extract all that is said—in an article of + thirty lines—about a writer who is all but universally held to be + the greatest master of allegory that ever wrote:</p> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p>"His works were collected in two volumes, folio, 1736-7: among them + 'The Pilgrim's Progress' has attained the greatest notoriety. If a + judgment is to be formed of the merits of a book by the number of times + it has been reprinted, and the many languages into which it has been + translated, no production in English literature is superior to this + coarse allegory. On a composition which has been extolled by Dr. Johnson, + and which in our own times has received a very high critical opinion in + its favor [probably Southey], it is hazardous to venture a disapproval, + and we, perhaps, speak the opinion of a small minority when we confess + that to us it appears to be mean, jejune and wearisome."</p> + +</blockquote> + + <p>—If the unfortunate critic who thus individualized himself had + been a sedulous reader of Bunyan, his power over <!-- Page 294 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page294"></a>[294]</span>English would not have + been so <i>jejune</i> as to have needed that fearful word. This little + bit of criticism excited much amusement at the time of its publication: + but it was so thoroughly exceptional and individual that it was seldom or + never charged on the book. The second instance occurred in the article + "Socinians." It had been arranged that the head-words of Christian sects + should be intrusted to members of the sects themselves, on the + understanding that the articles should simply set forth the accounts + which the sects themselves give of their own doctrines. Thus the article + on the Roman Church was written by Dr. Wiseman.<a name="NtA_474" + href="#Nt_474"><sup>[474]</sup></a> But the Unitarians were not allowed + to come within the rule: as in other quarters, they were treated as the + gypsies of Christianity. Under the head "Socinians"—a name + repudiated by themselves—an opponent was allowed not merely to + state their alleged doctrines in his own way, but to apply strong terms, + such as "audacious unfairness," to some of their doings. The protests + which were made against this invasion of the understanding produced, in + due time, the article "Unitarians," written by one of that persuasion. We + need not say that these errors have been amended in the English + Cyclopædia: and our chief purpose in mentioning them is to remark, that + this is all we can find on the points in question against twenty-eight + large volumes produced by an editor whose task was monthly, and whose + issue was never delayed a single hour. How much was arrested before + publication none but himself can say. We have not alluded to one or two + remonstrances on questions of absolute fact, which are beside the present + purpose.</p> + + <p>Both kinds of encyclopædic works have been fashioned upon + predecessors, from the very earliest which had a predecessor to be + founded upon; and the undertakings before us will be themselves the + ancestors of a line of successors. Those who write in such collections + should be <!-- Page 295 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page295"></a>[295]</span>careful what they say, for no one can tell + how long a mis-statement may live. On this point we will give the history + of a pair of epithets. When the historian De Thou<a name="NtA_475" + href="#Nt_475"><sup>[475]</sup></a> died, and left the splendid library + which was catalogued by Bouillaud<a name="NtA_476" + href="#Nt_476"><sup>[476]</sup></a> and the brothers Dupuis<a + name="NtA_477" href="#Nt_477"><sup>[477]</sup></a> (Bullialdus and + Puteanus), there was a manuscript of De Thou's friend Vieta,<a + name="NtA_478" href="#Nt_478"><sup>[478]</sup></a> the <i>Harmonicon + Cœleste</i>, of which it is on record, under Bouillaud's hand, that + he himself lent it to Cosmo de' Medici,<a name="NtA_479" + href="#Nt_479"><sup>[479]</sup></a> to which must be added that M. + Libri<a name="NtA_480" href="#Nt_480"><sup>[480]</sup></a> found it in + the Magliabecchi Library at Florence in our own day. Bouillaud, it seems, + entirely forgot what he had done. Something, probably, that Peter Dupuis + said to Bouillaud, while they were at work on the catalogue, remained on + his memory, and was published by him in 1645, long after; to the effect + that Dupuis lent the manuscript to Mersenne,<a name="NtA_481" + href="#Nt_481"><sup>[481]</sup></a> from whom it was procured by some + intending plagiarist, who would not give it back. This was repeated by + Sherburne,<a name="NtA_482" href="#Nt_482"><sup>[482]</sup></a> in 1675, + who speaks of the work, which "being communicated to Mersennus was, by + some perfidious acquaintance of that honest-minded person, + surreptitiously taken from him, and irrecoverably lost or suppressed, to + the unspeakable detriment of the lettered world." Now let the <!-- Page + 296 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page296"></a>[296]</span>reader + look through the dictionaries of the last century and the present, + scientific or general, at the article, "Vieta," and he will be amused + with the constant recurrence of "honest-minded" Mersenne, and his + "surreptitious" acquaintance. We cannot have seen less than thirty copies + of these epithets.</p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">REVIEW OF MACCLESFIELD LETTERS.</p> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p>October 18, 1862. <i>Correspondence of Scientific Men of the + Seventeenth Century, in the Collection of the Earl of Macclesfield.</i><a + name="NtA_483" href="#Nt_483"><sup>[483]</sup></a> 2 vols. (Oxford, + University Press.)</p> + +</blockquote> + + <p>Though the title-page of this collection bears the date 1841, it is + only just completed by the publication of its Table of Contents and + Index. Without these, a work of the kind is useless for consultation, and + cannot make its way. The reason of the delay will appear: its effect is + well known to us. We have found inquirers into the history of science + singularly ignorant of things which this collection might have taught + them.</p> + + <p>In the same year, 1841, the Historical Society of Science, which had + but a brief existence, published a collection of letters, eighty-three in + number, edited by Mr. Halliwell,<a name="NtA_484" + href="#Nt_484"><sup>[484]</sup></a> of English men of science, which + dovetails with the one before us, and is for the most part of a prior + date. The two should be bound up together. The smaller collection runs + from 1562 to 1682; the larger, from 1606 to past 1700. We shall speak of + the two as the Museum collection and the Macclesfield collection. And + near them should be placed, in every scientific library, the valuable + collection published, by Mr. Edleston,<a name="NtA_485" + href="#Nt_485"><sup>[485]</sup></a> for Trinity College, in 1850.</p> + +<p><!-- Page 297 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page297"></a>[297]</span></p> + + <p>The history of these letters runs back to famous John Collins, the + attorney-general of the mathematics, as he has been called, who wrote to + everybody, heard from everybody, and sent copies of everybody's letter to + everybody else. He was in England what Mersenne<a name="NtA_486" + href="#Nt_486"><sup>[486]</sup></a> was in France: as early as 1671, E. + Bernard<a name="NtA_487" href="#Nt_487"><sup>[487]</sup></a> addresses + him as "the very Mersennus and intelligence of this age." John Collins<a + name="NtA_488" href="#Nt_488"><sup>[488]</sup></a> was never more than + accountant to the Excise Office, to which he was promoted from teaching + writing and ciphering, at the Restoration: he died in 1682. We have had a + man of the same office in our own day, the late Prof. Schumacher,<a + name="NtA_489" href="#Nt_489"><sup>[489]</sup></a> who made the little + Danish Observatory of Altona the junction of all the lines by which + astronomical information was conveyed from one country to another. When + the collision took place between Denmark and the Duchies, the English + Government, moved by the Astronomical Society, instructed its diplomatic + agents to represent strongly to the Danish Government, when occasion + should arise, the great importance of the Observatory of Altona to the + astronomical communications of the whole world. But Schumacher had his + own celebrated journal, the <i>Astronomische Nachrichten</i>, by which to + work out part of his plan; private correspondence was his supplementary + assistant. Collins had only correspondence to rely on. Nothing is better + known than that it was Collins's collection which furnished the materials + put forward by the Committee of the Royal Society in 1712, as a defence + of Newton against the partisans of Leibnitz. The noted <i>Commercium + Epistolicum</i> is but the abbreviation of a title which runs on with "D. + Johannis Collins et aliorum ..."</p> + + <p>The whole of this collection passed into the hands of <!-- Page 298 + --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page298"></a>[298]</span>William + Jones,<a name="NtA_490" href="#Nt_490"><sup>[490]</sup></a> the father of + the Indian Judge of the same name, who died in 1749. Jones was originally + a teacher, but was presented with a valuable sinecure by the interest of + George, second Earl of Macclesfield, the mover of the bill for the change + of style in Britain, who died President of the Royal Society. This change + of style may perhaps be traced to the union of energies which were + brought into concert by the accident of a common teacher: Lord + Macclesfield and Lord Chesterfield,<a name="NtA_491" + href="#Nt_491"><sup>[491]</sup></a> the mover and the seconder, and + Daval,<a name="NtA_492" href="#Nt_492"><sup>[492]</sup></a> who drew the + bill, were pupils of De Moivre.<a name="NtA_493" + href="#Nt_493"><sup>[493]</sup></a> Jones, who was a respectable + mathematician though not an inventor, collected the largest mathematical + library of his day, and became possessor of the papers of Collins, which + contained those of Oughtred<a name="NtA_494" + href="#Nt_494"><sup>[494]</sup></a> and others. Some of these papers + passed into the custody of the Royal Society: but the bulk was either + bequeathed to, or purchased by, Lord Macclesfield; and thus they found + their way to Shirburn Castle, where they still remain.</p> + + <p>A little before 1836, this collection attracted the attention of a + searching inquirer into points of mathematical history, the late + Professor Rigaud,<a name="NtA_495" href="#Nt_495"><sup>[495]</sup></a> + who died in 1839. He examined the whole collection of letters, obtained + Lord Macclesfield's consent to their publication, and induced the Oxford + Press to bear the expense. It must be particularly remembered that there + still remains at Shirburn Castle a <!-- Page 299 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page299"></a>[299]</span>valuable mass of + non-epistolary manuscripts. So far as we can see, the best chance of a + further examination and publication lies in public encouragement of the + collection now before us: the Oxford Press might be induced to extend its + operations if it were found that the results were really of interest to + the literary and scientific world. Rigaud died before the work was + completed, and the publication was actually made by one of his sons, S. + Jordan Rigaud,<a name="NtA_496" href="#Nt_496"><sup>[496]</sup></a> who + died Bishop of Antigua. But this publication was little noticed, for the + reasons given. The completion now published consists of a sufficient + table of contents, of the briefest kind, by Professor De Morgan, and an + excellent index by the Rev. John Rigaud.<a name="NtA_497" + href="#Nt_497"><sup>[497]</sup></a> The work is now fairly started on its + career.</p> + + <p>If we were charged to write a volume with the title "Small things in + their connection with great," we could not do better than choose the + small part of this collection of letters as our basis. The names, as well + as the contents, are both great and small: the great names, those which + are known to every mathematician who has any infusion of the history of + his pursuit, are Briggs,<a name="NtA_498" + href="#Nt_498"><sup>[498]</sup></a> Oughtred, Charles Cavendish,<a + name="NtA_499" href="#Nt_499"><sup>[499]</sup></a> Gascoigne,<a + name="NtA_500" href="#Nt_500"><sup>[500]</sup></a> Seth Ward,<a + name="NtA_501" href="#Nt_501"><sup>[501]</sup></a> Wallis,<a + name="NtA_502" href="#Nt_502"><sup>[502]</sup></a> <!-- Page 300 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page300"></a>[300]</span>Hu[y]gens,<a + name="NtA_503" href="#Nt_503"><sup>[503]</sup></a> Collins,<a + name="NtA_504" href="#Nt_504"><sup>[504]</sup></a> William Petty,<a + name="NtA_505" href="#Nt_505"><sup>[505]</sup></a> Hooke,<a + name="NtA_506" href="#Nt_506"><sup>[506]</sup></a> Boyle,<a + name="NtA_507" href="#Nt_507"><sup>[507]</sup></a> Pell,<a name="NtA_508" + href="#Nt_508"><sup>[508]</sup></a> Oldenburg,<a name="NtA_509" + href="#Nt_509"><sup>[509]</sup></a> Brancker,<a name="NtA_510" + href="#Nt_510"><sup>[510]</sup></a> Slusius,<a name="NtA_511" + href="#Nt_511"><sup>[511]</sup></a> Bertit,<a name="NtA_512" + href="#Nt_512"><sup>[512]</sup></a> Bernard,<a name="NtA_513" + href="#Nt_513"><sup>[513]</sup></a> Borelli,<a name="NtA_514" + href="#Nt_514"><sup>[514]</sup></a> Mouton,<a name="NtA_515" + href="#Nt_515"><sup>[515]</sup></a> Pardies,<a name="NtA_516" + href="#Nt_516"><sup>[516]</sup></a> Fermat,<a name="NtA_517" + href="#Nt_517"><sup>[517]</sup></a> Towneley,<a name="NtA_518" + href="#Nt_518"><sup>[518]</sup></a> Auzout,<a name="NtA_519" + href="#Nt_519"><sup>[519]</sup></a> <!-- Page 301 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page301"></a>[301]</span>D. Gregory,<a + name="NtA_520" href="#Nt_520"><sup>[520]</sup></a> Halley,<a + name="NtA_521" href="#Nt_521"><sup>[521]</sup></a> Machin,<a + name="NtA_522" href="#Nt_522"><sup>[522]</sup></a> Montmort,<a + name="NtA_523" href="#Nt_523"><sup>[523]</sup></a> Cotes,<a + name="NtA_524" href="#Nt_524"><sup>[524]</sup></a> Jones,<a + name="NtA_525" href="#Nt_525"><sup>[525]</sup></a> Saunderson,<a + name="NtA_526" href="#Nt_526"><sup>[526]</sup></a> Reyneau,<a + name="NtA_527" href="#Nt_527"><sup>[527]</sup></a> Brook Taylor,<a + name="NtA_528" href="#Nt_528"><sup>[528]</sup></a> Maupertuis,<a + name="NtA_529" href="#Nt_529"><sup>[529]</sup></a> Bouguer,<a + name="NtA_530" href="#Nt_530"><sup>[530]</sup></a> La Condamine,<a + name="NtA_531" href="#Nt_531"><sup>[531]</sup></a> Folkes,<a + name="NtA_532" href="#Nt_532"><sup>[532]</sup></a> Macclesfield,<a + name="NtA_533" href="#Nt_533"><sup>[533]</sup></a> <!-- Page 302 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page302"></a>[302]</span>Baker,<a name="NtA_534" + href="#Nt_534"><sup>[534]</sup></a> Barrow,<a name="NtA_535" + href="#Nt_535"><sup>[535]</sup></a> Flamsteed,<a name="NtA_536" + href="#Nt_536"><sup>[536]</sup></a> Lord Brounker,<a name="NtA_537" + href="#Nt_537"><sup>[537]</sup></a> J. Gregory,<a name="NtA_538" + href="#Nt_538"><sup>[538]</sup></a> Newton<a name="NtA_539" + href="#Nt_539"><sup>[539]</sup></a> and Keill.<a name="NtA_540" + href="#Nt_540"><sup>[540]</sup></a> To these the Museum collection adds + the names of Thomas Digges,<a name="NtA_541" + href="#Nt_541"><sup>[541]</sup></a> Dee,<a name="NtA_542" + href="#Nt_542"><sup>[542]</sup></a> Tycho Brahe,<a name="NtA_543" + href="#Nt_543"><sup>[543]</sup></a> Harriot,<a name="NtA_544" + href="#Nt_544"><sup>[544]</sup></a> Lydyat,<a name="NtA_545" + href="#Nt_545"><sup>[545]</sup></a> Briggs,<a name="NtA_546" + href="#Nt_546"><sup>[546]</sup></a> Warner,<a name="NtA_547" + href="#Nt_547"><sup>[547]</sup></a> Tarporley, Pell,<a name="NtA_548" + href="#Nt_548"><sup>[548]</sup></a> Lilly,<a name="NtA_549" + href="#Nt_549"><sup>[549]</sup></a> Oldenburg,<a name="NtA_550" + href="#Nt_550"><sup>[550]</sup></a> Collins,<a name="NtA_551" + href="#Nt_551"><sup>[551]</sup></a> Morland.<a name="NtA_552" + href="#Nt_552"><sup>[552]</sup></a></p> + +<p><!-- Page 303 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page303"></a>[303]</span></p> + + <p>The first who appears on the scene is the celebrated Oughtred, who is + related to have died of joy at the Restoration: but it should be added, + by way of excuse, that he was eighty-six years old. He is an animal of + extinct race, an Eton mathematician. Few Eton men, even of the minority + which knows what a sliding rule is, are aware that the inventor was of + their own school and college: but they may be excused, for Dr. Hutton,<a + name="NtA_553" href="#Nt_553"><sup>[553]</sup></a> so far as his + Dictionary bears witness, seems not to have known it any more than they. + A glance at one of his letters reminds us of a letter from the Astronomer + Royal on the discovery of Neptune, which we printed March 20, 1847. Mr. + Airy<a name="NtA_554" href="#Nt_554"><sup>[554]</sup></a> there contends, + and proves it both by Leverrier<a name="NtA_555" + href="#Nt_555"><sup>[555]</sup></a> and by Adams,<a name="NtA_556" + href="#Nt_556"><sup>[556]</sup></a> that the limited publication of a + private letter is more efficient than the more general publication of a + printed memoir. The same may be true of a dead letter, as opposed to a + dead book. Our eye was caught by a letter of Oughtred (1629), containing + systematic use of contractions for the words <i>sine</i>, <i>cosine</i>, + etc., prefixed to the symbol of the angle. This is so very important a + step, simple as it is, that Euler<a name="NtA_557" + href="#Nt_557"><sup>[557]</sup></a> is justly held to have greatly + advanced trigonometry by its introduction. Nobody that we know of has + noticed that Oughtred was master of the improvement, and willing to have + taught it, if people would have learnt. After looking at his dead letter, + we naturally turned to his dead book on trigonometry, and there we found + the abbreviations <i>s</i>, <i>sco</i>, <i>t</i>, <i>tco</i>, <i>se</i>, + <i>seco</i>, regularly established as part of the system of the work. But + not one of those who have investigated the contending claims of Euler and + Thomas <!-- Page 304 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page304"></a>[304]</span>Simpson<a name="NtA_558" + href="#Nt_558"><sup>[558]</sup></a> has chanced to know of Oughtred's + "Trigonometrie": and the present revival is due to his letter, not to his + book.</p> + + <p>A casual reader, turning over the pages, would imagine that almost all + the letters had been printed, either in the General Dictionary, or in + Birch,<a name="NtA_559" href="#Nt_559"><sup>[559]</sup></a> etc.: so + often does the supplementary remark begin with "this letter has been + printed in ——." For ourselves we thought, until we counted, + that a large majority of the letters had been given, either in whole or + in part. But the positive strikes the mind more forcibly than the + negative: we find that all of which any portion has been in type makes up + very little more than a quarter; the cases in which the whole letter is + given being a minority of this quarter. The person who has been best + ransacked is Flamsteed: of 36 letters from him, 34 had been previously + given in whole or in part. Of 59 letters to and from Newton, only 17 have + been culled.</p> + + <p>The letters have been modernized in spelling, and, to some extent, in + algebraical notation; it also seems that conjectural methods of + introducing interpolations into the text have been necessary. For all + this we are sorry: the scientific value of the collection is little + altered, but its literary value is somewhat lowered. But it could not be + helped: the printers could not work from the originals, and Professor + Rigaud had to copy everything himself. A fac-simile must have been the + work of more time than he had to give: had he attempted it, his death + would have cut short the whole undertaking, instead of allowing him to + prepare everything but a preface, and to superintend the printing of one + of the volumes. We may also add, that we believe we have notices of + <i>all</i> the letters in the Macclesfield collection. We judge this + because several which are too trivial to print are numbered and + described; and those would certainly not have been noticed if <i>any</i> + omissions had <!-- Page 305 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page305"></a>[305]</span>been made. And we know that every letter + was removed from Shirburn Castle to Oxford.</p> + + <p>Two persons emerge from oblivion in this series of letters. The first + is Michael Dary,<a name="NtA_560" href="#Nt_560"><sup>[560]</sup></a> an + obscure mathematician, who was in correspondence with Newton and other + stars. He was a gauger at Bristol, by the interest of Collins; afterwards + a candidate for the mathematical school at Christ's Hospital, with a + certificate from Newton: he was then a gunner in the Tower, and is lastly + described by Wallis as "Mr. Dary, the tobacco-cutter, a knowing man in + algebra." In 1674, Dary writes to Newton at Cambridge, as + follows:—"Although I sent you three papers yesterday, I cannot + refrain from sending you this. I have had fresh thoughts this morning." + Two months afterwards poor Newton writes to Collins, "Mr. Dary is very + solicitous about mathematics": but in spite of the persecution, he + subscribes himself to Dary "your loving friend." Dary's <i>problem</i> is + that of finding the rate of interest of an annuity of which the value and + term are given. Dary's <i>theorem</i>, which he seems to have invented + specially for the solution of his problem, though it is of wide range, + can be exhibited to mathematical readers even in our columns. In modern + language, it is that the limit of <span + class="grk">φ</span><sup><i>n</i></sup><i>x</i>, when <i>n</i> + increases without limit, is a solution of <span + class="grk">φ</span><i>x</i> = <i>x</i>. We have mentioned the I. + Newton to whom Dary looked up; we add a word about the one on whom he + looked down. Dr. John Newton,<a name="NtA_561" + href="#Nt_561"><sup>[561]</sup></a> a sedulous publisher of logarithms, + tables of interest, etc., who began his career before Isaac Newton, + sometimes puzzles those who do not know him, when described as I. Newton. + The scientific world was of opinion that all that was valuable in one of + his works was taken from Dary's private communications.</p> + +<p><!-- Page 306 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page306"></a>[306]</span></p> + + <p>The second character above alluded to is one who carried mathematical + researches a far greater length than Newton himself: the assistance which + he rendered in this respect, even to Newton, has never been acknowledged + in modern times: though the work before us shows that his contemporaries + were fully aware of it, and never thought of concealing it. In his theory + of gravitation, in which, so far as he went, we have every reason to + believe he was prior to Newton, he did not extend his calculations to the + distance of the moon; his views in this matter were purely terrestrial, + and led him to charge according to weight. He was John Stiles, the London + and Cambridge carrier: his name is a household word in the Macclesfield + Letters, and is even enshrined in the depths of Birch's quartos. Dary + informs Newton—let us do his memory this justice—that he had + paid John Stiles for the carriage. At the time when the railroad to + Cambridge was opened, a correspondent recommended the directors, in our + columns, to call an engine by the name of John Stiles, and never to let + that name go off the road. We do not know whether the advice was + followed: if not, we repeat it.</p> + + <p>Little points of life and manners come out occasionally. Baker, the + author of a work on algebra much esteemed at the time, wrote to Collins + that their circumstances are alike, "having a just and equal number of + chargeable olive-branches, and being in the same predicament and blessed + condemnation with you, not more preaching than unpaid, and preaching the + art of contentment to others, am forced to practise it." But the last + sentence of his letter runs as follows: "I have sent by the bearer ... + twenty shillings, as a token to you; desiring you to accept of it, as a + small taste from Yours, Thos. Baker." In our day, men of a station to pay + parish taxes do not offer their friends hard money to buy liquor. But + Flamsteed<a name="NtA_562" href="#Nt_562"><sup>[562]</sup></a> writes to + Collins as follows: "Last week he sent us down the counterpart, which + <!-- Page 307 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page307"></a>[307]</span>my father has scaled, and I return up to + you by the carrier, with 5<i>l.</i> to be paid to Mr. Leneve for the + writing, I have added 2<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i> over, which will pay the + expenses and serve to drink, with him." This would seem as odd to us as + it would have seemed thirty years ago that half-a-crown should pay + carriage for a deed from Derby to London, and leave margin for a bottle + of wine: in our day, the Post-office and the French treaty would just + manage it between them. But Flamsteed does not limit his friend to one + bottle; he adds, "If you expend more than the half-crown, I will make it + good after Whitsuntide." Collins does not remember exactly where he had + met James Gregory, and mentions two equally likely places thus: "Sir, it + was once my good hap to meet with you in an alehouse or in Sion College." + There is a little proof how universally the dinner-hour was twelve + o'clock. Astronomers well know the method of finding time by equal + altitudes of the sun before and after noon: Huyghens calls it "le moyen + de deux égales hauteurs du soleil devant et après <i>dîner</i>."<a + name="NtA_563" href="#Nt_563"><sup>[563]</sup></a></p> + + <p>There is one mention of "Mr. Cocker,<a name="NtA_564" + href="#Nt_564"><sup>[564]</sup></a> our famous English graver and writer, + now a schoolmaster at Northampton." This is the true Cocker: his genuine + works are specimens of writing, such as engraved copy-books, including + some on arithmetic, with copper-plate questions and space for the + working; also a book of forms for law-stationers, with specimens of legal + handwriting. It is recorded somewhere that Cocker and another, whose name + we forget, competed with the Italians in the beauty of their flourishes. + This was his real fame: and in these matters he was great. The eighth + edition of his book of law forms (1675), published shortly after Cocker's + death, has a preface signed "J. H." This was John Hawkins, who became + possessed of Cocker's papers—at least he said so—and <!-- + Page 308 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page308"></a>[308]</span>subsequently forged the famous + Arithmetic,<a name="NtA_565" href="#Nt_565"><sup>[565]</sup></a> a second + work on Decimal Arithmetic, and an English dictionary, all attributed to + Cocker. The proofs of this are set out in De Morgan's <i>Arithmetical + Books</i>. Among many other corroborative circumstances, the clumsy + forger, after declaring that Cocker to his dying day resisted strong + solicitation to publish his Arithmetic, makes him write in the preface + <i>Ille ego qui quondam</i><a name="NtA_566" + href="#Nt_566"><sup>[566]</sup></a> of this kind: "I have been + instrumental to the benefit of many, by virtue of those useful arts, + writing and engraving; and do <i>now</i>, with the same <i>wonted + alacrity</i>, cast this my arithmetical mite into the public treasury." + The book itself is not comparable in merit to at least half-a-dozen + others. How then comes Cocker to be the impersonation of Arithmetic? + Unless some one can show proof, which we have never found, that he was so + before 1756, the matter is to be accounted for thus.</p> + + <p>Arthur Murphy,<a name="NtA_567" href="#Nt_567"><sup>[567]</sup></a> + the dramatist, was by taste a man of letters, and ended by being the + translator of Tacitus; though many do not know that the two are one. His + friends had tried to make him a man of business; and no doubt he had been + well plied with commercial arithmetic. His first dramatic performance, + the farce of "The Apprentice," produced in 1756, is about an idle young + man who must needs turn actor. Two of the best known books of the day in + arithmetic were those of Cocker and Wingate.<a name="NtA_568" + href="#Nt_568"><sup>[568]</sup></a> Murphy chooses <i>Wingate</i> to be + the name of an old merchant who <!-- Page 309 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page309"></a>[309]</span>delights in vulgar fractions, and + <i>Cocker</i> to be his arithmetical catchword—"You read + Shakespeare! get Cocker's Arithmetic! you may buy it for a shilling on + any stall; best book that ever was wrote!" and so on. The farce became + very popular, and, as we believe, was the means of elevating Cocker to + his present pedestal, where Wingate would have been, if his name had had + the droller sound of the two to English ears.</p> + + <p>A notoriety of an older day turns up, Major-General Lambert.<a + name="NtA_569" href="#Nt_569"><sup>[569]</sup></a> The common story is + that he was banished to Guernsey, where he passed thirty years in + confinement, rearing and painting flowers. But Baker, in 1678, represents + him as a prisoner at Plymouth, sending equations for solution as a + challenge: probably his place of confinement was varied, and his + occupation also.</p> + + <p>[General Lambert was removed to Plymouth, probably about 1668. His + daughter captured the son of the Governor of Guernsey, who therefore + probably was reckoned an unsafe custodier thenceforward; though he + assured the king that he had turned the young couple out of doors, and + had never given them a penny. Great importance was attached to Lambert's + safe detention: probably the remaining republicans looked upon him as to + be their next Cromwell, if such a thing were to be. There were standing + orders to shoot him at once on the first appearance of any enemy before + the island. See <i>Notes and Queries</i>, 3d S. iv. 89.]</p> + + <p>Collins informs James Gregory that "some of the Royal Academy wrote + over to Mr. Oldenburg, who was desired to impart the same to the Council + of the Royal Society, that the French King was willing to allow pensions + to one or two learned Englishmen, but they never made any answer <!-- + Page 310 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page310"></a>[310]</span>to + such a proposal." This was written in 1671, and the thing probably + happened several years before. Mr. De Morgan communicated the account of + the proposal to Lord Macaulay, who replied that he did not think that any + Englishman <i>received</i> a literary pension from Louis; but that there + is a curious letter, about 1664, from the French Ambassador, in which he + says that he has, by his master's orders, been making inquiries as to the + state of learning in England, and that he is sorry to find that the best + writer is <i>the infamous Miltonus</i>. On two such independent + testimonies it may be held proved that the French King had attempted to + buy a little adherence from English literature and science; and the + silent contempt of the Royal Society is an honorable fact in their + history.</p> + + <p>Another little bit of politics is as follows. Oughtred is informed + that "Mr. Foster,<a name="NtA_570" href="#Nt_570"><sup>[570]</sup></a> + our Lecturer on Astronomy at Gresham College, is put out because he will + not kneel down at the communion-table. A Scotsman [Mungo Murray], one + that is <i>verbi bis minister</i>,<a name="NtA_571" + href="#Nt_571"><sup>[571]</sup></a> is now lecturer in Mr. Foster's + place." Ward in his work on the Gresham Professors,<a name="NtA_572" + href="#Nt_572"><sup>[572]</sup></a> suppresses the reason, and the + suppression lowers the character of his book. Foster was expelled in + 1636, and re-elected on a vacancy in 1641, when Puritanism had gained + strength.</p> + + <p>The correspondence of Newton would require deeper sifting than could + be given in such an article as the present. The first of the letters + (1669) is curious, as presenting the <!-- Page 311 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page311"></a>[311]</span>appearance of forms + belonging to the great calculus which, in this paragraph, we ought to + call that of fluxions. We find, of the date February 18, 1669-70, what we + believe is the earliest manifestation of that morbid part of Newton's + temperament which has been so variously represented. He had solved a + problem—being that which we have called Dary's—on which he + writes as follows: "The solution of the annuity problem, if it will be of + any use, you have my leave to insert into the <i>Philosophical + Transactions</i>, so it be without my name to it. For I see not what + there is desirable in public esteem, were I able to acquire and maintain + it. It would perhaps increase my acquaintance, the thing which I chiefly + study to decline."</p> + + <p>Three letters touch upon "the experiment of glass rubbed to cause + various motions in bits of paper underneath": they are supplements to the + account given by Newton to the Royal Society, and printed by Birch. It + was Newton, so far as appears, who added <i>glass</i> to the substances + known to be electric. Soon afterwards we come to a little bit of the + history of the appointment to the Mint. It has appeared from the + researches of late years that Newton was long an aspirant for public + employment: the only coolness which is known to have taken place between + him and Charles Montague<a name="NtA_573" + href="#Nt_573"><sup>[573]</sup></a> [Halifax] arose out of his imagining + that his friend was not in earnest about getting him into the public + service. March 14, 1696, Newton writes thus to Halley: "And if the rumour + of preferment for me in the Mint should hereafter, upon the death of Mr. + Hoar [the comptroller], or any other occasion, be revived, I pray that + you would <!-- Page 312 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page312"></a>[312]</span>endeavour to obviate it by acquainting + your friends that I neither <i>put in</i> for <i>any</i> place in the + Mint, nor would meddle with <i>Mr. Hoar's place</i>, were it offered to + me." This means that Mr. Hoar's place had been suggested, which Newton + seems to have declined. Five days afterwards, Montague writes to Newton + that he is to have the <i>Wardenship</i>. It is fair to Newton to say + that in all probability this was not—or only in a smaller + degree—a question of personal dignity, or of salary. It must by + this time have been clear to him that the minister, though long bound to + make him an object of patronage, was actually seeking him for the Mint, + because he wanted both Newton's name and his talents for + business—which he knew to be great—in the weighty and + dangerous operation of restoring the coinage. It may have been, and + probably was, the case that Newton had a tolerably accurate notion of + what he would have to do, and of what degree of power would be necessary + to enable him to do it in his own way.</p> + + <p>We have said that the non-epistolary manuscripts are still unexamined. + There is a chance that one of them may answer a question of two + centuries' standing, which is worth answering, because it has been so + often asked. About 1640, Warner,<a name="NtA_574" + href="#Nt_574"><sup>[574]</sup></a> afterwards assisted by Pell,<a + name="NtA_575" href="#Nt_575"><sup>[575]</sup></a> commenced a table of + <i>antilogarithms</i>, of the kind which Dodson<a name="NtA_576" + href="#Nt_576"><sup>[576]</sup></a> afterwards constructed anew and + published. In the Museum collection there is inquiry after inquiry from + Charles Cavendish,<a name="NtA_577" href="#Nt_577"><sup>[577]</sup></a> + first, as to when the <i>Analogics</i>, as he called them, would be + finished; next, when they would be printed. Pell answers, in 1644, that + Warner left his papers to a kinsman, who had become bankrupt, and + proceeds thus:</p> + + <p>"I am not a little afraid that all Mr. Warner's papers, <!-- Page 313 + --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page313"></a>[313]</span>and no small + share of my labours therein, are seazed upon, and most unmathematically + divided between the sequestrators and creditors, who (not being able to + ballance the account where there appeare so many numbers, and much + troubled at the sight of so many crosses and circles in the superstitious + Algebra and that black art of Geometry) will, no doubt, determine once in + their lives to become figure-casters, and so vote them all to be throwen + into the fire, if some good body doe not reprieve them for pye-bottoms, + for which purposes you know analogicall numbers are incomparably apt, if + they be accurately calculated."</p> + + <p>Pell afterwards told Wallis<a name="NtA_578" + href="#Nt_578"><sup>[578]</sup></a> that the papers had fallen into the + hands of Dr. Busby,<a name="NtA_579" href="#Nt_579"><sup>[579]</sup></a> + and Collins<a name="NtA_580" href="#Nt_580"><sup>[580]</sup></a> writes + that they were left in the hands of Dr. Thorndike,<a name="NtA_581" + href="#Nt_581"><sup>[581]</sup></a> a prebendary of Westminster; whence + Rigaud<a name="NtA_582" href="#Nt_582"><sup>[582]</sup></a> seems to say + that Thorndike had left them to Dr. Busby. Birch<a name="NtA_583" + href="#Nt_583"><sup>[583]</sup></a> says that he procured for the Royal + Society four boxes from Busby's trustees, containing papers of Warner and + Pell: but there is no other tradition of such things in the Society. But + in the Birch manuscripts at the British Museum, there turns up, as + printed in what we call the Museum collection, a list of Warner's papers, + with <i>Collins's</i> receipt to Dr. Thorndike at the bottom, and + engagement to restore them on demand. The date is December 14, 1667; + Wallis's statement being in 1693. It is possible that Busby may be a + mistake altogether: he was very unlikely to have had charge of any + mathematical papers: there may have been a confusion between the + Prebendary of Westminster and the Head Master of Westminster School. If + so, in all probability Thorndike handed <!-- Page 314 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page314"></a>[314]</span>the cumbrous lot over + to the notorious collector of mathematical papers, blessing himself that + he got rid of them in a manner which would insure their return if he were + called upon by the owners to restore them. It is much against this + hypothesis that Dodson, who certainly recalculated, can say nothing more + about Warner than a repetition of Wallis's story: though, had Collins + kept the papers, they would probably have been in Jones's possession at + the very time when Dodson, who was a friend of Jones and a user of his + library, was engaged on his own computations. But even books, and still + more manuscripts, are often singularly overlooked; and it remains not + very improbable that Warner's table is now at Shirburn Castle, among the + unexamined manuscripts.</p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">CYCLOMETRY AND STEEL PENS.</p> + + <p><i>Redit labor actus in orbem.</i><a name="NtA_584" + href="#Nt_584"><sup>[584]</sup></a> Among the matters which have come to + me since the Budget opened, there is a pamphlet of quadrature of two + pages and a half from Professor Recalcati,<a name="NtA_585" + href="#Nt_585"><sup>[585]</sup></a> already mentioned. It ends with + "Quelque objection qu'on fasse touchant les raisonnements ci-dessus on + tombera toujours dans l'absurde."<a name="NtA_586" + href="#Nt_586"><sup>[586]</sup></a> A civil engineer—so he + says—has made the quadrature "no longer a problem, but an axiom." + As follows: "Take the quadrant of a circle whose circumference is given, + square the quadrant which gives the true square of the circle. Because 30 + ÷ 4 = 7.5 × 7.5 = 56.25 = the positive square of a circle whose + circumference is 30." Brevity, the soul of wit, is the "wings of + mighty-winds" to quadrature, and sends it "flying all abroad." A + <i>surbodhicary</i>—something like M.A. or LL.D., I + understand—at Calcutta, published in 1863 the division of an <!-- + Page 315 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page315"></a>[315]</span>angle + into any odd number of parts, demonstration and all in—when the + diagram is omitted—one page, good-sized, well-leaded type, small + duodecimo. But in the Preface he acknowledges "sheer inability" to + execute his task. Mr. William Dean, of Todmorden, in 1863, announced + 3-9/64 as proved both practically and geometrically: he has been already + mentioned anonymously. Next I have the tract of Don Juan Larriva, + published at Leiria in 1856, and dedicated to Queen Victoria. Mr. W. + Peters,<a name="NtA_587" href="#Nt_587"><sup>[587]</sup></a> already + mentioned, who has for some months been circulating diagrams on a card, + publishes (August, 1865) <i>The Circle Squared</i>. He agrees with the + Archpriest of St. Vitus. He hints that a larger publication will depend + partly on the support he receives, and partly on the castigation, for + which last, of course, he looks to me. Cyclometers have their several + styles of wit; so have anticyclometers too, for that matter. Mr. Peters + will not allow me any extra-journal being: I am essentially a quotation + from the <i>Athenæum</i>; "A. De Morgan" <i>et præterea nihil</i>.<a + name="NtA_588" href="#Nt_588"><sup>[588]</sup></a> If he had to pay for + keeping me set up, he would find out his mistake, and would be glad to + compound handsomely for a stereotype. Next comes a magnificent sheet of + pasteboard, printed on both sides. Having glanced at it and detected + quadrature, I began methodically at the beginning—"By Royal + Command," with the lion and unicorn, and all that comes between. Mercy on + us! thought I to myself: has Her Majesty referred the question to the + Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, where all the great difficulties + go now-a-days, and is this proclamation the result? On reading further I + was relieved by finding that the first side is entirely an advertisement + of Joseph Gillott's<a name="NtA_589" href="#Nt_589"><sup>[589]</sup></a> + steel pens, with engraving of his <!-- Page 316 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page316"></a>[316]</span>premises, and notice of + novel application of his unrivalled machinery. The second side begins + with "the circle rectified" by W. E. Walker,<a name="NtA_590" + href="#Nt_590"><sup>[590]</sup></a> who finds <span + class="grk">π</span> = 3.141594789624155.... This is an off-shoot from + an accurate geometrical rectification, on which is to be presumed Mr. + Gillott's new machinery is founded. I have no doubt that Mr. Walker's + error, which is only in the sixth place of decimals, will not hurt the + pens, unless it be by the slightest possible increase of the tendency to + open at the points. This arises from Mr. Walker having rectified above + proof by .000002136034362....</p> + + <p>Lastly, I, even I myself, who have long felt that I was a quadrature + below par, have solved the problem by means which, in the present state + of the law of libel, I dare not divulge. But the result is permitted; and + it goes far to explain all the discordances. The ratio of the + circumference to the diameter is not always the same! Not that it varies + with the radius; the geometers are right enough on that point: but it + varies with the time, in a <span class="correction" title="text reads `maner'" + >manner</span> depending upon the difference of the true longitudes of + the Sun and Moon. A friend of mine—at least until he + misbehaved—insisted on the mean right ascensions: but I served him + as Abraham served his guest in Franklin's parable. The true formula is, A + and <i>a</i> being the Sun's and Moon's longitudes,</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p><span class="grk">π</span> = 3-13/80 + 3/80 cos(A - <i>a</i>).</p> + </div> + </div> + <p>Mr. James Smith obtained his quadrature at full moon; the Archpriest + of St. Vitus and some others at new moon. Until I can venture to publish + the demonstration, I recommend the reader to do as I do, which is to + adopt 3.14159..., and to think of the matter only at the two points of + the lunar month at which it is correct. The <i>Nautical Almanac</i> will + no doubt give these points in a short time: I am in correspondence with + the Admiralty, with nothing <!-- Page 317 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page317"></a>[317]</span>to get over except what I must call a + perverse notion on the part of the Superintendent of the <i>Almanac</i>, + who suspects one correction depending on the Moon's latitude; and the + Astronomer Royal leans towards another depending on the date of the + Queen's accession. I have no patience with these men: what can the Moon's + node of the Queen's reign possibly have to do with the ratio in question? + But this is the way with all the regular men of science; Newton is to + them etc. etc. etc. etc.</p> + + <p>The following method of finding the circumference of a circle (taken + from a paper by Mr. S. Drach<a name="NtA_591" + href="#Nt_591"><sup>[591]</sup></a> in the <i>Phil. Mag.</i>, Jan. 1863, + Suppl.) is as accurate as the use of 3.14159265. From three diameters + deduct 8-thousandths and 7-millionths of a diameter; to the result add + five per cent. We have then not quite enough; but the shortcoming is at + the rate of about an inch and a sixtieth of an inch in 14,000 miles.</p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">JACOB BEHMEN.</p> + + <p>Though I have met with nothing but a little tract from the school of + Jacob Behmen<a name="NtA_592" href="#Nt_592"><sup>[592]</sup></a> (or + Böhme; I keep to the old English version of his name), yet there has been + more, and of a more recent date. I am told of an "Introduction to + Theosophy [<i>Theo</i> private, I suppose, as in theological]; or, the + Science of the Mystery of Christ," published in 1854, mostly from the + writings of William Law<a name="NtA_593" + href="#Nt_593"><sup>[593]</sup></a>: and also of a volume of 688 pages, + of the same year, printed for private circulation, containing notes for a + biography of William Law. The editor of the first work wishes to grow "a + <!-- Page 318 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page318"></a>[318]</span>generation of perfect Christians" by + founding a Theosophic College, for which he requests the public to raise + a hundred thousand pounds. There is a good account of Jacob Behmen in the + <i>Penny Cyclopædia</i>. The author mentions inaccurate accounts, one of + which he quotes, as follows: "He derived all his mystical and rapturous + doctrine from Wood's<a name="NtA_594" href="#Nt_594"><sup>[594]</sup></a> + <i>Athenæ Oxonienses</i>, Vol. I, p. 610, and <i>Hist. et Antiq. Acad. + Oxon.</i>, Vol. II, p. 308." On which the author remarks that Wood was + born after Behmen's death. There must have been a few words which slipped + out: what is meant is that Behmen "derived his doctrine from <i>Robert + Fludd</i>,<a name="NtA_595" href="#Nt_595"><sup>[595]</sup></a> <i>for + whom see</i> Wood's etc. etc." Even this is absurd enough: for Behmen + began to publish in 1610, and Fludd in 1616. Fludd was a Rosicrucian, and + a mystic of a different type from Behmen. I have some of his works, and + could produce out of them paradoxes enough, according to our ways of + thinking, to fit out a host. But the Rosicrucian system was a recognized + school of its day, and Fludd, a man of great learning, had abettors + enough in all which he advanced, and predecessors in most of it.</p> + + <p>[A Correspondent has recently sent a short summary of the claims of + Jacob Behmen to rank higher than I have placed him. I shall gladly insert + this summary in the book I contemplate, as a statement of what is said of + Behmen far less liable to suspicion of exaggeration than anything I could + write. I shall add a few extracts from Behmen himself, in support of his + right to be in my list.]</p> + + <p>"<i>Jacob Behmen.</i>—That Prof. De Morgan classes Jacob Behmen + among paradoxers can only be attributed to the fact of his being avowedly + unacquainted with the writings <!-- Page 319 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page319"></a>[319]</span>of that author. Perhaps you may think a + few words from one who knows them well of sufficient interest to the + learned Professor, and your readers in general, to be worthy of space in + your columns. The metaphysical system of Behmen—the most perfect + and only true one—still awaits a qualified commentator. Behmen's + countryman, Dionysius Andreas Freher,<a name="NtA_596" + href="#Nt_596"><sup>[596]</sup></a> who spent the greater part of his + life in this country, and whose exposition of Behmen exists only in MS., + filling many volumes, written in English, with the exception of two, + written in German, with numerous beautiful, highly ingenious, and + elaborate illustrations,—copies of some of which are in the British + Museum, but all the originals of which are in the possession of the + gentleman who is the editor of the two works alluded to by Professor De + Morgan,—this Freher was the first to philosophically expound + Behmen's system, which was afterwards, with the help of these MSS., as it + were, popularized by William Law; but both Freher and Law confined + themselves chiefly to its theological aspect. In Behmen, however, is to + be found, not only the true ground of all theology, but also that of all + physical science. He demonstrated with a fullness, accuracy, completeness + and certainty that leave nothing to be desired, the innermost ground of + Deity and Nature; and, confining myself to the latter, I can from my own + knowledge assert, that in Behmen's writings is to be found the true and + clear demonstration of every physical fact that has been discovered since + his day. Thus, the science of electricity, which was not yet in existence + when he wrote, is there anticipated; and not only does Behmen describe + all the now known phenomena of that force, but he even gives us the + origin, generation and birth of electricity itself. Again, positive + evidence can be adduced that Newton derived all his knowledge of + gravitation and its <!-- Page 320 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page320"></a>[320]</span>laws from Behmen, with whom gravitation or + attraction is, and very properly so, as he shows us, the first of the + seven properties of Nature. The theory defended by Mr. Grove,<a + name="NtA_597" href="#Nt_597"><sup>[597]</sup></a> at the Nottingham + meeting of last year, that all the apparently distinct causes of moral + and physical phenomena are but so many manifestations of one central + force, and that Continuity is the law of nature, is clearly laid down, + and its truth demonstrated, by Behmen, as well as the distinction between + spirit and matter, and that the moral and material world is pervaded by a + sublime unity. And though all this was not admitted in Behmen's days, + because science was not then sufficiently advanced to understand the deep + sense of our author, many of his passages, then unintelligible, or + apparently absurd, read by the light of the present age, are found to + contain the positive enunciation of principles at whose discovery and + establishment science has only just arrived by wearisome and painful + investigations. Every new scientific discovery goes to prove his profound + and intuitive insight into the most secret workings of nature; and if + scientific men, instead of sharing the prejudice arising from ignorance + of Behmen's system, would place themselves on the vantage ground it + affords, they would at once find themselves on an eminence whence they + could behold all the arcana of nature. Behmen's system, in fact, shows us + the <i>inside</i> of things, while modern physical science is content + with looking at the <i>outside</i>. Behmen traces back every outward + manifestation or development to its one central root,—to that one + central energy which, as yet, is only suspected; every link in the chain + of his demonstration is perfect, and there is not one link wanting. He + carries us from the out-births of the circumference, along the radius to + the center, <!-- Page 321 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page321"></a>[321]</span>or point, and beyond that even to the + zero, demonstrating the constitution of the zero, or nothing, with + mathematical precision. C. W. H."</p> + + <p>And so Behmen is no subject for the Budget! I waited until I should + chance to light on one of his volumes, knowing that any volume would do, + and almost any page. My first hap was on the second volume of the edition + of 1664 (4to, published by M. Richardson) and opening near the beginning, + a turn or two brought me to page 13, where I saw about <i>sulphur</i> and + <i>mercurius</i> as follows:</p> + + <p> </p> + + <p>"Thus SUL is the soul, in an herb it is the oil, and in man also, + according to the spirit of <i>this</i> world in the third principle, + which is continually generated out of the anguish of the will in the + mind, and the Brimstone-worm is the Spirit, which hath the fire and + <i>burneth</i>: PHUR is the sour wheel in itself which causeth that.</p> + + <p>"<i>Mercurius</i> comprehendeth all the four forms, even as the life + springeth up, and yet hath not its dark beginning in the Center as the + PHUR hath, but after the flash of fire, when the sour dark form is + terrified, where the hardness is turned into pliant sharpness, and where + the second will (<i>viz.</i> the will of nature, which is called the + Anguish) ariseth, there Mercurius hath its original. For MER is the + shivering wheel, very horrible, sharp, venomous, and hostile; which + assimulateth it thus in the sourness in the flash of fire, where the sour + wrathful life <i>ariseth</i>. The syllable CU is the pressing out, of the + <i>Anxious</i> will of the mind, from Nature: which is climbing up, and + <i>willeth</i> to be out aloft. RI is the comprehension of the flash of + fire, which in MER giveth a clear sound and tune. For the flash maketh + the tune, and it is the Salt-Spirit which <i>soundeth</i>, and its form + (or quality) is gritty like sand, and herein arise noises, sounds and + voices, and thus CU comprehendeth the flash, and so the pressure is as a + <i>wind</i> which thrusteth, and giveth a spirit to the flash, so that it + liveth and burneth. Thus the <!-- Page 322 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page322"></a>[322]</span>syllable US is called the burning fire, + which with the spirit continually driveth itself forth: and the syllable + CU presseth continually upon the flash."</p> + + <p> </p> + + <p>Shades of Tauler<a name="NtA_598" href="#Nt_598"><sup>[598]</sup></a> + and Paracelsus,<a name="NtA_599" href="#Nt_599"><sup>[599]</sup></a> how + strangely you do mix! Well may Hallam call Germany the native soil of + Mysticism. Had Behmen been the least of a scholar, he would not have + divided <i>sulph-ur</i> and <i>merc-ur-i-us</i> as he has done: and the + inflexion <i>us</i>, that boy of all work, would have been rejected. I + think it will be held that a writer from whom hundreds of pages like the + above could be brought together, is fit for the Budget. If Sampson Arnold + Mackay<a name="NtA_600" href="#Nt_600"><sup>[600]</sup></a> had tied his + etymologies to a mystical Christology, instead of a mystical infidelity, + he might have had a school of followers. The nonsense about Newton + borrowing gravitation from Behmen passes only with those who know neither + what Newton did, <span class="correction" title="text reads `not'" + >nor</span> what was done before him.</p> + + <p>The above reminds me of a class of paradoxers whom I wonder that I + forgot; they are without exception the greatest bores of all, because + they can put the small end of their paradox into any literary + conversation whatever. I mean the people who have heard the local + pronunciation of celebrated names, and attempt not only to imitate it, + but to impose on others their broken German or Arabic, or what not. They + also learn the vernacular names of those who are generally spoken of in + their Latin forms; at least, they learn a few cases, and hawk them as + evidences of erudition. They are miserably mistaken: scholarship, as a + rule, <!-- Page 323 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page323"></a>[323]</span>always accepts the vernacular form of a + name which has vernacular celebrity. Hallam writes Behmen: his + index-maker, rather superfluously, gives "<i>Behmen</i> or Boehm." And he + retains Melanchthon,<a name="NtA_601" href="#Nt_601"><sup>[601]</sup></a> + the name given by Reuchlin<a name="NtA_602" + href="#Nt_602"><sup>[602]</sup></a> to his little kinsman Schwartzerd, + because the world has adopted it: but he will none of Capnio, the name + which Reuchlin fitted on to himself, because the world has not adopted + it. He calls the old forms pedantry: but he sees that the rejection of + well-established results of pedantry would be greater pedantry still. The + paradoxers assume the question that it is more <i>correct</i> to sound a + man by lame imitation of his own countrymen than as usual in the country + in which the sound is to be made. Against them are, first, the world at + large; next, an overpowering majority of those who know something about + surnames and their history. Some thirty years ago—a + fact—there appeared at the police-office a complainant who found + his own law. In the course of his argument, he asked, "What does Kitty + say?"—"Who's Kitty?" said the magistrate, "your wife, or your + nurse?"—"Sir! I mean Kitty, the celebrated lawyer."—"Oh!" + said the magistrate, "I suspect you mean Mr. Chitty,<a name="NtA_603" + href="#Nt_603"><sup>[603]</sup></a> the author of the great work on + pleading."—"I do sir! But Chitty is an Italian name, and ought to + be pronounced <i>Kitty</i>." This man was a full-blown flower: but there + is many a modest bud; and all ought either to blush when seen or to waste + their pronunciation on the desert air.</p> + +<p><!-- Page 324 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page324"></a>[324]</span></p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">A PLEA FOR KING CUSTOM.</p> + + <p>I stand up for King Custom, or <i>Usus</i>, as Horace called him, with + whom is <i>arbitrium</i> the decision, and <i>jus</i> the right, and + <i>norma</i> the way of deciding, simply because he has <i>potestas</i> + the power. He may admit one and another principle to advise: but Custom + is not a constitutional king; he may listen to his cabinet, but he + decides for himself: and if the ministry should resign, he blesses his + stars and does without them. We have a glorious liberty in England of + owning neither dictionary, grammar, nor spelling-book: as many as choose + write by either of the three, and decide all disputed points their own + way, those following them who please.</p> + + <p>Throughout this book I have called people by the names which denote + them in their books, or by our vernacular names. This is the intelligible + way of proceeding. I might, for instance (Vol. I, p. 44), have spoken of + Charles de Bovelles,<a name="NtA_604" href="#Nt_604"><sup>[604]</sup></a> + of Lefèvre d'Étaples,<a name="NtA_605" + href="#Nt_605"><sup>[605]</sup></a> of Pèlerin,<a name="NtA_606" + href="#Nt_606"><sup>[606]</sup></a> and of Etienne.<a name="NtA_607" + href="#Nt_607"><sup>[607]</sup></a> But I prefer the old plan. Those who + like another plan better, are welcome to substitute with a pen, when they + know what to write; when they do not, it is clear that they would not + have understood me if I had given modern names.</p> + + <p>The principal advisers of King Custom are as follows. First, there is + Etymology, the <i>chiffonnier</i>, or general rag-merchant, who has made + such a fortune of late years in his own business that he begins to be + considered highly respectable. He gives advice which is more thought of + than followed, partly on account of the fearful extremes into which he + runs. He lately asked some boys of sixteen, at a matriculation + examination in <i>English</i>, to what branch of <!-- Page 325 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page325"></a>[325]</span>the Indo-Germanic + family they felt inclined to refer the Pushto language, and what changes + in the force of the letters took place in passing from Greek into + Mœso-Gothic. Because all syllables were once words, he is a little + inclined to insist that they shall be so still. He would gladly rule + English with a Saxon rod, which might be permitted with a certain + discretion which he has never attained: and when opposed, he defends + himself with analogies of the Aryan family until those who hear him long + for the discovery of an Athanasyus. He will transport a word beyond + seas—he is recorder of Rhematopolis—on circumstantial + evidence which looks like mystery gone mad; but, strange to say, + something very often comes to light after sentence is passed which proves + the soundness of the conviction.</p> + + <p>The next adviser is Logic, a swearing old justice of peace, quorum, + and rotulorum, whose excesses brought on such a fit of the gout that for + many years he was unable to move. He is now mending, and his friends say + he has sown his wild oats. He has some influence with the educated + subjects of Custom, and will have more, if he can learn the line at which + interference ought to stop: with them he has succeeded in making an + affirmative of two negatives; but the vulgar won't never have nothing to + say to him. He has always railed at Milton for writing that Eve was the + fairest of her daughters; but has never satisfactorily shown what Milton + ought to have said instead.</p> + + <p>The third adviser has more influence with the mass of the subjects of + King Custom than the other two put together; his name is Fiddlefaddle, + the toy-shop keeper; and the other two put him forward to do their worst + work. In return, he often uses their names without authority. He took + Etymology to witness that <i>means</i> to an end must be plural: and he + would have any one method to be a <i>mean</i>. But Etymology proved him + wrong, King Custom referred him to his Catechism, in which is "a means + whereby we receive the same," and Analogy—a subordinate of <!-- + Page 326 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page326"></a>[326]</span>Etymology—asked whether he thought + it a great <i>new</i> to hear that he was wrong. It was either this + Fiddlefaddle, or Lindley Murray<a name="NtA_608" + href="#Nt_608"><sup>[608]</sup></a> his traveler, who persuaded the Miss + Slipslops, of the Ladies Seminary, to put "The Misses Slipslop" over the + gate. Sixty years ago, this bagman called at all the girls' schools, and + got many of the teachers to insist on the pupils saying "Is it not" and + "Can I not" for "Isn't it" and "Can't I": of which it came that the poor + girls were dreadfully laughed at by their irreverent brothers when they + went home for the holidays. Had this bad adviser not been severely + checked, he might by this time have proposed our saying "The Queen's of + England son," declaring, in the name of Logic, that the prince was the + Queen's son, not England's.</p> + + <p>Lastly, there is Typography the metallurgist, an executive officer who + is always at work in secret, and whose lawless mode of advising is often + done by carrying his notions into effect without leave given. He it is + who never ceases suggesting that the same word is not to occur in a + second place within sight of the first. When the Authorized Version was + first printed, he began this trick at the passage, "Let there be light, + and there was light;" he drew a line on the proof under the second + <i>light</i>, and wrote "<i>luminosity?</i>" opposite. He is strongest in + the punctuations and other signs; he has a pepper-box full of commas + always by his side. He puts everything under marks of quotation which he + has ever heard before. An earnest preacher, in a very moving sermon, used + the phrase Alas! and alack a day! Typography stuck up the inverted commas + because he had read the old Anglo-Indian toast, "A lass and a lac a day!" + If any one should have the sense to leave out of his Greek <!-- Page 327 + --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page327"></a>[327]</span>the unmeaning + scratches which they call accents, he goes to a lexicon and puts them in. + He is powerful in routine; but when two routines interlace or overlap, he + frequently takes the wrong one.</p> + + <p>Subject to bad advice, and sometimes misled for a season, King Custom + goes on his quiet way and is sure to be right at last.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="hg3">"Treason does never prosper: what's the reason?</p> + <p>Why, when it prospers, none dare call it treason."</p> + </div> + </div> + <p>Language is in constant fermentation, and all that is thrown in, so + far as it is not fit to assimilate, is thrown off; and this without any + obvious struggle. In the meanwhile every one who has read good authors, + from Shakspeare downward, knows what is and what is not English; and + knows, also, that our language is not one and indivisible. Two very + different turns of phrase may both be equally good, and as good as can + be: we may be relieved of the consequences of contempt of one court by + <i>habeas corpus</i> issuing out of another.</p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">TEST OF LANGUAGE.</p> + + <p>Hallam remarks that the Authorized Version of the Bible is not in the + language of the time of James the First: that it is not the English of + Raleigh or of Bacon. Here arises the question whether Raleigh and Bacon + are the true expositors of the language of their time; and whether they + were not rather the incipient promoters of a change which was + successfully resisted by—among other things—the Authorized + Version of the Testaments. I am not prepared to concede that I should + have given to the English which would have been fashioned upon that of + Bacon by imitators, such as they usually are, the admiration which is + forced from me by Bacon's English from Bacon's pen. On this point we have + a notable parallel. Samuel Johnson <!-- Page 328 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page328"></a>[328]</span>commands our + admiration, at least in his matured style: but we nauseate his followers. + It is an opinion of mine that the works of the leading writers of an age + are seldom the proper specimens of the language of their day, when that + language is in its state of progression. I judge of a language by the + colloquial idiom of educated men: that is, I take this to be the best + medium between the extreme cases of one who is ignorant of grammar and + one who is perched upon a style. Dialogue is what I want to judge by, and + plain dialogue: so I choose Robert Recorde<a name="NtA_609" + href="#Nt_609"><sup>[609]</sup></a> and his pupil in the <i>Castle of + Knowledge</i>, written before 1556. When Dr. Robert gets into his + altitudes of instruction, he differs from his own common phraseology as + much as probably did Bacon when he wrote morals and philosophy. But every + now and then I come to a little plain talk about a common thing, of which + I propose to show a specimen. Anything can be made to look old by such + changes as <i>makes</i> into <i>maketh</i>, with a little old spelling. I + shall invert these changes, using the newer form of inflexion, and the + modern spelling: with no other variation whatever.</p> + + <p>"<i>Scholar.</i> Yet the reason of that is easy enough to be + conceived, for when the day is at the longest the Sun must needs shine + the more time, and so must it needs shine the less time when the day is + at the shortest: this reason I have heard many men declare.</p> + + <p><i>Master.</i> That may be called a crabbed reason, for it <!-- Page + 329 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page329"></a>[329]</span>goes + backward like a crab. The day makes not the Sun to shine, but the Sun + shining makes the day. And so the length of the day makes not the Sun to + shine long, neither the shortness of the day causes not [<i>sic</i>] the + Sun to shine the lesser time, but contrariwise the long shining of the + Sun makes the long day, and the short shining of the Sun makes the lesser + day: else answer me what makes the days long or short?</p> + + <p><i>Scholar.</i> I have heard wise men say that Summer makes the long + days, and Winter makes the long nights.</p> + + <p><i>Master.</i> They might have said more wisely, that long days make + summer and short days make winter.</p> + + <p><i>Scholar.</i> Why, all that seems one thing to me.</p> + + <p><i>Master.</i> Is it all one to say, God made the earth, and the earth + made God? Covetousness overcomes all men, and all men overcome + covetousness?</p> + + <p><i>Scholar.</i> No, not so; for here the effect is turned to be the + cause, and the agent is made the patient.</p> + + <p><i>Master.</i> So is it to say Summer makes long days, when you should + say: Long days make summer.</p> + + <p><i>Scholar.</i> I perceive it now: but I was so blinded with the + vulgar error, that if you had demanded of me further what did make the + summer, I had been like to have answered that green leaves do make + summer; and the sooner by remembrance of an old saying that a year should + come in which the summer should not be known but by the green leaves.</p> + + <p><i>Master.</i> Yet this saying does not import that green leaves do + make summer, but that they betoken summer; so are they the sign and not + the cause of summer."</p> + + <p>I have taken a whole page of our author, without omission, that the + reader may see that I do not pick out sentences convenient for my + purpose. I have done nothing but alter the third person of the verb and + the spelling: but great is the effect thereof. We say "the Sun shining + makes the day"; Recorde, "the Sonne shynynge maketh the daye." <!-- Page + 330 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page330"></a>[330]</span>These + points apart, we see a resemblance between our English and that of three + hundred years ago, in the common talk of educated persons, which will + allow us to affirm that the language of the authorized Bible must have + been very close to that of its time. For I cannot admit that much change + can have taken place in fifty years: and the language of the version + represents both our common English and that of Recorde with very close + approximation. Take sentences from Bacon and Raleigh, and it will be + apparent that these writers will be held to differ from all three, + Recorde, the version, and ourselves, by differences of the same + character. But we speak of Recorde's conversation, and of our own. We + conclude that it is the plain and almost colloquial character of the + Authorized Version which distinguishes it from the English of Bacon and + Raleigh, by approximating it to the common idiom of the time. If any one + will cast an eye upon the letters of instruction written by Cecil<a + name="NtA_610" href="#Nt_610"><sup>[610]</sup></a> and the Bishop of + London to the translators themselves, or to the general directions sent + to them in the King's name, he will find that these plain business + compositions differ from the English of Bacon and Raleigh by the same + sort of differences which distinguish the version itself.</p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">PRONUNCIATION.</p> + + <p>The foreign word, or the word of a district, or class of people, + passes into the general vernacular; but it is long before the specially + learned will acknowledge the right of those with whom they come in + contact to follow general usage. The rule is simple: so long as a word is + technical or local, those who know its technical or local pronunciation + may reasonably employ it. But when the word has become general, the + specialist is not very wise if he refuse to follow <!-- Page 331 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page331"></a>[331]</span>the mass, and perfectly + foolish if he insist on others following him. There have been a few who + demanded that Euler should be pronounced in the German fashion:<a + name="NtA_611" href="#Nt_611"><sup>[611]</sup></a> Euler has long been + the property of the world at large; what does it matter how his own + countrymen pronounce the letters? Shall we insist on the French + pronouncing <i>Newton</i> without that final <i>tong</i> which they never + fail to give him? They would be wise enough to laugh at us if we did. We + remember that a pedant who was insisting on all the pronunciations being + retained, was met by a maxim in contradiction, invented at the moment, + and fathered upon Kaen-foo-tzee,<a name="NtA_612" + href="#Nt_612"><sup>[612]</sup></a> an authority which he was challenged + to dispute. Whom did you speak of? said the bewildered man of accuracy. + Learn your own system, was the answer, before you impose it on others; + Confucius says that too.<a name="NtA_613" + href="#Nt_613"><sup>[613]</sup></a></p> + + <p>The old English has <i>fote</i>, <i>fode</i>, <i>loke</i>, + <i>coke</i>, <i>roke</i>, etc., for <i>foot</i>, etc. And <i>above</i> + rhymes in Chaucer to <i>remove</i>. Suspecting that the broader sounds + are the older, we may surmise that <i>remove</i> and <i>food</i> have + retained their old sounds, and that <i>cook</i>, once <i>coke</i>, would + have rhymed to our <i>Luke</i>, the vowel being brought a little nearer, + perhaps, to the <i>o</i> in our present <i>coke</i>, the fuel, probably + so called as used by cooks. If this be so, the Chief Justice + <i>Cook</i><a name="NtA_614" href="#Nt_614"><sup>[614]</sup></a> of our + lawyers, and the <i>Coke</i> (pronounced like the fuel) of the greater + part of the world, are equally wrong. The lawyer has no right whatever to + fasten his pronunciation upon us: even leaving aside the general custom, + he cannot prove himself right, and is probably wrong. Those who <!-- Page + 332 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page332"></a>[332]</span>know the + village of Rokeby (pronounced Rookby) despise the world for not knowing + how to name Walter Scott's poem: that same world never asked a question + about the matter, and the reception of the parody of <i>Jokeby</i>, which + soon appeared, was a sufficient indication of their notion. Those who + would fasten the hodiernal sound upon us may be reminded that the + question is, not what they call it now, but what it was called in + Cromwell's time. Throw away general usage as a lawgiver, and this is the + point which emerges. Probably <i>Rūke-by</i> would be right, with a + little turning of the Italian ū towards ō of modern + English.</p> + + <p>[Some of the above is from an old review. I do not always notice such + insertions: I take nothing but my own writings. A friend once said to me, + "Ah! you got that out of the <i>Athenæum</i>!" "Excuse me," said I. "the + <i>Athenæum</i> got that out of me!"]</p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">APOLOGIES TO CLUVIER.</p> + + <p>It is part of my function to do justice to any cyclometers whose + methods have been wrongly described by any orthodox sneerers (myself + included). In this character I must notice <i>Dethlevus Cluverius</i>,<a + name="NtA_615" href="#Nt_615"><sup>[615]</sup></a> as the Leipzig Acts + call him (probably Dethleu Cluvier), grandson of the celebrated + geographer, Philip Cluvier. The grandson was a Fellow of the Royal + Society, elected on the same day as Halley,<a name="NtA_616" + href="#Nt_616"><sup>[616]</sup></a> November 30, 1678: I suppose he lived + in England. This <!-- Page 333 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page333"></a>[333]</span>man is quizzed in the Leipzig Acts for + 1686; and, if Montucla insinuate rightly, by Leibnitz, who is further + suspected of wanting to embroil Cluvier with his own opponent + Nieuwentiit,<a name="NtA_617" href="#Nt_617"><sup>[617]</sup></a> on the + matter of infinitesimals. So far good: I have nothing against Leibnitz, + who though he was ironical, told us what he laughed at. But Montucla has + behaved very unfairly: he represents Cluvier as placing the essence of + his method in the solution of the problem <i>construere mundum divinæ + menti analogum</i>, to construct a world corresponding to the divine + mind. Nothing to begin with: no way of proceeding. Now, it ought to have + been <i>ex data linea construere</i>,<a name="NtA_618" + href="#Nt_618"><sup>[618]</sup></a> etc.: there is a given line, which is + something to go on. Further, there is a way of proceeding: it is to find + the product of 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. for ever. Moreover, Montucla charges + Cluvier with <i>unsquaring</i> the parabola, which Archimedes had squared + as tight as a glove. But he never mentions how very nearly Cluvier agrees + with the Greek: they only differ by 1 divided by 3<i>n</i><sup>2</sup>, + where <i>n</i> is the infinite number of parts of which a parabola is + composed. This must have been the conceit that tickled Leibnitz, and made + him wish that Cluvier and Nieuwentiit should fight it out. Cluvier, was + admitted, on terms of irony, into the Leipzig Acts: he appeared on a more + serious footing in London. It is very rare for one cyclometer to refute + another: <i>les corsaires ne se battent pas</i>.<a name="NtA_619" + href="#Nt_619"><sup>[619]</sup></a> The only instance I recall is that of + M. Cluvier, who (<i>Phil. Trans.</i>, 1686, No. 185) refuted M. Mallemont + de Messange,<a name="NtA_620" href="#Nt_620"><sup>[620]</sup></a> who + <!-- Page 334 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page334"></a>[334]</span>published at Paris in 1686. He does it in + a very serious style, and shows himself a mathematician. And yet in the + year in which, in the <i>Phil. Trans.</i>, he was a geometer, and one who + rebukes his squarer for quoting Matthew xi. 25, in that very year he was + the visionary who, in the Leipzig Acts, professed to build a world + resembling the divine mind by multiplying together 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. up to + infinity.</p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">THE RAINBOW PARADOX.</p> + + <p>There is a very pretty opening for a paradox which has never found its + paradoxer in print. The philosophers teach that the rainbow is not + material: it comes from rain-drops, but those rain-drops do not + <i>take</i> color. They only <i>give</i> it, as lenses and mirrors; and + each one drop gives <i>all</i> the colors, but throws them in different + directions. Accordingly, the same drop which furnishes red light to one + spectator will furnish violet to another, properly placed. Enter the + paradoxer whom I have to invent. The philosopher has gulled you nicely. + Look into the water, and you will see the reflected rainbow: take a + looking-glass held sideways, and you see another reflection. How could + this be, if there were nothing colored to reflect? The paradoxer's facts + are true: and what are called the reflected rainbows are <i>other</i> + rainbows, caused by those <i>other</i> drops which are placed so as to + give the colors to the eye after reflection, at the water or the + looking-glass. A few years ago an artist exhibited a picture with a + rainbow and its apparent reflection: he simply copied what he had seen. + When his picture was examined, some started the idea that there could be + no reflection of a rainbow; they were right: they inferred that the + artist had made a mistake; they were wrong. When it was explained, some + agreed and some dissented. Wanted, <!-- Page 335 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page335"></a>[335]</span>immediately, an able + paradoxer: testimonials to be forwarded to either end of the rainbow, No. + 1. No circle-squarer need apply, His Variegatedness having been pleased + to adopt 3.14159... from Noah downwards.</p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">TYCHO BRAHE REVIVED.</p> + + <p>The system of Tycho Brahé,<a name="NtA_621" + href="#Nt_621"><sup>[621]</sup></a> with some alteration and addition, + has been revived and contended for in our own day by a Dane, W. + Zytphen,<a name="NtA_622" href="#Nt_622"><sup>[622]</sup></a> who has + published <i>The Motion of the Sun in the Universe</i>, (second edition) + Copenhagen, 1865, 8vo, and <i>Le Mouvement Sidéral</i>, 1865, 8vo. I make + an extract.</p> + + <p>"How can one explain Copernically that the velocity of the Moon must + be added to the velocity of the Earth on the one place in the Earth's + orbit, to learn how far the Moon has advanced from one fixed star to + another; but in another place in the orbit these velocities must be + subtracted (the movements taking place in opposite directions) to attain + the same result? In the Copernican and other systems, it is well known + that the Moon, abstracting from the insignificant excentricity of the + orbit, always in twenty-four hours performs an equally long distance. Why + has Copernicus never been denominated Fundamentus or Fundator? Because he + has never convinced anybody so thoroughly that this otherwise so natural + epithet has occurred to the mind."</p> + + <p>Really the second question is more effective against Newton than + against Copernicus; for it upsets gravity: the first is of great + depth.</p> + +<p><!-- Page 336 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page336"></a>[336]</span></p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">JAMES SMITH WILL NOT DOWN.</p> + + <p>The <i>Correspondent</i> journal makes a little episode in the history + of my Budget (born May, 1865, died April, 1866). It consisted entirely of + letters written by correspondents. In August, a correspondent who signed + "Fair Play"—and who I was afterwards told was a lady—thought + it would be a good joke to bring in the Cyclometers. Accordingly a letter + was written, complaining that though Mr. Sylvester's<a name="NtA_623" + href="#Nt_623"><sup>[623]</sup></a> demonstration of Newton's + theorem—then attracting public attention—was duly lauded, the + possibly greater discovery of the quadrature seemed to be blushing + unseen, and wasting etc. It went on as follows:</p> + + <p>"Prof. De Morgan, who, from his position in the scientific world, + might fairly afford to look favourably on less practised efforts than his + own, seems to delight in ridiculing the discoverer. Science is, of + course, a very respectable person when he comes out and makes himself + useful in the world [it must have been a lady; each sex gives science to + the other]: but when, like a monk of the Middle Ages, he shuts himself up + [it must have been a lady; they always snub the bachelors] in his + cloistered cell, repeating his mumpsimus from day to day, and despising + the labourers on the outside, we begin to think of Galileo,<a + name="NtA_624" href="#Nt_624"><sup>[624]</sup></a> Jenner,<a + name="NtA_625" href="#Nt_625"><sup>[625]</sup></a> Harvey,<a + name="NtA_626" href="#Nt_626"><sup>[626]</sup></a> and other glorious + trios, who have been contemned ..."</p> + + <p>The writer then called upon Mr. James Smith<a name="NtA_627" + href="#Nt_627"><sup>[627]</sup></a> to come <!-- Page 337 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page337"></a>[337]</span>forward. The irony was + not seen; and that day fortnight appeared the first of more than thirty + letters from his pen. Mr. Smith was followed by Mr. Reddie,<a + name="NtA_628" href="#Nt_628"><sup>[628]</sup></a> Zadkiel,<a + name="NtA_629" href="#Nt_629"><sup>[629]</sup></a> and others, on their + several subjects. To some of the letters I have referred; to others I + shall come. The <i>Correspondent</i> was to become a first-class + scientific journal; the time had arrived at which truth had an organ: and + I received formal notice that I could not stifle it by silence, nor + convert it into falsehood by ridicule. When my reader sees my extracts, + he will readily believe my declaration that I should have been the last + to stifle a publication which was every week what James Mill<a + name="NtA_630" href="#Nt_630"><sup>[630]</sup></a> would call a dose of + capital for my Budget. A few anti-paradoxers brought in common sense: but + to the mass of the readers of the journal it all seemed to be the + difference between Tweedledum and Tweedledee. Some said that the influx + of scientific paradoxes killed the journal: but my belief is that they + made it last longer than it otherwise would have done. Twenty years ago I + recommended the paradoxers to combine and publish their views in a common + journal: with a catholic editor, who had no pet theory, but a stern + determination not to exclude anything merely for absurdity. I suspect it + would answer very well. A strong title, or motto, would be wanted: not so + coarse as was roared out in a Cambridge mob when I was an + undergraduate—"No King! No Church! No House of Lords! No nothing, + blast me!"—but something on that <i>principle</i>.</p> + + <p>At the end of 1867 I addressed the following letter to the + <i>Athenæum</i>:</p> + +<p class="cenhead"><span class="sc">Pseudomath, Philomath, and Graphomath.</span></p> + + <p class="author"><i>December 31, 1867</i></p> + + <p>Many thanks for the present of Mr. James Smith's letters <!-- Page 338 + --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page338"></a>[338]</span>of Sept. 28 + and of Oct. 10 and 12. He asks where you will be if you read and digest + his letters: you probably will be somewhere first. He afterwards asks + what the <span class="scac">WE</span> of the <i>Athenæum</i> will be if, + finding it impossible to controvert, it should refuse to print. I answer + for you, that We-We of the <i>Athenæum</i>, not being Wa-Wa the wild + goose, so conspicuous in "Hiawatha," will leave what controverts itself + to print itself, if it please.</p> + + <p><i>Philomath</i> is a good old word, easier to write and speak than + <i>mathematician</i>. It wants the words between which I have placed it. + They are not well formed: <i>pseudomathete</i> and <i>graphomathete</i> + would be better: but they will do. I give an instance of each.</p> + + <p>The <i>pseudomath</i> is a person who handles mathematics as the + monkey handled the razor. The creature tried to shave himself as he had + seen his master do; but, not having any notion of the angle at which the + razor was to be held, he cut his own throat. He never tried a second + time, poor animal! but the pseudomath keeps on at his work, proclaims + himself clean-shaved, and all the rest of the world hairy. So great is + the difference between moral and physical phenomena! Mr. James Smith is, + beyond doubt, the great pseudomath of our time. His 3⅛ is the + least of a wonderful chain of discoveries. His books, like Whitbread's + barrels, will one day reach from Simpkin & Marshall's to Kew, placed + upright, or to Windsor laid length-ways. The Queen will run away on their + near approach, as Bishop Hatto did from the rats: but Mr. James Smith + will follow her were it to John o' Groats.</p> + + <p>The <i>philomath</i>, for my present purpose, must be exhibited as + giving a lesson to presumption. The following anecdote is found in + Thiébault's<a name="NtA_631" href="#Nt_631"><sup>[631]</sup></a> + <i>Souvenirs de vingt ans de séjours à Berlin</i>, published in 1804. The + book itself got a high character for truth. In 1807 Marshal Mollendorff<a + name="NtA_632" href="#Nt_632"><sup>[632]</sup></a> <!-- Page 339 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page339"></a>[339]</span>answered an inquiry of + the Duc de Bassano,<a name="NtA_633" href="#Nt_633"><sup>[633]</sup></a> + by saying that it was the most veracious of books, written by the most + honest of men. Thiébault does not claim personal knowledge of the + anecdote, but he vouches for its being received as true all over the + north of Europe.<a name="NtA_634" href="#Nt_634"><sup>[634]</sup></a></p> + + <p>Diderot<a name="NtA_635" href="#Nt_635"><sup>[635]</sup></a> paid a + visit to Russia at the invitation of Catherine the Second. At that time + he was an atheist, or at least talked atheism: it would be easy to prove + him either one thing or the other from his writings. His lively sallies + on this subject much amused the Empress, and all the younger part of her + Court. But some of the older courtiers suggested that it was hardly + prudent to allow such unreserved exhibitions. The Empress thought so too, + but did not like to muzzle her guest by an express prohibition: so a plot + was contrived. The scorner was informed that an eminent mathematician had + an algebraical proof of the existence of God, which he would communicate + before the whole Court, if agreeable. Diderot gladly consented. The + mathematician, who is not named, was Euler.<a name="NtA_636" + href="#Nt_636"><sup>[636]</sup></a> He came to Diderot with the gravest + air, and in a tone of perfect conviction said, "<i>Monsieur!</i></p> + +<table class="math"><tr><td> +<i>a</i> + <i>b<sup>n</sup></i><br /><img src="images/$line.png" style="width:100%; height:1px; line-height:1px;" alt="/" /><br /><i>n</i> </td><td> = <i>x</i> +</td></tr></table> + + <p><i>donc Dieu existe; répondez!</i>"<a name="NtA_637" + href="#Nt_637"><sup>[637]</sup></a> Diderot, to whom algebra was Hebrew, + though this is expressed in a very roundabout way by Thiébault—and + whom we may suppose to have expected some verbal argument of alleged + algebraical closeness, was disconcerted; while peals of laughter sounded + on all sides. Next day he asked permission to return to France, which was + granted. An algebraist would have <!-- Page 340 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page340"></a>[340]</span>turned the tables + completely, by saying, "Monsieur! vous savez bien que votre raisonnement + demande le développement de <i>x</i> suivant les puissances entières de + <i>n</i>".<a name="NtA_638" href="#Nt_638"><sup>[638]</sup></a> Goldsmith + could not have seen the anecdote, or he might have been supposed to have + drawn from it a hint as to the way in which the Squire demolished poor + Moses.</p> + + <p>The <i>graphomath</i> is a person who, having no mathematics, attempts + to describe a mathematician. Novelists perform in this way: even Walter + Scott now and then burns his fingers. His dreaming calculator, Davy + Ramsay, swears "by the bones of the immortal Napier." Scott thought that + the the philomaths worshiped relics: so they do, in one sense. Look into + Hutton's<a name="NtA_639" href="#Nt_639"><sup>[639]</sup></a> Dictionary + for <i>Napier's Bones</i>, and you shall learn all about the little + knick-knacks by which he did multiplication and division. But never a + bone of his own did he contribute; he preferred elephants' tusks. The + author of <i>Headlong Hall</i><a name="NtA_640" + href="#Nt_640"><sup>[640]</sup></a> makes a grand error, which is quite + high science: he says that Laplace proved the precession of the equinoxes + to be a periodical inequality. He should have said the variation of the + obliquity. But the finest instance is the following: Mr. Warren,<a + name="NtA_641" href="#Nt_641"><sup>[641]</sup></a> in his well-wrought + tale of the martyr-philosopher, was incautious enough to invent the + symbols by which his <i>savant</i> satisfied himself Laplace<a + name="NtA_642" href="#Nt_642"><sup>[642]</sup></a> was right on a + doubtful point. And this is what he put together—</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>√-3<i>a</i><sup>2</sup>, <a href="images/bp2rectangle.png"><img src="images/bp2rectangle.png" class="middle" style="height:1ex" alt="rectangle" /></a><i>y</i><sup>2</sup> / <i>z</i><sup>2</sup> + 9 - <i>n</i> = 9, <i>n</i> × log <i>e</i>.</p> + </div> + </div> + <p>Now, to Diderot and the mass of mankind this might be Laplace all + over: and, in a forged note of Pascal, would <!-- Page 341 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page341"></a>[341]</span>prove him quite up to + gravitation. But I know of nothing like it, except in the lately received + story of the American orator, who was called on for some Latin, and + perorated thus: "Committing the destiny of the country to your hands, + Gentlemen, I may without fear declare, in the language of the noble Roman + poet,</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>E pluribus unum,</p> + <p>Multum in parvo,</p> + <p>Ultima Thule,</p> + <p>Sine qua non."<a name="NtA_643" href="#Nt_643"><sup>[643]</sup></a></p> + </div> + </div> + <p>But the American got nearer to Horace than the martyr-philosopher to + Laplace. For all the words are in Horace, except <i>Thule</i>, which + might have been there. But <a href="images/bp2rectangle.png"><img + src="images/bp2rectangle.png" class="middle" style="height:1ex" + alt="rectangle" /></a> is not a symbol wanted by Laplace; nor can we see + how it could have been; in fact, it is not recognized in algebra. As to + the junctions, etc., Laplace and Horace are about equally well + imitated.</p> + + <p>Further thanks for Mr. Smith's letters to you of Oct. 15, 18, 19, 28, + and Nov. 4, 15. The last of these letters has two curious discoveries. + First, Mr. Smith declares that he has <i>seen</i> the editor of the + <i>Athenæum</i>: in several previous letters he mentions a name. If he + knew a little of journalism he would be aware that editors are a peculiar + race, obtained by natural selection. They are never seen, even by their + officials; only heard down a pipe. Secondly, "an ellipse or oval" is + composed of four arcs of circles. Mr. Smith has got hold of the + construction I was taught, when a boy, for a pretty four-arc oval. But my + teachers knew better than to call it an ellipse: Mr. Smith does not; but + he produces from it such confirmation of 3⅛ as would convince any + <i>honest</i> editor.</p> + + <p>Surely the cyclometer is a Darwinite development of a spider, who is + always at circles, and always begins again when his web is brushed away. + He informs you that he <!-- Page 342 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page342"></a>[342]</span>has been privileged to discover truths + unknown to the scientific world. This we know; but he proceeds to show + that he is equally fortunate in art. He goes on to say that he will make + use of you to bring those truths to light, "just as an artist makes use + of a dummy for the purpose of arranging his drapery." The painter's + lay-figure is for flowing robes; the hairdresser's dummy is for curly + locks. Mr. James Smith should read Sam Weller's pathetic story of the + "four wax dummies." As to <i>his</i> use of a dummy, it is quite correct. + When I was at University College, I walked one day into a room in which + my Latin colleague was examining. One of the questions was, "Give the + lives and fates of Sp. Mælius,<a name="NtA_644" + href="#Nt_644"><sup>[644]</sup></a> and Sp. Cassius."<a name="NtA_645" + href="#Nt_645"><sup>[645]</sup></a> Umph! said I, surely all know that + Spurius Mælius was whipped for adulterating flour, and that Spurius + Cassius was hanged for passing bad money. Now, a robe arranged on a dummy + would look just like the toga of Cassius on the gallows. Accordingly, Mr. + Smith is right in the drapery-hanger which he has chosen: he has been + detected in the attempt to pass bad circles. He complains bitterly that + his geometry, instead of being read and understood by you, is handed over + to me to be treated after my scurrilous fashion. It is clear enough that + he would rather be handled in this way than not handled at all, or why + does he go on writing? He must know by this time that it is a part of the + institution that his "untruthful and absurd trash" shall be distilled + into mine at the rate of about 3⅛ pages of the first to one column + of the second. Your readers will never know how much they gain by the + process, until Mr. James Smith publishes it all in a big book, or until + they get hold of what he has already published. I have six pounds + avoirdupois of pamphlets and letters; and there is more than half a pound + of letters <!-- Page 343 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page343"></a>[343]</span>written to you in the last two months. + Your compositor must feel aggrieved by the rejection of these clearly + written documents, without erasures, and on one side only. Your + correspondent has all the makings of a good contributor, except the + knowledge of his subject and the sense to get it. He is, in fact, only a + mask: of whom the fox</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="hg3">"O quanta species, inquit, cerebrum non habet."<a name="NtA_646" href="#Nt_646"><sup>[646]</sup></a></p> + </div> + </div> + <p>I do not despair of Mr. Smith on any question which does not involve + that unfortunate two-stick wicket at which he persists in bowling. He has + published many papers; he has forwarded them to mathematicians: and he + cannot get answers; perhaps not even readers. Does he think that he would + get more notice if you were to print him in your journal? Who would study + his columns? Not the mathematician, we know; and he knows. Would others? + His balls are aimed too wide to be blocked by any one who is near the + wicket. He has long ceased to be worth the answer which a new invader may + get. Rowan Hamilton,<a name="NtA_647" href="#Nt_647"><sup>[647]</sup></a> + years ago, completely knocked him over; and he has never attempted to + point out any error in the short and easy method by which that powerful + investigator condescended to show that, be right who may, he must be + wrong. There are some persons who feel inclined to think that Mr. Smith + should be argued with: let those persons understand that he has been + argued with, refuted, and has never attempted to stick a pen into the + refutation. He stated that it was a remarkable paradox, easily + explicable; and that is all. After this evasion, Mr. James Smith is below + the necessity of being told that he is unworthy of answer. His friends + complain that I do nothing but <i>chaff</i> him. Absurd! I winnow him; + and if nothing but chaff results, whose fault is that? I am usefully + employed: for he is the type of a class which ought to be known, and + which I have done much to make known.</p> + +<p><!-- Page 344 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page344"></a>[344]</span></p> + + <p>Nothing came of this until July 1869, when I received a reprint of the + above letter, with a comment, described as Appendix D of a work in course + of publication on the geometry of the circle. The <i>Athenæum</i> journal + received the same: but the Editor, in his private capacity, received the + whole work, being <i>The Geometry of the Circle and Mathematics as + applied to Geometry by Mathematicians, shown to be a mockery, delusion, + and a snare</i>, Liverpool, 8vo, 1869. Mr. J. S. here appears in deep + fight with Professor Whitworth,<a name="NtA_648" + href="#Nt_648"><sup>[648]</sup></a> and Mr. Wilson,<a name="NtA_649" + href="#Nt_649"><sup>[649]</sup></a> the author of the alleged amendment + of Euclid. How these accomplished mathematicians could be inveigled into + continued discussion is inexplicable. Mr. Whitworth began by complaining + of Mr. Smith's attacks upon mathematicians, continued to correspond after + he was convinced that J. S. proved an arc and its chord to be equal, and + only retreated when J. S. charged him with believing in 3⅛, and + refusing acknowledgment. Mr. Wilson was introduced to J. S. by a + volunteer defense of his geometry from the assaults of the + <i>Athenæum</i>. This the editor would not publish; so J. S. sent a copy + to Mr. Wilson himself. Some correspondence ensued, but Mr. Wilson soon + found out his man, and withdrew.</p> + + <p>There is a little derision of the <i>Athenæum</i> and a merited + punishment for "that unscrupulous critic and contemptible mathematical + twaddler, De Morgan."</p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">MR. REDDIE'S ASTRONOMY.</p> + + <p>At p. 183 I mentioned Mr. Reddie,<a name="NtA_650" + href="#Nt_650"><sup>[650]</sup></a> the author of <i>Vis Inertiæ + Victa</i> and of <i>Victoria <span class="correction" title="text reads `tolo'" + >toto</span> cœlo</i>,<a name="NtA_651" + href="#Nt_651"><sup>[651]</sup></a> which last is not <!-- Page 345 + --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page345"></a>[345]</span>an address to + the whole heaven, either from a Roman Goddess or a British Queen, + whatever a scholar may suppose. Between these Mr. Reddie has published + <i>The Mechanics of the Heavens</i>, 8vo, 1862: this I never saw until he + sent it to me, with an invitation to notice it, he very well knowing that + it would catch. His speculations do battle with common notions of + mathematics and of mechanics, which, to use a feminine idiom, he + blasphemes so you can't think! and I suspect that if you do not blaspheme + them too, <i>you</i> can't think. He appeals to the "truly scientific," + and would be glad to have readers who have read what he controverts, + i.e., Newton's <i>Principia</i>: I wish he may get them; I mean I hope he + may obtain them. To none but these would an account of his speculations + be intelligible: I accordingly disposed of him in a very short paragraph + of description. Now many paradoxers desire notice, even though it be + disparaging. I have letters from more than one—besides what have + been sent to the Editor of the <i>Athenæum</i>—complaining that + they are not laughed at; although they deserve it, they tell me, as much + as some whom I have inserted. Mr. Reddie informs me that I have not said + a single word against his books, though I have given nearly a column to + sixteen-string arithmetic, and as much to animalcule universes. What need + to say anything to readers of Newton against a book from which I quoted + that revolution by gravitation is <i>demonstrably</i> impossible? It + would be as useless as evidence against a man who has pleaded guilty. Mr. + Reddie derisively thanks me for "small mercies"; he wrote me private + letters; he published them, and more, in the <i>Correspondent</i>. He + gave me, <i>pro viribus suis</i>,<a name="NtA_652" + href="#Nt_652"><sup>[652]</sup></a> such a dressing you can't think, both + for my Budget non-notice, and for reviews which he assumed me to have + written. He outlawed himself by declaring (<i>Correspondent</i>, Nov. 11, + 1856) that I—in a review—had made a quotation which was + "garbled, evidently on purpose <!-- Page 346 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page346"></a>[346]</span>to make it appear that" he "was advocating + solely a geocentric hypothesis, which is not true." In fact, he did his + best to get larger "mercy." And he shall have it; and at a length which + shall content him, unless his mecometer be an insatiable apparatus. But I + fear that in other respects I shall no more satisfy him than the Irish + drummer satisfied the poor culprit when, after several times changing the + direction of the stroke at earnest entreaty, he was at last provoked to + call out, "Bad cess to ye, ye spalpeen! strike where one will, there's no + <i>plasing</i> ye!"</p> + + <p>Mr. Reddie attaches much force to Berkeley's<a name="NtA_653" + href="#Nt_653"><sup>[653]</sup></a> old arguments against the doctrine of + fluxions, and advances objections to Newton's second section, which he + takes to be new. To me they appear "such as have been often made," to + copy a description given in a review: though I have no doubt Mr. Reddie + got them out of himself. But the whole matter comes to this: Mr. Reddie + challenged answer, especially from the British Association, and got none. + He presumes that this is because he is right, and cannot be answered: the + Association is willing to risk itself upon the counter-notion that he is + wrong, and need not be answered; because so wrong that none who could + understand an answer would be likely to want one.</p> + + <p>Mr. Reddie demands my attention to a point which had already + particularly struck me, as giving the means of showing to <i>all</i> + readers the kind of confusion into which paradoxers are apt to fall, in + spite of the clearest instruction. It is a very honest blunder, and + requires notice: it may otherwise mislead some, who may suppose that no + one able to read could be mistaken about so simple a matter, <!-- Page + 347 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page347"></a>[347]</span>let him be + ever so wrong about Newton. According to his own mis-statement, in less + than five months he made the Astronomer Royal abandon the theory of the + solar motion in space. The announcement is made in August, 1865, as + follows: the italics are not mine:</p> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p>"The third (<i>Victoria ...</i>), although only published in + September, 1863, has already had its triumph. <i>It is the book that + forced the Astronomer Royal of England, after publicly teaching the + contrary for years, to come to the conclusion, "strange as it may + appear," that "the whole question of solar motion in space is at the + present time in doubt and abeyance."</i> This admission is made in the + Annual Report of the Council of the Royal Astronomical Society, published + in the Society's <i>Monthly Notices</i> for February, 1864."</p> + +</blockquote> + + <p>It is added that solar motion is "full of self-contradiction, which + "the astronomers" simply overlooked, but which they dare not now deny + after being once pointed out."</p> + + <p>The following is another of his accounts of the matter, given in the + <i>Correspondent</i>, No. 18, 1865:</p> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p>"... You ought, when you came to put me in the 'Budget,' to have been + aware of the Report of the Council of the Royal Astronomical Society, + where it appears that Professor Airy,<a name="NtA_654" + href="#Nt_654"><sup>[654]</sup></a> with a better appreciation of my + demonstrations, had admitted—'strange,' say the Council, 'as it may + appear,'—that 'the whole question of solar motion in space [and + here Mr. Reddie omits some words] is now in <i>doubt and abeyance</i>.' + You were culpable as a public teacher of no little pretensions, if you + were 'unaware' of this. If aware of it, you ought not to have suppressed + such an important testimony to my really having been 'very successful' in + drawing the teeth of the pegtops, though you thought them so firmly + fixed. And if you still suppress <!-- Page 348 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page348"></a>[348]</span>it, in your Appendix, + or when you reprint your 'Budget,' you will then be guilty of a + <i>suppressio veri</i>, also of further injury to me, who have never + injured you...."</p> + +</blockquote> + + <p>Mr. Reddie must have been very well satisfied in his own mind before + he ventured such a challenge, with an answer from me looming in the + distance. The following is the passage of the Report of the Council, + etc., from which he quotes:</p> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p>"And yet, strange to say, notwithstanding the near coincidence of all + the results of the before-mentioned independent methods of investigation, + the inevitable logical inference deduced by Mr. Airy is, that the whole + question of solar motion in space, <i>so far at least as accounting for + the proper motion of the stars is concerned</i>, [I have put in italics + the words omitted by Mr. Reddie] appears to remain at this moment in + doubt and abeyance."</p> + +</blockquote> + + <p>Mr. Reddie has forked me, as he thinks, on a dilemma: if unaware, + culpable ignorance; if aware, suppressive intention. But the thing is a + <i>trilemma</i>, and the third horn, on which I elect to be placed, is + surmounted by a doubly-stuffed seat. First, Mr. Airy has not changed his + opinion about the <i>fact</i> of solar motion in space, but only suspends + it as to the sufficiency of present means to give the amount and + direction of the motion. Secondly, all that is alluded to in the + Astronomical Report was said and printed before the Victoria proclamation + appeared. So that the author, instead of drawing the tooth of the + Astronomer Royal's pegtop, has burnt his own doll's nose.</p> + + <p>William Herschel,<a name="NtA_655" href="#Nt_655"><sup>[655]</sup></a> + and after him about six other astronomers, had aimed at determining, by + the proper motions of the stars, the point of the heavens towards which + the solar system is moving: their results were tolerably accordant. Mr. + Airy, in 1859, proposed an improved method, and, applying it to stars of + large proper motion, produced <!-- Page 349 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page349"></a>[349]</span>much the same result as Herschel. Mr. E. + Dunkin,<a name="NtA_656" href="#Nt_656"><sup>[656]</sup></a> one of Mr. + Airy's staff at Greenwich, applied Mr. Airy's method to a very large + number of stars, and produced, again, nearly the same result as before. + This paper was read to the Astronomical Society in <i>March</i>, 1863, + was printed in abstract in the <i>Notice</i> of that month, was printed + in full in the volume then current, and was referred to in the Annual + Report of the Council in <i>February</i>, 1864, under the name of "the + Astronomer Royal's elaborate investigation, as exhibited by Mr. Dunkin." + Both Mr. Airy and Mr. Dunkin express grave doubts as to the sufficiency + of the data: and, regarding the coincidence of all the results as highly + curious, feel it necessary to wait for calculations made on better data. + The report of the Council states these doubts. Mr. Reddie, who only + published in <i>September</i>, 1863, happened to see the Report of + February, 1864, assumes that the doubts were then first expressed, and + declares that his book of September had the triumph of forcing the + Astronomer Royal to abandon the <i>fact</i> of motion of the solar system + by the February following. Had Mr. Reddie, when he saw that the Council + were avowedly describing a memoir presented some time before, taken the + precaution to find out <i>when</i> that memoir was presented, he would + perhaps have seen that doubts of the results obtained, expressed by one + astronomer in March, 1863, and by another in 1859, could not have been + due to his publication of September, 1863. And any one else would have + learnt that neither astronomer doubts the <i>solar motion</i>, though + both doubt the sufficiency of present means to determine its + <i>amount</i> and <i>direction</i>. This is implied in the omitted words, + which Mr. Reddie—whose omission would have been dishonest if he had + seen their meaning—no doubt took for pleonasm, superfluity, + overmuchness. The rashness which pushed him headlong <!-- Page 350 + --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page350"></a>[350]</span>into the + quillet that <i>his</i> thunderbolt had stopped the chariot of the Sun + and knocked the Greenwich Phaeton off the box, is the same which betrayed + him into yet grander error—which deserves the full word, + <i>quidlibet</i>—about the <i>Principia</i> of Newton. There has + been no change of opinion at all. When a person undertakes a long + investigation, his opinion is that, at a certain date, there is <i>prima + facie</i> ground for thinking a sound result may be obtained. Should it + happen that the investigation ends in doubt upon the sufficiency of the + grounds, the investigator is not put in the wrong. He knew beforehand + that there was an alternative: and he takes the horn of the alternative + indicated by his calculations. The two sides of this case present an + instructive contrast. Eight astronomers produce nearly the same result, + and yet the last two doubt the sufficiency of their means: compare them + with the what's-his-name who rushes in where thing-em-bobs fear to + tread.</p> + + <p>I was not aware, until I had written what precedes, that Mr. Airy had + given a sufficient answer on the point. Mr. Reddie says + (<i>Correspondent</i>, Jan. 20, 1866):</p> + +<blockquote class="b1n"> + + <p>"I claim to have forced Professor Airy to give up the notion of 'solar + motion in space' altogether, for he admits it to be 'at present in doubt + and abeyance.' I first made that claim in a letter addressed to the + Astronomer Royal himself in June, 1864, and in replying, very + courteously, to other portions of my letter, he did not gainsay that part + of it."</p> + +</blockquote> + + <p>Mr. Reddie is not ready at reading satire, or he never would have so + missed the meaning of the courteous reply on one point, and the total + silence upon another. Mr. Airy must be one of those peculiar persons who, + when they do not think an assertion worth notice, let it alone, without + noticing it by a notification of non-notice. He would never commit the + bull of "Sir! I will not say a word on that subject." He would put it + thus, "Sir! I will only say ten words on that subject,"—and, having + thus said them, would <!-- Page 351 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page351"></a>[351]</span>proceed to something else. He assumed, as + a matter of form, that Mr. Reddie would draw the proper inference from + his silence: and this because he did not care whether or no the + assumption was correct.</p> + + <p>The <i>Mechanics of the Heavens</i>, which Mr. Reddie sends to be + noticed, shall be noticed, so far as an extract goes:</p> + + <p> </p> + + <p>"My connection with this subject is, indeed, very simply explained. In + endeavoring to understand the laws of physical astronomy as generally + taught, I happened to entertain some doubt whether gravitating bodies + could revolve, and having afterwards imbibed some vague idea that the + laws of the universe were chemical and physical rather than mechanical, + and somehow connected with electricity and magnetism as opposing + correlative forces—most probably suggested to my mind, as to many + others, by the transcendent discoveries made in electro-magnetism by + Professor Faraday<a name="NtA_657" + href="#Nt_657"><sup>[657]</sup></a>—my former doubts about + gravitation were revived, and I was led very naturally to try and + discover whether a gravitating body really could revolve; and I became + convinced it could not, before I had ever presumed to look into the + demonstrations of the <i>Principia</i>."</p> + + <p> </p> + + <p>This is enough against the book, without a word from me: I insert it + only to show those who know the subject what manner of writer Mr. Reddie + is. It is clear that "presumed" is a slip of the pen; it should have been + <i>condescended</i>.</p> + + <p>Mr. Reddie represents me as dreaming over paltry paradoxes. He is + right; many of my paradoxes are paltry: he is wrong; I am wide awake to + them. A single moth, beetle, or butterfly, may be a paltry thing; but + when a cabinet is arranged by genus and species, we then begin to admire + the <!-- Page 352 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page352"></a>[352]</span>infinite variety of a system constructed + on a wonderful sameness of leading characteristics. And why should + paradoxes be denied that collective importance, paltry as many of them + may individually be, which is accorded to moths, beetles, or butterflies? + Mr. Reddie himself sees that "there is a method in" my "mode of dealing + with paradoxes." I hope I have atoned for the scantiness of my former + article, and put the demonstrated impossibility of gravitation on that + level with Hubongramillposanfy arithmetic and inhabited atoms which the + demonstrator—not quite without reason—claims for it.</p> + + <p>In the Introduction to a collected edition of the three works, Mr. + Reddie describes his <i>Mechanism of the Heavens</i>, from which I have + just quoted, as—</p> + + <p> </p> + + <p>"a public challenge offered to the British Association and the + mathematicians at Cambridge, in August, 1862, calling upon them to point + to a single demonstration in the <i>Principia</i> or elsewhere, which + even attempts to prove that Universal Gravitation is possible, or to show + that a gravitating body could possibly revolve about a center of + attraction. The challenge was not accepted, and never will be. No such + demonstration exists. And the public must judge for themselves as to the + character of a so-called "certain science," which thus shrinks from rigid + examination, and dares not defend itself when publicly attacked: also of + the character of its teachers, who can be content to remain dumb under + such circumstances."</p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">ON PARADOXERS IN GENERAL.</p> + + <p>The above is the commonplace talk of the class, of which I proceed to + speak without more application to this paradoxer than to that. It reminds + one of the funny young rascals who used, in times not yet quite + forgotten, to abuse the passengers, as long as they could keep up with + the <!-- Page 353 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page353"></a>[353]</span>stage coach; dropping off at last with + "Why don't you get down and thrash us? You're afraid, you're afraid!" + They will allow the public to judge for themselves, but with somewhat of + the feeling of the worthy uncle in <i>Tom Jones</i>, who, though he would + let young people choose for themselves, would <i>have them</i> choose + wisely. They try to be so awfully moral and so ghastly satirical that + they must be answered: and they are best answered in their own division. + We have all heard of the way in which sailors cat's-pawed the monkeys: + they taunted the dwellers in the trees with stones, and the monkeys + taunted them with cocoa-nuts in return. But these were silly dendrobats: + had they belonged to the British Association they would have + said—No! No! dear friends; it is not in the itinerary: if you want + nuts, you must climb, as we do. The public has referred the question to + Time: the procedure of this great king I venture to describe, from + precedents, by an adaptation of some smart anapæstic + tetrameters—your anapæst is the foot for satire to halt on, both in + Greek and English—which I read about twenty years ago, and with the + point of which I was much tickled. Poetasters were laughed at; but Mr. + Slum, whom I employed—Mr. Charles Dickens obliged me with his + address—converted the idea into that of a hit at mathematicasters, + as easily as he turned the Warren acrostic into Jarley. As he observed, + when I settled his little account, it is cheaper than any prose, though + the broom was not stolen quite ready made:</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p><i>Forty stripes save one for the smaller Paradoxers.</i></p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Hark to the wisdom the sages preach</p> + <p>Who never have learnt what they try to teach.</p> + <p>We are the lights of the age, they say!</p> + <p>We are the men, and the thinkers we!</p> + <p>So we build up guess-work the livelong day,</p> + <p>In a topsy-turvy sort of way,</p> + <p>Some with and some wanting <i>a</i> plus <i>b</i>.</p> + <p>Let the British Association fuss;</p> + <p>What are theirs to the feats to be wrought by us?</p> +<!-- Page 354 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page354"></a>[354]</span> + <p>Shall the earth stand still? Will the round come square?</p> + <p>Must Isaac's book be the nest of a mare?</p> + <p>Ought the moon to be taught by the laws of space</p> + <p>To turn half round without right-about-face?</p> + <p>Our whimsey crotchets will manage it all;</p> + <p>Deep! Deep! posterity will them call!</p> + <p>Though the world, for the present, lets them fall</p> + <p>Down! Down! to the twopenny box of the stall!</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Thus they—But the marplot Time stands by,</p> + <p>With a knowing wink in his funny old eye.</p> + <p>He grasps by the top an immense fool's cap,</p> + <p>Which he calls a philosophaster-trap:</p> + <p>And rightly enough, for while these little men</p> + <p>Croak loud as a concert of frogs in a fen,</p> + <p>He first singles out one, and then another,</p> + <p>Down goes the cap—lo! a moment's pother,</p> + <p>A spirit like that which a rushlight utters</p> + <p>As just at the last it kicks and gutters:</p> + <p>When the cruel smotherer is raised again</p> + <p>Only snuff, and but little of that, will remain.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>But though <i>uno avulso</i> thus comes every day</p> + <p><i>Non deficit alter</i> is also in play:</p> + <p>For the vacant parts are, one and all,</p> + <p>Soon taken by puppets just as small;</p> + <p>Who chirp, chirp, chirp, with a grasshopper's glee,</p> + <p>We're the lamps of the Universe, We! We! We!</p> + <p>But Time, whose speech is never long,—</p> + <p>He hasn't time for it—stops the song</p> + <p>And says—Lilliput lamps! leave the twopenny boxes,</p> + <p>And shine in the Budget of Paradoxes!</p> + </div> + </div> + <p>When a paradoxer parades capital letters and diagrams which are as + good as Newton's to all who know nothing about it, some persons wonder + why science does not rise and triturate the whole thing. This is why: all + who are fit to read the refutation are satisfied already, and can, if + they please, detect the paradoxer for themselves. Those who are not fit + to do this would not know the difference between the true answer and the + new capitals and diagrams on which the delighted paradoxer would declare + <!-- Page 355 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page355"></a>[355]</span>that he had crumbled the philosophers, and + not they him. Trust him for having the last word: and what matters it + whether he crow the unanswerable sooner or later? There are but two + courses to take. One is to wait until he has committed himself in + something which all can understand, as Mr. Reddie has done in his fancy + about the Astronomer Royal's change of opinion: he can then be put in his + true place. The other is to construct a Budget of Paradoxes, that the + world may see how the thing is always going on, and that the picture I + have concocted by cribbing and spoiling a bit of poetry is drawn from + life. He who wonders at there being no answer has seen one or two: he + does not know that there are always fifty with equal claims, each of whom + regards his being ranked with the rest as forty-nine distinct and several + slanders upon himself, the great Mully Ully Gue. And the fifty would soon + be five hundred if any notice were taken of them. They call mankind to + witness that science <i>will not</i> defend itself, though publicly + attacked in terms which might sting a pickpocket into standing up for his + character: science, in return, allows mankind to witness or not, at + pleasure, that it <i>does not</i> defend itself, and yet receives no + injury from centuries of assault. Demonstrative reason never raises the + cry of <i>Church in Danger</i>! and it cannot have any Dictionary of + Heresies except a Budget of Paradoxes. Mistaken claimants are left to + Time and his extinguisher, with the approbation of all thinking + non-claimants: there is no need of a succession of exposures. Time gets + through the job in his own workmanlike manner as already described.</p> + + <p>On looking back more than twenty years, I find among my cuttings the + following passage, relating to a person who had signalized himself by an + effort to teach comets to the conductor of the <i>Nautical + Almanac</i>:</p> + + <p> </p> + + <p>"Our brethren of the literary class have not the least idea of the + small amount of appearance of knowledge <!-- Page 356 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page356"></a>[356]</span>which sets up the + scientific charlatan. Their world is large, and there are many who have + that moderate knowledge, and perception of what is knowledge, before + which extreme ignorance is detected in its first prank. There is a public + of moderate cultivation, for the most part sound in its judgment, always + ready in its decisions. Accordingly, all their successful pretenders have + <i>some pretension</i>. It is not so in science. Those who have a right + to judge are fewer and farther between. The consequence is, that many + scientific pretenders have <i>nothing but pretension</i>."</p> + + <p> </p> + + <p>This is nearly as applicable now as then. It is impossible to make + those who have not studied for themselves fully aware of the truth of + what I have quoted. The best chance is collection of cases; in fact, a + Budget of Paradoxes. Those who have no knowledge of the subject can thus + argue from the seen to the unseen. All can feel the impracticability of + the Hubongramillposanfy numeration, and the absurdity of the equality of + contour of a regular pentagon and hexagon in one and the same circle. + Many may accordingly be satisfied, on the assurance of those who have + studied, that there is as much of impracticability, or as much of + absurdity, in things which are hidden under</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="hg3">"Sines, tangents, secants, radius, cosines</p> + <p>Subtangents, segments and all those signs;</p> + <p>Enough to prove that he who read 'em</p> + <p>Was just as mad as he who made 'em."</p> + </div> + </div> + <p>Not that I mean to be disrespectful to mathematical terms: they are + short and easily explained, and compete favorably with those of most + other subjects: for instance, with</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="hg3">"Horse-pleas, traverses, demurrers,</p> + <p>Jeofails, imparlances, and errors,</p> + <p>Averments, bars, and protestandos,</p> + <p>And puis d'arreign continuandos."</p> + </div> + </div> +<p><!-- Page 357 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page357"></a>[357]</span></p> + + <p>From which it appears that, taking the selections made by satirists + for our samples, there are, one with another, four letters more in a law + term than in one of mathematics. But pleading has been simplified of late + years.</p> + + <p>All paradoxers can publish; and any one who likes may read. But this + is not enough; they find that they cannot publish, or those who can find + they are <i>not</i> read, and they lay their plans athwart the noses of + those who, they think, ought to read. To recommend them to be content + with publication, like other authors, is an affront: of this I will give + the reader an amusing instance. My good nature, of which I keep a stock, + though I do not use it all up in this Budget, prompts me to conceal the + name.</p> + + <p>I received the following letter, accompanied by a prospectus of a work + on metaphysics, physics, astronomy, etc. The author is evidently one whom + I should delight to honor:</p> + + <p>"Sir,—A friend of mine has mentioned your name in terms of + panigeric [<i>sic</i>], as being of high standing in mathematics, and of + greatly original thought. I send you the enclosed without comment; and, + assuming that the bent of your mind is in free inquiry, shall feel a + pleasure in showing you my portfolio, which, as a mathematician, you will + acknowledge to be deeply interesting, even in an educational point of + view. The work is complete, and the system so far perfected as to place + it above criticism; and, so far as regards astronomy, as will Ptolemy + beyond rivalry [<i>sic</i>: no doubt some words omitted]. Believe me to + be, Sir, with the profoundest respect, etc. The work is the result of + thirty-five years' travel and observation, labor, expense, and + self-abnegation."</p> + + <p>I replied to the effect that my time was fully occupied, and that I + was obliged to decline discussion with many persons who have views of + their own; that the proper way is to publish, so that those who choose + may read when they can find leisure. I added that I should advise a + precursor in the shape of a small pamphlet, as two octavo volumes <!-- + Page 358 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page358"></a>[358]</span>would + be too much for most persons. This was sound advice; but it is not the + first, second, or third time that it has proved very unpalatable. I + received the following answer, to which I take the liberty of prefixing a + bit of leonine wisdom:</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="hg3">"Si doceas stultum, lætum non dat tibi vultum;</p> + <p>Odit te multum; vellet te scire sepultum.<a name="NtA_658" href="#Nt_658"><sup>[658]</sup></a>"</p> + </div> + </div> + <p>"Sir,—I pray you pardon the error I unintentionally have fallen + into; deceived by the F.R.S. [I am not F.R.S.] I took you to be a man of + science [<i>omnis homo est animal, Sortes est homo, ergo Sortes est + animal</i>]<a name="NtA_659" href="#Nt_659"><sup>[659]</sup></a> instead + of the mere mathematician, or human calculating-machine. Believe me, Sir, + you also have mistaken your mission, as I have mine. I wrote to you as I + would to any other man well up in mathematics, with the intent to call + your attention to a singular fact of omission by Euclid, and other great + mathematicians: and, in selecting you, I did you an honor which, from + what I have just now heard, was entirely out of place. I think, + considering the nature of the work set forth in the prospectus, you are + guilty of both folly and presumption, in assuming the character of a + patron; for your own sense ought to have assured you that was such my + object I should not have sought him in a De Morgan, who exists only by + patronage of others. On the other hand, I deem it to be an unpardonable + piece of presumption in offering your advice upon a subject the + magnitude, importance, and real utility of which you know nothing about: + by doing so you have offered me a direct insult. The system is a manual + of Philosophy, a one inseparable whole of metaphysics and physic; + embracing points the most interesting, laws the most important, <!-- Page + 359 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page359"></a>[359]</span>doctrines + the most essential to advance man in accordance with the spirit of the + times. I may not live to see it in print; for, at ——, life at + best is uncertain: but, live or die, be assured Sir, it is not my + intention to debase the work by seeking patronage, or pandering to the + public taste. Your advice was the less needed, seeing I am an + old-established ——. I remain, etc.—P.S. You will oblige + me by returning the prospectus of my work."</p> + + <p> </p> + + <p>My reader will, I am sure, not take this transition from the + "profoundest respect" to the loftiest insolence for an + <i>apocraphical</i> correspondence, to use a word I find in the + Prospectus: on my honor it is genuine. He will be better employed in + discovering whether I exist by patronizing others, or by being patronized + by them. I make any one who can find it out a fair offer: I will give him + my patronage if I turn out to be Bufo, on condition he gives me his, if I + turn out to be Bavius.<a name="NtA_660" + href="#Nt_660"><sup>[660]</sup></a> I need hardly say that I considered + the last letter to be one of those to which no answer is so good as no + answer.</p> + + <p>These letters remind me in one respect of the correspondents of the + newspapers. My other party wrote because a friend had pointed me out: but + he would not have written if he had known what another friend told him + just in time for the second letter. The man who sends his complaint to + the newspaper very often says, in effect, "Don't imagine, Sir, that I + read your columns; but a friend who sometimes does has told me ..." It is + worded thus: "My attention <!-- Page 360 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page360"></a>[360]</span>has been directed to an article in your + paper of ..." Many thanks to my friend's friends for not mentioning the + Budget: had my friend's attention been directed to it I might have lost a + striking example of the paradoxer in search of a patron. That my Friend + was on this scent in the first letter is revealed in the second. Language + was given to man to conceal his thoughts; but it is not every one who can + do it.</p> + + <p>Among the most valuable information which my readers will get from me + is comparison of the reactions of paradoxers, when not admitted to + argument, or when laughed at. Of course, they are misrepresented; and at + this they are angry, or which is the same thing, take great pains to + assure the reader that they are not. So far natural, and so far good; + anything short of concession of a case which must be seriously met by + counter-reasons is sure to be misrepresentation. My friend Mr. James + Smith and my friend Mr. Reddie are both terribly misrepresented: they + resent it by some insinuations in which it is not easy to detect whether + I am a conscious smotherer of truth, or only muddle-headed and ignorant. + [This was written before I received my last communication from Mr. James + Smith. He tells me that I am wrong in saying that his work in which I + stand in the pillory is all reprint: I have no doubt I confounded some of + it with some of the manuscript or slips which I had received from my much + not-agreed-with correspondent. He adds that my mistake was intentional, + and that my reason is obvious to the reader. This <i>is</i> information, + as the sea-serpent said when he read in the newspaper that he had a mane + and tusks.]</p> + + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">THE DOUBLE VAHU PROCESS.</p> + + <p>My friend Dr. Thorn<a name="NtA_661" + href="#Nt_661"><sup>[661]</sup></a> sees deeper into my mystery. By the + way, he still sends an occasional touch at the old <!-- Page 361 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page361"></a>[361]</span>subject; and he wants + me particularly to tell my readers that the Latin numeral letters, if M + be left out, give 666. And so they do: witness DCLXVI. A person who + thinks of the origin of symbols will soon see that 666 is our number + because we have five fingers on each hand: had we had but four, our + mystic number would have been expressed by 555, and would have stood for + our present 365. Had <i>n</i> been the number on each hand, the great + number would have been</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>(<i>n</i> + 1) (4<i>n</i><sup>2</sup> + 2<i>n</i> + 1)</p> + </div> + </div> + <p>With no finger on each hand, the number would have been 1: with one + finger less than none at all on each hand, it would have been 0. But what + does this mean? Here is a question for an algebraical paradoxer! So soon + as we have found out how many fingers the inhabitants of any one planet + have on each hand, we have the means of knowing their number of the + Beast, and thence all about them. Very much struck with this hint of + discovery, I turned my attention to the means of developing it. The first + point was to clear my vision of all the old cataracts. I propose the + following experiment, subject of course to the consent of parties. Let + Dr. Thorn Double-Vahu Mr. James Smith, and Thau Mr. Reddie: if either be + deparadoxed by the treatment, I will consent to undergo it myself. + Provided always that the temperature required be not so high as the + Doctor hints at: if the Turkish Baths will do for this world, I am + content.</p> + + <p>The three paradoxers last named and myself have a pentasyllable + convention, under which, though we go far beyond civility, we keep within + civilization. Though Mr. James Smith pronounced that I must be dishonest + if I did not see his argument, which he knew I should not do [to say + nothing of recent accusation]; though Dr. Thorn declared me a competitor + for fire and brimstone—and my wife, too, which doubles the joke: + though Mr. Reddie <!-- Page 362 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page362"></a>[362]</span>was certain I had garbled him, evidently + on purpose to make falsehood appear truth; yet all three profess respect + for me as to everything but power to see truth, or candor to admit it. + And on the other hand, though these were the modes of opening + communication with me, and though I have no doubt that all three are + proper persons of whom to inquire whether I should go up-stairs or + down-stairs, etc., yet I am satisfied they are thoroughly respectable + men, as to everything but reasoning. And I dare say our several + professions are far more true in extent than in many which are made under + more parliamentary form. We find excuses for each other: they make + allowances for my being hoodwinked by Aristotle, by Newton, by the Devil; + and I permit them to feel, for I know they cannot get on without it, that + their reasons are such as none but a knave or a sinner can resist. But + <i>they</i> are content with cutting a slice each out of my character: + neither of them is more than an uncle, a Bone-a-part; I now come to a + dreadful nephew, Bone-the-whole.</p> + + <p>I will not give the name of the poor fellow who has fallen so far + below both the <i>honestum</i> and the <i>utile</i>, to say nothing of + the <i>decorum</i> or the <i>dulce</i>.<a name="NtA_662" + href="#Nt_662"><sup>[662]</sup></a> He is the fourth who has taken + elaborate notice of me; and my advice to him would be, <i>Nec quarta + loqui persona laboret</i>.<a name="NtA_663" + href="#Nt_663"><sup>[663]</sup></a> According to him, I scorn humanity, + scandalize learning, and disgrace the press; it admits of no manner of + doubt that my object is to mislead the public and silence truth, at the + expense of the interests of science, the wealth of the nation, and the + lives of my fellow men. The only thing left to be settled is, whether + this is due to ignorance, natural distaste for truth, personal malice, a + wish to curry favor with the Astronomer Royal, or mere toadyism. The only + accusation which has truth in it is, that I have made myself a "public + scavenger of science": the assertion, which is the <!-- Page 363 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page363"></a>[363]</span>most false of all is, + that the results of my broom and spade are "shot right in between the + columns of" the <i>Athenæum</i>. I declare I never in my life inserted a + word between the columns of the <i>Athenæum</i>: I feel huffed and miffed + at the very supposition. I <i>have</i> made myself a public scavenger; + and why not? Is the mud never to be collected into a heap? I look down + upon the other scavengers, of whom there have been a few—mere + historical drudges; Montucla, Hutton, etc.—as not fit to compete + with me. I say of them what one crossing-sweeper said of the rest: "They + are well enough for the common thing; but put them to a bit of + fancy-work, such as sweeping round a post, and see what a mess they make + of it!" Who can touch me at sweeping round a paradoxer? If I complete my + design of publishing a separate work, an old copy will be fished up from + a stall two hundred years hence by the coming man, and will be described + in an article which will end by his comparing our century with his own, + and sighing out in the best New Zealand pronunciation—</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="hg3">"Dans ces tems-là</p> + <p>C'était déjà comme ça!"<a name="NtA_664" href="#Nt_664"><sup>[664]</sup></a></p> + </div> + </div> + <p> </p> + +<p class="cenhead">ORTHODOX PARADOXERS.</p> + + <p>And pray, Sir! I have been asked by more than one—do your + orthodox never fall into mistake, nor rise into absurdity? They not only + do both, but they admit it of each other very freely; individually, they + are convinced of sin, but not of any particular sin. There is not a + syndoxer among them all but draws his line in such a way as to include + among paradoxers a great many whom I should exclude altogether from this + work. My worst specimens are but exaggerations of what may be found, + occasionally, in the thoughts of sagacious investigators. At the end of + the <!-- Page 364 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page364"></a>[364]</span>glorious dream, we learn that there is a + way to Hell from the gates of Heaven, as well as from the City of + Destruction: and that this is true of other things besides Christian + pilgrimage is affirmed at the end of the Budget of Paradoxes. If + D'Alembert<a name="NtA_665" href="#Nt_665"><sup>[665]</sup></a> had + produced <i>enough</i> of a quality to match his celebrated mistake on + the chance of throwing head in two throws, he would have been in my list. + If Newton had produced <i>enough</i> to match his reception of the story + that Nausicaa, Homer's Phæacian princess, invented the celestial sphere, + followed by his serious surmise that she got it from the + Argonauts,—then Newton himself would have had an appearance entered + for him, in spite of the <i>Principia</i>. In illustration, I may cite a + few words from <i>Tristram Shandy</i>:</p> + + <p> </p> + + <p>"'A soldier,' cried my uncle Toby, interrupting the Corporal, 'is no + more exempt from saying a foolish thing, Trim, than a man of + letters.'—'But not so often, an' please your honor,' replied the + Corporal. My uncle Toby gave a nod."</p> + + <p> </p> + + <p>I now proceed to die out. Some prefatory remarks will follow in + time.<a name="NtA_666" href="#Nt_666"><sup>[666]</sup></a> I shall have + occasion to insist that all is not barren: I think I shall find, on + casting up, that two out of five of my paradoxers are not to be utterly + condemned. Among the better lot will be found all gradations of merit; at + the same time, as was remarked on quite a different subject, there may be + little to choose between the last of the saved and the first of the lost. + The higher and better class is worthy of blame; the lower and worse class + is worthy of praise. The higher men are to be reproved for not taking up + things in which they could do some good: the lower men are to be + commended for taking up things in which they can do no great harm. The + circle problem is like Peter Peebles's lawsuit:</p> + +<p><!-- Page 365 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page365"></a>[365]</span></p> + + <p> </p> + + <p>"'But, Sir, I should really spoil any cause thrust on me so + hastily.'—'Ye cannot spoil it, Alan,' said my father, 'that is the + very cream of the business, man,—... the case is come to that pass + that Stair or Arniston could not mend it, and I don't think even you, + Alan, can do it much harm.'"</p> + + <p> </p> + + <p>I am strongly reminded of the monks in the darker part of the Middle + Ages. To a certain proportion of them, perhaps two out of five, we are + indebted for the preservation of literature, and their contemporaries for + good teaching and mitigation of socials evils. But the remaining three + were the fleas and flies and thistles and briars with whom the satirist + lumps them, about a century before the Reformation:</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="hg3">"Flen, flyys, and freris, populum domini male cædunt;</p> + <p>Thystlis and breris crescentia gramina lædunt.</p> + <p>Christe nolens guerras qui cuncta pace tueris,</p> + <p>Destrue per terras breris, flen, flyys, and freris.</p> + <p>Flen, flyys, and freris, foul falle hem thys fyften yeris,</p> + <p>For non that her is lovit flen, flyys ne freris."<a name="NtA_667" href="#Nt_667"><sup>[667]</sup></a></p> + </div> + </div> + <p>I should not be quite so savage with my second class. Taken together, + they may be made to give useful warning to those who are engaged in + learning under better auspices: aye, even useful hints; for bad things + are very often only good things spoiled or misused. My plan is that of a + predecessor in the time of Edward the Second:</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="hg3">"Meum est propositum genti imperitæ</p> + <p>Artes frugi reddere melioris vitæ."<a name="NtA_668" href="#Nt_668"><sup>[668]</sup></a></p> + </div> + </div> + <p>To this end I have spoken with freedom of books as books, of opinions + as opinions, of ignorance as ignorance, of <!-- Page 366 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page366"></a>[366]</span>presumption as + presumption; and of writers as I judge may be fairly inferred from what + they have written. Some—to whom I am therefore under great + obligation—have permitted me to enlarge my plan by assaults to + which I have alluded; assaults which allow a privilege of retort, of + which I have often availed myself; assaults which give my readers a right + of partnership in the amusement which I myself have received.</p> + + <p>For the present I cut and run: a Catiline, pursued by a chorus of + Ciceros, with <i>Quousque tandem? Quamdiu nos? Nihil ne te?</i><a + name="NtA_669" href="#Nt_669"><sup>[669]</sup></a> ending with, <i>In te + conferri pestem istam jam pridem oportebat, quam tu in nos omnes jamdiu + machinaris!</i> I carry with me the reflection that I have furnished to + those who need it such a magazine of warnings as they will not find + elsewhere; <i>a signatis cavetote</i>:<a name="NtA_670" + href="#Nt_670"><sup>[670]</sup></a> and I throw back at my + pursuers—<i>Valete, doctores sine doctrina; facite ut proxima + congressu vos salvos corporibus et sanos mentibus videamus.</i><a + name="NtA_671" href="#Nt_671"><sup>[671]</sup></a> Here ends the Budget + of Paradoxes.</p> + +<p><!-- Page 367 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page367"></a>[367]</span></p> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<h3>APPENDIX.</h3> + + <p>I think it right to give the proof that the ratio of the circumference + to the diameter is incommensurable. This method of proof was given by + Lambert,<a name="NtA_672" href="#Nt_672"><sup>[672]</sup></a> in the + <i>Berlin Memoirs</i> for 1761, and has been also given in the notes to + Legendre's<a name="NtA_673" href="#Nt_673"><sup>[673]</sup></a> Geometry, + and to the English translation of the same. Though not elementary + algebra, it is within the reach of a student of ordinary books.<a + name="NtA_674" href="#Nt_674"><sup>[674]</sup></a></p> + + <p>Let a continued fraction, such as</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p><i>a</i></p> + <p>——</p> + <p><i>b</i> + <i>c</i></p> + <p> ——</p> + <p> <i>d</i> + <i>e</i></p> + <p> -</p> + <p> <i>f</i> + etc.,</p> + </div> + </div> + <p>be abbreviated into <i>a</i>/<i>b</i>+ <i>c</i>/<i>d</i>+ + <i>e</i>/<i>f</i>+ etc.: each fraction being understood as falling down + to the side of the preceding sign +. In every such fraction we may + suppose <i>b</i>, <i>d</i>, <i>f</i>, etc. <!-- Page 368 --><span + class="pagenum"><a name="page368"></a>[368]</span>positive; <i>a</i>, + <i>c</i>, <i>e</i>, &c. being as required: and all are supposed + integers. If this succession be continued <i>ad infinitum</i>, and if + <i>a</i>/<i>b</i>, <i>c</i>/<i>d</i>, <i>e</i>/<i>f</i>, etc. all lie + between -1 and +1, exclusive, the limit of the fraction must be + incommensurable with unity; that is, cannot be A/B, where A and B are + integers.</p> + + <p>First, whatever this limit may be, it lies between -1 and +1. This is + obviously the case with any fraction <i>p</i>/(<i>q</i> + <span + class="grk">ω</span>), where <span class="grk">ω</span> is + between ±1: for, <i>p</i>/<i>q</i>, being < 1, and <i>p</i> and + <i>q</i> integer, cannot be brought up to <span class="correction" + title="text reads `±'">1</span>, by the value of <span + class="grk">ω</span>. Hence, if we take any of the fractions</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p><i>a</i>/<i>b</i>, <i>a</i>/<i>b</i>+ <i>c</i>/<i>d</i>, <i>a</i>/<i>b</i>+ <i>c</i>/<i>d</i>+ <i>e</i>/<i>f</i>, etc.</p> + </div> + </div> + <p>say <i>a</i>/<i>b</i>+ <i>c</i>/<i>d</i>+ <i>e</i>/<i>f</i>+ + <i>g</i>/<i>h</i> we have, <i>g</i>/<i>h</i> being between ±1, so is + <i>e</i>/<i>f</i>+ <i>g</i>/<i>h</i>, so therefore is <i>c</i>/<i>d</i>+ + <i>e</i>/<i>f</i>+ <i>g</i>/<i>h</i>; and so therefore is + <i>a</i>/<i>b</i>+ <i>c</i>/<i>d</i>+ <i>e</i>/<i>f</i>+ + <i>g</i>/<i>h</i>.</p> + + <p>Now, if possible, let <i>a</i>/<i>b</i>+ <i>c</i>/<i>d</i>+ etc. be + A/B at the limit; A and B being integers. Let</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>P = A <i>c</i>/<i>d</i>+ <i>e</i>/<i>f</i>+ etc., Q = P <i>e</i>/<i>f</i>+ <i>g</i>/<i>h</i>+ etc., R = Q <i>g</i>/<i>h</i> + <i>i</i>/<i>k</i> + etc.</p> + </div> + </div> + <p>P, Q, R, etc. being integer or fractional, as may be. It is easily + shown that all must be integer: for</p> + +<p><!-- Page 369 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page369"></a>[369]</span></p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>A/B = <i>a</i>/<i>b</i>+ P/A, or, P = <i>a</i>B - <i>b</i>A</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>P/A = <i>c</i>/<i>d</i>+ Q/P, or, Q = <i>c</i>A - <i>d</i>P</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Q/P = <i>e</i>/<i>f</i>+ R/Q, or, R = <i>e</i>P - <i>f</i>Q</p> + </div> + </div> + <p>etc., etc. Now, since <i>a</i>, B, <i>b</i>, A, are integers, so also + is P; and thence Q; and thence R, etc. But since A/B, P/A, Q/P, R/Q, etc. + are all between -1 and +1, it follows that the unlimited succession of + integers P, Q, R, are each less in numerical value than the preceding. + Now there can be no such <i>unlimited</i> succession of <i>descending</i> + integers: consequently, it is impossible that <i>a</i>/<i>b</i>+ + <i>c</i>/<i>d</i>+, etc. can have a commensurable limit.</p> + + <p>It easily follows that the continued fraction is incommensurable if + <i>a</i>/<i>b</i>, <i>c</i>/<i>d</i>, etc., being at first greater than + unity, become and continue less than unity after some one point. Say that + <i>i</i>/<i>k</i>, <i>l</i>/<i>m</i>,... are all less than unity. Then + the fraction <i>i</i>/<i>k</i>+ <i>l</i>/<i>m</i>+ ... is + incommensurable, as proved: let it be <span class="grk">κ</span>. + Then <i>g</i>/(<i>h</i> + <span class="grk">κ</span>) is + incommensurable, say <span class="grk">λ</span>; + <i>e</i>/(<i>f</i> + <span class="grk">λ</span>) is the same, say + <span class="grk">μ</span>; also <i>c</i>/(<i>d</i> + <span + class="grk">μ</span>), say <span class="grk">ν</span>, and + <i>a</i>/(<i>b</i> + <span class="grk">ν</span>), say <span + class="grk">ρ</span>. But <span class="grk">ρ</span> is the + fraction <i>a</i>/<i>b</i>+ <i>c</i>/<i>d</i>+ ... itself; which is + therefore incommensurable.</p> + + <p>Let <span class="grk">φ</span><i>z</i> represent</p> + +<table class="math"><tr><td> +1 + </td><td><i>a</i><br /><img src="images/$line.png" style="width:100%; height:1px; line-height:1px;" alt="/" /><br /><i>z</i> </td><td>+ </td><td><i>a</i><sup>2</sup> <br /><img src="images/$line.png" style="width:100%; height:1px; line-height:1px;" alt="/" /><br /> 2<i>z</i>(<i>z</i>+1) </td><td>+ </td><td><i>a</i><sup>3</sup> <br /><img src="images/$line.png" style="width:100%; height:1px; line-height:1px;" alt="/" /><br /> 2·3·<i>z</i>(<i>z</i>+1)(<i>z</i>+2) </td><td>+ ... +</td></tr></table> + +<p><!-- Page 370 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page370"></a>[370]</span></p> + + <p>Let <i>z</i> be positive: this series is convergent for all values of + <i>a</i>, and approaches without limit to unity as <i>z</i> increases + without limit. Change <i>z</i> into <i>z</i> + 1, and form <span + class="grk">φ</span><i>z</i> - <span + class="grk">φ</span>(<i>z</i>+1): the following equation will + result—</p> + +<table class="math"><tr><td> +<span class="grk">φ</span><i>z</i> - <span class="grk">φ</span>(<i>z</i>+1) = </td><td><i>a</i><br /><img src="images/$line.png" style="width:100%; height:1px; line-height:1px;" alt="/" /><br /><i>z</i>(<i>z</i>+1) </td><td><span class="grk">φ</span>(<i>z</i>+2) +</td></tr></table> + +<table class="math"><tr><td> +or <i>a</i> = </td><td><i>a</i><br /><img src="images/$line.png" style="width:100%; height:1px; line-height:1px;" alt="/" /><br /><i>z</i> </td><td><span class="grk">φ</span>(<i>z</i>+1)<br /><img src="images/$line.png" style="width:100%; height:1px; line-height:1px;" alt="/" /><br /><span class="grk">φ</span><i>z</i> </td><td>· <i>z</i> + </td><td><i>a</i><br /><img src="images/$line.png" style="width:100%; height:1px; line-height:1px;" alt="/" /><br /><i>z</i> </td><td><span class="grk">φ</span>(<i>z</i>+1)<br /><img src="images/$line.png" style="width:100%; height:1px; line-height:1px;" alt="/" /><br /><span class="grk">φ</span><i>z</i> </td><td>· </td><td><i>a</i><br /><img src="images/$line.png" style="width:100%; height:1px; line-height:1px;" alt="/" /><br /><i>z</i>+1 </td><td><span class="grk">φ</span>(<i>z</i>+2)<br /><img src="images/$line.png" style="width:100%; height:1px; line-height:1px;" alt="/" /><br /><span class="grk">φ</span>(<i>z</i>+1) +</td></tr></table> + +<table class="math"><tr><td> +or <i>a</i> = <span class="grk">ψ</span><i>z</i></td><td><img src="images/$lbracket.png" style="height:2ex; width:0.5em" alt="left bracket" /></td><td><i>z</i> + <span class="grk">ψ</span>(<i>z</i>+1)</td><td><img src="images/$rbracket.png" style="height:2ex; width:0.5em" alt="right bracket" /></td><td> +</td></tr></table> + + <p><span class="grk">ψ</span><i>z</i> being (<i>a</i>/<i>z</i>)(<span + class="grk">φ</span>(<i>z</i>+1)/<span + class="grk">φ</span><i>z</i>); of which observe that it diminishes + without limit as <i>z</i> increases without limit. Accordingly, we + have</p> + +<table class="math"><tr><td> +<span class="grk">ψ</span><i>z</i> = </td><td><i>a</i><br /><img src="images/$line.png" style="width:100%; height:1px; line-height:1px;" alt="/" /><br /><i>z</i>+</td><td><span class="grk">ψ</span>(<i>z</i>+1) = </td><td><i>a</i><br /><img src="images/$line.png" style="width:100%; height:1px; line-height:1px;" alt="/" /><br /><i>z</i>+ </td><td><i>a</i><br /><img src="images/$line.png" style="width:100%; height:1px; line-height:1px;" alt="/" /><br />(<i>z</i>+1)+ </td><td><span class="grk">ψ</span>(<i>z</i>+2) += </td><td><i>a</i><br /><img src="images/$line.png" style="width:100%; height:1px; line-height:1px;" alt="/" /><br /><i>z</i>+ </td><td><i>a</i><br /><img src="images/$line.png" style="width:100%; height:1px; line-height:1px;" alt="/" /><br />(<i>z</i>+1)+ </td><td><i>a</i><br /><img src="images/$line.png" style="width:100%; height:1px; line-height:1px;" alt="/" /><br />(<i>z</i>+2)+ </td><td><span class="grk">ψ</span>(<i>z</i>+3) +</td></tr></table> + + <p>And, <span class="grk">ψ</span>(<i>z</i> + <i>n</i>) diminishing + without limit, we have</p> + +<table class="math"><tr><td> +<i>a</i><br /><img src="images/$line.png" style="width:100%; height:1px; line-height:1px;" alt="/" /><br /><i>z</i> </td><td>· </td><td><span class="grk">φ</span>(<i>z</i>+1)<br /><img src="images/$line.png" style="width:100%; height:1px; line-height:1px;" alt="/" /><br /><span class="grk">φ</span><i>z</i> </td><td>= <i>a</i><br /><img src="images/$line.png" style="width:100%; height:1px; line-height:1px;" alt="/" /><br /><i>z</i>+ </td><td><i>a</i><br /><img src="images/$line.png" style="width:100%; height:1px; line-height:1px;" alt="/" /><br />(<i>z</i>+1)+ </td><td><i>a</i><br /><img src="images/$line.png" style="width:100%; height:1px; line-height:1px;" alt="/" /><br />(<i>z</i>+2)+ </td><td><i>a</i><br /><img src="images/$line.png" style="width:100%; height:1px; line-height:1px;" alt="/" /><br />(<i>z</i>+3)+ ... +</td></tr></table> + + <p>Let <i>z</i> = ½; and let 4<i>a</i> = -<i>x</i><sup>2</sup>. Then</p> + +<table class="math"><tr><td> +<i>a</i><br /><img src="images/$line.png" style="width:100%; height:1px; line-height:1px;" alt="/" /><br /><i>z</i></td><td><span class="grk">φ</span>(<i>z</i>+1) </td><td>is -</td><td><i>x</i><sup>2</sup><br /><img src="images/$line.png" style="width:100%; height:1px; line-height:1px;" alt="/" /><br />2</td><td> </td><td><img src="images/$lbracket.png" style="height:3ex; width:0.5em" alt="left bracket" /></td><td> 1 - </td><td><i>x</i><sup>2</sup><br /><img src="images/$line.png" style="width:100%; height:1px; line-height:1px;" alt="/" /><br />2·3 </td><td>+ </td><td><i>x</i><sup>4</sup><br /><img src="images/$line.png" style="width:100%; height:1px; line-height:1px;" alt="/" /><br />2·3·4·5...</td><td></td><td><img src="images/$rbracket.png" style="height:3ex; width:0.5em" alt="right bracket" /></td><td> or -</td><td><i>x</i><br /><img src="images/$line.png" style="width:100%; height:1px; line-height:1px;" alt="/" /><br />2</td><td>sin <i>x</i>. +</td></tr></table> + + <p>Again</p> + +<table class="math"><tr><td> +<span class="grk">φ</span><i>z</i> is 1 - </td><td><i>x</i><sup>2</sup><br /><img src="images/$line.png" style="width:100%; height:1px; line-height:1px;" alt="/" /><br />2 </td><td>+ </td><td><i>x</i><sup>4</sup><br /><img src="images/$line.png" style="width:100%; height:1px; line-height:1px;" alt="/" /><br />2·3·4 </td><td>or cos <i>x</i>: +</td></tr></table> + + <p>and the continued fraction is</p> + +<table class="math"><tr><td> +- ¼<i>x</i><sup>2</sup><br /><img src="images/$line.png" style="width:100%; height:1px; line-height:1px;" alt="/" /><br />½+ </td><td> - ¼<i>x</i><sup>2</sup><br /><img src="images/$line.png" style="width:100%; height:1px; line-height:1px;" alt="/" /><br />(3/2)+ </td><td> - ¼<i>x</i><sup>2</sup><br /><img src="images/$line.png" style="width:100%; height:1px; line-height:1px;" alt="/" /><br />(5/2)+ ... </td><td>or -</td><td><i>x</i><br /><img src="images/$line.png" style="width:100%; height:1px; line-height:1px;" alt="/" /><br />2 </td><td><i>x</i><br /><img src="images/$line.png" style="width:100%; height:1px; line-height:1px;" alt="/" /><br />1+ </td><td> - <i>x</i><sup>2</sup><br /><img src="images/$line.png" style="width:100%; height:1px; line-height:1px;" alt="/" /><br />3+ </td><td> - <i>x</i><sup>2</sup><br /><img src="images/$line.png" style="width:100%; height:1px; line-height:1px;" alt="/" /><br />5+ ... +</td></tr></table> + +<p><!-- Page 371 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page371"></a>[371]</span></p> + + <p>whence</p> + +<table class="math"><tr><td> +tan <i>x</i> = </td><td><i>x</i><br /><img src="images/$line.png" style="width:100%; height:1px; line-height:1px;" alt="/" /><br />1+ </td><td>- <i>x</i><sup>2</sup><br /><img src="images/$line.png" style="width:100%; height:1px; line-height:1px;" alt="/" /><br />3+ </td><td>- <i>x</i><sup>2</sup><br /><img src="images/$line.png" style="width:100%; height:1px; line-height:1px;" alt="/" /><br />5+ </td><td>- <i>x</i><sup>2</sup><br /><img src="images/$line.png" style="width:100%; height:1px; line-height:1px;" alt="/" /><br />7+ ... +</td></tr></table> + + <p>Or, as written in the usual way,</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>tan <i>x</i> = <i>x</i></p> + <p> ——</p> + <p> 1 - <i>x</i><sup>2</sup></p> + <p> ——</p> + <p> 3 - <i>x</i><sup>2</sup></p> + <p> ——</p> + <p> 5 - <i>x</i><sup>2</sup></p> + <p> ——</p> + <p> 7 - ...</p> + </div> + </div> + <p>This result may be proved in various ways: it may also be verified by + calculation. To do this, remember that if</p> + +<table class="math"><tr><td> +<i>a</i><sub>1</sub><br /><img src="images/$line.png" style="width:100%; height:1px; line-height:1px;" alt="/" /><br /><i>b</i><sub>1</sub>+ </td><td><i>a</i><sub>2</sub><br /><img src="images/$line.png" style="width:100%; height:1px; line-height:1px;" alt="/" /><br /><i>b</i><sub>2</sub>+ </td><td><i>a</i><sub>3</sub><br /><img src="images/$line.png" style="width:100%; height:1px; line-height:1px;" alt="/" /><br /><i>b</i><sub>3</sub>+ ... </td><td><i>a</i><sub><i>n</i></sub><br /><img src="images/$line.png" style="width:100%; height:1px; line-height:1px;" alt="/" /><br /><i>b</i><sub><i>n</i></sub> </td><td>= </td><td>P<sub><i>n</i></sub><br /><img src="images/$line.png" style="width:100%; height:1px; line-height:1px;" alt="/" /><br />Q<sub><i>n</i></sub></td><td>; then +</td></tr></table> + +<table class="nobctr"> +<tr><td>P<sub>1</sub>=<i>a</i><sub>1</sub>,</td><td>P<sub>2</sub>=<i>b</i><sub>2</sub> P<sub>1</sub>,</td><td>P<sub>3</sub>=<i>b</i><sub>3</sub> P<sub>2</sub>+<i>a</i><sub>3</sub> P<sub>1</sub>,</td><td>P<sub>4</sub>=<i>b</i><sub>4</sub> P<sub>3</sub>+<i>a</i><sub>4</sub> P<sub>2</sub>, etc.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Q<sub>1</sub>=<i>b</i><sub>1</sub>,</td><td>Q<sub>2</sub>=<i>b</i><sub>2</sub> Q<sub>1</sub><span class="correction" title="text reads `-'">+</span><i>a</i><sub>2</sub>,</td><td>Q<sub>3</sub>=<i>b</i><sub>3</sub> Q<sub>2</sub>+<i>a</i><sub>3</sub> Q<sub>1</sub>,</td><td>Q<sub>4</sub>=<i>b</i><sub>4</sub> Q<sub>3</sub>+<i>a</i><sub>4</sub> Q<sub>2</sub>, etc.</td></tr> +</table> + + <p>in the case before us we have</p> + +<table class="nobctr"> +<tr><td>a<sub>1</sub>=x,</td><td>a<sub>2</sub>=-x<sup>2</sup>,</td><td>a<sub>3</sub>=-x<sup>2</sup>,</td><td>a<sub>4</sub>=-x<sup>2</sup>,</td><td>a<sub>5</sub>=-x<sup>2</sup>, etc.</td></tr> +<tr><td>b<sub>1</sub>=1,</td><td>b<sub>2</sub>=3,</td><td>b<sub>3</sub>=5,</td><td>b<sub>4</sub>=7,</td><td>b<sub>5</sub>=9, etc.</td></tr> +</table> + +<table class="nobctr"> +<tr><td>P<sub>1</sub>=<i>x</i></td><td>Q<sub>1</sub>=1</td></tr> +<tr><td>P<sub>2</sub>=3<i>x</i></td><td>Q<sub>2</sub>=3-<i>x</i><sup>2</sup></td></tr> +<tr><td>P<sub>3</sub>=15<i>x</i>-<i>x</i><sup>3</sup></td><td>Q<sub>3</sub>=15-6<i>x</i><sup>2</sup></td></tr> +<tr><td>P<sub>4</sub>=105<i>x</i>-10<i>x</i><sup>3</sup></td><td>Q<sub>4</sub>=105-45<i>x</i><sup>2</sup>+<i>x</i><sup>4</sup></td></tr> +<tr><td>P<sub>5</sub>=945<i>x</i>-105<i>x</i><sup>3</sup>+<i>x</i><sup>5</sup></td><td>Q<sub>5</sub>=945-420<i>x</i><sup>2</sup>+15<i>x</i><sup>4</sup></td></tr> +<tr><td>P<sub>6</sub>=10395<i>x</i>-1260<i>x</i><sup>3</sup>+21<i>x</i><sup>5</sup></td><td>Q<sub>6</sub>=10395-4725<i>x</i><sup>2</sup>+210<i>x</i><sup>4</sup>-<i>x</i><sup>6</sup></td></tr> +</table> + + <p>We can use this algebraically, or arithmetically. If we divide + P<sub><i>n</i></sub> by Q<sub><i>n</i></sub>, we shall find a series + agreeing with the known series for tan <i>x</i>, <i>as far as</i> n + <i>terms</i>. That series is</p> + +<table class="math"><tr><td> +<i>x</i> + </td><td><i>x</i><sup>3</sup><br /><img src="images/$line.png" style="width:100%; height:1px; line-height:1px;" alt="/" /><br />3 </td><td>+ </td><td>2<i>x</i><sup>5</sup><br /><img src="images/$line.png" style="width:100%; height:1px; line-height:1px;" alt="/" /><br />15 </td><td>+ </td><td>17<i>x</i><sup>7</sup><br /><img src="images/$line.png" style="width:100%; height:1px; line-height:1px;" alt="/" /><br />315 </td><td>+ </td><td>62<i>x</i><sup>9</sup><br /><img src="images/$line.png" style="width:100%; height:1px; line-height:1px;" alt="/" /><br />2835 </td><td>+ ... +</td></tr></table> + +<p><!-- Page 372 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page372"></a>[372]</span></p> + + <p>Take P<sub>5</sub>, and divide it by Q<sub>5</sub> in the common way, + and the first five terms will be as here written. Now take <i>x</i> = .1, + which means that the angle is to be one tenth of the actual unit, or, in + degrees 5°.729578. We find that when <i>x</i> = .1, P<sub>6</sub> = + 1038.24021, Q<sub>6</sub> = 10347.770999; whence P<sub>6</sub> divided by + Q<sub>6</sub> gives .1003346711. Now 5°.729578 is 5°43′46½″; + and from the old tables of Rheticus<a name="NtA_675" + href="#Nt_675"><sup>[675]</sup></a>—no modern tables carry the + tangents so far—the tangent of this angle is .1003347670.</p> + + <p>Now let <i>x</i> = ¼<span class="grk">π</span>; in which case tan + <i>x</i> = 1. If ¼<span class="grk">π</span> be commensurable with the + unit, let it be (<i>m</i>/<i>n</i>), <i>m</i> and <i>n</i> being + integers: we know that ¼<span class="grk">π</span> < 1. We have + then</p> + +<table class="math"><tr><td> +1=</td><td>(<i>m</i>/<i>n</i>)<br /><img src="images/$line.png" style="width:100%; height:1px; line-height:1px;" alt="/" /><br />1- </td><td>(<i>m</i><sup>2</sup>/<i>n</i><sup>2</sup>)<br /><img src="images/$line.png" style="width:100%; height:1px; line-height:1px;" alt="/" /><br />3- </td><td>(<i>m</i><sup>2</sup>/<i>n</i><sup>2</sup>)<br /><img src="images/$line.png" style="width:100%; height:1px; line-height:1px;" alt="/" /><br />5- ... </td><td>= </td><td><i>m</i><br /><img src="images/$line.png" style="width:100%; height:1px; line-height:1px;" alt="/" /><br /><i>n</i>- </td><td><i>m</i><sup>2</sup><br /><img src="images/$line.png" style="width:100%; height:1px; line-height:1px;" alt="/" /><br />3<i>n</i>- </td><td><i>m</i><sup>2</sup><br /><img src="images/$line.png" style="width:100%; height:1px; line-height:1px;" alt="/" /><br />5<i>n</i>- </td><td><i>m</i><sup>2</sup><br /><img src="images/$line.png" style="width:100%; height:1px; line-height:1px;" alt="/" /><br />7<i>n</i>- ... +</td></tr></table> + + <p>Now it is clear that <i>m</i><sup>2</sup>/3<i>n</i>, + <i>m</i><sup>2</sup>/5<i>n</i>, <i>m</i><sup>2</sup>/7<i>n</i>, etc. must + at last become and continue severally less than unity. The continued + fraction is therefore incommensurable, and cannot be unity. Consequently + <span class="grk">π</span><sup>2</sup> cannot be commensurable: that + is, <span class="grk">π</span> is an incommensurable quantity, and so + also is <span class="grk">π</span><sup>2</sup>.</p> + + <p> </p> + + <p>I thought I should end with a grave bit of appendix, deeply + mathematical: but paradox follows me wherever I go. The foregoing + is—in my own language—from Dr. (now Sir David) Brewster's<a + name="NtA_676" href="#Nt_676"><sup>[676]</sup></a> English edition of + Legendre's Geometry, (Edinburgh, 1824, 8vo.) translated by some one who + is not named. I picked up a notion, which others had at Cambridge in + 1825, that the translator was the late Mr. Galbraith,<a name="NtA_677" + href="#Nt_677"><sup>[677]</sup></a> then known at Edinburgh as a writer + and teacher.</p> + +<p><!-- Page 373 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page373"></a>[373]</span></p> + + <p>But it turns out that it was by a very different person, and one + destined to shine in quite another walk; it was a young man named Thomas + Carlyle.<a name="NtA_678" href="#Nt_678"><sup>[678]</sup></a> He + prefixed, from his own pen, a thoughtful and ingenious essay on + Proportion, as good a substitute for the fifth Book of Euclid as could + have been given in the space; and quite enough to show that he would have + been a distinguished teacher and thinker on first principles. But he left + the field immediately.</p> + +<hr class="short" /> + + <p>(The following is the passage referred to at Vol. II, page <a + href="#page54">54</a>.)</p> + + <p>Michael Stifelius<a name="NtA_679" href="#Nt_679"><sup>[679]</sup></a> + edited, in 1554, a second edition of the Algebra (<i>Die Coss.</i>), of + Christopher Rudolff.<a name="NtA_680" href="#Nt_680"><sup>[680]</sup></a> + This is one of the earliest works in which + and - are used.</p> + + <p>Stifelius was a queer man. He has introduced into this very work of + Rudolff his own interpretation of the number of the Beast. He determined + to fix the character of Pope Leo: so he picked the numeral letters from + LEODECIMVS, and by taking in X from LEO X. and striking out M as standing + for <i>mysterium</i>, he hit the number exactly. This discovery completed + his conversion to Luther, and his determination to throw off his monastic + vows. Luther dealt with him as straight-forwardly as with Melanchthon + about his astrology: he accepted the conclusions, but told him to clear + his mind of all the premises about the Beast. Stifelius <!-- Page 374 + --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page374"></a>[374]</span>did not take + the advice, and proceeded to settle the end of the world out of the + prophet Daniel: he fixed on October, 1533. The parishioners of some cure + which he held, having full faith, began to spend their savings in all + kinds of good eating and drinking; we may charitably hope this was not + the way of preparing for the event which their pastor pointed out. They + succeeded in making themselves as fit for Heaven as Lazarus, so far as + beggary went: but when the time came, and the world lasted on, they + wanted to kill their deceiver, and would have done so but for the + interference of Luther. <!-- Page 375 --><span class="pagenum"><a + name="page375"></a>[375]</span></p> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<h3>INDEX.</h3> + + <p>Pages denoted by numerals of this kind (<i>287</i>) refer to + biographical notes, chiefly by the editor. Numerals like <b>426</b> refer + to books discussed by De Morgan, or to leading topics in the text. + Numerals like 126 indicate minor references.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Abbott, Justice, I, <i>181</i>.</p> + <p>Abernethy, J., II, <i><a href="#page219">219</a></i>.</p> + <p>Aboriginal Britons, a poem, II, <a href="#page270">270</a>.</p> + <p>Academy of Sciences, French, I, <b>163</b>.</p> + <p>Adair, J., I, <i>223</i>.</p> + <p>Adam, M., I, <i>65</i>.</p> + <p>Adams, J. C., I, <i>43</i>, 82, 385, 388; II, <a href="#page131">131</a>, <a href="#page135">135</a>, <a href="#page140">140</a>, <a href="#page303">303</a>.</p> + <p>Ady, Joseph, II, <b><a href="#page42">42</a></b>, <i><a href="#page42">42</a></i>.</p> + <p>Agnew, H. C., I, <b>328</b>.</p> + <p>Agricola, J., I, 394.</p> + <p>Agricultural Laborer's letter, II, <a href="#page16">16</a>.</p> + <p>Agrippa, H. C., I, <i>48</i>, <b>48</b>.</p> + <p>Ainsworth, W. H., II, <i><a href="#page132">132</a></i>.</p> + <p>Airy, I, <i>85</i>, 88, 152, 242; II, <a href="#page85">85</a>, <a href="#page140">140</a>, <a href="#page150">150</a>, <a href="#page303">303</a>, <a href="#page347">347</a>.</p> + <p>Alchemy, I, <b>125</b>.</p> + <p>Alfonso X (El Sabio), II, <i><a href="#page269">269</a></i>.</p> + <p>Alford, H., II, <i><a href="#page221">221</a></i>.</p> + <p>Alfred, King, Ballad of, II, <a href="#page22">22</a>.</p> + <p>Algebra, I, 121.</p> + <p>Algebraic symbols, I, 121.</p> + <p>Almanac, I, 300; II, <a href="#page147">147</a>, <b><a href="#page148">148</a></b>, <b><a href="#page207">207</a></b>.</p> + <p class="i2">(<i>See Easter.</i>)</p> + <p>Aloysius Lilius, I, 362.</p> + <p>Alsted, J. H., II, <i><a href="#page282">282</a></i>.</p> + <p>Ameen Bey, II, <a href="#page15">15</a>.</p> + <p>Amicable Society, I, 347.</p> + <p>Ampère, I, 86.</p> + <p>Amphisbæna serpent, I, 31.</p> + <p>Anagrams, De Morgan, I, <b>138</b>.</p> + <p>Anaxagoras, II, <i><a href="#page59">59</a></i>.</p> + <p>Angherà, II, <b><a href="#page60">60</a></b>, <i><a href="#page60">60</a></i>, <a href="#page61">61</a>, <a href="#page279">279</a>.</p> + <p>Annuities, Fallacies of, I, <b>157</b>.</p> + <p>Antichrist, I, 130.</p> + <p>Antimony, I, <b>125</b>.</p> + <p>Antinewtonism, I, <b>162</b>.</p> + <p>Antinomians, I, 394.</p> + <p>Antiphon, II, <i><a href="#page59">59</a></i>.</p> + <p>Antonie, F., I, <i>126</i>, <b>126</b>.</p> + <p>Apollonius, I, 41, 107.</p> + <p>Apparitions, II, <a href="#page47">47</a>.</p> + <p>Arago, I, <i>243</i>, 390.</p> + <p>Aratus, II, <i><a href="#page167">167</a></i>.</p> + <p>Arbuthnot, I, <i>133</i>, 134.</p> + <p>Archer, H., II, <a href="#page90">90</a>.</p> + <p>Archimedes, I, 5, 11, <b>42</b>, 83, 107.</p> + <p>Archytas, I, <i>53</i>.</p> + <p>Argoli, I, <i>104</i>.</p> + <p>Aristocrat, as a scientist, I, <b>131</b>.</p> + <p>Aristotle, I, 5, 331.</p> + <p>Arnobius, II, <i><a href="#page73">73</a></i>.</p> + <p>Arson, P. J., II, <i><a href="#page207">207</a></i>.</p> + <p>Ashton, R., II, <i><a href="#page99">99</a></i>.</p> + <p>Astrology, I, 118, 127, <b>128</b>, <b>350</b>; II, <b><a href="#page43">43</a></b>.</p> + <p>Astronomer's Drinking Song, I, <b>380</b>.</p> + <p>Astronomical Aphorisms, I, <b>398</b>.</p> + <p class="i2">Paradox, I, <b>394</b>.</p> + <p class="i2">Police Report, I, <b>390</b>.</p> + <p class="i2">Society. (<i>See Royal Astronomical Society.</i>)</p> + <p>Astronomy, Bailly's exaggerated view of, I, <b>166</b>.</p> + <p>Astunica, Didacas, I, 90.</p> + <p>Athanasian Creed, I, 371.</p> + <p>Atheists, Philosophical, I, <b>1</b>.</p> + <p>Atoms, II, <b><a href="#page191">191</a></b>.</p> +<!-- Page 376 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page376"></a>[376]</span> + <p>Attraction, I, 136, 151, 155.</p> + <p>Augustine, St., II, <i><a href="#page23">23</a></i>.</p> + <p>Aurora borealis, I, <b>134</b>.</p> + <p>Austen, Jane, I, 191.</p> + <p>Auzout, A., II, <i><a href="#page300">300</a></i>.</p> + <p>Aviation, Early ideas of, II, <b><a href="#page8">8</a></b>.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Babbage, C., I, <i>207</i>, 290, 291; II, <a href="#page181">181</a>.</p> + <p>Bachet, de Méziriac, I, <i>161</i>.</p> + <p>Bacon, F., I, 5, <i>75</i>, 75, 76, 79, <b>89</b>, 145, 331.</p> + <p>Bacon, R., I, 5, <i>126</i>, <b>126</b>, 360; II, <a href="#page94">94</a>.</p> + <p>Baconian controversy, I, <b>141</b>.</p> + <p>Baden Powell, II, <i><a href="#page267">267</a></i>.</p> + <p>Bailly, J. S., I, <b>166</b>, <i>166</i>, 308.</p> + <p>Baily, F., I, 308, <i>309</i>; II, <a href="#page16">16</a>, <a href="#page143">143</a>, <a href="#page188">188</a>.</p> + <p>Baily, R., II, <a href="#page16">16</a>.</p> + <p>Baker, T., II, <i><a href="#page302">302</a></i>.</p> + <p>Bakewell, F. C., II, <b><a href="#page156">156</a></b>, <i><a href="#page156">156</a></i>.</p> + <p>Banks, J., I, 28.</p> + <p>Barberini, M., II, <i><a href="#page267">267</a></i>.</p> + <p>Barker, C., II, <i><a href="#page262">262</a></i>.</p> + <p>Baronius, I, 33, 35; II, <i><a href="#page62">62</a></i>.</p> + <p>Barrême, I, <i>42</i>.</p> + <p>Barrett, G., II, <i><a href="#page188">188</a></i>.</p> + <p>Barrow, I., I, <i>160</i>; II, <a href="#page302">302</a>.</p> + <p>Baruel, de, I, 165.</p> + <p>Bassano, Duc de, II, <a href="#page3">3</a>, <a href="#page339">339</a>.</p> + <p>Baxter, T., I, <b>146</b>.</p> + <p>Bayle, P., II, <i><a href="#page73">73</a></i>.</p> + <p>Beaufort, F., II, <i><a href="#page267">267</a></i>.</p> + <p>Beaugrand, I, 119, <i>121</i>.</p> + <p>Beaulieu, I, <i>119</i>, <b>119</b>, 121.</p> + <p>Beaune, de, II, <i><a href="#page59">59</a></i>.</p> + <p>Bécourt, R., II, <a href="#page277">277</a>.</p> + <p>Bedford, Duke of, (6th), I, <i>182</i>.</p> + <p>Behmen, I, <i>168</i>, 254; II, <b><a href="#page317">317</a></b>.</p> + <p>Bellenden, W., I, <i>175</i>.</p> + <p>Bentley, I, <i>110</i>.</p> + <p>Berkeley, G., II, <a href="#page346">346</a>.</p> + <p>Bernard, E., II, <i><a href="#page297">297</a></i>, <a href="#page300">300</a>.</p> + <p>Bernardus Trevisanus, I, <i>126</i>, <b>126</b>.</p> + <p>Bernoullis, I, 130, <i>150</i>, <i>335</i>, 336.</p> + <p>Bertius, P., II, <i><a href="#page300">300</a></i>.</p> + <p>Bèse, I, <i>66</i>.</p> + <p>Bessel, I, <i>384</i>; II, <a href="#page2">2</a>.</p> + <p>Bethune, I, <i>99</i>, 279, 291.</p> + <p>Bettesworth, I, 19.</p> + <p>Beza. (<i>See Bèse.</i>)</p> + <p>Bickersteth, E. H., I, <i>238</i>.</p> + <p>Bidder, I, <i>86</i>.</p> + <p>Biden, J., II, <b><a href="#page158">158</a></b>, <i><a href="#page160">160</a></i>.</p> + <p>Bidle, (Biddle), I, 239.</p> + <p>Biot, I, <i>85</i>.</p> + <p>Birch, T., I, <i>108</i>; II, <a href="#page304">304</a>, <a href="#page313">313</a>.</p> + <p>Birks, T. R., II, <b><a href="#page158">158</a></b>, <i><a href="#page158">158</a></i>.</p> + <p>Bishop, G., I, <i>386</i>.</p> + <p>Bishops as Paradoxers, I, <b>226</b>.</p> + <p>Boccaccio, I, 38.</p> + <p>Boethius, I, <i>42</i>, 45.</p> + <p>Böhme. (<i>See Behmen.</i>)</p> + <p>Boncompagni, I, <i>298</i>.</p> + <p>Boniface, St., I, 32.</p> + <p>Bonnycastle, J., II, <i><a href="#page16">16</a></i>.</p> + <p>Booker, I, 115.</p> + <p>Boole, G., I, <i>261</i>, 332; II, <b><a href="#page75">75</a></b>, <b><a href="#page79">79</a></b>.</p> + <p class="i2">—A tribute to, II, <b><a href="#page79">79</a></b>.</p> + <p>Borelli, G. A., II, <i><a href="#page300">300</a></i>.</p> + <p>Borello, I, <i>69</i>.</p> + <p>Boreman, I, 113.</p> + <p>Borron, Mrs., II, <b><a href="#page7">7</a></b>.</p> + <p>Boscovich, I, <i>156</i>, <b>164</b>.</p> + <p>Bouguer, II, <i><a href="#page301">301</a></i>.</p> + <p>Bouillaud, I, <i>87</i>; II, <a href="#page295">295</a>.</p> + <p>Bouvard, A., I, <i>327</i>.</p> + <p>Bovillus, I, <i>44</i>; II, <a href="#page324">324</a>.</p> + <p class="i2">—Epitome of, I, <b>44</b>.</p> + <p>Bowdler, H. M., I, <i>194</i>.</p> + <p>Bowring, J., I, <i>352</i>; II, <a href="#page256">256</a>.</p> + <p>Boyle, R., I, 24, <i>125</i>; II, <a href="#page300">300</a>.</p> + <p>Bradley, I, 24.</p> + <p>Bradwardine, I, <i>227</i>, <b>228</b>, <b>229</b>.</p> + <p>Brahe. (<i>See Tycho B.</i>)</p> + <p>Brancker, I, 107; II, <i><a href="#page300">300</a></i>.</p> + <p>Brenan, J., I, <b>330</b>, <i>330</i>.</p> + <p>Brewster, D., I, 39, <i>137</i>, 140; II, <a href="#page214">214</a>, <a href="#page288">288</a>, <a href="#page372">372</a>.</p> + <p>Briggs, I, <i>69</i>; II, <a href="#page299">299</a>, <a href="#page302">302</a>.</p> + <p>Bright, J., II, <i><a href="#page235">235</a></i>.</p> + <p>Brinkley, J., I, <i>311</i>.</p> + <p>Britannicus, D., II, <b><a href="#page8">8</a></b>.</p> + <p>British Museum library, I, 151.</p> + <p>Brothers, R., I, <i>315</i>; II, <a href="#page97">97</a>.</p> + <p>Brougham, Henry, Lord, I, <i>191</i>.</p> + <p>Brouncker (Brounker), I, <i>132</i>; II, <a href="#page302">302</a>.</p> + <p>Brown, W., II, <i><a href="#page168">168</a></i>.</p> + <p>Browne, T., I, <b>31</b>.</p> + <p>Brucker, I, <i>61</i>.</p> + <p>Brunet, I, <i>402</i>.</p> + <p>Brünnow, I, <i>386</i>.</p> + <p>Bruno, I, <i>59</i>, <b>59</b>.</p> + <p>Bryson, II, <i><a href="#page59">59</a></i>.</p> + <p>Bürgi, I, 52.</p> + <p>Buffon, I, <i>282</i>.</p> + <p>Bulstrode, II, <a href="#page84">84</a>.</p> + <p>Bungus, I, <i>55</i>, <b>55</b>, 57.</p> + <p>Buoncompagno, U., I, <i>362</i>.</p> +<!-- Page 377 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page377"></a>[377]</span> + <p>Burgon, J. W., II, <i><a href="#page30">30</a></i>.</p> + <p>Buridan, I, <i>37</i>.</p> + <p class="i2">—Questiones morales, I, 37.</p> + <p>Buridan's Ass, I, <b>37</b>.</p> + <p>Burke, E., I, <i>173</i>.</p> + <p>Burlesque, Frend's, I, <b>208</b>.</p> + <p>Burnet, G., I, <i>107</i>.</p> + <p>Burney, Frances, I, <i>190</i>.</p> + <p>Burton, Frances B., I, <b>374</b>.</p> + <p>Busby, R., II, <i><a href="#page313">313</a></i>.</p> + <p>Buteo, I, <i>51</i>.</p> + <p>Butler, G., I, <i>199</i>.</p> + <p>Butler, S., II, <i><a href="#page218">218</a></i>.</p> + <p>Buxton, J., I, <i>86</i>.</p> + <p>Byrgius. (<i>See Bürgi.</i>)</p> + <p>Byrne, O., I, <i>329</i>; II, <b><a href="#page186">186</a></b>, <a href="#page190">190</a>.</p> + <p>Byron, I, 186; II, <a href="#page270">270</a>, <b><a href="#page273">273</a></b>.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Cabbala, I, <b>272</b>.</p> + <p>Calculating Boys, I, 86.</p> + <p>Calculus, I, 129.</p> + <p>Calendar. (<i>See Easter.</i>)</p> + <p>Cambridge Poets, II, <b><a href="#page269">269</a></b>.</p> + <p>Campanus, I, <b>42</b>, <i>43</i>.</p> + <p>Canning, Geo., II, <i><a href="#page145">145</a></i>.</p> + <p>Carcavi, I, <i>106</i>.</p> + <p>Cardanus, II, <i><a href="#page59">59</a></i>.</p> + <p>Carlile, R., I, <i>271</i>.</p> + <p>Carlyle, T., II, <i><a href="#page373">373</a></i>.</p> + <p>Carnot, I, 107.</p> + <p>Caroline tables, I, 124.</p> + <p>Casaubon, I, <i>111</i>.</p> + <p>Case, J., I, <i>128</i>, <b>128</b>.</p> + <p>Cassini, J., I, <i>172</i>.</p> + <p>Castel, I, <i>148</i>, <b>148</b>.</p> + <p>Castiglioni, I, <i>139</i>.</p> + <p>Castlereagh, I, 185, <i>186</i>.</p> + <p>Cataldi, I, <i>69</i>, <b>69</b>.</p> + <p>Catcott, A., I, <i>237</i>.</p> + <p>Causans, de, I, <i>298</i>.</p> + <p>Cavalieri, I, <i>106</i>.</p> + <p>Cavendish, C., I, <i>106</i>; II, <a href="#page299">299</a>, <a href="#page312">312</a>.</p> + <p>Cavendish, W., I, <i>290</i>.</p> + <p>Caxton, W., II, <i><a href="#page281">281</a></i>.</p> + <p>Cayley, A., II, <i><a href="#page292">292</a></i>.</p> + <p>Cecil, R. (1st Earl of Salisbury), II, <i><a href="#page330">330</a></i>.</p> + <p>Centrifugal force, II, <b><a href="#page268">268</a></b>.</p> + <p>Ceulen. (<i>See Van Ceulen.</i>)</p> + <p>Challis, J., I, <i>390</i>; II, <a href="#page141">141</a>.</p> + <p>Chalmers, I, <i>102</i>; II, <a href="#page219">219</a>.</p> + <p>Chambers, E., II, <i><a href="#page282">282</a></i>.</p> + <p>Chambers, R., I, <i>344</i>, <b>344</b>.</p> + <p>Charles IX, II, <a href="#page94">94</a>.</p> + <p>Charles X, II, <a href="#page1">1</a>.</p> + <p>Chasles, I, <i>39</i>, 229.</p> + <p>Chesterfield, Earl of (4th), II, <i><a href="#page298">298</a></i>.</p> + <p>Chiffinch, W., II, <i><a href="#page50">50</a></i>.</p> + <p>Ch'in Chiu-shang, II, <a href="#page66">66</a>.</p> + <p>Chitty, J., II, <i><a href="#page323">323</a></i>.</p> + <p>Chiu-chang, Suan-shu, II, <a href="#page67">67</a>.</p> + <p>Christian Evidence Society, I, <b>270</b>.</p> + <p>Christie, I, 27.</p> + <p>Christmann, I, <b>272</b>, <i>272</i>.</p> + <p>Church question, I, <b>62</b>.</p> + <p>Church, The word, II, <b><a href="#page30">30</a></b>.</p> + <p>Circle squarers. (<i>See Squaring the Circle.</i>)</p> + <p>Circulating media of mathematics, I, <b>107</b>.</p> + <p>Ciruelo. (<i>See Sanchez.</i>)</p> + <p>Clairaut, I, <i>219</i>, 382.</p> + <p>Clarence, Duke of, I, 179.</p> + <p>Clarke, R., I, <i>255</i>.</p> + <p>Clavius, I, 11, <i>69</i>, 111, 112, 335, 362, 363, 372; II, <a href="#page59">59</a>.</p> + <p>Clayton., Geo., II, <i><a href="#page98">98</a></i>.</p> + <p>Cluvier, D., II, <b><a href="#page332">332</a></b>, <i><a href="#page332">332</a></i>.</p> + <p>Cobb, Mary, II, <a href="#page117">117</a>.</p> + <p>Cobbett, W., I, <i>177</i>, 200, 399.</p> + <p>Cobden, R., II, <a href="#page217">217</a>.</p> + <p>Cocker, I, <i>42</i>; II, <a href="#page64">64</a>, <a href="#page173">173</a>, <a href="#page251">251</a>, <a href="#page307">307</a>.</p> + <p>Cody, P., II, <a href="#page208">208</a>.</p> + <p>Coke, E., II, <i><a href="#page331">331</a></i>.</p> + <p>Colburn, Z., I, <i>86</i>.</p> + <p>Colenso, I, <i>63</i>, 247; II, <a href="#page191">191</a>.</p> + <p>Collins, J., I, <i>107</i>; II, <a href="#page297">297</a>, <a href="#page300">300</a>, <a href="#page302">302</a>, <a href="#page313">313</a>.</p> + <p>Colvill, W. H., II, <a href="#page68">68</a>.</p> + <p>Cometic astrology, I, 128.</p> + <p>Comets, I, 128; II, <b><a href="#page68">68</a></b>, <a href="#page83">83</a>.</p> + <p>Cominale, C., I, <i>162</i>, <b>162</b>.</p> + <p>Compton, S. J. A., II, <i><a href="#page19">19</a></i>.</p> + <p>Computation, Paradoxes of, II, <a href="#page251">251</a>, <b><a href="#page267">267</a></b>.</p> + <p>Condamine, C. M. de la, II, <i><a href="#page301">301</a></i>.</p> + <p>Conduitt, John, I, <i>397</i>.</p> + <p>Conduitt, Mrs., I, <i>136</i>.</p> + <p>Congregation of the Index, I, <b>90</b>.</p> + <p>Converse propositions, I, 295.</p> + <p>Convocation at Oxford, I, <b>96</b>.</p> + <p>Cooke, Margaret, I, <i>310</i>.</p> + <p>Cooper, A. A. (Shaftsbury), II, <i><a href="#page181">181</a></i>.</p> + <p>Copernicus, I, 5, 6, <i>76</i>, <b>90</b>, 121, 172, 380; II, <a href="#page165">165</a>, <a href="#page335">335</a>.</p> + <p>Copley, J. S., I, <i>198</i>.</p> + <p>Cormouls, I, 225.</p> + <p>Cosmology, I, <b>172</b>.</p> +<!-- Page 378 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page378"></a>[378]</span> + <p>Cotes, R., II, <i><a href="#page301">301</a></i>.</p> + <p>Cottle, Mrs., II, <b><a href="#page97">97</a></b>, <i><a href="#page97">97</a></i>, <a href="#page161">161</a>.</p> + <p>Craig, J., I, <i>129</i>, <b>129</b>.</p> + <p>Creed, Mathematics of a, I, <b>329</b>.</p> + <p>Cribb, T., I, <i>314</i>.</p> + <p>Crotus, J., I, 318.</p> + <p>Cruickshank, G., I, <i>186</i>.</p> + <p>Cube, Duplication of, I, <b>349</b>.</p> + <p>Cumyns, Eliza, I, 299.</p> + <p>Cunningham, I, <b>172</b>, <i>172</i>.</p> + <p>Curabelle, I, <i>221</i>.</p> + <p>Curious Calculations, II, <b><a href="#page66">66</a></b>.</p> + <p>Curll, E., II, <i><a href="#page279">279</a></i>.</p> + <p>Cusa, I, <i>44</i>, <b>47</b>, 360.</p> + <p>Custom, II, <b><a href="#page324">324</a></b>.</p> + <p>Cyclometry, II, <b><a href="#page208">208</a></b>. (<i>See Squaring of the Circle.</i>)</p> + <p>Cyclopædias, Review of, II, <b><a href="#page280">280</a></b>.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>D'Alembert, I, <i>382</i>; II, <a href="#page283">283</a>, <a href="#page364">364</a>.</p> + <p>Dalgarno, I, 116, <i>117</i>.</p> + <p>Dalton, J., I, <i>255</i>.</p> + <p>D'Arblay, Mme., I, <i>190</i>.</p> + <p>Darwin, E., II, <i><a href="#page8">8</a></i>.</p> + <p>Darwinism, Primitive, I, <b>344</b>.</p> + <p>Dary, M., II, <i><a href="#page305">305</a></i>.</p> + <p>Daval, P., II, <i><a href="#page298">298</a></i>.</p> + <p>Davies, T. S., II, <b><a href="#page151">151</a></b>, <i><a href="#page151">151</a></i>, <a href="#page188">188</a>.</p> + <p>Day, A., I, <b>295</b>, <i>295</i>.</p> + <p>De Baruel, I, 165.</p> + <p>De Beaune. (<i>See Beaune.</i>)</p> + <p>De Becourt, II, <b><a href="#page277">277</a></b>, <i><a href="#page277">277</a></i>.</p> + <p>Debenham, J., I, <i>393</i>.</p> + <p>De Causans. (<i>See Causans.</i>)</p> + <p>Dechales. (<i>See de Challes.</i>)</p> + <p>De Challes, I, <i>45</i>.</p> + <p>Decimal coinage, II, <a href="#page80">80</a>, <a href="#page168">168</a>, <b><a href="#page169">169</a></b>.</p> + <p>Decimals run riot, II, <b><a href="#page80">80</a></b>.</p> + <p>Dee, J., II, <i><a href="#page302">302</a></i>.</p> + <p>De Fauré, I, <b>149</b>.</p> + <p>De la Leu, I, <i>297</i>.</p> + <p>Delambre, I, <i>160</i>, 167, 354; II, <a href="#page165">165</a>.</p> + <p>Democritus, II, <i><a href="#page34">34</a></i>.</p> + <p>De Moivre, I, 24, <i>376</i>; II, <a href="#page298">298</a>.</p> + <p>De Molières, I, <i>220</i>.</p> + <p>De Molina, I, <i>297</i>.</p> + <p>Demonville, I, <b>291</b>, 293.</p> + <p>De Morgan, A., I, 191, 383; II, <a href="#page194">194</a>.</p> + <p class="i2">—Refusal of LL. D., I, 191.</p> + <p>De Morgan, G. C., I, 383.</p> + <p>De Morgan, Mrs., I, <i>196</i>; II, <a href="#page194">194</a>.</p> + <p>Denison, J., I, 348, 353.</p> + <p>Desaguliers, I, <i>153</i>, 156, 157.</p> + <p>Desargues, I, <i>119</i>, 221.</p> + <p>Descartes, I, 5, 59, 105, 132, <b>165</b>, 204, 220; II, <a href="#page94">94</a>.</p> + <p>De Serres, II, <i><a href="#page60">60</a></i>.</p> + <p>De Sluse. (<i>See Sluse.</i>)</p> + <p>De Thou, I, 51, <i>111</i>, 113; II, <a href="#page295">295</a>.</p> + <p>De Vausenville, I, 12.</p> + <p>Devonshire, Duke of (7th), I, <i>290</i>.</p> + <p>Diamandi, I, 86.</p> + <p>Didacus Astunica, I, 90.</p> + <p>Diderot, II, <i><a href="#page4">4</a></i>, <a href="#page283">283</a>, <a href="#page339">339</a>.</p> + <p>Digby, K., I, <i>108</i>.</p> + <p>Digges, T., and L., II, <i><a href="#page302">302</a></i>.</p> + <p>Dionysius Exiguus, I, <i>360</i>.</p> + <p>Dircks, H., II, <b><a href="#page138">138</a></b>, <i><a href="#page138">138</a></i>.</p> + <p>Discoverers and discoveries, II, <b><a href="#page206">206</a></b>.</p> + <p>Discovery, Basis of, I, <b>85</b>.</p> + <p>D'Israeli, I., I, <i>115</i>, 118, 136, 188, 227.</p> + <p>Ditton, I, <i>133</i>, <b>133</b>.</p> + <p>Division, Nature of, II, <a href="#page248">248</a>.</p> + <p>Dobson, J., I, <i>234</i>, <b>234</b>.</p> + <p>Dodson, J., II, <i><a href="#page312">312</a></i>.</p> + <p>Dodt, I, <i>52</i>.</p> + <p>Doggerel verse, I, <b>341</b>.</p> + <p>Dolland, I, <i>377</i>.</p> + <p>Double Vahu Process, II, <b><a href="#page360">360</a></b>.</p> + <p>Douglas, G., I, <i>232</i>.</p> + <p>Drach, S. M., II, <i><a href="#page317">317</a></i>.</p> + <p>Drayson, G. A. W., II, <i><a href="#page132">132</a></i>, <b><a href="#page132">132</a></b>.</p> + <p>Dryden, II, <i><a href="#page71">71</a></i>.</p> + <p>Dual arithmetic, II, <b><a href="#page186">186</a></b>.</p> + <p>Duchesne, I, <i>52</i>.</p> + <p>Dumortier, I, <b>313</b>.</p> + <p>Duncan, A., I, <i>179</i>.</p> + <p>Dunkin, E., II, <i><a href="#page349">349</a></i>.</p> + <p>Duodecimal scale, II, <a href="#page68">68</a>.</p> + <p>Duplication Problem, I, <b>349</b>.</p> + <p>Dupuy, J. and P., II, <i><a href="#page295">295</a></i>.</p> + <p>Dutens, L., II, <i><a href="#page90">90</a></i>.</p> + <p>Dyer, G., I, <i>178</i>.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Earth, Figure of, II, <b><a href="#page54">54</a></b>.</p> + <p>Easter, I, 359.</p> + <p>Easter Day Paradoxes, I, <b>353</b>.</p> + <p>Ebrington, Thos., I, <i>247</i>.</p> + <p>Edgeworth, Maria, I, <i>191</i>.</p> + <p>Editorial System, I, 15.</p> + <p>Edleston, I, <i>140</i>; II, <a href="#page296">296</a>.</p> + <p>Edwards, J., I, <i>144</i>.</p> + <p>Edwards, T., I, <i>112</i>.</p> + <p>Eirenæus Philalethes, I, <i>125</i>, <b>125</b>, 126.</p> + <p>Eldon, Lord (1st), II, <i><a href="#page197">197</a></i>.</p> + <p>Elephant story, I, 58.</p> + <p>Elizabeth, Queen, I, 128.</p> + <p>Ellenborough, Baron, I, <i>181</i>.</p> +<!-- Page 379 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page379"></a>[379]</span> + <p>Ellicot, I, 24.</p> + <p>Ellis, I, <i>76</i>, 82.</p> + <p>Engel, I, 230.</p> + <p>English language, Origin of, I, <b>215</b>.</p> + <p>Enriques, F., II, <i><a href="#page367">367</a></i>.</p> + <p>Epps, J., I, <i>153</i>; II, <a href="#page143">143</a>.</p> + <p>Equation of fifth degree, I, 250, 373.</p> + <p>Erasmus, I, 110.</p> + <p>Erastus, I, <i>65</i>.</p> + <p>Erichsen, I, <b>163</b>.</p> + <p>Ersch, II, <i><a href="#page193">193</a></i>, <a href="#page282">282</a>.</p> + <p>Erskine, T., II, <i><a href="#page127">127</a></i>.</p> + <p>Esperanto, Forerunner of, I, <b>116</b>.</p> + <p>Euclid, I, 5, 43; II, <a href="#page118">118</a>, <b><a href="#page151">151</a></b>.</p> + <p class="i2">—Without Axioms, I, <b>287</b>.</p> + <p>Eudoxus, II, <i><a href="#page164">164</a></i>.</p> + <p>Euler, I, 221, <i>382</i>; II, <a href="#page3">3</a>, <a href="#page4">4</a>, <a href="#page303">303</a>, <a href="#page331">331</a>, <a href="#page339">339</a>.</p> + <p>Eusebius, II, <i><a href="#page220">220</a></i>.</p> + <p>Eustace, J. C., II, <i><a href="#page46">46</a></i>.</p> + <p>Eutocius, I, <i>41</i>; II, <a href="#page60">60</a>.</p> + <p>Evelyn, J., I, <i>108</i>.</p> + <p>Everett, J., I, <i>346</i>.</p> + <p>Evidence, I, <b>57</b>, <b>58</b>.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Faber. (<i>See Stapulensis.</i>)</p> + <p>Fairfax, Mary, I, <i>242</i>.</p> + <p>Falco, I, <b>53</b>.</p> + <p>Faraday, M., II, <i><a href="#page351">351</a></i>.</p> + <p>Fauré, de, I, 149; II, <a href="#page238">238</a>.</p> + <p>Fawcett, H., II, <i><a href="#page249">249</a></i>.</p> + <p>Ferguson, J., II, <i><a href="#page20">20</a></i>.</p> + <p>Fermat, I, 122, 221; II, <i><a href="#page300">300</a></i>.</p> + <p>Ferrari, S., II, <b><a href="#page68">68</a></b>.</p> + <p>Fiction, New era in, I, <b>189</b>.</p> + <p>Fienus, I, <i>74</i>, <b>74</b>.</p> + <p>Filopanti, Q. B., II, <i><a href="#page93">93</a></i>.</p> + <p>Finæus, I, <i>50</i>, <b>50</b>, 113.</p> + <p>Finleyson, J., I, <b>314</b>, <i>314</i>.</p> + <p>Flamsteed, I, <i>87</i>, <b>309</b>; II, <a href="#page45">45</a>, <a href="#page143">143</a>, <a href="#page302">302</a>, <a href="#page306">306</a>.</p> + <p>Fletcher, I, 378.</p> + <p>Fludd, II, <i><a href="#page318">318</a></i>.</p> + <p>Fly-leaf Paradox, II, <b><a href="#page264">264</a></b>.</p> + <p>Folkes, M., I, <i>136</i>; II, <a href="#page301">301</a>.</p> + <p>Fontenelle, I, <i>103</i>.</p> + <p>Forbes, D., I, <i>237</i>.</p> + <p>Forman, W., I, <b>296</b>, <i>296</i>, 306.</p> + <p>Forster, T. I. M., I, <b>320</b>, <i>320</i>.</p> + <p>Foscarini, I, <i>90</i>.</p> + <p>Foster, S., II, <i><a href="#page310">310</a></i>.</p> + <p>Fourier, II, <i><a href="#page66">66</a></i>.</p> + <p>Fox, G., I, <i>397</i>.</p> + <p>Francis, P., II, <i><a href="#page96">96</a></i>.</p> + <p>Francœur, I, <i>365</i>.</p> + <p>Frankland, W. B., I, 230, 287.</p> + <p>Franklin, J., II, <i><a href="#page265">265</a></i>.</p> + <p>Freedom of opinion, Growth of, I, <b>265</b>.</p> + <p>Freher, A., II, <a href="#page319">319</a>.</p> + <p>French academy on circle squaring, I, <b>163</b>.</p> + <p>Frend, W., I, <i>196</i>, <b>196</b>, 206, <b>208</b>, 252.</p> + <p>Fresnel, II, <i><a href="#page48">48</a></i>.</p> + <p>Fromondus, I, <i>74</i>, <b>74</b>, <b>99</b>.</p> + <p>Frost, I. and J., I, <b>394</b>.</p> + <p>Fry, Elizabeth, I, <b>224</b>.</p> + <p>Fuller, T., I, <i>86</i>.</p> + <p>Fulton, R., I, <i>148</i>.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Gadbury, J., I, <i>115</i>, <b>115</b>.</p> + <p>Galbraith, J. A., II, <a href="#page372">372</a>.</p> + <p>Galileo, I, 5, 6, 32, <i>76</i>, 82, 83, 96, 122, 381.</p> + <p>Galle, J. G., I, <i>386</i>; II, <a href="#page7">7</a>.</p> + <p>Galloway, I, <i>56</i>, 57; II, <a href="#page143">143</a>.</p> + <p>Gamblers, I, 280.</p> + <p>Garrick, I, 21.</p> + <p>Gascoigne, W., II, <i><a href="#page299">299</a></i>.</p> + <p>Gassendi, I, <i>107</i>.</p> + <p>Gauss, I, 86, 107, 310.</p> + <p>Gemistus, G., I, <i>188</i>.</p> + <p>Gentleman's Monthly, Miscellany, I, 208.</p> + <p>Gephryander. (<i>See Salicetus.</i>)</p> + <p>Gergonne, I, <i>336</i>.</p> + <p>Ghetaldi, I, <i>83</i>; II, <a href="#page59">59</a>.</p> + <p>Ghost paradox, II, <a href="#page47">47</a>.</p> + <p>Giddy (Gilbert), II, <i><a href="#page174">174</a></i>.</p> + <p>Gilbert, Davies, II, <a href="#page66">66</a>, <i><a href="#page174">174</a></i>.</p> + <p>Gilbert, William, I, 6, <i>68</i>, <b>68</b>, 76.</p> + <p>Gillot, II, <i><a href="#page315">315</a></i>.</p> + <p>Glazier (Glazion), II, <a href="#page7">7</a>.</p> + <p>Godwin, F., I, <i>103</i>.</p> + <p>Godwin, W., I, <i>174</i>.</p> + <p>Golius, I, <i>106</i>.</p> + <p>Gompertz, B., I, <i>378</i>.</p> + <p>Goulburn, I, <i>288</i>.</p> + <p>Goulden, S., II, <a href="#page88">88</a>.</p> + <p>Graham, I, 24.</p> + <p>Grandamicus, I, <i>104</i>, <b>104</b>.</p> + <p>Granger, J., I, <i>156</i>.</p> + <p>Grant, A. R., II, <a href="#page131">131</a>.</p> + <p>Grant, R., I, <i>392</i>; II, <a href="#page131">131</a>.</p> + <p>Grassi, O., I, <i>262</i>.</p> + <p>Grassini, I, <i>231</i>.</p> + <p>Graunt, J., I, 113, <i>114</i>, 154.</p> + <p>Gravity, I, 151, 244, <b>348</b>, <b>353</b>.</p> +<!-- Page 380 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page380"></a>[380]</span> + <p class="i2">—Newton's apple, I, 136.</p> + <p>Greek numerals, II, <i><a href="#page77">77</a></i>.</p> + <p>Greene, R., I, <i>135</i>, <b>135</b>.</p> + <p>Greenhill, Sir G., I, 136.</p> + <p>Greenwich observatory, I, 87.</p> + <p>Gregg, T. D., II, <a href="#page75">75</a>, <i><a href="#page75">75</a></i>.</p> + <p>Gregorian Calendar, I, 363.</p> + <p>Gregory, D., I, <i>66</i>; II, <a href="#page301">301</a>.</p> + <p>Gregory, J., I, <i>118</i>, <b>118</b>, 207; II, <a href="#page302">302</a>.</p> + <p>Gregory O., II, <i><a href="#page71">71</a></i>.</p> + <p>Gregory, Pope, I, 362.</p> + <p>Grevil, I, <i>202</i>.</p> + <p>Grey, C., (2d Earl), I, <i>315</i>; II, <a href="#page247">247</a>.</p> + <p>Grosart, I, <i>141</i>, <b>141</b>, 145.</p> + <p>Grove, W. R., II, <i><a href="#page320">320</a></i>.</p> + <p>Gruber, II, <i><a href="#page193">193</a></i>, <a href="#page282">282</a>.</p> + <p>Gruenberger, I, <i>70</i>.</p> + <p>Grynaeus, I, <i>66</i>.</p> + <p>Guaricus, I, <i>43</i>.</p> + <p>Guillim, J., II, <i><a href="#page28">28</a></i>.</p> + <p>Guldin, I, <i>83</i>.</p> + <p>Gumpach, Von, II, <a href="#page137">137</a>, <i><a href="#page137">137</a></i>.</p> + <p>Gunning, H., I, <i>198</i>.</p> + <p>Gurney. (<i>See Fry, E.</i>)</p> + <p>Guthrie, W., I, <i>395</i>.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Hailes, J. D., II, <b><a href="#page135">135</a></b>, <i><a href="#page135">135</a></i>.</p> + <p>Hailesean system of astronomy, II, <a href="#page135">135</a>.</p> + <p>Hale, M., I, <i>123</i>, <b>123</b>.</p> + <p>Hales, S., I, <i>123</i>.</p> + <p>Hall, B., II, <i><a href="#page181">181</a></i>.</p> + <p>Hallam, I, 159.</p> + <p>Halley, I, 24, <i>124</i>, 311; II, <a href="#page301">301</a>, <a href="#page332">332</a>.</p> + <p>Halliwell-Phillips, II, <i><a href="#page148">148</a></i>, <a href="#page296">296</a>.</p> + <p>Hamilton, W., I, <i>112</i>, 117, 331, 335, 339, 341, 342; II, <a href="#page52">52</a>, <a href="#page53">53</a>, <a href="#page111">111</a>.</p> + <p>Hamilton, W. Rowan, I, <i>332</i>; II, <a href="#page104">104</a>, <a href="#page256">256</a>, <a href="#page343">343</a>.</p> + <p>Hanover, King of, I, 201.</p> + <p>Hardy, C., I, <i>298</i>.</p> + <p>Hardy, T., I, <i>178</i>.</p> + <p>Harriot, T., II, <i><a href="#page302">302</a></i>.</p> + <p>Harvey, I, <i>76</i>, 78; II, <a href="#page201">201</a>.</p> + <p>Hauff, I, <i>230</i>.</p> + <p>Haughton, S., II, <a href="#page372">372</a>.</p> + <p>Hauksbee, F., I, <i>156</i>.</p> + <p>Hayes, C., I, <i>132</i>, <b>132</b>.</p> + <p>Heath, D. D., I, <i>76</i>.</p> + <p>Heinfetter, H., II, <b><a href="#page94">94</a></b>, <i><a href="#page94">94</a></i>.</p> + <p>Helmont, J. B. van, I, <i>125</i>.</p> + <p>Henson, II, <a href="#page8">8</a>.</p> + <p>Heraclitus, II, <i><a href="#page34">34</a></i>.</p> + <p>Herbart, J. F., I, <b>253</b>, <i>253</i>; II, <a href="#page78">78</a>.</p> + <p>Hérigone, II, <i><a href="#page59">59</a></i>.</p> + <p>Herschel, J., I, <i>80</i>, <b>299</b>, 326, 383, 386; II, <a href="#page88">88</a>, <a href="#page95">95</a>, <a href="#page181">181</a>, <a href="#page255">255</a>, <a href="#page261">261</a>, <a href="#page262">262</a>.</p> + <p>Herschel, W., I, <i>81</i>, 151, 192, 225, 233, 299; II, <a href="#page288">288</a>, <a href="#page348">348</a>.</p> + <p>Heywood, F., II, <i><a href="#page49">49</a></i>.</p> + <p>Hicks, J. P., II, <i><a href="#page67">67</a></i>.</p> + <p>Higgins, G., I, <i>257</i>, <b>274</b>.</p> + <p>Hilarius, Pope, I, <i>359</i>.</p> + <p>Hill, J., I, 21, 22, 23, 24.</p> + <p>Hill, Rev. R., I, <i>192</i>.</p> + <p>Hill, Sir R., I, <i>165</i>, 232.</p> + <p>Hind, J. 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J., I, <i>321</i>; II, <b><a href="#page43">43</a></b>.</p> + <p>Mose, H., II, <i><a href="#page266">266</a></i>.</p> + <p>Mottelay, I, 68.</p> + <p>Motti, II, <a href="#page60">60</a>.</p> + <p>Mouton, I, <i>172</i>; II, <a href="#page300">300</a>.</p> + <p>Muggleton, I, 394, <i>395</i>.</p> + <p>Multiplication, Nature of, II, <a href="#page251">251</a>.</p> + <p>Murchison, R. I., I, <i>384</i>.</p> + <p>Murhard, I, <i>43</i>, 298.</p> +<!-- Page 383 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page383"></a>[383]</span> + <p>Murphy, A., II, <i><a href="#page308">308</a></i>.</p> + <p>Murphy, J. L., II, <b><a href="#page54">54</a></b>, <i><a href="#page54">54</a></i>.</p> + <p>Murphy, P., I, <i>327</i>, <b>398</b>.</p> + <p>Murphy, R., I, <b>349</b>, <i>349</i>.</p> + <p>Murray, J., I, <i>186</i>; II, <a href="#page145">145</a>.</p> + <p>Murray, L., II, <i><a href="#page326">326</a></i>.</p> + <p>Murray, Mungo, II, <a href="#page310">310</a>.</p> + <p>Musgrave, T., I, <i>324</i>.</p> + <p>Mydorge, I, <i>298</i>.</p> + <p>Mystrom, J. W., II, <b><a href="#page182">182</a></b>.</p> + <p>Mythological paradoxes, I, <b>256</b>.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Names of Religious Bodies, II, <a href="#page22">22</a>.</p> + <p>Napier, J., I, 5, <b>66</b>, <i>67</i>, 82.</p> + <p>Napoleon, Doubts as to, I, <b>246</b>.</p> + <p>Nautical Almanac, I, <b>300</b>; II, <a href="#page147">147</a>.</p> + <p>Neal, I, <i>98</i>.</p> + <p>Negative numbers, I, 196, 203.</p> + <p>Neile, W., II, <i><a href="#page190">190</a></i>.</p> + <p>Neptune, Discovery of, I, 387; II, <b><a href="#page140">140</a></b>. (<i>See Adams, Leverrier.</i>)</p> + <p>Nesse, C, I, <i>128</i>, 128.</p> + <p>Newcomb, S., I, 162.</p> + <p>Newcomen, T., I, <i>147</i>.</p> + <p>Newton, Sir Isaac, I, 5, 6, 8, 24, 39, 84, 88, 130, 136, <b>139</b>, 144, 145, 148, <b>152</b>, <b>154</b>, 155, 162, 165, 167, 197, <b>225</b>, 237, 242, 257, 282, <b>296</b>, 297, 309, 311, 382, 394, 395, 396, 397; II, <a href="#page2">2</a>, <a href="#page70">70</a>, <a href="#page184">184</a>, <a href="#page297">297</a>, <i><a href="#page302">302</a></i>, <a href="#page305">305</a>.</p> + <p>Newton, John, II, <i><a href="#page305">305</a></i>.</p> + <p>Nicene Creed, I, 371.</p> + <p>Nichol, J. P., II, <i><a href="#page289">289</a></i>.</p> + <p>Nicholas. (<i>See Cusa.</i>)</p> + <p>Nichols, J., I, <i>175</i>.</p> + <p>Nicolas, N. H., I, <i>354</i>.</p> + <p>Nicollet, I, <i>326</i>; II, <b><a href="#page131">131</a></b>.</p> + <p>Nicolson, W., I, <i>201</i>.</p> + <p>Nieuwentijt, II, <i><a href="#page333">333</a></i>.</p> + <p>Nizzoli, M., II, <a href="#page275">275</a>.</p> + <p>Non-Euclidean geometry, II, <a href="#page83">83</a>.</p> + <p>Northampton, Marquis of (2d), II, <i><a href="#page19">19</a></i>.</p> + <p>Novum Organum Moralium, II, <b><a href="#page74">74</a></b>.</p> + <p>Number, Mystery of, I, <b>55</b>, 56, 169.</p> + <p>Number of the Beast (666), I, 55, 130, 272, 298, <b>352</b>; II, <a href="#page77">77</a>, <a href="#page159">159</a>, <a href="#page217">217</a>, <b><a href="#page218">218</a></b>, <a href="#page361">361</a>, <a href="#page373">373</a>.</p> + <p>Numeral system, II, <a href="#page68">68</a>.</p> + <p>Nursery rhymes, II, <a href="#page150">150</a>.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Occam, Wm. of, II, <i><a href="#page40">40</a></i>.</p> + <p>Odgers, N., II, <b><a href="#page191">191</a></b>, <i><a href="#page191">191</a></i>.</p> + <p>Oinopides of Chios, II, <i><a href="#page59">59</a></i>.</p> + <p>Oldenburgh, H., II, <i><a href="#page300">300</a></i>, <a href="#page302">302</a>.</p> + <p>Orthodox Paradoxes, II, <a href="#page363">363</a>.</p> + <p>Orthography, Paradoxes of, II, <b><a href="#page267">267</a></b>.</p> + <p>Ortwinus, I, 319.</p> + <p>Oughtred, W., II, <i><a href="#page298">298</a></i>, <a href="#page303">303</a>.</p> + <p>Owenson, I, <i>191</i>.</p> + <p>Ozanam, I, <i>161</i>, 312.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Pagi, I, 32.</p> + <p>Paine, T., I, <b>173</b>, <i>173</i>, 271.</p> + <p>Paley, W., I, <i>222</i>; II, <a href="#page226">226</a>.</p> + <p>Palmer, C., I, <b>225</b>.</p> + <p>Palmer, H., I, <i>141</i>, <b>141</b>, 145.</p> + <p>Palmer, J., II, <i><a href="#page253">253</a></i>.</p> + <p>Palmer, T. F., II, <i><a href="#page254">254</a></i>.</p> + <p>Palmer, W., II, <i><a href="#page37">37</a></i>.</p> + <p>Palmerston, Viscount (3d), I, <i>290</i>, 352.</p> + <p>Palmézeaux, I, 167.</p> + <p>Panizzi, A., I, <i>151</i>.</p> + <p>Papist, II, <b><a href="#page26">26</a></b>.</p> + <p>Paracelsus, II, <a href="#page322">322</a>.</p> + <p>Paradox defined, I, 2, 31.</p> + <p>Paradox, religious, I, <b>236</b>.</p> + <p>Paradoxers in general, II, <b><a href="#page352">352</a></b>.</p> + <p>Parallels, Theory of, I, 229, <b>344</b>.</p> + <p>Pardies, I. G., II, <i><a href="#page300">300</a></i>.</p> + <p>Park, Mungo, II, <i><a href="#page91">91</a></i>, <a href="#page132">132</a>.</p> + <p>Parker, F., II, <i><a href="#page94">94</a></i>.</p> + <p>Parker, G. (Earl of Macclesfield), II, <i><a href="#page296">296</a></i>.</p> + <p>Parr, S., I, <b>173</b>, <i>173</i>, 175, 176, 184.</p> + <p>Parsey, I, <b>293</b>, <i>293</i>.</p> + <p>Partridge, J., I, <i>305</i>.</p> + <p>Pasbergius, I, 381.</p> + <p>Pascal, I, 39, 119, 122, <i>220</i>, <i>221</i>; II, <b><a href="#page73">73</a></b>.</p> + <p>Pascal's Hexagram, I, 221.</p> + <p>Passot, I, <b>279</b>, <i>279</i>.</p> + <p>Passover, I, 358, 372.</p> + <p>Patriotic paradox, I, <b>231</b>.</p> + <p>Paucton, I, <i>172</i>.</p> + <p>Paulian, I, <b>165</b>, <i>165</i>.</p> + <p>Peacock, Geo., I, <i>196</i>, <b>350</b>.</p> + <p>Peacock, T. L., I, <i>190</i>, <b>340</b>.</p> + <p>Pearce, A. J., II, <a href="#page43">43</a>.</p> + <p>Pearne, T., I, <i>239</i>.</p> + <p>Peel, Sir R., I, 290, <i>352</i>.</p> + <p>Peel, W. Y., I, <i>290</i>.</p> + <p>Pèlerin, J., II, <i><a href="#page324">324</a></i>.</p> + <p>Pell, J., I, <i>105</i>, <b>105</b>, 107; II, <a href="#page300">300</a>, <a href="#page302">302</a>, <a href="#page312">312</a>.</p> + <p>Pepys, I, <i>113</i>, 114.</p> + <p>Perigal, H., II, <b><a href="#page19">19</a></b>, <i><a href="#page20">20</a></i>.</p> +<!-- Page 384 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page384"></a>[384]</span> + <p>Perpetual motion, I, 118, 348; II, <a href="#page55">55</a>, <a href="#page138">138</a>.</p> + <p>Perspective, New theory of, I, 293.</p> + <p>Peters, W., II, <a href="#page11">11</a>, <a href="#page315">315</a>.</p> + <p>Petitioning Comet, I, <b>127</b>.</p> + <p>Petrie, W. M. F., I, <i>328</i>.</p> + <p>Petty, I, <i>114</i>; II, <a href="#page300">300</a>.</p> + <p>Philalethes, Eirenaeus, I, <i>125</i>, <b>125</b>, 126.</p> + <p>Philalethes, Eugenius, I, <i>255</i>.</p> + <p>Phillips, R., I, <b>242</b>, <i>242</i>, <b>245</b>.</p> + <p>Philo of Gadara, I, <b>40</b>, <i>40</i>.</p> + <p>Philosopher's stone, I, 118, 125.</p> + <p>Philosophical atheists, II, <b><a href="#page1">1</a></b>.</p> + <p>Philosophy and Religion, II, <b><a href="#page37">37</a></b>.</p> + <p>Phonetic spelling, II, <b><a href="#page81">81</a></b>.</p> + <p><span class="grk">π</span>, values of, I, 11, 43, 45, 46, 52, 69, 100, 110, 129, 135, 146, 245, 283, <b>284</b>, 294, 347, 348, 349, 350; II, <a href="#page60">60</a>, <b><a href="#page63">63</a></b>, <a href="#page105">105</a>, <a href="#page110">110</a>, <a href="#page118">118</a>, <a href="#page135">135</a>, <a href="#page156">156</a>, <a href="#page209">209</a>, <a href="#page279">279</a>, <a href="#page315">315</a>, <a href="#page316">316</a>.</p> + <p>Pighius, I, <i>372</i>.</p> + <p>Pike, S., I, <b>236</b>, <i>236</i>.</p> + <p>Pindar, P., II, <i><a href="#page272">272</a></i>.</p> + <p>Piozzi, Mrs., I, <i>235</i>; II, <a href="#page272">272</a>.</p> + <p>Piscator, B., II, <a href="#page25">25</a>.</p> + <p>Pitman, F., II, <b><a href="#page81">81</a></b>, <i><a href="#page81">81</a></i>.</p> + <p>Place, F., I, <i>199</i>.</p> + <p>Planets inhabitable, I, <b>100</b>, <b>102</b>.</p> + <p>Plato, I, 5.</p> + <p>Platt, H., I, <i>126</i>, <b>126</b>.</p> + <p>Playfair, J., I, <i>233</i>.</p> + <p>Pletho, G., I, <i>188</i>.</p> + <p>Pliny, II, <a href="#page280">280</a>.</p> + <p>Ploucquet, I, <i>336</i>, 337.</p> + <p>Poe, E. A., II, <a href="#page132">132</a>.</p> + <p>Poincaré, I, 136.</p> + <p>Poisson, I, <i>292</i>; II, <a href="#page2">2</a>.</p> + <p>Pollock, J. F., II, <i><a href="#page174">174</a></i>.</p> + <p>Pons, II, <i><a href="#page45">45</a></i>.</p> + <p>Pope, Wm., I, <b>277</b>, <i>277</i>.</p> + <p>Porta, I, <i>68</i>, <b>68</b>, 83.</p> + <p>Porteus, B., I, <i>193</i>, 203.</p> + <p>Porteus, H. F. A., II, <b><a href="#page157">157</a></b>, <i><a href="#page157">157</a></i>.</p> + <p>Porus, I, 44.</p> + <p>Powell, Baden, II, <i><a href="#page267">267</a></i>.</p> + <p>Powell, W. S., I, <i>222</i>.</p> + <p>Pratt, H. F. A., II, <b><a href="#page157">157</a></b>, <i><a href="#page157">157</a></i>.</p> + <p>Pratt, O., II, <i><a href="#page69">69</a></i>.</p> + <p>Predaval, Count de, I, <i>348</i>.</p> + <p>Prescot, B., I, <b>270</b>, <i>270</i>, <b>278</b>.</p> + <p>Prester John, I, <b>70</b>, <i>71</i>, 152.</p> + <p>Price, R., I, <i>223</i>.</p> + <p>Probability, Discourse on, I, <b>279</b>.</p> + <p>Proclus, I, <b>188</b>, <i>188</i>.</p> + <p>Prodigies, Youthful, I, <b>219</b>, 332.</p> + <p>Pronunciation, II, <b><a href="#page330">330</a></b>.</p> + <p>Protestant and Papal Christendom, II, <b><a href="#page33">33</a></b>.</p> + <p>Protimalethes, II, <b><a href="#page6">6</a></b>.</p> + <p>Ptolemy, I, 5, 33, <i>380</i>.</p> + <p>Pullicino, II, <b><a href="#page61">61</a></b>, <i><a href="#page61">61</a></i>.</p> + <p>Pusey, I, <i>64</i>.</p> + <p>Pyramids, The, I, <b>328</b>; II, <a href="#page95">95</a>, <a href="#page136">136</a>.</p> + <p>Pythagoras, II, <i><a href="#page59">59</a></i>.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Quadrature problem. (<i>See Squaring the circle.</i>)</p> + <p>Quarles, F., II, <i><a href="#page277">277</a></i>.</p> + <p>Quintilian, II, <a href="#page280">280</a>.</p> + <p>Quotem, C., I, <b>399</b>.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Rabelais, I, <i>102</i>.</p> + <p>Rainbow Paradox, II, <b><a href="#page334">334</a></b>.</p> + <p>Ramachandra, Y., I, <i>374</i>.</p> + <p>Ramchundra, I, 374.</p> + <p>Ramus, I, 5.</p> + <p>Recalcati, II, <a href="#page208">208</a>, <a href="#page314">314</a>.</p> + <p>Recorde, R., II, <i><a href="#page328">328</a></i>.</p> + <p>Reddie, Jas., II, <b><a href="#page183">183</a></b>, <i><a href="#page183">183</a></i>, <b><a href="#page344">344</a></b>, <a href="#page360">360</a>.</p> + <p>Reeve, J., I, <i>395</i>.</p> + <p>Regiomontanus, I, <i>48</i>, 360.</p> + <p>Reisch, I, <i>45</i>; II, <a href="#page281">281</a>.</p> + <p>Religion and Philosophy, II, <b><a href="#page37">37</a></b>.</p> + <p>Religious bodies, Names of, II, <b><a href="#page22">22</a></b>;</p> + <p class="i2">—customs, Attacks on, I, <b>177</b>;</p> + <p class="i2">—Insurance, I, <b>345</b>;</p> + <p class="i2">—Paradox, I, <b>236</b>;</p> + <p class="i2">—Tract society, I, <b>192</b>.</p> + <p>Remigius, I, <i>50</i>.</p> + <p>Reuchlin, J., II, <i><a href="#page323">323</a></i>.</p> + <p>Revelations, Napier on, I, <b>66</b>.</p> + <p>Revilo, (O. Byrne), I, 241, <b>329</b>, <i>329</i>.</p> + <p>Reyneau, C. R., II, <i><a href="#page301">301</a></i>.</p> + <p>Rheticus, I, <i>69</i>; II, <a href="#page372">372</a>.</p> + <p>Rhonius, II, <a href="#page300">300</a>.</p> + <p>Ribadeneira, P. de, II, <i><a href="#page62">62</a></i>.</p> + <p>Riccioli, I, <i>96</i>.</p> + <p>Richards, G., II, <i><a href="#page270">270</a></i>.</p> + <p>Rigaud, J., II, <i><a href="#page299">299</a></i>.</p> + <p>Rigaud, S. J., II, <i><a href="#page299">299</a></i>.</p> + <p>Rigaud, S. P., I, <i>140</i>; II, <a href="#page298">298</a>, <a href="#page313">313</a>.</p> + <p>Ringelbergh, J. S., II, <i><a href="#page281">281</a></i>.</p> + <p>Ripley, G., I, <i>126</i>, <b>126</b>.</p> + <p>Ritchie, W., I, <b>295</b>, <i>295</i>.</p> + <p>Ritterhusius, I, <i>60</i>.</p> + <p>Rive, J.-J., I, <i>160</i>.</p> + <p>Robertson, Jas., I, <i>237</i>.</p> + <p>Roberval, I, <i>105</i>, 122.</p> +<!-- Page 385 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page385"></a>[385]</span> + <p>Robinson, B., I, <i>148</i>, <b>148</b>.</p> + <p>Robinson, H. C., I, <i>314</i>; II, <a href="#page52">52</a>, <a href="#page275">275</a>.</p> + <p>Robinson, R., I, <i>177</i>.</p> + <p>Robinson, T. R., II, <i><a href="#page181">181</a></i>.</p> + <p>Roblin, J., II, <b><a href="#page136">136</a></b>.</p> + <p>Rogers, S., II, <i><a href="#page260">260</a></i>.</p> + <p>Roget, P. M., I, <i>398</i>.</p> + <p>Roomen, A. van, I, <i>110</i>.</p> + <p>Ross, J. C., I, <i>303</i>.</p> + <p>Rosse, I, 26.</p> + <p>Rossi, G., I, <b>231</b>, <i>231</i>.</p> + <p>Rotation of the Moon, II, <b><a href="#page4">4</a></b>, <b><a href="#page19">19</a></b>.</p> + <p>Rough, W., I, 198.</p> + <p>Rowning, J., I, <i>155</i>.</p> + <p>Royal Astronomical Society, I, 27;</p> + <p class="i2">—Forerunner of, I, 374.</p> + <p>Royal Society, I, 21, 22, 24-30, <b>56</b>, 57, 136, 153, 163, 164, 165.</p> + <p>Rudio, I, <b>159</b>; II, <a href="#page367">367</a>.</p> + <p>Rudolff, C., II, <a href="#page373">373</a>.</p> + <p>Russell, Earl (1st), I, <i>296</i>.</p> + <p>Rutherford, W., II, <i><a href="#page109">109</a></i>.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Sabatíer, A., II, <i><a href="#page267">267</a></i>.</p> + <p>Sabellius, I, <i>241</i>.</p> + <p>Sacrobosco, I, <i>360</i>.</p> + <p>Sadler, T., I, <i>238</i>, 241.</p> + <p>Saint-Martin, I, <b>167</b>, <i>168</i>, 206.</p> + <p>St.-Mesmin, M. de., I, <b>280</b>.</p> + <p>St. Vincent, G. de., I, <i>110</i>, <b>117</b>.</p> + <p>St. Vitus, Patron of Cyclometers, II, <b><a href="#page60">60</a></b>.</p> + <p>Sales, de, I, 167.</p> + <p>Salicetus, I, <b>64</b>.</p> + <p>Salisbury, Earl of (1st), II, <i><a href="#page330">330</a></i>.</p> + <p>Salmasius, Claudius, II, <i><a href="#page168">168</a></i>.</p> + <p>Salusbury, Hester, I, <i>235</i>.</p> + <p>Sanchez, Petro, I, <b>229</b>, <i>229</i>.</p> + <p>Sanders, W., I, 207.</p> + <p>Sanderson, R., I, <i>135</i>.</p> + <p>Sara, R., I, <i>297</i>.</p> + <p>Saunderson, N., I, <i>377</i>; II, <a href="#page301">301</a>.</p> + <p>Scaliger, I, <i>44</i>, 110, 111, 112, 113; II, <a href="#page238">238</a>.</p> + <p>Scévole de St. Marthe, I, 113.</p> + <p>Schooten, Van, II, <i><a href="#page59">59</a></i>.</p> + <p>Schopp, I, <i>60</i>.</p> + <p>Schott, I, <i>64</i>; II, <a href="#page64">64</a>.</p> + <p>Schumacher, H. C., I, <i>107</i>; II, <a href="#page297">297</a>.</p> + <p>Schwab, I, <i>230</i>.</p> + <p>Scientific paradoxes, I, <b>232</b>.</p> + <p>Scott, Michael, I, <i>38</i>.</p> + <p>Scott's Devils, I, <b>38</b>.</p> + <p>Scott, W., I, 20, 27, 38, <b>39</b>, 155, <i>191</i>.</p> + <p>Scripture and Science, II, <b><a href="#page261">261</a></b>.</p> + <p>Search, John, I, 247.</p> + <p>Selden, J., II, <i><a href="#page250">250</a></i>.</p> + <p>Sénarmont, II, <i><a href="#page48">48</a></i>.</p> + <p>Serres, De, II, <i><a href="#page60">60</a></i>.</p> + <p>Shaftesbury, Earl of, II, <i><a href="#page181">181</a></i>.</p> + <p>Shakespeare, I, 13.</p> + <p>Shanks, II, <i><a href="#page63">63</a></i>, <a href="#page65">65</a>, <a href="#page109">109</a>.</p> + <p>Shaw, P., I, <i>142</i>.</p> + <p>Sheepshanks, J., I, <i>147</i>.</p> + <p>Sheepshanks, R., I, <i>290</i>.</p> + <p>Shelley, I, 174.</p> + <p>Shepherd, S., I, <i>124</i>.</p> + <p>Sherburne, E., II, <i><a href="#page295">295</a></i>.</p> + <p>Sheridan, R. B., I, <i>175</i>.</p> + <p>Sheridan, T., I, <i>175</i>.</p> + <p>Shoberl, F., II, <i><a href="#page270">270</a></i>.</p> + <p>Shrewsbury, I, <i>108</i>.</p> + <p>Siddons, Mrs., I, 189.</p> + <p>Simms, W., I, <i>152</i>.</p> + <p>Simplicius, II, <i><a href="#page164">164</a></i>.</p> + <p>Simpson, T., I, 377; II, <a href="#page304">304</a>.</p> + <p>Simson, R., I, <i>197</i>, <b>202</b>, 233.</p> + <p>Sinclair, G., I, <i>207</i>.</p> + <p>Slander Paradoxes, II, <b><a href="#page138">138</a></b>.</p> + <p>Sloane, I, 24.</p> + <p>Sluse, R. de, I, <i>118</i>, <b>118</b>; II, <a href="#page300">300</a>.</p> + <p>Smith, Adam, II, <i><a href="#page112">112</a></i>.</p> + <p>Smith, Jas., I, <i>46</i>; II, <b><a href="#page103">103</a></b>, <i><a href="#page103">103</a></i>, <b><a href="#page154">154</a></b>, <a href="#page236">236</a>, <a href="#page237">237</a>, <a href="#page238">238</a>, <b><a href="#page241">241</a></b>, <b><a href="#page336">336</a></b>, <a href="#page360">360</a>.</p> + <p>Smith, Jas., II, <i><a href="#page217">217</a></i>.</p> + <p>Smith, Jas. (Shepherd), II, <i><a href="#page55">55</a></i>, <a href="#page193">193</a>.</p> + <p>Smith, Joseph, II, <i><a href="#page69">69</a></i>.</p> + <p>Smith, Richarda, I, <i>242</i>.</p> + <p>Smith, Thomas, I, <b>346</b>, <i>346</i>.</p> + <p>Smith, Wm., II, <i><a href="#page152">152</a></i>.</p> + <p>Smyth, C. P., I, <i>328</i>; II, <a href="#page65">65</a>.</p> + <p>Snell, I, <i>75</i>, <b>75</b>.</p> + <p>Socinianism, I, <b>142</b>, 143.</p> + <p>Socinus, I, 3, <i>143</i>.</p> + <p>Socrates Scholasticus, I, <i>358</i>.</p> + <p>Sohncke, L. A., II, <i><a href="#page131">131</a></i>.</p> + <p>Somerville, Mrs., I, <i>242</i>.</p> + <p>South, J., II, <i><a href="#page181">181</a></i>.</p> + <p>Southcott, Joanna, II, <i><a href="#page58">58</a></i>, <a href="#page97">97</a>, <a href="#page239">239</a>.</p> + <p>Spearman, R., I, <i>237</i>.</p> + <p>Speculative thought in England, I, <b>374</b>.</p> + <p>Spedding, I, <i>76</i>, 82, 142.</p> + <p>Speed, J., I, <i>201</i>.</p> + <p>Speke, I, <i>70</i>.</p> + <p>Spelling, phonetic, II, <b><a href="#page81">81</a></b>.</p> + <p>Spence, W., I, <i>231</i>, <b>231</b>.</p> + <p>Spencer, Earl (3d), II, <i><a href="#page9">9</a></i>.</p> +<!-- Page 386 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page386"></a>[386]</span> + <p>Spinoza, I, 3, <i>37</i>.</p> + <p>Spiritualism, II, <a href="#page47">47</a>, <b><a href="#page55">55</a></b>, <a href="#page207">207</a>.</p> + <p>Spurius Cassius Viscellinus, II, <i><a href="#page342">342</a></i>.</p> + <p>Spurius Maelius, II, <i><a href="#page342">342</a></i>.</p> + <p>Squaring the circle, I, 8, <b>42</b>, <b>44</b>, <b>46</b>, <b>47</b>, <b>50</b>, 52, 53, <b>69</b>, <b>70</b>, <b>75</b>, 109, 117, 119, <b>129</b>, 135, 146, <b>149</b>, <b>159</b>, <b>163</b>, 164, <b>347</b>, 348, 374; II, <b><a href="#page10">10</a></b>, <b><a href="#page11">11</a></b>, <a href="#page60">60</a>, <b><a href="#page105">105</a></b>, <a href="#page154">154</a>, <b><a href="#page156">156</a></b>, <b><a href="#page208">208</a></b>, <b><a href="#page278">278</a></b>, <b><a href="#page314">314</a></b>.</p> + <p>Stäckel, I, 230.</p> + <p>Stanhope, P. D., (Earl of Chesterfield), II, <i><a href="#page298">298</a></i>.</p> + <p>Stapulensis, I, <i>44</i>; II, <a href="#page324">324</a>.</p> + <p>Star polygons, I, 229.</p> + <p>Starkie, G., I, <i>126</i>, <b>126</b>.</p> + <p>Statter, D., II, <b><a href="#page80">80</a></b>.</p> + <p>Steamship suggested, I, <b>147</b>.</p> + <p>Steel, Jas., II, <a href="#page68">68</a>.</p> + <p>Stenography, II, <a href="#page81">81</a>.</p> + <p>Stephens, I, <i>44</i>; II, <a href="#page324">324</a>.</p> + <p>Stephenson, G., II, <i><a href="#page138">138</a></i>.</p> + <p>Stephenson, R., II, <i><a href="#page138">138</a></i>.</p> + <p>Stevin, I, <i>83</i>, <b>313</b>; II, <a href="#page59">59</a>.</p> + <p>Stewart, D., II, <i><a href="#page53">53</a></i>.</p> + <p>Stewart, R., I, <i>186</i>.</p> + <p>Stifel, M., II, <i><a href="#page373">373</a></i>.</p> + <p>Strafford, Earl of, I, <i>240</i>.</p> + <p>Stratford, W. S., I, <i>300</i>.</p> + <p>Street, T., I, <i>124</i>.</p> + <p>Stukely, W., I, <i>236</i>.</p> + <p>Suffield, G., II, <i><a href="#page66">66</a></i>.</p> + <p>Suidas, II, <i><a href="#page29">29</a></i>.</p> + <p>Sumner, C. R., I, <i>324</i>.</p> + <p>Sumner, J. B., I, <i>324</i>.</p> + <p>Sun as an electric space, II, <b><a href="#page41">41</a></b>.</p> + <p>Supernatural, The, II, <b><a href="#page193">193</a></b>.</p> + <p>Suvaroff, II, <i><a href="#page85">85</a></i>.</p> + <p>Swastika, II, <a href="#page231">231</a>.</p> + <p>Swedenborg, E., I, <i>255</i>.</p> + <p>Swift, I, 19, 133.</p> + <p>Sylvester, J. J., II, <i><a href="#page336">336</a></i>.</p> + <p>Symington, W., I, <i>148</i>.</p> + <p>Symons, II, <a href="#page4">4</a>, <a href="#page5">5</a>, <a href="#page20">20</a>, <a href="#page84">84</a>, <b><a href="#page85">85</a></b>.</p> + <p>Sympathetic powder, I, <b>108</b>.</p> + <p>Synesius, I, 125.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Talbot, G., I, <i>22</i>, <i>108</i>.</p> + <p>Talbot's powder, I, <b>108</b>.</p> + <p>Tartaglia, II, <a href="#page59">59</a>.</p> + <p>Tasse, I, <i>106</i>.</p> + <p>Tate, J., I, <i>199</i>.</p> + <p>Tauler, J., II, <i><a href="#page322">322</a></i>.</p> + <p>Taylor, Brook, II, <i><a href="#page301">301</a></i>.</p> + <p>Taylor, John, I, <i>352</i>; II, <b><a href="#page95">95</a></b>.</p> + <p>Taylor, Robt., I, <i>270</i>.</p> + <p>Taylor, T., I, <b>188</b>, <i>188</i>.</p> + <p>Teissier, I, <i>113</i>.</p> + <p>Temple, H. J., I, 290.</p> + <p>Tenterden, Chief Justice, I, <i>181</i>.</p> + <p>Thales, II, <i><a href="#page59">59</a></i>, <a href="#page83">83</a>.</p> + <p>Theism independent of Revelation, I, <b>399</b>.</p> + <p>Thelwall, J., I, <i>178</i>.</p> + <p>Theodoretus, I, <i>358</i>.</p> + <p>Theological Paradoxes, I, <b>316</b>.</p> + <p>Theology, Mathematical, I, <b>129</b>, <b>149</b>.</p> + <p>Theophrastus, II, <i><a href="#page167">167</a></i>.</p> + <p>Thiébault, II, <i><a href="#page3">3</a></i>, <b><a href="#page338">338</a></b>.</p> + <p>Thom, D., II, <i><a href="#page226">226</a></i>, <a href="#page240">240</a>.</p> + <p>Thom, J. H., II, <i><a href="#page226">226</a></i>.</p> + <p>Thompson, P., I, <i>7</i>.</p> + <p>Thompson, T. P., I, <i>252</i>, <b>287</b>, <b>344</b>; II, <a href="#page83">83</a>, <b><a href="#page185">185</a></b>.</p> + <p>Thomson, Dr., I, 21.</p> + <p>Thomson, W., I, <i>325</i>.</p> + <p>Thorn, W., II, <b><a href="#page158">158</a></b>, <i><a href="#page158">158</a></i>, <a href="#page360">360</a>.</p> + <p>Thorndike, H., II, <i><a href="#page313">313</a></i>.</p> + <p>Thrale, Mrs., I, <i>235</i>.</p> + <p>Thurlow, Baron, I, <i>222</i>.</p> + <p>Thyræus, I, 50.</p> + <p>Tides, New theory of, I, <b>393</b>.</p> + <p>Tombstones of mathematicians, I, 106.</p> + <p>Tonal System, II, <b><a href="#page182">182</a></b>.</p> + <p>Tooke, H., I, <i>178</i>.</p> + <p>Torriano, E., I, 250.</p> + <p>Towneley, II, <a href="#page300">300</a>.</p> + <p>Townley, C., II, <i><a href="#page300">300</a></i>.</p> + <p>Trisection problem, I, 118; II, <b><a href="#page10">10</a></b>, <b><a href="#page12">12</a></b>, <a href="#page13">13</a>, <a href="#page15">15</a>.</p> + <p>Troughton, I, <i>152</i>.</p> + <p>Turnor, E., I, <i>137</i>.</p> + <p>Tycho Brahe, I, 5, <i>76</i>, <b>381</b>; II, <a href="#page302">302</a>, <b><a href="#page335">335</a></b>.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Upton, W., II, <b><a href="#page12">12</a></b>, <i><a href="#page12">12</a></i>, <a href="#page15">15</a>.</p> + <p>Ursus, I, <i>52</i>.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Valentine, B., I, <i>125</i>, <b>125</b>.</p> + <p>Van Ceulen, I, 52, 70, 100.</p> + <p>Van de Weyer, I, <i>313</i>.</p> + <p>Van Etten, I, <i>161</i>.</p> + <p>Van Helmont, I, <i>125</i>, <b>125</b>.</p> + <p>Van Roomen, I, <i>110</i>.</p> + <p>Van Schooten, II, <i><a href="#page59">59</a></i>.</p> + <p>Vaughan, T., I, <i>255</i>.</p> + <p>Victorinus, I, <i>359</i>.</p> + <p>Viète, I, <i>51</i>; II, <a href="#page210">210</a>, <a href="#page295">295</a>.</p> + <p>Virgil, St., I, 32, <i>33</i>, 34, 99.</p> +<!-- Page 387 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="page387"></a>[387]</span> + <p>Virginia, University of, I, 233.</p> + <p>Viscellinus, II, <i><a href="#page342">342</a></i>.</p> + <p>Vitruvius, II, <i><a href="#page281">281</a></i>.</p> + <p>Vivian, T., I, <b>172</b>, <i>172</i>.</p> + <p>Vogel, A. F., I, <b>373</b>.</p> + <p>Voltaire, I, 103, 165, 166, 167, 168, <b>248</b>; II, <a href="#page268">268</a>.</p> + <p>Von Gumpach, II, <b><a href="#page137">137</a></b>, <i><a href="#page137">137</a></i>.</p> + <p>Von Hutten, I, 318.</p> + <p>Von Wolzogen. (<i>See Wolzogen.</i>)</p> + <p>Vyse, R. W. H., I, <i>328</i>.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Walker, W. E., II, <i><a href="#page316">316</a></i>.</p> + <p>Walkingame, F., II, <i><a href="#page173">173</a></i>.</p> + <p>Wallich, N., II, <i><a href="#page14">14</a></i>.</p> + <p>Wallis, J., I, 107, 109, 110; II, <a href="#page299">299</a>, <a href="#page313">313</a>.</p> + <p>Walpole, I, <i>23</i>, 131.</p> + <p>Walsh, John, I, <b>260</b>, <i>260</i>; II, <a href="#page157">157</a>.</p> + <p>Wapshare, J., II, <i><a href="#page230">230</a></i>.</p> + <p>Warburton, H., I, <i>349</i>.</p> + <p>Warburton, Wm., I, <i>55</i>, 112; II, <a href="#page174">174</a>.</p> + <p>Ward, S., II, <i><a href="#page299">299</a></i>.</p> + <p>Waring, E., I, <i>203</i>, 222.</p> + <p>Warner, W., II, <i><a href="#page302">302</a></i>, <a href="#page312">312</a>.</p> + <p>Warren, S., II, <i><a href="#page340">340</a></i>.</p> + <p>Watkins, J., II, <i><a href="#page270">270</a></i>.</p> + <p>Watson, Bp., I, <i>223</i>.</p> + <p>Watt, R., I, <i>102</i>, <b>402</b>.</p> + <p>Watts, I., II, <a href="#page18">18</a>.</p> + <p>Weddle, T., II, <i><a href="#page187">187</a></i>.</p> + <p>Wentworth, Thos., I, <i>240</i>.</p> + <p>Wharton, I, 115.</p> + <p>Whately, R., I, <b>246</b>, <i>246</i>, 324.</p> + <p>Whately's Paradox, I, <b>246</b>.</p> + <p>Whewell, I, <i>101</i>, <b>101</b>, 273, 314, 380; II, <a href="#page104">104</a>, <a href="#page246">246</a>, <a href="#page247">247</a>.</p> + <p>Whigs, II, <a href="#page22">22</a>.</p> + <p>Whiston, J., I, <i>147</i>.</p> + <p>Whiston, W., I, <b>133</b>, <i>133</i>, 146, 156, 311.</p> + <p>White, H. K., II, <i><a href="#page271">271</a></i>.</p> + <p>White, J. B., I, 248.</p> + <p>White, R., I, 11.</p> + <p>Whitford, I, 105.</p> + <p>Whitworth, W. A., II, <i><a href="#page344">344</a></i>.</p> + <p>Whizgig, On the, I, <b>254</b>.</p> + <p>Wightman, I, 59.</p> + <p>Wilberforce, W., II, <i><a href="#page236">236</a></i>.</p> + <p>Wilkins, J., I, 96, <i>100</i>, 116, <b>226</b>.</p> + <p>Williams, J. B., I, <i>378</i>.</p> + <p>Williams, T., I, <b>171</b>, <i>171</i>.</p> + <p>Wilson, Sir J., I, <i>221</i>.</p> + <p>Wilson, J. M., II, <i><a href="#page344">344</a></i>.</p> + <p>Wilson, R., II, <b><a href="#page7">7</a></b>, <i><a href="#page7">7</a></i>.</p> + <p>Wilson's Theorem, I, <i>222</i>.</p> + <p>Wingate, E., II, <i><a href="#page308">308</a></i>.</p> + <p>Winter, I, 46.</p> + <p>Wirgman, T., I, <b>258</b>, <i>258</i>.</p> + <p>Wiseman, N. P. S., II, <i><a href="#page26">26</a></i>, <a href="#page61">61</a>, <a href="#page294">294</a>.</p> + <p>Wolcot, J. (Peter Pindar), II, <i><a href="#page272">272</a></i>.</p> + <p>Wollstonecraft, I, <b>173</b>, <i>173</i>.</p> + <p>Wolzogen, I, <i>106</i>.</p> + <p>Wood, A., I, <i>98</i>.</p> + <p>Wood, John, I, <i>233</i>.</p> + <p>Wood, Wm., I, <b>246</b>, <i>246</i>.</p> + <p>Woodley, W., I, <b>307</b>, <i>307</i>.</p> + <p>Wordsworth, II, <b><a href="#page273">273</a></b>.</p> + <p>Wright, E., I, 84.</p> + <p>Wright, T., I, <b>151</b>, <i>151</i>, 152, 153.</p> + <p>Wright, W., II, <a href="#page9">9</a>.</p> + <p>Wronski, I, <b>249</b>, <i>250</i>.</p> + <p>Wrottesley, J. (Baron), II, <i><a href="#page181">181</a></i>.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Young, B., II, <i><a href="#page69">69</a></i>.</p> + <p>Young, J. W. A., II, <a href="#page367">367</a>.</p> + <p>Young, T., I, 24, 30, <i>250</i>.</p> + <p>Youthful Prodigies, I, 219.</p> + <p>Yvon, I, <i>297</i>.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Zach, von, II, <i><a href="#page45">45</a></i>, <a href="#page196">196</a>.</p> + <p>Zachary, Pope, I, 32, 34.</p> + <p>Zadkiel, I, <i>321</i>; II, <b><a href="#page43">43</a></b>.</p> + <p>Zetetic Astronomy, II, <b><a href="#page88">88</a></b>.</p> + <p>Zodiac, II, <b><a href="#page136">136</a></b>.</p> + <p>Zytphen, II, <i><a href="#page335">335</a></i>.</p> + </div> + </div> +<hr class="full" /> + +<h3>Notes</h3> + + <p>Transcriber's note: References to Notes in Volume I are shown as in + the printed book, with the resequenced footnote numbers in the Project + Gutenberg Edition (EText-No. 23100) added thus {123}.</p> + +<div class="note"> + <p><a name="Nt_1" href="#NtA_1">[1]</a> See Vol. I, page 255, note 6 + {584}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_2" href="#NtA_2">[2]</a> "I have no need for this + hypothesis."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_3" href="#NtA_3">[3]</a> "Ah, it is a beautiful + hypothesis; it explains many things."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_4" href="#NtA_4">[4]</a> "What we know is very slight; + what we don't know is immense."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_5" href="#NtA_5">[5]</a> Brewster relates (<i>Life of Sir + Isaac Newton</i>, Vol. II, p. 407) that, a short time before his death, + Newton remarked: "I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to + myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore, and + diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier + shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered + before me."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_6" href="#NtA_6">[6]</a> See Vol. I, p. 292, note 1 + {632}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_7" href="#NtA_7">[7]</a> "What is all that!"</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_8" href="#NtA_8">[8]</a> "I have some good news to tell + you: at the Bureau of Longitudes they have just received a letter from + Germany announcing that M. Bessel has verified by observation your + theoretical discoveries on the satellites of Jupiter."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_9" href="#NtA_9">[9]</a> "Man follows only phantoms."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_10" href="#NtA_10">[10]</a> See Vol. I, page 382, note 13 + {786}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_11" href="#NtA_11">[11]</a> Dieudonné Thiébault + (1733-1807) was a Jesuit in his early life, but he left the order and + took up the study of law. In 1765 he went to Prussia and became a + favorite of Frederick the Great. He returned to France in 1785 and became + head of the Lycée at Versailles.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_12" href="#NtA_12">[12]</a> <i>Memories of Twenty Years of + Residence in Berlin.</i> There was a second French and an English edition + in 1805.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_13" href="#NtA_13">[13]</a> Richard Joachim Heinrich von + Mollendorff (1724-1816) began his career as a page of Frederick the Great + (1740) and became field marshal (1793) and commander of the Prussian army + on the Rhine (1794).</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_14" href="#NtA_14">[14]</a> Hugues Bernard Maret + (1763-1839) was not Duc de Bassano in 1807, this title not being + conferred upon him until 1809. He was ambassador to England in 1792 and + to Naples in 1793. Napoleon made him head of the cabinet and his special + confidant. The Bourbons exiled him in 1816.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_15" href="#NtA_15">[15]</a> Denis Diderot (1713-1784), + whose <i>Lettre sur les aveugles</i> (1749) introduced him to the world + as a philosopher, and whose work on the <i>Encyclopédie</i> is so well + known.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_16" href="#NtA_16">[16]</a> "Sir, (<i>a</i> + + <i>b</i><sup>n</sup>) / <i>n</i> = <i>x</i>, whence God exists; + answer!"</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_17" href="#NtA_17">[17]</a> This was one James Laurie of + Musselburgh.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_18" href="#NtA_18">[18]</a> Jelinger Cookson Symons + (1809-1860) was an office-holder with a decided leaning towards the + improvement of education and social conditions. He wrote <i>A Plea for + Schools</i> (1847), <i>The Industrial Capacities of South Wales</i> + (1855), and <i>Lunar Motion</i> (1856), to which last work the critic + probably refers.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_19" href="#NtA_19">[19]</a> "Protimalethes" followed this + by another work along the same line the following year, <i>The + Independence of the Testimony of St. Matthew and St. John tested and + vindicated by the theory of chances</i>.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_20" href="#NtA_20">[20]</a> Wilson had already taken up + the lance against science in his <i>Strictures on Geology and Astronomy, + in reference to a supposed want of harmony between these sciences and + some parts of Divine Revelation</i>, Glasgow, 1843. He had also ventured + upon poetry in his <i>Pleasures of Piety</i>, Glasgow, 1837.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_21" href="#NtA_21">[21]</a> Mrs. Borron was Elizabeth + Willesford Mills before her marriage. She made an attempt at literature + in her <i>Sibyl's Leaves</i>, London (printed at Devonport), 1826.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_22" href="#NtA_22">[22]</a> See Vol. I, page 386, note 10 + {801}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_23" href="#NtA_23">[23]</a> See Vol. I, page 43, notes 7 + {32} and 8 {33}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_24" href="#NtA_24">[24]</a> His flying machine, designed + in 1843, was one of the earliest attempts at aviation on any extensive + scale.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_25" href="#NtA_25">[25]</a> Erasmus Darwin (1731-1802) was + the grandfather of Charles Darwin. The work here mentioned had great + influence, being translated into French, Portuguese, and Italian. Canning + parodied it in his <i>Loves of the Triangles</i>.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_26" href="#NtA_26">[26]</a> See Vol. I, page 147, note 1 + {312}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_27" href="#NtA_27">[27]</a> The notes on this page were + written on the day of the funeral of Wilbur Wright, June 1, 1912, the man + who realized all of these prophecies, and then died a victim of municipal + crime,—of typhoid fever.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_28" href="#NtA_28">[28]</a> John Charles, third Earl + Spencer (1782-1845), to whose efforts the Reform Bill was greatly + indebted for its final success.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_29" href="#NtA_29">[29]</a> This was published in London + in 1851 instead of 1848.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_30" href="#NtA_30">[30]</a> This appeared in 1846.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_31" href="#NtA_31">[31]</a> This was done in <i>The Circle + Squared</i>, published at Brighton in 1865.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_32" href="#NtA_32">[32]</a> It first appeared in 1847, + under the title, <i>The Scriptural Calendar and Chronological Reformer, + 1848. Including a review of tracts by Dr. Wardlaw and others on the + Sabbath question. By W. H. Black.</i> The one above mentioned, for 1849, + was printed in 1848, and was also by Black (1808-1872). He was pastor of + the Seventh Day Baptists and was interested in archeology and in books. + He catalogued the manuscripts of the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_33" href="#NtA_33">[33]</a> William Upton, a Trinity + College man, Dublin. He also wrote <i>Upton's Physioglyphics</i>, London, + 1844; <i>Pars prima. Geometria vindicata; antiquorumque Problematum, ad + hoc tempus desperatorum, Trisectionis Anguli, Circulique Quadraturae, + Solutio, per Eucliden effecta, London</i> (printed at Southampton), 1847; + <i>The Uptonian Trisection</i>, London, 1866; and <i>The Circle + Squared</i>, London, 1872.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_34" href="#NtA_34">[34]</a> For example, if <span + class="grk">θ</span> = 90° we should have 3 cos 30° = 1 + √(4 + - sin<sup>2</sup> 90°), or 3.½ √3 = 1 + √3, or ½ √3 = + 1.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_35" href="#NtA_35">[35]</a> Nathaniel Wallich (1786-1854) + was surgeon at the Danish settlement at Serampore when the East India + Company took over the control in 1807. He entered the British medical + service and was invalided to England in 1828. His <i>Plantae Asiaticae + Rariores</i> (3 vols., London, 1830-1832) was recognized as a standard. + He became vice-president of the Linnean Society, F. R. S., and fellow of + the Royal Asiatic Society.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_36" href="#NtA_36">[36]</a> But if <span + class="grk">θ</span> = 90° this asserts that</p> + +<table class="math"><tr><td> +cos 30° = </td><td>(sin 270° . cos 225° + sin<sup>2</sup> 90° . sin 225°) <br /><img src="images/$line.png" style="width:100%; height:1px; line-height:1px;" alt="/" /><br /> √(sin<sup>2</sup> 270° . cos<sup>2</sup> 225° + sin<sup>4</sup> 90° + sin 270° . sin 450° . sin<sup>2</sup> 90°)</td><td>, +</td></tr></table> + + <p>or that</p> + +<table class="math"><tr><td> +½ √3 = </td><td>-1 . (-1 /√2) + 1 . (-1/√2)<br /><img src="images/$line.png" style="width:100%; height:1px; line-height:1px;" alt="/" /><br />√(1 . ½ + 1 - 1 . 1 . 1)</td><td> = 0 / √½, +</td></tr></table> + + <p>so that De Morgan must have made some error in copying.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_37" href="#NtA_37">[37]</a> John Bonnycastle (died in + 1821) was professor of mathematics at Woolwich. His edition of Bossut's + <i>History of Mathematics</i> (1803), and his works on elementary + mathematics were well known.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_38" href="#NtA_38">[38]</a> The bibliographies give Husaín + Rifki as the translator, a practical geometry as the work, and 1802 as + the date.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_39" href="#NtA_39">[39]</a> See Vol. I, page 309, note 2 + {670}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_40" href="#NtA_40">[40]</a> Probably in <i>The Improvement + of the Mind</i> which Isaac Watts (1674-1748) published in 1741. His + <i>Horae Lyricae</i> appeared in 1706, and the <i>Hymns</i>, by which he + is still well known, in 1707.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_41" href="#NtA_41">[41]</a> Spencer Joshua Alwyne Compton, + second Marquis of Northampton (1790-1851), was a poet, a scientist, and a + statesman. He was president of the Royal Society from 1838 to 1849.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_42" href="#NtA_42">[42]</a> Besides the writings here + mentioned Perigal published a work on <i>Geometric Maps</i> (London, + 1853), and <i>Graphic Demonstrations of Geometric Problems</i> + (1891).</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_43" href="#NtA_43">[43]</a> See Vol. II, page 5, note <a + href="#Nt_18">18</a>.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_44" href="#NtA_44">[44]</a> James Ferguson (1710-1776) was + a portrait painter, an astronomer, and a popular writer and lecturer on + various subjects.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_45" href="#NtA_45">[45]</a> In the old ballad of King + Alfred and the Shepherd, when the latter is tempting the disguised king + into his service, he says:</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="hg3">"Of whig and whey we have good store,</p> + <p>And keep good pease-straw fire."</p> + </div> + </div> + <p><i>Whig</i> is then a preparation of milk. But another commonly cited + derivation may be suspected from the word <i>whiggamor</i> being used + before <i>whig</i>, as applied to the political party; <i>whig</i> may be + a contraction. Perhaps both derivations conspired: the word + <i>whiggamor</i>, said to be a word of command to the horses, might + contract into <i>whig</i>, and the contraction might be welcomed for its + own native meaning.—A. De M.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_46" href="#NtA_46">[46]</a> This was p. 147 in the first + edition.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_47" href="#NtA_47">[47]</a> St. Augustine (354-430) was + bishop of Hippo. His <i>Confessiones</i>, in 13 books, was written in + 397, and his <i>De Civitate Dei</i> in 426.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_48" href="#NtA_48">[48]</a> "He was wont to indulge in + certain Punic subtleties lest he should weary the reader by much + speaking."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_49" href="#NtA_49">[49]</a> John Milner (1751-1826), + bishop of Castabala, a well-known antiquarian.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_50" href="#NtA_50">[50]</a> It will be said that when the + final happiness is spoken of in "sure and certain hope," it is <i>the</i> + Resurrection, generally; but when afterwards application is made to the + individual, simple "hope" is all that is predicated which merely means + "wish?" I know it: but just before the general declaration, it is + declared that it <i>has</i> pleased God of his great mercy to <i>take + unto Himself</i>, the soul of our dear brother: and between the "hopes" + hearty thanks are given that it <i>has</i> pleased God to deliver our + dear brother out of the miseries of this wicked world, with an additional + prayer that the number of the elect may shortly be accomplished. All + which means, that our dear brother is declared to be taken to God, to be + in a place not so miserable as this world—a description which + excludes the "wicked place"—and to be of the elect. Yes, but it + will be said again! do you not know that when this Liturgy was framed, + all who were not in the road to Heaven were <span class="correction" + title="text reads `excomunicated'">excommunicated</span> burial service + read over them. Supposing the fact to have been true in old time, which + is a very spicy supposition, how does that excuse the present practice? + Have you a right <i>always</i> to say what you believe <i>cannot + always</i> be true, because you think it was once <i>always</i> true? + Yes, but, choose whom you please, you cannot be <i>certain</i> He is + <i>not</i> gone to Heaven. True, and choose which Bishop you please, you + cannot be demonstratively <i>certain</i>, he is <i>not</i> a concealed + unbeliever: may I therefore say of the whole bench, <i>singulatim et + seriatim</i>, that they <i>are</i> unbelievers? No! No! The voice of + common sense, of which common logic is a part, is slowly opening the eyes + of the multitude to the unprincipled reasoning of theologians. Remember + 1819. What chance had Parliamentary Reform when the House of Commons + thanked the Manchester sabre-men? If you do not reform your Liturgy, it + will be reformed for you, and sooner than you think! The dishonest + interpretations, by defence of which even the minds of children are + corrupted, and which throw their shoots into literature and commerce, + will be sent to the place whence they came: and over the door of the + established organization for teaching religion will be posted the + following notice:</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="hg3">"Shift and Subterfuge, Shuffle and Dodge,</p> + <p>No longer here allowed to lodge!"</p> + </div> + </div> + <p>All this ought to be written by some one who belongs to the + Establishment: in him, it would be quite prudent and proper; in me, it is + kind and charitable.—A. De M.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_51" href="#NtA_51">[51]</a> But few do have access to it, + for the work is not at all common, and this Piscator is rarely + mentioned.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_52" href="#NtA_52">[52]</a> This derivation has been + omitted.—S. E. De M.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_53" href="#NtA_53">[53]</a> A blow for a blow. Roland and + Oliver were two of the paladins of Charlemagne whose exploits were so + alike that each was constantly receiving credit for what the other did. + Finally they met and fought for five days on an island in the Rhine, but + even at the end of that period it was merely a drawn battle.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_54" href="#NtA_54">[54]</a> "In the name of the + church."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_55" href="#NtA_55">[55]</a> "From the chair," + officially.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_56" href="#NtA_56">[56]</a> Nicholas Patrick Stephen + Wiseman (1802-1865), whose elevation to the archbishopric of Westminster + and the cardinalate (1850) led to the act prohibiting Roman Catholics + from assuming episcopal titles in England, a law that was never + enforced.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_57" href="#NtA_57">[57]</a> He was born in 1812 and was + converted to Catholicism in 1839. He founded the <i>Tablet</i> in London + in 1840, removing its office to Dublin in 1849. He became M. P. in 1852, + and at the time of his death (1855) he was preparing a memorial to the + Pope asking him to annul the proclamation of an Irish bishop prohibiting + his priests from taking part in politics.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_58" href="#NtA_58">[58]</a> John Guillim (1565-1621) was + the first to systematize and illustrate the whole science of heraldry. He + published <i>A display of Heraldrie: manifesting a more easie accesse to + the knowledge thereof</i> in 1610.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_59" href="#NtA_59">[59]</a> "Faith."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_60" href="#NtA_60">[60]</a> "Faithful."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_61" href="#NtA_61">[61]</a> "For the faith + vindicated."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_62" href="#NtA_62">[62]</a> The words are of the same + root, and hence our word <i>fiddle</i>. Some suppose this root means a + <i>rope</i>, which, as that to which you trust, becomes, in one + divergence, confidence itself—just as a <i>rock</i>, and other + words, come to mean reliance—and in another, a little + string.—A. De M.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_63" href="#NtA_63">[63]</a> The Greek lexicographer, a + Christian, living after 1000 A. D. His lexicon was first printed at Milan + in 1499.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_64" href="#NtA_64">[64]</a> <i>Skindapsos.</i></p> + + <p><a name="Nt_65" href="#NtA_65">[65]</a> This was John William Burgon + (1813-1888), Gresham professor of theology (1867) and dean of Chichester. + He was an ultra-conservative, opposing the revised version of the New + Testament, and saying of the admission of women to the university + examinations that it was "a thing inexpedient and immodest."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_66" href="#NtA_66">[66]</a> <i>Ekklesia</i>, or + <i>ecclesia</i>.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_67" href="#NtA_67">[67]</a> <i>Ennomos ekklesia.</i></p> + + <p><a name="Nt_68" href="#NtA_68">[68]</a> "Without doubt I shall perish + forever."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_69" href="#NtA_69">[69]</a> "Every man is an animal." + "Sortes is a man." "Sortes is an animal."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_70" href="#NtA_70">[70]</a> "For a special purpose."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_71" href="#NtA_71">[71]</a> Heraclitus of Ephesus, the + weeping philosopher, 6th century B. C.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_72" href="#NtA_72">[72]</a> Democritus, the laughing + philosopher, founder of the atomistic theory, 5th century B. C.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_73" href="#NtA_73">[73]</a> "Ends to which."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_74" href="#NtA_74">[74]</a> "Ends from which."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_75" href="#NtA_75">[75]</a> "In just as many syllables," + "With just as many letters," "In just as many words."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_76" href="#NtA_76">[76]</a> "I shall make a way," "I shall + find a way."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_77" href="#NtA_77">[77]</a> The notion that the Evil + Spirit is a functionary liable to be dismissed for not attending to his + duty, is, so far as my reading goes, utterly unknown in theology. My + first wrinkle on the subject was the remark of the Somersetshire farmer + upon Palmer the poisoner— "Well! if the Devil don't take he, he + didn't ought to be allowed to be devil no longer."—A. De M.</p> + + <p>William Palmer (1824-1856) was a member of the Royal College of + Surgeons and practised medicine at London. He was hanged in 1856 for + having poisoned a friend and was also suspected of having poisoned his + wife and brother for their insurance money, besides being guilty of + numerous other murders. His trial was very much in the public attention + at the time.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_78" href="#NtA_78">[78]</a> Advantages and dangers.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_79" href="#NtA_79">[79]</a> The old priory of St. Mary of + Bethlehem in London, was used as an asylum for the insane. The name was + corrupted to Bedlam.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_80" href="#NtA_80">[80]</a> Referring to the common + English pronunciation of St. John, almost Sinjin. John St. John Long + (1798-1834), an Irishman by birth, practised medicine in London. He + claimed to have found a specific for rheumatism and tuberculosis, but + upon the death of one of his patients in 1830 he was tried for + manslaughter. He died of tuberculosis four years later, refusing to take + his own treatment.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_81" href="#NtA_81">[81]</a> William of Occam (d. 1349), so + called from his birthplace, Ockham, in Surrey. He was a Franciscan, and + lectured on philosophy in the Sorbonne.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_82" href="#NtA_82">[82]</a> He signs himself "James + Hopkins, schoolmaster," and this seems to have been his only published + effort.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_83" href="#NtA_83">[83]</a> Joseph Ady (1770-1852) was a + famous swindler. One of his best-known schemes was to send out letters + informing the recipients that they would learn something to their + advantage on payment of a certain sum. He spent some time in prison.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_84" href="#NtA_84">[84]</a> Sir Peter Laurie (c. + 1779-1861) was worth referring to, for he was prominent as a magistrate + and was honored because of his interest in all social reforms. He made a + fortune as a contractor, became sheriff of London in 1823, and was + knighted in the following year. He became Lord Mayor of London in + 1832.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_85" href="#NtA_85">[85]</a> See Vol. I, page 321, note 2 + {691}. The <i>Astronomy in a nutshell</i> appeared in 1860. <i>The + Herald of Astrology</i> was first published in London in 1831, "by + Zadkiel the Seer." It was continued as <i>The Astrological Almanac</i> + (London, 1834), as <i>Zadkiel's Almanac and Herald of Astrology</i> + (<i>ibid.</i>, 1835, edited by R. J. Morrison, and subsequently by A. J. + Pearce), and as <i>Raphael's Prophetic Almanac</i> (1840-1855).</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_86" href="#NtA_86">[86]</a> See Vol. I, page 172, note 3 + {382}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_87" href="#NtA_87">[87]</a> See Vol. I, page 87, note 4 + {133}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_88" href="#NtA_88">[88]</a> Franz Xaver, Freiherr von Zach + (1754-1832) was director of the observatory at Seeberge near Gotha. He + wrote the <i>Tabulae speciales aberrationis et mutationis</i> (1806-7), + <i>Novae et correctae tabulae solis</i> (1792), and <i>L'attraction des + montagnes et ses effets sur le fil à plomb</i> (1814).</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_89" href="#NtA_89">[89]</a> Jean Louis Pons (1761-1831) + was connected with the observatory at Marseilles for thirty years + (1789-1819). He later became director of the observatory at Marlia, near + Lucca, and subsequently filled the same office at Florence. He was an + indefatigable searcher for comets, discovering 37 between 1801 and 1827, + among them being the one that bears Encke's name.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_90" href="#NtA_90">[90]</a> This hypothesis has now become + an established fact.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_91" href="#NtA_91">[91]</a> John Chetwode Eustace (c. + 1762-1815) was born in Ireland. Although a Roman Catholic priest he lived + for a time at Cambridge where he did some tutoring. His <i>Classical + Tour</i> appeared in 1813 and went through several editions.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_92" href="#NtA_92">[92]</a> "Crimes should be exposed when + they are punished, but disgraceful acts should be hidden."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_93" href="#NtA_93">[93]</a> Henri Hureau de Sénarmont + (1808-1862) was professor of mineralogy at the <i>Ecole des mines</i> and + examiner at the <i>Ecole polytechnique</i> at Paris.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_94" href="#NtA_94">[94]</a> Augustin Jean Fresnel + (1788-1827), "Ingenieur des ponts et chaussées," gave the first + experimental proofs of the wave theory of light. He studied the questions + of interference and polarization, and determined the approximate velocity + of light.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_95" href="#NtA_95">[95]</a> "As is my custom."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_96" href="#NtA_96">[96]</a> Francis Heywood (1796-1858) + made the first English translation of Kant's <i>Critick of Pure + Reason</i> (1838, reprinted in 1848). The <i>Analysis</i> came out, as + here stated, in 1844.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_97" href="#NtA_97">[97]</a> Louise Renée de Keroualle, + Duchess of Portsmouth and Aubigny (1649-1734), was a favorite of Charles + II. She used her influence to keep him under the control of Louis + XIV.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_98" href="#NtA_98">[98]</a> William Chiffinch (c. + 1602-1688) was page of the king's bed-chamber and keeper of the private + closet to Charles II. He was one of the king's intimates and was an + unscrupulous henchman.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_99" href="#NtA_99">[99]</a> "Well devised."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_100" href="#NtA_100">[100]</a> "John Bellingham Inglis. + His <i>Philobiblion</i> "translated from the first edition (of Ricardus + d'Aungervile, Bishop of Durham), 1473," appeared at London in 1832. It + was republished in America (Albany, N. Y.) in 1864.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_101" href="#NtA_101">[101]</a> "What are you laughing + at?"</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_102" href="#NtA_102">[102]</a> See Vol. I, page 314, note + 4 {681}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_103" href="#NtA_103">[103]</a> See Vol. I, page 112, note + 7 {211}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_104" href="#NtA_104">[104]</a> Referring to Hamilton's + edition of the <i>Collected Works of Dugald Stewart</i>, 10 volumes, + Edinburgh, 1854-58. It is not commonly remembered that Stewart + (1753-1828) taught mathematics at the University of Edinburgh before he + took up philosophy.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_105" href="#NtA_105">[105]</a> This was Hamilton's edition + of the <i>Works of Thomas Reid</i> (2 vols., Edinburgh, 1846-1863). Reid + (1710-1796) included mathematics in his work in philosophy at Aberdeen. + In 1764 he succeeded Adam Smith at Glasgow.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_106" href="#NtA_106">[106]</a> Edward Irving (1792-1834), + the famous preacher. At first he assisted Dr. Chalmers at Glasgow, but in + 1822 he went to London where he met with great success. A few years later + he became mentally unbalanced and was finally expelled from his church + (1832) for heresy. He was a great friend of Carlyle.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_107" href="#NtA_107">[107]</a> He also wrote a number of + other paradoxes, including <i>An Essay towards a Science of + Consciousness</i> (1838), <i>Instinctive Natural Religion</i> (1858), + <i>Popular Treatise on the structure, diseases, and treatment of the + human teeth</i> (1837), and <i>On Headache</i> (1859).</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_108" href="#NtA_108">[108]</a> James Smith (1801-1857), + known as Shepherd Smith, was a socialist and a mystic, with a philosophy + that was wittily described as "Oriental pantheism translated into + Scotch." He was editor of several journals.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_109" href="#NtA_109">[109]</a> Joanna Southcott + (1750-1814) was known for her rhyming prophecies in which she announced + herself as the woman spoken of in Revelations xii. She had at one time as + many as 100,000 disciples, and she established a sect that long survived + her.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_110" href="#NtA_110">[110]</a> Thales, c. 640-548 + B. C.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_111" href="#NtA_111">[111]</a> Pythagoras, 580-501 + B. C.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_112" href="#NtA_112">[112]</a> Anaxagoras, 499-428 B. C., + the last of the Ionian school, teacher of Euripides and Pericles. + Plutarch speaks of him as having squared the circle.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_113" href="#NtA_113">[113]</a> Oinopides of Chios, + contemporary of Anaxagoras. Proclus tells us that Oinopides was the first + to show how to let fall a perpendicular to a line from an external + point.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_114" href="#NtA_114">[114]</a> Bryson and Antiphon, + contemporaries of Socrates, invented the so-called method of exhaustions, + one of the forerunners of the calculus.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_115" href="#NtA_115">[115]</a> He wrote, c. 440 B. C., the + first elementary textbook on mathematics in the Greek language. The + "lunes of Hippocrates" are well known in geometry.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_116" href="#NtA_116">[116]</a> Jabir ben Aflah. He lived + c. 1085, at Seville, and wrote on astronomy and spherical trigonometry. + The <i>Gebri filii Affla Hispalensis de astronomia libri</i> IX was + published at Nuremberg in 1533.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_117" href="#NtA_117">[117]</a> Hieronymus Cardanus, or + Girolamo Cardano (1501-1576), the great algebraist. His <i>Artis magnae + sive de regulis Algebrae</i> was published at Nuremberg in 1545.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_118" href="#NtA_118">[118]</a> Nicolo Tartaglia (c. + 1500-1557), the great rival of Cardan.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_119" href="#NtA_119">[119]</a> See note 5 {98}, Vol. I, + page 69.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_120" href="#NtA_120">[120]</a> See note 10 {124}, Vol. + I., page 83.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_121" href="#NtA_121">[121]</a> See note 9 {123}, Vol. I, + page 83.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_122" href="#NtA_122">[122]</a> Pierre Hérigone lived in + Paris the first half of the 17th century. His <i>Cours mathématique</i> + (6 vols., 1634-1644) had some standing but was not at all original.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_123" href="#NtA_123">[123]</a> Franciscus van Schooten + (died in 1661) was professor of mathematics at Leyden. He edited + Descartes's <i>La Géométrie</i>.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_124" href="#NtA_124">[124]</a> Florimond de Beaune + (1601-1652) was the first Frenchman to write a commentary on Descartes's + <i>La Géométrie</i>. He did some noteworthy work in the theory of + curves.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_125" href="#NtA_125">[125]</a> See note 3 {23}, Vol. I, + page 41.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_126" href="#NtA_126">[126]</a> Olivier de Serres (b. in + 1539) was a writer on agriculture. Montucla speaks of him in his + <i>Quadrature du cercle</i> (page 227) as having asserted that the circle + is twice the inscribed equilateral triangle, although, as De Morgan + points out, this did not fairly interpret his position.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_127" href="#NtA_127">[127]</a> Angherà wrote not only the + three works here mentioned, but also the <i>Problemi del più alto + interesse scientifico, geometricamente risoluti e dimostrati</i>, Naples, + 1861. His quadrature was defended by Giovanni Motti in a work entitled + <i>Matematica Vera. Falsità del sistema ciclometrico d'Archimede, + quadratura del cerchio d'Angherà, ricerca algebraica dei lati di + qualunque poligono regolare inscritto in un circolo</i>, Voghera, 1877. + The <i>Problemi</i> of 1861 contains Angherà's portrait, and states that + he lived at Malta from 1849 to 1861. It further states that the Malta + publications are in part reproduced in this work.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_128" href="#NtA_128">[128]</a> This was his friend Paolo + Pullicino whose <i>Elogio</i> was pronounced by L. Farrugia at Malta in + 1890. He wrote a work <i>La Santa Effegie della Blata Vergine Maria</i>, + published at Valetta in 1868.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_129" href="#NtA_129">[129]</a> St. Vitus, St. Modestus, + and St. Crescentia were all martyred the same day, being torn limb from + limb after lions and molten lead had proved of no avail. At least so the + story runs.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_130" href="#NtA_130">[130]</a> The reference is to + Cardinal Wiseman. See Vol. II, page 26, note <a href="#Nt_56">56</a>.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_131" href="#NtA_131">[131]</a> "Worthy of esteem."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_132" href="#NtA_132">[132]</a> Pedro de Ribadeneira + (Ribadeneyra, Rivadeneira), was born at Toledo in 1526 and died in 1611. + He held high position in the Jesuit order. The work referred to is the + <i>Flos Sanctorum o libro de las vidas de los santos</i>, of which there + was an edition at Barcelona in 1643. His life of Loyola (1572) and + <i>Historia ecclesiástica del Cisma del reino de Inglaterra</i> were well + known.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_133" href="#NtA_133">[133]</a> Cæsar Baronius (1538-1607) + was made a cardinal in 1595 and became librarian at the Vatican in 1597. + The work referred to appeared at Rome in 1589.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_134" href="#NtA_134">[134]</a> Mrs. Jameson's (1794-1860) + works were very popular half a century ago, and still have some + circulation among art lovers. The first edition of the work mentioned + appeared in 1848.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_135" href="#NtA_135">[135]</a> The barnyard cock.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_136" href="#NtA_136">[136]</a> Shanks did nothing but + computing. The title should, of course, read "to 607 Places of + <i>Decimals</i>." He later carried the computation to 707 decimal places. + (<i>Proc. Roy. Society</i>, XXI, p. 319.) He also prepared a table of + prime numbers up to 60,000. (<i>Proc. Roy. Society</i>, XXII, p. + 200.)</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_137" href="#NtA_137">[137]</a> See Vol. I, page 42, note 4 + {24}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_138" href="#NtA_138">[138]</a> See Vol. I, page 64, note 1 + {78}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_139" href="#NtA_139">[139]</a> See Vol. I, page 328, note + 1 {704}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_140" href="#NtA_140">[140]</a> George Suffield published + <i>Synthetic Division in Arithmetic</i>, to which reference is made, in + 1863.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_141" href="#NtA_141">[141]</a> John Robert Lunn wrote + chiefly on Church matters, although he published a work on motion in + 1859.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_142" href="#NtA_142">[142]</a> Jean Baptiste Joseph, Baron + Fourier (1768-1830), sometime professor in the Military School at Paris, + and later at the <i>Ecole polytechnique</i>. He is best known by his + <i>Théorie analytique de la chaleur</i> (Paris, 1822), in which the + Fourier series is used. The work here referred to is the <i>Analyse des + équations déterminées</i> (Paris, 1831).</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_143" href="#NtA_143">[143]</a> William George Horner + (1786-1837) acquired a name for himself in mathematics in a curious + manner. He was not a university man nor was he a mathematician of any + standing. He taught school near Bristol and at Bath, and seems to have + stumbled upon his ingenious method for finding the approximate roots of + numerical higher equations, including as a special case the extracting of + the various roots of numbers. Davies Gilbert presented the method to the + Royal Society in 1819, and it was reprinted in the <i>Ladies' Diary</i> + for 1838, and in the <i>Mathematician</i> in 1843. The method was + original as far as Horner was concerned, but it is practically identical + with the one used by the Chinese algebraist Ch'in Chiu-shang, in his + <i>Su-shu Chiu-chang</i> of 1247. But even Ch'in Chiu-shang can hardly be + called the discoverer of the method since it is merely the extension of a + process for root extracting that appeared in the <i>Chiu-chang + Suan-shu</i> of the second century B. C.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_144" href="#NtA_144">[144]</a> He afterwards edited + Loftus's <i>Inland Revenue Officers' Manual</i> (London, 1865). The two + equations mentioned were <i>x</i><sup>3</sup> - 2<i>x</i> = 5 and + <i>y</i><sup>3</sup> - 90<i>y</i><sup>2</sup> + 2500<i>y</i> - 16,000 = + 0, in which <i>y</i> = 30 - 10<i>x</i>. Hence each place of <i>y</i> is + the complement of the following place of <i>x</i> with respect to 9.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_145" href="#NtA_145">[145]</a> Probably the John Power + Hicks who wrote a memoir on T. H. Key, London, 1893.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_146" href="#NtA_146">[146]</a> Possibly the one who wrote + on the quadrature of the circle in 1881.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_147" href="#NtA_147">[147]</a> As it is. But what a pity + that we have not 12 fingers, with duodecimal fractions instead of + decimals! We should then have 0.6 for ½, 0.4 for ⅓, 0.8 for + ⅔, 0.3 for ¼, 0.9 for ¾, and 0.16 for ⅛, instead of 0.5, + 0.333+, 0.666+, 0.25, 0.75, and 0.125 as we now have with our decimal + system. In other words, the most frequently used fractions in business + would be much more easily represented on the duodecimal scale than on the + decimal scale that we now use.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_148" href="#NtA_148">[148]</a> He wrote Hints for an + <i>Essay on Anemology and Ombrology</i> (London, 1839-40) and <i>The + Music of the Eye</i> (London, 1831).</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_149" href="#NtA_149">[149]</a> Brigham Young (1801-1877) + was born at Whitingham, Vermont, and entered the Mormon church in 1832. + In 1840 he was sent as a missionary to England. After the death of Joseph + Smith he became president of the Mormons (1847), leading the church to + Salt Lake City (1848).</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_150" href="#NtA_150">[150]</a> Joseph Smith (1805-1844) + was also born in Vermont, and was four years the junior of Brigham Young. + The <i>Book of Mormon</i> appeared in 1827, and the church was founded in + 1830. He was murdered in 1844.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_151" href="#NtA_151">[151]</a> Orson Pratt (1811-1881) was + one of the twelve apostles of the Mormon Church (1835), and made several + missionary journeys to England. He was professor of mathematics in the + University of Deseret (the Mormon name for Utah). Besides the paper + mentioned Pratt wrote the <i>Divine Authenticity of the Book of + Mormon</i> (1849), <i>Cubic and Biquadratic Equations</i> (1866), and a + <i>Key to the Universe</i> (1866).</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_152" href="#NtA_152">[152]</a> "It does not follow."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_153" href="#NtA_153">[153]</a> Dryden (1631-1700) + published his <i>Religio Laici</i> in 1682. The use of the word + "proportion" in the sense of ratio was common before his time, but he + uses it in the sense of having four terms; that is, that price is to + price as offence is to offence.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_154" href="#NtA_154">[154]</a> Olinthus Gilbert Gregory + (1774-1841) succeeded Hutton as professor of mathematics at Woolwich. He + was, with De Morgan, much interested in founding the University of + London. He wrote on astronomy (1793), mechanics (1806), practical + mathematics (1825), and Christian evidences (1811).</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_155" href="#NtA_155">[155]</a> See Vol. I, page 220, note + 6 {482}. The <i>Pensées</i> appeared posthumously in 1670.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_156" href="#NtA_156">[156]</a> "The right thing to do is + not to wager at all." "Yes, but you ought to wager; you have started out; + and not to wager at all that God exists is to wager that he does not + exist."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_157" href="#NtA_157">[157]</a> He lived about 300 A.D., in + Africa, and wrote <i>Libri septem adversus Gentes</i>. This was printed + at Rome in 1542-3.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_158" href="#NtA_158">[158]</a> Pierre Bayle (1647-1706) + was professor of philosophy at the Prostestant University at Sedan from + 1675 until its dissolution in 1681. He then became professor at Rotterdam + (1681-1693). In 1684 he began the publication of his journal of literary + criticism <i>Nouvelles de la République des Lettres</i>. He is best known + for his erudite <i>Dictionnaire historique et critique</i> (1697).</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_159" href="#NtA_159">[159]</a> "But Christ himself does + not prove what he promises. It is true. For, as I have said, there cannot + be any absolute proof of future events. Therefore since it is a condition + of future events that they cannot be grasped or comprehended by any + efforts of anticipation, is it not more reasonable, out of two + alternatives that are uncertain and that are hanging in doubtful + expectation, to give credence to the one that gives some hope rather than + to the one that offers none at all? For in the former case there is no + danger if, as is said to threaten, it becomes empty and void; while in + the latter case the danger is greatest, that is, the loss of salvation, + if when the time comes it is found that it was not a falsehood."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_160" href="#NtA_160">[160]</a> Gregg wrote several other + paradoxes, including the following: <i>The Authentic Report of the + extraordinary case of Tresham Dames Gregg ... his committal to Bridewell + for refusing to give his recognizance</i> (Dublin, 1841), <i>An Appeal to + Public Opinion upon a Case of Injury and Wrong ... in the case of a + question of prerogative that arose between</i> [R. Whately] <i>... + Archbishop of Dublin and the author</i> (London, 1861), <i>The Cosmology + of Sir Isaac Newton proved to be in accordance with the Bible</i> + (London, 1871), <i>The Steam Locomotive as revealed in the Bible</i> + (London 1863) and <i>On the Sacred Law of 1866, conferring perpetual life + with immunity from decay and disease. A cento of decisive scriptural + oracles strangely discovered</i> (London and Dublin, 1875). These titles + will help the reader to understand the man whom De Morgan so pleasantly + satirizes.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_161" href="#NtA_161">[161]</a> See Vol. I, page 261, note + 2 {592}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_162" href="#NtA_162">[162]</a> "They have found it."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_163" href="#NtA_163">[163]</a> The late Greeks used the + letters of their alphabet as numerals, adding three early alphabetic + characters. The letter <span class="grk">χ</span> represented 600, + <span class="grk">ξ</span> represented 60, and <span + class="grk">Ϝ</span> stood for 6. This gives 666, the number of the + Beast given in the Revelation.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_164" href="#NtA_164">[164]</a> "Allowing for necessary + exceptions."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_165" href="#NtA_165">[165]</a> Mr. Gregg is not alone in + his efforts to use the calculus in original lines, as any one who has + read Herbart's application of the subject to psychology will recall.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_166" href="#NtA_166">[166]</a> See Vol. I, page 105, note + 4 {188}; page 109, note 1 {197}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_167" href="#NtA_167">[167]</a> The full title shows the + plan,—<i>The Decimal System as a whole, in its relation to time, + measure, weight, capacity, and money, in unison with each other.</i> But + why is this so much worse than the French plan of which we have only the + metric system and the decimal division of the angle left?</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_168" href="#NtA_168">[168]</a> One of the brothers of Sir + Isaac Pitman (1813-1897), the inventor of modern stenography. Of these + brothers, Benjamin taught the art in America, Jacob in Australia, and + Joseph, Henry, and Frederick in England.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_169" href="#NtA_169">[169]</a> For example, <i>The + Phonographic Lecturer</i> (London, 1871 etc.), <i>The Phonographic + Student</i> (1867, etc.), and <i>The Shorthand Magazine</i> (1866, + etc.).</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_170" href="#NtA_170">[170]</a> See Vol. II, page 68, note + <a href="#Nt_148">148</a>.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_171" href="#NtA_171">[171]</a> It involves the theory of + non-Euclidean geometry, Euclid's postulate of parallels being used in + proving this theorem.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_172" href="#NtA_172">[172]</a> Referring to the fact that + none of the works of Thales is extant.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_173" href="#NtA_173">[173]</a> The author was one B. + Bulstrode. Parts 4 and 5 were printed at Calcutta.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_174" href="#NtA_174">[174]</a> See Vol. II, page 5, note + <a href="#Nt_18">18</a>.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_175" href="#NtA_175">[175]</a> See Vol. I, page 85, note 2 + {129}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_176" href="#NtA_176">[176]</a> Alexander Vasilievich + Suvaroff (1729-1800), a Russian general who fought against the Turks, in + the Polish wars, and in the early Napoleonic campaigns. When he took + Ismail in 1790 he sent this couplet to Empress Catherine.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_177" href="#NtA_177">[177]</a> "Newton hath determined + rightly," "Newton hath not determined rightly."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_178" href="#NtA_178">[178]</a> See Vol. I, page 288, note + 3 {621}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_179" href="#NtA_179">[179]</a> See Vol. I, page 326, note + 1 {700}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_180" href="#NtA_180">[180]</a> "With great honor."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_181" href="#NtA_181">[181]</a> Apparently unknown to + biographers. He seems to have written nothing else.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_182" href="#NtA_182">[182]</a> Captain Marryat (1792-1848) + published <i>Snarley-yow, or the Dog Fiend</i> in 1837.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_183" href="#NtA_183">[183]</a> He is not known to + biographers, and published nothing else under this name.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_184" href="#NtA_184">[184]</a> See Vol. I, page 80, note 5 + {119}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_185" href="#NtA_185">[185]</a> He published a <i>Family + and Commercial Illustrated Almanack and Year Book ... for 1861</i> (Bath, + 1860).</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_186" href="#NtA_186">[186]</a> Louis Dutens (1730-1812) + was born at Tours, but went to England as a young man. He made the first + collection of the works of Leibnitz, against the advice of Voltaire, who + wrote to him: "Les écrits de Leibnitz sont épars comme les feuilles de la + Sybille, et aussi obscurs que les écrits de cette vieille." The work + appeared at Geneva, in six volumes, in 1769.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_187" href="#NtA_187">[187]</a> Mungo Park (1771-1806), the + first European to explore the Niger (1795-6). His <i>Travels in the + Interior of Africa</i> appeared in 1799. He died in Africa.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_188" href="#NtA_188">[188]</a> Gerhard Mercator + (1512-1594) the well-known map maker of Louvain. The "Mercator's + Projection" was probably made as early as 1550, but the principle of its + construction was first set forth by Edward Wright (London, 1599).</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_189" href="#NtA_189">[189]</a> Quirico Barilli Filopanti + wrote a number of works and monographs. He succeeded in getting his + <i>Cesare al Rubicone</i> and <i>Degli</i> <i>usi idraulici della + Tela</i> in the <i>Memoria letta ... all' Accademia delle Scienze in + Bologna</i> (1847, 1866). He also wrote <i>Dio esiste</i> (1881), <i>Dio + Liberale</i> (1880), and <i>Sunto della memoria sulle geuranie ossia di + alcune singolari relazioni cosmiche della terra e del cielo</i> + (1862).</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_190" href="#NtA_190">[190]</a> The periods of + disembodiment may be interesting. They will be seen from the following + dates: Descartes (1596-1650), William III (1650-1702); Roger Bacon (1214 + to c. 1294), Boccaccio (1313-1375). Charles IX was born in 1550 and died + in 1574.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_191" href="#NtA_191">[191]</a> His real name was Frederick + Parker, and he wrote several works on the Greek language and on religion. + Among these were a translation of the New Testament from the Vatican MS. + (1864), <i>The Revealed History of Man</i> (1854), <i>An Enquiry + respecting the Punctuation of Ancient Greek</i> (1841), and <i>Rules for + Ascertaining the sense conveyed in Ancient Greek Manuscripts</i> (1848, + the seventh edition appearing in 1862).</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_192" href="#NtA_192">[192]</a> See Vol. I, page 352, + second note 1 {736}.</p> + + <p>The literature on the subject of the Great Pyramid, considered from + the standpoint of metrology, is extensive.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_193" href="#NtA_193">[193]</a> See Vol. I, page 80, note 5 + {119}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_194" href="#NtA_194">[194]</a> Sir Philip Francis + (1740-1818) was a Whig politician. The evidence that he was the author of + the <i>Letters of Junius</i> (1769-1772) is purely circumstantial. He was + clerk in the war office at the time of their publication. In 1774 he was + made a member of the Supreme Council of Bengal, and was a vigorous + opponent of Warren Hastings, the two fighting a duel in 1780. He entered + parliament in 1784 and was among the leaders in the agitation for + parliamentary reform.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_195" href="#NtA_195">[195]</a> Mrs. Cottle published a + number of letters that attracted attention at the time. Among these were + letters to the emperor of France and king of Sardinia (1859) relating to + the prophecies of the war between France and Austria; to G. C. Lavis and + Her Majesty's Ministers (1859) relating to her claims as a prophetess; + and to the "Crowned Heads" at St. James, the King of Prussia, and others + (1860), relating to certain passages of Scripture. She also wrote <i>The + Lamb's Book of Life for the New Jerusalem Church and Kingdom, interpreted + for all nations</i> (1861).</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_196" href="#NtA_196">[196]</a> See Vol. I, page 315, note + 2 {685}, and Vol. II, page 58, note <a href="#Nt_109">109</a>.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_197" href="#NtA_197">[197]</a> A Congregational minister, + who published a number of sermons, chiefly obituaries, between 1804 and + 1851. His <i>Frailty of Human Life</i>, two sermons delivered on the + occasion of the death of Princess Charlotte, went through at least three + editions.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_198" href="#NtA_198">[198]</a> He was secretary of the + Congregational Board and editor of the <i>Congregational Year Book</i> + (from 1846) and the <i>Congregational Manual</i>.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_199" href="#NtA_199">[199]</a> Frederick Denison Maurice + (1805-1872) began his preaching as a Unitarian but entered the + Established Church in 1831, being ordained in 1834. He was professor of + English and History at King's College, London, from 1840 to 1853. He was + one of the founders of Queen's College for women, and was the first + principal of the Working Men's College, London. The subject referred to + by De Morgan is his expression of opinion in his <i>Theological + Essays</i> (1853) that future punishment is not eternal. As a result of + this expression he lost his professorship at King's College. In 1866 he + was made Knightbridge Professor of Casuistry, Moral Theology, and Moral + Philosophy at Cambridge.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_200" href="#NtA_200">[200]</a> See Vol. I, page 46, note 1 + {42}. Besides the books mentioned in this list he wrote <i>The Ratio + between Diameter and Circumference demonstrated by angles, and Euclid's + Theorem, Proposition 32, Book I, proved to be fallacious</i> (Liverpool, + 1870). This is the theorem which asserts that the exterior angle of a + triangle is equal to the sum of the two opposite interior angles, and + that the sum of the interior angles equals two right angles. He also + published his <i>Curiosities of Mathematics</i> in 1870, a work + containing an extensive correspondence with every one who would pay any + attention to him. De Morgan was then too feeble to show any interest in + the final effort of the subject of some of his keenest satire.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_201" href="#NtA_201">[201]</a> See Vol. I, page 332, note + 4 {709}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_202" href="#NtA_202">[202]</a> See Vol. I, page 101, note + 4 {174}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_203" href="#NtA_203">[203]</a> "The circle-squaring + disease"; literally, "the circle-measuring disease."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_204" href="#NtA_204">[204]</a> See Vol. II, page 63, note + <a href="#Nt_136">136</a>.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_205" href="#NtA_205">[205]</a> William Rutherford (c. + 1798-1871), teacher of mathematics at Woolwich, secretary of the Royal + Astronomical Society, editor of <i>The Mathematician</i>, and author of + various textbooks. <i>The Extension of <span class="grk">π</span> to + 440 places</i>, appeared in the <i>Proceedings</i> of the Royal Society + in 1853 (p. 274).</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_206" href="#NtA_206">[206]</a> Charles Knight (1791-1873) + was associated with De Morgan for many years. After 1828 he superintended + the publications of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, to + which De Morgan contributed, and he edited the <i>Penny Cyclopedia</i> + (1833-1844) for which De Morgan wrote the articles on mathematics.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_207" href="#NtA_207">[207]</a> Sir William Hamilton. See + Vol. I, page 112, note 7 {211}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_208" href="#NtA_208">[208]</a> Adam Smith (1723-1790) was + not only known for his <i>Wealth of Nations</i> (1776), but for his + <i>Theory of Moral Sentiments</i> (1759), published while he was + professor of moral philosophy at Glasgow (1752-1764). He was Lord Rector + of the university in 1787.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_209" href="#NtA_209">[209]</a> See Vol. I, page 332, note + 4 {709}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_210" href="#NtA_210">[210]</a> "Whip."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_211" href="#NtA_211">[211]</a> "Terrible lash."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_212" href="#NtA_212">[212]</a> "An accomplished fact [an + accomplished fault]."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_213" href="#NtA_213">[213]</a> See <i>Extracts from the + Diary and Letters of Mrs. Mary Cobb</i>, London, 1805.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_214" href="#NtA_214">[214]</a> "Gentle in manner."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_215" href="#NtA_215">[215]</a> "Brave in action." The + motto of Earl Newborough was "Suaviter in modo, fortiter in re."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_216" href="#NtA_216">[216]</a> "Reduction to an + absurdity," a method of proof occasionally used in geometry and in + logic.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_217" href="#NtA_217">[217]</a> "He has lost the right of + being moved (struck) by evidence."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_218" href="#NtA_218">[218]</a> For <i>radix quadratus</i>. + The usual root sign is supposed to be derived from <i>r</i> (for radix), + and at one time <i>q</i> was commonly used for square, as in Viète's + style of writing Aq for A<sup>2</sup>.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_219" href="#NtA_219">[219]</a> The Garde Douloureuse was a + castle in the marches of Wales and received its name because of its + exposure to attacks by the Welsh.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_220" href="#NtA_220">[220]</a> "Out of the fight."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_221" href="#NtA_221">[221]</a> "Hidden."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_222" href="#NtA_222">[222]</a> John Cam Hobhouse + (1786-1869), Baron Broughton, was committed to Newgate for two months in + 1819 for his anonymous pamphlet, <i>A Trifling Mistake</i>. This was a + great advertisement for him, and upon his release he was at once elected + to parliament for Westminster. He was a strong supporter of all reform + measures, and was Secretary for War in 1832. He was created Baron + Broughton de Gyfford in 1851.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_223" href="#NtA_223">[223]</a> Thomas Erskine (1750-1823), + the famous orator. He became Lord Chancellor in 1806, but sat in the + House of Commons most of his life.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_224" href="#NtA_224">[224]</a> The above is explained in + the MS. by a paragraph referring to some anagrams, in one of which, by + help of the orthography suggested, a designation for this cyclometer was + obtained from the letters of his name.—S. E. De M.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_225" href="#NtA_225">[225]</a> "A personal verb agrees + with its subject."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_226" href="#NtA_226">[226]</a> See Vol. I, page 326, note + 1 {700}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_227" href="#NtA_227">[227]</a> See Vol. I, page 326, note + 2 {701}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_228" href="#NtA_228">[228]</a> Apparently unknown to + biographers.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_229" href="#NtA_229">[229]</a> The <i>Bibliotheca + Mathematica</i> of Ludwig Adolph Sohncke (1807-1853), professor of + mathematics at Königsberg and Halle, covered the period from 1830 to + 1854, being completed by W. Engelmann. It appeared in 1854.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_230" href="#NtA_230">[230]</a> See Vol. I, page 392, note + 2 {805}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_231" href="#NtA_231">[231]</a> See Vol. I, page 43, note 7 + {32}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_232" href="#NtA_232">[232]</a> See Vol. II, page 91, note + <a href="#Nt_187">187</a>.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_233" href="#NtA_233">[233]</a> Mason made a notable + balloon trip from London to Weilburg, in the Duchy of Nassau, in + November, 1836, covering 500 miles in 18 hours. He published an account + of this trip in 1837, and a work entitled <i>Aeronautica</i> in 1838.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_234" href="#NtA_234">[234]</a> William Harrison Ainsworth + (1805-1885) the novelist.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_235" href="#NtA_235">[235]</a> On this question see Vol. + I, page 326, note 2 {701}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_236" href="#NtA_236">[236]</a> Major General Alfred Wilks + Drayson, author of various works on geology, astronomy, military + surveying, and adventure.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_237" href="#NtA_237">[237]</a> Hailes also wrote several + other paradoxes on astronomy and circle squaring during the period + 1843-1872.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_238" href="#NtA_238">[238]</a> See Vol. I, page 43, note 8 + {33}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_239" href="#NtA_239">[239]</a> See Vol. I, page 43, note 7 + {32}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_240" href="#NtA_240">[240]</a> "Very small errors are not + to be condemned."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_241" href="#NtA_241">[241]</a> He seems to have written + nothing else.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_242" href="#NtA_242">[242]</a> Besides the paradoxes here + mentioned by De Morgan he wrote several other works, including the + following: <i>Abriss der Babylonisch-Assyrischen Geschichte</i> + (Mannheim, 1854), <i>A Popular Inquiry into the Moon's rotation on her + axis</i> (London, 1856), <i>Practical Tables for the reduction of the + Mahometan dates to the Christian kalendar</i> (London, 1856), + <i>Grundzüge einer neuen Weltlehre</i> (Munich, 1860), and <i>On the + historical Antiquity of the People of Egypt</i> (London, 1863).</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_243" href="#NtA_243">[243]</a> Dircks (1806-1873) was a + civil engineer of prominence, and a member of the British Association and + the Royal Society of Edinburgh. He wrote (1863) on "Pepper's Ghost," an + ingenious optical illusion invented by him. There was a second edition of + the <i>Perpetuum Mobile</i> in 1870.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_244" href="#NtA_244">[244]</a> George Stephenson + (1781-1848), the inventor of the first successful steam locomotive. His + first engine was tried in 1814.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_245" href="#NtA_245">[245]</a> Robert Stephenson + (1803-1859), the only son of George. Most of the early improvements in + locomotive manufacture were due to him. He was also well known for his + construction of great bridges.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_246" href="#NtA_246">[246]</a> "In its proper place."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_247" href="#NtA_247">[247]</a> "A fool always finds a + bigger fool to admire him."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_248" href="#NtA_248">[248]</a> See Vol. I, page 43, note 7 + {32}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_249" href="#NtA_249">[249]</a> See Vol. I, page 43, note 8 + {33}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_250" href="#NtA_250">[250]</a> See Vol. I, page 85, note 2 + {129}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_251" href="#NtA_251">[251]</a> See Vol. I, page 390, note + 1 {390}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_252" href="#NtA_252">[252]</a> From 1823 to 1852 it was + edited by I. C. Robertson; from 1852 to 1857 by R. A. Brooman; and from + 1857 to 1863 by Brooman and E. J. Reed.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_253" href="#NtA_253">[253]</a> Sir James Ivory (1765-1842) + was, as a young man, manager of a flax mill in Scotland. In 1804 he was + made professor of mathematics at the Royal Military College, then at + Marlow and later at Sandhurst. He was deeply interested in mathematical + physics, and there is a theorem on the attraction of ellipsoids that + bears his name. He was awarded three medals of the Royal Society, and was + knighted together with Herschel and Brewster, in 1831.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_254" href="#NtA_254">[254]</a> See Vol. I, page 56, note 1 + {64}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_255" href="#NtA_255">[255]</a> See Vol. I, page 153, note + 5 {338}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_256" href="#NtA_256">[256]</a> See Vol. I, page 309, note + 2 {670}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_257" href="#NtA_257">[257]</a> See Vol. I, page 87, note 4 + {133}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_258" href="#NtA_258">[258]</a> George Canning (1770-1857), + the Tory statesman and friend of Scott, was much interested in founding + the <i>Quarterly Review</i> (1808) and was a contributor to its + pages.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_259" href="#NtA_259">[259]</a> See Vol. I, page 186, note + 14 {418}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_260" href="#NtA_260">[260]</a> See Vol. II, page 141, note + <a href="#Nt_252">252</a>.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_261" href="#NtA_261">[261]</a> De Morgan had a number of + excellent articles in this publication.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_262" href="#NtA_262">[262]</a> See Vol. I, page 279, note + 1 {611}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_263" href="#NtA_263">[263]</a> James Orchard Halliwell + (1820-1889), afterwards Halliwell-Phillips, came into prominence as a + writer at an early age. When he was seventeen he wrote a series of lives + of mathematicians for the <i>Parthenon</i>. His <i>Rara Mathematica</i> + appeared when he was but nineteen. He was a great bibliophile and an + enthusiastic student of Shakespeare.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_264" href="#NtA_264">[264]</a> This was written at the age + of twenty-two.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_265" href="#NtA_265">[265]</a> The subject of this + criticism is of long past date, and as it has only been introduced by the + author as an instance of faulty editorship, I have omitted the name of + the writer of the libel, and a few lines of further detail.—S. E. + De M.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_266" href="#NtA_266">[266]</a> "Condemned souls."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_267" href="#NtA_267">[267]</a> The editor of the + <i>Mechanics' Magazine</i> died soon after the above was + written.—S. E. De M.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_268" href="#NtA_268">[268]</a> Thomas Stephens Davies + (1795-1851) was mathematical master at Woolwich and F. R. S. He + contributed a series of "Geometrical Notes" to the <i>Mechanics' + Magazine</i> and edited the <i>Mathematician</i>. He also published a + number of text-books.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_269" href="#NtA_269">[269]</a> See Vol. II, page 66, note + <a href="#Nt_143">143</a>.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_270" href="#NtA_270">[270]</a> The <i>Dictionary of Greek + and Roman Biography</i> (1849), edited by Sir William Smith (1813-1893), + whose other dictionaries on classical and biblical matters are well + known.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_271" href="#NtA_271">[271]</a> "O J. S.! This is the + worst! the greatest possible injury!"</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_272" href="#NtA_272">[272]</a> See Vol. I, page 44, note 9 + {34} and page 110, note 5 {201}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_273" href="#NtA_273">[273]</a> </p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="hg3">"If there's a man whom the judge's pitiless sentence awaiteth,</p> + <p>His head condemned to penalties and tribulations,</p> + <p>Let neither penitentiaries tire him with laborer's burdens</p> + <p>Nor let his stiffened hands be harrassed by work in the mines.</p> + <p>He must square the circle! For what else do I care?—all</p> + <p>Known punishments this one task hath surely included."</p> + </div> + </div> + <p><a name="Nt_274" href="#NtA_274">[274]</a> Houlston was in the customs + service. He also published <i>Inklings of Areal Autometry</i>, London, + 1874.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_275" href="#NtA_275">[275]</a> This is Frederick C. + Bakewell. He had already published <i>Natural Evidence of a Future + Life</i> (London, 1835), <i>Philosophical Conversations</i> (London, + 1833, with other editions), and <i>Electric Science</i> (London, 1853, + with other editions).</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_276" href="#NtA_276">[276]</a> Henry F. A. Pratt had + already published <i>A Dissertation on the power of the intercepted + pressure of the Atmosphere</i> (London, 1844) and <i>The Genealogy of + Creation</i> (1861). Later he published a work <i>On Orbital Motion</i> + (1863), and <i>Astronomical Investigations</i> (1865).</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_277" href="#NtA_277">[277]</a> See Vol. I, page 260, note + 1 {591}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_278" href="#NtA_278">[278]</a> Thomas Rawson Birks + (1810-1883), a theologian and controversialist, fellow of Trinity + College, Cambridge, and (1872) professor of moral philosophy in that + university. He wrote <i>Modern Rationalism</i> (1853), <i>The Bible and + Modern Thought</i> (1861), <i>The First Principles of Moral Science</i> + (1873), and <i>Modern Physical Fatalism and the Doctrine of Evolution</i> + (1876), the last being an attack on Herbert Spencer's <i>First + Principles</i>.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_279" href="#NtA_279">[279]</a> Pseudonym for William + Thorn. In the following year (1863) he published a second work, <i>The + Thorn-Tree: being a History of Thorn Worship</i>, a reply to Bishop + Colenso's work entitled <i>The Pentateuch and the Book of Joshua + critically examined</i>.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_280" href="#NtA_280">[280]</a> Besides <i>The + Pestilence</i> (1866) he published <i>The True Church</i> (1851), <i>The + Church and her destinies</i> (1855), <i>Religious reformation + imperatively demanded</i> (1864), and <i>The Bible plan unfolded</i> + (second edition, 1872).</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_281" href="#NtA_281">[281]</a> See Vol. II, page 97, note + <a href="#Nt_195">195</a>.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_282" href="#NtA_282">[282]</a> Sir George Cornewall Lewis + (1806-1863) also wrote an <i>Essay on the Origin and Formation of the + Romance Languages</i> (1835), an <i>Essay on the Government of + Dependencies</i> (1841), and an <i>Essay on Foreign Jurisdiction and the + Extradition of Criminals</i> (1859). He was Chancellor of the Exchequer + in 1855 and Home Secretary in 1859.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_283" href="#NtA_283">[283]</a> Henry Malden (1800-1876), a + classical scholar, fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, and professor of + Greek at University College (1831-1876), then (1831) the University of + London. He wrote a <i>History of Rome to 390 B. C.</i> (1830), and <i>On + the Origin of Universities and Academical Degrees</i> (1835).</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_284" href="#NtA_284">[284]</a> Henry Longueville Mansel + (1820-1871), theologian and metaphysician, reader in theology at Magdalen + College, Oxford (1855), and professor of ecclesiastical history and Dean + of St. Paul's (1866). He wrote on metaphysics, and his Bampton Lectures + (1858) were reprinted several times.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_285" href="#NtA_285">[285]</a> "Hejus gave freely, gave + freely. God is propitious, God is favorable to him who gives freely. God + is honored with a banquet of eggs at the cross roads, the god of the + world. God, with benignant spirit, desired in sacrifice a goat, a bull to + be carried within the precincts of the holy place. God, twice + propitiated, blesses the pit of the sacred libation."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_286" href="#NtA_286">[286]</a> Eudoxus of Cnidus (408-355 + B. C.) had much to do with the early scientific astronomy of the Greeks. + The fifth book of Euclid is generally attributed to him. His astronomical + works are known chiefly through the poetical version of Aratus mentioned + in note 13, page 167.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_287" href="#NtA_287">[287]</a> Simplicius, a native of + Cilicia, lived in the 6th century of our era. He was driven from Athens + by Justinian and went to Persia (531), but he returned later and had some + fame as a teacher.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_288" href="#NtA_288">[288]</a> See Vol. I, page 160, note + 3 {348}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_289" href="#NtA_289">[289]</a> See Vol. I, page 76, note 3 + {112}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_290" href="#NtA_290">[290]</a> "Through right and + wrong."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_291" href="#NtA_291">[291]</a> "It is therefore to arrive + at this parallelism, or to preserve it, that Copernicus feared to be + obliged to have recourse to this equal and opposite movement which + destroys the effect which he attributed so freely to the first, of + deranging the parallelism."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_292" href="#NtA_292">[292]</a> A contemporary of Plato and + a disciple of Aristotle.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_293" href="#NtA_293">[293]</a> Meton's solstice, the + beginning of the Metonic cycles, has been placed at 432 B. C. Ptolemy + states that he made the length of the year 365¼ + 1/72 days.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_294" href="#NtA_294">[294]</a> Aratus lived about 270 + B. C., at the court of Antigonus of Macedonia, and probably practiced + medicine there. He was the author of two astronomical poems, the <span + title="Phainomena" class="grk" + >Φαινόμενα</span>, + apparently based on the lost work of Eudoxus, and the <span + title="Diosêeia" class="grk" + >Διοσηεῖα</span> based + on Aristotle's <i>Meteorologica</i> and <i>De Signis Ventorum</i> of + Theophrastus.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_295" href="#NtA_295">[295]</a> "The nineteen (-year) cycle + of the shining sun."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_296" href="#NtA_296">[296]</a> Claudius Salmasius + (1588-1653), or Claude Saumaise, was a distinguished classicist, and + professor at the University of Leyden. The word <span title="êleioio" class="grk" + >ἠλείοιο</span> means + Elian, thus making the phrase refer to the brilliant one of Elis.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_297" href="#NtA_297">[297]</a> Sir William Brown + (1784-1864). In 1800 the family moved to Baltimore, and there the father, + Alexander Brown, became prominent in the linen trade. William went to + Liverpool where he acquired great wealth as a merchant and banker. He was + made a baronet in 1863.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_298" href="#NtA_298">[298]</a> Robert Lowe (1811-1892), + viscount Sherbrooke, was a fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford (1835). He + went to Australia in 1842 and was very successful at the bar. He returned + to England in 1850 and became leader writer on the <i>Times</i>. He was + many years in parliament, and in 1880 was raised to the peerage.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_299" href="#NtA_299">[299]</a> See Vol. I, page 42, note 4 + {24}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_300" href="#NtA_300">[300]</a> Francis Walkingame (fl. + about 1751-1785), whose <i>Tutor's Assistant</i> went through many + editions from 1751-1854.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_301" href="#NtA_301">[301]</a> Davies Gilbert (1767-1839). + His family name was Giddy, but he assumed his wife's name. He sat in + parliament from 1806 to 1832. In 1819 he secured the establishment of the + Cape of Good Hope observatory. He was Treasurer (1820-1827) and President + (1827-1830) of the Royal Society.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_302" href="#NtA_302">[302]</a> See Vol. I, page 55, note 2 + {63}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_303" href="#NtA_303">[303]</a> Sir Jonathan Frederick + Pollock (1783-1870) entered parliament in 1831 and was knighted in + 1834.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_304" href="#NtA_304">[304]</a> Joseph Hume (1777-1855) + entered parliament in 1812 and for thirty years was leader of the Radical + party.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_305" href="#NtA_305">[305]</a> "What! when I say, 'Nicole, + bring me my slippers,' is that prose?"</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_306" href="#NtA_306">[306]</a> Captain Basil Hall + (1788-1844), a naval officer, carried on a series of pendulum + observations in 1820-1822, while on a cruise of the west coast of North + America. The results were published in 1823 in the <i>Philosophical + Transactions</i>. He also wrote two popular works on travel that went + through numerous editions.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_307" href="#NtA_307">[307]</a> Anthony Ashley Cooper + (1801-1885), Earl of Shaftesbury. His name is connected with + philanthropic work and factory legislation.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_308" href="#NtA_308">[308]</a> See Vol. I, page 207, note + 12 {469}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_309" href="#NtA_309">[309]</a> See Vol. I, page 80, note 5 + {119}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_310" href="#NtA_310">[310]</a> Sir Thomas Maclear + (1794-1879), an Irishman by birth, became Astronomer Royal at the Cape of + Good Hope in 1833. He was an indefatigable observer. He was knighted in + 1860.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_311" href="#NtA_311">[311]</a> Thomas Romney Robinson + (1792-1882), another Irish astronomer of prominence. He was a deputy + professor at Trinity College, Dublin, but took charge of the Armagh + observatory in 1823 and remained there until his death.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_312" href="#NtA_312">[312]</a> Sir James South (1785-1867) + was in early life a surgeon, but gave up his practice in 1816 and fitted + up a private observatory. He contributed to the science of astronomy, + particularly with respect to the study of double stars.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_313" href="#NtA_313">[313]</a> Sir John Wrottesley + (1798-1867), second Baron Wrottesley. Like Sir James South, he took up + the study of astronomy after a professional career,—in his case in + law. He built a private observatory in 1829 and made a long series of + observations, publishing three star catalogues. He was president of the + Astronomical Society from 1841 to 1843, and of the Royal Society from + 1854 to 1857.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_314" href="#NtA_314">[314]</a> He seems to have written + nothing else.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_315" href="#NtA_315">[315]</a> See Vol. II, page 68, note + <a href="#Nt_147">147</a>.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_316" href="#NtA_316">[316]</a> "The wills are free, and I + wish neither the one nor the other."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_317" href="#NtA_317">[317]</a> "The force of inertia + conquered."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_318" href="#NtA_318">[318]</a> Reddie also wrote <i>The + Mechanics of the Heavens</i>, referred to later in this work. He must not + be confused with Judge James Reddie (1773-1852), of Glasgow, who wrote on + international law, although this is done in the printed edition of the + British Museum catalogue, for he is mentioned by De Morgan somewhat later + as alive in 1862.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_319" href="#NtA_319">[319]</a> Henry Dunning Macleod + (1821-1902), a lawyer and writer on political economy, was a Scotchman by + birth. He wrote on economical questions, and lectured on banking at + Cambridge (1877) and at King's College, London (1878). He was a free + lance in his field, and was not considered orthodox by the majority of + economists of his time. He was an unsuccessful candidate for the chairs + of political economy at Cambridge (1863), Edinburgh (1871), and Oxford + (1888).</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_320" href="#NtA_320">[320]</a> See Vol. I, page 252, note + 2 {576}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_321" href="#NtA_321">[321]</a> Francis Henry Laing + (1816-1889) was a graduate of Queen's College, Cambridge, and a clergyman + in the Church of England until 1846, when he entered the Church of Rome. + He taught in various Jesuit colleges until 1862, when his eccentricity + was too marked to warrant the Church in allowing him to continue. He + published various controversial writings during his later years. Of + course if he had known the works of Wessel, Gaus, Buée, Argand, and + others, he would not have made such a sorry exhibition of his ignorance + of mathematics.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_322" href="#NtA_322">[322]</a> See Vol. I, page 329, note + 1 {705}. The book went into a second edition in 1864.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_323" href="#NtA_323">[323]</a> Thomas Weddle (1817-1853) + was, at the time of publishing this paper, a teacher in a private school. + In 1851 he became professor of mathematics at Sandhurst. He contributed + several papers to the <i>Cambridge and Dublin Mathematical Journal</i>, + chiefly on geometry.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_324" href="#NtA_324">[324]</a> See Vol. II, page 109, note + <a href="#Nt_205">205</a>.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_325" href="#NtA_325">[325]</a> See Vol. II, page 66, note + <a href="#Nt_143">143</a>.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_326" href="#NtA_326">[326]</a> See Vol. II, page 151, note + <a href="#Nt_268">268</a>.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_327" href="#NtA_327">[327]</a> George Barrett (1752-1821) + worked from 1786 to 1811 on a set of life insurance and annuity tables. + He invented a plan known as the "columnar method" for the construction of + such tables, and as De Morgan states, this was published by Francis + Baily, appearing in the appendix to his work on annuities, in the edition + of 1813. Some of his tables were used in Babbage's <i>Comparative View of + the various Institutions for the Assurance of Lives</i> (1826).</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_328" href="#NtA_328">[328]</a> See Vol. I, page 309, note + 2 {670}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_329" href="#NtA_329">[329]</a> This was his <i>Practical + short and direct Method of Calculating the Logarithm of any given Number, + and the Number corresponding to any given Logarithm</i> (1849).</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_330" href="#NtA_330">[330]</a> This is William Neile + (1637-1670), grandson of Richard Neile (not Neal), Archbishop of York. At + the age of 19, in 1657, he gave the first rectification of the + semicubical parabola. Although he communicated it to Brouncker, Wren, and + others, it was not published until 1639, when it appeared in John + Wallis's <i>De Cycloide</i>.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_331" href="#NtA_331">[331]</a> I myself "was a + considerable part."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_332" href="#NtA_332">[332]</a> He also wrote <i>A Glance + at the Universe</i> ("2d thousand" in 1862), and <i>The Resurrection + Body</i> (1869).</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_333" href="#NtA_333">[333]</a> See Vol. I, page 63, note 1 + {74}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_334" href="#NtA_334">[334]</a> As Swift gave it in his + <i>Poetry. A Rhapsody</i>, it is as follows:</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="hg3">"So, naturalists observe, a flea</p> + <p>Has smaller fleas that on him prey;</p> + <p>And these have smaller still to bite 'em.</p> + <p>And so proceed <i>ad infinitum</i>."</p> + </div> + </div> + <p><a name="Nt_335" href="#NtA_335">[335]</a> Perhaps 1,600,000,000 + years, if Boltwood's recent computations based on radium disintegration + stand the test. This would mean, according to MacCurdy's estimate, + 60,000,000 years since life first appeared on the earth.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_336" href="#NtA_336">[336]</a> De Morgan wrote better than + he knew, for this work, the <i>Allgemeine Encyclopädie der Wissenschaften + und Künste</i>, begun at Leipsic in 1818, is still (1913) unfinished. + Section I, A-G, consists of 99 parts in 56 volumes; Section II, H-N, + consists of 43 volumes and is not yet completed; and Section III, O-Z, + consists of 25 volumes thus far, with most of the work still to be done. + Johann Samuel Ersch (1766-1828), the founder, was head librarian at + Halle. Johann Gottfried Gruber (1774-1851), his associate, was professor + of philosophy at the same university.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_337" href="#NtA_337">[337]</a> William Howitt (1792-1879) + was a poet, a spiritualist, and a miscellaneous writer. He and his wife + became spiritualists about 1850. He wrote numerous popular works on + travel, nature and history.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_338" href="#NtA_338">[338]</a> See Vol. II, page 55, note + <a href="#Nt_108">108</a>.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_339" href="#NtA_339">[339]</a> As will be inferred from + the text, C. D. was Mrs. De Morgan, and A. B. was De Morgan.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_340" href="#NtA_340">[340]</a> Jean Meslier (1678-1733), + curé of Estrepigny, in Champagne, was a skeptic, but preached only strict + orthodoxy to his people. It was only in his manuscript, <i>Mon + Testament</i>, that was published after his death, and that caused a + great sensation in France, that his antagonism to Christianity became + known.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_341" href="#NtA_341">[341]</a> Baron Zach relates that a + friend of his, in a writing intended for publication, said <i>Un esprit + doit se frotter contre un autre</i>. The censors struck it out. The + Austrian police have a keen eye for consequences.—A. De M.</p> + + <p>"One mind must rub against another." On Baron Zach, see Vol. II, page + 45, note 4.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_342" href="#NtA_342">[342]</a> Referring to the first Lord + Eldon (1751-1838), who was Lord Chancellor from 1799 to 1827, with the + exception of one year.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_343" href="#NtA_343">[343]</a> "Sleeping power."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_344" href="#NtA_344">[344]</a> "Causes sleep."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_345" href="#NtA_345">[345]</a> Richard Hooker (c. + 1554-1600), a theologian, "the ablest living advocate of the Church of + England as by law established."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_346" href="#NtA_346">[346]</a> See Vol. I, page 76, note 3 + {112}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_347" href="#NtA_347">[347]</a> "Other I,"—other + self.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_348" href="#NtA_348">[348]</a> This "utter rejection" has + been repeated (1872) by the same writer.—S. E. De M.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_349" href="#NtA_349">[349]</a> Edward Jenner (1749-1823) + was a physician and biologist. His first experiments in vaccination were + made in 1796, and his discovery was published in 1798.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_350" href="#NtA_350">[350]</a> See Vol. II, page 38, note + <a href="#Nt_80">80</a>.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_351" href="#NtA_351">[351]</a> "You will go most safely in + the middle (way)."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_352" href="#NtA_352">[352]</a> Pierre Joseph Arson was + known early in the 19th century for his controversy with Hoëné Wronski + the mathematician, whom he attacked in his <i>Document pour l'histoire + des grands fourbes qui ont figuré sur la terre</i> (1817-1818).</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_353" href="#NtA_353">[353]</a> "We enter the course by + night and are consumed by fire."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_354" href="#NtA_354">[354]</a> See Vol. I, page 51, note 3 + {51}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_355" href="#NtA_355">[355]</a> See Vol. I, page 336, note + 8 {713}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_356" href="#NtA_356">[356]</a> See Vol. I, page 137, note + 8 {286}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_357" href="#NtA_357">[357]</a> See Vol. I, page 229, note + 2 {515}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_358" href="#NtA_358">[358]</a> Richard Cobden (1804-1865), + the cotton manufacturer and statesman who was prominent in his advocacy + of the repeal of the Corn Laws.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_359" href="#NtA_359">[359]</a> James Smith (1775-1839), + solicitor to the Board of Ordnance. With his brother Horatio he wrote + numerous satires. His <i>Horace in London</i> (1813) imitated the Roman + poet. His works were collected and published in 1840.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_360" href="#NtA_360">[360]</a> Samuel Butler (1612-1680), + the poet and satirist, author of <i>Hudibras</i> (1663-1678).</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_361" href="#NtA_361">[361]</a> "Is it not fine to be sure + of one's action when entering in a combat with another? There, push me a + little in order to see. <span class="sc">Nicole.</span> Well! what's the + matter? <span class="sc">M. Jourdain.</span> Slowly. Ho there! Ho! + gently. Deuce take the rascal! <span class="sc">Nicole.</span> You told + me to push. <span class="sc">M. Jourdain.</span> Yes, but you pushed me + <i>en tierce</i>, before you pushed <i>en quarte</i>, and you did not + give me time to parry."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_362" href="#NtA_362">[362]</a> John Abernethy (1764-1831), + the famous physician and surgeon.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_363" href="#NtA_363">[363]</a> See Vol. I, page 102, note + 5 {175}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_364" href="#NtA_364">[364]</a> "With what measure ye mete, + it shall be measured to you again."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_365" href="#NtA_365">[365]</a> Eusebius of Cæsarea (c. + 260-340), leader of the moderate party at the Council of Nicæa, and + author of a <i>History of the Christian Church</i> in ten books (c. 324 + A. D.).</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_366" href="#NtA_366">[366]</a> Nathaniel Lardner + (1684-1768), a non-conformist minister and one of the first to advocate + the scientific study of early Christian literature.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_367" href="#NtA_367">[367]</a> Henry Alford (1810-1871) + Dean of Canterbury (1857-1871) and editor of the Greek Testament + (1849-1861).</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_368" href="#NtA_368">[368]</a> The work was <i>The Number + and Names of the Apocalyptic Beasts: with an explanation and application. + Part I.</i> London, 1848, as mentioned below. Thom also wrote <i>The + Assurance of Faith, or Calvinism identified with Universalism</i> + (London, 1833), and various other religious works.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_369" href="#NtA_369">[369]</a> See Vol. I, page 222, note + 14 {490}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_370" href="#NtA_370">[370]</a> John Hamilton Thom + (1808-1894) was converted to Unitarianism and was long a minister in that + church, preaching in the Renshaw Street Chapel from 1831 to 1866. De + Morgan refers to the Liverpool Unitarian controversy conducted by James + Martineau and Henry Giles in response to a challenge by thirteen Anglican + Clergy. In 1839 Thom contributed four lectures and a letter to this + controversy. Among his religious works were a <i>Life of Blanco White</i> + (1845) and <i>Hymns, Chants, and Anthems</i> (1854).</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_371" href="#NtA_371">[371]</a> The spelling of these names + is occasionally changed to meet the condition that the numerical value of + the letters shall be 666, "the number of the beast" of Revelations. The + names include Julius Cæsar; Valerius Jovius Diocletianus (249-313), + emperor from 287 to 305, persecutor of the Christians; Louis, presumably + Louis XIV; Gerbert (940-1003), who reigned as Pope Sylvester II from 999 + to 1003, known to mathematicians for his abacus and his interest in + geometry, and accused by his opponents as being in league with the devil; + Linus, the second Bishop of Rome, the successor of Peter; Camillo + Borghese (1552-1621), who reigned as Pope Paul V from 1605 to 1621, and + who excommunicated all Venice in 1606 for its claim to try ecclesiastics + before lay tribunals, thus taking a position which he was forced to + abandon; Luther, Calvin; Laud (see Vol. I, page 145, note 7 {307}); + Genseric (c. 406-477), king of the Vandals, who sacked Rome in 455 and + persecuted the orthodox Christians in Africa; Boniface III, who was pope + for nine months in 606; Beza (see Vol. I, page 66, note 6 {83}); + Mohammed; <span title="braski" class="grk" + >βρασκι</span>, who was Giovanni Angelo + Braschi (1717-1799), and who reigned as Pope Pius VI from 1775 to 1799, + dying in captivity because he declined to resign his temporal power to + Napoleon; Bonaparte; and, under <span title="Ion Paune" class="grk" + >Ιον Παυνε</span>, possibly + Pope John XIV, who reigned in 983 and 984 during the absence of Boniface + VII in Constantinople.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_372" href="#NtA_372">[372]</a> The Greek words and names + are also occasionally misspelled so as to fit them to the number 666. + They are <span title="Lateinos" class="grk" + >Λατεινος</span> (Latin), + <span title="hê latinê basileia" class="grk">ἡ + λατινη + βασιλεια</span> (the + Latin kingdom), <span title="ekklêsia italika" class="grk" + >ἐκκλησια + ἰταλικα</span> (the Italian + Church), <span title="euanthas" class="grk" + >εὐανθας</span> (blooming), + <span title="teitan" class="grk" + >τειταν</span> (Titan), <span + title="arnoume" class="grk" + >ἀρνουμε</span> (renounce), + <span title="lampetis" class="grk" + >λαμπετις</span> (the + lustrous), <span title="ho nikêtês" class="grk">ὁ + νικητης</span> (conqueror), <span + title="kakos hodêgos" class="grk">κακος + ὁδηγος</span> (bad guide), <span + title="alêthês blaberos" class="grk" + >ἀληθης + βλαβερος</span> + (truthful harmful one), <span title="palai baskanos" class="grk" + >παλαι + βασκανος</span> (a + slanderer of old), <span title="amnos adikos" class="grk" + >ἀμνος + ἀδικος</span> (unmanageable lamb), + <span title="antemos" class="grk" + >ἀντεμος</span> (Antemos), <span + title="gensêrikos" class="grk" + >γενσηρικος</span> + (Genseric), <span title="euinas" class="grk" + >εὐινας</span> (with stout fibers), + <span title="Benediktos" class="grk" + >Βενεδικτος</span> + (Benedict), <span title="Bonibazios g. papa x. ê. e. e. a." class="grk" + >Βονιβαζιος + γ. παπα ξ. η. ε. ε. + α.</span> (Boniface III, pope 68, bishop of bishops I), <span + title="oulpios" class="grk" + >οὐλπιος</span> (baneful), + <span title="dios eimi hê hêras" class="grk" + >διος εἰμι ἡ + ἡρας</span> (I, a god, am the), <span title="hê missa hê papikê" class="grk" + >ἡ μισσα ἡ + παπικη</span> (the papal brief), <span + title="loutherana" class="grk" + >λουθερανα</span> + (Lutheran), <span title="saxoneios" class="grk" + >σαξονειος</span> + (Saxon), <span title="Bezza antitheos" class="grk" + >Βεζζα + αντιθεος</span> (Beza + antigod), <span title="hê alazoneia biou" class="grk">ἡ <span + class="correction" title="text reads `alaxoneia'" + >αλαζονεια</span> + βιου</span> (the illusion of life), <span + title="Maometis" class="grk" + >Μαομετις</span> (Mahomet); + <span title="Maometês b." class="grk" + >Μαομετης β.</span> + (Mahomet II), <span title="theos eimi epi gaiês" class="grk" + >θεος εἰμι + ἐπι γαιης</span> (I am lord + over the earth), <span title="iapetos" class="grk" + >ἰαπετος</span> (<span + class="correction" title="text reads `Ispetos'">Iapetos</span>, father of + Atlas), <span title="papeiskos" class="grk" + >παπεισκος</span> + (<span class="correction" title="text reads `Paspeisoks'" + >Papeiskos</span>), <span title="dioklasianos" class="grk"><span + class="correction" title="text reads `dioklalasianos'" + >διοκλασιανος</span></span> + (Diocletian), <span title="cheina" class="grk" + >χεινα</span> (Cheina = Cain? China?), <span + title="braski" class="grk">βρασκι</span> + (Braschi, as explained in note 10), <span title="Ion Paune" class="grk" + >Ιον Παυνε</span> (Paunian + violet, but see note 10), <span title="koupoks" class="grk" + >κουποκς</span> (cowpox), + <span title="Bonnepartê" class="grk" + >Βοννεπαρτη</span> + (Bonneparte), <span title="N. Bonêparte" class="grk">Ν. + Βονηπαρτε</span> (N. + Boneparte), <span title="euporia" class="grk" + >εὐπορια</span> (facility), + <span title="paradosis" class="grk" + >παραδοσις</span> + (surrender), <span title="to megathêrion" class="grk">το + μεγαθηριον</span> + (the megathereum, the beast).</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_373" href="#NtA_373">[373]</a> James Wapshare, whose + <i>Harmony of the Word of God in Spirit and in Truth</i> appeared in + 1849.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_374" href="#NtA_374">[374]</a> The literature relating to + the <i>Swastika</i> is too extended to permit of any adequate summary in + these notes.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_375" href="#NtA_375">[375]</a> Henry Edward Manning + (1808-1892), at first an Anglican clergyman, he became a Roman Catholic + priest in 1851, and became Cardinal in 1875. He succeeded Cardinal + Wiseman as Archbishop of Westminster in 1865. He wrote a number of + religious works.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_376" href="#NtA_376">[376]</a> John Bright (1811-1889), + Quaker, cotton manufacturer, and statesman. He worked with Cobden for + free trade, peace, and reform of the electorate.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_377" href="#NtA_377">[377]</a> "The fallacy of many + questions."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_378" href="#NtA_378">[378]</a> William Wilberforce + (1759-1833), best known for his long fight for the abolition of the slave + trade.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_379" href="#NtA_379">[379]</a> Richard Martin (1754-1834), + high sheriff of County Galway and owner of a large estate in Connemara. + Curiously enough, he was known both for his readiness in duelling and for + his love for animals. He was known as "Humanity Martin," and in 1822 + secured the passage of an act "to prevent the cruel and improper + treatment of cattle." He was one of the founders (1824) of the Royal + Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. He is usually + considered the original of Godfrey O'Malley in Lever's novel, <i>Charles + O'Malley</i>.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_380" href="#NtA_380">[380]</a> See Vol. I, page 149, note + 1 {323}, also text on same page.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_381" href="#NtA_381">[381]</a> See Vol. I, page 44, note 9 + {34}, also text, Vol. I, page 110.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_382" href="#NtA_382">[382]</a> "Penitential seat."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_383" href="#NtA_383">[383]</a> "Well placed upon the + cushion."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_384" href="#NtA_384">[384]</a> See Vol. II, page 58, note + <a href="#Nt_109">109</a>.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_385" href="#NtA_385">[385]</a> "He has lost the right of + being influenced by evidence."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_386" href="#NtA_386">[386]</a> "Hung up."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_387" href="#NtA_387">[387]</a> "A few things to the wise, + nothing to the unlettered."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_388" href="#NtA_388">[388]</a> The fallacy results from + dividing both members of an equation by 0, <i>x</i> - 1 being the same as + 1 - 1, and calling the quotients finite.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_389" href="#NtA_389">[389]</a> "If you order him to the + sky he will go."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_390" href="#NtA_390">[390]</a> <i>Similia similibus + curanter</i>, "Like cures like," the homeopathic motto.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_391" href="#NtA_391">[391]</a> "Without harm to the + proprieties."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_392" href="#NtA_392">[392]</a> "What are you doing? I am + standing here."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_393" href="#NtA_393">[393]</a> Lors feist l'Anglois tel + signe. La main gausche toute ouverte il leva hault en l'aer, puis ferma + au poing les quatres doigtz d'icelle et le poulce estendu assit sus la + pinne du nez. Soubdain après leva la dextre toute ouverte, et toute + ouverte la baissa, joignant la poulce au lieu que fermait le petit doigt + de la gausche, et les quatre doigtz d'icelle mouvoit lentement en l'aer. + Puis au rebours feit de la dextre ce qu'il avoit faict de la gausche, et + de la gausche ce que avoit faict de la dextre.—A. De M.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_394" href="#NtA_394">[394]</a> <i>Suaviter in modo, + fortiter in re</i>, "Gentle in manners, firm in action."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_395" href="#NtA_395">[395]</a> See Vol. I, page 101, note + 4 {174}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_396" href="#NtA_396">[396]</a> See Vol. I, page 315, note + 3 {686}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_397" href="#NtA_397">[397]</a> Henry Fawcett (1833-1884) + became totally blind in 1858, but in spite of this handicap he became + professor of political economy at Cambridge and sat in parliament for a + number of years. He championed the cause of reform and in particular he + was prominent in the protection of the native interests of India. The + establishing of the parcels post (1882) took place while he was + postmaster general (1880-1884).</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_398" href="#NtA_398">[398]</a> Of course the whole thing + depends upon what definition of division is taken. We can multiply 2 ft. + by 3 ft. if we define multiplication so as to allow it, or 2 ft. by 3 lb, + getting foot-pounds, as is done in physics.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_399" href="#NtA_399">[399]</a> Richard Milward + (1609-1680), for so the name is usually given, was rector of Great + Braxted (Essex) and canon of Windsor. He was long the amanuensis of John + Selden, and the <i>Table Talk</i> was published nine years after + Milward's death, from notes that he left. Some doubt has been cast upon + the authenticity of the work owing to many of the opinions that it + ascribes to Selden.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_400" href="#NtA_400">[400]</a> John Selden (1584-1654) was + a jurist, legal antiquary, and Oriental scholar. He sat in the Long + Parliament, and while an advocate of reform he was not an extremist. He + was sent to the Tower for his support of the resolution against "tonnage + and poundage," in 1629. His <i>History of Tythes</i> (1618) was + suppressed at the demand of the bishops. His <i>De Diis Syriis</i> (1617) + is still esteemed a classic on Semitic mythology.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_401" href="#NtA_401">[401]</a> See Vol. I, page 42, note 4 + {24}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_402" href="#NtA_402">[402]</a> See Vol. II, page 249, note + <a href="#Nt_398">398</a>.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_403" href="#NtA_403">[403]</a> John Palmer (1742-1818) was + a theatrical manager. In 1782 he set forth a plan for forwarding the + mails by stage coaches instead of by postmen. Pitt adopted the plan in + 1784. Palmer was made comptroller-general of the post office in 1786 and + was dismissed six years later for arbitrarily suspending a deputy. He had + been verbally promised 2½% on the increased revenue, but Pitt gave him + only a pension of £3000. In 1813 he was awarded £50,000 in addition to + his pension.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_404" href="#NtA_404">[404]</a> Dionysius Lardner + (1793-1859), professor of natural philosophy in London University (now + University College). His <i>Cabinet Cyclopædia</i> (1829-1849) contained + 133 volumes. De Morgan wrote on probabilities, and Lardner on various + branches of mathematics, and there were many other well-known + contributors. Lardner is said to have made $200,000 on a lecture tour in + America.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_405" href="#NtA_405">[405]</a> Thomas Fysche Palmer + (1747-1802) joined the Unitarians in 1783, and in 1785 took a charge in + Dundee. He was arrested for sedition because of an address that it was + falsely alleged that he gave before a society known as the "Friends of + Liberty." As a matter of fact the address was given by an uneducated + weaver, and Palmer was merely asked to revise it, declining to do even + this. Nevertheless he was sentenced to Botany Bay (1794) for seven years. + The trial aroused great indignation.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_406" href="#NtA_406">[406]</a> See Vol. I, page 80, note 5 + {119}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_407" href="#NtA_407">[407]</a> See Vol. II, page 244, note + <a href="#Nt_394">394</a>.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_408" href="#NtA_408">[408]</a> See Vol. I, page 352, note + 1 {731}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_409" href="#NtA_409">[409]</a> See Vol. I, page 332, note + 4 {709}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_410" href="#NtA_410">[410]</a> "The lawyers are brought + into court; let them accuse each other."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_411" href="#NtA_411">[411]</a> Samuel Rogers (1763-1855), + the poet and art connoisseur. He declined the laureateship on the death + of Wordsworth (1850). Byron, his pretended friend, wrote a lampoon (1818) + ridiculing his cadaverous appearance.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_412" href="#NtA_412">[412]</a> Theodore Edward Hook + (1788-1841), the well-known wit. He is satirized as Mr. Wagg in <i>Vanity + Fair</i>. The <i>John Bull</i> was founded in 1820 and Hook was made + editor.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_413" href="#NtA_413">[413]</a> "On pitying the + heretic."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_414" href="#NtA_414">[414]</a> A term of medieval logic. + Barbara: All M is P, all S is M, hence all S is P. Celarent: No M is P, + all S is M, hence no S is P.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_415" href="#NtA_415">[415]</a> "Simply," "According to + which," "It does not follow."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_416" href="#NtA_416">[416]</a> </p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="hg3">"O sweet soul, what good shall I declare</p> + <p>That heretofore was thine, since such are thy remains!"</p> + </div> + </div> + <p><a name="Nt_417" href="#NtA_417">[417]</a> "Stupid fellow!"</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_418" href="#NtA_418">[418]</a> Christopher Barker (c. + 1529-1599), also called Barkar, was the Queen's printer. He began to + publish books in 1569, but did no actual printing until 1576. In 1575 the + Geneva Bible was first printed in England, the work being done for + Barker. He published 38 partial or complete editions of the Bible from + 1575 to 1588, and 34 were published by his deputies (1588-1599).</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_419" href="#NtA_419">[419]</a> James Franklin (1697-1735) + was born in Boston, Mass., and was sent to London to learn the printer's + trade. He returned in 1717 and started a printing house. Benjamin, his + brother, was apprenticed to him but ran away (1723). James published the + <i>New England Courant</i> (1721-1727), and Benjamin is said to have + begun his literary career by writing for it.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_420" href="#NtA_420">[420]</a> James Hodder was a writing + master in Tokenhouse Yard, Lothbury, in 1661, and later kept a boarding + school in Bromley-by-Bow. His famous arithmetic appeared at London in + 1661 and went through many editions. It was the basis of Cocker's work. + (See Vol. I, page 42, note 4 {24}.) It was long thought to have been the + first arithmetic published in America, and it was the first English one. + There was, however, an arithmetic published much earlier than this, in + Mexico, the <i>Sumario compendioso ... con algunas reglas tocantes al + Aritmética</i>, by "Juan Diaz Freyle," in 1556.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_421" href="#NtA_421">[421]</a> Henry Mose, Hodder's + successor, kept a school in Sherborne Lane, London.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_422" href="#NtA_422">[422]</a> Rear Admiral Sir Francis + Beaufort (1774-1857), F.R.S., was hydrographer to the Navy from 1829 to + 1855. He prepared an atlas that was printed by the Society for the + Diffusion of Useful Knowledge.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_423" href="#NtA_423">[423]</a> Antoine Sabatier + (1742-1817), born at Castres, was known as the Abbé but was really + nothing more than a "clerc tonsuré." He lived at Court and was pensioned + to write against the philosophers of the Voltaire group. He posed as the + defender of morality, a commodity of which he seems to have possessed not + the slightest trace.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_424" href="#NtA_424">[424]</a> Maffeo Barberini was pope, + as Urban VIII, from 1623 to 1644. It was during his ambitious reign that + Galileo was summoned to Rome to make his recantation (1633), the exact + nature of which is still a matter of dispute.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_425" href="#NtA_425">[425]</a> This Baden Powell + (1796-1860) was the Savilian professor of geometry (1827-1860) at + Oxford.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_426" href="#NtA_426">[426]</a> "Memoirs of the famous + bishop of Chiapa, by which it appears that he had butchered or burned or + drowned ten million infidels in America in order to convert them. I + believe that this bishop exaggerated; but if we should reduce these + sacrifices to five million victims, this would still be admirable."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_427" href="#NtA_427">[427]</a> Alfonso X (1221-1284), + known as El Sabio (the Wise), was interested in astronomy and caused the + Alphonsine Tables to be prepared. These table were used by astronomers + for a long time. It is said that when the Ptolemaic system of the + universe was explained to him he remarked that if he had been present at + the Creation he could have shown how to arrange things in a much simpler + fashion.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_428" href="#NtA_428">[428]</a> George Richards (c. + 1767-1837), fellow of Oriel (1790-1796), Bampton lecturer (1800), Vicar + of St. Martin's-in-the-Fields, Westminster (1824), and a poet of no mean + ability.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_429" href="#NtA_429">[429]</a> The "Aboriginal Britons," + an excellent poem, by Richards. (Note by Byron.)—A. De M.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_430" href="#NtA_430">[430]</a> John Watkins (d. after + 1831), a teacher and miscellaneous writer.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_431" href="#NtA_431">[431]</a> Frederic Shoberl + (1775-1853), a miscellaneous writer.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_432" href="#NtA_432">[432]</a> He wrote, besides the + <i>Aboriginal Britons</i>, <i>Songs of the Aboriginal Bards</i> (1792), + <i>Modern France: a Poem</i> (1793), <i>Odin, a drama</i> (1804), + <i>Emma, a drama on the model of the Greek theatre</i> (1804), + <i>Poems</i> (2 volumes, 1804), and a <i>Monody on the Death of Lord + Nelson</i> (1806).</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_433" href="#NtA_433">[433]</a> Henry Kirke White + (1785-1806), published his first volume of poems at the age of 18. + Southey and William Wilberforce became interested in him and procured for + him a sizarship at St. John's College, Cambridge. He at once showed great + brilliancy, but he died of tuberculosis at the age of 21.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_434" href="#NtA_434">[434]</a> John Wolcot, known as Peter + Pindar (1738-1819), was a London physician. He wrote numerous satirical + poems. His <i>Bozzy and Piozzi, or the British Biographers</i>, appeared + in 1786, and reached the 9th edition in 1788.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_435" href="#NtA_435">[435]</a> See Vol. I, page 235, note + 8 {532}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_436" href="#NtA_436">[436]</a> Richard Payne Knight + (1750-1824) was a collector of bronzes, gems, and coins, many of his + pieces being now in the British Museum. He sat in parliament for + twenty-six years (1780-1806), but took no active part in legislation. He + opposed the acquisition of the Elgin Marbles, holding them to be of + little importance. His <i>Analytical Inquiry into the Principles of + Taste</i> appeared in 1808.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_437" href="#NtA_437">[437]</a> Mario Nizzoli (1498-1566), + a well-known student of Cicero, was for a time professor at the + University of Parma. His <i>Observationes in M. Tullium Ciceronem</i> + appeared at Pratalboino in 1535. It was revised by his nephew under the + title <i>Thesaurus Ciceronianus</i> (Venice, 1570).</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_438" href="#NtA_438">[438]</a> See Vol. I, page 314, note + 4 {681}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_439" href="#NtA_439">[439]</a> </p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="hg3">"Like the geometer, who bends all his powers</p> + <p>To measure the circle, and does not succeed,</p> + <p>Thinking what principle he needs."</p> + </div> + </div> + <p><a name="Nt_440" href="#NtA_440">[440]</a> Francis Quarles + (1592-1644), a religious poet. He wrote paraphrases of the Bible and + numerous elegies. In the early days of the revolutionary struggle he + sided with the Royalists. One of his most popular works was the + <i>Emblems</i> (1635), with illustrations by William Marshall.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_441" href="#NtA_441">[441]</a> Regnault de Bécourt wrote + <i>La Création du monde, ou Système d'organisation primitive suivi de + l'interprétation des principaux phénomènes et accidents que se sont + opérés dans la nature depuis l'origine de univers jusqu'à nos jours</i> + (1816). This may be the work translated by Dalmas.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_442" href="#NtA_442">[442]</a> "Because it lacks a holy + prophet."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_443" href="#NtA_443">[443]</a> Angherà. See Vol. II, page + 60, note <a href="#Nt_127">127</a>.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_444" href="#NtA_444">[444]</a> Edmund Curll (1675-1747), a + well-known bookseller, publisher, and pamphleteer. He was for a time at + "The Peacock without Temple Bar," and later at "The Dial and Bible + against St. Dunstan's Church." He was fined repeatedly for publishing + immoral works, and once stood in the pillory for it. He is ridiculed in + the <i>Dunciad</i> for having been tossed in a blanket by the boys of + Westminster School because of an oration that displeased them.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_445" href="#NtA_445">[445]</a> See Vol. II, page 109, note + <a href="#Nt_206">206</a>.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_446" href="#NtA_446">[446]</a> Encyclopædia.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_447" href="#NtA_447">[447]</a> Author of the <i>Historia + Naturalis</i> (77 A.D.)</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_448" href="#NtA_448">[448]</a> Author of the <i>De + Institutione Oratorio Libri</i> XII (c. 91 A.D.)</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_449" href="#NtA_449">[449]</a> His <i>De Architectures + Libri</i> X was not merely a work on architecture and building, but on + the education of the architect.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_450" href="#NtA_450">[450]</a> Cyclophoria.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_451" href="#NtA_451">[451]</a> William Caxton (c. + 1422-c.1492), sometime Governor of the Company of Merchant Adventurers in + Bruges (between 1449 and 1470). He learned the art of printing either at + Bruges or Cologne, and between 1471 and 1477 set up a press at + Westminster. Tradition says that the first book printed in England was + his <i>Game and Playe of Chesse</i> (1474). The <i>Myrrour of the Worlde + and th'ymage of the same</i> appeared in 1480. It contains a brief + statement on arithmetic, the first mathematics to appear in print in + England.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_452" href="#NtA_452">[452]</a> See Vol. I, page 45, note 6 + {40}. De Morgan is wrong as to the date of the <i>Margarita + Philosophica</i>. The first edition appeared at Freiburg in 1503.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_453" href="#NtA_453">[453]</a> Reisch was confessor to + Maximilian I (1459-1519), King of the Romans (1486) and Emperor + (1493-1519).</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_454" href="#NtA_454">[454]</a> Joachim Sterck Ringelbergh + (c. 1499-c. 1536), teacher of philosophy and mathematics in various + cities of France and Germany. His <i>Institutionum astronomicarum libri + III</i> appeared at Basel in 1528, his <i>Cosmographia</i> at Paris in + 1529, and his <i>Opera</i> at Leyden in 1531.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_455" href="#NtA_455">[455]</a> Johannes Heinrich Alsted + (1588-1638) was professor of philosophy and theology at his birthplace, + Herborn, in Nassau, and later at Weissenberg. He published several works, + including the <i>Elementale mathematicum</i> (1611), <i>Systema physicae + harmonicae</i> (1612), <i>Methodus admirandorum mathematicorum</i> + (1613), <i>Encyclopædia septem tomis distincta</i> (1630), and the work + mentioned above.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_456" href="#NtA_456">[456]</a> Johann Jakob Hoffmann + (1635-1706), professor of Greek and history at his birthplace, Basel. He + also wrote the <i>Epitome metrica historiæ universalis civilis et sacræ + ab orbe condito</i> (1686).</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_457" href="#NtA_457">[457]</a> Ephraim Chambers (c. + 1680-1740), a crotchety, penurious, but kind-hearted freethinker. His + <i>Cyclopædia, or an Universal Dictionary</i> was translated into French + and is said to have suggested the great <i>Encyclopédie</i>.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_458" href="#NtA_458">[458]</a> <i>Encyclopédie, ou + Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers, par un + société de gens de lettres. Mis en ordre et publié par M. Diderot, et + quant à la partie mathématique, par M. d'Alembert.</i> Paris, 1751-1780, + 35 volumes.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_459" href="#NtA_459">[459]</a> "From the egg" (state).</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_460" href="#NtA_460">[460]</a> See Vol. I, page 382, note + 12 {785}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_461" href="#NtA_461">[461]</a> See Vol. II, page 4, note + <a href="#Nt_15">15</a>.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_462" href="#NtA_462">[462]</a> "In morals nothing should + serve man as a model but God; in the arts, nothing but nature."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_463" href="#NtA_463">[463]</a> <i>Encyclopédie Méthodique, + ou par ordre de matières.</i> Paris, 1782-1832, 166½ volumes.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_464" href="#NtA_464">[464]</a> See Vol. II, page 193, note + <a href="#Nt_336">336</a>.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_465" href="#NtA_465">[465]</a> <i>Encyclopædia + Metropolitana; or, Universal Dictionary of Knowledge.</i> London, 1845, + 29 volumes. A second edition came out in 1848-1858 in 40 volumes.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_466" href="#NtA_466">[466]</a> See Vol. I, page 137, note + 8 {286}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_467" href="#NtA_467">[467]</a> See Vol. I, page 80, note 5 + {119}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_468" href="#NtA_468">[468]</a> De Morgan should be alive + to satirize some of the statements on the history of mathematics in the + eleventh edition.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_469" href="#NtA_469">[469]</a> John Pringle Nichol + (1804-1859), Regius professor of astronomy at Glasgow and a popular + lecturer on the subject. He lectured in the United States in 1848-1849. + His <i>Views of the Architecture of the Heavens</i> (1838) was a very + popular work, and his <i>Planetary System</i> (1848, 1850) contains the + first suggestion for the study of sun spots by the aid of + photography.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_470" href="#NtA_470">[470]</a> See Vol. II, page 109, note + <a href="#Nt_206">206</a>.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_471" href="#NtA_471">[471]</a> George Long (1800-1879), a + native of Poulton, in Lancashire, was called to the University of + Virginia when he was only twenty-four years old as professor of ancient + languages. He returned to England in 1828 to become professor of Greek at + London University. From 1833 to 1849 he edited the twenty-nine volumes of + the <i>Penny Cyclopædia</i>. He was an authority on Roman law.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_472" href="#NtA_472">[472]</a> A legal phrase, "Qui tam + pro domina regina, quam pro se ipso sequitur,"—"Who sues as much on + the Queen's account as on his own."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_473" href="#NtA_473">[473]</a> Arthur Cayley (1821-1895) + was a fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge (1842-1846) and was afterwards + a lawyer (1849-1863). During his fourteen years at the bar he published + some two hundred mathematical papers. In 1863 he became professor of + mathematics at Cambridge, and so remained until his death. His collected + papers, nine hundred in number, were published by the Cambridge Press in + 13 volumes (1889-1898). He contributed extensively to the theory of + invariants and covariants. De Morgan's reference to his coining of new + names is justified, although his contemporary, Professor Sylvester, so + far surpassed him in this respect as to have been dubbed "the + mathematical Adam."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_474" href="#NtA_474">[474]</a> See Vol. II, page 26, note + <a href="#Nt_56">56</a>.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_475" href="#NtA_475">[475]</a> See Vol. I, page 111, note + 3 {207}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_476" href="#NtA_476">[476]</a> See Vol. I, page 87, note 6 + {135}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_477" href="#NtA_477">[477]</a> Pierre Dupuy (1582-1651) + was a friend and relative of De Thou. With the collaboration of his + brother and Nicolas Rigault he published the 1620 and 1626 editions of De + Thou's History. He also wrote on law and history. His younger brother, + Jacques (died in 1656), edited his works. The two had a valuable + collection of books and manuscripts which they bequeathed to the Royal + Library at Paris.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_478" href="#NtA_478">[478]</a> See Vol. I, page 51, note 3 + {51}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_479" href="#NtA_479">[479]</a> It was Cosmo de' Medici + (1590-1621) who was the patron of Galileo.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_480" href="#NtA_480">[480]</a> See Vol. I, page 40, note 4 + {20}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_481" href="#NtA_481">[481]</a> See Vol. I, page 106, note + 4 {188}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_482" href="#NtA_482">[482]</a> Sir Edward Sherburne + (1618-1702), a scholar of considerable reputation. The reference by De + Morgan is to <i>The Sphere of Marcus Manilius</i>, in the appendix to + which is a <i>Catalogue of Astronomers, ancient and modern</i>.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_483" href="#NtA_483">[483]</a> George Parker, second Earl + of Macclesfield (1697-1764). He erected an observatory at Shirburn + Castle, Oxfordshire, in 1739, and fitted it out with the best equipment + then available. He was President of the Royal Society in 1752.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_484" href="#NtA_484">[484]</a> See Vol. II, page 148, note + <a href="#Nt_263">263</a>.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_485" href="#NtA_485">[485]</a> See Vol. I, page 140, note + 7 {296}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_486" href="#NtA_486">[486]</a> See Vol. I, page 106, note + 4 {188}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_487" href="#NtA_487">[487]</a> Edward Bernard (1638-1696), + although Savilian professor of astronomy at Oxford, was chiefly + interested in archeology.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_488" href="#NtA_488">[488]</a> See Vol. I, page 107, note + 1 {190}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_489" href="#NtA_489">[489]</a> See Vol. I, page 107, note + 1 {190}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_490" href="#NtA_490">[490]</a> See Vol. I, page 135, note + 3 {281}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_491" href="#NtA_491">[491]</a> Philip Dormer Stanhope, + fourth Earl of Chesterfield (1694-1773), well known for the letters + written to his son which were published posthumously (1774).</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_492" href="#NtA_492">[492]</a> Peter Daval (died in 1763), + Vice-President of the Royal Society, and an astronomer of some + ability.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_493" href="#NtA_493">[493]</a> See Vol. I, page 376, note + 1 {766}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_494" href="#NtA_494">[494]</a> William Oughtred (c. + 1573-1660), a fellow of King's College, Cambridge, and afterwards vicar + of Aldbury, Surrey, wrote the best-known arithmetic and trigonometry of + his time. His <i>Arithmeticæ in Numero & Speciebus Institutio ... + quasi Clavis Mathematicæ est</i> (1631) went through many editions and + appeared in English as <i>The Key to the Mathematicks new forged and + filed</i> in 1647.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_495" href="#NtA_495">[495]</a> See Vol. I, page 140, note + 5 {294}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_496" href="#NtA_496">[496]</a> Stephen Jordan Rigaud + (1816-1859) was senior assistant master of Westminster School (1846) and + head master of Queen Elizabeth's School at Ipswich (1850). He was made + Bishop of Antigua in 1858 and died of yellow fever the following + year.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_497" href="#NtA_497">[497]</a> He also wrote a memoir of + his father, privately printed at Oxford in 1883.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_498" href="#NtA_498">[498]</a> See Vol. I, page 69, note 3 + {96}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_499" href="#NtA_499">[499]</a> See Vol. I, page 106, note + 4 {188}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_500" href="#NtA_500">[500]</a> William Gascoigne was born + at Middleton before 1612 and was killed in the battle of Marston Moor in + 1644. He was an astronomer and invented the micrometer with movable + threads (before 1639).</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_501" href="#NtA_501">[501]</a> Seth Ward (1617-1689) was + deprived of his fellowship at Cambridge for refusing to sign the + covenant. He became professor of astronomy at Oxford (1649), Bishop of + Exeter (1662), Bishop of Salisbury (1667), and Chancellor of the Garter + (1671). He is best known for his solution of Kepler's problem to + approximate a planet's orbit, which appeared in his <i>Astronomia + geometrica</i> in 1656.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_502" href="#NtA_502">[502]</a> See Vol. I, page 110, note + 2 {198}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_503" href="#NtA_503">[503]</a> See Vol. I, page 100, note + 2 {172}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_504" href="#NtA_504">[504]</a> See Vol. I, page 107, note + 1 {190}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_505" href="#NtA_505">[505]</a> See Vol. I page 114, note 6 + {220}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_506" href="#NtA_506">[506]</a> See Vol. I, page 77, note 4 + {118}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_507" href="#NtA_507">[507]</a> See Vol. I, page 125, note + 3 {253}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_508" href="#NtA_508">[508]</a> See Vol. I, page 105, note + 2 {186}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_509" href="#NtA_509">[509]</a> Heinrich Oldenburgh + (1626-1678) was consul in England for the City of Bremen, his birthplace, + and afterwards became a private teacher in London. He became secretary of + the Royal Society and contributed on physics and astronomy to the + <i>Philosophical Transactions</i>.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_510" href="#NtA_510">[510]</a> Thomas Brancker, or Branker + (1636-1676) wrote the <i>Doctrinæ sphæricæ adumbratio et usus globorum + artificialium</i> (1662) and translated the algebra of Rhonius with the + help of Pell. The latter work appeared under the title of <i>An + Introduction to Algebra</i> (1668), and is noteworthy as having brought + before English mathematicians the symbol ÷ for division. The symbol never + had any standing on the Continent for this purpose, but thereafter became + so popular in England that it is still used in all the English-speaking + world.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_511" href="#NtA_511">[511]</a> See Vol. I, page 118, note + 1 {230}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_512" href="#NtA_512">[512]</a> Pierre Bertius (1565-1629) + was a native of Flanders and was educated at London and Leyden. He became + a professor at Leyden, and later held the chair of mathematics at the + Collège de France. He wrote chiefly on geography.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_513" href="#NtA_513">[513]</a> See Vol. II, page 297, note + <a href="#Nt_487">487</a>.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_514" href="#NtA_514">[514]</a> Giovanni Alphonso Borelli + (1608-1679) was professor of mathematics at Messina (1646-1656) and at + Pisa (1656-1657), after which he taught in Rome at the Convent of St. + Panteleon. He wrote several works on geometry, astronomy, and + physics.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_515" href="#NtA_515">[515]</a> See Vol. I, page 172, note + 2 {381}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_516" href="#NtA_516">[516]</a> Ignace Gaston Pardies (c. + 1636-1673), a Jesuit, professor of ancient languages and later of + mathematics and physics at the Collège of Pau, and afterwards professor + of rhetoric at the Collège Louis-le-Grand at Paris. He wrote on geometry, + astronomy and physics.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_517" href="#NtA_517">[517]</a> Pierre Fermat was born in + 1608 (or possibly in 1595) near Toulouse, and died in 1665. Although + connected with the parliament of Toulouse, his significant work was in + mathematics. He was one of the world's geniuses in the theory of numbers, + and was one of the founders of the theory of probabilities and of + analytic geometry. After his death his son published his edition of + Diophantus (1670) and his <i>Varia opera mathematica</i> (1679).</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_518" href="#NtA_518">[518]</a> This may be Christopher + Townley (1603-1674) the antiquary, or his nephew, Richard, who improved + the micrometer already invented by Gascoigne.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_519" href="#NtA_519">[519]</a> Adrien Auzout a native of + Rouen, who died at Rome in 1691. He invented a screw micrometer with + movable threads (1666) and made many improvements in astronomical + instruments.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_520" href="#NtA_520">[520]</a> See Vol. I, page 66, note 9 + {86}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_521" href="#NtA_521">[521]</a> See Vol. I, page 124, note + 7 {248}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_522" href="#NtA_522">[522]</a> John Machin (d. 1751) was + professor of astronomy at Gresham College (1713-1751) and secretary of + the Royal Society. He translated Newton's <i>Principia</i> into English. + His computation of <span class="grk">π</span> to 100 places is given + in William Jones's <i>Synopsis palmariorum matheseos</i> (1706).</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_523" href="#NtA_523">[523]</a> Pierre Rémond de Montmort + (1678-1719) was canon of Notre Dame until his marriage. He was a + gentleman of leisure and devoted himself to the study of mathematics, + especially of probabilities.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_524" href="#NtA_524">[524]</a> Roger Cotes (1682-1716), + first Plumian professor of astronomy and physics at Cambridge, and editor + of the second edition of Newton's <i>Principia</i>. His posthumous + <i>Harmonia Mensurarum</i> (1722) contains "Cotes's Theorem" on the + binomial equation. Newton said of him, "If Mr. Cotes had lived we had + known something."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_525" href="#NtA_525">[525]</a> See Vol. I, page 135, note + 3 {281}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_526" href="#NtA_526">[526]</a> See Vol. I, page 377, note + 4 {769}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_527" href="#NtA_527">[527]</a> Charles Réné Reyneau + (1656-1728) was professor of mathematics at Angers. His <i>Analyse + démontrée, ou Manière de resoudre les problèmes de mathématiques</i> + (1708) was a successful attempt to popularize the theories of men like + Descartes, Newton, Leibnitz, and the Bernoullis.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_528" href="#NtA_528">[528]</a> Brook Taylor (1685-1731), + secretary of the Royal Society, and student of mathematics and physics. + His <i>Methodus incrementorum directa et inversa</i> (1715) was the first + treatise on the calculus of finite differences. It contained the + well-known theorem that bears his name.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_529" href="#NtA_529">[529]</a> Pierre Louis Moreau de + Maupertuis (1698-1759) was sent with Clairaut (1735) to measure an arc of + a meridian in Lapland. He was head of the physics department in the + Berlin Academy from 1745 until 1753. He wrote <i>Sur la figure de la + terre</i> (1738) and on geography and astronomy.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_530" href="#NtA_530">[530]</a> Pierre Bouguer (1698-1758) + was professor of hydrography at Paris, and was one of those sent by the + Academy of Sciences to measure an arc of a meridian in Peru (1735). The + object of this and the work of Maupertuis was to determine the shape of + the earth and see if Newton's theory was supported.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_531" href="#NtA_531">[531]</a> Charles Marie de la + Condamine (1701-1774) was a member of the Paris Academy of Sciences and + was sent with Bouguer to Peru, for the purpose mentioned in the preceding + note. He wrote on the figure of the earth, but was not a scientist of + high rank.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_532" href="#NtA_532">[532]</a> See Vol. I, page 136, note + 5 {283}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_533" href="#NtA_533">[533]</a> See Vol. II, page 296, note + <a href="#Nt_483">483</a>.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_534" href="#NtA_534">[534]</a> Thomas Baker (c. 1625-1689) + gave a geometric solution of the biquadratic in his <i>Geometrical Key, + or Gate of Equations unlocked</i> (1684).</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_535" href="#NtA_535">[535]</a> See Vol. I, page 160, note + 5 {350}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_536" href="#NtA_536">[536]</a> See Vol. I, page 87, note 4 + {133}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_537" href="#NtA_537">[537]</a> See Vol. I, page 132, note + 2 {272}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_538" href="#NtA_538">[538]</a> See Vol. I, page 118, + second note 1 {231}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_539" href="#NtA_539">[539]</a> The name of Newton is so + well known that no note seems necessary. He was born at Woolsthorpe, + Lincolnshire, in 1642, and died at Kensington in 1727.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_540" href="#NtA_540">[540]</a> John Keill (1671-1721), + professor of astronomy at Oxford from 1710, is said to have been the + first to teach the Newtonian physics by direct experiment, the apparatus + being invented by him for the purpose. He wrote on astronomy and physics. + His <i>Epistola de legibus virium centripetarum</i>, in the Philosophical + Transactions for 1708, accused Leibnitz of having obtained his ideas of + the calculus from Newton, thus starting the priority controversy.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_541" href="#NtA_541">[541]</a> Thomas Digges (d. in 1595) + wrote <i>An Arithmeticall Militare Treatise, named Stratioticos</i> + (1579), and completed <i>A geometrical practise, named Pantometria</i> + (1571) that had been begun by his father, Leonard Digges.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_542" href="#NtA_542">[542]</a> John Dee (1527-1608), the + most famous astrologer of his day, and something of a mathematician, + wrote a preface to Billingsley's translation of Euclid into English + (1570).</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_543" href="#NtA_543">[543]</a> See Vol. I, page 76, note 3 + {112}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_544" href="#NtA_544">[544]</a> Thomas Harriot (1560-1621) + was tutor in mathematics to Sir Walter Raleigh, who sent him to survey + Virginia (1585). He was one of the best English algebraists of his time, + but his <i>Artis Analyticæ Praxis ad Aequationes Algebraicas + resolvendas</i> (1631) did not appear until ten years after his + death.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_545" href="#NtA_545">[545]</a> Thomas Lydiat (1572-1626), + rector of Alkerton, devoted his life chiefly to the study of chronology, + writing upon the subject and taking issue with Scaliger (1601).</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_546" href="#NtA_546">[546]</a> See Vol. I, page 69, note 3 + {96}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_547" href="#NtA_547">[547]</a> Walter Warner edited + Harriot's <i>Artis Analyticae Praxis</i> (1631). Tarporley is not known + in mathematics.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_548" href="#NtA_548">[548]</a> See Vol. I, page 105, note + 2 {186}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_549" href="#NtA_549">[549]</a> See Vol. I, page 115, note + 3 {224}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_550" href="#NtA_550">[550]</a> See Vol. II, page 300, note + <a href="#Nt_509">509</a>.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_551" href="#NtA_551">[551]</a> See Vol. I, page 107, note + 1 {190}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_552" href="#NtA_552">[552]</a> Sir Samuel Morland + (1625-1695) was a diplomat and inventor. For some years he was assistant + to John Pell, then ambassador to Switzerland. He wrote on arithmetical + instruments invented by him (1673), on hydrostatics (1697) and on church + history (1658).</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_553" href="#NtA_553">[553]</a> See Vol. I, page 153, note + 4 {337}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_554" href="#NtA_554">[554]</a> See Vol. I, page 85, note 2 + {129}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_555" href="#NtA_555">[555]</a> See Vol. I, page 43, note 8 + {33}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_556" href="#NtA_556">[556]</a> See Vol. I, page 43, note 7 + {32}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_557" href="#NtA_557">[557]</a> See Vol. I, page 382, note + 13 {786}. The history of the subject may be followed in Braunmühl's + <i>Geschichte der Trigonometrie</i>.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_558" href="#NtA_558">[558]</a> See Vol. I, page 377, note + 3 {768}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_559" href="#NtA_559">[559]</a> See Vol. I, page 108, note + 2 {192}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_560" href="#NtA_560">[560]</a> Michael Dary wrote + <i>Dary's Miscellanies</i> (1669), <i>Gauging epitomised</i> (1669), and + <i>The general Doctrine of Equation</i> (1664).</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_561" href="#NtA_561">[561]</a> John Newton (1622-1678), + canon of Hereford (1673), educational reformer, and writer on elementary + mathematics and astronomy.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_562" href="#NtA_562">[562]</a> See Vol. I, page 87, note 4 + {133}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_563" href="#NtA_563">[563]</a> "The average of the two + equal altitudes of the sun before and after dinner."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_564" href="#NtA_564">[564]</a> See Vol. I, page 42, note 4 + {24}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_565" href="#NtA_565">[565]</a> London, 1678. It went + though many editions.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_566" href="#NtA_566">[566]</a> "This I who once ..."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_567" href="#NtA_567">[567]</a> Arthur Murphy (1727-1805) + worked in a banking house until 1754. He then went on the stage and met + with some success at Covent Garden. His first comedy, <i>The + Apprentice</i> (1756) was so successful that he left the stage and took + to play writing. His translation of Tacitus appeared in 1793, in four + volumes.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_568" href="#NtA_568">[568]</a> Edmund Wingate (1596-1656) + went to Paris in 1624 as tutor to Princess Henrietta Maria and remained + there several years. He wrote <i>L'usage de la règle de proportion</i> + (Paris, 1624, with an English translation in 1626), <i>Arithmétique + Logarithmétique</i> (Paris, 1626, with an English translation in 1635), + and <i>Of Natural and Artificial Arithmetick</i> (London, 1630, revised + in 1650-1652), part I of which was one of the most popular textbooks ever + produced in England.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_569" href="#NtA_569">[569]</a> John Lambert (1619-1694) + was Major-General during the Revolution and helped to draw up the request + for Cromwell to assume the protectorate. He was imprisoned in the Tower + by the Rump Parliament. He was confined in Guernsey until the clandestine + marriage of his daughter Mary to Charles Hatton, son of the governor, + after which he was removed (1667) to St. Nicholas in Plymouth Sound.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_570" href="#NtA_570">[570]</a> Samuel Foster (d. in 1652) + was made professor of astronomy at Gresham College in March, 1636, but + resigned in November of that year, being succeeded by Mungo Murray. + Murray vacated his chair by marriage in 1641 and Foster succeeded him. He + wrote on dialling and made a number of improvements in geometric + instruments.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_571" href="#NtA_571">[571]</a> "Twice of the word a + minister," that is, twice a minister of the Gospel.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_572" href="#NtA_572">[572]</a> This is <i>The Lives of the + Professors of Gresham College to which is prefixed the Life of the + Founder, Sir Thomas Gresham</i>, London, 1740. It was written by John + Ward (c. 1679-1758), professor of rhetoric (1720) at Gresham College and + vice-president (1752) of the Royal Society.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_573" href="#NtA_573">[573]</a> Charles Montagu + (1661-1715), first Earl of Halifax, was Lord of the Treasury in 1692, and + was created Baron Halifax in 1700 and Viscount Sunbury and Earl of + Halifax in 1714. He introduced the bill establishing the Bank of England, + the bill becoming a law in 1694. He had troubles of his own, without + considering Newton, for he was impeached in 1701, and was the subject of + a damaging resolution of censure as auditor of the exchequer in 1703. + Although nothing came of either of these attacks, he was out of office + during much of Queen Anne's reign.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_574" href="#NtA_574">[574]</a> See Vol. II, page 302, note + <a href="#Nt_547">547</a>.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_575" href="#NtA_575">[575]</a> See Vol. I, page 105, note + 2 {186}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_576" href="#NtA_576">[576]</a> James Dodson (d. 1757) was + master of the Royal Mathematical School, Christ's Hospital. He was De + Morgan's great-grandfather. The <i>Anti-Logarithmic Canon</i> was + published in 1742.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_577" href="#NtA_577">[577]</a> See Vol. I, page 106, note + 4 {188}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_578" href="#NtA_578">[578]</a> See Vol. I, page 110, note + 2 {198}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_579" href="#NtA_579">[579]</a> Richard Busby, (1606-1695), + master of Westminster School (1640) had among his pupils Dryden and + Locke.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_580" href="#NtA_580">[580]</a> See Vol. I, page 107, note + 1 {190}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_581" href="#NtA_581">[581]</a> Herbert Thorndike + (1598-1672), fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge (1620-1646), and + Prebend of Westminster (1661), was a well-known theological writer of the + time.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_582" href="#NtA_582">[582]</a> See Vol. I, page 140, note + 5 {294}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_583" href="#NtA_583">[583]</a> See Vol. I, page 108, note + 2 {192}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_584" href="#NtA_584">[584]</a> "Labor performed returns in + a circle."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_585" href="#NtA_585">[585]</a> See Vol. II, page <a + href="#page208">208</a>.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_586" href="#NtA_586">[586]</a> "Whatever objections one + may make to the above arguments, one always falls into an absurdity."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_587" href="#NtA_587">[587]</a> See Vol. II. page 11, note + <a href="#Nt_29">29</a>. <i>The Circle Squared; and the solution of the + problem adapted to explain the difference between square and superficial + measurement</i> appeared at Brighton in 1865.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_588" href="#NtA_588">[588]</a> "And beyond that + nothing."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_589" href="#NtA_589">[589]</a> Gillott (1759-1873) was the + pioneer maker of steel pens by machinery, reducing the price from + 1<i>s.</i> each to 4<i>d.</i> a gross. He was a great collector of + paintings and old violins.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_590" href="#NtA_590">[590]</a> William Edward Walker wrote + five works on circle squaring (1853, 1854, 1857, 1862, 1864), mostly and + perhaps all published at Birmingham.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_591" href="#NtA_591">[591]</a> Solomon M. Drach wrote + <i>An easy Rule for formulizing all Epicyclical Curves</i> (London, + 1849), <i>On the Circle area and Heptagon-chord</i> (London, 1864), <i>An + easy general Rule for filling up all Magic Squares</i> (London, 1873), + and <i>Hebrew Almanack-Signs</i> (London, 1877), besides numerous + articles in journals.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_592" href="#NtA_592">[592]</a> See Vol. I, page 168, note + 3 {371}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_593" href="#NtA_593">[593]</a> See Vol. I, page 254, note + 2 {580}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_594" href="#NtA_594">[594]</a> See Vol. I, page 98, note 6 + {163}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_595" href="#NtA_595">[595]</a> Robert Fludd or Flud + (1574-1637) was a physician with a large London practice. He denied the + diurnal rotation of the earth, and was attacked by Kepler and Mersenne, + and accused of magic by Gassendi. His <i>Apologia Compendiania, + Fraternitatem de Rosea Cruce suspicionis ... maculis aspersam, veritatis + quasi Fluctibus abluens</i> (Leyden, 1616) is one of a large number of + works of the mystic type.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_596" href="#NtA_596">[596]</a> Consult <i>To the + Christianity of the Age. Notes ... comprising an elucidation of the scope + and contents of the writings ... of Dionysius Andreas Freher</i> + (1854).</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_597" href="#NtA_597">[597]</a> Sir William Robert Grove + (1811-1896), although called to the bar (1835) and to the bench (1853), + is best known for his work as a physicist. He was professor of + experimental philosophy (1840-1847) at the London Institution, and + invented a battery (1839) known by his name. His <i>Correlation of + Physical Forces</i> (1846) went through six editions and was translated + into French.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_598" href="#NtA_598">[598]</a> Johann Tauler (c. + 1300-1361), a Dominican monk of Strassburg, a mystic, closely in touch + with the Gottesfreunde of Basel. His <i>Sermons</i> first appeared in + print at Leipsic in 1498.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_599" href="#NtA_599">[599]</a> Paracelsus (c. 1490-1541). + His real name was Theophrastes Bombast von Hohenheim, and he took the + name by which he is generally known because he held himself superior to + Celsus. He was a famous physician and pharmacist, but was also a mystic + and neo-Platonist. He lectured in German on medicine at Basel, but lost + his position through the opposition of the orthodox physicians and + apothecaries.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_600" href="#NtA_600">[600]</a> See Vol. I, page 256, note + 2 {588}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_601" href="#NtA_601">[601]</a> Philip Schwarzerd + (1497-1560) was professor of Greek at Wittenberg. He helped Luther with + his translation of the Bible.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_602" href="#NtA_602">[602]</a> Johann Reuchlin + (1455-1522), the first great German humanist, was very influential in + establishing the study of Greek and Hebrew in Germany. His lectures were + mostly delivered privately in Heidelberg and Stuttgart. Unlike + Melanchthon, he remained in the Catholic Church.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_603" href="#NtA_603">[603]</a> Joseph Chitty (1776-1841) + published his <i>Precedents of Pleading</i> in 1808 and his <i>Reports of + Cases on Practice and Pleading</i> in 1820-23 (2 volumes).</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_604" href="#NtA_604">[604]</a> See Vol. I, page 44, note 1 + {35}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_605" href="#NtA_605">[605]</a> See Vol. I, page 44, note 4 + {38}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_606" href="#NtA_606">[606]</a> Jean Pèlerin, also known as + Viator, who wrote on perspective. His work appeared in 1505, with + editions in 1509 and 1521.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_607" href="#NtA_607">[607]</a> Henry Stephens. See Vol. I, + page 44, note 3 {37}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_608" href="#NtA_608">[608]</a> The well-known grammarian + (1745-1826). He was born at Swatara, in Pennsylvania, and practised law + in New York until 1784, after which he resided in England. His grammar + (1795) went through 50 editions, and the abridgment (1818) through 120 + editions. Murray's friend Dalton, the chemist, said that "of all the + contrivances invented by human ingenuity for puzzling the brains of the + young, Lindley Murray's grammar was the worst."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_609" href="#NtA_609">[609]</a> Robert Recorde (c. + 1510-1558) read and probably taught mathematics and medicine at Cambridge + up to 1545. After that he taught mathematics at Oxford and practised + medicine in London. His <i>Grounde of Artes</i>, published about 1540, + was the first arithmetic published in English that had any influence. It + went through many editions. The <i>Castle of Knowledge</i> appeared in + 1551. It was a textbook on astronomy and the first to set forth the + Copernican theory in England. Like Recorde's other works it was written + on the catechism plan. His <i>Whetstone of Witte ... containying + thextraction of Rootes: The Cosike practise, with the rule of Equation: + and the woorkes of Surde Nombres</i> appeared in 1557, and it is in this + work that the modern sign of equality first appears in print. The word + "Cosike" is an adjective that was used for a long time in Germany as + equivalent to algebraic, being derived from the Italian <i>cosa</i>, + which stood for the unknown quantity.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_610" href="#NtA_610">[610]</a> Robert Cecil (c. + 1563-1612), first Earl of Salisbury, Secretary of State under Elizabeth + (1596-1603) and under James I (1603-1612).</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_611" href="#NtA_611">[611]</a> In America the German + pronunciation is at present universal among mathematicians, as in the + case of most other German names. This is due, no doubt, to the great + influence that Germany has had on American education in the last fifty + years.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_612" href="#NtA_612">[612]</a> The latest transliteration + is substantially K'ung-fu-tzǔ.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_613" href="#NtA_613">[613]</a> The tendency seems to be, + however, to adopt the forms used of individuals or places as rapidly as + the mass of people comes to be prepared for it. Thus the spelling + Leipzig, instead of Leipsic, is coming to be very common in America.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_614" href="#NtA_614">[614]</a> Sir Edward Coke + (1552-1634), the celebrated jurist.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_615" href="#NtA_615">[615]</a> Dethlef Cluvier or Clüver + (d. 1708 at Hamburg) was a nephew, not a grandson, of Philippe Cluvier, + or Philipp Clüver (1580-c. 1623). Dethlef traveled in France and Italy + and then taught mathematics in London. He wrote on astronomy and + philosophy and also published in the <i>Acta Eruditorum</i> (1686) his + <i>Schediasma geometricum de nova infinitorum scientia</i>. <i>Quadratura + circuli infinitis modis demonstrata</i>, and his <i>Monitum ad + geometras</i> (1687). Philippe was geographer of the Academy of Leyden. + His <i>Introductionis in universam geographiam tam veterem quam novam + libri sex</i> appeared at Leyden in 1624, about the time of his + death.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_616" href="#NtA_616">[616]</a> See Vol. I, page 124, note + 7 {248}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_617" href="#NtA_617">[617]</a> Bernard Nieuwentijt + (1654-1718), a physician and burgomaster at Purmerend. His + <i>Considerationes circa Analyseos ad quantitates infinite parvas + applicatæ Principia et Calculi Differentialis usum</i> (Amsterdam, 1694) + was attacked by Leibnitz. He replied in his <i>Considerationes + secundæ</i> (1694), and also wrote the <i>Analysis Infinitorum, seu + Curvilineorum Proprietates ex Polygonorum Natura deductæ</i> (1695). His + most famous work was on the existence of God, <i>Het Regt Gebruik der + Werelt Beschouwingen</i> (1718).</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_618" href="#NtA_618">[618]</a> "From a given line to + construct" etc.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_619" href="#NtA_619">[619]</a> "Pirates do not fight one + another."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_620" href="#NtA_620">[620]</a> Claude Mallemens + (Mallement) de Messanges (1653-1723) was professor of philosophy at the + Collège du Plessis, in Paris, for 34 years. The work to which De Morgan + refers is probably the <i>Fameux Problème de la quadrature du cercle, + résolu géometriquement par le cercle et a ligne droite</i> that appeared + in 1683.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_621" href="#NtA_621">[621]</a> On Tycho Brahe see Vol. I, + page 76, note 3 {112}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_622" href="#NtA_622">[622]</a> Wilhelm Frederik von + Zytphen also published the <i>Tidens Ström</i>, a chronological table, in + 1840. The work to which De Morgan refers, the <i>Solens Bevægelse i + Verdensrummet</i>, appeared first in 1861. De Morgan seems to have missed + his <i>Nogl Ord om Cirkelens Quadratur</i> which appeared in 1865, at + Copenhagen.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_623" href="#NtA_623">[623]</a> James Joseph Sylvester + (1814-1897), professor of natural philosophy at University College, + London (1837-1841), professor of mathematics at the University of + Virginia (1841-1845), actuary in London (1845-1855), professor of + mathematics at Woolwich (1877-1884) and at Johns Hopkins University, + Baltimore (1877-1884), and Savilian professor of geometry at Oxford + (1884-1894).</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_624" href="#NtA_624">[624]</a> See Vol. I, page 76, note 3 + {112}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_625" href="#NtA_625">[625]</a> See Vol. II, page 205, note + <a href="#Nt_349">349</a>.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_626" href="#NtA_626">[626]</a> See Vol. I, page 76, note 3 + {112}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_627" href="#NtA_627">[627]</a> See Vol. I, page 46, note 1 + {42}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_628" href="#NtA_628">[628]</a> See Vol. II, page 183, note + <a href="#Nt_318">318</a>.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_629" href="#NtA_629">[629]</a> See Vol. I, page 321, note + 2 {691}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_630" href="#NtA_630">[630]</a> James Mill, born 1773, died + 1836.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_631" href="#NtA_631">[631]</a> See Vol. II, page 3, note + <a href="#Nt_11">11</a>.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_632" href="#NtA_632">[632]</a> See Vol. II, page 3, note + <a href="#Nt_13">13</a>.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_633" href="#NtA_633">[633]</a> See Vol. II, page 3, note + <a href="#Nt_14">14</a>.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_634" href="#NtA_634">[634]</a> This anecdote is printed at + page 4 (Vol. II); but as it is used in illustration here, and is given + more in detail, I have not omitted it.—S.E. De M.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_635" href="#NtA_635">[635]</a> See Vol. II, page 4, note + <a href="#Nt_15">15</a>.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_636" href="#NtA_636">[636]</a> See Vol. I, page 382, note + 13 {786}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_637" href="#NtA_637">[637]</a> "Monsieur, (<i>a</i> + + <i>b</i><sup><i>n</i></sup>)/<i>n</i> = <i>x</i>, whence God exists; + answer that!"</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_638" href="#NtA_638">[638]</a> "Monsieur, you know very + well that your argument requires the development of <i>x</i> according to + integral powers of <i>n</i>."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_639" href="#NtA_639">[639]</a> See Vol. I, page 153, note + 4 {337}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_640" href="#NtA_640">[640]</a> Thomas Love Peacock + (1785-1866) an English novelist and poet.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_641" href="#NtA_641">[641]</a> Perhaps Dr. Samuel Warren + (1807-1877), the author of <i>Ten Thousand a Year</i> (serially in + Blackwood's in 1839; London, 1841).</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_642" href="#NtA_642">[642]</a> See Vol. I, page 255, note + 6 {584}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_643" href="#NtA_643">[643]</a> "From many, one; much in + little; Ultima Thule (the most remote region); without which not."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_644" href="#NtA_644">[644]</a> Spurius Mælius (fl. 440 + B. C.), who distributed corn freely among the poor in the famine of 440 + B. C. and was assassinated by the patricians.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_645" href="#NtA_645">[645]</a> Spurius Cassius + Viscellinus, Roman consul in 502, 493, and 486 B. C. Put to death in + 485.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_646" href="#NtA_646">[646]</a> "O what a fine bearing, he + said, that has no brain."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_647" href="#NtA_647">[647]</a> Sir William Rowan Hamilton. + See Vol. I, page 332, note 4 {709}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_648" href="#NtA_648">[648]</a> William Allen Whitworth, + the author of the well-known <i>Choice and Chance</i> (Cambridge, 1867), + and other works.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_649" href="#NtA_649">[649]</a> James Maurice Wilson, whose + <i>Elementary Geometry</i> appeared in 1868 and went through several + editions.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_650" href="#NtA_650">[650]</a> See Vol. II, page 183, note + <a href="#Nt_315">315</a>.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_651" href="#NtA_651">[651]</a> "Force of inertia + conquered," and "Victory in the whole heavens."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_652" href="#NtA_652">[652]</a> "With all his might."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_653" href="#NtA_653">[653]</a> George Berkeley + (1685-1753), Bishop of Cloyne, the idealistic philosopher and author of + the <i>Principles of Human Knowledge</i> (1710), <i>The Analyst, or a + Discourse addressed to an Infidel Mathematician</i> (1734), and <i>A + Defense of Freethinking in Mathematics</i> (1735). He asserted that space + involves the idea of movement without the sensation of resistance. Space + sensation less than the "minima sensibilia" is, therefore, impossible. + From this he argues that infinitesimals are impossible concepts.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_654" href="#NtA_654">[654]</a> See Vol. I, page 85, note 2 + {129}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_655" href="#NtA_655">[655]</a> See Vol. I, page 81, note 6 + {120}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_656" href="#NtA_656">[656]</a> Edwin Dunkin revised + Lardner's <i>Handbook of Astronomy</i> (1869) and Milner's <i>The Heavens + and the Earth</i> (1873) and wrote <i>The Midnight Sky</i> (1869).</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_657" href="#NtA_657">[657]</a> Michael Faraday (1791-1867) + the celebrated physicist and chemist. He was an assistant to Sir Humphrey + Davy (1813) and became professor of chemistry at the Royal Institution, + London, in 1827.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_658" href="#NtA_658">[658]</a> "If you teach a fool he + shows no joyous countenance; he cordially hates you; he wishes you + buried."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_659" href="#NtA_659">[659]</a> "Every man is an animal, + Sortes is a man, therefore Sortes is an animal."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_660" href="#NtA_660">[660]</a> </p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="hg3">"May some choice patron bless each grey goose quill;</p> + <p>May every Bavius have his Bufo still."—<span class="sc">Pope</span>, <i>Prologue to the Satires.</i></p> + </div> + </div> + <p>Bavius has become proverbial as a bad poet from the lines in Vergil's + <i>Eclogues</i> (III, 90):</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="hg3">"Qui Bavium non odit, amet tua carmina, Maevi,</p> + <p>Atque idem jungat vulpes, et mulgeat hircos."</p> + </div> + </div> + <p>"He who does not hate Bavius shall love thy verses, O Maevius; and the + same shall yoke foxes and shall milk he-goats."</p> + + <p>Bavius and Maevius were the worst of Latin poets, condemned by Horace + as well as Vergil.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_661" href="#NtA_661">[661]</a> See Vol. II, page 158, note + <a href="#Nt_279">279</a>.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_662" href="#NtA_662">[662]</a> "Honest," "useful," + "handsome," "sweet."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_663" href="#NtA_663">[663]</a> "Let not the fourth man + attempt to speak."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_664" href="#NtA_664">[664]</a> </p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="hg3">"In those old times,—ah</p> + <p class="hg1">'Twas just like this, ah!"</p> + </div> + </div> + <p><a name="Nt_665" href="#NtA_665">[665]</a> See Vol. I, page 382, note + 12 {785}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_666" href="#NtA_666">[666]</a> These remarks were never + written.—S. E. De M.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_667" href="#NtA_667">[667]</a> </p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="hg3">"Fleas, flies, and friars, are masters who sadly the people abuse,</p> + <p>And thistles and briars are sure growing grains to abuse.</p> + <p>O Christ, who hatest strife and slayst all things in peace,</p> + <p>Destroy where'er are rife, briars, friars, flies and fleas.</p> + <p>Fleas, flies, and friars foul fall them these fifteen years</p> + <p>For none that there is loveth fleas, flies, nor freres."</p> + </div> + </div> + <p><a name="Nt_668" href="#NtA_668">[668]</a> "It is my plan to restore + to an unskilled race the worthy arts of a better life."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_669" href="#NtA_669">[669]</a> The first sentences of the + first oration of Cicero against Catiline: "Quo usque tandem abutere, + Catilina, patientia nostra?" (How long, O Catiline, will you abuse our + patience?) "Quamdiu etiam furor iste tuus nos eludet?" (How long will + this your madness baffle us?) "Nihilne te nocturnum praesidium Palati, + ... nihil horum ora voltusque moverunt?" (Does the night watch of the + Palatium, ... do the faces and expressions of all these men fail to move + you?) "In te conferri ..." (This plague should have been inflicted upon + you long ago, which you have plotted against us so long.)</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_670" href="#NtA_670">[670]</a> "Beware of the things that + are marked."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_671" href="#NtA_671">[671]</a> "Farewell, ye teachers + without learning! See to it that at our next meeting we may find you + strong in body and sound in mind."</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_672" href="#NtA_672">[672]</a> See Vol. I, page 336, note + 8 {713}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_673" href="#NtA_673">[673]</a> See Vol. I, page 229, note + 2 {515}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_674" href="#NtA_674">[674]</a> This proof, although + capable of improvement, is left as in the original. Those who may be + interested in the mathematics of the question, may consult F. Enriques, + <i>Fragen der Elementargeometrie</i> (German by Fleischer), Leipsic, + 1907, Part II, p. 267; F. Rudio, <i>Archimedes</i>, <i>Huygens</i>, + <i>Lambert</i>, <i>Legendre</i>. <i>Vier Abhandlungen über die + Kreismessung</i>, Leipsic, 1892; F. Klein, <i>Famous Problems of + Elementary Geometry</i> (English by Beman and Smith), Boston, 1895; + J. W. A. Young, <i>Monographs on Modern Mathematics</i>, New York, 1911, + Chap. IX (by the editor of the present edition of De Morgan.)</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_675" href="#NtA_675">[675]</a> See Vol. I, page 69, note 2 + {95}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_676" href="#NtA_676">[676]</a> See Vol. I, page 137, note + 8 {286}.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_677" href="#NtA_677">[677]</a> Joseph Allen Galbraith who, + with Samuel Haughton, wrote the Galbraith and Haughton's <i>Scientific + Manuals</i>. (Euclid, 1856; Algebra, 1860; Trigonometry, 1854; Optics, + 1854, and others.)</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_678" href="#NtA_678">[678]</a> This note on Carlyle + (1795-1881) is interesting. The translation of Legendre appeared in the + same year (1824) as his translation of Goethe's <i>Wilhelm + Meister</i>.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_679" href="#NtA_679">[679]</a> Michael Stifel (1487-1567), + also known as Stiefel, Styfel, and Stifelius, was an Augustine monk but + became a convert to Lutheranism. He was professor of mathematics at Jena + (1559-1567). His edition of the <i>Coss</i> appeared at Königsberg in + 1553, the first edition having been published in 1525. The + and - signs + first appeared in print in Widman's arithmetic of 1489, but for purposes + of algebra this book was one of the first to make them known.</p> + + <p><a name="Nt_680" href="#NtA_680">[680]</a> Christoff Rudolff was born + about 1500 and died between 1540 and 1552. <i>Die Coss</i> appeared in + 1525 and his arithmetic in 1526.</p> + +</div> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<hr class="pg" /> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A BUDGET OF PARADOXES, VOLUME II (OF II)***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 26408-h.txt or 26408-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/6/4/0/26408">http://www.gutenberg.org/2/6/4/0/26408</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: A Budget of Paradoxes, Volume II (of II) + + +Author: Augustus de Morgan + +Editor: David Eugene Smith + +Release Date: August 23, 2008 [eBook #26408] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A BUDGET OF PARADOXES, VOLUME II +(OF II)*** + + +E-text prepared by David Starner, Keith Edkins, and the Project Gutenberg +Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) + + + +Transcriber's note: + + A few typographical errors have been corrected: they are + listed at the end of the text. + + In mathematical formulae the carat (^) and underscore (_) + introduce superscripts or subscripts respectively, of one + character or a group enclosed in curly braces ({xyz}). + Elsewhere underscores delimit italics in the text, and + braces enclose the original page numbers thus {123}. + + + + + +BY AUGUSTUS DE MORGAN + +A BUDGET OF +PARADOXES + +REPRINTED WITH THE AUTHOR'S ADDITIONS FROM THE ATHENAEUM + +SECOND EDITION EDITED BY DAVID EUGENE SMITH + +WITH A NEW INTRODUCTION BY ERNEST NAGEL + +PROFESSOR OF PHILOSOPHY, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY + +UNABRIDGED EDITION--TWO VOLUMES BOUND AS ONE + +Volume II + + + + + + + +DOVER PUBLICATIONS, INC., NEW YORK + + * * * * * + +_This new Dover Edition, published in 1954, +is an unabridged republication of the Second Edition +of 1915, with a new introduction by Professor Ernest Nagel._ + +_Copyright 1954 by Dover Publications, Inc. +Manufactured in the United States of America_ + + * * * * * + + +{1} + +A BUDGET OF PARADOXES. + +VOLUME II. + +ON SOME PHILOSOPHICAL ATHEISTS. + +With the general run of the philosophical atheists of the last century the +notion of a God was an hypothesis. There was left an admitted possibility +that the vague somewhat which went by more names than one, might be +personal, intelligent, and superintendent. In the works of Laplace,[1] who +is sometimes called an atheist from his writings, there is nothing from +which such an inference can be drawn: unless indeed a Reverend Fellow of +the Royal Society may be held to be the fool who said in his heart, etc., +etc., if his contributions to the _Philosophical Transactions_ go no higher +than _nature_. The following anecdote is well known in Paris, but has never +been printed entire. Laplace once went in form to present some edition of +his "Systeme du Monde" to the First Consul, or Emperor. Napoleon, whom some +wags had told that this book contained no mention of the name of God, and +who was fond of putting embarrassing questions, received it with--"M. +Laplace, they tell me you have written this large book on the system of the +universe, and have never even mentioned its Creator." Laplace, who, though +the most supple of politicians, was as stiff as a martyr on every point of +his philosophy or religion (e. g., even under Charles X he never concealed +his dislike of the priests), drew himself up and answered {2} bluntly, "Je +n'avais pas besoin de cette hypothese-la."[2] Napoleon, greatly amused, +told this reply to Lagrange, who exclaimed, "Ah! c'est une belle hypothese; +ca explique beaucoup de choses."[3] + +It is commonly said that the last words of Laplace were, "Ce que nous +connaissons est peu de chose; ce que nous ignorons est immense."[4] This +looks like a parody on Newton's pebbles:[5] the following is the true +account; it comes to me through one remove from Poisson.[6] After the +publication (in 1825) of the fifth volume of the _Mecanique Celeste_, +Laplace became gradually weaker, and with it musing and abstracted. He +thought much on the great problems of existence, and often muttered to +himself, _Qu'est ce que c'est que tout cela!_[7] After many alternations, +he appeared at last so permanently prostrated that his family applied to +his favorite pupil, M. Poisson, to try to get a word from him. Poisson paid +a visit, and after a few words of salutation, said, "J'ai une bonne +nouvelle a vous annoncer: on a recu au Bureau des Longitudes une lettre +d'Allemagne annoncant que M. Bessel a verifie par l'observation vos +decouvertes theoriques sur les satellites de Jupiter."[8] Laplace opened +his eyes and answered with deep {3} gravity, "_L'homme ne poursuit que des +chimeres_."[9] He never spoke again. His death took place March 5, 1827. + +The language used by the two great geometers illustrates what I have said: +a supreme and guiding intelligence--apart from a blind rule called _nature +of things_--was an _hypothesis_. The absolute denial of such a ruling power +was not in the plan of the higher philosophers: it was left for the smaller +fry. A round assertion of the non-existence of anything which stands in the +way is the refuge of a certain class of minds: but it succeeds only with +things subjective; the objective offers resistance. A philosopher of the +appropriative class tried it upon the constable who appropriated _him_: I +deny your existence, said he; Come along all the same, said the +unpsychological policeman. + +Euler[10] was a believer in God, downright and straightforward. The +following story is told by Thiebault,[11] in his _Souvenirs de vingt ans de +sejour a Berlin_,[12] published in his old age, about 1804. This volume was +fully received as trustworthy; and Marshall Mollendorff[13] told the Duc de +Bassano[14] in 1807 that it was the most veracious of books written by the +most honest of men. Thiebault says that he has no personal knowledge of the +truth of the story, but {4} that it was believed throughout the whole of +the north of Europe. Diderot[15] paid a visit to the Russian Court at the +invitation of the Empress. He conversed very freely, and gave the younger +members of the Court circle a good deal of lively atheism. The Empress was +much amused, but some of her councillors suggested that it might be +desirable to check these expositions of doctrine. The Empress did not like +to put a direct muzzle on her guest's tongue, so the following plot was +contrived. Diderot was informed that a learned mathematician was in +possession of an algebraical demonstration of the existence of God, and +would give it him before all the Court, if he desired to hear it. Diderot +gladly consented: though the name of the mathematician is not given, it was +Euler. He advanced towards Diderot, and said gravely, and in a tone of +perfect conviction: _Monsieur,_ (a + b^{n}) / n = x, _donc Dieu existe; +repondez!_[16] Diderot, to whom algebra was Hebrew, was embarrassed and +disconcerted; while peals of laughter rose on all sides. He asked +permission to return to France at once, which was granted. + + + +ROTATION OF THE MOON. + + An examination of the Astronomical doctrine of the Moon's rotation. By + J. L.[17] Edinburgh, 1847, 8vo. + +A systematic attack of the character afterwards made with less skill and +more notice by Mr. Jellinger Symons. + +July 1866, J. L. appears as Mr. James Laurie, with a new pamphlet "The +Astronomical doctrines of the Moon's rotation ..." Edinburgh. Of all the +works I have seen on the question, this is the most confident, and the +sorest. {5} A writer on astronomy said of Mr. Jellinger Symons,[18] "Of +course he convinced no one who knew anything of the subject." This +"ungenerous slur" on the speculator's memory appears to have been keenly +felt; but its truth is admitted. Those who knew anything of the subject are +"the so-called men of science," whose three P's were assailed; prestige, +pride, and prejudice: this the author tries to effect for himself with +three Q's; quibble, quirk, and quiddity. He explains that the Scribes and +Pharisees would not hear Jesus, and that the lordly bishop of Rome will not +cast his tiara and keys at the feet of the "humble presbyter" who now plays +the part of pope in Scotland. I do not know whom he means: but perhaps the +friends of the presbyter-pope may consider this an ungenerous slur. The +best proof of the astronomer is just such "as might have been expected from +the merest of blockheads"; but as the giver is of course not a blockhead, +this circumstance shows how deeply blinded by prejudice he must be. + +Of course the paradoxers do not persuade any persons who know their +subjects: and so these Scribes and Pharisees reject the Messiah. We must +suppose that the makers of this comparison are Christians: for if they +thought the Messiah an enthusiast or an impostor, they would be absurd in +comparing those who reject what they take for truth with others who once +rejected what they take for falsehood. And if Christians, they are both +irreverent and blind to all analogy. The Messiah, with His Divine mission +proved by miracles which all might see who chose to look, is degraded into +a prototype of James Laurie, ingeniously astronomizing upon ignorant +geometry and false logic, and comparing to blockheads those who expose his +nonsense. Their comparison is as foolish as--supposing {6} them +Christians--it is profane: but, like errors in general, its other end +points to truth. There were Pseudochrists and Antichrists; and a +Concordance would find the real forerunners of all the paradoxers. But they +are not so clever as the old false prophets: there are none of whom we +should be inclined to say that, if it were possible, they would deceive the +very educated. Not an Egyptian among them all can make uproar enough to +collect four thousand men that are murderers--of common sense--to lead out +into the wilderness. Nothing, says the motto of this work, is so difficult +to destroy as the errors and false facts propagated by illustrious men +whose words have authority. I deny it altogether. There are things much +more difficult to destroy: it is much more difficult to destroy the truths +and real facts supported by such men. And again, it is much more difficult +to prevent men of no authority from setting up false pretensions; and it is +much more difficult to destroy assertions of fancy speculation. Many an +error of thought and learning has fallen before a gradual growth of +thoughtful and learned opposition. But such things as the quadrature of the +circle, etc., are never put down. And why? Because thought can influence +thought, but thought cannot influence self-conceit: learning can annihilate +learning: but learning cannot annihilate ignorance. A sword may cut through +an iron bar; and the severed ends will not reunite: let it go through the +air, and the yielding substance is whole again in a moment. + + + + Miracles _versus_ Nature: being an application of certain propositions + in the theory of chances to the Christian miracles. By + Protimalethes.[19] Cambridge, 1847, 8vo. + +The theory, as may be supposed, is carried further than most students of +the subject would hold defensible. + +{7} + + + + An astronomical Lecture. By the Rev. R. Wilson.[20] Greenock, 1847, + 12mo. + +Against the moon's rotation on her axis. + + + + [Handed about in the streets in 1847: I quote the whole:] Important + discovery in astronomy, communicated to the Astronomer Royal, December + 21st, 1846. That the Sun revolve round the Planets in 25748-2/5 years, + in consequence of the combined attraction of the planets and their + satellites, and that the Earth revolve round the Moon in 18 years and + 228 days. D. T. GLAZIER [altered with a pen into GLAZION.] Price one + penny. + +1847. In the _United Service Magazine_ for September, 1847, Mrs. +Borron,[21] of Shrewsbury, published some remarks tending to impeach the +fact that Neptune, the planet found by Galle,[22] really was the planet +which Le Verrier and Adams[23] had a right to claim. This was followed +(September 14) by two pages, separately circulated, of "Further +Observations upon the Planets Neptune and Uranus, with a Theory of +Perturbations"; and (October 19, 1848) by three pages of "A Review of M. +Leverrier's Exposition." Several persons, when the remarkable discovery was +made, contended that the planet actually discovered was an intruder; and +the future histories of the discovery must contain some account of this +little afterpiece. Tim Linkinwater's theory that there is no place like +London for coincidences, would have been utterly overthrown in favor of +what they used to call the celestial spaces, if there had been a planet +which by chance was put {8} near the place assigned to Neptune at the time +when the discovery was made. + + + +EARLY IDEAS OF AVIATION. + + Aerial Navigation; containing a description of a proposed flying + machine, on a new principle. By Daedalus Britannicus. London, 1847, 8vo. + +In 1842-43 a Mr. Henson[24] had proposed what he called an aeronaut +steam-engine, and a Bill was brought in to incorporate an "Aerial Transit +Company." The present plan is altogether different, the moving power being +the explosion of mixed hydrogen and air. Nothing came of it--not even a +Bill. What the final destiny of the balloon may be no one knows: it may +reasonably be suspected that difficulties will at last be overcome. +Darwin,[25] in his "Botanic Garden" (1781), has the following prophecy: + + "Soon shall thy arm, unconquered Steam! afar + Drag the slow barge, or drive the rapid car; + Or, on wide-waving wings expanded, bear + The flying chariot through the fields of air." + +Darwin's contemporaries, no doubt, smiled pity on the poor man. It is worth +note that the two true prophecies have been fulfilled in a sense different +from that of the predictions. Darwin was thinking of the suggestion of +Jonathan Hulls,[26] when he spoke of dragging the slow barge: it is only +very recently that the steam-tug has been employed on the canals. The car +was to be driven, not drawn, and on the common roads. Perhaps, the flying +chariot will {9} be something of a character which we cannot imagine, even +with the two prophecies and their fulfilments to help us.[27] + + + +THE SECRET OF THE UNIVERSE DIVULGED. + + A book for the public. New Discovery. The causes of the circulation of + the blood; and the true nature of the planetary system. London, 1848, + 8vo. + +Light is the sustainer of motion both in the earth and in the blood. The +natural standard, the pulse of a person in health, four beats to one +respiration, gives the natural second, which is the measure of the earth's +progress in its daily revolution. The Greek fable of the Titans is an +elaborate exposition of the atomic theory: but any attempt to convince +learned classics would only meet their derision; so much does long-fostered +prejudice stand in the way of truth. The author complains bitterly that men +of science will not attend to him and others like him: he observes, that +"in the time occupied in declining, a man of science might test the +merits." This is, alas! too true; so well do applicants of this kind know +how to stick on. But every rule has its exception: I have heard of one. The +late Lord Spencer[28]--the Lord Althorp of the House of Commons--told me +that a speculator once got access to him at the Home Office, and was +proceeding to unfold his way of serving the public. "I do not understand +these things," said Lord Althorp, "but I happen to have ---- (naming an +eminent engineer) upstairs; suppose you talk to him on the subject." The +discoverer went up, and in half-an-hour returned, and said, "I am very much +obliged to your Lordship for introducing me to Mr. ----; he has convinced +me {10} that I am quite wrong." I supposed, when I heard the story--but it +would not have been seemly to say it--that Lord A. exhaled candor and +sense, which infected those who came within reach: he would have done so, +if anybody. + + + +THE TRISECTION AND QUADRATURE AGAIN. + + A method to trisect a series of angles having relation to each other; + also another to trisect any given angle. By James Sabben. 1848 (two + quarto pages). + +"The consequence of years of intense thought": very likely, and very sad. + +1848. The following was sent to me in manuscript. I give the whole of it: + +"_Quadrature of the Circle_.--A quadrant is a curvilinear angle traversing +round and at an equal distance from a given point, called a center, no two +points in the curve being at the same angle, but irreptitiously graduating +from 90 to 60. It is therefore a mean angle of 90 and 60, which is 75, +because it is more than 60, and less than 90, approximately from 60 to 90, +and from 90 to 60, with equal generation in each irreptitious +approximation, therefore meeting in 75, and which is the mean angle of the +quadrant. + +"Or suppose a line drawn from a given point at 90, and from the same point +at 60. Let each of these lines revolve on this point toward each other at +an equal ratio. They will become one line at 75, and bisect the curve, +which is one-sixth of the entire circle. The result, taking 16 as a +diameter, gives an area of 201.072400, and a circumference of 50.2681. + +"The original conception, its natural harmony, and the result, to my own +mind is a demonstrative truth, which I presume it right to make known, +though perhaps at the hazard of unpleasant if not uncourteous remarks." + +I have added punctuation: the handwriting and spelling {11} are those of an +educated person; the word _irreptitious_ is indubitable. The whole is a +natural curiosity. + + + + The quadrature and exact area of the circle demonstrated. By Wm. + Peters. 8vo. _n. d._ (circa 1848).[29] + + Suggestions as to the necessity for a revolution in philosophy; and + prospectus for the establishment of a new quarterly, to be called the + _Physical Philosopher and Heterodox Review_. By Q. E. D. 8vo. 1848. + +These works are by one author, who also published, as appears by +advertisement, + +"Newton rescued from the precipitancy of his followers through a century +and a half,"[30] and "Dangers along a coast by correcting (as it is called) +a ship's reckoning by bearings of the land at night fall, or in a fog, +nearly out of print. Subscriptions are requested for a new edition." + +The area of a circle is made four-fifths of the circumscribed square: +proved on an assumption which it is purposed to explain in a longer +essay.[31] The author, as Q. E. D., was in controversy with the _Athenaeum_ +journal, and criticised a correspondent, D., who wrote against a certain +class of discoverers. He believed the common theories of hydrostatics to be +wrong, and one of his questions was: + +"Have you ever taken into account anent gravity and gravitation the fact +that a five grain cube of cork will of itself half sink in the water, +whilst it will take 20 grains of brass, which will sink of itself, to pull +under the other half? Fit this if you can, friend D., to your notions of +gravity and specific gravity, as applied to the construction of a universal +law of gravitation." + +This the _Athenaeum_ published--but without some Italics, for which the +editor was sharply reproved, as a sufficient {12} specimen of the _quod +erat_ D. _monstrandum_: on which the author remarks--"D,--Wherefore the e +caret? is it D apostrophe? D', D'M, D'Mo, D'Monstrandum; we cannot find the +_wit_ of it." This I conjecture to contain an illusion to the name of the +supposed author; but whether De Mocritus, De Mosthenes, or De Moivre was +intended, I am not willing to decide. + + + + The Scriptural Calendar and Chronological Reformer, for the statute + year 1849. Including a review of recent publications on the Sabbath + question. London, 1849, 12mo.[32] + +This is the almanac of a sect of Christians who keep the Jewish Sabbath, +having a chapel at Mill Yard, Goodman's Fields. They wrote controversial +works, and perhaps do so still; but I never chanced to see one. + + + + Geometry _versus_ Algebra; or the trisection of an angle geometrically + solved. By W. Upton, B.A.[33] Bath (circa 1849). 8vo. + +The author published two tracts under this title, containing different +alleged proofs: but neither gives any notice of the change. Both contain +the same preface, complaining of the British Association for refusing to +examine the production. I suppose that the author, finding his first proof +wrong, invented the second, of which the Association never had the offer; +and, feeling sure that they would have equally refused to examine the +second, thought it justifiable to {13} present that second as the one which +they had refused. Mr. Upton has discovered that the common way of finding +the circumference is wrong, would set it right if he had leisure, and, in +the mean time, has solved the problem of the duplication of the cube. + +_The trisector of an angle, if he demand attention from any mathematician, +is bound to produce, from his construction, an expression for the sine or +cosine of the third part of any angle, in terms of the sine or cosine of +the angle itself, obtained by help of no higher than the square root._ The +mathematician knows that such a thing cannot be; but the trisector +virtually says it can be, and is bound to produce it, to save time. This is +the misfortune of most of the solvers of the celebrated problems, that they +have not knowledge enough to present those consequences of their results by +which they can be easily judged. Sometimes they have the knowledge and +quibble out of the use of it. In many cases a person makes an honest +beginning and presents what he is sure is a solution. By conference with +others he at last feels uneasy, fears the light, and puts self-love in the +way of it. Dishonesty sometimes follows. The speculators are, as a class, +very apt to imagine that the mathematicians are in fraudulent confederacy +against them: I ought rather to say that each one of them consents to the +mode in which the rest are treated, and fancies conspiracy against himself. +The mania of conspiracy is a very curious subject. I do not mean these +remarks to apply to the author before me. + +One of Mr. Upton's trisections, if true, would prove the truth of the +following equation: + + 3 cos ([theta] / 3) = 1 + [root](4 - sin^2[theta]) + +which is certainly false.[34] + +{14} + +In 1852 I examined a terrific construction, at the request of the late Dr. +Wallich,[35] who was anxious to persuade a poor countryman of his, that +trisection of the angle was waste of time. One of the principles was, that +"magnitude and direction determine each other." The construction was +equivalent to the assertion that, [theta] being any angle, the cosine of +its third part is + + sin 3[theta] . cos(5[theta]/2) + sin^2 [theta] sin (5[theta]/2) + +divided by the square root of + + sin^2 3[theta] . cos^2 (5[theta]/2) + sin^4 [theta] + sin 3[theta] . sin + 5[theta] . sin^2 [theta]. + +This is from my rough notes, and I believe it is correct.[36] It is so +nearly true, unless the angle be very obtuse, that common drawing, applied +to the construction, will not detect the error. There are many formulae of +this kind: and I have several times found a speculator who has discovered +the corresponding construction, has seen the approximate success of his +drawing--often as great as absolute truth could give in graphical +practice,--and has then set about his demonstration, in which he always +succeeds to his own content. + +There is a trisection of which I have lost both cutting and reference: I +think it is in the _United Service Journal_. I could not detect any error +in it, though certain there must {15} be one. At least I discovered that +two parts of the diagram were incompatible unless a certain point lay in +line with two others, by which the angle to be trisected--and which was +trisected--was bound to be either 0 deg. or 180 deg.. + +Aug. 22, 1866. Mr. Upton sticks to his subject. He has just published "The +Uptonian Trisection. Respectfully dedicated to the schoolmasters of the +United Kingdom." It seems to be a new attempt. He takes no notice of the +sentence I have put in italics: nor does he mention my notice of him, +unless he means to include me among those by whom he has been "ridiculed +and sneered at" or "branded as a brainless heretic." I did neither one nor +the other: I thought Mr. Upton a paradoxer to whom it was likely to be +worth while to propound the definite assertion now in italics; and Mr. +Upton does not find it convenient to take issue on the point. He prefers +general assertions about algebra. So long as he cannot meet algebra on the +above question, he may issue as many "respectful challenges" to the +mathematicians as he can find paper to write: he will meet with no +attention. + + + +There is one trisection which is of more importance than that of the angle. +It is easy to get half the paper on which you write for margin; or a +quarter; but very troublesome to get a third. Show us how, easily and +certainly, to fold the paper into three, and you will be a real benefactor +to society. + +Early in the century there was a Turkish trisector of the angle, Hussein +Effendi, who published two methods. He was the father of Ameen Bey, who was +well known in England thirty years ago as a most amiable and cultivated +gentleman and an excellent mathematician. He was then a student at +Cambridge; and he died, years ago, in command of the army in Syria. Hussein +Effendi was instructed in mathematics by Ingliz Selim Effendi, who +translated a work {16} of Bonnycastle[37] into Turkish.[38] This Englishman +was Richard Baily, brother of Francis Baily[39] the astronomer, who +emigrated to Turkey in his youth, and adopted the manners of the Turks, but +whether their religion also I never heard, though I should suppose he did. + +I now give the letters from the agricultural laborer and his friend, +described on page 12, Vol. I. They are curiosities; and the history of the +quadrature can never be well written without some specimens of this kind: + +"Doctor Morgan, Sir. Permit me to address you + +"Brute Creation may perhaps enjoy the faculty of beholding visible things +with a more penitrating eye than ourselves. But Spiritual objects are as +far out of their reach as though they had no being + +"Nearest therefore to the brute Creation are those men who Suppose +themselves to be so far governed by external objects as to believe nothing +but what they See and feel And Can accomedate to their Shallow +understanding and Imaginations + +"My Dear Sir Let us all Consult ourselves by the wise proverb. + +"I believe that evry man^s merit & ability aught to be appreciated and +valued In proportion to its worth & utility + +"In whatever State or Circumstances they may fortunately or unfortunately +be placed + +"And happy it is for evry man to know his worth and place + +"When a Gentleman of your Standing in Society Clad with those honors Can +not understand or Solve a problem That is explicitly explained by words and +Letters and {17} mathematically operated by figuers He had best consult the +wise proverd + +"Do that which thou Canst understand and Comprehend for thy good. + +"I would recommend that Such Gentleman Change his business + +"And appropriate his time and attention to a Sunday School to Learn what he +Could and keep the Litle Children form durting their Close + +"With Sincere feelings of Gratitude for your weakness and Inability I am + + "Sir your Superior in Mathematics ----" + +"1849 June th29." + + + +"Dor Morgin Sir + +"I wrote and Sent my work to Professor ---- of ---- State of ---- United +States + +"I am now in the possession of the facts that he highly approves of my +work. And Says he will Insure me Reward in the States + +"I write this that you may understand that I have knowledge of the unfair +way that I am treated In my own nati County + +"I am told and have reasons to believe that it is the Clergy that treat me +so unjust. + +"I am not Desirous of heaping Disonors upon my own nation. But if I have to +Leave this kingdom without my Just dues. The world Shall know how I am and +have been treated. + + "I am Sir Desirous of my + "Just dues ----" + +"1849 July 3." + + + +"July 7th, 1849. + +"Sir, I have been given to understand that a friend of mine one whom I +shall never be ashamed to acknowledge as {18} such tho' lowly his origine; +nay not only not ashamed but proud of doing so for I am one of those who +esteem and respect a man according to his ability and probity, deeming with +Dr. Watts 'that the mind is the standard of the man,'[40] has laid before +you and asked your opinion of his extraordinary performance, viz. the +quadrature of the circle, he did this with the firmest belief that you +would not only treat the matter in a straightforward manner but with the +conviction that from your known or supposed knowledge of mathematicks would +have given an upright and honorable decision upon the subject; but the +question is have you done so? Could I say yes I would with the greatest of +pleasure and have congratulated you upon your decision whatever it might +have been but I am sorry to say that I cannot your letter is a paltry +evasion, you say 'that it is a great pity that you (Mr. ----) should have +attempted this (the quadrature of the circle) for your mathematical +knowledge is not sufficient to make you know in what the problem consists,' +you don't say in what it does consist _according to your ideas_, oh! no +nothing of the sort, you enter into no disquisition upon the subject in +order to show where you think Mr. ---- is wrong and why you have not is +simply--_because you cannot_--you know that he has done it and what is if I +am not wrongly informed _you have been heard to say so_. He has done what +you nor any other mathematician as those who call themselves such have +done. And what is the reason that you will not candidly acknowledge to him +as you have to others that he has squared the circle shall I tell you? it +is because he has performed the feat to obtain the glory of which +mathematicians have battled from time immemorial that they might encircle +their brows with a wreath of laurels far more glorious than ever conqueror +won it is simply this that it is a poor man a {19} humble artisan who has +gained that victory that you don't like to acknowledge it you don't like to +be beaten and worse to acknowledge that you have miscalculated, you have in +short too small a soul to acknowledge that he is right. + +"I was asked my opinion and _I_ gave it unhesitatingly in the affirmative +and I am backed in my opinion not only by Mr. ---- a mathematician and +watchmaker residing in the boro of Southwark but by no less an authority +than the Professor of mathematics of ---- College ---- ---- United States +Mr. ---- and I presume that he at least is your equal as an authority and +Mr. ---- says that the government of the U.S. will recompense M. D. for the +discovery he has made if so what a reflection upon Old england the boasted +land of freedom the nursery of arts and sciences that her sons are obliged +to go to a foreign country to obtain that recompense to which they are +justly entitled + +"In conclusion I had to contradict an assertion you made to the effect that +'there is not nor ever was any reward offered by the government of this +country for the discovery of the quadrature of the circle.' I beg to inform +you that there _was_ but that it having been deemed an impossibility the +government has withdrawn it. I do this upon no less an authority than the +Marquis of Northampton.[41] + + "I am, sir, yours ----" + +"Dr. Morgan." + + + +THE MOON'S ROTATION. + + Notes on the Kinematic Effects of Revolution and Rotation, with + reference to the Motions of the Moon and of the earth. By Henry + Perigal, Jun. Esq. London, 1846-1849, 8vo. + + On the misuse of technical terms. Ambiguity of the terms _Rotation_ and + _Revolution_, owing to the double meaning improperly {20} attributed to + each of the words. (No date nor place, but by Mr. Perigal,[42] I have + no doubt, and containing letters of 1849 and 1850.) + + The moon controversy. Facts _v._ Definitions. By H. P., Jun. London, + 1856, 8vo. (pp. 4.) + +Mr. Henry Perigal helped me twenty years ago with the diagrams, direct from +the lathe to the wood, for the article "Trochoidal Curves," in the _Penny +Cyclopaedia_: these cuts add very greatly to the value of the article, +which, indeed, could not have been made intelligible without them. He has +had many years' experience, as an amateur turner, in combination of double +and triple circular motions, and has published valuable diagrams in +profusion. A person to whom the double circular motion is familiar in the +lathe naturally looks upon one circle moving upon another as in _simple_ +motion, if the second circle be fixed to the revolving radius, so that one +and the same point of the moving circle travels upon the fixed circle. Mr. +Perigal commenced his attack upon the moon for moving about her axis, in +the first of the tracts above, ten years before Mr. Jellinger Symons;[43] +but he did not think it necessary to make it a subject for the _Times_ +newspaper. His familiarity with combined motions enabled him to handle his +arguments much better than Mr. J. Symons could do: in fact, he is the +clearest assailant of the lot which turned out with Mr. J. Symons. But he +is as wrong as the rest. The assault is now, I suppose, abandoned, until it +becomes epidemic again. This it will do: it is one of those fallacies which +are very tempting. There was a dispute on the subject in 1748, between +James Ferguson[44] and an anonymous opponent; and I think there have been +others. + +{21} + +A poet appears in the field (July 19, 1863) who calls himself Cyclops, and +writes four octavo pages. He makes a distinction between _rotation_ and +_revolution_; and his doctrines and phrases are so like those of Mr. +Perigal that he is a follower at least. One of his arguments has so often +been used that it is worth while to cite it: + + "Would Mathematicals--forsooth-- + If true, have failed to prove its truth? + Would not they--if they could--submit + Some overwhelming proofs of it? + But still it totters _proofless_! Hence + There's strong presumptive evidence + None do--or can--such proof profound + Because _the dogma is unsound_. + For, were there means of doing so, + They would have proved it long ago." + +This is only one of the alternatives. Proof requires a person who can give +and a person who can receive. I feel inspired to add the following: + + "A blind man said, As to the Sun, + I'll take my Bible oath there's none; + For if there had been one to show + They would have shown it long ago. + How came he such a goose to be? + Did he not know he couldn't see? + Not he!" + +The absurdity of the verses is in the argument. The writer was not so +ignorant or so dishonest as to affirm that nothing had been offered by the +other side as proof; accordingly, his syllogism amounts to this: If your +proposition were true, you could have given proof satisfactory to _me_; but +this you have not done, therefore, your proposition is not true. + +The echoes of the moon-controversy reached Benares in 1857, in which year +was there published a pamphlet "Does the Moon Rotate?" in Sanskrit and +English. The {22} arguments are much the same as those of the discussion at +home. + + + +ON THE NAMES OF RELIGIOUS BODIES. + +We see that there are paradoxers in argument as well as in assertion of +fact: my plan does not bring me much into contact with these; but another +instance may be useful. Sects, whether religious or political, give +themselves names which, in meaning, are claimed also by their opponents; +loyal, liberal, conservative (of good), etc. have been severally +appropriated by parties. _Whig_ and _Tory_ are unobjectionable names: the +first--which occurs in English ballad as well as in Scotland--is sour +milk;[45] the second is a robber. In theology, the Greek Church is +_Orthodox_, the Roman is _Catholic_, the modern Puritan is _Evangelical_, +etc. + +The word _Christian_ (Vol. I, p. 248[46]) is an instance. When words begin, +they carry their meanings. The Jews, who had their Messiah to come, and the +followers of Jesus of Nazareth, who took _Him_ for their Messiah, were both +_Christians_ (which means _Messianites_): the Jews would never have +invented the term to signify _Jesuans_, nor would the disciples have +invented such an ambiguous term for themselves; had they done so, the Jews +would have disputed it, as they would have done in later times if they had +had fair play. The Jews of our day, I see by their newspapers, speak of +Jesus Christ as the _Rabbi Joshua_. But the {23} heathens, who knew little +or nothing about the Jewish hope, would naturally apply the term +_Christians_ to the only followers of a _Messiah_ of whom they had heard. +For the _Jesuans_ invaded them in a missionary way; while the Jews did not +attempt, at least openly, to make proselytes. + +All such words as Catholic, etc., are well enough as mere nomenclature; and +the world falls for the most part, into any names which parties choose to +give themselves. Silly people found inferences on this concession; and, as +usually happens, they can cite some of their betters. St. Augustine,[47] a +freakish arguer, or, to put it in the way of an old writer, _lectorem ne +multiloquii taedio fastidiat, Punicis quibusdam argutiis recreare +solet_,[48] asks, with triumph, to what chapel a stranger would be +directed, if he inquired the way to the _Catholic assembly_. But the best +exhibition of this kind in our own century is that made by the excellent +Dr. John Milner,[49] in a work (first published in 1801 or 1802) which I +suppose still circulates, "The End of Religious Controversy": a startling +title which, so far as its truth is concerned, might as well have been "The +floor of the bottomless pit." This writer, whom every one of his readers +will swear to have been a worthy soul, though many, even of his own sect, +will not admire some of his logic, speaks as follows: + +"Letter xxv. _On the true Church being Catholic._ In treating of this third +mark of the true Church, as expressed in our common creed, I feel my +spirits sink within me, and I am almost tempted to throw away my pen in +despair. For what chance is there of opening the eyes of candid Protestants +to the other marks of the Church, if they are capable of keeping them shut +to this? Every time they address the {24} God of Truth, either in solemn +worship or in private devotion [stretch of rhetoric], they are forced, each +of them, to repeat: _I believe in_ THE CATHOLIC _Church_, and yet if I ask +any of them the question: _Are you a_ CATHOLIC? he is sure to answer me, +_No, I am a_ PROTESTANT! Was there ever a more glaring instance of +inconsistency and self-condemnation among rational beings!" + + "John Milner, honest and true, + Did what honest people still may do, + If they write for the many and not for the few, + But what by and bye they must eschew." + +He _shortened his clause_; and for a reason. If he had used the whole +epithet which he knew so well, any one might have given his argument a +half-turn. Had he written, as he ought, "the _Holy_ Catholic Church" and +then argued as above, some sly Protestant would have parodied him with "and +yet if I ask any of them the question: _Are you_ HOLY? he is sure to answer +me _No, I am a_ SINNER." To take the adjective from the Church, and apply +it to the individual partisan, is recognized slipslop, but not ground of +argument. If Dr. M. had asked his Protestant whether he belonged to the +Catholic _Church_, the answer would have been Yes, but not to the Roman +branch. When he put his question as he did, he was rightly answered and in +his own division. This leaving out words is a common practice, especially +when the omitter is in authority, and cannot be exposed. A year or two ago +a bishop wrote a snubbing letter to a poor parson, who had complained that +he was obliged, in burial, to send the worst of sinners to everlasting +happiness. The bishop sternly said, "_hope_[50] is not _assurance_." {25} +Could the clergyman have dared to answer, he would have said, "No, my Lord! +but '_sure and certain_ hope' is as like assurance as a _minikin_ man is +like a dwarf." Sad to say, a theologian must be illogical: I feel sure that +if you took the clearest headed writer on logic that ever lived, and made a +bishop of him, he would be shamed by his own books in a twelvemonth. + +Milner's sophism is glaring: but why should Dr. Milner be wiser than St. +Augustine, one of his teachers? I am tempted to let out the true derivation +of the word _Catholic, as exclusively applied to the Church of Rome_. All +can find it who have access to the _Rituale_ of Bonaventura Piscator[51] +(lib. i. c. 12, _de nomine Sacrae Ecclesiae_, p. 87 of the Venice {26} folio +of 1537). I am told that there is a _Rituale_ in the Index Expurgatorius, +but I have not thought it worth while to examine whether this be the one: I +am rather inclined to think, as I have heard elsewhere, that the book was +held too dangerous for the faithful to know of it, even by a prohibition: +it would not surprise me at all if Roman Christians should deny its +existence.[52] + +It amuses me to give, at a great distance of time, a small Rowland for a +small Oliver,[53] which I received, _de par l'Eglise_,[54] so far as lay in +the Oliver-carrier more than twenty years ago. The following contribution +of mine to _Notes and Queries_ (3d Ser. vi. p. 175, Aug. 27, 1864) will +explain what I say. There had been a complaint that a contributor had used +the term _Papist_, which a very excellent dignitary of the Papal system +pronounced an offensive term: + + + +PAPIST. + +The term _papist_ should be stripped of all except its etymological +meaning, and applied to those who give the higher and final authority to +the declaration _ex cathedra_[55] of the Pope. See Dr. Wiseman's[56] +article, _Catholic Church_, in the _Penny Cyclopaedia_. + +What is one to do about these names? First, it is clear that offence +should, when possible, be avoided: secondly, no one must be required to +give a name which favors _any_ assumption made by those to whom it is +given, and not {27} granted by those who give it. Thus the subdivision +which calls itself distinctly _Evangelical_ has no right to expect others +to concede the title. Now the word _Catholic_, of course, falls under this +rule; and even _Roman Catholic_ may be refused to those who would restrict +the word _Catholic_ to themselves. _Roman Christian_ is unobjectionable, +since the Roman Church does not deny the name of Christian to those whom +she calls heretics. No one is bound in this matter by Acts of Parliament. +In many cases, no doubt, names which have offensive association are used +merely by habit, sometimes by hereditary transmission. Boswell records of +Johnson that he always used the words "dissenting teacher," refusing +_minister_ and _clergyman_ to all but the recipients of episcopal +ordination. + +This distinctive phrase has been widely adopted: it occurs in the Index of +3d S. iv. [_Notes and Queries_]. Here we find "Platts (Rev. John), +Unitarian teacher, 412;" the article indexed has "Unitarian minister." + +This, of course is habit: an intentional refusal of the word _minister_ +would never occur in an index. I remember that, when I first read about Sam +Johnson's little bit of exclusiveness, I said to myself: "Teacher? Teacher? +surely I remember One who is often called _teacher_, but never _minister_ +or _clergyman_: have not the dissenters got the best of it?" + +When I said that the Roman Church concedes the epithet Christians to +Protestants, I did not mean that all its adherents do the same. There is, +or was, a Roman newspaper, the _Tablet_, which, seven or eight years ago, +was one of the most virulent of the party journals. In it I read, referring +to some complaint of grievance about mixed marriages, that if _Christians_ +would marry _Protestants_ they must take the consequences. My memory notes +this well; because I recollected, when I saw it, that there was in the +stable a horse fit to run in the curricle with this one. About seventeen +years ago an Oxford M. A., who hated {28} mathematics like a genuine +Oxonian of the last century, was writing on education, and was compelled to +give some countenance to the nasty subject. He got out cleverly; for he +gave as his reason for the permission, that man is an arithmetical, +geometrical, and mechanical _animal_, as well as a rational _soul_. + +The _Tablet_ was founded by an old pupil of mine, Mr. Frederic Lucas,[57] +who availed himself of his knowledge of me to write some severe +articles--even abusive, I was told, but I never saw them--against me, for +contributing to the _Dublin Review_, and poking my heretic nose into +orthodox places. Dr. Wiseman, the editor, came in for his share, and ought +to have got all. Who ever blamed the pig for intruding himself into the +cabin when the door was left open? When Mr. Lucas was my pupil, he was of +the Society of Friends--in any article but this I should say _Quaker_--and +was quiet and gentlemanly, as members of that Church--in any article but +this I should, from mere habit, say _sect_--usually are. This is due to his +memory; for, by all I heard, when he changed his religion he ceased to be +Lucas couchant, and became Lucas rampant, fanged and langued gules. (I +looked into Guillim[58] to see if my terms were right: I could not find +them; but to prove I have been there, I notice that he calls a violin a +_violent_. How comes the word to take this form?) I met with several Roman +Christians, born and bred, who were very much annoyed at Mr. Lucas and his +doings; and said some severe things about new converts needing +kicking-straps. + +{29} + +The mention of Dr. Wiseman reminds me of another word, appropriated by +Christians to themselves: _fides_;[59] the Roman faith is _fides_, and +nothing else; and the adherents are _fideles_.[60] Hereby hangs a retort. +When Dr. Wiseman was first in England, he gave a course of lectures in +defence of his creed, which were thought very convincing by those who were +already convinced. They determined to give him a medal, and there was a +very serious discussion about the legend. Dr. Wiseman told me himself that +he had answered to his subscribers that he would not have the medal at all +unless--(naming some Italian authority, whom I forget) approved of the +legend. At last _pro fide vindicata_[61] was chosen: this may be read +either in a Popish or heretical sense. The feminine substantive _fides_ +means confidence, trust, (it is made to mean _belief_), but _fidis_, with +the same ablative, _fide_, and also feminine, is a _fiddle-string_.[62] If +a Latin writer had had to make a legend signifying "For the defence of the +fiddle-string," he could not have done it otherwise, in the terseness of a +legend, than by writing _pro fide vindicata_. Accordingly, when a Roman +Christian talks to you of the _faith_, as a thing which is his and not +yours, you may say _fiddle_. I have searched Bonaventura Piscator in vain +for notice of this ambiguity. But the Greeks said fiddle; according to +Suidas,[63] [Greek: skindapsos][64]--a word meaning a four stringed +instrument played with a quill--was an exclamation of contemptuous dissent. +How the wits of different races jump! + +{30} + +I am reminded of a case of _fides vindicata_, which, being in a public +letter, responding to a public invitation, was not meant to be +confidential. Some of the pupils of University College, in which all +subdivisions of religion are (1866; _were_, 1867) on a level, have of +course changed their views in after life, and become adherents of various +high churches. On the occasion of a dinner of old students of the College, +convened by circular, one of these students, whether then Roman or +Tractarian Christian I do not remember, not content with simply giving +negative answer, or none at all, concocted a jorum of theological rebuke, +and sent it to the Dinner Committee. Heyday! said one of them, this man got +out of bed backwards! How is that? said the rest. Why, read his name +backwards, and you will see. As thus read it was--_No grub_![65] + + + +THE WORD CHURCH. + +To return to _Notes and Queries_. The substitution in the (editorial) index +of "Unitarian teacher," for the contributor's "Unitarian minister," struck +me very much. I have seldom found such things unmeaning. But as the journal +had always been free from editorial sectarianisms,--and very apt to check +the contributorial,--I could not be sure in this case. True it was, that +the editor and publisher had been changed more than a year before; but this +was not of much force. Though one swallow does not make a summer, I have +generally found it show that summer is coming. However, thought I to +myself, if this be Little Shibboleth, we shall have Big Shibboleth +by-and-bye. At last it came. About a twelvemonth afterwards, (3d S. vii. p. +36) the following was the _editorial_ answer to the question when the +establishment was first called the "Church of England and Ireland": + +{31} + +"That unmeaning clause, 'The United Church of England and Ireland,' which +occurs on the title-page of _The Book of Common Prayer_, was first used at +the commencement of the present century. The authority for this phrase is +the fifth article of the Union of 1800: 'That the Churches of England and +Ireland be united into one _Protestant_ (!) episcopal Church, to be called +"The United Church of England and Ireland."' Of course, churchmen are not +responsible for the theology of Acts of Parliament, especially those passed +during the dark ages of the Georgian era." + +That is to say, the journal gives its adhesion to the party which--under +the assumed title of _the_ Church of England--claims for the endowed +corporation for the support of religion rights which Parliament cannot +control, and makes it, in fact, a power above the State. The State has +given an inch: it calls this corporation by the name of the "United +_Church_ of England and Ireland," as if neither England nor Ireland had any +other Church. The corporation, accordingly aspires to an ell. But this the +nation will only give with the aspiration prefixed. To illustrate my +allusion in a delicate way to polite ears, I will relate what happened in a +Johnian lecture-room at Cambridge, some fifty years ago, my informant being +present. A youth of undue aspirations was giving a proposition, and at last +said, "Let E F be produced to 'L':" "Not quite so far, Mr. ----," said the +lecturer, quietly, to the great amusement of the class, and the utter +astonishment of the aspirant, who knew no more than a Tractarian the +tendency of his construction. + +This word _Church_ is made to have a very mystical meaning. The following +dialogue between Ecclesiastes and Haereticus, which I cannot vouch for, has +often taken place in spirit, if not in letter: E. The word _Church_ +([Greek: ekklesia])[66] is never used in the New Testament except generally +or locally for that holy and mystical body to which the sacraments and the +ordinances of Christianity are entrusted. {32} H. Indeed! E. It is beyond a +doubt (here he quoted half a dozen texts in support). H. Do you mean that +any doctrine or ordinance which was solemnly practised by the [Greek: +ekklesia] is binding upon you and me? E. Certainly, unless we should be cut +off from the congregation of the faithful. H. Have you a couple of hours to +spare? E. What for? H. If you have, I propose we spend them in crying, +Great is Diana of the Ephesians! E. What do you mean? H. You ought to know +the solemn service of the [Greek: ekklesia] (Acts xix. 32, 41), at Ephesus; +which any one might take to be true Church, by the more part not knowing +wherefore they were come together, and which was dismissed, after one of +the most sensible sermons ever preached, by the Recorder. E. I see your +meaning: it is true, there is that one exception! H. Why, the Recorder's +sermon itself contains another, the [Greek: ennomos ekklesia],[67] +legislative assembly. E. Ah! the New Testament can only be interpreted by +the Church! H. I see! the Church interprets itself into existence out of +the New Testament, and then interprets the New Testament out of existence +into itself! + +I look upon all the Churches as fair game which declare of me that _absque +dubio in aeternum peribo_;[68] not for their presumption towards God, but +for their personal insolence towards myself. I find that their sectaries +stare when I say this. Why! they do not speak of you in _particular_! These +poor reasoners seem to think that there could be no meaning, as against me, +unless it should be propounded that "without doubt he shall perish +everlastingly, especially A. De Morgan." But I hold, with the schoolmen, +that "_Omnis_ homo est animal" in conjunction with "Sortes est homo" +amounts to "_Sortes_ est animal."[69] But they do not mean it _personally_! +Every universal proposition is {33} personal to every instance of the +subject. If this be not conceded, then I retort, in their own sense and +manner, "Whosoever would serve God, before all things he must not pronounce +God's decision upon his neighbor. Which decision, except every one leave to +God himself, without doubt he is a bigoted noodle." + +The reasoning habit of the educated community, in four cases out of five, +permits universal propositions to be stated at one time, and denied, _pro +re nata_,[70] at another. "Before we proceed to consider any question +involving physical principles, we should set out with _clear ideas_ of the +naturally possible and impossible." The eminent man who said this, when +wanting it for his views of mental education (!) never meant it for more +than what was in hand, never assumed it in the researches which will give +him to posterity! I have heard half-a-dozen defences of his having said +this, not one of which affirmed the truth of what was said. A worthy +clergyman wrote that if A. B. had said a certain thing the point in +question would have been established. It was shown to him that A. B. _had_ +said it, to which the reply was a refusal to admit the point because A. B. +said it in a second pamphlet and in answer to objections. And I might give +fifty such instances with very little search. Always assume more than you +want; because you cannot tell how much you may want: put what is over into +the didn't-mean-that basket, or the extreme case what-not. + + + +PROTESTANT AND PAPAL CHRISTENDOM. + +Something near forty years of examination of the theologies on and +off--more years very much on than quite off--have given me a good title--to +myself, I ask no one else for leave--to make the following remarks: A +conclusion has _premises_, facts or doctrines from proof or authority, and +_mode of inference_. There may be invention or {34} falsehood of premise, +with good logic; and there may be tenable premise, followed by bad logic; +and there may be both false premise _and_ bad logic. The Roman system has +such a powerful manufactory of premises, that bad logic is little wanted; +there is comparatively little of it. The doctrine-forge of the Roman Church +is one glorious compound of everything that could make Heraclitus[71] sob +and Democritus[72] snigger. But not the only one. The Protestants, in +tearing away from the Church of Rome, took with them a fair quantity of the +results of the Roman forge, which they could not bring themselves to give +up. They had more in them of Martin than of Jack. But they would have no +premises, except from the New Testament; though some eked out with a few +general Councils. The consequence is that they have been obliged to find +such a logic as would bring the conclusions they require out of the +canonical books. And a queer logic it is; nothing but the Roman forge can +be compared with the Protestant loom. The picking, the patching, the +piecing, which goes to the Protestant _termini ad quem_,[73] would be as +remarkable to the general eye, as the Roman manufacture of _termini a +quo_,[74] if it were not that the world at large seizes the character of an +asserted fact better than that of a mode of inference. A grand step towards +the deification of a lady, made by alleged revelation 1800 years after her +death, is of glaring evidence: two or three additional shiffle-shuffles +towards defence of saying the Athanasian curse in church and unsaying it +out of church, are hardly noticed. Swift has bungled his satire where he +makes Peter a party to finding out what he wants, _totidem syllabis_ and +_totidem literis_, {35} when he cannot find it _totidem verbis_[75] This is +Protestant method: the Roman plan is _viam faciam_; the Protestant plan is +_viam inveniam_.[76] The public at large begins to be conversant with the +ways of _wriggling out_, as shown in the interpretations of the damnatory +parts of the Athanasian Creed, the phrases of the Burial Service, etc. The +time will come when the same public will begin to see the ways of +_wriggling in_. But one thing at a time: neither Papal Rome nor Protestant +Rome was built--nor will be pulled down--in a day. + +The distinction above drawn between the two great antitheses of Christendom +may be illustrated as follows. Two sets of little general dealers lived +opposite to one another: all sold milk. Each vaunted its own produce: one +set said that the stuff on the other side the way was only chalk and water; +the other said that the opposites sold all sorts of filth, of which calves' +brain was the least nasty. Now the fact was that both sets sold milk, and +from the same dairy: but adulterated with different sorts of dirty water: +and both honestly believed that the mixture was what they were meant to +sell and ought to sell. The great difference between them, about which the +apprentices fought each other like Trojans, was that the calves' brain men +poured milk into the water, and the chalk men poured water into the milk. +The Greek and Roman sects on one side, the Protestant sects on the other, +must all have _churches_: the Greek and Roman sects pour the New Testament +into their churches; the Protestant sects pour their churches into the New +Testament. The Greek and Roman insist upon the New Testament being no more +than part and parcel of their churches: the Protestant insist upon their +churches being as much part and parcel of the New Testament. All dwell +vehemently upon the doctrine that there must be milk {36} somewhere; and +each says--I have it. The doctrine is true: and can be verified by any one +who can and will go to the dairy for himself. Him will the several traders +declare to have no milk at all. They will bring their own wares, and +challenge a trial: they want nothing but to name the judges. To vary the +metaphor, those who have looked at Christianity in open day, know that all +who see it through painted windows shut out much of the light of heaven and +color the rest; it matters nothing that the stains are shaped into what are +meant for saints and angels. + +But there is another side to the question. To decompose any substance, it +must be placed between the poles of the battery. Now theology is but one +pole; philosophy is the other. No one can make out the combinations of our +day unless he read the writings both of the priest and the philosopher: and +if any one should hold the first word offensive, I tell him that I mean +_both_ words to be _significant_. In reading these writings, he will need +to bring both wires together to find out what it is all about. Time was +when most priests were very explicit about the fate of philosophers, and +most philosophers were very candid about their opinion of priests. But +though some extremes of the old sorts still remain, there is now, in the +middle, such a fusion of the two pursuits that a plain man is wofully +puzzled. The theologian writes a philosophy which seems to tell us that the +New Testament is a system of psychology; and the philosopher writes a +Christianity which is utterly unintelligible as to the question whether the +Resurrection be a fact or a transcendental allegory. What between the +theologian who assents to the Athanasian denunciation in what seems the +sense of no denunciation, and the philosopher who parades a Christianity +which looks like no revelation, there is a maze which threatens to have the +only possible clue in the theory that everything is something else, and +nothing is anything at all. But this is a paradox far beyond my handling: +it is a Budget of itself. {37} + + + +RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY. + +Religion and Philosophy, the two best gifts of Heaven, set up in opposition +to each other at the revival of letters; and never did competing tradesmen +more grossly misbehave. Bad wishes and bad names flew about like swarms of +wasps. The Athanasian curses were intended against philosophers; who, had +they been a corporation, with state powers to protect them, would have +formulized a _per contra_. But the tradesmen are beginning to combine: they +are civil to each other; too civil by half. I speak especially of Great +Britain. Old theology has run off to ritualism, much lamenting, with no +comfort except the discovery that the cloak Paul left at Troas was a +chasuble. Philosophy, which always had a little sense sewed up in its +garments--to pay for its funeral?--has expended a trifle in accommodating +itself to the new system. But the two are poles of a battery; and a +question arises. + + If Peter Piper picked a peck of pepper, + Where is the peck of pepper Peter Piper picked? + +If Religion and Philosophy be the two poles of a battery, whose is the +battery Religion and Philosophy have been made the poles of? Is the change +in the relation of the wires any presumption of a removal of the managers? +We know pretty well who handled the instrument: has he resigned or been[77] +turned out? Has he been put under {38} restriction? A fool may ask more +questions than twenty sages can answer: but there is hope; for twenty sages +cannot ask more questions than one reviewer can answer. I should like to +see the opposite sides employed upon the question, What are the _commoda_, +and what the _pericula_,[78] of the current approximation of Religion and +Philosophy? + +All this is very profane and irreverent! It has always been so held by +those whose position demands such holding. To describe the Church as it is +passes for assailing the Church as it ought to be with all who cannot do +without it. In Bedlam[79] a poor creature who fancied he was St. Paul, was +told by another patient that he was an impostor; the first maniac lodged a +complaint against the second for calling St. Paul an impostor, which, he +argued, with much appearance of sanity, ought not to be permitted in a well +regulated madhouse. Nothing could persuade him that he had missed the +question, which was whether _he_ was St. Paul. The same thing takes place +in the world _at large_. And especially must be noted the refusal to permit +to the _profane_ the millionth part of the licence assumed by the _sacred_. +I give a sound churchman the epitaph of St. John Long; the usual +pronunciation of whose name must be noted-- + + "Behold! ye quacks, the vengeance strong + On deeds like yours impinging: + For here below lies St. John Long[80] + Who now must be _long singeing_." + +How shameful to pronounce this of the poor man! What, Mr. Orthodox! may I +not do in joke to one pretender what {39} you do in earnest--unless you +quibble--to all the millions of the Greek Church, and a great many others. +Enough of you and your reasoning! Go and square the circle! + +The few years which end with 1867 have shown, not merely the intermediate +fusion of Theology and Philosophy of which I have spoken, but much +concentration of the two extremes, which looks like a gathering of forces +for some very hard fought Armageddon. Extreme theology has been aiming at a +high Church in England, which is to show a new front to all heresy: and +extreme philosophy is contriving a physical organization which is to +_think_, and to show that mind is a consequence of matter, or thought a +recreation of brain. The physical speculators begin with a possible +hypothesis, in which they aim at explanation: and so the bold aspirations +of the author of the _Vestiges_ find standing-ground in the variation of +species by "natural selection." Some relics--so supposed--of extremely +ancient men are brought to help the general cause. Only distant hints are +given that by possibility it may end in the formation of all living +organisms from a very few, if not from one. The better heads above +mentioned know that their theory, if true, does not bear upon morals. The +formation of solar systems from a nebular hypothesis, followed by +organizations gradually emerging from some curious play of particles, nay, +the very evolution of mind and thought from such an apparatus, are all as +consistent with a Personal creative power to whom homage and obedience are +due, and who has declared himself, as with a blind Nature of Things. A pure +materialist, as to all things visible, may be even a bigotted Christian: +this is not frequent, but it is possible. There is a proverb which says, A +pig may fly, but it isn't a likely bird. But when the psychological +speculator comes in, he often undertakes to draw inferences from the +physical conclusions, by joining on his tremendous apparatus of _a priori_ +knowledge. He deduces that he can _do without_ a God: he can deduce all +things {40} without any such necessity. With Occam[81] and Newton he will +have no more causes than are necessary to explain phenomena _to him_: and +if by pure head-work combined with results of physical observation he can +construct his universe, he must be a very _unphilosophical_ man who would +encumber himself with a useless Creator! There is something tangible about +my method, says he; yours is vague. He requires it to be granted that his +system is _positive_ and that yours is _impositive_. So reasoned the stage +coachman when the railroads began to depose him--"If you're upset in a +stage-coach, why, there you are! but if you're upset on the railroad, where +are you?" The answer lies in another question, Which is most positive +knowledge, God deduced from man and his history, or the postulates of the +few who think they can reason _a priori_ on the tacit assumption of +unlimited command of data? + +We are not yet come to the existence of a school of philosophers who +explicitly deny a Creator: but we are on the way, though common sense may +interpose. There are always straws which show the direction of the wind. I +have before me the printed letter of a medical man--to whose professional +ability I have good testimony--who finds the vital principle in highly +rarefied oxygen. With the usual logic of such thinkers, he dismisses the +"eternal personal identity" because "If soul, spirit, mind, which are +merely modes of sensation, be the attribute or function of nerve-tissue, it +cannot possibly have any existence apart from its material organism!" How +does he know this _impossibility_? If all the mind _we_ know be from +nerve-tissue, how does it appear that mind in other planets may not be +another thing? Nay, when we come to _possibilities_, does not his own +system give a queer one? If highly rarefied oxygen be vital power, more +highly rarefied oxygen {41} may be more vital and more powerful. Where is +this to stop? Is it _impossible_ that a finite quantity, rarefied _ad +infinitum_, may be an Omnipotent? Perhaps the true Genesis, when written, +will open with "In the beginning was an imperial quart of oxygen at 60 +deg. of Fahrenheit, and the pressure of the atmosphere; and this oxygen +was infinitely rarefied; and this oxygen became God." For myself, my +aspirations as to this system are Manichaean. The quart of oxygen is the +Ormuzd, or good principle: another quart, of hydrogen, is the Ahriman, or +evil principle! My author says that his system explains Freewill and +Immortality so obviously that it is difficult to read previous speculations +with becoming gravity. My deduction explains the conflict of good and evil +with such clearness that no one can henceforward read the New Testament +with becoming reverence. The surgeon whom I have described is an early bud +which will probably be nipped by the frost and wither on the ground: but +there is a good crop coming. Material pneuma is destined to high functions; +and man is to read by gas-light. + + + +THE SUN AN ELECTRIC SPACE. + + The solar system truly solved; demonstrating by the perfect harmony of + the planets, founded on the four universal laws, the Sun to be an + electric space; and a source of every natural production displayed + throughout the solar system. By James Hopkins.[82] London, 1849, 8vo. + +The author says: + +"I am satisfied that I have given the true _laws_ constituting the _Sun_ to +be _space_; and I call upon those disposed to maintain the contrary, to +give true _laws_ showing him to be a body: until such can be satisfactorily +established, I have an undoubted claim to the credit of my theory,--That +the Sun is an _Electric Space_, fed and governed by the {42} planets, which +have the property of attracting heat from it; and the means of supplying +the necessary _pabulum_ by their degenerated air driven off towards the +central space--the wonderful alembic in which it becomes transmuted to the +revivifying necessities of continuous action; and the central space or Sun +being perfectly electric, has the counter property of repulsing the bodies +that attract it. How wonderful a conception! How beautiful, how magnificent +an arrangement! + +"O Centre! O Space! O Electric Space!" + + + +JOSEPH ADY. + +1849. _Joseph Ady_[83] is entitled to a place in this list of discoverers: +his great fault, like that of some others, lay in pushing his method too +far. He began by detecting unclaimed dividends, and disclosing them to +their right owners, exacting his fee before he made his communication. He +then generalized into trying to get fees from all of the _name_ belonging +to a dividend; and he gave mysterious hints of danger impending. For +instance, he would write to a clergyman that a legal penalty was hanging +over him; and when the alarmed divine forwarded the sum required for +disclosure, he was favored with an extract from some old statute or canon, +never repealed, forbidding a clergyman to be a member of a corporation, and +was reminded that he had insured his life in the ---- Office, which had a +royal charter. He was facetious, was Joseph: he described himself in his +circulars as "personally known to Sir Peter Laurie[84] and all other +aldermen"; which was nearly true, {43} as he had been before most of them +on charges of false pretence; but I believe he was nearly always within the +law. Sir James Duke, when Lord Mayor, having particularly displeased him by +a decision, his circulars of 1849 contain the following: + +"Should you have cause to complain of any party, Sir J. Duke has contrived +a new law of evidence, viz., write to him, he will consider your letter +sufficient proof, and make the parties complained of pay without judge or +jury, and will frank you from every expense." + +I strongly suspect that Joseph Ady believed in himself. + +He sometimes issued a second warning, of a Sibylline character: + +"Should you find cause to complain of anybody, my voluntary referee, the +Rt. Hon. Sir Peter Laurie, Kt., perpetual Deputy Lord Mayor, will see +justice done you without any charge whatever: he and his toady, -- ---- +----. The accursed of Moses can hang any man: thus, by catching him alone +and swearing Naboth spake evil against God and the King. Therefore (!) I +admit no strangers to a personal conference without a prepayment of 20s. +each. Had you attended to my former notice you would have received twice as +much: neglect this and you will lose all." + + + +ON MODERN ASTROLOGY. + + Zadkiel's Almanac for 1849. Nineteenth number. + + Raphael's Prophetic Almanac for 1849. Twenty-ninth number. + + Reasons for belief in judicial astrology, and remarks on the dangerous + character of popish priestcraft. London, 1849, 12mo. + + Astronomy in a nutshell: or the leading problems of the solar system + solved by simple proportion only, on the theory of magnetic attraction. + By Lieut. Morrison,[85] N. N. London (_s. a._) 12mo. + +{44} + +Lieut. Morrison is Zadkiel Tao Sze, and declares himself in real earnest an +astrologer. There are a great many books on astrology, but I have not felt +interest enough to preserve many of them which have come in my way. If +anything ever had a fair trial, it was astrology. The idea itself is +natural enough. A human being, set down on this earth, without any +tradition, would probably suspect that the heavenly bodies had something to +do with the guidance of affairs. I think that any one who tries will +ascertain that the planets do not prophesy: but if he should find to the +contrary, he will of course go on asking. A great many persons class +together belief in astrology and belief in apparitions: the two things +differ in precisely the way in which a science of observation differs from +a science of experiment. Many make the mistake which M. le Marquis made +when he came too late, and hoped M. Cassini[86] would do the eclipse over +again for his ladies. The apparition chooses its own time, and comes as +seldom or as often as it pleases, be it departed spirit, nervous +derangement, or imposition. Consequently it can only be observed, and not +experimented upon. But the heavens, if astrology be true, are prophesying +away day and night all the year round, and about every body. Experiments +can be made, then, except only on rare phenomena, such as eclipses: anybody +may choose his time and his question. This is the great difference: and +experiments were made, century after century. If astrology had been true, +it must have lasted in an ever-improving state. If it be true, it is a +truth, and a useful truth, which had experience and prejudice both in its +favor, and yet lost ground as soon as astronomy, its working tool, began to +improve. + + + +1850. A letter in the handwriting of an educated man, dated from a street +in which it must be taken that educated persons live, is addressed to the +Secretary of the {45} Astronomical Society about a matter on which the +writer says "his professional pursuit will enable him to give a +satisfactory reply." In a question before a court of law it is sworn on one +side that the moon was shining at a certain hour of a certain night on a +certain spot in London; on the other side it is affirmed that she was +clouded. The Secretary is requested to decide. This is curious, as the +question is not astrological. Persons still send to Greenwich, now and +then, to have their fortunes told. In one case, not very many years ago, a +young gentleman begged to know who his wife was to be, and what fee he was +to remit. + +Sometimes the astronomer turns conjurer for fun, and his prophesies are +fulfilled. It is related of Flamsteed[87] that an old woman came to know +the whereabouts of a bundle of linen which had strayed. Flamsteed drew a +circle, put a square into it, and gravely pointed out a ditch, near her +cottage, in which he said it would be found. He meant to have given the +woman a little good advice when she came back: but she came back in great +delight, with the bundle in her hand, found in the very place. The late +Baron Zach[88] received a letter from Pons,[89] a successful finder of +comets, complaining that for a certain period he had found no comets, +though he had searched diligently. Zach, a man of much sly humor, told him +that no spots had been seen on the sun for about the same time--which was +true,--and assured him that when the spots came back, the comets would come +with them. Some time after he got a letter {46} from Pons, who informed him +with great satisfaction that he was quite right, that very large spots had +appeared on the sun, and that he had found a fine comet shortly after. I do +not vouch for the first story, but I have the second in Zach's handwriting. +It would mend the joke exceedingly if some day a real relation should be +established between comets and solar spots: of late years good reason has +been shown for advancing a connection between these spots and the earth's +magnetism.[90] If the two things had been put to Zach, he would probably +have chosen the comets. Here is a hint for a paradox: the solar spots are +the dead comets, which have parted with their light and heat to feed the +sun, as was once suggested. I should not wonder if I were too late, and the +thing had been actually maintained. My list does not contain the twentieth +part of the possible whole. + +The mention of coincidences suggests an everlasting source of explanations, +applicable to all that is extraordinary. The great paradox of coincidence +is that of Leibnitz, known as the _pre-established harmony_, or _law of +coincidences_, by which, separately and independently, the body receives +impressions, and the mind proceeds as if it had perceived them from +without. Every sensation, and the consequent state of the soul, are +independent things coincident in time by the pre-established law. The +philosopher could not otherwise _account for_ the connection of mind and +matter; and he never goes by so vulgar a rule as _Whatever is, is_; to him +that which is not clear as to how, is not at all. Philosophers in general, +who tolerate each other's theories much better than Christians do each +other's failings, seldom revive Leibnitz's fantasy: they seem to act upon +the maxim quoted by Father Eustace[91] from the {47} Decretals, _Facinora +ostendi dum puniuntur, flagitia autem abscondi debent_.[92] + +The great _ghost-paradox_, and its theory of _coincidences_, will rise to +the surface in the mind of every one. But the use of the word _coincidence_ +is here at variance with its common meaning. When A is constantly +happening, and also B, the occurrence of A and B at the same moment is the +mere coincidence which may be casualty. But the case before us is that A is +constantly happening, while B, when it does happen, almost always happens +with A, and very rarely without it. That is to say, such is the phenomenon +asserted: and all who rationally refer it to casualty, affirm that B is +happening very often as well as A, but that it is not thought worthy of +being recorded except when A is simultaneous. Of course A is here a death, +and B the spectral appearance of the person who dies. In talking of this +subject it is necessary to put out of the question all who play fast and +loose with their secret convictions: these had better give us a reason, +when they feel internal pressure for explanation, that there is no +weathercock at Kilve; this would do for all cases. But persons of real +inquiry will see that first, experience does not bear out the asserted +frequency of the spectre, without the alleged coincidence of death: and +secondly, that if the crowd of purely casual spectres were so great that it +is no wonder that, now and then the person should have died at or near the +moment, we ought to expect a much larger proportion of cases in which the +spectre should come at the moment of the death of one or another of all the +cluster who are closely connected with the original of the spectre. But +this, we know, is almost without example. It remains then, for all, who +speculate at all, to look upon the asserted phenomenon, think what they may +of it, the thing which is to be explained, as a _connection_ in time of the +death, and the {48} simultaneous appearance of the dead. Any person the +least used to the theory of probabilities will see that purely casual +coincidence, the _wrong spectre_ being comparatively so rare that it may be +said never to occur, is not within the rational field of possibility. + +The purely casual coincidence, from which there is no escape except the +actual doctrine of special providences, carried down to a very low point of +special intention, requires a junction of the things the like of each of +which is always happening. I will give three instances which have occurred +to myself within the last few years: I solemnly vouch for the literal truth +of every part of all three: + +In August 1861, M. Senarmont,[93] of the French Institute, wrote to me to +the effect that Fresnel[94] had sent to England, in or shortly after 1824, +a paper for translation and insertion in the _European Review_, which +shortly afterwards expired. The question was what had become of that paper. +I examined the _Review_ at the Museum, found no trace of the paper, and +wrote back to that effect at the Museum, adding that everything now +depended on ascertaining the name of the editor, and tracing his papers: of +this I thought there was no chance. I posted this letter on my way home, at +a Post Office in the Hampstead Road at the junction with Edward Street, on +the opposite side of which is a bookstall. Lounging for a moment over the +exposed books, _sicut meus est mos_,[95] I saw, within a few minutes of the +posting of the letter, a little catch-penny book of anecdotes of Macaulay, +which I bought, and ran over for a minute. My eye was soon caught by this +sentence: "One of the young fellows immediately wrote to the editor (Mr. +Walker) {49} of the _European Review_." I thus got the clue by which I +ascertained that there was no chance of recovering Fresnel's paper. Of the +mention of current reviews, not one in a thousand names the editor. + +In the summer of 1865 I made my first acquaintance with the tales of +Nathaniel Hawthorne, and the first I read was about the siege of Boston in +the War of Independence. I could not make it out: everybody seemed to have +got into somebody else's place. I was beginning the second tale, when a +parcel arrived: it was a lot of old pamphlets and other rubbish, as he +called it, sent by a friend who had lately sold his books, had not thought +it worth while to send these things for sale, but thought I might like to +look at them and possibly keep some. The first thing I looked at was a +sheet which, being opened, displayed "A plan of Boston and its environs, +shewing the true situation of his Majesty's army and also that of the +rebels, drawn by an engineer, at Boston Oct. 1775." Such detailed plans of +current sieges being then uncommon, it is explained that "The principal +part of this plan was surveyed by Richard Williams, Lieutenant at Boston; +and sent over by the son of a nobleman to his father in town, by whose +permission it was published." I immediately saw that my confusion arose +from my supposing that the king's troops were besieging the rebels, when it +was just the other way. + +April 1, 1853, while engaged in making some notes on a logical point, an +idea occurred which was perfectly new to me, on the mode of conciliating +the notions _omnipresence_ and _indivisibility into parts_. What it was is +no matter here: suffice it that, since it was published elsewhere (in a +paper on _Infinity_, _Camb. Phil. Trans._ vol. xi. p. 1) I have not had it +produced to me. I had just finished a paragraph on the subject, when a +parcel came in from a bookseller containing Heywood's[96] _Analysis of +Kant's Critick_, 1844. + +{50} On turning over the leaves I found (p. 109) the identical thought +which up to this day, I only know as in my own paper, or in Kant. I feel +sure I had not seen it before, for it is in Kant's first edition, which was +never translated to my knowledge; and it does not appear in the later +editions. Mr. Heywood gives some account of the first edition. + +In the broadsheet which gave account of the dying scene of Charles II, it +is said that the Roman Catholic priest was introduced by P. M. A. C. F. The +chain was this: the Duchess of Portsmouth[97] applied to the Duke of York, +who may have consulted his Cordelier confessor, Mansuete, about procuring a +priest, and the priest was smuggled into the king's room by the Duchess and +Chiffinch.[98] Now the letters are a verbal acrostic of _Pere Mansuete a +Cordelier Friar_, and a syllabic acrostic of _PortsMouth and ChifFinch_. +This is a singular coincidence. Macaulay adopted the first interpretation, +preferring it to the second, which I brought before him as the conjecture +of a near relative of my own. But Mansuete is not mentioned in his +narrative: it may well be doubted whether the writer of a broadside for +English readers would use _Pere_ instead of _Father_. And the person who +really "reminded" the Duke of "the duty he owed to his brother," was the +Duchess and not Mansuete. But my affair is only with the coincidence. + +But there are coincidences which are really connected without the +connection being known to those who find in them matter of astonishment. +Presentiments furnish marked cases: sometimes there is no mystery to those +who have the clue. In the _Gentleman's Magazine_ (vol. 80, part 2, p. 33) +we read, the subject being presentiment of death, as follows: "In 1778, to +come nearer the recollection of {51} survivors, at the taking of +Pondicherry, Captain John Fletcher, Captain De Morgan, and Lieutenant +Bosanquet, each distinctly foretold his own death on the morning of his +fate." I have no doubt of all three; and I knew it of my grandfather long +before I read the above passage. He saw that the battery he commanded was +unduly exposed: I think by the sap running through the fort when produced. +He represented this to the engineer officers, and to the +commander-in-chief; the engineers denied the truth of the statement, the +commander believed them, my grandfather quietly observed that he must make +his will, and the French fulfilled his prediction. His will bore date the +day of his death; and I always thought it more remarkable than the +fulfilment of the prophecy that a soldier should not consider any danger +short of one like the above, sufficient reason to make his will. I suppose +the other officers were similarly posted. I am told that military men very +often defer making their wills until just before an action: but to face the +ordinary risks intestate, and to wait until speedy death must be the all +but certain consequence of a stupid mistake, is carrying the principle very +far. In the matter of coincidences there are, as in other cases, two +wonderful extremes with every intermediate degree. At one end we have the +confident people who can attribute anything to casual coincidence; who +allow Zadok Imposture and Nathan Coincidence to anoint Solomon Selfconceit +king. At the other end we have those who see something _very curious_ in +any coincidence you please, and whose minds yearn for a deep reason. A +speculator of this class happened to find that Matthew viii. 28-33 and Luke +viii. 26-33 contain the same account, that of the demons entering into the +swine. Very odd! chapters tallying, and verses so nearly: is the +versification rightly managed? Examination is sure to show that there are +monstrous inconsistencies in the mode of division, which being corrected, +the verses tally as well as the chapters. And then how comes it? I cannot +go on, {52} for I have no gift at torturing a coincidence, but I would lay +twopence, if I could make a bet--which I never did in all my life--that +some one or more of my readers will try it. Some people say that the study +of chances tends to awaken a spirit of gambling: I suspect the contrary. At +any rate, I myself, the writer of a mathematical book and a comparatively +popular book, have never laid a bet nor played for a stake, however small: +not one single time. + +It is useful to record such instances as I have given, with precision and +on the solemn word of the recorder. When such a story as that of Flamsteed +is told, _a priori_ assures us that it could not have been: the story may +have been a _ben trovato_,[99] but not the bundle. It is also useful to +establish some of the good jokes which all take for inventions. My friend +Mr. J. Bellingham Inglis,[100] before 1800, saw the tobacconist's carriage +with a sample of tobacco in a shield, and the motto _Quid rides_[101] (_N._ +& _Q._, 3d S. i. 245). His father was able to tell him all about it. The +tobacconist was Jacob Brandon, well known to the elder Mr. Inglis, and the +person who started the motto, the instant he was asked for such a thing, +was Harry Calender of Lloyd's, a scholar and a wit. My friend Mr. H. Crabb +Robinson[102] remembers the King's Counsel (Samuel Marryat) who took the +motto _Causes produce effects_, when his success enabled him to start a +carriage. + +The coincidences of errata are sometimes very remarkable: it may be that +the misprint has a sting. The death of Sir W. Hamilton[103] of Edinburgh +was known in London on a Thursday, and the editor of the _Athenaeum_ wrote +to {53} me in the afternoon for a short obituary notice to appear on +Saturday. I dashed off the few lines which appeared without a moment to +think: and those of my readers who might perhaps think me capable of +contriving errata with meaning will, I am sure, allow the hurry, the +occasion, and my own peculiar relation to the departed, as sufficient +reasons for believing in my entire innocence. Of course I could not see a +proof: and two errata occurred. The words "addition to Stewart"[104] +require "_for_ addition to _read_ edition of." This represents what had +been insisted on by the Edinburgh publisher, who, frightened by the edition +of Reid,[105] had stipulated for a simple reprint without notes. Again +"principles of logic and mathematics" required "_for_ mathematics _read_ +metaphysics." No four words could be put together which would have so good +a title to be Hamilton's motto. + + + +April 1850, found in the letter-box, three loose leaves, well printed and +over punctuated, being + + Chapter VI. Brethren, lo I come, holding forth the word of life, for so + I am commanded.... Chapter VII. Hear my prayer, O generations! and walk + by the way, to drink the waters of the river.... Chapter VIII. Hearken + o earth, earth, earth, and the kings of the earth, and their armies.... + +A very large collection might be made of such apostolic writings. They go +on well enough in a misty--meant for mystical--imitation of St. Paul or the +prophets, until at last some prodigious want of keeping shows the education +of the writer. For example, after half a page which might {54} pass for +Irving's[106] preaching--though a person to whom it was presented as such +would say that most likely the head and tail would make something more like +head and tail of it--we are astounded by a declaration from the _Holy +Spirit_, speaking of himself, that he is "not ashamed of the Gospel of +Christ." It would be long before we should find in _educated_ rhapsody--of +which there are specimens enough--such a thing as a person of the Trinity +taking merit for moral courage enough to stand where St. Peter fell. The +following declaration comes next--"I will judge between cattle and cattle, +that use their tongues." + + + +THE FIGURE OF THE EARTH. + + The figure of the earth. By J. L. Murphy,[107] of Birmingham. (London + and Birmingham, 4 pages, 12mo.) (1850?) + +Mr. Murphy invites attention and objection to some assertions, as that the +earth is prolate, not oblate. "If the philosopher's conclusion be right, +then the pole is the center of a valley (!) thirteen miles deep." Hence it +would be very warm. It is answer enough to ask--Who knows that it is not? + + + + *** A paragraph in the MS. appears to have been inserted in this place + by mistake. It will be found in the Appendix at the end of this + volume.--S. E. De M. + + + +PERPETUAL MOTION. + +1851. The following letter was written by one of a class of persons whom, +after much experience of them, I {55} do _not_ pronounce insane. But in +this case the second sentence gives a suspicion of actual delusion of the +senses; the third looks like that eye for the main chance which passes for +sanity on the Stock Exchange and elsewhere: + +15th Sept. 1851. + +"Gentlemen,--I pray you take steps to make known that yesterday I completed +my invention which will give motion to every country on the Earth;--to move +Machinery!--the long sought in vain 'Perpetual Motion'!!--I was supported +at the time by the Queen and H.R.H. Prince Albert. If, Gentlemen, you can +advise me how to proceed to claim the reward, if any is offered by the +Government, or how to secure the PATENT for the machine, or in any way +assist me by advice in this great work, I shall most graciously acknowledge +your consideration. + +These are my convictions that my SEVERAL discoveries will be realized: and +this great one can be at once acted upon: although at this moment it only +exists in my mind, from my knowledge of certain fixed principles in +nature:--the Machine I have not made, as I only completed the discovery +YESTERDAY, Sunday! + + I have, etc. ---- ----" + + To the Directors of the + London University, Gower Street. + + + +ON SPIRITUALISM. + + The Divine Drama of History and Civilisation. By the Rev. James Smith, + M.A.[108] London, 1854, 8vo. + +I have several books on that great paradox of our day, _Spiritualism_, but +I shall exclude all but three. The bibliography of this subject is now very +large. The question is one both of evidence and speculation;--Are the facts +{56} true? Are they caused by spirits? These I shall not enter upon: I +shall merely recommend this work as that of a spiritualist who does not +enter on the subject, which he takes for granted, but applies his derived +views to the history of mankind with learning and thought. Mr. Smith was a +man of a very peculiar turn of thinking. He was, when alive, the editor, or +_an_ editor, of the _Family Herald_: I say when alive, to speak according +to knowledge; for, if his own views be true, he may have a hand in it +still. The answers to correspondents, in his time, were piquant and +original above any I ever saw. I think a very readable book might be made +out of them, resembling "Guesses at Truth:" the turn given to an inquiry +about morals, religion, or socials, is often of the highest degree of +_unexpectedness_; the poor querist would find himself right in a most +unpalatable way. + +Answers to correspondents, in newspapers, are very often the fag ends of +literature. I shall never forget the following. A person was invited to +name a rule without exception, if he could: he answered "A man _must_ be +present when he is shaved." A lady--what right have ladies to decide +questions about shaving?--said this was not properly a rule; and the oracle +was consulted. The editor agreed with the lady; he said that "a man _must_ +be present when he is shaved" is not a _rule_, but a _fact_. + + + +[Among my anonymous communicants is one who states that I have done +injustice to the Rev. James Smith in "referring to him as a spiritualist," +and placing his "Divine Drama" among paradoxes: "it is no paradox, nor do +_spiritualistic_ views mar or weaken the execution of the design." Quite +true: for the design is to produce and enforce "spiritualistic views"; and +leather does not mar nor weaken a shoemaker's plan. I knew Mr. Smith well, +and have often talked to him on the subject: but more testimony from me is +unnecessary; his book will speak for itself. {57} His peculiar style will +justify a little more quotation than is just necessary to prove the point. +Looking at the "battle of opinion" now in progress, we see that Mr. Smith +was a prescient: + +(P. 588.) "From the general review of parties in England, it is evident +that no country in the world is better prepared for the great Battle of +Opinion. Where else can the battle be fought but where the armies are +arrayed? And here they all are, Greek, Roman, Anglican, Scotch, Lutheran, +Calvinist, Established and Territorial, with Baronial Bishops, and +Nonestablished of every grade--churches with living prophets and apostles, +and churches with dead prophets and apostles, and apostolical churches +without apostles, and philosophies without either prophets or apostles, and +only wanting one more, 'the Christian Church,' like Aaron's rod, to swallow +up and digest them all, and then bud and flourish. As if to prepare our +minds for this desirable and inevitable consummation, different parties +have been favored with a revival of that very spirit of revelation by which +the Church itself was originally founded. There is a complete series of +spiritual revelations in England and the United States, besides mesmeric +phenomena that bear a resemblance to revelation, and thus gradually open +the mind of the philosophical and infidel classes, as well as the professed +believers of that old revelation which they never witnessed in living +action, to a better understanding of that Law of Nature (for it is a Law of +Nature) in which all revelation originates and by which its spiritual +communications are regulated." + +Mr. Smith proceeds to say that there are _only_ thirty-five incorporated +churches in England, all formed from the New Testament except five, to each +of which five he concedes a revelation of its own. The five are the +Quakers, the Swedenborgians, the Southcottians, the Irvingites, and the +Mormonites. Of Joanna Southcott he speaks as follows: {58} + +(P. 592.) "Joanna Southcott[109] is not very gallantly treated by the +gentlemen of the Press, who, we believe, without knowing anything about +her, merely pick up their idea of her character from the rabble. We once +entertained the same rabble idea of her; but having read her works--for we +really have read them--we now regard her with great respect. However, there +is a great abundance of chaff and straw to her grain; but the grain is +good, and as we do not eat either the chaff or straw if we can avoid it, +nor even the raw grain, but thrash it and winnow it, and grind it and bake +it, we find it, after undergoing this process, not only very palatable, but +a special dainty of its kind. But the husk is an insurmountable obstacle to +those learned and educated gentlemen who judge of books entirely by the +style and the grammar, or those who eat grain as it grows, like the cattle. +Such men would reject all prological revelation; for there never was and +probably never will be a revelation by voice and vision communicated in +classical manner. It would be an invasion of the rights and prerogatives of +Humanity, and as contrary to the Divine and Established order of mundane +government, as a field of quartern loaves or hot French rolls." + + + +Mr. Smith's book is spiritualism from beginning to end; and my anonymous +gainsayer, honest of course, is either ignorant of the work he thinks he +has read, or has a most remarkable development of the organ of +imperception.] + + + +A CONDENSED HISTORY OF MATHEMATICS. + +I cut the following from a Sunday paper in 1849: + +"X. Y.--The Chaldeans began the mathematics, in which the Egyptians +excelled. Then crossing the sea, by means {59} of Thales,[110] the +Milesian, they came into Greece, where they were improved very much by +Pythagoras,[111] Anaxagoras,[112] and Anopides[113] of Chios. These were +followed by Briso,[114] Antipho, [two circle-squarers; where is Euclid?] +and Hippocrates,[115] but the excellence of the algebraic art was begun by +Geber,[116] an Arabian astronomer, and was carried on by Cardanus,[117] +Tartaglia,[118] Clavius,[119], Stevinus,[120] Ghetaldus,[121] +Herig_e_nius,[122] Fran. Van Schooten [meaning Francis Van Schooten[123]], +Florida de Beau_m_e,[124] etc." + +Bryso was a mistaken man. Antipho had the disadvantage of being in advance +of his age. He had the notion of which the modern geometry has made so +much, that of {60} a circle being the polygon of an infinitely great number +of sides. He could make no use of it, but the notion itself made him a +sophist in the eyes of Aristotle, Eutocius,[125] etc. Geber, an Arab +astronomer, and a reputed conjurer in Europe, seems to have given his name +to unintelligible language in the word _gibberish_. At one time _algebra_ +was traced to him; but very absurdly, though I have heard it suggested that +_algebra_ and _gibberish_ must have had one inventor. + +Any person who meddles with the circle may find himself the crane who was +netted among the geese: as Antipho for one, and Olivier de Serres[126] for +another. This last gentleman ascertained, by weighing, that the area of the +circle is very nearly that of the square on the side of the inscribed +equilateral triangle: which it is, as near as 3.162 ... to 3.141.... He did +not pretend to more than approximation; but Montucla and others +misunderstood him, and, still worse, misunderstood their own +misunderstanding, and made him say the circle was exactly double of the +equilateral triangle. He was let out of limbo by Lacroix, in a note to his +edition of Montucla's _History of Quadrature_. + + + +ST. VITUS, PATRON OF CYCLOMETERS. + + Quadratura del cerchio, trisezione dell' angulo, et duplicazione del + cubo, problemi geometricamente risolute e dimostrate dal Reverendo + Arciprete di San Vito D. Domenico Anghera,[127] Malta, 1854, 8vo. + + {61} + + Equazioni geometriche, estratte dalla lettera del Rev. Arciprete ... al + Professore Pullicino[128] sulla quadratura del cerchio. Milan, 1855 or + 1856, 8vo. + + Il Mediterraneo gazetta di Malta, 26 Decembre 1855, No. 909: also 911, + 912, 913, 914, 936, 939. + + The Malta Times, Tuesday, 9th June 1857. + + Misura esatta del cerchio, dal Rev. D. Anghera. Malta, 1857, 12mo. + + Quadrature of the circle ... by the Rev. D. Anghera, Archpriest of St. + Vito. Malta, 1858, 12mo. + +I have looked for St. Vitus in catalogues of saints, but never found his +legend, though he figures as a day-mark in the oldest almanacs. He must be +properly accredited, since he was an archpriest. And I pronounce and +ordain, by right accruing from the trouble I have taken in this subject, +that he, St. Vitus, who leads his votaries a never-ending and unmeaning +dance, shall henceforth be held and taken to be the patron saint of the +circle-squarer. His day is the 15th of June, which is also that of St. +Modestus,[129] with whom the said circle-squarer often has nothing to do. +And he must not put himself under the first saint with a slantendicular +reference to the other, as is much to be feared was done by the Cardinal +who came to govern England with a title containing St. Pudentiana,[130] who +shares a day with _St. Dunstan_. The Archpriest of St. Vitus will have it +that the square inscribed in a semicircle is half of the semicircle, or the +circumference 3-1/5 diameters. He is active and able, with {62} nothing +wrong about him except his paradoxes. In the second tract named he has +given the testimonials of crowned heads and ministers, etc. as follows. +Louis-Napoleon gives thanks. The minister at Turin refers it to the Academy +of Sciences, and hopes so much labor will be judged _degna di pregio_.[131] +The Vice-Chancellor of Oxford--a blunt Englishman--begs to say that the +University has never proposed the problem, as some affirm. The Prince +Regent of Baden has received the work with lively interest. The Academy of +Vienna is not in a position to enter into the question. The Academy of +Turin offers the most _distinct_ thanks. The Academy della Crusca attends +only to literature, but gives thanks. The Queen of Spain has received the +work with the highest appreciation. The University of Salamanca gives +infinite thanks, and feels true satisfaction in having the book. Lord +Palmerston gives thanks, by the hand of "William San." The Viceroy of +Egypt, not being yet up in Italian, will spend his first moments of leisure +in studying the book, when it shall have been translated into French: in +the mean time he congratulates the author upon his victory over a problem +so long held insoluble. All this is seriously published as a rate in aid of +demonstration. If these royal compliments cannot make the circumference of +a circle about 2 per cent. larger than geometry will have it --which is all +that is wanted--no wonder that thrones are shaky. + +I am informed that the legend of St. Vitus is given by Ribadeneira[132] in +his lives of Saints, and that Baronius,[133] in {63} his _Martyrologium +Romanum_, refers to several authors who have written concerning him. There +is an account in Mrs. Jameson's[134] _History of Sacred and Legendary Art_ +(ed. of 1863, p. 544). But it seems that St. Vitus is the patron saint of +_all_ dances; so that I was not so far wrong in making him the protector of +the cyclometers. Why he is represented with a cock is a disputed point, +which is now made clear: next after _gallus gallinaceus_[135] himself, +there is no crower like the circle-squarer. + + + +CELEBRATED APPROXIMATIONS OF [pi]. + +The following is an extract from the _English Cyclopaedia_, Art. TABLES: + +"1853. William Shanks,[136] _Contributions to Mathematics, comprising +chiefly the Rectification of the Circle to 607 Places of Tables_, London, +1853. (QUADRATURE OF THE CIRCLE.) Here is a _table_, because it tabulates +the results of the subordinate steps of this enormous calculation as far as +527 decimals: the remainder being added as results only during the +printing. For instance, one step is the calculation of the reciprocal of +601.5^{601}; and the result is given. The number of pages required to +describe these results is 87. Mr. Shanks has also thrown off, as chips or +splinters, the values of the base of Napier's logarithms, and of its +logarithms of 2, 3, 5, 10, to 137 decimals; and the value of the modulus +.4342 ... to 136 decimals: with the 13th, 25th, 37th ... up to the 721st +powers of 2. These tremendous stretches of calculation--at least we so call +them in our day--are useful in several respects; they prove more than {64} +the capacity of this or that computer for labor and accuracy; they show +that there is in the community an increase of skill and courage. We say in +the community: we fully believe that the unequalled turnip which every now +and then appears in the newspapers is a sufficient presumption that the +average turnip is growing bigger, and the whole crop heavier. All who know +the history of the quadrature are aware that the several increases of +numbers of decimals to which [pi] has been carried have been indications of +a general increase in the power to calculate, and in courage to face the +labor. Here is a comparison of two different times. In the day of +Cocker,[137] the pupil was directed to perform a common subtraction with a +voice-accompaniment of this kind: '7 from 4 I cannot, but add 10, 7 from 14 +remains 7, set down 7 and carry 1; 8 and 1 which I carry is 9, 9 from 2 I +cannot, etc.' We have before us the announcement of the following _table_, +undated, as open to inspection at the Crystal Palace, Sydenham, in two +diagrams of 7 ft. 2 in, by 6 ft. 6 in.: 'The figure 9 involved into the +912th power, and antecedent powers or involutions, containing upwards of +73,000 figures. Also, the proofs of the above, containing upwards of +146,000 figures. By Samuel Fancourt, of Mincing Lane, London, and completed +by him in the year 1837, at the age of sixteen. N.B. The whole operation +performed by simple arithmetic.' The young operator calculated by +successive squaring the 2d, 4th, 8th, etc., powers up to the 512th, with +proof by division. But 511 multiplications by 9, in the short (or 10-1) +way, would have been much easier. The 2d, 32d, 64th, 128th, 256th, and +512th powers are given at the back of the announcement. The powers of 2 +have been calculated for many purposes. In Vol. II of his _Magia +Universalis Naturae et Artis_, Herbipoli, 1658, 4to, the Jesuit Gaspar +Schott[138] having discovered, on some grounds of theological {65} magic, +that the degrees of grace of the Virgin Mary were in number the 256th power +of 2, calculated that number. Whether or no his number correctly +represented the result he announced, he certainly calculated it rightly, as +we find by comparison with Mr. Shanks." + + + +There is a point about Mr. Shanks's 608 figures of the value of [pi] which +attracts attention, perhaps without deserving it. It might be expected +that, in so many figures, the nine digits and the cipher would occur each +about the same number of times; that is, each about 61 times. But the fact +stands thus: 3 occurs 68 times; 9 and 2 occur 67 times each; 4 occurs 64 +times; 1 and 6 occur 62 times each; 0 occurs 60 times; 8 occurs 58 times; 5 +occurs 56 times; and 7 occurs only 44 times. Now, if all the digits were +equally likely, and 608 drawings were made, it is 45 to 1 against the +number of sevens being as distant from the probable average (say 61) as 44 +on one side or 78 on the other. There must be some reason why the number 7 +is thus deprived of its fair share in the structure. Here is a field of +speculation in which two branches of inquirers might unite. There is but +one number which is treated with an unfairness which is incredible as an +accident; and that number is the mystic number _seven_! If the cyclometers +and the apocalyptics would lay their heads together until they come to a +unanimous verdict on this phenomenon, and would publish nothing until they +are of one mind, they would earn the gratitude of their race.--I was wrong: +it is the Pyramid-speculator who should have been appealed to. A +correspondent of my friend Prof. Piazzi Smyth[139] notices that 3 is the +number of most frequency, and that 3-1/7 is the nearest approximation to it +in simple digits. Professor Smyth himself, whose word on Egypt is paradox +of a very high order, backed by a great quantity of useful labor, the +results which will be made available by those who do not receive {66} the +paradoxes, is inclined to see confirmation for some of his theory in these +phenomena. + + + +CURIOUS CALCULATIONS. + +These paradoxes of calculation sometimes appear as illustrations of the +value of a new method. In 1863, Mr. G. Suffield,[140] M.A., and Mr. J. R. +Lunn,[141] M.A., of Clare College and of St. John's College, Cambridge, +published the whole quotient of 10000 ... divided by 7699, throughout the +whole of one of the recurring periods, having 7698 digits. This was done in +illustration of Mr. Suffield's method of _Synthetic division_. + +Another instance of computation carried to paradoxical length, in order to +illustrate a method, is the solution of x^3 - 2x = 5, the example given of +Newton's method, on which all improvements have been tested. In 1831, +Fourier's[142] posthumous work on equations showed 33 figures of solution, +got with enormous labor. Thinking this a good opportunity to illustrate the +superiority of the method of W. G. Horner,[143] not yet known in France, +and not much known in {67} England, I proposed to one of my classes, in +1841, to beat Fourier on this point, as a Christmas exercise. I received +several answers, agreeing with each other, to 50 places of decimals. In +1848, I repeated the proposal, requesting that 50 places might be exceeded: +I obtained answers of 75, 65, 63, 58, 57, and 52 places. But one answer, by +Mr. W. Harris Johnston,[144] of Dundalk, and of the Excise Office, went to +101 decimal places. To test the accuracy of this, I requested Mr. Johnston +to undertake another equation, connected with the former one in a way which +I did not explain. His solution verified the former one, but he was unable +to see the connection, even when his result was obtained. My reader may be +as much at a loss: the two solutions are: + + 2.0945514815423265... + 9.0544851845767340... + +The results are published in the _Mathematician_, Vol. III, p. 290. In +1851, another pupil of mine, Mr. J. Power Hicks,[145] carried the result to +152 decimal places, without knowing what Mr. Johnston had done. The result +is in the _English Cyclopaedia_, article INVOLUTION AND EVOLUTION. + +I remark that when I write the initial of a Christian name, the most usual +name of that initial is understood. I never saw the name of W. G. Horner +written at length, until I applied to a relative of his, who told me that +he was, as I supposed, Wm. _George_, but that he was named after a relative +of that _surname_. + +The square root of 2, to 110 decimal places, was given {68} me in 1852 by +my pupil, Mr. William Henry Colvill, now (1867) Civil Surgeon at Baghdad. +It was + + 1.4142135623730950488016887242096980785696 + 7187537694807317667973799073247846210703 + 885038753432764157273501384623 + +Mr. James Steel[146] of Birkenhead verified this by actual multiplication, +and produced + + 2 - 2580413 / 10^{117} + +as the square. + + + + Calcolo decidozzinale del Barone Silvio Ferrari. Turin, 1854, 4to. + +This is a serious proposal to alter our numeral system and to count by +twelves. Thus 10 would be twelve, 11 thirteen, etc., two new symbols being +invented for ten and eleven. The names of numbers must of course be +changed. There are persons who think such changes practicable. I thought +this proposal absurd when I first saw it, and I think so still:[147] but +the one I shall presently describe beats it so completely in that point, +that I have not a smile left for this one. + + + +ON COMETS. + + The successful and therefore probably true theory of Comets. London, + 1854. (4pp. duodecimo.) + +The author is the late Mr. Peter Legh,[148] of Norbury Booths Hall, +Knutsford, who published for eight or ten {69} years the _Ombrological +Almanac_, a work of asserted discovery in meteorology. The theory of comets +is that the joint attraction of the new moon and several planets in the +direction of the sun, draws off the gases from the earth, and forms these +cometic meteors. But how these meteors come to describe orbits round the +sun, and to become capable of having their returns predicted, is not +explained. + + + +A NEW PHASE OF MORMONISM. + + The Mormon, New York, Saturday, Oct. 27, 1855. + +A newspaper headed by a grand picture of starred and striped banners, +beehive, and eagle surmounting it. A scroll on each side: on the left, +"Mormon creed. Mind your own business. Brigham Young;"[149] on the right, +"Given by inspiration of God. Joseph Smith."[150] A leading article on the +discoveries of Prof. Orson Pratt[151] says, "Mormonism has long taken the +lead in religion: it will soon be in the van both in science and politics." +At the beginning of the paper is Professor Pratt's "Law of Planetary +Rotation." The cube roots of the densities of the planets are as the square +roots of their periods of rotation. The squares of the cube roots of the +masses divided by the squares of the diameters are as the periods of +rotation. Arithmetical verification attempted, and the whole very modestly +stated {70} and commented on. Dated G. S. L. City, Utah Ter., Aug. 1, 1855. +If the creed, as above, be correctly given, no wonder the Mormonites are in +such bad odor. + + + +MATHEMATICAL ILLUSTRATIONS OF DOCTRINE. + + The two estates; or both worlds mathematically considered. London, + 1855, small (pp. 16). + +The author has published mathematical works with his name. The present +tract is intended to illustrate mathematically a point which may be guessed +from the title. But the symbols do very little in the way of illustration: +thus, x being the _present value_ of the future estate (eternal happiness), +and a of all that this world can give, the author impresses it on the +mathematician that, x being infinitely greater than a, x + a = x, so that a +need not be considered. This will not act much more powerfully on a +mathematician by virtue of the symbols than if those same symbols had been +dispensed with: even though, as the author adds, "It was this method of +neglecting infinitely small quantities that Sir Isaac Newton was indebted +to for his greatest discoveries." + +There has been a moderate quantity of well-meant attempt to enforce, +sometimes motive, sometimes doctrine, by arguments drawn from mathematics, +the proponents being persons unskilled in that science for the most part. +The ground is very dangerous: for the illustration often turns the other +way with greater power, in a manner which requires only a little more +knowledge to see. I have, in my life, heard from the pulpit or read, at +least a dozen times, that all sin is infinitely great, proved as follows. +The greater the being, the greater the sin of any offence against him: +therefore the offence committed against an infinite being is infinitely +great. Now the mathematician, of which the proposers of this argument are +not aware, is perfectly familiar with quantities which increase together, +and never cease increasing, but so that one of them remains finite when +{71} the other becomes infinite. In fact, the argument is a perfect _non +sequitur_.[152] Those who propose it have in their minds, though in a +cloudy and indefinite form, the idea of the increase of guilt being +_proportionate_ to the increase of greatness in the being offended. But +this it would never do to state: for by such statement not only would the +argument lose all that it has of the picturesque, but the asserted premise +would have no strong air of exact truth. How could any one undertake to +appeal to conscience to declare that an offence against a being 4-7/10 +times as great as another is exactly, no more and no less, 4-7/10 times as +great an offence against the other? + +The infinite character of the offence against an infinite being is laid +down in Dryden's _Religio Laici_,[153] and is, no doubt, an old argument: + + "For, granting we have sinned, and that th' offence + Of man is made against Omnipotence, + Some price that bears proportion must be paid, + And infinite with infinite be weighed. + See then the Deist lost; remorse for vice + Not paid; or, paid, inadequate in price." + +Dryden, in the words "bears proportion" is in verse more accurate than most +of the recent repeaters in prose. And this is not the only case of the kind +in his argumentative poetry. + +My old friend, the late Dr. Olinthus Gregory,[154] who was a sound and +learned mathematician, adopted this dangerous kind of illustration in his +_Letters on the Christian Religion_. {72} He argued, by parallel, from what +he supposed to be the necessarily mysterious nature of the _impossible_ +quantity of algebra to the necessarily mysterious nature of certain +doctrines of his system of Christianity. But all the difficulty and mystery +of the impossible quantity is now cleared away by the advance of +algebraical thought: and yet Dr. Gregory's book continues to be sold, and +no doubt the illustration is still accepted as appropriate. + +The mode of argument used by the author of the tract above named has a +striking defect. He talks of reducing this world and the next to "present +value," as an actuary does with successive lives or next presentations. +Does value make interest? and if not, why? And if it do, then the present +value of an eternity is _not_ infinitely great. Who is ignorant that a +perpetual annuity at five per cent is worth only twenty years' purchase? +This point ought to be discussed by a person who treats heaven as a +deferred perpetual annuity. I do not ask him to do so, and would rather he +did not; but if he _will_ do it, he must either deal with the question of +discount, or be asked the reason why. + +When a very young man, I was frequently exhorted to one or another view of +religion by pastors and others who thought that a mathematical argument +would be irresistible. And I heard the following more than once, and have +since seen it in print, I forget where. Since eternal happiness belonged to +the particular views in question, a benefit infinitely great, then, even if +the probability of their arguments were small, or even infinitely small, +yet the product of the chance and benefit, according to the usual rule, +might give a result which no one ought in prudence to pass over. They did +not see that this applied to all systems as well as their own. I take this +argument to be the most perverse of all the perversions I have heard or +read on the subject: there is some high authority for it, whom I forget. + +The moral of all this is, that such things as the preceding should be kept +out of the way of those who are not {73} mathematicians, because they do +not understand the argument; and of those who are, because they do. + +[The high authority referred to above is Pascal, an early cultivator of +mathematical probability, and obviously too much enamoured of his new +pursuit. But he conceives himself bound to wager on one side or the other. +To the argument (_Pensees_, ch. 7)[155] that "le juste est de ne point +parier," he answers, "Oui: mais il faut parier: vous etes embarque; et ne +parier point que Dieu est, c'est parier qu'il n'est pas."[156] Leaving +Pascal's argument to make its way with a person who, _being a sceptic_, is +yet positive that the issue is salvation or perdition, if a God there +be,--for the case as put by Pascal requires this,--I shall merely observe +that a person who elects to believe in God, as the best chance of gain, is +not one who, according to Pascal's creed, or any other worth naming, will +really secure that gain. I wonder whether Pascal's curious imagination ever +presented to him in sleep his convert, in the future state, shaken out of a +red-hot dice-box upon a red-hot hazard-table, as perhaps he might have +been, if Dante had been the later of the two. The original idea is due to +the elder Arnobius,[157] who, as cited by Bayle,[158] speaks thus: + +"Sed et ipse [Christus] quae pollicetur, non probat. Ita est. Nulla enim, ut +dixi, futurorum potest existere comprobatio. Cum ergo haec sit conditio +futurorum, ut teneri et comprehendi nullius possint anticipationis attactu; +nonne {74} purior ratio est, ex duobus incertis, et in ambigua expectatione +pendentibus, id potius credere, quod aliquas spes ferat, quam omnino quod +nullas? In illo enim periculi nihil est, si quod dicitur imminere, cassum +fiat et vacuum: in hoc damnum est maximum, id est salutis amissio, si cum +tempus advenerit aperiatur non fuisse mendacium."[159] + +Really Arnobius seems to have got as much out of the notion, in the third +century, as if he had been fourteen centuries later, with the arithmetic of +chances to help him.] + + + +NOVUM ORGANUM MORALIUM. + + The Sentinel, vol. ix. no. 27. London, Saturday, May 26, 1855. + +This is the first London number of an Irish paper, Protestant in politics. +It opens with "Suggestions on the subject of a _Novum Organum Moralium_," +which is the application of algebra and the differential calculus to +morals, socials, and politics. There is also a leading article on the +subject, and some applications in notes to other articles. A separate +publication was afterwards made, with the addition of a long Preface; the +author being a clergyman who I presume must have been the editor of the +_Sentinel_. + + Suggestions as to the employment of a _Novum Organum Moralium_. Or, + thoughts on the nature of the Differential Calculus, and on the + application of its principles to metaphysics, with a view to the + attainment of demonstration and certainty in moral, {75} political and + ecclesiastical affairs. By Tresham Dames Gregg,[160] Chaplain of St. + Mary's, within the church of St. Nicholas intra muros, Dublin. London, + 1859, 8vo. (pp. xl + 32). + +I have a personal interest in this system, as will appear from the +following extract from the newspaper: + + "We were subsequently referred to De Morgan's _Formal Logic_ and + Boole's _Laws of Thought_[161] both very elaborate works, and greatly + in the direction taken by ourselves. That the writers amazingly surpass + us in learning we most willingly admit, but we venture to pronounce of + both their learned treatises, that they deal with the subject in a mode + that is scholastic to an excess.... That their works have been for a + considerable space of time before the world and effected nothing, would + argue that they have overlooked the vital nature of the theme.... On + the whole, the writings of De Morgan and Boole go to the full + justification of our principle without in any wise so trenching upon + our ground as to render us open to reproach in claiming our Calculus as + a great discovery.... But we renounce any paltry jealousy as to a + matter so vast. If De Morgan and Boole have had a priority in the case, + to them we cheerfully shall resign the glory and honor. If such be the + truth, they have neither done justice to the discovery, nor to + themselves [quite true]. They have, under the circumstances, acted like + 'the foolish man, who roasteth not that which he taketh {76} in + hunting.... It will be sufficient for us, however, to be the Columbus + of these great Americi, and popularize what they found, _if_ they found + it. We, as from the mountain top, will then become _their_ trumpeters, + and cry glory to De Morgan and glory to Boole, under Him who is the + source of all glory, the only good and wise, to Whom be glory for ever! + _If_ they be our predecessors in this matter, they have, under Him, + taken moral questions out of the category of probabilities, and + rendered them perfectly certain. In that case, let their books be read + by those who may doubt the principles this day laid before the world as + a great discovery, by our newspaper. Our cry shall be [Greek: + eurekasi]![162] Let us hope that they will join us, and henceforth keep + their light [_sic_] from under their bushel." + +For myself, and for my old friend Mr. Boole, who I am sure would join me, I +disclaim both priority, simultaneity, and posteriority, and request that +nothing may be trumpeted from the mountain top except our abjuration of all +community of thought or operation with this _Novum Organum_. + +To such community we can make no more claim than Americus could make to +being the forerunner of Columbus who popularized his discoveries. We do not +wish for any [Greek: eurekasi] and not even for [Greek: heurekasi]. For +self and Boole, I point out what would have convinced either of us that +this house is divided against itself. + +[Alpha] being an apostolic element, [delta] the doctrinal element, and +[Chi] the body of the faithful, the church is [Alpha] [delta] [Chi], we are +told. Also, that if [Alpha] become negative, or the Apostolicity become +Diabolicity [my words]; or if [delta] become negative, and doctrine become +heresy; or if [Chi] become negative, that is, if the faithful become +unfaithful; the church becomes negative, "the very opposite to what it +ought to be." For self and Boole, I admit this. But--which is not +noticed--if [Alpha] and [delta] should _both_ become negative, diabolical +origin {77} and heretical doctrine, then the church, [Alpha] [delta] [Chi], +is still positive, what it ought to be, unless [Chi] be also negative, or +the people unfaithful to it, in which case it is a bad church. Now, self +and Boole--though I admit I have not asked my partner--are of opinion that +a diabolical church with false doctrine does harm when the people are +faithful, and can do good only when the people are unfaithful. We may be +wrong, but this is what we _do_ think. Accordingly, we have caught nothing, +and can therefore roast nothing of our own: I content myself with roasting +a joint of Mr. Gregg's larder. + +These mathematical vagaries have uses which will justify a large amount of +quotation: and in a score of years this may perhaps be the only attainable +record. I therefore proceed. + +After observing that by this calculus juries (heaven help them! say I) can +calculate damages "almost to a nicety," and further that it is made +abundantly evident that c e x is "the general expression for an +individual," it is noted that the number of the Beast is not given in the +Revelation in words at length, but as [Greek: chxw'].[163] On this the +following remark is made: + +"Can it be possible that we have in this case a specimen given to us of the +arithmetic of heaven, and an expression revealed, which indicates by its +function of addibility, the name of the church in question, and of each +member of it; and by its function of multiplicability the doctrine, the +mission, and the members of the great Synagogue of Apostacy? We merely +propound these questions;--we do not pretend to solve them." + +After a translation in blank verse--a very pretty one--of the 18th Psalm, +the author proceeds as follows, to render it into differential calculus: + +{78} + +"And the whole tells us just this, that David did what he could. He +augmented those elements of his constitution which were (_exceptis +excipiendis_)[164] subject to himself, and the Almighty then augmented his +personal qualities, and his vocational _status_. Otherwise, to throw the +matter into the expression of our notation, the variable e was augmented, +and c x rose proportionally. The law of the variation, according to our +theory, would be thus expressed. The resultant was David the king c e x [c += r?] (who had been David the shepherd boy), and from the conditions of the +theorem we have + + du/de = ce(dx/de) + ex(dc/de)x + cx + +which, in the terms of ordinary language, just means, the increase of +David's educational excellence or qualities--his piety, his prayerfulness, +his humility, obedience, etc.--was so great, that when multiplied by his +original talent and position, it produced a product so great as to be equal +in its amount to royalty, honor, wealth, and power, etc.: in short, to all +the attributes of majesty."[165] + +The "solution of the family problem" is of high interest. It is to +determine the effect on the family in general from a change [of conduct] in +one of them. The person chosen is one of the maid-servants. + +"Let c e x be the father; c_1e_1x_1 the mother, etc. The family then +consists of the maid's master, her mistress, her young master, her young +mistress, and fellow servant. Now the master's calling (or c) is to +exercise his share of control over this servant, and mind the rest of his +business: call this remainder a, and let his calling generally, or all his +affairs, be to his maid-servant as m : y, i.e., y = (mz/c); ... {79} and +this expression will represent his relation to the servant. Consequently, + + c e x = (a + mz/c)e x; otherwise (a + mz/c)e x + +is the expression for the father when viewed as the girl's master." + +I have no objection to repeat so far; but I will not give the formula for +the maid's relation to her young master; for I am not quite sure that all +young masters are to be trusted with it. Suffice it that the son will be +affected directly as his influence over her, and inversely as his +vocational power: if then he should have some influence and no vocational +power, the effect on him would be infinite. This is dismal to think of. +Further, the formula brings out that if one servant improve, the other must +deteriorate, and _vice versa_. This is not the experience of most families: +and the author remarks as follows: + +"That is, we should venture to say, a very beautiful result, and we may say +it yielded us no little astonishment. What our calculation might lead to we +never dreamt of; that it should educe a conclusion so recondite that our +unassisted power never could have attained to, and which, if we could have +conjectured it, would have been at best the most distant probability, that +conclusion being itself, as it would appear, the quintessence of truth, +afforded us a measure of satisfaction that was not slight." + +That the writings of Mr. Boole and myself "go to the full justification of" +this "principle," is only true in the sense in which the Scotch use, or did +use, the word _justification_. + + + +A TRIBUTE TO BOOLE. + +[The last number of this Budget had stood in type for months, waiting until +there should be a little cessation of correspondence more connected with +the things of the day. {80} I had quite forgotten what it was to contain; +and little thought, when I read the proof, that my allusions to my friend +Mr. Boole, then in life and health, would not be printed till many weeks +after his death. Had I remembered what my last number contained, I should +have added my expression of regret and admiration to the numerous obituary +testimonials, which this great loss to science has called forth. + +The system of logic alluded to in the last number of this series is but one +of many proofs of genius and patience combined. I might legitimately have +entered it among my _paradoxes_, or things counter to general opinion: but +it is a paradox which, like that of Copernicus, excited admiration from its +first appearance. That the symbolic processes of algebra, invented as tools +of numerical calculation, should be competent to express every act of +thought, and to furnish the grammar and dictionary of an all-containing +system of logic, would not have been believed until it was proved. When +Hobbes,[166] in the time of the Commonwealth, published his _Computation or +Logique_, he had a remote glimpse of some of the points which are placed in +the light of day by Mr. Boole. The unity of the forms of thought in all the +applications of reason, however remotely separated, will one day be matter +of notoriety and common wonder: and Boole's name will be remembered in +connection with one of the most important steps towards the attainment of +this knowledge.] + + + +DECIMALS RUN RIOT. + + The Decimal System as a whole. By Dover Statter.[167] London and + Liverpool, 1856, 8vo. + +{81} + +The proposition is to make everything decimal. The day, now 24 hours, is to +be made 10 hours. The year is to have ten months, Unusber, Duober, etc. +Fortunately there are ten commandments, so there will be neither addition +to, nor deduction from, the moral law. But the twelve apostles! Even +rejecting Judas, there is a whole apostle of difficulty. These points the +author does not touch. + + + +ON PHONETIC SPELLING. + + The first book of Phonetic Reading. London, Fred. Pitman,[168] Phonetic + Depot, 20, Paternoster Row, 1856, 12mo. + + The Phonetic Journal. Devoted to the propagation of phonetic reading, + phonetic longhand, phonetic shorthand, and phonetic printing. No. 46. + Saturday, 15 November 1856. Vol. 15. + +I write the titles of a couple out of several tracts which I have by me. +But the number of publications issued by the promoters of this spirited +attempt is very large indeed.[169] The attempt itself has had no success +with the mass of the public. This I do not regret. Had the world found that +the change was useful, I should have gone contentedly with the stream; but +not without regretting our old language. I admit the difficulties which our +unpronounceable spelling puts in the way of learning to read: and I have no +doubt that, as affirmed, it is easier to teach children phonetically, and +afterwards to introduce them to our common system, than to proceed in the +usual way. But by the usual way I mean proceeding by letters from the very +beginning. If, which I am sure is a better plan, children be taught at the +commencement very much by _complete words_, as if they were learning +Chinese, and be gradually accustomed to {82} resolve the known words into +letters, a fraction, perhaps a considerable one, of the advantage of the +phonetic system is destroyed. It must be remembered that a phonetic system +can only be an approximation. The differences of pronunciation existing +among educated persons are so great, that, on the phonetic system, +different persons ought to spell differently. + +But the phonetic party have produced something which will immortalize their +plan: I mean their _shorthand_, which has had a fraction of the success it +deserves. All who know anything of shorthand must see that nothing but a +phonetic system can be worthy of the name: and the system promulgated is +skilfully done. Were I a young man I should apply myself to it +systematically. I believe this is the only system in which books were ever +published. I wish some one would contribute to a public journal a brief +account of the dates and circumstances of the phonetic movement, not +forgetting a list of the books published in shorthand. + +A child beginning to read by himself may owe terrible dreams and waking +images of horror to our spelling, as I did when six years old. In one of +the common poetry-books there is an admonition against confining little +birds in cages, and the child is asked what if a great giant, amazingly +strong, were to take you away, shut you up, + + And feed you with vic-tu-als you ne-ver could bear. + +The book was hyphened for the beginner's use; and I had not the least idea +that _vic-tu-als_ were _vittles_: by the sound of the word I judged they +must be of iron; and it entered into my soul. + +The worst of the phonetic shorthand book is that they nowhere, so far as I +have seen, give _all_ the symbols, in every stage of advancement, together, +in one or following pages. It is symbols and talk, more symbols and more +talk, etc. A universal view of the signs ought to begin the works. {83} + + + +A HANDFUL OF LITTLE PARADOXERS. + + Ombrological Almanac. Seventeenth year. An essay on Anemology and + Ombrology. By Peter Legh,[170] Esq. London, 1856, 12mo. + +Mr. Legh, already mentioned, was an intelligent country gentleman, and a +legitimate speculator. But the clue was not reserved for him. + + The proof that the three angles of a triangle are equal to two right + angles looked for in the inflation of the circle. By Gen. Perronet + Thompson. London, 1856, 8vo. (pp. 4.) + +Another attempt, the third, at this old difficulty, which cannot be put +into few words of explanation.[171] + + Comets considered as volcanoes, and the cause of their velocity and + other phenomena thereby explained. London (_circa_ 1856), 8vo. + +The title explains the book better than the book explains the title. + + + +1856. A stranger applied to me to know what the ideas of a friend of his +were worth upon the magnitude of the earth. The matter being one involving +points of antiquity, I mentioned various persons whose speculations he +seemed to have ignored; among others, Thales. The reply was, "I am +instructed by the author to inform you that he is perfectly acquainted with +the works of Thales, Euclid, Archimedes, ..." I had some thought of asking +whether he had used the Elzevir edition of Thales,[172] which is known to +be very incomplete, or that of Professor Niemand with the lections, +Nirgend, 1824, 2 vols. folio; just to see whether the {84} last would not +have been the very edition he had read. But I refrained, in mercy. + + + + The moon is the image of the Earth, and is not a solid body. By T^{he} + Longitude.[173] (Private Circulation.) In five parts. London, 1856, + 1857, 1857; Calcutta, 1858, 1858, 8vo. + +The earth is "brought to a focus"; it describes a "looped orbit round the +sun." The eclipse of the sun is thus explained: "At the time of eclipses, +the image is more or less so directly before or behind the earth that, in +the case of new moon, bright rays of the sun fall and bear upon the spot +where the figure of the earth is brought to a focus, that is, bear upon the +image of the earth, when a darkness beyond is produced reaching to the +earth, and the sun becomes more or less eclipsed." How the earth is +"brought to a focus" we do not find stated. Writers of this kind always +have the argument that some things which have been ridiculed at first have +been finally established. Those who put into the lottery had the same kind +of argument; but were always answered by being reminded how many blanks +there were to one prize. I am loath to pronounce against anything: but it +does force itself upon me that the author of these tracts has drawn a +blank. + + + +LUNAR MOTION AGAIN. + + _Times_, April 6 or 7, 1856. The moon has no rotary motion. + +A letter from Mr. Jellinger Symons,[174] inspector of schools, which +commenced a controversy of many letters and pamphlets. This dispute comes +on at intervals, and will continue to do so. It sometimes arises from +inability to understand the character of simple rotation, geometrically; +sometimes from not understanding the mechanical doctrine of rotation. + +{85} + + + + Lunar Motion. The whole argument stated, and illustrated by diagrams; + with letters from the Astronomer Royal. By Jellinger C. Symons. London, + 1856, 8vo. + +The Astronomer Royal endeavored to disentangle Mr. J. C. Symons, but +failed. Mr. Airy[175] can correct the error of a ship's compasses, because +he can put her head which way he pleases: but this he cannot do with a +speculator. + +Mr. Symons, in this tract, insinuated that the rotation of the moon is one +of the silver shrines of the craftsmen. To see a thing so clearly as to be +satisfied that all who say they do not see it are telling wilful falsehood, +is the nature of man. Many of all sects find much comfort in it, when they +think of the others; many unbelievers solace themselves with it against +believers; priests of old time founded the right of persecution upon it, +and of our time, in some cases, the right of slander: many of the +paradoxers make it an argument against students of science. But I must say +for men of science, for the whole body, that they are fully persuaded of +the honesty of the paradoxers. The simple truth is, that all those I have +mentioned, believers, unbelievers, priests, paradoxers, are not so sure +they are right in their points of difference that they can safely allow +themselves to be persuaded of the honesty of opponents. Those who know +demonstration are differently situated. I suspect a train might be laid for +the formation of a better habit in this way. We know that Suvaroff[176] +taught his Russians at Ismail not to fear the Turks by accustoming them to +charge bundles of faggots dressed in turbans, etc. + + At which your wise men sneered in phrases witty, + He made no answer--but he took the city! + +Would it not be a good thing to exercise boys, in pairs, in the following +dialogue:--Sir, you are quite wrong!--Sir, {86} I am sure you honestly +think so! This was suggested by what used to take place at Cambridge in my +day. By statute, every B.A. was obliged to perform a certain number of +disputations, and the _father_ of the college had to affirm that it had +been done. Some were performed in earnest: the rest were huddled over as +follows. Two candidates occupied the places of the respondent and the +opponent: _Recte statuit Newtonus_, said the respondent: _Recte non statuit +Newtonus_,[177] said the opponent. This was repeated the requisite number +of times, and counted for as many _acts_ and _opponencies_. The parties +then changed places, and each unsaid what he had said on the other side of +the house: I remember thinking that it was capital drill for the House of +Commons, if any of us should ever get there. The process was repeated with +every pair of candidates. + +The real disputations were very severe exercises. I was badgered for two +hours with arguments given and answered in Latin,--or what we called +Latin--against Newton's first section, Lagrange's[178] derived functions, +and Locke[179] on innate principles. And though I _took off_ everything, +and was pronounced by the moderator to have disputed _magno honore_,[180] I +never had such a strain of thought in my life. For the inferior opponents +were made as sharp as their betters by their tutors, who kept lists of +queer objections, drawn from all quarters. The opponents used to meet the +day before to compare their arguments, that the same might not come twice +over. But, after I left Cambridge, it became the fashion to invite the +respondent to be present, who therefore learnt all that was to be brought +against him. This made the whole thing a farce: and the disputations were +abolished. + +{87} + + + + The Doctrine of the Moon's Rotation, considered in a letter to the + Astronomical Censor of the _Athenaeum_. By Jones L. MacElshender.[181] + Edinburgh, 1856, 8vo. + +This is an appeal to those cultivated persons who will read it "to overrule +the _dicta_ of judges who would sacrifice truth and justice to professional +rule, or personal pique, pride, or prejudice"; meaning, the great mass of +those who have studied the subject. But how? Suppose the "cultivated +persons" were to side with the author, would those who have conclusions to +draw and applications to make consent to be wrong because the "general body +of intelligent men," who make no special study of the subject, are against +them? They would do no such thing: they would request the general body of +intelligent men to find their own astronomy, and welcome. But the truth is, +that this intelligent body knows better: and no persons know better that +they know better than the speculators themselves. + +But suppose the general body were to combine, in opposition to those who +have studied. Of course all my list must be admitted to their trial; and +then arises the question whether both sides are to be heard. If so, the +general body of the intelligent must hear all the established side have to +say: that is, they must become just as much of students as the inculpated +orthodox themselves. And will they not then get into _professional rule_, +pique, pride, and prejudice, as the others did? But if, which I suspect, +they are intended to judge as they are, they will be in a rare difficulty. +All the paradoxers are of like pretensions: they cannot, as a class, be +right, for each one contradicts a great many of the rest. There will be the +puzzle which silenced the crew of the cutter in Marryat's novel of the Dog +Fiend.[182] "A tog is a tog," said Jansen.--"Yes," replied another, "we all +know a dog is a dog; but the question is--Is _this_ dog {88} a dog?" And +this question would arise upon every dog of them all. + + + +ZETETIC ASTRONOMY. + + Zetetic Astronomy: Earth not a globe. 1857 (Broadsheet). + +Though only a traveling lecturer's advertisement, there are so many +arguments and quotations that it is a little pamphlet. The lecturer gained +great praise from provincial newspapers for his ingenuity in proving that +the earth is a flat, surrounded by ice. Some of the journals rather incline +to the view: but the _Leicester Advertiser_ thinks that the statements +"would seem very seriously to invalidate some of the most important +conclusions of modern astronomy," while the _Norfolk Herald_ is clear that +"there must be a great error on one side or the other." This broadsheet is +printed at Aylesbury in 1857, and the lecturer calls himself _Parallax_: +but at Trowbridge, in 1849, he was S. Goulden.[183] In this last +advertisement is the following announcement: "A paper on the above subjects +was read before the Council and Members of the Royal Astronomical Society, +Somerset House, Strand, London (Sir John F. W. Herschel,[184] President), +Friday, Dec. 8, 1848." No account of such a paper appears in the _Notice_ +for that month: I suspect that the above is Mr. S. Goulden's way of +representing the following occurrence: Dec. 8, 1848, the Secretary of the +Astronomical Society (De Morgan by name) said, at the close of the +proceedings,--"Now, gentlemen, if you will promise not to tell the Council, +I will read something for your amusement": and he then read a few of the +arguments which had been transmitted by the lecturer. The fact is worth +noting that from 1849 to 1857, arguments on the roundness or flatness of +the earth did itinerate. I have {89} no doubt they did much good: for very +few persons have any distinct idea of the evidence for the rotundity of the +earth. The _Blackburn Standard_ and _Preston Guardian_ (Dec. 12 and 16, +1849) unite in stating that the lecturer ran away from his second lecture +at Burnley, having been rather too hard pressed at the end of his first +lecture to explain why the large hull of a ship disappeared before the +sails. The persons present and waiting for the second lecture assuaged +their disappointment by concluding that the lecturer had slipped off the +icy edge of his flat disk, and that he would not be seen again till he +peeped up on the opposite side. + +But, strange as it may appear, the opposer of the earth's roundness has +more of a case--or less of a want of case--than the arithmetical squarer of +the circle. The evidence that the earth is round is but cumulative and +circumstantial: scores of phenomena ask, separately and independently, what +other explanation can be imagined except the sphericity of the earth. The +evidence for the earth's figure is tremendously powerful of its kind; but +the proof that the circumference is 3.14159265... times the diameter is of +a higher kind, being absolute mathematical demonstration. + +The Zetetic system still lives in lectures and books; as it ought to do, +for there is no way of teaching a truth comparable to opposition. The last +I heard of it was in lectures at Plymouth, in October, 1864. Since this +time a prospectus has been issued of a work entitled "The Earth not a +Globe"; but whether it has been published I do not know. The contents are +as follows: + + + +"The Earth a Plane--How circumnavigated.--How time is lost or gained.--Why +a ship's hull disappears (when outward bound) before the mast head.--Why +the Polar Star sets when we proceed Southward, etc.--Why a pendulum +vibrates with less velocity at the Equator than {90} at the Pole.--The +allowance for rotundity _supposed_ to be made by surveyors, not made in +practice.--Measurement of Arcs of the Meridian unsatisfactory.--Degrees of +Longitude North and South of the Equator considered.--Eclipses and Earth's +form considered.--The Earth no motion on axis or in orbit.--How the Sun +moves above the Earth's surface concentric with the North Pole.--Cause of +Day and Night, Winter and Summer; the long alternation of light and +darkness at the Pole.--Cause of the Sun rising and setting.--Distance of +the Sun from London, 4,028 miles--How measured.--_Challenge to +Mathematicians._--Cause of Tides.--Moon self-luminous, NOT a +reflector.--Cause of Solar and Lunar eclipses.--Stars _not worlds_; their +distance.--Earth, the _only material_ world; its true position in the +universe; its condition and ultimate destruction by fire (2 Peter iii.), +etc." + +I wish there were geoplatylogical lectures in every town; in England +(_platylogical_, in composition, need not mean _babbling_). The late Mr. +Henry Archer[185] would, if alive, be very much obliged to me for recording +his vehement denial of the roundness of the earth: he was excited if he +heard any one call it a globe. I cannot produce his proof from the +Pyramids, and from some caves in Arabia. He had other curious notions, of +course: I should no more believe that a flat earth was a man's only +paradox, than I should that Dutens,[186] the editor of Leibnitz, was +eccentric only in supplying a tooth which he had lost by one which he found +in an Italian tomb, and fully believed that it had once belonged to Scipio +Africanus, whose family vault was discovered, it is supposed, in 1780. Mr. +Archer is of note as {91} the suggester of the perforated border of the +postage-stamps, and, I think, of the way of doing it; for this he got +4000l. reward. He was a civil engineer. + +(_August 28, 1865._) The _Zetetic Astronomy_ has come into my hands. When, +in 1851, I went to see the Great Exhibition, I heard an organ played by a +performer who seemed very desirous to exhibit one particular stop. "What do +you think of that stop?" I was asked.--"That depends on the name of it," +said I.--"Oh! what can the name have to do with the sound? 'that which we +call a rose,' etc."--"The name has everything to do with it: if it be a +flute-stop, I think it very harsh; but if it be a railway-whistle-stop, I +think it very sweet." So as to this book: if it be childish, it is clever; +if it be mannish, it is unusually foolish. The flat earth, floating +tremulously on the sea; the sun moving always over the flat, giving day +when near enough, and night when too far off; the self-luminous moon, with +a semi-transparent invisible moon, created to give her an eclipse now and +then; the new law of perspective, by which the vanishing of the hull before +the masts, usually thought to prove the earth globular, really proves it +flat;--all these and other things are well fitted to form exercises for a +person who is learning the elements of astronomy. The manner in which the +sun dips into the sea, especially in tropical climates, upsets the whole. +Mungo Park,[187] I think, gives an African hypothesis which explains +phenomena better than this. The sun dips into the western ocean, and the +people there cut him in pieces, fry him in a pan, and then join him +together again, take him round the underway, and set him up in the east. I +hope this book will be read, and that many will be puzzled by it: for there +are many whose notions of astronomy deserve no better fate. There is no +subject on which there is so little {92} accurate conception as that of the +motions of the heavenly bodies. The author, though confident in the +extreme, neither impeaches the honesty of those whose opinions he assails, +nor allots them any future inconvenience: in these points he is worthy to +live on a globe, and to revolve in twenty-four hours. + + + +(_October, 1866._) A follower appears, in a work dedicated to the preceding +author: it is _Theoretical Astronomy examined and exposed by Common Sense_. +The author has 128 well-stuffed octavo pages. I hope he will not be the +last. He prints the newspaper accounts of his work: the _Church Times_ +says--not seeing how the satire might be retorted--"We never began to +despair of Scripture until we discovered that 'Common Sense' had taken up +the cudgels in its defence." This paper considers our author as the type of +a _Protestant_. The author himself, who gives a summary of his arguments in +verse, has one couplet which is worth quoting: + + "How is't that sailors, bound to sea, with _a 'globe'_ would never start, + But in its place will always take _Mercator's_[188] LEVEL _chart_!" + +To which I answer: + + Why, really Mr. Common Sense, you've never got so far + As to think Mercator's planisphere shows countries as they are; + It won't do to measure distances; it points out how to steer, + But this distortion's not for you; another is, I fear. + The earth must be a cylinder, if seaman's charts be true, + Or else the boundaries, right and left, are one as well as two; + They contradict the notion that we dwell upon a plain, + For straight away, without a turn, will bring you home again. + There are various plane projections; and each one has its use: + I wish a milder word would rhyme--but really you're a goose! + +The great wish of persons who expose themselves as above, is to be argued +with, and to be treated as reputable {93} and refutable opponents. "Common +Sense" reminds us that no amount of "blatant ridicule" will turn right into +wrong. He is perfectly correct: but then no amount of bad argument will +turn wrong into right. These two things balance; and we are just where we +were: but you should answer our arguments, for whom, I ask? Would reason +convince this kind of reasoner? The issue is a short and a clear one. If +these parties be what I contend they are, then ridicule is made for them: +if not, for what or for whom? If they be right, they are only passing +through the appointed trial of all good things. Appeal is made to the +future: and my Budget is intended to show samples of the long line of +heroes who have fallen without victory, each of whom had his day of +confidence and his prophecy of success. Let the future decide: they say +roundly that the earth is flat; I say flatly that it is round. + +The paradoxers all want reason, and not ridicule: they are all accessible, +and would yield to conviction. Well then, let them reason with one another! +They divide into squads, each with a subject, and as many different +opinions as persons in each squad. If they be really what they say they +are, the true man of each set can put down all the rest, and can come +crowned with glory and girdled with scalps, to the attack on the orthodox +misbelievers. But they know, to a man, that the rest are not fit to be +reasoned with: they pay the regulars the compliment of believing that the +only chance lies with them. They think in their hearts, each one for +himself, that ridicule is of fit appliance to the rest. + + + + Miranda. A book divided into three parts, entitled Souls, Numbers, + Stars, on the Neo-Christian Religion ... Vol. i. London, 1858, 1859, + 1860. 8vo. + +The name of the author is Filopanti.[189] He announces himself as the 49th +and last Emanuel: his immediate {94} predecessors were Emanuel Washington, +Emanuel Newton, and Emanuel Galileo. He is to collect nations into one +family. He knows the transmigrations of the whole human race. Thus +Descartes became William III of England: Roger Bacon became Boccaccio. But +Charles IX,[190] in retribution for the massacre of St. Bartholomew, was +hanged in London under the name of Barthelemy for the murder of Collard: +and many of the Protestants whom he killed as King of France were shouting +at his death before the Old Bailey. + + + +THE SABBATH--THE GREAT PYRAMID + + A Letter to the members of the Anglo-Biblical Institute, dated Sept. 7, + 1858, and signed 'Herman Heinfetter.'[191] (Broadsheet.) + +This gentleman is well known to the readers of the _Athenaeum_, in which, +for nearly twenty years, he has inserted, as advertisements, long arguments +in favor of Christians keeping the Jewish Sabbath, beginning on Friday +Evening. The present letter maintains that, by the force of the definite +article, the _days_ of creation may not be consecutive, but may have any +time--millions of years--between them. This ingenious way of reconciling +the author of Genesis and the indications of geology is worthy to be added +to the list, already pretty numerous. Mr. Heinfetter has taken such pains +to make himself a public agitator, that {95} I do not feel it to be any +invasion of private life if I state that I have heard he is a large +corn-dealer. No doubt he is a member of the congregation whose almanac has +already been described. + + + + The great Pyramid. Why was it built? And who built it? By John Taylor, + 1859,[192] 12mo. + +This work is very learned, and may be referred to for the history of +previous speculations. It professes to connect the dimensions of the +Pyramid with a system of metrology which is supposed to have left strong +traces in the systems of modern times; showing the Egyptians to have had +good approximate knowledge of the dimensions of the earth, and of the +quadrature of the circle. These are points on which coincidence is hard to +distinguish from intention. Sir John Herschel[193] noticed this work, and +gave several coincidences, in the _Athenaeum_, Nos. 1696 and 1697, April 28 +and May 5, 1860: and there are some remarks by Mr. Taylor in No. 1701, June +2, 1860. + +Mr. Taylor's most recent publication is-- + + The battle of the Standards: the ancient, of four thousand years, + against the modern, of the last fifty years--the less perfect of the + two. London, 1864, 12mo. + +This is intended as an appendix to the work on the Pyramid. Mr. Taylor +distinctly attributes the original system to revelation, of which he says +the Great Pyramid is the record. We are advancing, he remarks, towards the +end of the Christian dispensation, and he adds that it is satisfactory to +see that we retain the standards which were given by unwritten revelation +700 years before Moses. This is lighting the candle at both ends; for +myself, I shall not undertake to deny or affirm either what is said about +the dark past or what is hinted about the dark future. + +{96} + +My old friend Mr. Taylor is well known as the author of the argument which +has convinced many, even most, that Sir Philip Francis[194] was Junius: +pamphlet, 1813; supplement, 1817; second edition "The Identity of Junius +with a distinguished living character established," London, 1818, 8vo. He +told me that Sir Philip Francis, in a short conversation with him, made +only this remark, "You may depend upon it you are quite mistaken:" the +phrase appears to me remarkable; it has an air of criticism on the book, +free from all personal denial. He also mentioned that a hearer told him +that Sir Philip said, speaking of writers on the question,--"Those fellows, +for half-a-crown, would prove that Jesus Christ was Junius." + +Mr. Taylor implies, I think, that he is the first who started the +suggestion that Sir Philip Francis was Junius, which I have no means either +of confirming or refuting. If it be so [and I now know that Mr. Taylor +himself never heard of any predecessor], the circumstance is very +remarkable: it is seldom indeed that the first proposer of any solution of +a great and vexed question is the person who so nearly establishes his +point in general opinion as Mr. Taylor has done. + +As to the Junius question in general, there is a little bit of the +philosophy of horse-racing which may be usefully applied. A man who is so +confident of his horse that he places him far above any other, may +nevertheless, and does, refuse to give odds against all in the field: for +many small adverse chances united make a big chance for one or other of the +opponents. I suspect Mr. Taylor has made it at least 20 to 1 for Francis +against any one competitor who has been named: but what the odds may be +against the {97} whole field is more difficult to settle. What if the real +Junius should be some person not yet named? + +Mr. Jopling, _Leisure Hour_, May 23, 1863, relies on the porphyry coffer of +the Great Pyramid, in which he finds "the most ancient and accurate +standard of measure in existence." + +I am shocked at being obliged to place a thoughtful and learned writer, and +an old friend, before such a successor as he here meets with. But +chronological arrangement defies all other arrangement. + +(I had hoped that the preceding account would have met Mr. Taylor's eye in +print: but he died during the last summer. For a man of a very thoughtful +and quiet temperament, he had a curious turn for vexed questions. But he +reflected very long and very patiently before he published: and all his +works are valuable for their accurate learning, whichever side the reader +may take.) + + + +MRS. ELIZABETH COTTLE. + +1859. _The Cottle Church._--For more than twenty years printed papers have +been sent about in the name of Elizabeth Cottle.[195] It is not so +remarkable that such papers should be concocted as that they should +circulate for such a length of time without attracting public attention. +Eighty years ago Mrs. Cottle might have rivalled Lieut. Brothers or Joanna +Southcott.[196] Long hence, when the now current volumes of our journals +are well-ransacked works of reference, those who look into them will be +glad to see this {98} feature of our time: I therefore make a few extracts, +faithfully copied as to type. The Italic is from the New Testament; the +Roman is the requisite interpretation: + +"Robert Cottle '_was numbered_ (5196) _with the transgressors_' at the back +of the Church in Norwood Cemetery, May 12, 1858--Isa. liii. 12. The Rev. +J. G. Collinson, Minister of St. James's Church, Chapham, the then district +church, before All Saints was built, read the funeral service _over the +Sepulchre wherein never before man was laid_. + +"_Hewn on the stone_, 'at the mouth of the Sepulchre,' is his name,--Robert +Cottle, born at Bristol, June 2, 1774; died at Kirkstall Lodge, Clapham +Park, May 6, 1858. _And that day_ (May 12, 1858) _was the preparation_ (day +and year for 'the PREPARED place for you'--Cottleites---by the widowed +mother of the Father's house, at Kirkstall Lodge--John xiv. 2, 3). _And the +Sabbath_ (Christmas Day, Dec. 25, 1859) _drew on_ (for the resurrection of +the Christian body on 'the third [Protestant Sun]-day'--1 Cor. xv. 35). +_Why seek ye the living_ (God of the New Jerusalem--Heb. xii. 22; Rev. iii. +12) _among the dead_ (men): _he_ (the God of Jesus) _is not here_ (in the +grave), _but is risen_ (in the person of the Holy Ghost, from the supper of +'the dead in the second death' of Paganism). _Remember how he spake unto +you_ (in the church of the Rev. George Clayton,[197] April 14, 1839). _I +will not drink henceforth_ (at this last Cottle supper) _of the fruit of +this_ (Trinity) _vine, until that day_ (Christmas Day, 1859), _when I_ +(Elizabeth Cottle) _drink it new with you_ (Cottleites) _in my Father's +kingdom_--John xv. _If this_ (Trinitarian) _cup may not pass away from me_ +(Elizabeth Cottle, April 14, 1839), _except I drink it_ ('new with you +Cottleites, in my Father's Kingdom'), _thy will be done_--Matt. xxvi. 29, +42, 64. 'Our Father which art (God) in Heaven,' _hallowed be thy name, thy_ +(Cottle) _kingdom_ {99} _come, thy will be done in earth, as it is_ (done) +_in_ (the new) _Heaven_ (and new earth of the new name of Cottle--Rev. xxi. +1; iii. 12). + +"... Queen Elizabeth, from A.D. 1558 to 1566. _And this_ WORD _yet once +more_ (by a second Elizabeth--the WORD of his oath) _signifieth_ (at John +Scott's baptism of the Holy Ghost) _the removing of those things_ (those +Gods and those doctrines) _that are made_ (according to the Creeds and +Commandments of men) _that those things_ (in the moral law of God) _which +cannot be shaken_ (as a rule of faith and practice) _may remain, wherefore +we receiving_ (from Elizabeth) _a kingdom_ (of God,) _which cannot be +moved_ (by Satan) _let us have grace_ (in his Grace of Canterbury) _whereby +we may serve God acceptably_ (with the acceptable sacrifice of Elizabeth's +body and blood of the communion of the Holy Ghost) _with reverence_ (for +truth) _and godly fear_ (of the unpardonable sin of blasphemy against the +Holy Ghost) _for our God_ (the Holy Ghost) _is a consuming fire_ (to the +nation that will not serve him in the Cottle Church). We cannot defend +ourselves against the Almighty, and if He is our defence, no nation can +invade us. + +"In verse 4 the Church of St. Peter is _in prison between four quaternions +of soldiers_--the Holy Alliance of 1815. Rev. vii. i. Elizabeth, _the Angel +of the Lord_ Jesus _appears_ to the Jewish and Christian body with _the +vision_ of prophecy to the Rev. Geo. Clayton and his clerical brethren, +April 8th, 1839. _Rhoda_ was the name of her maid at Putney Terrace who +used _to open the door to her Peter_, the Rev. Robert Ashton,[198] the +Pastor of 'the little flock' 'of 120 names together, assembled in an upper +(school) room' at Putney Chapel, to which little flock she gave the +revelation (Acts. i. 13, 15) _of Jesus the same_ King of the Jews +_yesterday_ at the prayer meeting, Dec. 31, 1841, _and to-day_, {100} Jan. +1, 1842, _and for ever_. See book of Life, page 24. Matt. xviii. 19, xxi. +13-16. In verse 6 the Italian body of St. Peter _is sleeping_ 'in the +second death' _between the two_ Imperial _soldiers_ of France and Austria. +The Emperor of France from Jan. 1, to July 11, 1859, causes the Italian +_chains of St. Peter to fall off from his_ Imperial _hands_. + +"_I say unto thee_, Robert Ashton, _thou art Peter_, a stone, _and upon +this rock_, of truth, _will I_ Elizabeth, the angel of Jesus, _build my_ +Cottle _Church, and the gates of hell_, the doors of St. Peter, at Rome, +shall not prevail against it--Matt. xvi. 18. Rev. iii. 7-12." + +This will be enough for the purpose. When any one who pleases can circulate +new revelations of this kind, uninterrupted and unattended to, new +revelations will cease to be a good investment of excentricity. I take it +for granted that the gentlemen whose names are mentioned have nothing to do +with the circulars or their doctrines. Any lady who may happen to be +intrusted with a revelation may nominate her own pastor, or any other +clergyman, one of her apostles; and it is difficult to say to what court +the nominees can appeal to get the commission abrogated. + +_March 16, 1865._ During the last two years the circulars have continued. +It is hinted that funds are low: and two gentlemen who are represented as +gone "to Bethlehem asylum in despair" say that Mrs. Cottle "will spend all +that she hath, while Her Majesty's Ministers are flourishing on the wages +of sin." The following is perhaps one of the most remarkable passages in +the whole: + +"_Extol and magnify Him_ (Jehovah, the Everlasting God, see the Magnificat +and Luke i. 45, 46--68--73--79), _that rideth_ (by rail and steam over land +and sea, from his holy habitation at Kirkstall Lodge, Psa. lxxvii. 19, 20), +_upon the_ (Cottle) _heavens, as it were_ (Sept. 9, 1864, see pages 21, +170), _upon an_ (exercising, Psa. cxxxi. 1), _horse_-(chair, bought of Mr. +John Ward, Leicester-square)." {101} + +I have pretty good evidence that there is a clergyman who thinks Mrs. +Cottle a very sensible woman. + +[_The Cottle Church._ Had I chanced to light upon it at the time of +writing, I should certainly have given the following. A printed letter to +the _Western Times_, by Mr. Robert Cottle, was accompanied by a manuscript +letter from Mrs. Cottle, apparently a circular. The date was Nov^{r}. 1853, +and the subject was the procedure against Mr. Maurice[199] at King's +College for doubting that God would punish human sins by an existence of +torture lasting through years numbered by millions of millions of millions +of millions (repeat the word _millions_ without end,) etc. The memory of +Mr. Cottle has, I think, a right to the quotation: he seems to have been no +participator in the notions of his wife: + +"The clergy of the Established Church, taken at the round number of 20,000, +may, in their first estate, be likened to 20,000 gold blanks, destined to +become sovereigns, in succession,--they are placed between the matrix of +the Mint, when, by the pressure of the screw, they receive the impress that +fits them to become part of the current coin of the realm. In a way +somewhat analogous this great body of the clergy have each passed through +the crucibles of Oxford and Cambridge,--have been assayed by the Bishop's +chaplain, touching the health of their souls, and the validity of their +call by the Divine Spirit, and then the gentle pressure of a prelate's hand +upon their heads; and the words--'Receive the Holy Ghost,' have, in a brief +space of time, wrought a {102} change in them, much akin to the miracle of +transubstantiation--the priests are completed, and they become the current +ecclesiastical coin of our country. The whole body of clergy, here spoken +of, have undergone the preliminary induction of baptism and confirmation; +and all have been duly ordained, _professing_ to hold one faith, and to +believe in the selfsame doctrines! In short, to be as identical as the +20,000 sovereigns, if compared one with the other. But mind is not +malleable and ductile, like gold; and all the preparations of tests, +creeds, and catechisms will not insure uniformity of belief. No stamp of +orthodoxy will produce the same impress on the minds of different men. +Variety is manifest, and patent, upon everything mental and material. The +Almighty has not created, nor man fashioned, two things alike! How futile, +then, is the attempt to shape and mould man's apprehension of divine truth +by one fallible standard of man's invention! If proof of this be required, +an appeal might be made to history and the experience of eighteen hundred +years." + +This is an argument of force against the reasonableness of expecting tens +of thousands of educated readers of the New Testament to find the doctrine +above described in it. The lady's argument against the doctrine itself is +very striking. Speaking of an outcry on this matter among the Dissenters +against one of their body, who was the son of "the White Stone (Rev. ii. +17), or the Roman cement-maker," she says-- + +"If the doctrine for which they so wickedly fight were true, what would +become of the black gentlemen for whose redemption I have been sacrificed +from April 8 1839." + +There are certainly very curious points about this revelation. There have +been many surmises about the final restoration of the infernal spirits, +from the earliest ages of Christianity until our own day: a collection of +them would be worth making. On reading this in proof, I see a possibility +that by "black gentlemen" may be meant the clergy: {103} I suppose my first +interpretation must have been suggested by context: I leave the point to +the reader's sagacity.] + + + +JAMES SMITH, ARCH-PARADOXER. + + The Problem of squaring the circle solved; or, the circumference and + area of the circle discovered. By James Smith.[200] London, 1859, 8vo. + + On the relations of a square inscribed in a circle. Read at the British + Association, Sept. 1859, published in the Liverpool Courier, Oct. 8, + 1859, and reprinted in broadsheet. + + The question: Are there any commensurable relations between a circle + and other Geometrical figures? Answered by a member of the British + Association ... London, 1860, 8vo.--[This has been translated into + French by M. Armand Grange, Bordeaux, 1863, 8vo.] + + The Quadrature of the Circle. Correspondence between an eminent + mathematician and James Smith, Esq. (Member of the Mersey Docks and + Harbour Board), London, 1861, 8vo. (pp. 200). + + Letter to the ... British Association ... by James Smith, Esq. + Liverpool, 1861, 8vo. + + Letter to the ... British Association ... by James Smith, Esq. + Liverpool, 1862, 8vo.--[These letters the author promised to continue.] + + A Nut to crack for the readers of Professor De Morgan's 'Budget of + Paradoxes.' By James Smith, Esq. Liverpool, 1863, 8vo. + + Paper read at the Liverpool Literary and Philosophical Society, + reported in the Liverpool Daily Courier, Jan. 26, 1864. Reprinted as a + pamphlet. + + The Quadrature of the circle, or the true ratio between the diameter + and circumference geometrically and mathematically demonstrated. By + James Smith, Esq. Liverpool, 1865, 8vo. + + {104} + + [On the relations between the dimensions and distances of the Sun, + Moon, and Earth; a paper read before the Literary and Philosophical + Society of Liverpool, Jan. 25, 1864. By James Smith, Esq. + + The British Association in Jeopardy, and Dr. Whewell, the Master of + Trinity, in the stocks without hope of escape. Printed for the authors + (J. S. confessed, and also hidden under _Nauticus_). (No date, 1865). + + The British Association in Jeopardy, and Professor De Morgan in the + Pillory without hope of escape. London, 1866, 8vo.] + +When my work appeared in numbers, I had not anything like an adequate idea +of Mr. James Smith's superiority to the rest of the world in the points in +which he is superior. He is beyond a doubt the ablest head at unreasoning, +and the greatest hand at writing it, of all who have tried in our day to +attach their names to an error. Common cyclometers sink into puny orthodoxy +by his side. + +The behavior of this singular character induces me to pay him the +compliment which Achilles paid Hector, to drag him round the walls again +and again. He was treated with unusual notice and in the most gentle +manner. The unnamed mathematician, E. M. bestowed a volume of mild +correspondence upon him; Rowan Hamilton[201] quietly proved him wrong in a +way accessible to an ordinary schoolboy; Whewell,[202] as we shall see, +gave him the means of seeing himself wrong, even more easily than by +Hamilton's method. Nothing would do; it was small kick and silly fling at +all; and he exposed his conceit by alleging that he, James Smith, had +placed Whewell in the stocks. He will therefore be universally pronounced a +proper object of the severest literary punishment: but the opinion of all +who can put two propositions together will be that of the many strokes I +have given, the hardest and most telling are my republications of his own +attempts to reason. + +He will come out of my hands in the position he ought {105} to hold, the +Supreme Pontiff of cyclometers, the vicegerent of St. Vitus upon earth, the +Mamamouchi of burlesque on inference. I begin with a review of him which +appeared in the _Athenaeum_ of May 11, 1861. Mr. Smith says I wrote it: this +I neither affirm nor deny; to do either would be a sin against the +editorial system elsewhere described. Many persons tell me they know me by +my style; let them form a guess: I can only say that many have declared as +above while fastening on me something which I had never seen nor heard of. + + + + The Quadrature of the Circle: Correspondence between an Eminent + Mathematician and James Smith, Esq. (Edinburgh, Oliver & Boyd; London, + Simpkin, Marshall & Co.) + +"A few weeks ago we were in perpetual motion. We did not then suppose that +anything would tempt us on a circle-squaring expedition: but the +circumstances of the book above named have a peculiarity which induces us +to give it a few words. + +"Mr. James Smith, a gentleman residing near Liverpool, was some years ago +seized with the _morbus cyclometricus_.[203] The symptoms soon took a +defined form: his circumference shrank into exactly 3-1/8 times his +diameter, instead of close to 3-16/113, which the mathematician knows to be +so near to truth that the error is hardly at the rate of a foot in 2,000 +miles. This shrinking of the circumference remained until it became +absolutely necessary that it should be examined by the British Association. +This body, which as Mr. James Smith found to his sorrow, has some interest +in 'jealously guarding the mysteries of their profession,' refused at first +to entertain the question. On this Mr. Smith changed his 'tactics' and the +name of his paper, and smuggled in the subject under the form of 'The +Relations of a Circle inscribed in a Square'! The paper was thus forced +upon the Association, for Mr. Smith informs us that he {106} 'gave the +Section to understand that he was not the man that would permit even the +British Association to trifle with him.' In other words, the Association +bore with and were bored with the paper, as the shortest way out of the +matter. Mr. Smith also circulated a pamphlet. Some kind-hearted man, who +did not know the disorder as well as we do, and who appears in Mr. Smith's +handsome octavo as E. M.--the initials of 'eminent mathematician'--wrote to +him and offered to show him in a page that he was all wrong. Mr. Smith +thereupon opened a correspondence, which is the bulk of the volume. When +the correspondence was far advanced, Mr. Smith announced his intention to +publish. His benevolent instructor--we mean in intention--protested against +the publication, saying 'I do not wish to be gibbeted to the world as +having been foolish enough to enter upon what I feel now to have been a +ridiculous enterprise.' + +"For this Mr. Smith cared nothing: he persisted in the publication, and the +book is before us. Mr. Smith has had so much grace as to conceal his kind +adviser's name under E. M., that is to say, he has divided the wrong among +all who may be suspected of having attempted so hopeless a task as that of +putting a little sense into his head. He has violated the decencies of +private life. Against the will of the kind-hearted man who undertook his +case, he has published letters which were intended for no other purpose +than to clear his poor head of a hopeless delusion. He deserves the +severest castigation; and he will get it: his abuse of confidence will +stick by him all his days. Not that he has done his benefactor--in +intention, again--any harm. The patience with which E. M. put the blunders +into intelligible form, and the perseverance with which he tried to find a +cranny-hole for common reasoning to get in at, are more than respectable: +they are admirable. It is, we can assure E. M., a good thing that the +nature of the circle-squarer should be so completely exposed as in this +volume. The benefit which he intended Mr. James Smith may be {107} +conferred upon others. And we should very much like to know his name, and +if agreeable to him, to publish it. As to Mr. James Smith, we can only say +this: he is not mad. Madmen reason rightly upon wrong premises: Mr. Smith +reasons wrongly upon no premises at all. + +"E. M. very soon found out that, to all appearance, Mr. Smith got a circle +of 3-1/8 times the diameter by making it the supposition to set out with +that there was such a circle; and then finding certain consequences which, +so it happened, were not inconsistent with the supposition on which they +were made. Error is sometimes self-consistent. However, E. M., to be quite +sure of his ground, wrote a short letter, stating what he took to be Mr. +Smith's hypothesis, containing the following: 'On AC as diameter, describe +the circle D, which by hypothesis shall be equal to three and one-eighth +times the length of AC.... I beg, before proceeding further, to ask whether +I have rightly stated your argument.' To which Mr. Smith replied: 'You have +stated my argument with perfect accuracy.' Still E. M. went on, and we +could not help, after the above, taking these letters as the initials of +Everlasting Mercy. At last, however, when Mr. Smith flatly denied that the +area of the circle lies between those of the inscribed and circumscribed +polygons, E. M. was fairly beaten, and gave up the task. Mr. Smith was left +to write his preface, to talk about the certain victory of truth--which, +oddly enough, is the consolation of all hopelessly mistaken men; to compare +himself with Galileo; and to expose to the world the perverse behavior of +the Astronomer Royal, on whom he wanted to fasten a conversation, and who +replied, 'It would be a waste of time, Sir, to listen to anything you could +have to say on such a subject.' + +"Having thus disposed of Mr. James Smith, we proceed to a few remarks on +the subject: it is one which a journal would never originate, but which is +rendered necessary from time to time by the attempts of the autopseustic to +become {108} heteropseustic. To the mathematician we have nothing to say: +the question is, what kind of assurance can be given to the world at large +that the wicked mathematicians are not acting in concert to keep down their +superior, Mr. James Smith, the current Galileo of the quadrature of the +circle. + +"Let us first observe that this question does not stand alone: +independently of the millions of similar problems which exist in higher +mathematics, the finding of the diagonal of a square has just the same +difficulty, namely, the entrance of a pair of lines of which one cannot be +definitely expressed by means of the other. We will show the reader who is +up to the multiplication-table how he may go on, on, on, ever nearer, never +there, in finding the diagonal of a square from the side. + +"Write down the following rows of figures, and more, if you like, in the +way described: + + 1 2 5 12 29 70 169 408 985 + 1 3 7 17 41 99 239 577 1393 + +After the second, each number is made up of double the last increased by +the last but one: thus, 5 is 1 more than twice 2, 12 is 2 more than twice +5, 239 is 41 more than twice 99. Now, take out two adjacent numbers from +the upper line, and the one below the first from the lower: as + + 70 169 + 99. + +Multiply together 99 and 169, giving 16,731. If, then, you will say that 70 +diagonals are exactly equal to 99 sides, you are in error about the +diagonal, but an error the amount of which is not so great as the 16,731st +part of the diagonal. Similarly, to say that five diagonals make exactly +seven sides does not involve an error of the 84th part of the diagonal. + +"Now, why has not the question of _crossing the square_ been as celebrated +as that of _squaring the circle_? Merely because Euclid demonstrated the +impossibility of the first {109} question, while that of the second was not +demonstrated, completely, until the last century. + +"The mathematicians have many methods, totally different from each other, +of arriving at one and the same result, their celebrated approximation to +the circumference of the circle. An intrepid calculator has, in our own +time, carried his approximation to what they call 607 decimal places: this +has been done by Mr. Shanks,[204] of Houghton-le-Spring, and Dr. +Rutherford[205] has verified 441 of these places. But though 607 looks +large, the general public will form but a hazy notion of the extent of +accuracy acquired. We have seen, in Charles Knight's[206] _English +Cyclopaedia_, an account of the matter which may illustrate the +unimaginable, though rationally conceivable, extent of accuracy obtained. + +"Say that the blood-globule of one of our animalcules is a millionth of an +inch in diameter. Fashion in thought a globe like our own, but so much +larger that our globe is but a blood-globule in one of its animalcules: +never mind the microscope which shows the creature being rather a bulky +instrument. Call this the first globe _above_ us. Let the first globe above +us be but a blood-globule, as to size, in the animalcule of a still larger +globe, which call the second globe above us. Go on in this way to the +twentieth globe above us. Now go down just as far on the other side. Let +the blood-globule with which we started be a globe peopled with animals +like ours, but rather smaller: {110} and call this the first globe below +us. Take a blood-globule out of this globe, people it, and call it the +second globe below us: and so on to the twentieth globe below us. This is a +fine stretch of progression both ways. Now give the giant of the twentieth +globe _above_ us the 607 decimal places, and, when he has measured the +diameter of his globe with accuracy worthy of his size, let him calculate +the circumference of his equator from the 607 places. Bring the little +philosopher from the twentieth globe _below_ us with his very best +microscope, and set him to see the small error which the giant must make. +He will not succeed, unless his microscopes be much better for his size +than ours are for ours. + +"Now it must be remembered by any one who would laugh at the closeness of +the approximation, that the mathematician generally goes _nearer_; in fact +his theorems have usually no error at all. The very person who is +bewildered by the preceding description may easily forget that if there +were _no error at all_, the Lilliputian of the millionth globe below us +could not find a flaw in the Brobdingnagian of the millionth globe above. +The three angles of a triangle, of perfect accuracy of form, are +_absolutely_ equal to two right angles; no stretch of progression will +detect _any_ error. + +"Now think of Mr. Lacomme's mathematical adviser (_ante_, Vol. I, p. 46) +making a difficulty of advising a stonemason about the quantity of pavement +in a circular floor! + +"We will now, for our non-calculating reader, put the matter in another +way. We see that a circle-squarer can advance, with the utmost confidence, +the assertion that when the diameter is 1,000, the circumference is +accurately 3,125: the mathematician declaring that it is a trifle more than +3,141-1/2. If the squarer be right, the mathematician has erred by about a +200th part of the whole: or has not kept his accounts right by about 10s. +in every 100l. Of course, if he set out with such an error he will +accumulate blunder upon blunder. Now, if there be a process in which {111} +close knowledge of the circle is requisite, it is in the prediction of the +moon's place--say, as to the time of passing the meridian at Greenwich--on +a given day. We cannot give the least idea of the complication of details: +but common sense will tell us that if a mathematician cannot find his way +round the circle without a relative error four times as big as a +stockbroker's commission, he must needs be dreadfully out in his attempt to +predict the time of passage of the moon. Now, what is the fact? His error +is less than a second of time, and the moon takes 27 days odd to revolve. +That is to say, setting out with 10s. in 100l. of error in his +circumference, he gets within the fifth part of a farthing in 100l. in +predicting the moon's transit. Now we cannot think that the respect in +which mathematical science is held is great enough--though we find it not +small--to make this go down. That respect is founded upon a notion that +right ends are got by right means: it will hardly be credited that the +truth can be got to farthings out of data which are wrong by shillings. +Even the celebrated Hamilton[207] of Edinburgh, who held that in +mathematics there was no way of going wrong, was fully impressed with the +belief that this was because error was avoided from the beginning. He never +went so far as to say that a mathematician who begins wrong must end right +somehow. + +"There is always a difficulty about the mode in which the thinking man of +common life is to deal with subjects he has not studied to a professional +extent. He must form opinions on matters theological, political, legal, +medical, and social. If he can make up his mind to choose a guide, there +is, of course, no perplexity: but on all the subjects mentioned the +direction-posts point different ways. Now why should he not form his +opinion upon an abstract mathematical question? Why not conclude that, as +to the circle, it is possible Mr. James Smith may be the man, just {112} as +Adam Smith[208] was the man of things then to come, or Luther, or Galileo? +It is true that there is an unanimity among mathematicians which prevails +in no other class: but this makes the chance of their all being wrong only +different in degree. And more than this, is it not generally thought among +us that priests and physicians were never so much wrong as when there was +most appearance of unanimity among them? To the preceding questions we see +no answer except this, that the individual inquirer may as rationally +decide a mathematical question for himself as a theological or a medical +question, so soon as he can put himself into a position in mathematics, +level with that in which he stands in theology or medicine. The every-day +thought and reading of common life have a certain resemblance to the +thought and reading demanded by the learned faculties. The research, the +balance of evidence, the estimation of probabilities, which are used in a +question of medicine, are closely akin in character, however different the +matter of application, to those which serve a merchant to draw his +conclusions about the markets. But the mathematicians have methods of their +own, to which nothing in common life bears close analogy, as to the nature +of the results or the character of the conclusions. The logic of +mathematics is certainly that of common life: but the data are of a +different species; they do not admit of doubt. An expert arithmetician, +such as is Mr. J. Smith, may fancy that calculation, merely as such, is +mathematics: but the value of his book, and in this point of view it is not +small, is the full manner in which it shows that a practised arithmetician, +venturing into the field of mathematical demonstration, may show himself +utterly destitute of all that distinguishes the reasoning geometrical +investigator from the calculator. + +{113} + +"And further, it should be remembered that in mathematics the power of +verifying results far exceeds that which is found in anything else: and +also the variety of distinct methods by which they can be attained. It +follows from all this that a person who desires to be as near the truth as +he can will not judge the results of mathematical demonstration to be open +to his criticism, in the same degree as results of other kinds. Should he +feel compelled to decide, there is no harm done: his circle may be 3-1/8 +times its diameter, if it please him. But we must warn him that, in order +to get this circle, he must, as Mr. James Smith has done, _make it at +home_: the laws of space and thought beg leave respectfully to decline the +order." + + + +I will insert now at length, from the _Athenaeum_ of June 8, 1861, the easy +refutation given by my deceased friend, with the remarks which precede. + +"Mr. James Smith, of whose performance in the way of squaring the circle we +spoke some weeks ago in terms short of entire acquiescence, has advertised +himself in our columns, as our readers will have seen. He has also +forwarded his letter to the Liverpool _Albion_, with an additional +statement, which he did not make in _our_ journal. He denies that he has +violated the decencies of private life, since his correspondent revised the +proofs of his own letters, and his 'protest had respect only to making his +name public.' This statement Mr. James Smith precedes by saying that we +have treated as true what we well knew to be false: and he follows by +saying that we have not read his work, or we should have known the above +facts to be true. Mr. Smith's pretext is as follows. His correspondent +E. M. says, 'My letters were not intended for publication, and I protest +against their being published,' and he subjoins 'Therefore I must desire +that my name may not be used.' The obvious meaning is that E. M. protested +against the publication altogether, but, judging that Mr. Smith was {114} +determined to publish, desired that his name should not be used. That he +afterwards corrected the proofs merely means that he thought it wiser to +let them pass under his own eyes than to leave them entirely to Mr. Smith. + +"We have received from Sir W. Rowan Hamilton[209] a proof that the +circumference is more than 3-1/8 diameters, requiring nothing but a +knowledge of four books of Euclid. We give it in brief as an exercise for +our juvenile readers to fill up. It reminds us of the old days when real +geometers used to think it worth while seriously to demolish pretenders. +Mr. Smith's fame is now assured: Sir W. R. Hamilton's brief and easy +exposure will procure him notice in connection with this celebrated +problem. + +"It is to be shown that the perimeter of a regular polygon of 20 sides is +greater than 3-1/8 diameters of the circle, and still more, of course, is +the circumference of the circle greater than 3-1/8 diameters. + +"1. It follows from the 4th Book of Euclid, that the rectangle under the +side of a regular decagon inscribed in a circle, and that side increased by +the radius, is equal to the square of the radius. But the product 791 (791 ++ 1280) is less than 1280 x 1280; if then the radius be 1280 the side of +the decagon is greater than 791. + +"2. When a diameter bisects a chord, the square of the chord is equal to +the rectangle under the doubles of the segments of the diameter. But the +product 125 (4 x 1280 - 125) is less than 791 x 791. If then the bisected +chord be a side of the decagon, and if the radius be still 1280, the double +of the lesser segment exceeds 125. + +"3. The rectangle under this doubled segment and the radius is equal to the +square of the side of an inscribed regular polygon of 20 sides. But the +product 125 x 1280 is equal to 400 x 400; therefore, the side of the +last-mentioned polygon is greater than 400, if the radius be still 1280. In +other words, if the radius be represented by the new {115} member 16, and +therefore the diameter by 32, this side is greater than 5, and the +perimeter exceeds 100. So that, finally, if the diameter be 8, the +perimeter of the inscribed regular polygon of 20 sides, and still more the +circumference of the circle, is greater than 25: that is, the circumference +is more than 3-1/8 diameters." + +The last work in the list was thus noticed in the _Athenaeum_, May 27, 1865. + +"Mr. James Smith appears to be tired of waiting for his place in the Budget +of Paradoxes, and accordingly publishes a long letter to Professor De +Morgan, with various prefaces and postscripts. The letter opens by a hint +that the Budget appears at very long intervals, and 'apparently without any +sufficient reason for it.' As Mr. Smith hints that he should like to see +Mr. De Morgan, whom he calls an 'elephant of mathematics,' 'pumping his +brains' 'behind the scenes'--an odd thing for an elephant to do, and an odd +place to do it in--to get an answer, we think he may mean to hint that the +Budget is delayed until the pump has worked successfully. Mr. Smith is +informed that we have had the whole manuscript of the Budget, excepting +only a final summing-up, in our hands since October, 1863. [This does not +refer to the Supplement.] There has been no delay: we knew from the +beginning that a series of historical articles would be frequently +interrupted by the things of the day. Mr. James Smith lets out that he has +never been able to get a private line from Mr. De Morgan in answer to his +communications: we should have guessed it. He says, 'The Professor is an +old bird and not to be easily caught, and by no efforts of mine have I been +able, up to the present moment, either to induce or twit him into a +discussion....' Mr. Smith curtails the proverb: old birds are not to be +caught with _chaff_, nor with _twit_, which seems to be Mr. Smith's word +for his own chaff, and, so long as the first letter is sounded, a very +proper word. Why does he not try a little grain of sense? Mr. Smith +evidently {116} thinks that, in his character as an elephant, the Professor +has not pumped up brain enough to furnish forth a bird. In serious earnest, +Mr. Smith needs no answer. In one thing he excites our curiosity: what is +meant by demonstrating 'geometrically _and_ mathematically?'" + +I now proceed to my original treatment of the case. + + + +Mr. James Smith will, I have no doubt, be the most uneclipsed +circle-squarer of our day. He will not owe this distinction to his being an +influential and respected member of the commercial world of Liverpool, even +though the power of publishing which his means give him should induce him +to issue a whole library upon one paradox. Neither will he owe it to the +pains taken with him by a mathematician who corresponded with him until the +joint letters filled an octavo volume. Neither will he owe it to the notice +taken of him by Sir William Hamilton, of Dublin, who refuted him in a +manner intelligible to an ordinary student of Euclid, which refutation he +calls a remarkable paradox easily explainable, but without explaining it. +What he will owe it to I proceed to show. + +Until the publication of the _Nut to Crack_ Mr. James Smith stood among +circle-squarers in general. I might have treated him with ridicule, as I +have done others: and he says that he does not doubt he shall come in for +his share at the tail end of my Budget. But I can make a better job of him +than so, as Locke would have phrased it: he is such a very striking example +of something I have said on the use of logic that I prefer to make an +example of his writings. On one point indeed he well deserves the +_scutica_,[210] if not the _horribile flagellum_.[211] He tells me that he +will bring his solution to me in such a form as shall compel me to admit it +as _un fait accompli_ [_une faute accomplie?_][212] {117} or leave myself +open to the humiliating charge of mathematical ignorance and folly. He has +also honored me with some private letters. In the first of these he gives +me a "piece of information," after which he cannot imagine that I, "as an +honest mathematician," can possibly have the slightest hesitation in +admitting his solution. There is a tolerable reservoir of modest assurance +in a man who writes to a perfect stranger with what he takes for an +argument, and gives an oblique threat of imputation of dishonesty in case +the argument be not admitted without hesitation; not to speak of the minor +charges of ignorance and folly. All this is blind self-confidence, without +mixture of malicious meaning; and I rather like it: it makes me understand +how Sam Johnson came to say of his old friend Mrs. Cobb,[213]--"I love Moll +Cobb for her impudence." I have now done with my friend's _suaviter in +modo_,[214] and proceed to his _fortiter in re_[215]: I shall show that he +_has_ convicted himself of ignorance and folly, with an honesty and candor +worthy of a better value of [pi]. + +Mr. Smith's method of proving that every circle is 3-1/8 diameters is to +assume that it is so,--"if you dislike the term datum, then, by hypothesis, +let 8 circumferences be exactly equal to 25 diameters,"--and then to show +that every other supposition is thereby made absurd. The right to this +assumption is enforced in the "Nut" by the following analogy: + +"I think you (!) will not dare (!) to dispute my right to this hypothesis, +when I can prove by means of it that every other value of [pi] will lead to +the grossest absurdities; unless indeed, you are prepared to dispute the +right of Euclid to adopt a false line hypothetically for the purpose {118} +of a '_reductio ad absurdum_'[216] demonstration, in pure geometry." + + + +Euclid assumes what he wants to _disprove_, and shows that his _assumption_ +leads to absurdity, and so _upsets itself_. Mr. Smith assumes what he wants +to _prove_, and shows that _his_ assumption makes _other propositions_ lead +to absurdity. This is enough for all who can reason. Mr. James Smith cannot +be argued with; he has the whip-hand of all the thinkers in the world. +Montucla would have said of Mr. Smith what he said of the gentleman who +squared his circle by giving 50 and 49 the same square root, _Il a perdu le +droit d'etre frappe de l'evidence_.[217] + +It is Mr. Smith's habit, when he finds a conclusion agreeing with its own +assumption, to regard that agreement as proof of the assumption. The +following is the "piece of information" which will settle me, if I be +honest. Assuming [pi] to be 3-1/8, he finds out by working instance after +instance that the mean proportional between one-fifth of the area and +one-fifth of eight is the radius. That is, + + if [pi] = 25/8, sqrt(([pi]r^2)/5 . 8/5) = r. + +This "remarkable general principle" may fail to establish Mr. Smith's +quadrature, even in an honest mind, if that mind should happen to know +that, a and b being any two numbers whatever, we need only assume-- + + [pi] = a^2/b, to get at sqrt(([pi]r^2)/a . b/a) = r. + +We naturally ask what sort of glimmer can Mr. Smith have of the subject +which he professes to treat? On this point he has given satisfactory +information. I had mentioned the old problem of finding two mean +proportionals, {119} as a preliminary to the duplication of the cube. On +this mention Mr. Smith writes as follows. I put a few words in capitals; +and I write rq[218] for the sign of the square root, which embarrasses +small type: + +"This establishes the following _infallible_ rule, for finding two mean +proportionals OF EQUAL VALUE, and is more than a preliminary, to the famous +old problem of 'Squaring the circle.' Let any finite number, say 20, and +its fourth part = (1/4)(20) = 5, be given numbers. Then rq(20 x 5) = rq 100 = +10, is their mean proportional. Let this be a given mean proportional TO +FIND ANOTHER MEAN PROPORTIONAL OF EQUAL VALUE. Then + + 20 x [pi]/4 = 20 x 3.125/4 = 20 x .78125 = 15.625 + +will be the first number; as + + 25 : 16 :: rq 20 : rq 8.192: and (rq 8.192)^2 x [pi]/4 = 8.192 x .78125 = + 6.4 + +will be the second number; therefore rq(15.625 x 6.4) = rq 100 = 10, is the +required mean proportional.... Now, my good Sir, however competent you may +be to prove every man a fool [not _every_ man, Mr. Smith! only _some_; pray +learn logical quantification] who now thinks, or in times gone by has +thought, the 'Squaring of the Circle' _a possibility_; I doubt, and, on the +evidence afforded by your Budget, I cannot help doubting, whether you were +ever before competent to find two mean proportionals _by my unique +method_."--(_Nut_, pp. 47, 48.) [That I never was, I solemnly declare!] + +All readers can be made to see the following exposure. When 5 and 20 are +given, x is a mean proportional when in 5, x, 20, 5 is to x as x to 20. And +x must be 10. But x and y are two mean proportionals when in 5, x, y, 20, x +{120} is a mean proportional between 5 and y, and y is a mean proportional +between x and 20. And these means are x = 5 [cuberoot]4, y = 5 +[cuberoot]16. But Mr. Smith finds _one_ mean, finds it _again_ in a +roundabout way, and produces 10 and 10 as the two (equal!) means, in +solution of the "famous old problem." This is enough: if more were wanted, +there is more where this came from. Let it not be forgotten that Mr. Smith +has found a translator abroad, two, perhaps three, followers at home, +and--most surprising of all--a real mathematician to try to set him right. +And this mathematician did not discover the character of the subsoil of the +land he was trying to cultivate until a goodly octavo volume of letters had +passed and repassed. I have noticed, in more quarters than one, an apparent +want of perception of the _full_ amount of Mr. Smith's ignorance: persons +who have not been in contact with the non-geometrical circle-squarers have +a kind of doubt as to whether anybody can carry things so far. But I am an +"old bird" as Mr. Smith himself calls me; a Simorg, an "all-knowing Bird of +Ages" in matters of cyclometry. + +The curious phenomena of thought here exhibited illustrate, as above said, +a remark I have long ago made on the effect of proper study of logic. Most +persons reason well enough on matter to which they are accustomed, and in +terms with which they are familiar. But in unaccustomed matter, and with +use of strange terms, few except those who are practised in the +abstractions of pure logic can be tolerably sure to keep their feet. And +one of the reasons is easily stated: terms which are not quite familiar +partake of the vagueness of the X and Y on which the student of logic +learns to see the formal force of a proposition independently of its +material elements. + +I make the following quotation from my fourth paper on logic in the +_Cambridge Transactions_: + +"The uncultivated reason proceeds by a process almost entirely material. +Though the necessary law of thought {121} must determine the conclusion of +the ploughboy as much as that of Aristotle himself, the ploughboy's +conclusion will only be tolerably sure when the matter of it is such as +comes within his usual cognizance. He knows that geese being all birds does +not make all birds geese, but mainly because there are ducks, chickens, +partridges, etc. A beginner in geometry, when asked what follows from +'Every A is B,' answers 'Every B is A.' That is, the necessary laws of +thought, except in minds which have examined their tools, are not very sure +to work correct conclusions except upon familiar matter.... As the +cultivation of the individual increases, the laws of thought which are of +most usual application are applied to familiar matter with tolerable +safety. But difficulty and risk of error make a new appearance with a new +subject; and this, in most cases, until new subjects are familiar things, +unusual matter common, untried nomenclature habitual; that is, until it is +a habit to be occupied upon a novelty. It is observed that many persons +reason well in some things and badly in others; and this is attributed to +the consequence of employing the mind too much upon one or another subject. +But those who know the truth of the preceding remarks will not have far to +seek for what is often, perhaps most often, the true reason.... I maintain +that logic tends to make the power of reason over the unusual and +unfamiliar more nearly equal to the power over the usual and familiar than +it would otherwise be. The second is increased; but the first is almost +created." + +Mr. James Smith, by bringing ignorance, folly, dishonesty into contact with +my name, in the way of conditional insinuation, has done me a good turn: he +has given me right to a freedom of personal remark which I might have +declined to take in the case of a person who is useful and respected in +matters which he understands. + +Tit for tat is logic all the world over. By the way, what has become of the +rest of the maxim: we never hear it {122} now. When I was a boy, in some +parts of the country at least, it ran thus: + + "Tit for tat; + Butter for fat: + If you kill my dog, + I'll kill your cat." + +He is a glaring instance of the truth of the observations quoted above. I +will answer for it that, at the Mersey Dock Board, he never dreams of +proving that the balance at the banker's is larger than that in the book by +assuming that the larger sum is there, and then proving that the other +supposition--the smaller balance--is upon that assumption, an absurdity. He +never says to another director, How can you dare to refuse me a right to +assume the larger balance, when you yourself, the other day, +said,--Suppose, for argument's sake, we had 80,000l. at the banker's, +though you knew the book only showed 30,000l.? This is the way in which he +has supported his geometrical paradox by Euclid's example: and this is not +the way he reasons at the board; I know it by the character of him as a man +of business which has reached my ears from several quarters. But in +geometry and rational arithmetic he is a smatterer, though expert at +computation; at the board he is a trained man of business. The language of +geometry is so new to him that he does not know what is meant by "two mean +proportionals:" but all the phrases of commerce are rooted in his mind. He +is most unerasably booked in the history of the squaring of the circle, as +the speculator who took a right to assume a proposition for the destruction +of other propositions, on the express ground that Euclid assumes a +proposition to show that it destroys itself: which is as if the curate +should demand permission to throttle the squire because St. Patrick drove +the vermin to suicide to save themselves from slaughter. He is conspicuous +as a speculator who, more visibly than almost any other known to history, +reasoned in a circle by way of reasoning on a circle. But {123} what I have +chiefly to do with is the force of instance which he has lent to my +assertion that men who have not had real training in pure logic are unsafe +reasoners in matter which is not familiar. It is hard to get first-rate +examples of this, because there are few who find the way to the printer +until practice and reflection have given security against the grossest +slips. I cannot but think that his case will lead many to take what I have +said into consideration, among those who are competent to think of the +great mental disciplines. To this end I should desire him to continue his +efforts, to amplify and develop his great principle, that of proving a +proposition by assuming it and taking as confirmation every consequence +that does not contradict the assumption. + +Since my Budget commenced, Mr. Smith has written me notes: the portion +which I have preserved--I suppose several have been mislaid--makes a +hundred and seven pages of note-paper, closely written. To all this I have +not answered one word: but I think I cannot have read fewer than forty +pages. In the last letter the writer informs me that he will not write at +greater length until I have given him an answer, according to the "rules of +good society." Did I not know that for every inch I wrote back he would +return an ell? Surely in vain the net is spread in the eyes of anything +that hath a wing. There were several good excuses for not writing to Mr. J. +Smith: I will mention five. First, I distinctly announced at the beginning +of this Budget that I would not communicate with squarers of the circle. +Secondly, any answer I might choose to give might with perfect propriety be +reserved for this article; had the imputation of incivility been made after +the first note, I should immediately have replied to this effect: but I +presumed it was quite understood. Thirdly, Mr. Smith, by his publication of +E. M.'s letters against the wish of the writer, had put himself out of the +pale of correspondence. Fourthly, he had also gone beyond the rules of good +society in sending {124} letter after letter to a person who had shown by +his silence an intention to avoid correspondence. Fifthly, these same rules +of good society are contrived to be flexible or frangible in extreme cases: +otherwise there would be no living under them; and good society would be +bad. Father Aldrovand has laid down the necessary distinction--"I tell +thee, thou foolish Fleming, the text speaketh but of promises made unto +Christians, and there is in the rubric a special exemption of such as are +made to Welchmen." There is also a rubric to the rules of good society; and +squarers of the circle are among those whom there is special permission not +to answer: they are the wild Welchmen of geometry, who are always +assailing, but never taking, the Garde Douloureuse[219] of the circle. "At +this commentary," proceeds the story, "the Fleming grinned so broadly as to +show his whole case of broad strong white teeth." I know not whether the +Welchman would have done the like, but I hope Mr. James Smith will: and I +hope he has as good a case to show as Wilkin Flammock. For I wish him long +life and long health, and should be very glad to see so much energy +employed in a productive way. I hope he wishes me the same: if not, I will +give him what all his judicious friends will think a good reason for doing +so. His pamphlets and letters are all tied up together, and will form a +curious lot when death or cessation of power to forage among book-shelves +shall bring my little library to the hammer. And this time may not be far +off: for I was X years old in A.D. X^2; not 4 in A.D. 16, nor 5 in A.D. 25, +but still in one case under that law. And now I have made my own age a +problem of quadrature, and Mr. J. Smith may solve it. But I protest against +his method of assuming a result, and making itself prove itself: he might +in this way, as sure as eggs is eggs (a corruption of X is X), make me +1,864 years old, which is a great deal too much. + +{125} + +_April 5, 1864._--Mr. Smith continues to write me long letters, to which he +hints that I am to answer. In his last, of 31 closely written sides of +note-paper, he informs me, with reference to my obstinate silence, that +though I think myself and am thought by others to be a mathematical +Goliath, I have resolved to play the mathematical snail, and keep within my +shell. A mathematical _snail_! This cannot be the thing so called which +regulates the striking of a clock; for it would mean that I am to make Mr. +Smith sound the true time of day, which I would by no means undertake upon +a clock that gains 19 seconds odd in every hour by false quadrature. But he +ventures to tell me that pebbles from the sling of simple truth and common +sense will ultimately crack my shell, and put me _hors de combat_.[220] The +confusion of images is amusing: Goliath turning himself into a snail to +avoid [pi] = 3-1/8, and James Smith, Esq., of the Mersey Dock Board: and +put _hors de combat_--which should have been _cache_[221]--by pebbles from +a sling. If Goliath had crept into a snail-shell, David would have cracked +the Philistine with his foot. There is something like modesty in the +implication that the crack-shell pebble has not yet taken effect; it might +have been thought that the slinger would by this time have been singing-- + + "And thrice [and one-eighth] I routed all my foes, + And thrice [and one-eighth] I slew the slain." + +But he promises to give the public his nut-cracker if I do not, before the +Budget is concluded, "unravel" the paradox, which is the +mathematico-geometrical nut he has given me to crack. Mr. Smith is a crack +man: he will crack his own nut; he will crack my shell; in the mean time he +cracks himself up. Heaven send he do not crack himself into lateral +contiguity with himself. + +On June 27 I received a letter, in the handwriting of Mr. James Smith, +signed Nauticus. I have ascertained {126} that one of the letters to the +_Athenaeum_ signed Nauticus is in the same handwriting. I make a few +extracts: + +"... The important question at issue has been treated by a brace of +mathematical birds with too much levity. It may be said, however, that +sarcasm and ridicule sometimes succeed, where reason fails.... Such a +course is not well suited to a discussion.... For this reason I shall for +the future [this implies there has been a past, so that Nauticus is not +before me for the first time] endeavor to confine myself to dry reasoning +from incontrovertible premises. + +... It appears to me that so far as his theory is concerned he comes off +unscathed. You might have found "a hole in Smith's circle" (have you seen a +pamphlet bearing this title? [I never heard of it until now]), but after +all it is quite possible the hole may have been left by design, for the +purpose of entrapping the unwary." + +[On the publication of the above, the author of the pamphlet obligingly +forwarded a copy to me of _A Hole in Smith's Circle_--by a Cantab: Longman +and Co., 1859, (pp. 15). "It is pity to lose any fun we can get out of the +affair," says my almamaternal brother: to which I add that in such a case +warning without joke is worse than none at all, as giving a false idea of +the nature of the danger. The Cantab takes some absurdities on which I have +not dwelt: but there are enough to afford a Cantab from every college his +own separate hunting ground.] + +Does this hint that his mode of proof, namely, assuming the thing to be +proved, was a design to entrap the unwary? if so, it bangs Banagher. Was +his confounding two mean proportionals with one mean proportional found +twice over a trick of the same intent? if so, it beats cockfighting. That +Nauticus is Mr. Smith appears from other internal evidence. In 1819, Mr. +J. C. Hobhouse[222] was sent to Newgate for a {127} libel on the House of +Commons which was only intended for a libel on Lord Erskine.[223] The +ex-Chancellor had taken Mr. Hobhouse to be thinking of him in a certain +sentence; this Mr. Hobhouse denied, adding, "There is but one man in the +country who is always thinking of Lord Erskine." I say that there is but +one man of our day who would couple me and Mr. James Smith as a "brace of +mathematical birds." + +Mr. Smith's "theory" is unscathed by me. Not a doubt about it: but how does +he himself come off? I should never think of refuting a theory proved by +assumption of itself. I left Mr. Smith's [pi] untouched: or, if I put in my +thumb and pulled out a plum, it was to give a notion of the cook, not of +the dish. The "important question at issue" was not the circle: it was, +wholly and solely, whether the abbreviation of _James_ might be spelled +_Jimm_.[224] This is personal to the verge of scurrility: but in literary +controversy the challenger names the weapons, and Mr. Smith begins with +charge of ignorance, folly, and dishonesty, by conditional implication. So +that the question is, not the personality of a word, but its applicability +to the person designated: it is enough if, as the Latin grammar has it, +_Verbum personale concordat cum nominativo_.[225] + +I may plead precedent for taking a liberty with the orthography of _Jem_. +An instructor of youth was scandalized at the abrupt and irregular--but +very effective--opening of Wordsworth's little piece: + +{128} + + "A simple child + That lightly draws its breath, + And feels its life in every limb, + What should it know of death?" + +So he mended the matter by instructing his pupils to read the first line +thus: + + "A simple child, dear brother ----." + +The brother, we infer from sound, was to be James, and the blank must +therefore be filled up with _Jimb_. + +I will notice one point of the letter, to make a little more distinction +between the two birds. Nauticus lays down--quite correctly--that the sine +of an angle is less than its circular measure. He then takes 3.1416 for +180 deg., and finds that 36' is .010472. But this is exactly what he finds +for the sine of 36' in tables: he concludes that either 3.1416 or the +tables must be wrong. He does not know that sines, as well as [pi], are +interminable decimals, of which the tables, to save printing, only take in +a finite number. He is a six-figure man: let us go thrice again to make up +nine, and we have as follows: + + Circular measure of 36' .010471975... + Sine of 36' .010471784... + Excess of measure over sine .000000191... + +Mr. Smith invites me to say which is wrong, the quadrature, or the tables: +I leave him to guess. He says his assertions "arise naturally and +necessarily out of the arguments of a circle-squarer:" he might just as +well lay down that all the pigs went to market because it is recorded that +"_This_ pig went to market." I must say for circle-squarers that very few +bring their pigs to so poor a market. I answer the above argument because +it is, of all which Mr. James Smith has produced, the only one which rises +to the level of a schoolboy: to meet him halfway I descend to that level. + +Mr. Smith asks me to solve a problem in the _Athenaeum_: {129} and I will do +it, because the question will illustrate what is _below_ schoolboy level. + +"Let x represent the circular measure of an angle of 15 deg., and y half +the sine of an angle of 30 deg. = area of the square on the radius of a +circle of diameter unity = .25. If x - y = xy, firstly, what is the +arithmetical value of xy? secondly, what is the angle of which xy +represents the circular measure?" + +If x represent 15 deg. and y be 1/4, xy represents 3 deg. 45', whether +x - y be xy or no. But, y being 1/4, x - y is _not_ xy unless x be 1/3, +that is, unless 12x or [pi] be 4, which Mr. Smith would not admit. How +could a person who had just received such a lesson as I had given +immediately pray for further exposure, furnishing the stuff so liberally +as this? Is it possible that Mr. Smith, because he signs himself +Nauticus, means to deny his own very regular, legible, and peculiar +hand? It is enough to make the other members of the Liverpool Dock Board +cry, Mersey on the man! + +Mr. Smith says that for the future he will give up what he calls sarcasm, +and confine himself, "as far as possible," to what he calls dry reasoning +from incontrovertible premises. If I have fairly taught him that _his_ +sarcasm will not succeed, I hope he will find that his wit's end is his +logic's beginning. + +I now reply to a question I have been asked again and again since my last +Budget appeared: Why do you take so much trouble to expose such a reasoner +as Mr. Smith? I answer as a deceased friend of mine used to answer on like +occasions--A man's capacity is no measure of his power to do mischief. Mr. +Smith has untiring energy, which does something; self-evident honesty of +conviction, which does more; and a long purse, which does most of all. He +has made at least ten publications, full of figures which few readers can +criticize. A great many people are staggered to this extent, that they +imagine there must be {130} the indefinite _something_ in the mysterious +_all this_. They are brought to the point of suspicion that the +mathematicians ought not to treat "all this" with such undisguised +contempt, at least. Now I have no fear for [pi]: but I do think it possible +that general opinion might in time demand that the crowd of +circle-squarers, etc. should be admitted to the honors of opposition; and +this would be a time-tax of five per cent., one man with another, upon +those who are better employed. Mr. James Smith may be made useful, in hands +which understand how to do it, towards preventing such opinion from +growing. A speculator who expressly assumes what he wants to prove, and +argues that all which contradicts it is absurd, _because_ it cannot stand +side by side with his assumption, is a case which can be exposed to all. +And the best person to expose it is one who has lived in the past as well +as the present, who takes misthinking from points of view which none but a +student of history can occupy, and who has something of a turn for the +business. + +Whether I have any motive but public good must be referred to those who can +decide whether a missionary chooses his pursuit solely to convert the +heathen. I shall certainly be thought to have a little of the spirit of +Col. Quagg, who delighted in strapping the Grace-walking Brethren. I must +quote this myself: if I do not, some one else will, and then where am I? +The Colonel's principle is described as follows: + +"I licks ye because I kin, and because I like, and because ye'se critters +that licks is good for. Skins ye have on, and skins I'll have off; hard or +soft, wet or dry, spring or fall. Walk in grace if ye like till pumpkins is +peaches; but licked ye must be till your toe-nails drop off and your noses +bleed blue ink. And--licked--they--were--accordingly." + +I am reminded of this by the excessive confidence with which Mr. James +Smith predicted that he would treat me as Zephaniah Stockdolloger (Sam +Slick calls it _slockdollager_) treated Goliah Quagg. He has announced his +{131} intention of bringing me, with a contrite heart, and clean +shaved,--4159265... razored down to 25,--to a camp-meeting of +circle-squarers. But there is this difference: Zephaniah only wanted to +pass the Colonel's smithy in peace; Mr. James Smith sought a fight with me. +As soon as this Budget began to appear, he oiled his own strap, and +attempted to treat me as the terrible Colonel would have treated the +inoffensive brother. + +He is at liberty to try again. + + + +THE MOON HOAX. + + The Moon-hoax; or the discovery that the moon has a vast population of + human beings. By Richard Adams Locke.[226] New York, 1859, 8vo. + +This is a reprint of the hoax already mentioned. I suppose R. A. Locke is +the name assumed by M. Nicollet.[227] The publisher informs us that when +the hoax first appeared day by day in a morning paper, the circulation +increased fivefold, and the paper obtained a permanent footing. Besides +this, an edition of 60,000 was sold off in less than one month. + +The discovery was also published under the name of A. R. Grant.[228] +Sohncke's[229] _Bibliotheca Mathematica_ confounds this Grant with Prof. R. +Grant[230] of Glasgow, the author of the _History of Physical Astronomy_, +who is accordingly made to guarantee the discoveries in the moon. I hope +Adams Locke will not merge in J. C. Adams,[231] the co-discoverer of +Neptune. Sohncke gives the titles of {132} three French translations of the +Moon hoax at Paris, of one at Bordeaux, and of Italian translations at +Parma, Palermo, and Milan. + +A Correspondent, who is evidently fully master of details, which he has +given at length, informs me that the Moon hoax appeared first in the _New +York Sun_, of which R. A. Locke was editor. It so much resembled a story +then recently published by Edgar A. Poe, in a Southern paper, "Adventures +of Hans Pfaal," that some New York journals published the two side by side. +Mr. Locke, when he left the _New York Sun_, started another paper, and +discovered the manuscript of Mungo Park;[232] but this did not deceive. The +_Sun_, however, continued its career, and had a great success in an account +of a balloon voyage from England to America, in seventy-five hours, by Mr. +Monck Mason,[233] Mr. Harrison Ainsworth,[234] and others. I have no doubt +that M. Nicollet was the author of the Moon hoax,[235] written in a way +which marks the practised observatory astronomer beyond all doubt, and by +evidence seen in the most minute details. Nicollet had an eye to Europe. I +suspect that he took Poe's story, and made it a basis for his own. Mr. +Locke, it would seem, when he attempted a fabrication for himself, did not +succeed. + + + + The Earth we inhabit, its past, present, and future. By Capt. + Drayson.[236] London, 1859, 8vo. + +The earth is growing; absolutely growing larger: its diameter increases +three-quarters of an inch per mile every year. The foundations of our +buildings will give way in {133} time: the telegraph cables break, and no +cause ever assigned except ships' anchors, and such things. The book is for +those whose common sense is unwarped, who can judge evidence as well as the +ablest philosopher. The prospect is not a bad one, for population increases +so fast that a larger earth will be wanted in time, unless emigration to +the Moon can be managed, a proposal of which it much surprises me that +Bishop Wilkins has a monopoly. + + + +IMPALEMENT BY REQUEST. + +_Athenaeum_, August, 19, 1865. _Notice to Correspondents._ + +"R. W.--If you will consult the opening chapter of the Budget of Paradoxes, +you will see that the author presents only works in his own library at a +given date; and this for a purpose explained. For ourselves we have +carefully avoided allowing any writers to present themselves in our columns +on the ground that the Budget has passed them over. We gather that Mr. De +Morgan contemplates additions at a future time, perhaps in a separate and +augmented work; if so, those who complain that others of no greater claims +than themselves have been ridiculed may find themselves where they wish to +be. We have done what we can for you by forwarding your letter to Mr. De +Morgan." + +The author of "An Essay on the Constitution of the Earth," published in +1844, demanded of the _Athenaeum_, as an _act of fairness_, that a letter +from him should be published, proving that he had as much right to be +"impaled" as Capt. Drayson. He holds, on speculative grounds, what the +other claims to have proved by measurement, namely, that the earth is +growing; and he believes that in time--a good long time, not _our_ +time--the earth and other planets may grow into suns, with systems of their +own. + +This gentleman sent me a copy of his work, after the commencement of my +Budget; but I have no recollection of having received it, and I cannot find +it on the (nursery? {134} quarantine?) shelves on which I keep my +unestablished discoveries. Had I known of this work in time, (see the +Introduction) I should of course, have impaled it (heraldically) with the +other work; but the two are very different. Capt. Drayson professes to +prove his point by results of observation; and I think he does not succeed. +The author before me only speculates; and a speculator can get any +conclusion into his premises, if he will only build or hire them of shape +and size to suit. It reminds me of a statement I heard years ago, that a +score of persons, or near it, were to dine inside the skull of one of the +aboriginal animals, dear little creatures! Whereat I wondered vastly, +nothing doubting; facts being stubborn and not easy drove, as Mrs. Gamp +said. But I soon learned that the skull was not a real one, but +artificially constructed by the methods--methods which have had striking +verifications, too--which enable zoologists to go the whole hog by help of +a toe or a bit of tail. This took off the edge of the wonder: a hundred +people can dine inside an inference, if you draw it large enough. The +method might happen to fail for once: for instance, the toe-bone might have +been abnormalized by therian or saurian malady; and the possibility of such +failure, even when of small probability, is of great alleviation. The +author before me is, apparently, the sole fabricator of his own premises. +With vital force in the earth and continual creation on the part of the +original Creator, he expands our bit of a residence as desired. But, as the +Newtoness of Cookery observed, First catch your hare. When this is done, +when you _have_ a growing earth, you shall dress it with all manner of +proximate causes, and serve it up with a growing Moon for sauce, a growing +Sun, if it please you, at the other end, and growing planets for +side-dishes. Hoping this amount of impalement will be satisfactory, I go on +to something else. {135} + + + +THE HAILESEAN SYSTEM OF ASTRONOMY. + + _The Hailesean System of Astronomy._ By John Davey Hailes[237] (two + pages duodecimo, 1860). + +He offers to _take_ 100,000l. to 1,000l. that he shows the sun to be less +than seven millions of miles from the earth. The earth in the center, +revolving eastward, the sun revolving westward, so that they "meet at half +the circle distance in the 24 hours." The diameter of the circle being +9839458303, the circumference is 30911569920. + +The following written challenge was forwarded to the Council of the +Astronomical Society: it will show the "general reader"--and help him +towards earning his name--what sort of things come every now and then to +our scientific bodies. I have added punctuation: + + _Challenge._ + 1,000 to 30,000. + "Leverrier's[238] name stand placed first. Do the worthy Frenchman + justice. + By awarding him the medal in a trice. + Give Adams[239] an extra--of which neck and neck the race. + Now I challenge to meet them and the F.R.S.'s all, + For good will and _one_ thousand pounds to their _thirty_ thousand + withall, + That I produce a system, which shall measure the time, + When the Sun was vertical to Gibeon, afterward to Syene. + To meet any time in London--name your own period, + To be decided by a majority of twelve persons--a President, _odd_. + That mean, if the twelve equally divide, the President decide, + I should prefer the Bishop of London, over the meeting to preside. + JOHN DAVY HAILES." + Feb. 17, 1847." + +Mr. Hailes still issues his flying sheets. The last I have met with +(October 7, 1863) informs us that the latitude of {136} England is slowly +increasing, which is the true cause of the alteration in the variation of +the magnet. + +[Mr. Hailes continues his researches. Witness his new Hailesean system of +Astronomy, displaying Joshua's miracle-time, origin of time from science, +with Bible and Egyptian history. Rewards offered for astronomical problems. +With magnetism, etc. etc. Astronomical challenge to all the world. +Published at Cambridge, in 1865. The author agrees with Newton in one +marked point. _Errores quam minimi non sunt contemnendi_,[240] says Isaac: +meaning in figures, not in orthography. Mr. Hailes enters into the spirit, +both positive and negative, of this dictum, by giving the distance of +_Sidius_ from the center of the earth at 163,162,008 miles 10 feet 8 inches +17-28ths of an inch. Of course, he is aware that the center of _figure_ of +the earth is 17.1998 inches from the center of _gravity_. Which of the two +is he speaking of?] + + + + The Divine Mystery of Life. London [1861], 18mo. (pp.32). + +The author has added one class to zoology, which is printed in capitals, as +derived from _zoe_, life, not from _zoon_, animal. That class is of +_Incorporealia_, order I., _Infinitum_, of one genus without plurality, +_Deus_: order II., _Finita_, angels good and evil. The rest is all about a +triune system, with a diagram. The author is not aware that [Greek: zoon] +is not _animal_, but _living being_. Aristotle had classed gods under +[Greek: zoa], and has been called to account for it by moderns who have +taken the word to mean _animal_. + + + +A CHANCE FOR INVENTORS. + + Explication du Zodiaque de Denderah, des Pyramides, et de Genese. Par + le Capitaine au longcours Justin Roblin.[241] Caen, 1861. 8vo. + +{137} + +Capt. Roblin, having discovered the sites of gold and diamond mines by help +of the zodiac of Denderah, offered half to the shareholders of a company +which he proposed to form. One of our journals, by help of the zodiac of +Esne, offered, at five francs a head, to tell the shareholders the exact +amount of gold and diamonds which each would get, and to make up the amount +predicted to those who got less. There are moods of the market in England +in which this company could have been formed: so we must not laugh at our +neighbors. + + + +JOHANNES VON GUMPACH. + + A million's worth of property, and five hundred lives annually lost at + sea by the Theory of Gravitation. A letter on the true figure of the + earth, addressed to the Astronomer Royal, by Johannes von Gumpach.[242] + London, 1861, 8vo. (pp. 54). + + The true figure and dimensions of the earth, in a letter addressed to + the Astronomer Royal. By Joh. von Gumpach. 2nd ed. entirely recast. + London, 1862, 8vo. (pp. 266). + + Two issues of a letter published with two different title-pages, one + addressed to the Secretary of the Royal Society, the other to the + Secretary of the Royal Astronomical Society. It would seem that the + same letter is also issued with two other titles, addressed to the + British Association and the Royal Geographical Society. By Joh. von + Gumpach. London, 1862, 8vo. + + Baby-Worlds. An essay on the nascent members of our solar household. By + Joh. von Gumpach. London, 1863, 8vo. + +The earth, it appears, instead of being flattened, is elongated at the +poles: by ignorance of which the loss above mentioned occurs yearly. There +is, or is to be, a substitute for attraction and an "application hitherto +neglected, of a {138} recognized law of optics to the astronomical theory, +showing the true orbits of the heavenly bodies to be perfectly circular, +and their orbital motions to be perfectly uniform." all irregularities +being, I suppose, optical delusions. Mr. Von Gumpach is a learned man; what +else, time must show. + + + +SLANDER PARADOXES. + + Perpetuum Mobile: or Search for self-motive Power. By Henry + Dircks.[243] London, 1861, 8vo. + +A useful collection on the history of the attempts at perpetual motion, +that is, at obtaining the consequences of power without any power to +produce them. September 7, 1863, a correspondent of the _Times_ gave an +anecdote of George Stephenson,[244] which he obtained from Robert +Stephenson.[245] A perpetual motionist wanted to explain his method; to +which George replied--"Sir! I shall believe it when I see you take yourself +up by the waistband, and carry yourself about the room." Never was the +problem better stated. + +There is a paradox of which I ought to give a specimen, I mean the +_slander-paradox_; the case of a person who takes it into his head, upon +evidence furnished entirely by the workings of his own thoughts, that some +other person has committed a foul act of which the world at large would no +more suppose him guilty than they would suppose that the earth is a flat +bordered by ice. If I were to determine on giving cases in which the +self-deluded person imagines {139} a conspiracy against _himself_, there +would be no end of choices. Many of the grosser cases are found at last to +be accompanied by mental disorder, and it is difficult to avoid referring +the whole class to something different from simple misuse of the reasoning +power. The first instance is one which puts in a strong light the state of +things in which we live, brought about by our glorious freedom of thought, +speech, and writing. The Government treated it with neglect, the press with +silent contempt, and I will answer for it many of my readers now hear of it +for the first time, when it comes to be enrolled among circle-squarers and +earth-stoppers, where, as the old philosopher said, it will not gravitate, +being _in proprio loco_.[246] + +1862. On new year's day, 1862, when the nation was in the full tide of +sympathy with the Queen, and regret for its own loss, a paper called the +_Free Press_ published a number devoted to the consideration of the causes +of the death of the Prince Consort. It is so rambling and inconsecutive +that it takes more than one reading to understand it. It is against the +_Times_ newspaper. First, the following insinuation: + +"To the legal mind, the part of [the part taken by] the _Times_ will +present a _prima facie_ case of the gravest nature, in the evident +fore-knowledge of the event, and the preparation to turn it to account when +it should have occurred. The article printed on Saturday must have been +written on Friday. That article could not have appeared had the Prince been +intended to live." + +Next, it is affirmed that the _Times_ intended to convey the idea that the +Prince had been poisoned. + +"Up to this point we are merely dealing with words which the _Times_ +publishes, and these can leave not a shadow of doubt that there is an +intention to promulgate the idea that Prince Albert had been poisoned." + +The article then goes on with a strange olio of {140} insinuations to the +effect that the Prince was the obstacle to Russian intrigue, and that if he +should have been poisoned,--which the writer strongly hints may have been +the case,--some Minister under the influence of Russia must have done it. +Enough for this record. _Un sot trouve toujours un plus sot qui +l'admire_:[247] who can he be in this case? + + + +THE NEPTUNE CONTROVERSY. + +1846. At the end of this year arose the celebrated controversy relative to +the discovery of Neptune. Those who know it are well aware that Mr. +Adams's[248] now undoubted right to rank with Le Verrier[249] was made sure +at the very outset by the manner in which Mr. Airy,[250] the Astronomer +Royal, came forward to state what had taken place between himself and Mr. +Adams. Those who know all the story about Mr. Airy being arrested in his +progress by the neglect of Mr. Adams to answer a letter, with all the +imputations which might have been thrown upon himself for laxity in the +matter, know also that Mr. Airy's conduct exhibited moral courage, honest +feeling, and willingness to sacrifice himself, if need were, to the +attainment of the ends of private justice, and the establishment of a +national claim. A writer in a magazine, in a long and elaborate article, +argued the supposition--put in every way except downright assertion, after +the fashion of such things--that Mr. Airy had communicated Mr. Adams's +results to M. Le Verrier, with intention that they should be used. His +presumption as to motive is that, had Mr. Adams been recognized, "then the +discovery must have been indisputably an _Englishman's_, and that +Englishman not the Astronomer Royal." Mr. Adams's conclusions were +"retouched in France, and sent {141} over the year after." The proof given +is that it cannot be "imagined" otherwise. + +"Can it then be imagined that the Astronomer Royal received such results +from Mr. Adams, supported as they were by Professor Challis's[251] valuable +testimony as to their probable accuracy, and did not bring the French +astronomer acquainted with them, especially as he was aware that his friend +was engaged in matters bearing directly upon these results?" + +The whole argument the author styles "evidence which I consider it +difficult to refute." He ends by calling upon certain persons, of whom I am +one, to "see ample justice done." This is the duty of every one, according +to his opportunities. So when the reputed author--the article being +anonymous--was, in 1849, proposed as a Fellow of the Astronomical Society, +I joined--if I remember right, I originated--an opposition to his election, +until either the authorship should be denied, or a proper retraction made. +The friends of the author neither denied the first, nor produced the +second: and they judged it prudent to withdraw the proposal. Had I heard of +any subsequent repentance, I would have taken some other instance, instead +of this: should I yet hear of such a thing, I will take care to notice it +in the continuation of this list, which I confidently expect, life and +health permitting, to be able to make in a few years. This much may be +said, that the author, in a lecture on the subject, given in 1849, and +published with his name, did _not_ repeat the charge. + +[The libel was published in the _Mechanics' Magazine_,[252] (vol. for 1846, +pp. 604-615): and the editor supported it as follows, (vol. for 1847, p. +476). In answer to Mr. Sheepshanks's charitable hope that he had been +hoaxed, {142} he says: "Mr. Sheepshanks cannot certainly have read the +article referred to.... Severe and inculpatory it is--unjust some may deem +it (though we ourselves are out of the number.)... A 'hoax' forsooth! May +we be often the dupes of such hoaxes!" He then goes on to describe the +article as directed against the Astronomer Royal's alleged neglect to give +Mr. Adams that "encouragement and protection" which was his due, and _does +not hint one word_ about the article containing the charge of having +secretly and fraudulently transmitted news of Mr. Adams's researches to +France, that an Englishman might not have the honor of the discovery. Mr. +Sheepshanks having called this a "deliberate calumny," without a particle +of proof or probability to support it, the editor says "what the reverend +gentleman means by this, we are at a loss to understand." He then proceeds +_not_ to remember. I repeat here, what I have said elsewhere, that the +management of the journal has changed hands; but from 1846 to 1856, it had +the collar of S.S. (scientific slander). The prayer for more such things +was answered (See p. 349).] + + + +JAMES IVORY.[253] + +I have said that those who are possessed with the idea of conspiracy +against themselves are apt to imagine both conspirators and their bad +motives and actions. A person who should take up the idea of combination +against himself without feeling ill-will and originating accusations would +be indeed a paradox. But such a paradox has existed. It is very well known, +both in and beyond the scientific world, that the late James Ivory was +subject to the {143} impression of which I am speaking; and the diaries and +other sources of anecdote of our day will certainly, sooner or later, make +it a part of his biography. The consequence will be that to his memory will +be attached the unfavorable impression which the usual conduct of such +persons creates; unless it should happen that some one who knows the real +state of the case puts the two sides of it properly together. Ivory was of +that note in the scientific world which may be guessed from Laplace's +description of him as the first geometer in Britain and one of the first in +Europe. Being in possession of accurate knowledge of his peculiarity in +more cases than one; and in one case under his own hand: and having been +able to make full inquiry about him, especially from my friend the late +Thomas Galloway[254]--who came after him at Sandhurst--one of the few +persons with whom he was intimate:--I have decided, after full +deliberation, to forestall the future biographies. + +That Ivory was haunted by the fear of which I have spoken, to the fullest +extent, came to my own public and official knowledge, as Secretary of the +Astronomical Society. It was the duty of Mr. Epps,[255] the Assistant +Secretary, at the time when Francis Baily[256] first announced his +discovery of the Flamsteed Papers, to report to me that Mr. Ivory had +called at the Society's apartments to inquire into the contents of those +papers, and to express his hope that Mr. Baily was not attacking living +persons under the names of Newton and Flamsteed.[257] Mr. Galloway, to whom +I communicated this, immediately went to Mr. Ivory, and succeeded, after +some explanation, in setting him right. This is but one of many instances +in which a man of thoroughly sound judgment in every other respect seemed +to be under a complete chain of delusions about the conduct of {144} others +to himself. But the paradox is this:--I never could learn that Ivory, +passing his life under the impression that secret and unprovoked enemies +were at work upon his character, ever originated a charge, imputed a bad +motive, or allowed himself an uncourteous expression. Some letters of his, +now in my possession, referring to a private matter, are, except in the +main impression on which they proceed, unobjectionable in every point: they +might have been written by a cautious friend, whose object was, if +possible, to prevent a difference from becoming a duel without compromising +his principal's rights or character. Knowing that in some quarters the +knowledge of Ivory's peculiarity is more or less connected with a notion +that the usual consequences followed, I think the preceding statement due +to his memory. + + + +THREE CLASSES OF JOURNALS. + +In such a record as the present, which mixes up the grossest speculative +absurdities with every degree of what is better, an instance of another +kind may find an appropriate place. The faults of journalism, when merely +exposed by other journalism pass by and are no more regarded. A distinct +account of an undeniable meanness, recorded in a work of amusement and +reference both, may have its use: such a thing may act as a warning. An +editor who is going to indulge his private grudge may be prevented from +counting upon oblivion as a matter of certainty. + +There are three kinds of journals, with reference to the mode of entrance +of contributors. First, as a thing which has been, but which now hardly +exists, there is the journal in which the editor receives a fixed sum to +_find the matter_. In such a journal, every article which the editor can +get a friend to give him is so much in his own pocket, which has a great +tendency to lower the character of the articles; but I am not concerned +with this point. Secondly, there is the journal which is supported by +voluntary contributions of {145} matter, the editor selecting. Thirdly, +there is the journal in which the contributor is paid by the proprietors in +a manner with which the literary editor has nothing to do. + +The third class is the safe class, as its editors know: and, as a usual +rule, they refuse unpaid contributions of the editorial cast. It is said +that when Canning[258] declined a cheque forwarded for an article in the +_Quarterly_, John Murray[259] sent it back with a blunt threat that if he +did not take his money he could never be admitted again. The great +publisher told him that if men like himself in position worked for nothing, +all the men like himself in talent who could not afford it would not work +for the _Quarterly_. If the above did not happen between Canning and +Murray, it _must have happened_ between some other two. Now journals of the +second class--and of the first, if such there be--have a fault to which +they alone are very liable, to say nothing of the editorial function (see +the paper at the beginning, p. 11 et seq.), being very much cramped, a sort +of gratitude towards effective contributors leads the journal to help their +personal likes and dislikes, and to sympathize with them. Moreover, this +sort of journal is more accessible than others to articles conveying +personal imputation: and when these provoke discussion, the journal is apt +to take the part of the assailant to whom it lent itself in the first +instance. + + + +THE MECHANICS' MAGAZINE. + +Among the journals which went all lengths with contributors whom they +valued, was the _Mechanics' Magazine_[260] in the period 1846-56. I cannot +say that matters have not mended in the last ten years: and I draw some +{146} presumption that they have mended from my not having heard, since +1856, of anything resembling former proceedings. And on actual inquiry, +made since the last sentence was written, I find that the property has +changed hands, the editor is no longer the same, and the management is of a +different stamp. This journal is chiefly supported by voluntary articles: +and it is the journal in which, as above noted, the ridiculous charge +against the Astronomer Royal was made in 1849. The following instance of +attempt at revenge is so amusing that I select it as the instance of the +defect which I intend to illustrate; for its puerility brings out in better +relief the points which are not so easily seen in more adult attempts. + +The _Mechanics' Magazine_, which by its connection with engineering, etc., +had always taken somewhat of a mathematical character, began, a little +before 1846, to have more to do with abstract science. Observing this, I +began to send short communications, which were always thankfully received, +inserted, and well spoken of. Any one who looks for my name in that journal +in 1846-49, will see nothing but the most respectful and even laudatory +mention. In May 1849 occurred the affair at the Astronomical Society, and +my share in forcing the withdrawal of the name of the alleged contributor +to the journal. In February 1850 occurred the opportunity of payment. The +_Companion to the Almanac_[261] had to be noticed, in which, as then usual, +was an article signed with my name. I shall give the review of this article +entire, as a sample of a certain style, as well as an illustration of my +point. The reader will observe that my name is not mentioned. This would +not have done; the readers of the Magazine would have stared to see a name +of not infrequent occurrence in previous years all of a sudden fallen from +the heaven of respect into the pit of contempt, like Lucifer, son of the +morning. But before {147} giving the review, I shall observe that Mr. +Adams, in whose _favor_ the attack on the Astronomer Royal was made, did +not appreciate the favor; and of course did not come forward to shield his +champion. This gave deadly offence, as appear from the following passage, +(February 16, 1850): + +"It was our intention to enter into a comparison of the contents of our +Nautical Almanack with those of its rival, the _Connaissance des Temps_; +but we shall defer it for the present. The Nautical Almanack for 1851 will +contain Mr. Adams's paper 'On the Perturbation of Uranus'; and when it +comes, in due course, before the public, we are quite sure that that +gentleman will expect that we shall again enter upon the subject with +peculiar delight. Whilst we have a thorough loathing for mean, cowardly, +crawlers--we have an especial pleasure in maintaining the claims of men who +are truly grateful as well as highly talented: Mr. Adams, therefore, will +find that he cannot be disappointed--and the occasion will afford us an +opportunity for making the comparison to which we have adverted." + +This passage illustrates what I have said on the editorial function (Vol. +I, p. 15). What precedes and follows has some criticism on the Government, +the Astronomer Royal, etc., but reserved in allusion, oblique in sarcasm, +and not fiercely uncourteous. The coarseness of the passage I have quoted +shows editorial insertion, which is also shown by its blunder. The inserter +is waiting for the Almanac of 1851 that he may review Mr. Adams's paper, +which is to be contained in it. His own contributor, only two sentences +before the insertion, had said, "The Nautical Almanac, we believe, is +published three or four years in advance." In fact, the Almanac for +1851--with Mr. Adams's paper at the end--was published at the end of 1847 +or very beginning of 1848; it had therefore been more than two years before +the public when the passage quoted was written. And probably every person +in the country who was fit to review Mr. Adams's {148} paper--and most of +those who were fit to read it--knew that it had been widely circulated, in +revise, at the end of 1846: my copy has written on it, "2d revise, December +27, 1846, at noon," in the handwriting of the Superintendent of the +Almanac; and I know that there was an extensive issue of these revises, +brought out by the Le-Verrier-and-Adams discussion. I now give the review +of myself, (February 23, 1850): + +"_The British Almanack and Companion._ + +"The Companion to this Almanack, for some years after its first +publication, annually contained scientific articles by Sir J. Lubbock[262] +and others of a high order and great interest; we have now, however, closed +the publication as a scientific one in remembrance of what it was, and not +in consequence of what it is. Its list of contributors on science, has +grown 'small by degrees and beautifully less,' until it has dwindled down +to one--'a last rose of summer left withering alone.' The one contributor +has contributed one paper 'On Ancient and Modern Usage in Reckoning.' + +"The learned critic's _chef d'oeuvre_, is considered, by competent judges, +to be an Essay on _Old Almanacks_ printed a few years ago in this annual, +and supposed to be written with the view of surpassing a profound memoir on +the same subject by James O. Halliwell,[263] Esq., F.R. and A.S.S., but the +tremendous effort which the learned writer then made to excel many titled +competitors for honors in the antique line appears to have had a sad effect +upon his mental powers--at any rate, his efforts have since yearly become +duller and duller; happily, at last, we should suppose, 'the ancient {149} +and modern usage in reckoning' indicates the lowest point to which the _vis +inertia_ of the learned writer's peculiar genius can force him. + +"We will give a few extracts from the article. + +"The learned author says, 'Those who are accustomed to settle the meaning +of ancient phrases by self-examination will find some _strange_ conclusions +arrived at by us.' The writer never wrote a more correct sentence--it +admits of no kind of dispute. + +"'Language and counting,' says the learned author, 'both came before the +logical discussion of either. It is not allowable to argue that something +is or was, because it ought to be or ought to have been. That two negatives +make an affirmative, ought to be; if _no_ man have done _nothing_, the man +who has done nothing does not exist, and _every_ man has done _something_. +But in Greek, and in uneducated English, it is unquestionable that 'no man +has done nothing' is only an emphatic way of saying that no man has done +_anything_; and it would be absurd to reason that it could not have been +so, because it should not.'--p. 5. + +"'But there _is_ another difference between old and new times, yet more +remarkable, for we have _nothing_ of it now: whereas in things indivisible +we count with our fathers, and should say in buying an acre of land, that +the result has no parts, and that the purchaser, till he owns all the +ground, owns none, the change of possession being instantaneous. This +second difference lies in the habit of considering nothing, nought, zero, +cipher, or whatever it may be called, to be at the beginning of the scale +of numbers. Count four days from Monday: we should now say Tuesday, +Wednesday, Thursday, Friday; formerly, it would have been Monday, Tuesday, +Wednesday, Thursday. Had we asked, what at that rate is the first day from +Monday, all would have stared at a phrase they had never heard. Those who +were capable of extending language would have said, Why it must be Monday +itself: the rest would have said, there can {150} be no first day from +Monday, for the day after is Tuesday, which must be the second day: Monday, +one; Tuesday, two,'--p. 10. + +"We assure our readers that the whole article is equally lucid, and its +logic alike formal. + +"There are some exceedingly valuable footnotes; we give one of the most +interesting, taken from the learned Mr. Halliwell's profound book on +Nursery Rhymes[264]--a celebrated production, for which it is supposed the +author was made F.R.S. + + "'_One's nine_, + Two's some, + Three's a many, + Four's a penny, + Five's a little hundred.' + +'The last line refers to five score, the so-called hundred being more +usually six score. The first line, looked at etymologically, is _one is not +one_, and the change of thought by which _nine_, the decimal of _one_, aims +to be associated with the decimal of _plurality_ is curious:'--Very. + +"This valuable and profound essay will very probably be transferred to the +next edition of the learned Mr. Halliwell's rare work, of kindred worth, +entitled 'RARA MATHEMATICA,' it will then be deservedly handed down to +posterity as a covering for cheap trunks--a most appropriate archive for +such a treasure." + + + +In December, 1846, the _Mechanics' Magazine_ published a libel on Airy in +the matter of the discovery of Neptune. In May, 1849, one * * * was to have +been brought forward for election at the Astronomical Society, and was +opposed by me and others, on the ground that he was the probable author of +this libel, and that he would not, perhaps could {151} not, deny it. [N.B. +I no more doubt that he was the author then I doubt that I am the author of +this sentence.][265] + +Accordingly, * * * was withdrawn, and a discussion took place, for which +see the _Athenaeum_, No. 1126, May 26, 1849, p. 544. The _Mechanics' +Magazine_ was very sore, but up to this day has never ventured beyond an +attack on Airy, private whisperings against Adams--(see _ante_, p. +147),--and the above against myself. In due time, I doubt not my name will +appear as one of the _ames damnees_[266] of the _Mechanics' Magazine_.[267] + + + +T. S. DAVIES ON EUCLID. + +First, as to Mr. Halliwell. The late Thomas Stephens Davies,[268] excellent +in geometry, and most learned in its history, was also a good hand at +enmity, though not implacable. He and Mr. Halliwell, who had long before +been very much one, were, at this date, very much two. I do not think T. S. +Davies wrote this article; and I think that by giving my reasons I shall do +service to his memory. It must have been written at the beginning of +February; and within three days of that time T. S. Davies was making over +to me, by his own free act, to be kept until claimed by the relatives, what +all who knew even his writings knew that he considered as the most precious +deposit he had ever had in his keeping--Horner's[269] papers. His letter +announcing the transmission is dated February 2, 1850. This is a strong +point; but there is another quite as strong. Euclid and {152} his writings +were matters on which T. S. Davies knew neither fear nor favor: he could +not have written lightly about a man who stood high with him as a judge of +Euclid. Now in this very letter of Feb. 2, there is a sentence which I +highly value, because, as aforesaid, it is on a point on which he would +never have yielded anything, to which he had paid life-long attention, and +on which he had the bias of having long stood alone. In fact, knowing--and +what I shall quote confirms me,--that in the matter of Euclid his hand was +against every man, I expected, when I sent him a copy of my 22-column +article, "Eucleides" in Smith's _Dictionary_,[270] to have received back a +criticism, that would have blown me out of the water: and I thought it not +unlikely that a man so well up in the subject might have made me feel +demolished on some points. Instead of this, I got the following: "Although +on one or two minor points I do not quite accord with your views, yet as a +whole and without regard to any minor points, I think you are the first who +has succeeded in a delineation of Euclid as a geometer." All this duly +considered, it is utterly incredible that T. S. Davies should have written +the review in question. And yet Mr. Halliwell is treated just as T. S. +Davies would have treated him, as to tone and spirit. The inference in my +mind is that we have here a marked instance of the joining of hatreds which +takes place in journals supported by voluntary contributions of matter. +Should anything ever have revived this article--and no one ever knows what +might have been fished up from the forgotten mass of journals--the +treatment of Mr. Halliwell would certainly have thrown a suspicion on T. S. +Davies, a large and regular contributor to the Magazine. It is good service +to his memory to point out what makes it incredible that he should have +written so unworthy an article. + +The fault is this. There are four extracts: the first {153} three are +perfectly well printed. The printing of the _Mechanics' Magazine_ was very +good. I was always exceedingly satisfied with the manner in which my +articles appeared, without my seeing proof. Most likely these extracts were +printed from my printed paper; if not the extractor was a good copier. I +know this by a test which has often served me. I use the subjunctive--"if +no man _have_ done nothing," an ordinary transcriber, narrating a quotation +almost always lets his own habit write _has_. The fourth extract has three +alterations, all tending to make me ridiculous. _None_ is altered, in two +places, into _nine_, _denial_ into _decimal_, and _comes_ into _aims_; so +that "none, the denial of one, comes to be associated with the denial of +plurality," reads as "nine, the decimal of one, aims to be associated with +the decimal of plurality." This is intentional; had it been a compositor's +reading of bad handwriting, these would not have been the only mistakes; to +say nothing of the corrector of the press. And both the compositor and +reader would have guessed, from the first line being translated into "one +is not one," that it must have been "one's none," not "one's nine." But it +was not intended that the gem should be recovered from the unfathomed cave, +and set in a Budget of Paradoxes. + +We have had plenty of slander-paradox. I now give a halfpennyworth of bread +to all this sack, an instance of the paradox of benevolence, in which an +individual runs counter to all the ideas of his time, and sees his way into +the next century. At Amiens, at the end of the last century, an institution +was endowed by a M. de Morgan, to whom I hope I am of kin, but I cannot +trace it; the name is common at Amiens. It was the first of the kind I ever +heard of. It is a Salle d'Asyle for children, who are taught and washed and +taken care of during the hours in which their parents must be at work. The +founder was a large wholesale grocer and colonial importer, who was made a +Baron by Napoleon I for his commercial success and his charities. {154} + + + +JAS. SMITH AGAIN. + +1862. Mr. Smith replies to me, still signing himself Nauticus: I give an +extract: + +"By hypothesis [what, again!] let 14 deg. 24' be the chord of an arc of +15 deg. [but I wont, says 14 deg. 24'], and consequently equal to a side +of a regular polygon of 24 sides inscribed in the circle. Then 4 times +14 deg. 24' = 57 deg. 36' = the radius of the circle ..." + +That is, four times the chord of an arc is the chord of four times the arc: +and the sum of four sides of a certain pentagon is equal to the fifth. This +is the capital of the column, the crown of the arch, the apex of the +pyramid, the watershed of the elevation. Oh! J. S.! J. S.! groans +Geometry--_Summum J. S. summa injuria_![271] The other J. S., Joseph +Scaliger,[272] as already mentioned, had his own way of denying that a +straight line is always the shortest distance between two points. A +parallel might be instituted, but not in half a column. And J. S. the +_second_ has been so tightly handled that he may now be dismissed, with an +inscription for his circular shield, obtained by changing _Lexica contexat_ +into _Circus quadrandus_ in an epigram of J. S. the _first_: + + "Si quem dura manet sententia judicis, olim + Damnatum aerumnis suppliciisque caput, + Hunc neque fabrili lassent ergastula massa, + Nec rigidas vexent fossa metalla manus. + Circus quadrandus: nam--caetera quid moror?--omnes + Poenarum facies hic labor unus habet."[273] + +{155} + +I had written as far as _damnatum_ when in came the letter of Nauticus as a +printed slip, with a request that I would consider the slip as a 'revised +copy.' Not a word of alteration in the part I have quoted! And in the +evening came a letter desiring that I would alter a gross error; but not +the one above: this is revising without revision! If there were cyclometers +enough of this stamp, they would, as cultivation progresses--and really, +with John Stuart Mill in for Westminster, it seems on the move, even +though, as I learn while correcting the proof, Gladstone be out from +Oxford; for Oxford is no worse than in 1829, while Westminster is far above +what she ever has been: election time excuses even such a parenthesis as +this--be engaged to amuse those who can afford it with paralogism at their +meals, after the manner of the other jokers who wore the caps and bells. +The rich would then order their dinners with _panem et Circenses_,--up with +the victuals and the circle-games--as the poor did in the days of old. + +Mr. Smith is determined that half a column shall not do. Not a day without +something from him: letter, printed proof, pamphlet. In what is the last at +this moment of writing he tells me that part of the title of a work of his +will be "Professor De Morgan in the pillory without hope of escape." And +where will he be himself? This I detected by an effort of reasoning which I +never could have made except by following in his steps. In all matters +connected with [pi] the letters l and g are closely related: this appears +in the well-known formula for the time of oscillation [pi] [sqrt](l : g). +Hence g may be written for l, but only once: do it twice, and you require +the time to be [pi] [sqrt](l^2 : g^2). This may be reinforced by observing +that if as a datum, or if you dislike that word, by hypothesis, the first l +be a g, it is absurd that it should be an l. Write g for the first l, and +we have _un fait accompli_. I shall be in pillory; and overhead, in a +cloud, will sit Mr. James Smith on one stick laid across two others, under +a nimbus of 3-1/8 diameters to {156} the circumference--in [pi]-glory. Oh +for a drawing of this scene! Mr. De Morgan presents his compliments to Mr. +James Smith, and requests the honor of an exchange of photographs. + +_July 26._--Another printed letter.--Mr. James Smith begs for a distinct +answer to the following plain question: "Have I not in this communication +brought under your notice _truths_ that were never before dreamed of in +your geometrical and mathematical philosophy?" To which, he having taken +the precaution to print the word _truths_ in italics, I can conscientiously +answer, Yes, you have. And now I shall take no more notice of these +_truths_, until I receive something which surpasses all that has yet been +done. + + + +A FEW SMALL PARADOXERS. + + The Circle secerned from the Square; and its area gauged in terms of a + triangle common to both. By Wm. Houlston,[274] Esq. London and Jersey, + 1862, 4to. + +Mr. Houlston squares at about four poetical quotations in a page, and +brings out [pi] = 3.14213.... His frontispiece is a variegated diagram, +having parts designated Inigo and Outigo. All which relieves the subject, +but does not remove the error. + + + + Considerations respecting the figure of the Earth.... By C. F. + Bakewell.[275] London, 1862, 8vo. + +Newton and others think that in a revolving sphere the {157} loose surface +matter will tend to the equator: Mr. Bakewell thinks it will tend to the +poles. + + + + On eccentric and centric force: a new theory of projection. By H. F. A. + Pratt, M.D.[276] London, 1862, 8vo. + +Dr. Pratt not only upsets Newton, but cuts away the very ground he stands +on: for he destroys the first law of motion, and will not have the natural +tendency of matter in motion to be rectilinear. This, as we have seen, was +John Walsh's[277] notion. In a more recent work "On Orbital Motion," +London, 1863, 8vo., Dr. Pratt insists on another of Walsh's notions, +namely, that the precession of the equinoxes is caused by the motion of the +solar system round a distant central sun. In this last work the author +refers to a few notes, which completely destroy the theory of gravitation +in terms "perfectly intelligible as well to the unlearned as to the +learned": to me they are quite unintelligible, which rather tends to +confirm a notion I have long had, that I am neither one thing nor the +other. There is an ambiguity of phrase which delights a writer on logic, +always on the look-out for specimens of _homonymia_ or _aequivocatio_. The +author, as a physician, is accustomed to "appeal from mere formulae": +accordingly, he sets at nought the whole of the mathematics, which he does +not understand. This equivocation between the formula of the physician and +that of the mathematician is as good, though not so perceptible to the +world at large, as that made by Mr. Briggs's friend in _Punch's_ picture, +which I cut out to paste into my Logic. Mr. Briggs wrote for a couple of +_bruisers_, meaning to prepare oats for his horses: his friend sent him the +Whitechapel Chicken and the Bayswater Slasher, with the gloves, all ready. + +{158} + + + + On matter and ether, and the secret laws of physical change. By T. R. + Birks, M.A.[278] Cambridge, 1862, 8vo. + +Bold efforts are made at molecular theories, and the one before me is ably +aimed. When the Newton of this subject shall be seated in his place, books +like the present will be sharply looked into, to see what amount of +anticipation they have made. + + + +DR. THORN AND MR. BIDEN. + + The history of the 'thorn tree and bush' from the earliest to the + present time: in which is clearly and plainly shown the descent of her + most gracious Majesty and her Anglo-Saxon people from the half tribe of + Ephraim, and possibly from the half tribe of Manasseh; and consequently + her right and title to possess, at the present moment, for herself and + for them, a share or shares of the desolate cities and places in the + land of their forefathers! By Theta, M.D.[279] (Private circulation.) + London, 1862, 8vo. + +This is much about _Thorn_, and its connected words, Thor, Thoth, Theta, +etc. It is a very mysterious vagary. The author of it is the person whom I +have described elsewhere as having for his device the round man in the +three-cornered hole, the writer of the little heap of satirical anonymous +letters about the Beast and 666. By accident I discovered the writer: so +that if there be any more thorns to crackle under the pot, they need not be +anonymous. + +Nor will they be anonymous. Since I wrote the above, I have received +_onymous_ letters, as _ominous_ as the rest. The writer, William Thorn, +M.D., is obliged to reveal {159} himself, since it is his object to prove +that he himself is one 666. By using W for double Vau (or 12) he cooks the +number out of his own name. But he says it is the number not of a beast but +of a man, and adds, "Thereby hangs a tale!" which sounds like +contradiction. He informs me that he will talk the matter over with me: but +I shall certainly have nothing to say to a gentleman of his number; it is +best to keep on the safe side. + +In one letter I am informed that not a line should I have had, but for my +"sneer at 666," which, therefore, I am well pleased to have given. I am +also told that my name means the "'garden of death,' that place in which +the tree of knowledge was plucked, and so you are like your name 'dead' to +the fact that you are an Israelite, like those in Ezekiel 37 ch." Some +hints are given that I shall not fare well in the next world, which any one +who reads the chapter in Ezekiel will see is quite against his comparison. +The reader must not imagine that my prognosticator means _Morgan_ to be a +corruption of _Mortjardin_; he proves his point by Hebrew: but any +philologist would tell him the true derivation of the name, and how +_Glamorgan_ came to get it. It will be of much comfort to those young men +who have not got through to know that the tree of knowledge itself was once +in the same case. And so good bye to 666 for the present, and the +assumption that the enigma is to be solved by the united numeral forces of +the letters of a word. + +It is worthy of note that, as soon as my Budget commenced, two guardian +spirits started up, fellow men as to the flesh, both totally unknown to me: +they have stuck to me from first to last. James Smith, Esq., finally +Nauticus, watches over my character in this world, and would fain preserve +me from ignorance, folly, and dishonesty, by inclosing me in a magic circle +of 3-1/8 diameters in circumference. The round man in the three-cornered +hole, finally William Thorn, M.D., takes charge of my future destiny, {160} +and tries to bring me to the truth by unfolding a score of meanings--all +right--of 666. He hints that I, and my wife, are servants of Satan: at +least he desires us both to remember that we cannot serve God and Satan; +and he can hardly mean that we are serving the first, and that he would +have us serve the second. As becomes an interpreter of the Apocalypse, he +uses seven different seals; but not more than one to one letter. If his +seals be all signet-rings, he must be what Aristophanes calls a +sphragidonychargocometical fellow. But--and many thanks to him for the +same--though an M.D., he has not sent me a single vial. And so much for my +tree of secular knowledge and my tree of spiritual life: I dismiss them +with thanks from myself and thanks from my reader. The dual of the +Pythagorean system was Isis and Diana; of the Jewish law, Moses and Aaron; +and of the City of London, Gog and Magog; of the Paradoxiad, James Smith, +Esq., and William Thorn, M.D. + +_September, 1866._ Mr. James Biden[280] has favored me with some of his +publications. He is a rival of Dr. Thorn; a prophet by name-right and +crest-right. He is of royal descent through the De Biduns. He is the +_watchman_ of Ezekiel: God has told him so. He is the author of _The True +Church_, a phrase which seems to have a book-meaning and a mission-meaning. +He shall speak for himself: + +"A crest of the Bidens has significance. It is a lion rampant between +wings--wings in Scripture denote the flight of time. Thus the beasts or +living creatures of the Revelations have each six wings, intimating a +condition of mankind up to and towards the close of six thousand years of +Bible teaching. The two wings of the crest would thus intimate power +towards the expiration of 2000 years, as time is marked in the history of +Great Britain. + +{161} + +"In a recent publication, _The Pestilence, Why Inflicted_, are given many +reasons why the writer thinks himself to be the appointed watchman foretold +by Ezekiel, chapters iii. and xxxiii. Among the reasons are many prophecies +fulfilled in him. Of these it is now needful to note two as bearing +especially on the subject of the reign of Darius. + +"1.--In Daniel it is said, 'Darius the Median took the kingdom, being about +threescore and two years old.'--Daniel v. 31. + +"When 'Belshazzar' the king of the Chaldeans is found wanting, Darius takes +the kingdom. It is not given him by the popular voice; he asserts his +right, and this is not denied. He takes it when about sixty-two years of +age. The language of Daniel is prophetic, and Darius has in another an +antitype. The writer was born July 18th, 1803; and the claim was asserted +at the close of 1865, when he was about sixty-two years of age. + +"The claims which have been asserted demand a settled faith, and which +could only be reached through a long course of divine teaching." + +When I was a little boy at school, one of my school-fellows took it into +his head to set up a lottery of marbles: the thing took, and he made a +stony profit. Soon, one after another, every boy had his lottery, and it +was, "I won't put into yours unless you put into mine." This knocked up the +scheme. It will be the same with the prophets. Dr. Thorn, Mr. Biden, Mrs. +Cottle,[281] etc. will grow imitators, until we are all pointed out in the +Bible: but A will not admit B's claim unless B admits his. For myself, as +elsewhere shown, I am the first Beast in the Revelations. + +Every contraband prophet gets a few followers: it is a great point to make +these sequacious people into Buridan's asses, which they will become when +prophets are so numerous that there is no choosing. + +{162} + + + +SIR G. C. LEWIS. + + An historical survey of the Astronomy of the Ancients. By the Rt. Hon. + Sir G. C. Lewis.[282] 8vo. 1862. + +There are few men of our day whom I admire more than the late Sir G. Lewis: +he was honest, earnest, sagacious, learned, and industrious. He probably +sacrificed his life to his conjunction of literature and politics: and he +stood high as a minister of state in addition to his character as a man of +letters. The work above named is of great value, and will be read for its +intrinsic merit, consulted for its crowd of valuable references, quoted for +its aid to one side of many a discussion, and opposed for its force against +the other. Its author was also a wit and a satirist. I know of three +classical satires of our day which are inimitable imitations: Mr. +Malden's[283] _Pragmatized Legends_, Mr. Mansel's[284] _Phrontisterion_, +and Sir G. Cornewall Lewis's _Inscriptio Antiqua_. In this last, +HEYDIDDLEDIDDLETHECATANDTHEFIDDLE etc. is treated as an Oscan inscription, +and rendered into Latin by approved methods. As few readers have seen it, I +give the result: + + "Hejus dedit libenter, dedit libenter. Deus propitius [est], deus + [donatori] libenter favet. Deus in viarum {163} junctura ovorum dape + [colitur], deus mundi. Deus in litatione voluit, benigno animo, haedum, + taurum intra fines [loci sacri] portandos. Deus, bis lustratus, beat + fossam sacrae libationis."[285] + +How then comes the history of astronomy among the paradoxes? Simply because +the author, so admirably when writing about what he knew, did not know what +he did not know, and blundered like a circle-squarer. And why should the +faults of so good a writer be recorded in such a list as the present? For +three reasons: First, and foremost, because if the exposure be not made by +some one, the errors will gradually ooze out, and the work will get the +character of inaccurate. Nothing hurts a book of which few can fathom the +depths so much as a plain blunder or two on the surface. Secondly, because +the reviews either passed over these errors or treated them too gently, +rather implying their existence than exposing them. Thirdly, because they +strongly illustrate the melancholy truth, that no one knows enough to write +about what he does not know. The distinctness of the errors is a merit; it +proceeds from the clear-headedness of the author. The suppression in the +journals may be due partly to admiration of the talent and energy which +lived two difficult lives at once, partly to respect for high position in +public affairs, partly to some of the critics being themselves men of +learning only, unable to detect the errors. But we know that action and +reaction are equal and contrary. If our generation take no notice of +defects, and allow them to go down undetected among merits, the next +generation will discover them, will perhaps believe us incapable of +detecting them, at least will pronounce our judgment good for nothing, and +will form an {164} opinion in which the merits will be underrated: so it +has been, is, and will be. The best thing that can be done for the memory +of the author is to remove the unsound part that the remainder may thrive. +The errors do not affect the work; they occur in passages which might very +well have been omitted: and I consider that, in making them conspicuous, I +am but cutting away a deleterious fungus from a noble tree. + +(P. 154). The periodic times of the five planets were stated by +Eudoxus,[286] as we learn from Simplicius;[287] the following is his +statement, to which the true times are subjoined, for the sake of +comparison: + + STATEMENT OF EUDOXUS TRUE TIME + Mercury 1 year -- 87d. 23h. + Venus 1 " -- 224d. 16h. + Mars 2 " 1y. 321d. 23h. + Jupiter 12 " 11y. 315d. 14h. + Saturn 30 " 29y. 174d. 1h. + +Upon this determination two remarks may be made. First, the error with +respect to Mercury and Venus is considerable; with respect to Mercury, it +is, in round numbers, 365 instead of 88 days, more than four times too +much. Aristotle remarks that Eudoxus distinguishes Mercury and Venus from +the other three planets by giving them one sphere each, with the poles in +common. The proximity of Mercury to the sun would render its course +difficult to observe and to measure, but the cause of the large error with +respect to Venus (130 days) is not apparent. + +{165} + +Sir G. Lewis takes Eudoxus as making the planets move round the sun; he has +accordingly compared the _geocentric_ periods of Eudoxus with our +_heliocentric_ periods. What greater blunder can be made by a writer on +ancient astronomy than giving Eudoxus the Copernican system? If Mercury +were a black spot in the middle of the sun it would of course move round +the earth in a year, or appear to do so: let it swing a little on one side +and the other of the sun, and the average period is still a year, with +slight departures both ways. The same for Venus, with larger departures. +Say that a person not much accustomed to the distinction might for once +write down the mistake; how are we to explain its remaining in the mind in +a permanent form, and being made a ground for such speculation as that of +the difficulty of observing Mercury leading to a period four times what it +ought to be, corrected in proof and published by an industrious and +thoughtful person? Only in one way: the writer was quite out of his depth. +This one case is conclusive; be it said with all respect for the real +staple of the work and of the author. He knew well the difference of the +systems, but not the effect of the difference: he is another instance of +what I have had to illustrate by help of a very different person, that it +is difficult to reason well upon matter which is not familiar. + + + +(P. 254). Copernicus, in fact, supposed the axis of the earth to be always +turned towards the Sun.^{(169)} [(169). See Delambre, _Hist. Astr. Mod._, +Vol. I, p. 96]. It was reserved to Kepler to propound the hypothesis of the +constant parallelism of the earth's axis to itself. + + + +If there be one thing more prominent than another in the work of Copernicus +himself, in the popular explanations of it, and in the page of +Delambre[288] cited, it is that the _parallelism of the earth's axis_ is a +glaring part of the {166} theory of Copernicus. What Kepler[289] did was to +throw away, as unnecessary, the method by which Copernicus, _per fas et +nefas_,[290] secured it. Copernicus, thinking of the earth's orbital +revolution as those would think who were accustomed to the _solid +orbs_--and much as the stoppers of the moon's rotation do now: why do they +not strengthen themselves with Copernicus?--thought that the earth's axis +would always incline the same end towards the sun, unless measures were +taken to prevent it. He _did_ take measures: he invented a _compensating_ +conical motion of the axis to preserve the parallelism; and, which is one +of the most remarkable points of his system, he obtained the precession of +the equinoxes by giving the necessary trifle more than compensation. What +stares us in the face at the beginning of the paragraph to which the author +refers? + +"C'est donc pour arriver a ce parallelisme, ou pour le conserver, que +Copernic a cru devoir recourir a ce mouvement egal et oppose qui detruit +l'effet qu'il attribue si gratuitement au premier, de deranger le +parallelisme."[291] + +Parallelism at any price, is the motto of Copernicus: you need not pay so +dear, is the remark of Kepler. + +The opinions given by Sir G. Lewis about the effects of modern astronomy, +which he does not understand and singularly undervalues, will now be seen +to be of no authority. He fancies that--to give an instance--for the +determination of a ship's place, the invention of chronometers has been far +more important than any improvement in astronomical theory (p. 254). Not to +speak of latitude,--though the omission is not without importance,--he +ought to have known that longitude is found by the difference between what +o'clock it is at Greenwich and at the ship's place, at {167} one absolute +moment of time. Now if a chronometer were quite perfect--which no +chronometer is, be it said--and would truly tell Greenwich mean time all +over the world, it ought to have been clear that just as good a watch is +wanted for the time at _the place of observation_, before the longitude of +that place with respect to Greenwich can be found. There is no such watch, +except the starry heaven itself: and that watch can only be read by +astronomical observation, aided by the best knowledge of the heavenly +motions. + +I think I have done Sir G. Lewis's very excellent book more good than all +the reviewers put together. + +I will give an old instance in which literature got into confusion about +astronomy. Theophrastus,[292] who is either the culprit or his historian, +attributes to Meton,[293] the contriver of the lunar calendar of nineteen +years, which lasts to this day, that his solstices were determined for him +by a certain Phaeinus of Elis on Mount Lycabettus. Nobody else mentions +this astronomer: though it is pretty certain that Meton himself made more +than one appointment with him for the purpose of observing solstices; and +we may be sure that if either were behind his time, it was Meton. For +_Phaeinus Helius_ is the shining sun himself; and in the astronomical poet +Aratus[294] we read about the nineteen years of the shining sun: + + [Greek: Enneakaideka kukla phaeinou eelioio].[295] + +Some man of letters must have turned Apollo into Phaeinus of Elis; and +there he is in the histories of astronomy to {168} this day. Salmasius[296] +will have Aratus to have meant him, and proposes to read [Greek: eleioio]: +he did not observe that Phaeinus is a very common adjective of Aratus, and +that, if his conjecture were right, this Phaeinus would be the only +non-mythical man in the poems of Aratus. + +[When I read Sir George Lewis's book, the points which I have criticized +struck me as not to be wondered at, but I did not remember why at the time. +A Chancellor of the Exchequer and a writer on ancient astronomy are birds +of such different trees that the second did not recall the first. In 1855 I +was one of a deputation of about twenty persons who waited on Sir G. Lewis, +as Chancellor of the Exchequer, on the subject of a decimal coinage. The +deputation was one of much force: Mr. Airy, with myself and others, +represented mathematics; William Brown,[297] whose dealings with the United +States were reckoned by yearly millions, counted duodecimally in England +and decimally in America, was the best, but not the only, representative of +commerce. There were bullionists, accountants, retailers, etc. Sir G. L. +walked into the room, took his seat, and without waiting one moment, began +to read the deputation a smart lecture on the evils of a decimal coinage; +it would require alteration of all the tables, it would impede calculation, +etc. etc. Of those arguments against it which weighed with many of better +knowledge than his, he obviously knew nothing. The members of the +deputation began to make their statements, and met with curious denials. He +interrupted me with "Surely there is no doubt that the calculations of our +books of arithmetic are easier {169} than those in the French books." He +was not aware that the _universally admitted_ superiority of decimal +_calculation_ made many of those who prefer our system for the market and +the counter cast a longing and lingering look towards decimals. My answer +and the smiles which he saw around, made him give a queer puzzled look, +which seemed to say, "I may be out of my depth here!" His manner changed, +and he listened. I saw both the slap-dash mode in which he dealt with +subjects on which he had not thought, and the temperament which admitted +suspicion when the means of knowledge came in his way. Having seen his two +phases, I wonder neither at his more than usual exhibition of shallowness +when shallow, nor at the intensity of the contrast when he had greater +depth.] + + + +DECIMAL COINAGE. + +Among the paradoxers are the political paradoxers who care not how far they +go in debate, their only object being to carry the House with them for the +current evening. What I have said of editors I repeat of them. The +preservation of a very marked instance, the association of political +recklessness with cyclometrical and Apocalyptic absurdity, may have a +tendency to warn, not indeed any hardened public-man and sinner, but some +young minds which have yearnings towards politics, and are in formation of +habits. + +In the debate on decimal coinage of July 12, 1855, Mr. Lowe,[298] then +member for Kidderminster, an effective speaker and a smart man, exhibited +himself in a speech on which I wrote a comment for the Decimal Association. +I have seldom seen a more wretched attempt to distort the points of a +public question than the whole of this speech. Looking at the intelligence +shown by the speaker on other occasions, {170} it is clear that if charity, +instead of believing all things, believed only all things but one, he might +tremble for his political character; for the honesty of his intention on +this occasion might be the incredible exception. I give a few paragraphs +with comments: + +"In commenting on the humorous, but still argumentative speech of Mr. Lowe, +the member for Kidderminster, we may observe, in general, that it consists +of points which have been several times set forth, and several times +answered. Mr. Lowe has seen these answers, but does not allude to them, far +less attempt to meet them. There are, no doubt, individuals, who show in +their public speaking the outward and visible signs of a greater degree of +acuteness than they can summon to guide their private thinking. If Mr. Lowe +be not one of these, if the power of his mind in the closet be at all +comparable to the power of his tongue in the House, it may be suspected +that his reserve with respect to what has been put forward by the very +parties against whom he was contending, arises from one or both of two +things--a high opinion of the arguments which he ignored--a low opinion of +the generality of the persons whom he addressed. [Both, I doubt not]. + +"Did they calculate in florins In the name of common sense, +?" how can it be objected to a + system that people do not use + it before it is introduced? + Let the decimal system be + completed, and calculation + shall be made in florins; that + is, florins shall take their + proper place. If florins were + introduced _now_, there must + be a column for the odd + shilling. +"He was glad that some hon. If the hon. gentleman make +gentleman had derived benefit this assertion of himself, it +from the issue of florins. His is not for us to gainsay it. +only experience of their It only proves that he is one +convenience was, that when he of that class of {171} men who +ought to have received are described in the old song, +half-a-crown, he had generally of which one couplet runs +received a florin, and when he thus: +ought to have paid a florin, +he had generally paid I sold my cow to buy me a +half-a-crown." (Hear, hear, calf; +and laughter.) I never make a bargain but I + lose half, + With a etc. etc. etc. + +But he cannot mean that Englishmen in general are so easily managed. And as +to Jonathan, who is but John lengthened out a little, he would see creation +whittled into chips before he would even split what may henceforth be +called the Kidderminster difference. The House, not unmoved--for it +laughed--with sly humor decided that the introduction of the florin had +been "eminently successful and satisfactory." + +The truth is that Mr. Lowe here attacks nothing except the coexistence of +the florin and half-crown. We are endeavoring to abolish the half-crown. +Let Mr. Lowe join us; and he will, if we succeed, be relieved from the +pressure on his pocket which must arise from having the turn of the market +always against him. + +"From a florin they get to 2 Note the sophism of expressing +2-5ths of a penny, but who our coin in terms of the +ever bought anything, who ever penny, which we abandon, +reckoned or wished to reckon instead of the florin, which +in such a coin as that?" we retain. Remember that this +(Hear, hear.) 2 2-5ths is the hundredth part + of the pound, which is called, + as yet, a _cent_. Nobody buys + anything at a cent, because + the cent is not yet + introduced. Nobody reckons in + cents for the same reason. + Everybody wishes to reckon in + cents, who wishes to combine + the advantage of decimal + reckoning with the + preservation of the pound as + {172} the highest unit of + account; amongst others, a + majority of the House of + Commons, the Bank of England, + the majority of London + bankers, the Chambers of + Commerce in various places, + etc. etc. etc. +"Such a coin could never come Does 2-1/2d. never pass from +into general circulation hand to hand? And is 2-1/2d. +because it represents nothing so precisely the modulus of +which corresponds with any of popular wants, that an +the wants of the people." alteration of 4 per cent. + would make it useless? Of all + the values which 2-1/2d. + measures, from three pounds of + potatoes down to certain + arguments used in the House of + Commons, there is not one for + which a cent would not do just + as well. Mr. Lowe has fallen + into the misconception of the + person who admired the + dispensation of Providence by + which large rivers are made to + run through cities so great + and towns so many. If the cent + were to be introduced + to-morrow, straightway the + buns and cakes, the soda-water + bottles, the short omnibus + fares, the bunches of + radishes, etc. etc. etc., + would adapt themselves to the + coin. +"If the proposed system were The confusion of ideas here +adopted, they would all be exhibited is most instructive. +compelled to live in decimals The speaker is under the +for ever; if a man dined at a impression that _we_ are +public house he would have to introducing fractions: the +pay for his dinner in decimal truth is, that we only want to +fractions. (Hear, hear.) He abandon the _more difficult_ +objected to that, for he fractions which we _have got_, +thought that a man ought to be and to introduce _easier +able to pay for his dinner in fractions_. Does he deny this? +integers." (Hear, hear, and a Let us trace his denial to its +laugh.) legitimate consequences. A man + ought to pay for his dinner in + integers. + +{173} + +Now, if Mr. Lowe insists on it that our integer is the pound, he is bound +to admit that the present integer is the pound, of which a shilling, etc., +are fractions. The next time he has a chop and a pint of stout in the city, +the waiter should say--"A pound, sir, to you," and should add, "Please to +remember the waiter in integers." Mr. Lowe fancies that when he pays one +and sixpence, he pays in integers, and so he does, if his integer be a +penny or a sixpence. Let him bring his mind to contemplate a mil as the +integer, the lowest integer, and the seven cents five mils which he would +pay under the new system would be payment in integers also. But, as it +happens with some others, he looks _up_ the present system, with +Cocker,[299] and Walkingame,[300] and always looks _down_ the proposed +system. The word _decimal_ is obstinately associated with _fractions_, for +which there is no need. Hence it becomes so much of a bugbear, that, to +parody the lines of Pope, which probably suggested one of Mr. Lowe's +phrases-- + + "Dinner he finds too painful an endeavor, + Condemned to pay in decimals for ever." + +"The present system, however, A pleasant sum even for an +had not yet been changed into accomplished mathematician. +decimal system. That change What does divided by the +might appear very easy to decimal of a pound mean? +accomplished mathematicians Perhaps it means _reduced_ to +and men of science, but it was the decimal of a pound! Mr. +one which it would be very Lowe supposes, as many others +difficult to carry out. (Hear, do, that, after the change, +hear). What would have to be all calculations will be +done? Every sum would have to _proposed in old money_, and +be reduced into a vulgar then _converted into new_. He +fraction of a pound, and then cannot hit the {174} idea that +divided by the decimal of a the new coins will take the +pound--a pleasant sum for an place of the old. This lack of +old applewoman to work out!" apprehension will presently +(Hear, hear, and laughter.) appear further. +"It would not be an agreeable Let the members be assured +task, even for some members of that nine half-pence will be, +that House, to reduce 4-1/2d., for every practical purpose, +or nine half-pence, to mils." 18 mils. But now to the fact +(Hear, hear.) asserted. Davies Gilbert[301] + used to maintain that during + the long period he sat in the + House, he never knew more than + three men in it, at one time, + who had a tolerable notion of + fractions. [I heard him give + the names of three at the time + when he spoke: they were + Warburton,[302] Pollock,[303] + and Hume.[304] He himself was + then out of Parliament.] + Joseph Hume affirmed that he + had never met with more than + ten members who were + arithmeticians. But both these + gentlemen had a high standard. + Mr. Lowe has given a much more + damaging opinion. He evidently + means that the general run of + members could not do his + question. It is done as + follows: Since farthings gain + on mils, at the rate of a + whole mil in 24 farthings (24 + farthings being 25 mils), it + is clear that 18 farthings + being three-quarters of 24 + farthings, will gain + three-quarters of a mil; that + is, 18 farthings are eighteen + {175} mils and three-quarters + of a mil. Any number of + farthings is as many mils and + as many twenty-fourths of a + mil. To a certain extent, we + feel able to protest against + the manner in which + Kidderminster has treated the + other constituencies. We do + not hold it impossible to give + the Members of the House in + general a sufficient knowledge + of the meaning and + consequences of the _decimal_ + succession of units, tens, + hundreds, thousands, etc.; and + we believe that there are in + the House itself competent + men, in number enough to teach + all the rest. All that is + wanted is the power of + starting from the known to + arrive at the unknown. Now + there is one kind of decimals + with which every member is + acquainted--the _Chiltern + Hundreds_. If public opinion + would enable the competent + minority to start from this in + their teaching, not as a + basis, but as an alternative, + in three weeks the + fundamentals would be + acquired, and members in + general would be as fit to + turn 4-1/2d. into mils, as any + boys on the lower forms of a + commercial school. + + For a long period of years, + allusion to the general + ignorance of arithmetic, has + been a standing mode of + argument, and has always been + well received: whenever one + member describes others as + _knownothings_, those others + cry _Hear_ to the country in a + transport of delight. In the + meanwhile the country is + gradually arriving at the + conclusion that a true joke is + no joke. +"The main objection was, if Fine words, wrongly used. The +they went below 6d., that the new coins are commensurable +new scale of coins would not with, and in a finite ratio +be commensurate in any finite to, the old ones. The farthing +ratio with anything in this is to the mil as 25 to 24. The +new currency of mils." speaker has something here in + the bud, which we shall + presently meet with in the + flower; and fallacies are more + easily nipped in flower than + in bud. {176} +"No less than five of our This dreadful change of value +present coins must be called consists in sixpence farthing +in, or else--which would be going to the half-shilling +worse--new values must be instead of sixpence. Whether +given to them." the new farthings be called + mils or not is of no + consequence. +"If a poor man put a penny in Mr. Lowe, who cannot pass a +his pocket, it would come out half-crown for more than a +a coin of different value, florin, or get in a florin at +which he would not understand. less than half-a-crown, has +Suppose he owed another man a such a high faith in the +penny, how was he to pay him ? sterner stuff of his fellow +Was he to pay him in mils? countrymen, that he believes +Four mils would be too little, any two of them would go to +and five mils would be too fisty cuffs for the 25th part +much. The hon. gentlemen said of a farthing. He reasons +there would be only a mil thus: He has often heard in +between them. That was exactly the streets, "I'd fight you +it. He believed there would be for the fiftieth part of a +a 'mill' between them." (Much farden:" and having (that is, +laughter.) for a Member) a notion both of + fractions and logic, he infers + that those who would fight for + the 50th of a farthing would, + _a fortiori_, fight for a + 25th. His mistake arises from + his not knowing that when a + person offers to fight another + for 1/200d., he really means + to fight for love; and that + the stake is merely a matter + of form, a feigned issue, a + _pro forma_ report of + progress. Do the Members of + the House think they have all + the forms to themselves? +"What would be the present We should hardly believe all +expression for four-pence? this to be uttered in earnest, +Why, 0.166 (a laugh); for if we had not known {177} that +threepence? .0125; for a several persons who have not +penny? .004166, and so on _ad Mr. Lowe's humor, nevertheless +infinitum_ (a laugh); for a have his impressions on this +half-penny? .002083 _ad point. It must therefore be +infinitum_. (A laugh). What answered; but how is this to +would be the present be done seriously? +expression for a farthing? +Why, .0010416 _ad infinitum_. _Dialogue between a member of +(A laugh). And this was the Parliament and an orange-boy, +system which was to cause such three days after the +a saving in figures, and these introduction of the complete +were the quantities into which decimal system. The member, +the poor would have to reduce going down to the House, wants +the current coin of the realm. oranges to sustain his voice +(Cheers). With every respect in a two hours' speech on +for decimal fractions, of moving that 100000l. be placed +which he boasted no profound at the disposal of Her +knowledge, he doubted whether Majesty, to supply the poor +the poor were equal to mental with ready-reckoners._ +arithmetic of this kind, +(hear, hear) and he hoped the _Boy._ Fine oranges! two a +adoption of the system would penny! two a penny! {178} +be deferred until there were +some proof that they would be _Member._ Here boy, two! Now, +able to understand it; for, how am I to pay you? +after all, this was the +question of the poor, and the _Boy._ Give you change, your +whole weight of the change honor. +would fall upon them. Let the +rich by all means have _Member._ Ah! but how? Where's +permission to perplex your ready-reckoner? +themselves by any division of +a pound they pleased; but do _Boy._ I sells a better sort +not let them, by any nor them. Mine's real Cheyny. +experiment like this, impose +difficulties upon the poor and _Member._ But you see a +compel men to carry farthing is now .0014166666 +ready-reckoners in their _ad infinitum_, and if we +pocket to give them all these multiply this by 4---- +fractional quantities." (Hear, +hear.) _Boy._ Hold hard, Guv'ner; I + sees what you're arter. Now + what'll you stand if I puts + you up to it? which Bill Smith + he put me up in two minutes, + cause he goes to the Ragged + School. + + _Member._ You don't mean that + you do without a book! + + _Boy._ Book be blowed. Come + now, old un, here's summut for + both on us. I got a florin, + you gives me a half-a-crown + for it, and I larns you the + new money, gives you your + oranges, and calls you a brick + into the bargain. + + _Member_ (_to himself_). Never + had such a chance of getting + off half-a-crown for value + since that ---- fellow Bowring + carried his crochet. + (_Aloud._) Well, boy, it's a + bargain. Now! + + _Boy._ Why, look 'e here, my + trump, its a farden more to + the tizzy--that's what it is. + + _Member_. What's that? + + _Boy._ Why, you knows a + sixpence when you sees it. + (_Aside_). Blest if I think he + does! Well, its six browns and + a farden now. A lady buys two + oranges, and forks {179} out a + sixpence; well in coorse, I + hands over fippence farden + astead of fippence. I always + gives a farden more change, + and takes according. + + _Member_ (_in utter surprise, + lets his oranges tumble into + the gutter_). Never mind! They + won't be wanted now. (_Walks + off one way. Boy makes a pass + of naso-digital mesmerism, and + walks off the other way_). + +To the poor, who keep no books, the whole secret is "Sixpence farthing to +the half shilling, twelve pence halfpenny to the shilling." The _new +twopence halfpenny_, or cent, will be at once five to the shilling. + +In conclusion, we remark that three very common misconceptions run through +the hon. Member's argument; and, combined in different proportions, give +variety to his patterns. + +First, he will have it that we design to bring the uneducated into contact +with _decimal fractions_. If it be so, it will only be as M. Jourdain was +brought into contact with prose. In fact, _Quoi! quand je dis, Nicole, +apportez-moi mes pantoufles, c'est de la prose?_[305] may be rendered: +"What! do you mean that _ten to the florin is a cent a piece_ must be +called decimal reckoning?" If we had to comfort a poor man, horror-struck +by the threat of _decimals_, we should tell him what manner of fractions +had been inflicted upon him hitherto; nothing less awful than +_quarto-duodecimo-vicesimals_, we should assure him. + +Secondly, he assumes that the penny, such as it now is, will remain, as a +coin of estimation, after it has ceased to be a coin of exchange; and that +the mass of the people will continue to think of prices in old pence, and +to calculate them in new ones, or else in new mils. No answer is required +to this, beyond the mere statement of the nature of the assumption and +denial. + +{180} + +Thirdly, he attributes to the uneducated community a want of perception and +of operative power which really does not belong to them. The evidence +offered to the Committee of the House shows that no fear is entertained on +this point by those who come most in contact with farthing purchasers. And +this would seem to be a rule,--that is, fear of the intelligence of the +lower orders in the minds of those who are not in daily communication with +them, no fear at all in the minds of those who are. + +A remarkable instance of this distinction happened five-and-twenty years +ago. The Admiralty requested the Astronomical Society to report on the +alterations which should be made in the _Nautical Almanac_, the seaman's +guide-book over the ocean. The greatest alteration proposed was the +description of celestial phenomena in _mean_ (or clock time), instead of +_apparent_ (or sundial) time, till then always employed. This change would +require that in a great many operations the seaman should let alone what he +formerly altered by addition or subtraction, and alter by addition or +subtraction what he formerly let alone; provided always that what he +formerly altered by addition he should, when he altered at all, alter by +subtraction, and _vice versa_. This was a tolerably difficult change for +uneducated skippers, working by rules they had only learned by rote. The +Astronomical Society appointed a Committee of forty, of whom nine were +naval officers or merchant seamen [I was on this Committee]. Some men of +science were much afraid of the change. They could not trust an ignorant +skipper or mate to make those alterations in their routine, on the +correctness of which the ship might depend. Had the Committee consisted of +men of science only, the change might never have been ventured on. But the +naval men laughed, and said there was nothing to fear; and on their +authority the alteration was made. The upshot was, that, after the new +almanacs appeared, not a word of complaint was ever heard on the matter. +Had the House of Commons had to {181} decide this question, with Mr. Lowe +to quote the description given by Basil Hall[306] (who, by the way, was one +of the Committee) of an observation on which the safety of the ship +depended, worked out by the light of a lantern in a gale of wind off a lee +shore, this simple and useful change might at this moment have been in the +hands of its tenth Government Commission. + + + +[_Aug. 14, 1866._ The Committee was appointed in the spring of 1830: it +consisted of forty members. Death, of course, has been busy; there are now +left Lord Shaftesbury,[307] Mr. Babbage,[308] Sir John Herschel,[309] Sir +Thomas Maclear[310] (Astronomer Royal at the Cape of Good Hope), Dr. +Robinson[311] (of Armagh), Sir James South,[312] Lord Wrottesley,[313] and +myself]. + +{182} + + + +THE TONAL SYSTEM. + + Project of a new system of arithmetic, weight, measure, and coins, + proposed to be called the tonal system, with sixteen to the base. By + J. W. Mystrom.[314] Philadelphia, 1862, 8vo. + +That is to say, sixteen is to take the place of ten, and to be written 10. +The whole language is to be changed; every man of us is to be +sixteen-stringed Jack and every woman sixteen-stringed Jill. Our old _one_, +_two_, _three_, up to sixteen, are to be (_Noll_ going for nothing, which +will please those who dislike the memory of _Old Noll_) replaced by An, De, +Ti, Go, Su, By, Ra, Me, Ni, Ko, Hu, Vy, La, Po, Fy, Ton; and then Ton-an, +Ton-de, etc. for 17, 18, etc. The number which in the system has the symbol + + 28(13)5(11)7(14)0(15) + +(using our present compounds instead of new types) is to be pronounced + + Detam-memill-lasan-suton-hubong-ramill-posanfy. + +The year is to have sixteen months, and here they are: + + Anuary, Debrian, Timander, Gostus, + Suvenary, Bylian, Ratamber, Mesudius, + Nictoary, Kolumbian, Husamber, Vyctorius, + Lamboary, Polian, Fylander, Tonborius. + +Surely An-month, De-month, etc. would do as well. Probably the wants of +poetry were considered. But what are we to do with our old poets? For +example-- + + "It was a night of lovely June, + High rose in cloudless blue the moon." + +Let us translate-- + + "It was a night of lovely Nictoary, + High rose in cloudless blue the (what, in the name of all that is + absurd?)." + +And again, _Fylander_ thrown into our December! What is {183} to become of +those lines of Praed, which I remember coming out when I was at +Cambridge,-- + + "Oh! now's the time of all the year for flowers and fun, the Maydays; + To trim your whiskers, curl your hair, and sinivate the ladies." + +If I were asked which I preferred, this system or that of Baron +Ferrari[315] already mentioned, proceeding by _twelves_, I should reply, +with Candide, when he had the option given of running the gauntlet or being +shot: Les volontes sont libres, et je ne veux ni l'un ni l'autre.[316] We +can imagine a speculator providing such a system for Utopia as it would be +in the mind of a Laputan: but to explain how an engineer who has surveyed +mankind from Philadelphia to Rostof on the Don should for a moment +entertain the idea of such a system being actually adopted, would beat a +jury of solar-system-makers, though they were shut up from the beginning of +Anuary to the end of Tonborius. When I see such a scheme as this imagined +to be practicable, I admire the wisdom of Providence in providing the +quadrature of the circle, etc., to open a harmless sphere of action to the +possessors of the kind of ingenuity which it displays. Those who cultivate +mathematics have a right to speak strongly on such efforts of arithmetic as +this: for, to my knowledge, persons who have no knowledge are frequently +disposed to imagine that their makers are true brothers of the craft, a +little more intelligible than the rest. + + + +SOME SMALL PARADOXERS. + + Vis inertiae victa,[317] or Fallacies affecting science. By James + Reddie.[318] London, 1862, 8vo. + +{184} + +An attack on the Newtonian mechanics; revolution by gravitation +demonstrably impossible; much to be said for the earth being the immovable +center. A good analysis of contents at the beginning, a thing seldom found. +The author has followed up his attack in a paper submitted to the British +Association, but which it appears the Association declined to consider. It +is entitled-- + + + + _Victoria Toto Coelo_; or, Modern Astronomy recast. London, 1863, 8vo. + +At the end is a criticism of Sir G. Lewis's _History of Ancient Astronomy_. + + + + On the definition and nature of the Science of Political Economy. By H. + Dunning Macleod,[319] Esq. Cambridge, 1862, 8vo. + +A paper read--but, according to the report, not understood--at the British +Association. There is a notion that political economy is entirely +mathematical; and its negative quantity is strongly recommended for study: +it contains "the whole of the Funds, Credit, 32 parts out of 33 of the +value of Land...." The mathematics are described as consisting of--first, +number, or Arithmetic; secondly, the theory of dependent quantities, +subdivided into dependence by cause and effect, and dependence by +simultaneous variations; thirdly, "independent quantities or unconnected +events, which is the theory of probabilities." I am not ashamed, having the +British Association as a co-non-intelligent, to say I do not understand +this: there is a paradox in it, and the author should give further +explanation, especially of his negative quantity. Mr. Macleod has gained +{185} praise from great names for his political economy; but this, I +suspect, must have been for other parts of his system. + + + + On the principles and practice of just Intonation, with a view to the + abolition of temperament.... By General Perronet Thompson.[320] Sixth + Edition. London, 1862, 8vo. + +Here is General Thompson again, with another paradox: but always master of +the subject, always well up in what his predecessors have done, and always +aiming at a useful end. He desires to abolish temperament by additional +keys, and has constructed an enharmonic organ with forty sounds in the +octave. If this can be introduced, I, for one, shall delight to hear it: +but there are very great difficulties in the way, greater than stood even +in the way of the repeal of the bread-tax. + +In a paper on the beats of organ-pipes and on temperament published some +years ago, I said that equal temperament appeared to me insipid, and not so +agreeable as the effect of the instrument when in progress towards being +what is called out of tune, before it becomes offensively wrong. There is +throughout that period unequal temperament, determined by accident. General +Thompson, taking me one way, says I have launched a declaration which is +likely to make an epoch in musical practice; a public musical critic, +taking me another way, quizzes me for preferring music _out of tune_. I do +not think I deserve either one remark or the other. My opponent critic, I +suspect, takes _equally tempered_ and _in tune_ to be phrases of one +meaning. But by equal temperament is meant equal distribution among all the +keys of the error which an instrument _must_ have, which, with twelve +sounds only in the octave, professes to be fit for all the keys. I am +reminded of the equal temperament which was once applied to the postmen's +jackets. The coats were all made for the average man: the {186} consequence +was that all the tall men had their tails too short; all the short men had +them too long. Some one innocently asked why the tall men did not change +coats with the short ones. + + + + A diagram illustrating a discovery in the relation of circles to + right-lined geometrical figures. London, 1863, 12mo. + +The circle is divided into equal sectors, which are joined head and tail: +but a property is supposed which is not true. + + + + An attempt to assign the square roots of negative powers; or what is + [sqrt] -1? By F.H. Laing.[321] London, 1863, 8vo. + +If I understand the author, -a and +a are the square roots of -a^2, as +proved by multiplying them together. The author seems quite unaware of what +has been done in the last fifty years. + + + +BYRNE'S DUAL ARITHMETIC. + + Dual Arithmetic. A new art. By Oliver Byrne.[322] London, 1863, 8vo. + +The plan is to throw numbers into the form a(1.1)^{b} (1.01)^{c} +(1.001)^{d}... and to operate with this form. This is an ingenious and +elaborate speculation; and I have no doubt the author has practised his +method until he could surprise any one else by his use of it. But I doubt +if he will persuade others to use it. As asked of Wilkins's universal +language, Where is the second man to come from? + +An effective predecessor in the same line of invention {187} was the late +Mr. Thomas Weddle,[323] in his "New, simple, and general method of solving +numeric equations of all orders," 4to, 1842. The Royal Society, to which +this paper was offered, declined to print it: they ought to have printed an +organized method, which, without subsidiary tables, showed them, in six +quarto pages, the solution (x=8.367975431) of the equation + + 1379.664 x^{622} + 2686034 x 10^{432} x^{152} - 17290224 x 10^{518} + x^{60} + 2524156 x 10^{574} = 0. + +The method proceeds by successive factors of the form, a being the first +approximation, a x 1.b x 1.0c x 1.00d.... In my copy I find a few +corrections made by me at the time in Mr. Weddle's announcement. "It was +read before that learned body [the R. S.] and they were pleased [but] to +transmit their thanks to the author. The en[dis]couragement which he +received induces [obliges] him to lay the result of his enquiries in this +important branch of mathematics before the public [, at his own expense; he +being an usher in a school at Newcastle]." Which is most satirical, Mr. +Weddle or myself? The Society, in the account which it gave of this paper, +described it as a "new and remarkably simple method" possessing "several +important advantages." Mr. Rutherford's[324] extended value of [pi] was +read at the very next meeting, and was printed in the _Transactions_; and +very properly: Mr. Weddle's paper was excluded, and very very improperly. + + + +HORNER'S METHOD. + +I think it may be admited that the indisposition to look at and encourage +improvements of calculation which once {188} marked the Royal Society is no +longer in existence. But not without severe lessons. They had the luck to +accept Horner's[325] now celebrated paper, containing the method which is +far on the way to become universal: but they refused the paper in which +Horner developed his views of this and other subjects: it was printed by +T. S. Davies[326] after Horner's death. I make myself responsible for the +statement that the Society could not reject this paper, yet felt unwilling +to print it, and suggested that it should be withdrawn; which was done. + +But the severest lesson was the loss of _Barrett's Method_,[327] now the +universal instrument of the actuary in his highest calculations. It was +presented to the Royal Society, and refused admission into the +_Transactions_: Francis Baily[328] printed it. The Society is now better +informed: "_live and learn_," meaning "_must live, so better learn_," ought +to be the especial motto of a corporation, and is generally acted on, more +or less. + +Horner's method begins to be introduced at Cambridge: it was published in +1820. I remember that when I first went to Cambridge (in 1823) I heard my +tutor say, in conversation, there is no doubt that the true method of +solving equations is the one which was published a few years ago in the +_Philosophical Transactions_. I wondered it was not taught, but presumed +that it belonged to the higher mathematics. This Horner himself had in his +head: and in a sense it is true; for all lower branches belong to the +higher: but he would have stared to have been told that he, Horner, {189} +was without a European predecessor, and in the distinctive part of his +discovery was heir-at-law to the nameless +Brahmin--Tartar--Antenoachian--what you please--who concocted the +extraction of the square root. + +It was somewhat more than twenty years after I had thus heard a Cambridge +tutor show sense of the true place of Horner's method, that a pupil of mine +who had passed on to Cambridge was desired by his college tutor to solve a +certain cubic equation--one of an integer root of two figures. In a minute +the work and answer were presented, by Horner's method. "How!" said the +tutor, "this can't be, you know." "There is the answer, Sir!" said my +pupil, greatly amused, for my pupils learnt, not only Horner's method, but +the estimation it held at Cambridge. "Yes!" said the tutor, "there is the +answer certainly; but it _stands to reason_ that a cubic equation cannot be +solved in this space." He then sat down, went through a process about ten +times as long, and then said with triumph: "There! that is the way to solve +a cubic equation!" + +I think the tutor in this case was never matched, except by the country +organist. A master of the instrument went into the organ-loft during +service, and asked the organist to let him _play the congregation out_; +consent was given. The stranger, when the time came, began a voluntary +which made the people open their ears, and wonder who had got into the +loft: they kept their places to enjoy the treat. When the organist saw +this, he pushed the interloper off the stool, with "You'll never play 'em +out this side Christmas." He then began his own drone, and the congregation +began to move quietly away. "There," said he, "that's the way to play 'em +out!" + +I have not scrupled to bear hard on my own university, on the Royal +Society, and on other respectable existences: being very much the friend of +all. I will now clear the Royal Society from a very small and obscure +slander, simply because I know how. This dissertation began with {190} the +work of Mr. Oliver Byrne, the dual arithmetician, etc. This writer +published, in 1849, a method of calculating logarithms.[329] First, a long +list of instances in which, as he alleges, foreign discoverers have been +pillaged by Englishmen, or turned into Englishmen: for example, +O'Neill,[330] so called by Mr. Byrne, the rectifier of the semi-cubical +parabola claimed by the Saxons under the name of _Neal_: the grandfather of +this mathematician was conspicuous enough as _Neal_; he was archbishop of +York. This list, says the writer, might be continued without end; but he +has mercy, and finishes with his own case, as follows:--"About twenty years +ago, I discovered this method of directly calculating logarithms. I could +generally find the logarithm of any number in a minute or two without the +use of books or tables. The importance of the discovery subjected me to all +sorts of prying. Some asserted that I committed a table of logarithms to +memory; others attributed it to a peculiar mental property; and when +Societies and individuals failed to extract my secret, they never failed to +traduce the inventor and the invention. Among the learned Societies, the +Royal Society of London played a very base part. When I have more space and +time at my disposal, I will revert to this subject again." + +Such a trumpery story as this remains unnoticed at the time; but when all +are gone, a stray copy from a stall falls into hands which, not knowing +what to make of it, make history of it. It is a very curious distortion. +The reader may take it on my authority, that the Royal Society played no +part, good or bad, nor had the option of playing a part. {191} But I myself +_pars magna fui_:[331] and when the author has "space and time" at his +disposal, he must not take all of them; I shall want a little of both. + + + +ARE ATOMS WORLDS? + + The mystery of being; or are ultimate atoms inhabited worlds? By + Nicholas Odgers.[332] Redruth and London, 1863, 8vo. + +This book, as a paradox, beats quadrature, duplication, trisection, +philosopher's stone, perpetual motion, magic, astrology, mesmerism, +clairvoyance, spiritualism, homoeopathy, hydropathy, kinesipathy, Essays +and Reviews, and Bishop Colenso,[333] all put together. Of all the +suppositions I have given as actually argued, this is the one which is +hardest to deny, and hardest to admit. Reserving the question--as beyond +human discussion--whether our particles of carbon, etc. are _clusters_ of +worlds, the author produces his reasons for thinking that they are at least +single worlds. Of course--though not mentioned--the possibility is to be +added of the same thing being true of the particles which make up our +particles, and so down, for ever: and, on the other hand, of our planets +and stars as being particles in some larger universe, and so up, for ever. + + "Great fleas have little fleas upon their backs to bite 'em, + And little fleas have lesser fleas, and so _ad infinitum._ + And the great fleas themselves, in turn, have greater fleas to go on; + While these again have greater still, and greater still, and so on."[334] + +I have often had the notion that all the nebulae we see, including our own, +which we call the Milky Way, may be particles of snuff in the box of a +giant of a proportionately {192} larger universe. Of course the minim of +time--a million of years or whatever the geologists make it[335]--which our +little affair has lasted, is but a very small fraction of a second to the +great creature in whose nose we shall all be in a few tens of thousands of +millions of millions of millions of years. + +All this is quite possible, and the probabilities for and against are quite +out of reach. Perhaps also all the worlds, both above and below us, are +fac-similes of our own. If so, away goes free will for good and all; +unless, indeed, we underpin our system with the hypothesis that all the +fac-simile bodies of different sizes are actuated by a common soul. These +acute supplementary notions of mine go far to get rid of the difficulty +which some have found in the common theory that the soul inhabits the body: +it has been stated that there is, somewhere or another, a world of souls +which communicate with their bodies by wondrous filaments of a nature +neither mental nor material, but of a _tertium quid_ fit to be a +go-between; as it were a corporispiritual copper encased in a +spiritucorporeal gutta-percha. My theory is that every soul is everywhere +_in posse_, as the schoolmen said, but not anywhere _in actu_, except where +it finds one of its bodies. These _a priori_ difficulties being thus +removed, the system of particle-worlds is reduced to a dry question of +fact, and remitted to the decision of the microscope. And a grand field may +thus be opened, as optical science progresses! For the worlds are not +fac-similes of ours in time: there is not a moment of _our_ past, and not a +moment of _our_ future, but is the _present_ of one or more of the +particles. A will write the death of Caesar, and B the building of the +Pyramids, by actual observation of the processes with a power of a thousand +millions; C will discover the commencement of the Millennium, and D the +{193} termination of Ersch and Gruber's Lexicon,[336] as mere physical +phenomena. Against this glorious future there is a sad omen: the initials +of the forerunner of this discovery are--NO! + + + +THE SUPERNATURAL. + + The History of the Supernatural in all ages and nations, and in all + Churches, Christian and Pagan: demonstrating a universal faith. By Wm. + Howitt.[337] London, 2 vols. 8vo. 1863. + +Mr. Howitt is a preacher of spiritualism. He cements an enormous collection +of alleged facts with a vivid outpouring of exhortation, and an unsparing +flow of sarcasm against the scorners of all classes. He and the Rev. J. +Smith[338] (_ante_, 1854) are the most thoroughgoing universalists of all +the writers I know on spiritualism. If either can insert the small end of +the wedge, he will not let you off one fraction of the conclusion that all +countries, in all ages, have been the theaters of one vast spiritual +display. And I suspect that this consequence cannot be avoided, if any part +of the system be of truly spiritual origin. Mr. Howitt treats the +philosophers either as ignorant babies, or as conscious spirit-fearers: and +seems much inclined to accuse the world at large of dreading, lest by the +actual presence of the other world their Christianity should imbibe a +spiritual element which would unfit it for the purposes of their lives. + +{194} + + + +FROM MATTER TO SPIRIT. + + From Matter to Spirit. By C. D. With a preface by A. B.[339] London, + 1863, 8vo. + +This is a work on Spiritual Manifestations. The author upholds the facts +for spiritual phenomena: the prefator suspends his opinion as to the cause, +though he upholds the facts. The work begins systematically with the lower +class of phenomena, proceeds to the higher class, and offers a theory, +suggested by the facts, of the connection of the present and future life. I +agree in the main with A. B.; but can, of course, make none but horrescent +reference to his treatment of the smaller philosophers. This is always the +way with your paradoxers: they behave towards orthodoxy as the thresher +fish behaves towards the whale. But if true, as is said, that the drubbing +clears the great fish of parasites which he could not otherwise get rid of, +he ought to bear no malice. This preface retorts a little of that contempt +which the "philosophical world" has bestowed with heaped measure upon those +who have believed their senses, and have drawn natural, even if hasty, +inferences. There is philosophercraft as well as priestcraft, both from one +source, both of one spirit. In English cities and towns, the minister of +religion has been tamed: so many weapons are bared against him when he +obtrudes his office in a dictatory manner, that, as a rule, there is no +more quiet and modest member of society than the urban clergyman. +Domination over religious belief is reserved for the exclusive use of those +who admit the right: the rare exception to this mode of behavior is laughed +at as a bigot, or shunned as a nuisance. But the overbearing minister of +nature, who snaps you with _unphilosophical_ as the clergyman once +frightened you with _infidel_, is still a recognized member of society, +wants taming, and will get it. He wears the priest's cast-off {195} +clothes, dyed to escape detection: the better sort of philosophers would +gladly set him to square the circle. + +The book just named appeared about the same time as this Budget began in +the _Athenaeum_. It was commonly attributed, the book to my wife, the +preface to myself. Some time after, our names were actually announced by +the publisher, who ought to know. It will be held to confirm this statement +that I announce our having in our possession some twenty reviews of +different lengths, and of all characters: who ever collects a number of +reviews of a book, except the author? + +A great many of these reviews settle the matter _a priori_. If there had +been spirits in the matter, they would have done this, and they would not +have done that. Jean Meslier[340] said there could be no God over all, for, +_if_ there had been one, He would have established a universal religion. If +J. M. _knew_ that, J. M. was right: but if J. M. did not know that, then +J. M. was on the "high priori road," and may be left to his course. The +same to all who know what spirits would do and would not do. + +A. B. very distinctly said that he knew some of the asserted facts, +believed others on testimony, but did not pretend to know whether they were +caused by spirits, or had some unknown and unimagined origin. This he said +as clearly as I could have said it myself. But a great many persons cannot +understand such a frame of mind: their own apparatus is a kind of +spirit-level, and their conclusion on any subject is the little bubble, +which is always at one end or the other. Many of the reviewers declare that +A. B. is a secret believer in the spirit-hypothesis: and one of them wishes +that he had "endorsed his opinion more boldly." According to this reviewer, +any one who writes "I boldly {196} say I am unable to choose," contradicts +himself. In truth, a person who does say it has a good deal of courage, for +each side believes that he secretly favors the other; and both look upon +him as a coward. In spite of all this, A. B. boldly repeats that he feels +assured of many of the facts of _spiritualism_, and that he cannot pretend +to affirm or deny anything about their cause. + +The great bulk of the illogical part of the educated community--whether +majority or minority I know not; perhaps six of one and half-a-dozen of the +other--have not power to make a distinction, cannot be made to take a +distinction, and of course, never attempt to shake a distinction. With them +all such things are evasions, subterfuges, come-offs, loopholes, etc. They +would hang a man for horse-stealing under a statute against sheep-stealing; +and would laugh at you if you quibbled about the distinction between a +horse and a sheep. I divide the illogical--I mean people who have not that +amount of natural use of sound inference which is really not uncommon--into +three classes:--First class, three varieties: the Niddy, the Noddy, and the +Noodle. Second class, three varieties: the Niddy-Noddy, the Niddy-Noodle, +and the Noddy-Noodle. Third class, undivided: the Niddy-Noddy-Noodle. No +person has a right to be angry with me for more than one of these +subdivisions. + +The want of distinction was illustrated to me, when a boy, about 1820, by +the report of a trial which I shall never forget: boys read newspapers more +keenly than men. Every now and then a bench of country magistrates rather +astonishes the town populations, accustomed to rub their brains[341] +against one another. Such a story as the following would, {197} in our day, +bring down grave remarks from above: but I write of the olden (or +Eldon[342]) time, when nothing but conviction in a court of record would +displace a magistrate. In that day the third-class amalgamator of distinct +things was often on the bench of quarter-sessions. + +An attorney was charged with having been out at night poaching. A clear +_alibi_ was established; and perjury had certainly been committed. The +whole gave reason to suspect that some ill-willers thought the bench +disliked the attorney so much that any conviction was certain on any +evidence. The bench did dislike the attorney: but not to the extent of +thinking he could snare any partridges in the fields while he was asleep in +bed, except the dream-partridges which are not always protected by the +dream-laws. So the chairman said, "Mr. ----, you are discharged; but you +should consider this one of the most fortunate days of your life." The +attorney indignantly remonstrated, but the magistrate was right; for he +said, "Mr. ----, you have frequently been employed to defend poachers: have +you been careful to impress upon them the enormity of their practices?" It +appeared in a wrangling conversation that the magistrates saw little moral +difference between poaching and being a poacher's professional defender +without lecturing him on his wickedness: but they admitted with reluctance, +that there was a legal distinction; and the brain of N^3 could no further +go. This is nearly fifty years ago; and Westernism was not quite extinct. +If the present lords of the hills and the valleys want to shine, let them +publish a true history of their own order. I am just old enough to remember +some of the last of the squires and parsons who protested against teaching +the poor to read and write. They now write books for the working classes, +give them lectures, and the like. There is now no class, as a class, more +highly educated, broadly educated, and deeply educated, {198} than those +who were, in old times, best described as partridge-popping squireens. I +have myself, when a boy, heard Old Booby speaking with pride of Young Booby +as having too high a spirit to be confined to books: and I suspected that +his dislike to teaching the poor arose in fact from a feeling that they +would, if taught a little, pass his heir. + +A. B. recommended the spirit-theory as an hypothesis on which to ground +inquiry; that is, as the means of suggestion for the direction of inquiry. +Every person who knows anything of the progress of physics understands what +is meant; but not the reviewers I speak of. Many of them consider A. B. as +_adopting_ the spirit-hypothesis. The whole book was written, as both the +authors point out, to suggest inquiry to those who are curious; C. D. +firmly believing, A. B. as above. Neither C. D. nor A. B. make any other +pretence. Both dwell upon the absence of authentications and the +suppression of names as utterly preventive of anything like proof. And +A. B. says that his reader "will give him credit, if not himself a goose, +for seeing that the tender of an anonymous cheque would be of equal effect, +whether drawn on the Bank of England or on Aldgate Pump." By this test a +number of the reviewers are found to be geese: for they take the authors as +offering proof, and insist, against the authors, on the very point on which +the authors had themselves insisted beforehand. + +Leaving aside imperceptions of this kind, I proceed to notice a clerical +and medical review. I have lived much in the middle ages, especially since +the invention of printing; and from thence I have brought away a high +respect for and grateful recollection of--the priest in everything but +theology, and the physician in everything but medicine. The professional +harness was unfavorable to all progress, except on a beaten road; the +professional blinkers prevented all but the beaten road from being seen: +the professional reins were pulled at the slightest attempt to quicken +pace, even on the permitted path; and the {199} professional whip was +heavily laid on at the slightest attempt to diverge. But when the +intelligent man of either class turned his attention out of his ordinary +work, he had, in most cases, the freshness and vigor of a boy at play, and +like the boy, he felt his freedom all the more from the contrast of +school-restraint. + +In the case of medicine, and physics generally, the learned were, in some +essential points, more rational than many of their present impugners. They +pass for having put _a priori_ obstacles in the way of progress: they might +rather be reproved for too much belief in progress obtained by _a priori_ +means. They would have shouted with laughter at a dunce who--in a review I +read, but without making a note--declared that he would not believe his +senses except when what they showed him was capable of explanation upon +some known principle. I have seen such stuff as this attributed to the +schoolmen; but only by those who knew nothing about them. The following, +which I wrote some years ago, will give a notion of a distinction worth +remembering. It is addressed to the authorities of the College of +Physicians. + +"The ignominy of the word _empiric_ dates from the ages in which scholastic +philosophy deduced physical consequences _a priori_;--the ages in which, +because a lion is strong, rubbing with lion's fat would have been held an +infallible tonic. In those happy days, if a physician had given decoction +of a certain bark, only because in numberless instances that decoction had +been found to strengthen the patient, he would have been a miserable +empiric. Not that the colleges would have passed over his returns because +they were empirical: they knew better. They were as skilful in finding +causes for facts, as facts for causes. The president and the elects of that +day would have walked out into the forest with a rope, and would have +pulled heartily at the tree which yielded the bark: nor would they ever +have left it until they had pulled out a legitimate {200} reason. If the +tree had resisted all their efforts, they would have said, 'Ah! no wonder +now; the bark of a strong tree makes a strong man.' But if they had managed +to serve the tree as you would like to serve homoeopathy, then it would +have been 'We might have guessed it; all the _virtus roborativa_ has +settled in the bark.' They admitted, as we know from Moliere, the _virtus +dormitiva_[343] of opium, for no other reason than that opium _facit +dormire_.[344] Had the medicine not been previously _known_, they would, +strange as it may seem to modern pharmacopoeists, have accorded a _virtus +dormitiva_ to the new _facit dormire_. On this point they have been +misapprehended. They were prone to infer _facit_ from a _virtus_ imagined +_a priori_; and they were ready in supplying _facit_ in favor of an +orthodox _virtus_. They might have gone so far, for example, under +pre-notional impressions, as the alliterative allopath, who, when +maintenance of truth was busy opposing the progress of science called +_vaccination_, declared that some of its patients coughed like cows, and +bellowed like bulls; but they never refused to find _virtus_ when _facit_ +came upon them, no matter whence. They would rather have accepted Tenterden +steeple than have rejected the Goodwin Sands. They would have laughed their +modern imitators to scorn: but as they are not here, we do it for them. + +"The man of our day--the _a priori_ philosopher--tries the question whether +opium can cause sleep by finding out in the recesses of his own noddle +whether the drug can have a dormitive power: Well! but did not the +schoolman do the same? He did; but mark the distinction. The schoolman had +recourse to first principles, when there was no opium to try it by: our man +settles the point in the same way _with a lump of opium before him_. The +schoolman shifted his principles with his facts: the man of our +drawing-rooms will fight facts with his principles, just as an old {201} +physician would have done in actual practice, with the rod of his _Church_ +at his back. + +"The story about Galileo--which seems to have been either a joke made +against him, or by him--illustrates this. _Nature abhors a vacuum_ was the +explanation of the water rising in a pump: but they found that the water +would not rise more than 32 feet. They asked for explanation: what does the +satirist make the schoolmen say? That the stoppage is _not_ a fact, because +nature abhors a vacuum? No! but that the principle should be that nature +abhors a vacuum as far as 32 feet. And this is what would have been done. + +"There are still among us both priests and physicians who would have +belonged, had they lived three or four centuries ago, to the glorious band +of whom I have spoken, the majority of the intelligent, working well for +mankind out of the professional pursuit. But we have a great many who have +helped to abase their classes. Go where we may, we find specimens of the +lower orders of the ministry of religion and the ministry of health showing +themselves smaller than the small of other pursuits. And how is this? +First, because each profession is entered upon a mere working smack of its +knowledge, without any depth of education, general or professional. Not +that this is the whole explanation, nor in itself objectionable: the great +mass of the world must be tended, soul and body, by those who are neither +Hookers[345] nor Harveys[346]: let such persons not venture _ultra +crepidam_, and they are useful and respectable. But, secondly, there is a +vast upheaving of thought from the depths of commonplace learning. I am a +clergyman! Sir! I am a medical man! Sir! and forthwith the nature of things +is picked to pieces, and there is a race, with the last the winner, between +Philosophy mounted on Folly's donkey, and Folly mounted on Philosophy's +donkey. How fortunate {202} it is for Law that her battles are fought by +politicians in the Houses of Parliament. Not that it is better done: but +then _politics_ bears the blame." + +I now come to the medical review. After a quantity of remark which has been +already disposed of, the writer shows Greek learning, a field in which the +old physician would have had a little knowledge. A. B., for the joke's +sake, had left untranslated, as being too deep, a remarkably easy sentence +of Aristotle, to the effect that what has happened was possible, for if +impossible it would not have happened. The reviewer, in "simple +astonishment,"--it was simple--at the pretended incapacity--I was told by +A. B. that the joke was intended to draw out a reviewer--translates:--He +says that this sentence is A. B.'s summing up of the evidence of +Spiritualism. Now, being a sort of _alter ego_[347] of A. B., I do declare +that he is not such a fool as to rest the evidence of Spiritualism--the +_spirit explanation_--upon the occurrence of certain facts proving the +possibility of those very facts. In truth, A. B. refuses to receive +spiritualism, while he receives the facts: this is the gist of his whole +preface, which simply admits spiritualism among the qualified candidates, +and does not know what others there may be. + +The reviewer speaks of Aristotle as "that clear thinker and concise +writer." I strongly suspect that his knowledge of Aristotle was limited to +the single sentence which he had translated or got translated. Aristotle is +concise in _phrase_, not in book, and is powerful and profound in thought: +but no one who knows that his writing, all we have of him, is the very +opposite of clear, will pretend to decide that he thought clearly. As his +writing, so probably was his thought; and his books are, if not anything +but clear, at least anything good but clear. Nobody thinks them clear +except a person who always clears difficulties: which I have no doubt was +the reviewer's habit; that is, if he ever took the field {203} at all. The +gentleman who read Euclid, all except the As and Bs and the pictures of +scratches and scrawls, is the type of a numerous class. + +The reviewer finds that the word _amosgepotically_, used by A. B., is +utterly mysterious and incomprehensible. He hopes his translation of the +bit of Greek will shield him from imputation of ignorance: and thinks the +word may be referred to the "obscure dialect" out of which sprung +_aneroid_, _kalos geusis sauce_, and _Anaxyridian trousers_. To lump the +first two phrases with the third smacks of ignorance in a Greek critic; for +[Greek: anaxuridia], _breeches_, would have turned up in the lexicon; and +_kalos geusis_, though absurd, is not obscure. And [Greek: amosgepos], +_somehow or other_, is as easily found as [Greek: anaxuridia]. The word +_aneroid_, I admit, has puzzled better scholars than the critic: but never +one who knows the unscholarlike way in which words ending in [Greek: eides] +have been rendered. The _aneroid barometer_ does _not_ use a column of air +in the same way as the old instrument. Now [Greek: aeroeides]--properly +_like_ the atmosphere--is by scientific non-scholarship rendered having to +do with the atmosphere; and [Greek: anaeroeides]--say _anaeroid_--denies +having to do with the atmosphere; a nice thing to say of an instrument +which is to measure the weight of the atmosphere. One more absurdity, and +we have _aneroid_, and there you are. The critic ends with a declaration +that nothing in the book shakes his faith in a _Quarterly_ reviewer who +said that suspension of opinion, until further evidence arrives, is +justifiable: a strange summing up for an article which insists upon utter +rejection being unavoidable.[348] The expressed aim of both A. B. and C. D. +was to excite inquiry, and get further evidence: until this is done, +neither asks for a verdict. + +Oh where! and oh where! is old Medicine's learning gone! There _was_ some +in the days of yore, when Popery {204} was on! And it's oh! for some Greek, +just to find a word upon! The reviewer who, lexicon in hand, can neither +make out _anaxyridical_, _amosgepotical_, _kalos geusis_, nor distinguish +them from _aneroid_, cannot be trusted when he says he has translated a +sentence of Aristotle. He may have done it; but, as he says of +spiritualism, we must suspend our opinion until further evidence shall +arrive. + +We now come to the theological review. I have before alluded to the faults +of logic which are Protestant necessities: but I never said that Protestant +argument had _nothing but_ paralogism. The writer before me attains this +completeness: from beginning to end he is of that confusion and perversion +which, as applied to interpretation of the New Testament, is so common as +to pass unnoticed by sermon-hearers; but which, when applied out of church, +is exposed with laughter in all subjects except theology. I shall take one +instance, putting some words in italics. + +_A. B._ _Theological Critic._ + +My state of mind, which refers ... he proceeds to argue that +the whole _either_ to unseen he himself is outside its +intelligence, _or something sacred pale because he refers +which man has never had any all these strange phenomena to +conception of_, proves me to _unseen spiritual +be out of the pale of the intelligence_. +Royal Society. + +The possibility of a _yet unimagined_ cause is insisted on in several +places. On this ground it is argued by A. B. that spiritualists are +"incautious" for giving in at once to the spirit doctrine. But, it is said, +they may be justified by the philosophers, who make the flint _axes_, as +they call them, to be the works of men, because no one can see _what else +they can be_. This kind of adoption, _condemned_ as a conclusion, is +_approved_ as a provisional theory, suggestive of direction of inquiry: +experience having shown that {205} inquiry directed by a _wrong_ theory has +led to more good than inquiry without any theory at all. All this A. B. has +fully set forth, in several pages. On it the reviewer remarks that "with +infinite satisfaction he tries to justify his view of the case by urging +that there is no other way of accounting for it; after the fashion of the +philosophers of our own day, who conclude that certain flints found in the +drift are the work of men, because the geologist does not see what else +they can be." After this twist of meaning, the reviewer proceeds to say, +and A. B. would certainly join him, "There is no need to combat any such +mode of reasoning as this, because it would apply with equal force and +justice to any theory whatever, however fantastic, profane, or silly." And +so, having shown how the reviewer has hung himself, I leave him +funipendulous. + +One instance more, and I have done. A reviewer, not theological, speaking +of the common argument that things which are derided are not _therefore_ to +be rejected, writes as follows:--"It might as well be said that they who +laughed at Jenner[349] and vaccination were, in a certain but very +unsatisfactory way, witnesses to the possible excellence of the system of +St. John Long."[350] Of course it _might_: and of course it _is_ said by +all people of common sense. In introducing the word "possible," the +reviewer has hit the point: I suspect that this word was introduced during +revision, to put the sentence into fighting order; hurry preventing it +being seen that the sentence was thus made to fight on the wrong side. +Jenner, who was laughed at, was right; therefore, it is not +impossible--that is, it is _possible_--that a derided system may be right. +Mark the three gradations: _in medio tutissimus ibis_.[351] + +{206} + +_Reviewer._--If a system be derided, it is no ground of suspense that +derided systems have turned out true: if it were, you would suspend your +opinion about St. John Long on account of Jenner.--_Ans._ You ought to do +so, as to _possibility_; and _before examination_; not with the notion that +J. proves St. J. _probable_; only _possible_. + +_Common Sense._--The past emergence of truths out of derided systems proves +that there is a practical certainty of like occurrence to come. But, +inasmuch as a hundred speculative fooleries are started for one truth, the +mind is permitted to approach the examination of any one given novelty with +a bias against it of a hundred to one: and this permission is given because +so it will be, leave or no leave. Every one has licence not to jump over +the moon. + +_Paradoxer._--Great men have been derided, and I am derided: which proves +that my system ought to be adopted. This is a summary of all the degrees in +which paradoxers contend for the former derision of truths now established, +giving their systems _probability_. I annex a paragraph which D [e &c.] +inserted in the _Athenaeum_ of October 23, 1847. + +"_Discoverers and Discoveries._ + +"Aristotle once sent his servant to the cellar to fetch wine:--and the +fellow brought him back small beer. The Stagirite (who knew the difference) +called him a blockhead. 'Sir,' said the man, 'all I can say is, that I +found it in the cellar.' The philosopher muttered to himself that an +affirmative conclusion could not be proved in the second figure,--and Mrs. +Aristotle, who was by, was not less effective in her remark, that small +beer was not wine because it was in the same cellar. Both were right +enough: and our philosophers might take a lesson from either--for they +insinuate an affirmative conclusion in the second figure. Great discoverers +have been little valued by established {207} schools,--and they are little +valued. The results of true science are strange at first,--and so are +their's. Many great men have opposed existing notions,--and so do they. All +great men were obscure at first,--and they are obscure. Thinking men +doubt,--and they doubt. Their small beer, I grant, has come out of the same +cellar as the wine; but this is not enough. If they had let it stand awhile +in the old wine-casks, it might have imbibed a little of the flavor." + + + +There are better reviews than I have noticed; which, though entirely +dissenting, are unassailable on their own principles. What I have given +represents five-sixths of the whole. But it must be confessed that the +fraction of fairness and moderation and suspended opinion which the +doctrine of _Spirit Manifestations_ has met with--even in the lower +reviews--is strikingly large compared to what would have been the case +fifty years ago. It is to be hoped that our popular and periodical +literatures are giving us one thinker created for twenty geese +double-feathered: if this hope be realized, we shall do! Seeing all that I +see, I am not prepared to go the length of a friend of mine who, after +reading a good specimen of the lower reviewing, exclaimed--Oh! if all the +fools in the world could be rolled up into one fool, what a reviewer he +would make! + + + + Calendrier Universel et Perpetuel; par le Commandeur P. J. Arson.[352] + Publie par ses Enfans (Oeuvre posthume). Nice, 1863, 4to. + +I shall not give any account of this curious calendar, with all its changes +and symbols. But there is one proposal, which, could we alter the general +notions of time--a thing of very dubious possibility--would be convenient. +The week is made to wax and wane, culminating on the Sunday, {208} which +comes in the middle. Thursday, Friday, Saturday, are ascending or waxing +days; Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, are descending or waning days. Our six +days, lumped together after the great distinguishing day, Sunday, are too +many to be distinctly thought of together: a division of three preceding +and three following the day of most note would be much more easily used. +But all this comes too late. It may be, nevertheless, that some individuals +may be able to adjust their affairs with advantage by referring Thursday, +Friday, Saturday, to the following Sunday, and Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, +to the preceding Sunday. But M. Arson's proposal to alter the names of the +days is no more necessary than it is practicable. + + + +CYCLOMETRY. + +I am not to enter anything I do not possess. The reader therefore will not +learn from me the feats of many a man-at-arms in these subjects. He must be +content, unless he will bestir himself for himself, not to know how Mr. +Patrick Cody trisects the angle at Mullinavat, or Professor Recalcati +squares the circle at Milan. But this last is to be done by subscription, +at five francs a head: a banker is named who guarantees restitution if the +solution be not perfectly rigorous; the banker himself, I suppose, is the +judge. I have heard of a man of business who settled the circle in this +way: if it can be reduced to a debtor and creditor account, it can +certainly be done; if not, it is not worth doing. Montucla will give the +accounts of the lawsuits which wagers on the problem have produced in +France. + +Neither will I enter at length upon the success of the new squarer who +advertises (Nov. 1863) in a country paper that, having read that the +circular ratio was undetermined, "I thought it very strange that so many +great scholars in all ages should have failed in finding the true ratio, +and have been determined to try myself.... I am about to secure the {209} +benefit of the discovery, so until then the public cannot know my new and +true ratio." I have been informed that this trial makes the diameter to the +circumference as 64 to 201, giving [pi] = 3.140625 exactly. The result was +obtained by the discoverer in three weeks after he first heard of the +existence of the difficulty. This quadrator has since published a little +slip, and entered it at Stationers' Hall. He says he has done it by actual +measurement; and I hear from a private source that he uses a disk of 12 +inches diameter, which he rolls upon a straight rail. Mr. James Smith did +the same at one time; as did also his partisan at Bordeaux. We have, then, +both 3.125 and 3.140625, by actual measurement. The second result is more +than the first by about one part in 200. The second rolling is a very +creditable one; it is about as much below the mark as Archimedes was above +it. Its performer is a joiner, who evidently knows well what he is about +when he measures; he is not wrong by 1 in 3,000. + +The reader will smile at the quiet self-sufficiency with which "I have been +determined to try myself" follows the information that "so many great +scholars in all ages" have failed. It is an admirable spirit, when +accompanied by common sense and uncommon self-knowledge. When I was an +undergraduate there was a little attendant in the library who gave me the +following,--"As to cleaning this library, Sir, if I have spoken to the +Master once about it, I have spoken fifty times: but it is of no use; he +will not employ _littery_ men; and so I am obliged to look after it +myself." + +I do not think I have mentioned the bright form of quadrature in which a +square is made equal to a circle by making each side equal to a quarter of +the circumference. The last squarer of this kind whom I have seen figures +in the last number of the _Athenaeum_ for 1855: he says the thing is no +longer a _problem_, but an _axiom_. He does not know that the area of the +circle is greater than that of any other figure of the same circuit. This +any one might see without {210} mathematics. How is it possible that the +figure of greatest area should have any one length in its circuit unlike in +form to any other part of the same length? + +The feeling which tempts persons to this problem is that which, in romance, +made it impossible for a knight to pass a castle which belonged to a giant +or an enchanter. I once gave a lecture on the subject: a gentleman who was +introduced to it by what I said remarked, loud enough to be heard by all +around, "Only prove to me that it is impossible, and I will set about it +this very evening." + +This rinderpest of geometry cannot be cured, when once it has seated itself +in the system: all that can be done is to apply what the learned call +prophylactics to those who are yet sound. When once the virus gets into the +brain, the victim goes round the flame like a moth; first one way and then +the other, beginning where he ended, and ending where he begun: thus +verifying the old line + + "In girum imus nocte, ecce! et consumimur igni."[353] + +Every mathematician knows that scores of methods, differing altogether from +each other in process, all end in this mysterious 3.14159..., which insists +on calling itself the circumference to a unit of diameter. A reader who is +competent to follow processes of arithmetic may be easily satisfied that +such methods do actually exist. I will give a sketch, carried out to a few +figures, of three: the first two I never met with in my reading; the third +is the old method of Vieta.[354] [I find that both the first and second +methods are contained in a theorem of Euler.] + +What Mr. James Smith says of these methods is worth noting. He says I have +given three "_fancy_ proofs" of the value of [pi]: he evidently takes me to +be offering demonstration. He proceeds thus:-- + +"His first proof is traceable to the diameter of a circle {211} of radius +1. His second, to the side of any inscribed equilateral triangle to a +circle of radius 1. His third, to a radius of a circle of diameter 1. Now, +it may be frankly admitted that we can arrive at the same result by many +other modes of arithmetical calculation, all of which may be shown to have +some sort of relation to a circle; but, after all, these results are mere +exhibitions of the properties of numbers, and have no more to do with the +ratio of diameter to circumference in a circle than the price of sugar with +the mean height of spring tides. (_Corr._ Oct. 21, 1865)." + +I quote this because it is one of the few cases--other than absolute +assumption of the conclusion--in which Mr. Smith's conclusions would be +true if his premise were true. Had I given what follows as _proof_, it +would have been properly remarked, that I had only exhibited properties of +numbers. But I took care to tell my reader that I was only going to show +him _methods_ which end in 3.14159.... The proofs that these methods +establish the value of [pi] are for those who will read and can understand. + + 200000000 31415 3799 + 66666667 2817 + 26666667 1363 + 11428571 661 + 5079365 321 + 2308802 156 + 1065601 76 + 497281 37 + 234014 18 + 110849 9 + 52785 5 + 25245 2 + 12118 1 + 5834 + -------- -------- ------- + 314153799 31415 9265 + +{212} + +1. Take any diameter, double it, take 1-3d of that double, 2-5ths of the +last, 3-7ths of the last, 4-9ths of the last, 5-11ths of the last, and so +on. The sum of all is the circumference of that diameter. The preceding is +the process when the diameter is a hundred millions: the errors arising +from rejection of fractions being lessened by proceeding on a thousand +millions, and striking off one figure. Here 200 etc. is double of the +diameter; 666 etc. is 1-3rd of 200 etc.; 266 etc. is 2-5ths of 666 etc.; +114 etc. is 3-7ths of 266 etc.; 507 etc. is 4-9ths of 114 etc.; and so on. + +2. To the square root of 3 add its half. Take _half_ the third part of +this; half 2-5ths of the last; half 3-7ths of the last; and so on. The sum +is the circumference to a unit of diameter. + + Square root of 3.... 1.73205081 + .86602540 + ------------ + 2.59807621 + .43301270 + .08660254 + 1855768 + 412393 + 93726 + 21629 + 5047 + 1188 + 281 + 67 + 16 + 4 + 1 + ------------ + 3.14159265 + +3. Take the square root of 1/2; the square root of half of one more than +this; the square root of half of one more {213} than the last; and so on, +until we come as near to unity as the number of figures chosen will permit. +Multiply all the results together, and divide 2 by the product: the +quotient is an approximation to the circumference when the diameter is +unity. Taking aim at four figures, that is, working to five figures to +secure accuracy in the fourth, we have .70712 for the square root of 1/2; +.92390 for the square root of half one more than .70712; and so on, through +.98080, .99520, .99880, .99970, .99992, .99998. The product of the eight +results is .63667; divide 2 by this, and the quotient is 3.1413..., of +which four figures are correct. Had the product been .636363... instead of +.63667..., the famous result of Archimedes, 22-7ths, would have been +accurately true. It is singular that no cyclometer maintains that +Archimedes hit it exactly. + +A literary journal could hardly admit as much as the preceding, if it stood +alone. But in my present undertaking it passes as the halfpennyworth of +bread to many gallons of sack. Many more methods might be given, all ending +in the same result, let that result mean what it may. + +Now since dozens of methods, to which dozens more might be added at +pleasure, concur in giving one and the same result; and since these methods +are declared by all who have shown knowledge of mathematics to be +_demonstrated_: it is not asking too much of a person who has just a little +knowledge of the first elements that he should learn more, and put his hand +upon the error, before he intrudes his assertion of the existence of error +upon those who have given more time and attention to it than himself, and +who are in possession, over and above many demonstrations, of many +consequences verifying each other, of which he can know nothing. This is +all that is required. Let any one square the circle, and persuade his +friends, if he and they please: let him print, and let all read who choose. +But let him abstain from intruding himself upon those who have been +satisfied by existing demonstration, until he is prepared {214} to lay his +finger on the point in which existing demonstration is wrong. Let him also +say what this mysterious 3.14159... really is, which comes in at every door +and window, and down every chimney, calling itself the circumference to a +unit of diameter. This most impudent and successful impostor holds false +title-deeds in his hands, and invites examination: surely those who can +find out the rightful owner are equally able to detect the forgery. All the +quadrators are agreed that, be the right what it may, 3.14159... is wrong. +It would be well if they would put their heads together, and say what this +wrong result really means. The mathematicians of all ages have tried all +manner of processes, with one object in view, and by methods which are +admitted to yield demonstration in countless cases. They have all arrived +at one result. A large number of opponents unite in declaring this result +wrong, and all agree in two points: first, in differing among themselves; +secondly, in declining to point out what that curious result really is +which the mathematical methods all agree in giving. + +Most of the quadrators are not aware that it has been fully demonstrated +that no two numbers whatsoever can represent the ratio of the diameter to +the circumference with perfect accuracy. When therefore we are told that +either 8 to 25 or 64 to 201 is the true ratio, we know that it is no such +thing, without the necessity of examination. The point that is left open, +as not fully demonstrated to be impossible, is the _geometrical_ +quadrature, the determination of the circumference by the straight line and +circle, used as in Euclid. The general run of circle-squarers, hearing that +the quadrature is not pronounced to be _demonstratively_ impossible, +imagine that the _arithmetical_ quadrature is open to their ingenuity. +Before attempting the arithmetical problem, they ought to acquire knowledge +enough to read Lambert's[355] demonstration (last given in Brewster's[356] +translation {215} of Legendre's[357] Geometry) and, if they can, to refute +it. [It will be given in an Appendix.] Probably some have begun this way, +and have caught a Tartar who has refused to let them go: I have never heard +of any one who, in producing his own demonstration, has laid his finger on +the faulty part of Lambert's investigation. This is the answer to those who +think that the mathematicians treat the arithmetical squarers too lightly, +and that as some person may succeed at last, all attempts should be +examined. Those who have so thought, not knowing that there is +demonstration on the point, will probably admit that a person who +contradicts a theorem of which the demonstration has been acknowledged for +a century by all who have alluded to it as read by themselves, may +reasonably be required to point out the error before he demands attention +to his own result. + +_Apopempsis of the Tutelaries._--Again and again I am told that I spend too +much time and trouble upon my two tutelaries: but when I come to my +summing-up I shall make it appear that I have a purpose. Some say I am too +hard upon them: but this is quite a mistake. Both of them beat little +Oliver himself in the art and science of asking for more; but without +Oliver's excuse, for I had given good allowance. Both began with me, not I +with them: and both knew what they had to expect when they applied for a +second helping. + +On July 31, the Monday after the publication of my remarks on my 666 +correspondent, I found _three_ notes in separate envelopes, addressed to me +at "7A, University College." When I saw the three new digits I was taken +rhythmopoetic, as follows-- + + Here's the Doctor again with his figs, and by Heavens! + He was always at sixes, and now he's at sevens. + +To understand this fully the reader must know that the greater part of +Apocalyptic interpretation has long been condensed, in my mind, into the +Turkish street-cry--In the {216} name of the Prophet! figs! I make a few +extracts. The reader will observe that Dr. Thorn grumbles at his _private_ +letters being _publicly_ ridiculed. A man was summoned for a glutolactic +assault; he complained of the publication of his proceeding: I kicked etc. +_in confidence_, he said. + +"After reading your last, which tries in every way to hold me up to public +ridicule for daring to write you privately ['that you would be d----d,' +omitted by accident] one would say, Why have anything to do with such a +testy person? [Wrong word; no testy person can manage cool and consecutive +ridicule. Quaere, what is this word? Is it anything but a corruption of the +obsolete word _tetchy_ of the same meaning? Some think _touchy_ is our +modern form of _tetchy_, which I greatly doubt]. My answer is, the poor man +is lamentably ignorant; he is not only so, but 'out of the way' [quite +true; my readers know me by this time for an out-of-the-way person. What +other could tackle my squad of paradoxers? What other would undertake the +job?] Can he be brought back and form one of those who in Ezekiel 37 ch. +have the Spirit breathed into them and live.... Have I any other feeling +towards you except that of peace and goodwill? [Not to your distinct +knowledge; but in all those who send people to 'the other place' for +contempt of their interpretations, there is a lurking wish which is father +to the thought; 'you _will_ be d----d' and 'you _be_ d--d' are Siamese +twins]. Of course your sneer at 666 brought plain words; but when men +meddle with what they do not understand (not having the double _Vahu_) they +must be dealt with faithfully by those who do.... [They must; which +justifies the Budget of Paradoxes: but no occasion to send them anywhere; +no preachee and floggee too, as the negro said]. Many will find the text +Prov. i. 26 fully realized. [All this contains distinct assumption of a +right 'of course' to declare accursed those who do not respect the writer's +vagary].... If I could but get the [Hebrew: A], the Ox-head, which in Old +Hebrew was just the Latin Digamma, F, out {217} of your name, and could +then Thau you with the Thau of Ezekiel ix, 4, the [chi], then you would +bear the number of a man! But this is too hard for me, although not so for +the Lord! Jer. xxxii. 17.... And now a word: is ridicule the right thing in +so solemn a matter as the discussion of Holy Writ? [Is food for ridicule +the right thing? Did I discuss Holy Writ? I did not: I concussed profane +scribble. Even the Doctor did not _discuss_; he only enunciated and +denunciated out of the mass of inferences which a mystical head has found +premises for in the Bible]." + + M 40 + O 70 + R 100 + G 6 + N 50 + ---- + 266 + [Hebrew: t]=[chi] 400 + +[That ill opinions are near relations of ill wishes, will be detected by +those who are on the look out. The following was taken down in a Scotch +Church by Mr. Cobden,[358] who handed it to a Roman friend of mine, for his +delectation (in 1855): "Lord, we thank thee that thou hast brought the Pope +into trouble; and we pray that thou wouldst be mercifully pleased to +increase the same."] + +Here is a martyr who quarrels with his crown; a missionary who reviles his +persecutor: send him to New Zealand, and he would disagree with the Maoris +who ate him. Man of unilateral reciprocity! have you, who write to a +stranger with hints that that stranger and his wife are children of +perdition, the bad taste to complain of a facer in return? As James +Smith[359]--the Attorney-wit, not the Dock-cyclometer--said, or nearly +said, + + "A pretty thing, forsooth! + Is he to burn, all scalding hot, + Me and my wife, and am I not + To job him out a tooth?" + +{218} + +Those who think parody vulgar will be pleased to substitute for the above a +quotation from Butler[360]:-- + + "There's nothing so absurd or vain + Or barbarous or inhumane, + But if it lay the least pretence + To piety and godliness, + Or tender-hearted conscience, + And zeal for gospel truths profess,-- + Does sacred instantly commence, + And all that dare but question it are straight + Pronounced th' uncircumcised and reprobate, + As malefactors that escape and fly + Into a sanctuary for defence, + Must not be brought to justice thence, + Although their crimes be ne'er so great and high. + And he that dares presume to do't + Is sentenced and delivered up + To Satan that engaged him to't." + + + +THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST. + +Of all the drolleries of controversy none is more amusing than the manner +in which those who provoke a combat expect to lay down the laws of +retaliation. You must not strike this way! you must not parry that way! If +you don't take care, we shall never meddle with you again! We were not +_prepared_ for such as this! Why did we have anything to do with such a +testy person? M. Jourdain must needs show Nicole, his servant-maid, how +good a thing it was to be sure of fighting without being killed, by care +and tierce.[361] "Et cela n'est il pas beau d'etre assure de son fait quand +on se bat contre quelqu'un? La, pousse moi un peu, pour voir. NICOLE. Eh +bien! quoi? M. JOURDAIN. Tout beau. Hola! {219} Ho! doucement. Diantre soit +la coquine! NICOLE. Vous me dites de pousser. M. JOURDAIN. Oui; mais tu me +pousses en tierce, avant que de pousser en quarte, et tu n'as pas la +patience que je pare." + +His colleague, my secular tutelary, who also made an anachronistic onset, +with his repartees and his retorts, before there was anything to fire at, +takes what I give by way of subsequent provocation with a good humor which +would make a convert of me if he could afford .01659265 ... of a grain of +logic. He instantly sent me his photograph for the asking, and another +letter in proof. The Thor-hammerer does nothing but grumble, except when he +tells a good story, which he says he had from Dr. Abernethy.[362] A Mr. +James Dunlop was popping at the Papists with a 666-rifled gun, when Dr. +Chalmers[363] quietly said, "Why, Dunlop, you bear it yourself," and handed +him a paper on which the numerals in + + I A C O B V S D V N L O P V S + 1 100 5 500 5 50 5 + +were added up. This is almost as good as the _Filii Dei Vicarius_, the +numerical letters of which also make 666. No more of these crazy--I first +wrote _puerile_, but why should young cricketers be libelled?--attempts to +extract religious use from numerical vagaries, and to make God over all a +proposer of _salvation conundrums_: and no more of the trumpery hints about +future destiny which is too great a compliment to call blasphemous. If the +Doctor will cipher upon the letter in [Greek: en hoi metroi metreite +metrethesetai humin][364] with _double Vahu_ cubic measure, he will perhaps +learn to leave off trying to frighten me into gathering grapes from thorns. + +Mystical hermeneutics may be put to good use by out-of-the-way people. They +may be made to call the attention {220} of the many to a distinction well +known among the learned. The books of the New Testament have been for 1,500 +years divided into two classes: the _acknowledged_ ([Greek: +homologoumena]), which it has always been paradox not to receive; and the +_controverted_ ([Greek: antilegomena]), about which there has always been +that difference of opinion which no scholar overlooks, however he may +decide for himself after balance of evidence. Eusebius,[365] who first (l. +3, c. 25) recorded the distinction--which was much insisted on by the early +Protestants--states the books which are questioned as doubtful, but which +yet are approved and acknowledged by _many_--or _the many_, it is not easy +to say which he means--to be the Epistles of James and Jude, the second of +Peter and the second and third of John. In other places he speaks +doubtingly of the Epistle to the Hebrews. The Apocalypse he does not even +admit into this class, for he proceeds as follows--I use the second edition +of the English folio translation (1709), to avert suspicion of bias from +myself:-- + +"Among the _spurious_ [[Greek: nothoi]] let there be ranked both the work +entitled the _Acts of Paul_, and the book called _Pastor_, and the +_Revelation of Peter_: and moreover, that which is called the _Epistle of +Barnabas_, and that named the _Doctrines of the Apostles_: and moreover, as +I said, the _Revelation of John_ (if you think good), which some, as I have +said, do reject, but others allow of, and admit among those books which are +received as unquestionable and undoubted." + +Eusebius, though he will not admit the Apocalypse even into the +_controverted_ list, but gives permission to call it _spurious_, yet +qualifies his permission in a manner which almost annihilates the +distinctive force of [Greek: nothos], and gives the book a claim to rank +(if you think good, again) in the controverted list. And this is the +impression received by {221} the mind of Lardner, who gives Eusebius fully +and fairly, but when he sums up, considers his author as admitting the +Apocalypse into the second list. A stick may easily be found to beat the +father of ecclesiastical history. There are whole faggots in writers as +opposite as Baronius and Gibbon, who are perhaps his two most celebrated +sons. But we can hardly imagine him totally misrepresenting the state of +opinion of those for whom and among whom he wrote. The usual plan, that of +making an author take the views of his readers, is more easy in his case +than in that of any other writer: for, as the riddle says, he is +You-see-by-us; and to this reading of his name he has often been subjected. +Dr. Nathaniel Lardner,[366] who, though heterodox in doctrine, tries hard +to be orthodox as to the Canon, is "sometimes apt to think" that the list +should be collected and divided as in Eusebius. He would have no one of the +controverted books to be allowed, by itself, to establish any doctrine. +Even without going so far, a due use of early opinion and long continued +discussion would perhaps prevent rational people from being induced by +those who have the _double Vahu_ to place the Apocalypse _above_ the +Gospels, which all the Bivahuites do in effect, and some are said to have +done in express words. But my especial purpose is to point out that an easy +way of getting rid of 665 out of 666 of the mystics is to require them to +establish the Apocalypse before they begin. See if they even know so much +as that there is a crowd of testimonies for and against, running through +the first four centuries, which makes this book the most difficult of the +whole Canon. Try this method, and you will escape beautiful, as the French +say. Dean Alford,[367] in Vol. IV, p. 8, of his New Testament, gives an +elaborate handling of this question. He concludes by saying that he cannot +{222} venture to refuse his consent to the tradition that the Apostle is +the author. This modified adherence, or non-nonadherence, pretty well +represents the feeling of orthodox Protestants, when learning and common +sense come together. + +I have often, in former days, had the attempt made to place the Apocalypse +on my neck as containing prophecies yet unfulfilled. The preceding method +prevents success; and so does the following. It may almost be taken for +granted that theological system-fighters do not read the New Testament: +they hunt it for detached texts; they listen to it in church in that state +of quiescent nonentity which is called reverent attention: but they never +read it. When it is brought forward, you must pretend to find it necessary +to turn to the book itself: you must read "The revelation ... to show unto +his servants _things which must shortly come to pass_.... Blessed is he +that readeth ... _for the time is at hand_." You must then ask your mystic +whether things deferred for 1800 years were shortly to come to pass, etc.? +You must tell him that the Greek [Greek: en tachei], rendered "shortly," is +as strong a phrase as the language has to signify _soon_. The interpreter +will probably look as if he had never read this opening: the chances are +that he takes up the book to see whether you have been committing a fraud. +He will then give you some exquisite evasion: I have heard it pleaded that +the above was a _mere preamble_. This word _mere_ is all-sufficient: it +turns anything into nothing. Perhaps he will say that the argument is that +of the Papists: if so, tell him that there is no Christian sect but bears +true witness against some one or more absurdities in other sects. + +An anonyme suggests that [Greek: en tachei] may not be "soon," it may be +"quickly, without reference to time when:" he continues thus, "May not time +be 'at hand' when it is ready to come, no matter how long delayed?" I now +understand what *** and *** meant when they borrowed my books and promised +to return them quickly, it was "without {223} reference to time when." As +to time at _hand_--provided you make a long _arm_--I admire the quirk, but +cannot receive it: the word is [Greek: engus], which is a word of +_closeness_ in time, in place, in reckoning, in kindred, etc. + +Another gentleman is not surprised that Apocalyptic reading leads to a +doubt of the "canonicity" of the book: it ought not to rest on church +testimony, but on visible miracle. He offers me, or any reader of the +_Athenaeum_, the "sight of a miracle to that effect, and within forty-eight +hours' journey (fare paid)." I seldom travel, and my first thought was +whether my carpet-bag would be found without a regular hunt: but, on +reading further, I found that it was only a concordance that would be +wanted. Forty hours' collection and numerical calculation of Greek nouns +would make it--should I happen to agree with the writer--many hundred +millions to one that Revelation xiii is superhuman. There is but one verse +(the fifth) which the writer does not see verified. I looked at this verse, +and was much startled. The Budget began in October 1863: should it last +until March 1867--it is now August 1866--it is clear that I am the first +Beast, and my paradoxers are the saints whom I persecute. + +[The Budget _did_ terminate in March 1867: I hope the gentleman will be +satisfied with the resulting interpretation.] + +The same opponent is surprised that I should suppose a thing which "comes +to pass" must be completed, and cannot contain what is to happen 1800 years +after. All who have any knowledge of English idiom know that a thing +_comes_ to pass when it happens, and _came_ to pass afterwards. But as the +original is Greek, we must look at the Greek: it is [Greek: dei genesthai] +for "must come to pass," and we know that [Greek: egeneto] is what is +usually translated "came to pass." No word of more finished completion +exists in Greek. + +And now for a last round of biter-bit with the Thor-hammerer, of whom, as +in the other case, I shall take no {224} more notice until he can contrive +to surpass himself, which I doubt his being able to do. He informs me that +by changing A into [Hebrew: t] in my name he can make a 666 of _me_; +adding, "This is too hard for me, although not so for the Lord!" Sheer +nonsense! He could just as easily have directed to "Prof. De Morg[Hebrew: +t]n" as have assigned me apartment 7A in University College. It would have +been seen for whom it was intended: and if not, it would still have reached +me, for my colleagues have for many a year handed all out-of-the-way things +over to me. There is no 7A: but 7 is the Museum of Materia Medica. I took +the only hint which the address gave: I inquired for hellebore, but they +told me it was not now recognized, that the old notion of its value was +quite obsolete, and that they had nothing which was considered a specific +in senary or septenary cases. The great platitude is the reference of such +a difficulty as writing [Hebrew: t] for A to the Almighty! Not childish, +but fatuous: real childishness is delightful. I knew an infant to whom, +before he could speak plain, his parents had attempted to give notions of +the Divine attributes: a wise plan, many think. His father had dandled him +up-side-down, ending with, There now! Papa could not dance on his head! The +mannikin made a solemn face, and said, _But Dod tood_! I think the Doctor +has rather mistaken the way of becoming as a little child, intended in +Matt. xviii. 3: let us hope the will may be taken for the deed. + +Two poets have given images of transition from infancy to manhood: +Dryden,--for the Hind is Dryden himself on all fours! and Wordsworth, in +his own character of broad-nailed, featherless biped: + + "The priest continues what the nurse began, + And thus the child imposes on the man." + "The child's the father of the man, + And I could wish my days to be + Bound each to each by natural piety." + +{225} + +In Wordsworth's aspiration it is meant that sense and piety should grow +together: in Dryden's description a combination of Mysticism And Bigotry +(can this be the _double Vahu_?), personified as "the priest,"--who always +catches it on this score, though the same spirit is found in all +associations,--succeeds the boguey-teaching of the nurse. Never was the +contrast of smile and scowl, of light and darkness, better seen than in the +two pictures. But an acrostic distinction may be drawn. When mysticism +predominates over bigotry, we have the grotesque picturesque, and the +natural order of words gives us _Mab_, an appropriate suggestion. But when +bigotry has the upper hand, we see _Bam_, which is just as appropriate; for +bigotry nearly always deals with facts and logic so as to require the +application of at least one of the minor words by which dishonesty is +signified. I think that M is the Doctor's initial, and that Queen Mab +tickles him in his sleep with the sharp end of a 6. + +(_Monday, August 21._) Three weeks having elapsed without notice from me of +the Doctor, I receive a reminder of his existence, in which I find that as +I am the Daniel who judges the Magi of Babylon, it is to be pointed out +that Daniel "bore a certain number, that of a man (beloved), Daniel, ch. +10. v. 11, and which you certainly do not." Then, "by Greek power," +Belteshazzar is made = 666. Here is another awkward imitation of the way of +a baby child. When you have sported with the tiny creature until it runs +away offended, by the time you have got into conversation again you will +find the game is to be renewed: a little head peeps out from a hiding-place +with "I don't love you." The proper rejoinder is, "Very well! then I'll +have pussy." But in the case before me there is a rule of three sums to do; +as baby : Pussy Dr. :: 666 : the answer required. I will work it out, if I +can. + +The squaring of the circle and the discovery of the Beast are the two +goals--and goals also--of many unbalanced intellects, and of a few +instances of the better kind. {226} I might have said more of 666, but I am +not deep in its bibliography. A work has come into my hands which contains +a large number of noted cases: to some of my readers it will be a treat to +see the collection; and the sight will perhaps be of some use to those who +have read controversy on the few celebrated cases which are of general +notoriety. It is written by a learned decipherer, a man who really knew the +history of the subject, the Rev. David Thom,[368] of Bold Street Chapel, +Liverpool, who died, I am told, a few years ago. + +Anybody who reads his book will be inclined to parody a criticism which was +once made on Paley's[369] Evidences--"Well! if there be anything in +Christianity, this man is no fool." And, if he should chance to remember +it, he will be strongly reminded of a sentence in my opening chapter,--"The +manner in which a paradoxer will show himself, as to sense or nonsense, +will not depend upon what he maintains, but upon whether he has or has not +made a sufficient knowledge of what has been done by others, _especially as +to the mode of doing it_, a preliminary to inventing knowledge for +himself." And this is reinforced by the fact that Mr. Thom, though a +scholar, was not conspicuous for learning, except in this his great +pursuit. He was a paradoxer on other points. He reconciled Calvinism and +eternal reprobation with Universalism and final salvation; showing these +two doctrines to be all one. + +This gentleman must not be confounded with the Rev. John Hamilton Thom[370] +(no relation), at or near the same {227} time and until recently, of +Renshaw Street Chapel, Liverpool who was one of the minority in the +Liverpool controversy when, nearly thirty years ago, _three_ heretical +Unitarian schooners exchanged shotted sermons with _thirteen_ Orthodox +ships of the line, and put up their challengers' dander--an American +corruption of _d--d anger_--to such an extent, by quiet and respectful +argument, that those opponents actually addressed a printed intercession to +the Almighty for the Unitarian triad, as for "Jews, Turks, Infidels, and +Heretics." So much for the distinction, which both gentlemen would thank me +for making very clear: I take it quite for granted that a guesser at 666 +would feel horrified at being taken for a Unitarian, and that a Unitarian +would feel queerified at being taken for a guesser at 666. Mr. David Thom's +book is _The Number and Names of the Apocalyptic Beasts_, Part I, 1848, +8vo.: I think the second part was never published. I give the Greek and +Latin solutions, omitting the Hebrew: as usual, all the Greek letters are +numeral, but only M D C L X V I of the Latin. I do not give either the +decipherers or their reasons: I have not room for this; nor would I, if I +could, bias my reader for one rather than another. + +D. F. Julianus Caesar Atheus (or Aug.[371]); Diocles Augustus; Ludovicus; +Silvester Secundus; Linus Secundus; {228} Vicarius Filii Dei; Doctor et Rex +Latinus; Paulo V. Vice-Deo; Vicarius Generalis Dei in Terris; Ipse +Catholicae Ecclesiae Visibile Caput; Dux Cleri; Una, Vera, Catholica, +Infallibilis Ecclesia; Auctoritas politica ecclesiasticaque Papalis (Latina +will also do); Lutherus Ductor Gregis; Calvinus tristis fidei interpres; +Dic Lux ; Ludvvic; Will. Laud; [Greek: Lateinos];[372] [Greek: he latine +basileia]; [Greek: ekklesia italika]; [Greek: euanthas]; [Greek: teitan]; +[Greek: arnoume]; [Greek: lampetis]; [Greek: ho niketes]; [Greek: kakos +hodegos]; [Greek: alethes blaberos]; [Greek: palai baskanos]; [Greek: amnos +adikos]; [Greek: antemos]; [Greek: genserikos]; [Greek: euinas]; [Greek: +Benediktos]; [Greek: Bonibazios g. papa x. e. e. e. a.], meaning Boniface +III. Pope 68th, bishop of bishops the first! [Greek: oulpios]; [Greek: dios +eimi he heras]; [Greek: he missa he papike]; [Greek: loutherana]; [Greek: +saxoneios]; [Greek: Bezza antitheos] (Beza); [Greek: he alazoneia biou]; +[Greek: Maometis]; [Greek: Maometes b.]; [Greek: theos eimi epi gaies]; +[Greek: iapetos]; [Greek: papeiskos]; [Greek: dioklasianos]; [Greek: +cheina]; [Greek: braski]; [Greek: Ion Paune]; [Greek: koupoks]; (cowpox, +[Greek: s] being the _vau_; certainly the {229} vaccinated have the mark of +the Beast); [Greek: Bonneparte]; [Greek: N. Boneparte]; [Greek: euporia]; +[Greek: paradosis]; [Greek: to megatherion]. + +All sects fasten this number on their opponents. It is found in _Martin +Lauter_, affirmed to be the true way of writing the name, by carrying +numbers through the Roman Alphabet. Some Jews, according to Mr. Thorn, +found it in [Hebrew: JSHW NTSRJ] _Jesus of Nazareth_. I find on inquiry +that this satire was actually put forth by some medieval rabbis, but that +it is not idiomatic: it represents quite fairly "Jesus Nazarene," but the +Hebrew wants an article quite as much as the English wants "the." + +Mr. David Thom's own solution hits hard at all sides: he finds a 666 for +both beasts; [Greek: he phren] (the mind) for the first, and [Greek: +ekklesiai sarkikai] (fleshly churches) for the second. A solution which +embodies all mental philosophy in one beast and all dogmatic theology in +the other, is very tempting: for in these are the two great supports of +Antichrist. It will not, however, mislead me, who have known the true +explanation a long time. The three sixes indicate that any two of the three +subdivisions, Roman, Greek, and Protestant, are, in corruption of +Christianity, six of one and half a dozen of the other: the distinctions of +units, tens, hundreds, are nothing but the old way (1 Samuel xviii. 7, and +Concordance at _ten_, _hundred_, _thousand_) of symbolizing differences of +number in the subdivisions. + +It may be good to know that, even in speculations on 666, there are +different degrees of unreason. All the diviners, when they get a colleague +or an opponent, at once proceed to reckon him up: but some do it in play +and some in earnest. Mr. David Thom found a young gentleman of the name St. +Claire busy at the Beast number: he forthwith added the letters in [Greek: +st klaire] and found 666: this was good fun. But my spiritual tutelary, +when he found that he could not make a beast of me, except by changing +[Hebrew: A] into [Hebrew: T], solemnly referred the difficulty to the +Almighty: this was poor earnest. {230} + +I am glad I did not notice, in time to insert it in the _Athenaeum_, a very +remarkable paradoxer brought forward by Mr. Thom, his friend Mr. +Wapshare[373]: it is a little too strong for the general public. In the +_Athenaeum_ they would have seen and read it: but this book will be avoided +by the weaker brethren. It is as follows: + +"God, the Elohim, was six days in creating all things, and having made MAN +he entered into his rest. He is no more seen as a Creator, as Elohim, but +as Jehovah, the _Lord_ of the Sabbath, and the Spirit of life in MAN, which +Spirit worketh _sin in the flesh_; for the Spirit of Love, in all flesh, is +Lust, or the spirit of a beast, So Rom. vii. And which Spirit is +_crucified_ in the flesh. He then, as Jehovah--as the power of the Law, +_in_ and _over_ all flesh, John viii. 44--increases that which he has made +as the Elohim, and his power shall last for 6 days, or 6 periods of time, +computed at a millennium of years; and at the end of which six days, he who +is the Spirit of all flesh shall manifest himself as the Holy Spirit of +Almighty Love, and of all truth; and so shall the Church have her Sabbath +of Rest--all contention being at an end. This is, as well as I may now +express it, my solution of the mystery in Hebrew, and in Greek, and also in +Latin, IHS. For he that was lifted up _is_ King of the Jews, and is the +Lord of all Life, working in us, both to will and to do; as is manifest in +the Jews--they slaying him that his blood might be _good_ for the healing +of the nations, of all people and tongues. As the Father of all _natural_ +flesh, he is the Spirit of Lust, as in all _beasts_; as the Father, or King +of the Jews, he is the Devil, as he himself witnesseth in John viii., +already referred to. As lifted up, he is transformed into the Spirit of +Love, a light to the Gentiles, and the glory of his people Israel.... For +there is but ONE God, ONE Lord, ONE Spirit, ONE body, etc. and he who was +Satan, the Spirit of life in that body, is, in {231} Christ crucified, seen +in the Spirit that is in all, and through all and over all, God blessed for +ever." + +All this seems well meant, and Mr. Thom prints it as convinced of its +piety, and "pronounces no opinion." Mystics of all sorts! see what you may +come to, or what may come to you! I have inserted the above for your good. + +There is nothing in this world so steady as some of the paradoxers. They +are like the spiders who go on spinning after they have web enough to catch +all the flies in the neighborhood, if the flies would but come. They are +like the wild bees who go on making honey which they never can eat, proving +_sic vos non vobis_ to be a physical necessity of their own contriving. But +nobody robs their hives: no, unlike the bees, they go about offering their +ware to any who will take it as a gift. I had just written the last +sentence (Oct. 30, 1866, 8.45 A.M.) when in comes the second note received +this morning from Dr. Thorn: at 1.30 P.M. came in a third. These arise out +of the above account of the Rev. D. Thom, published Oct. 27: three notes +had arrived before. + +For curiosity I give one day's allowance, supposing these to be all: more +may arrive before night. + +29th Oct. 1866. + +"Dear Sir,-- + +In re [swastika].[374] + +"So that 'Zaphnath Paaneah' may be after all the revealer of the 'Northern +Tau' [Greek: Phaneroo]--To make manifest, shew, or explain; and this may +satisfy the House of Joseph in Amos 5^c. While Belteshazzar = 666 may be +also satisfactory to the House of David, and so we may have Zech. 10^c. +6^v. in operation when Ezekiel 37^c. 16^v. has been realised;--but there, +what is the use of writing, it is all Coptic {232} to a man who has not +[swastika], The Thau of the North, the double Vahu [Hebrew: W\qamats\W]. +Look at Jeremiah 3^c. 8^v. and then to Psalm 83 for 'hidden ones' [Hebrew: +TS\sheva\PW\dagesh\N\segol\Y Y\sheva\HW\qamats\H]--The Zephoni Jehovah, and +say whether they have any connection with the Zephon _Thau_. The Hammer of +Thor of Jeremiah 23^c. 29^v. as I gave you in No. 3 of my present edition. + +Yours truly + +LE CHEVALIER AU CIN." + +_By Greek Power._ + + C = 20 + H = 8 + E = 5 + V = 6 + A = 1 + L = 30 + I = 10 + E = 5 + R = 100 + + A = 1 + U = 400 + + C = 20 + I = 10 + N = 50 + ---- + 666 + +There will be thousands of Morgans who will be among the wise and prudent +of Hosea 14^c. 9^v. when the Seventh Angel sounds, let me number _that One_ +by Greek, Rev. 17^c. 1^v: {233} + + S = 200 + E = 5 + x V = 6 + E = 5 + N = 50 + T = 300 + H = 8 + + A = 1 + N = 50 + x G = 6 + E = 5 + L = 30 + ---- + 666 + + V and G = 12 ought to be equal to one Gammadion or ^3[swastika]3 x 4 = + 12, what say you? + +London, October 29, 1866. + +"Dear Sir,-- + +In re [swastika] versus [maltese cross]. + +However pretentious the X or [maltese cross] may be, and it is peculiarly +so just now in this land; after all it is only made of two Roman V's--and +so is only = [ one inverted](10)--and therefore is not the perfect number +12 of Revel^n, but is the mark of the goddess _Decima_! + +Yours truly + +WM. THORN." + +Had the _one_ who sent forth a pastoral (Romish) the other day, remained +amongst the faithful expectants, see how he would have numbered, whereas he +sold himself for the privilege of signing + +[maltese cross] HENRY E. MANNING.[375] + +{234} + +_By English Key._ + + H = 8 + E = 5 + N = 40 + R = 80 + Y = 140 + + E = 5 + D = 4 + W = 120 + A = 1 + R = 80 + D = 4 + + M = 30 + A = 1 + N = 40 + N = 40 + I = 9 + N = 40 + G = 7 + [swastika] = 12 + ---- + 666 + + Can you now understand the difference between [swastika] and [maltese + cross] or X? Look to my challenge. + +Cutting from newspaper:-- + +ITALY. + +Rome (_via_ Marseilles), October + +Mr. Gladstone has paid a visit to the Pope. + +_By Greek Power._ + + G = 6 + L = 30 + A = 1 + D = 4 + S = 200 + T = 300 + O = 70 + N = 50 + E = 5 + ---- + 666 + +And what then [swastika]? + +{235} + +In other letters _John Stuart Mill_ is 666 if the _a_ be left out; +_Chasuble_ is perfect. _John Brighte_[376] is a _fait accompli_; and I am +asked whether intellect can account for the final e. Very easily: this +Beast is not the M. P., but another person who spells his name differently. +But if John Sturt Mill and John Brighte choose so to write themselves, they +may. + +A curious collection; a mystical phantasmagoria! There are those who will +try to find meaning: there are those who will try to find purpose. + + "And some they said--What are you at? + And some--What are you arter?" + +My account of Mr. Thom and his 666 appeared on October 27: and on the 29th +I received from the editor a copy of Mr. Thom's sermons published in 1863 +(he died Feb. 27, 1862) with best wishes for my health and happiness. The +editor does not name himself in the book; but he signed his name in my +copy: and may my circumference never be more than 3-1/8 of my diameter if +the signature, name and writing both, were not that of my [circle square] +ing friend Mr. James Smith! And so I have come in contact with him on 666 +as well as on [pi]! I should have nothing left to live for, had I not +happened to hear that he has a perpetual motion on hand. I returned thanks +and kind regards: and Miss Miggs's words--"Here's forgivenesses of +injuries! here's amicablenesses!"--rang in my ears. But I was made slightly +uncomfortable: how could the war go on after this armistice? Could I ever +make it understood that the truce only extended to the double Vahu and +things thereunto relating? It was once held by seafaring men that there was +no peace with Spaniards beyond the line: I was determined that there must +be no concord with J. S. inside the circle; that this must be a special +exception, like Father Huddleston {236} and old Grouse in the gun-room. I +was not long in anxiety; twenty-four hours after the book of sermons there +came a copy of the threatened exposure--_The British Association in +Jeopardy, and Professor De Morgan in the Pillory without hope of escape_. +By James Smith, Esq. London and Liverpool, 8vo., 1866 (pp. 94). This +exposure consists of reprints from the _Athenaeum_ and _Correspondent_: of +things new there is but one. In a short preface Mr. J. S. particularly +recommends to "_read to the end_." At the end is an appendix of two pages, +in type as large as the work; a very prominent peroration. It is an article +from the _Athenaeum_, left out of its place. In the last sentence Mr. J. +Smith, who had asked whether his character as an honest Geometer and +Mathematician was not at stake, is warned against the _fallacia plurium +interrogationum_.[377] He is told that there is not a more honest +what's-his-name in the world: but that as to the counter which he calls his +character as a mathematician, he is assured that it has been staked years +ago, and lost. And thus truth has the last word. There is no occasion to +say much about reprints. One of them is a letter [that given above] of +August 25, 1865, written by Mr. J. S. to the _Correspondent_. It is one of +his quadratures; and the joke is that I am made to be the writer: it +appears as what Mr. J. S. hopes I shall have the sense to write in the +_Athenaeum_ and forestall him. When I saw myself thus quoted--yes! quoted! +double commas, first person--I felt as I suppose did Wm. Wilberforce[378] +when he set eyes on the affectionate benediction of the potato which +waggish comrades had imposed on a raw Irish reporter as part of his speech. +I felt as Martin[379] of {237} Galway--kind friend of the poor dumb +creatures!--when he was told that the newspapers had put him in Italics. "I +appeal to you, Mr. Speaker! I appeal to the House! Did I speak in Italics? +Do I ever speak in Italics?" I appeal to editor and readers, whether I ever +squared the circle until a week or two ago, when I gave my charitable mode +of reconciling the discrepant cyclometers. + +The absurdity of the imitation of symbolic reasoning is so lusciously rich, +that I shall insert it when I make up my final book. Somebody mastered +Spanish merely to read Don Quixote: it would be worth while to learn a +little algebra merely to enjoy this a b-istical attack on the windmills. +The principle is, Prove something in as roundabout a way as possible, +mention the circle once or twice irrelevantly in the course of your proof, +and then make an act of Q. E. D. in words at length. The following is +hardly caricature:-- + +To prove that 2 and 2 make 5. Let a = 2, b = 5: let c = 658, the number of +the House: let d = 666, the number of the Beast. Then of necessity d = a + +b + c + 1; so that 1 is a harmonious and logical quantification of the +number of which we are to take care. Now, b, the middle of our digital +system, is, by mathematical and geometrical combination, a mean between 5 + +1 and 2 + 2. Let 1 be removed to be taken care of, a thing no real +mathematician can refuse without serious injury to his mathematical and +geometrical reputation. It follows of necessity that 2 + 2 = 5, _quod erat +demonstrumhorrendum_. If Simpkin & Marshall have not, after my notice, to +account for a gross of copies more than would have gone off without me, the +world is not worthy of its James Smith! + +The only fault of the above is, that there is more {238} connection than in +the process of Faber Cyclometricus: so much, in fact, that the blunders are +visible. The utter irrelevance of premises to conclusion cannot be +exhibited with the requisite obscurity by any one who is able to follow +reasoning: it is high art displayed in a certain toning down of the _aegri +somnia_, which brings them to a certain look of reproach to reasoning which +I can only burlesque. Mr. J. S. produces something which resembles argument +much as a chimpanzee in dolor, because balked of his dinner, resembles a +thinking man at his studies. My humble attempt at imitation of him is more +like a monkey hanging by his tail from a tree and trying to crack a +cocoa-nut by his chatter. + +I could forgive Mr. J. S. anything, properly headed. I would allow him to +prove--_for himself_--that the Quadrature of the Circle is the child of a +private marriage between the Bull Unigenitus and the Pragmatic Sanction, +claiming tithe of onions for repeal of the Mortmain Act, before the Bishops +in Committee under the kitchen table: his mode of imitating reason would do +this with ease. But when he puts his imitation into my mouth, to make me +what _he_ calls a "real mathematician," my soul rises in epigram against +him. I say with the doll's dressmaker--such a job makes me feel like a +puppet's tailor myself--"He ought to have a little pepper? just a few +grains? I think the young man's tricks and manners make a claim upon his +friends for a little pepper?" De Faure[380] and Joseph Scaliger[381] come +into my head: my reader may look back for them. + + "Three circlesquarers to the manner born, + Switzerland, France, and England did adorn, + De Faure in equations did surpass, + Joseph at contradictions was an ass. + Groaned Folly, I'm used up! What shall I do + To make James Smith? Grinned Momus, _Join the two_!" + +{239} + +As to my _locus poenitentiae_,[382] the reader who is fit to enjoy the +letter I have already alluded to will see that I have a soft and easy +position; that the thing is really a _pillowry_; and that I am, like +Perrette's pot of milk, + + "Bien pose sur un coussinet."[383] + +Joanna Southcott[384] never had a follower who believed in her with more +humble piety than Mr. James Smith believes in himself. After all that has +happened to him, he asks me with high confidence to "favor the writer with +a proof" that I still continue of opinion that "the best of the argument is +in my jokes, and the best of the joke is in his arguments." I will not so +favor him. At the very outset I told him in plain English that he has the +whiphand of all the reasoners in the world, and in plain French that _il a +perdu le droit d'etre frappe de l'evidence_[385]; I might have said +_pendu_.[386] To which I now add, in plain Latin, _Sapienti pauca, indocto +nihil_.[387] The law of Chancery says that he who will have equity must do +equity: the law of reasoning says that he who will have proof must see +proof. + +The introduction of things quite irrelevant, by way of reproach, is an +argument in universal request: and it often happens that the argument so +produced really tells against the producer. So common is it that we forget +how boyish it is; but we are strikingly reminded when it actually comes +from a boy. In a certain police court, certain small boys were arraigned +for conspiring to hoot an obnoxious individual on his way from one of their +school exhibitions. This proceeding was necessary, because there seemed to +be a permanent conspiracy to annoy the gentleman; and the {240} masters did +not feel able to interfere in what took place outside the school. So the +boys were arraigned; and their friends, as silly in their way as +themselves, allowed one of them to make the defence, instead of employing +counsel; and did not even give them any useful hints. The defence was as +follows; and any one who does not see how richly it sets off the defences +of bigger boys in bigger matters has much to learn. The innocent conviction +that there was answer in the latter part is delightful. Of course fine and +recognizance followed. + +A---- said the boys had received great provocation from B----. He was +constantly threatening them with a horsewhip which he carried in his hand +[the boy did not say what had passed to induce him to take such a weapon], +and he had repeatedly insulted the master, which the boys could not stand. +B---- had in his own drawing-room told him (A----) that he had drawn his +sword against the master and thrown away the scabbard. B---- knew well that +if he came to the college he would catch it, and then he went off through a +side door--which was no sign of pluck; and then he brought Mrs. B---- with +him, thinking that her presence would protect him. + +My readers may expect a word on Mr. Thom's sermons, after my account of his +queer doings about 666. He is evidently an honest and devout man, much +wanting in discrimination. He has a sermon about private _judgment_, in +which he halts between the logical and legal meanings of the word. He +loathes those who apply their private judgment to the word of God: here he +means those who decide what it _ought to be_. He seems in other places +aware that the theological phrase means taking right to determine what it +_is_. He uses his own private judgment very freely, and is strong in the +conclusion that others ought not to use theirs except as he tells them how; +he leaves all the rest of mankind free to think with him. In this he is not +original: his fame must rest on his senary tripod. {241} + + + +JAMES SMITH ONCE MORE. + +Mr. James Smith's procedures are not caricature of reasoning; they are +caricature of blundering. The old way of proving that 2 = 1 is solemn +earnest compared with his demonstrations. As follows:[388] + + Let x = 1 + Then x^2 = x + And x^2 - 1 = x - 1 + Divide both sides by x - 1; then x + 1 = 1; but x = 1, whence 2 = 1. + +When a man is regularly snubbed, bullied, blown up, walked into, and put +down, there is usually some reaction in his favor, a kind of deostracism, +which cannot bear to hear him always called the blunderer. I hope it will +be so in this case. There is nothing I more desire than to see _sects_ of +paradoxers. There are fully five thousand adults in England who ought to be +the followers of some one false quadrature. And I have most hope of 3-1/8, +because I think Mr. James Smith better fitted to be the leader of an +organized infatuation than any one I know of. He wants no pity, and will +get none. He has energy, means, good humor, strong conviction, character, +and popularity in his own circle. And, most indispensable point of all, he +sticks at nothing; + + "In coelum jusseris, ibit."[389] + +When my instructor found I did not print an acceptance of what I have +quoted, he addressed me as follows (_Corr._, Sept 23):-- + +"In this life, however, we must do our duty, and, when {242} necessary, use +the rod, not in a spirit of revenge, but for the benefit of the culprit and +the good of society. Now, Sir, the opportunity has been thrown in your way +of slipping out of the pillory without risk of serious injury; but, like an +obstinate urchin, you have chosen to quarrel with your opportunity and +remain there, and thus you compel me to deal with you as schoolmasters used +to do with stupid boys in bygone days--that is to say, you force me to the +use of the critic's rod, compel me to put you where little Jack Horner sat, +and, as a warning to other naughty boys, to ornament you with a dunce's +cap. The task I set you was a very simple one, as I shall make manifest at +the proper time." + +In one or more places, as well as this, Mr. Smith shows that he does not +know the legend of little Jack Horner, whom he imagines to be put in the +corner as a bad boy. This is curious; for there had been many allusions to +the story in the journal he was writing in, and the Christmas pie had +become altered into the Seaforth [pi]. + +Mr. Smith is satisfied at last that--what between argument and punishment +he has convinced me. He says (_Corr._, Jan. 27, 1866): "I tell him without +hesitation that he knows the true ratio of diameter to circumference as +well as I do, and if he be wise he will admit it." I should hope I do, and +better; but there is no occasion to admit what everybody knows. + +I have often wished that we could have a slight glimpse of the reception +which was given to some of the old cyclometers: but we have nothing, except +the grave disapprobation of historians. I am resolved to give the New +Zealander a chance of knowing a little more than this about one of them at +least; and, by the fortunate entrance into life of the _Correspondent_, I +am able to do it. I omit sober mathematical answers, of which there were +several. The following letter is grave earnest: + +"Sir,--I have watched Mr. James Smith's writings on this subject from the +first, and I did hope that, as the more {243} he departs from truth the +more easy it must be to refute him, [this by no means always true] some of +your correspondents would by this time have done so. I own that I am unable +to detect the fallacy of his argument; and I am quite certain that '[Pi]' +is wrong, in No. 23, where he declares that Mr. Smith is 'ignorant of the +very elements of mathematical truth.' I have observed an immense amount of +geometrical reasoning on his part, and I cannot see that it is either fair +or honest to deny this, which may be regarded as the 'elements' of +mathematical truth. Would it not be better for '[Pi]' to answer Mr. Smith, +to refute his arguments, to point out their fallacies, and to save learners +from error, than to plunge into gross insult and unmanly abuse? Would it +not be well, also, that Professor De Morgan should favour us with a little +reasoning? + +"I have hitherto seen no attempt to overthrow Mr. Smith's arguments; I +trust that this will not continue, since the subject is one of immense +importance to science in general, especially to nautical science, and all +that thereto belongs. + +Yours, etc., + +A CAPTAIN, R.N." + +On looking at this homoeopathic treatment of the 3-1/8 +quadrature--remember, homoeopathic, _similia similibus_,[390] not +infinitesimal--and at the imputation thrown upon it, I asked myself, what +_is_ vulgarity? No two agree, except in this, that every one sees vulgarity +in what is directed against himself. Mark the world, and see if anything be +so common as the description of the other side's remarks as "vulgar attempt +at wit." "I suppose you think that very witty:" the answer is "No my +friend! your remark shows that you feel it as wit, so that the purpose is +answered; I keep my razor for something else than cutting blocks;" I am +inclined to think that "out of place" is a necessary attribute of true +vulgarity. And further, it is to be noticed that nothing is {244} +unproducible--_salvo pudore_[391]--which has classical authority, modern or +ancient, in its favor. "He is a vulgar fellow; I asked him what he was +upon, and what do you think he answered, My legs!"--"Well, and has he not +justification? what do you find in Terence? _Quid agitur? Statur._"[392] I +do not even blench from my principle where I find that it brings what is +called "taking a sight" within permissible forms of expression: Rabelais +not only establishes its antiquity, but makes it English. Our old +translation[393] has it thus (book 2. ch. 19): + +"Then made the Englishman this sign. His left hand, all open, he lifted up +into the air, then instantly shut into his fist the four fingers thereof; +and his thumb extended at length he placed upon the tip of his nose. +Presently after he lifted up his right hand all open and abased and bent it +downwards, putting the thumb thereof in the very place where the little +finger of the left hand did close in the fist, and the four right hand +fingers he softly moved in the air. Then contrarily he did with the right +hand what he had done with the left, and with the left what he had done +with the right." + +An impressive sight! The making of a fist of the left hand is a great +addition of power, and should be followed in modern practice. The gentle +sullation of the front fingers, with the clenched fist behind them, says as +plainly as possible, Put _suaviter in modo_ in the van, but don't forget to +have _fortiter in re_[394] in the rear. + +{245} + +My Budget was announced (March 23, 1867) for completion on the 30th. Mr. +James Smith wrote five letters, one before the completion, four after it; +the five contained 68 pages of quarto letter paper. Mr. J. S. had picked up +a clerical correspondent, with whom he was in the heat of battle. + +"_March 27._--Dear Sir. Very truly yours. Duty; for my own sake; just time +left to retrieve my errors; sends copy of letter to clergyman; new proof +never before thought of; merest tyro would laugh if I were to stifle it, +whether by rhodomontade or silent contempt; keep your temper. I shall be +convinced; and if world be right in supposing me incapable of a foul act, I +shall proclaim glorious discovery in the _Athenaeum_. + +"_April 15._--Sir,... My dear Sir, Your sincere tutelary. Copy of another +letter to clergyman; discovery tested by logarithms; reasons such as none +but a knave or a sinner can resist. Let me advise you to take counsel +before it is too late! Keep your temper. Let not your _pride_ get the +better of your discretion! Screw up your courage, my good friend, and +_resolve_ to show the world that you are an _honest_ man.... + +"_April 20._--Sir ... Your very sincere and favorite tutelary. I have long +played the _cur_, snapping and snarling...; suddenly lost my power, and +became _half-starved_ dog without _spirit_ to bark; try if air cannot +restore me; calls himself the _thistle_ in allusion to my other tutelary, +the _thorn_; Would I prefer his next work to be, 'A whip for the +Mathematical Cur, Prof. De M.' In some previous letter which I have +mislaid, he told me his next would be 'a muzzle for the Mathematical Bull +dog, Prof. De M.' + +"_April 23._--Sir. Very sincerely yours. More letters to clergyman; you may +as well knock your head against a stone wall to improve your intellect as +attempt to controvert my proofs. [I thought so too; and tried neither]. +{246} + +"_May 6._--My dear Sir. Very sincerely yours. All to myself, and nothing to +note. + +"_July 2._--No more in this interval. All that precedes is a desperate +attempt to induce me to continue my descriptions: notoriety at any price." + +I dare say the matter is finished: the record of so marked an instance of +self-delusion will be useful. + +I append to the foregoing a letter from Dr. Whewell[395] to Mr. James +Smith. The Master of Trinity was conspicuous as a rough customer, an +intellectual bully, an overbearing disputant: the character was as well +established as that of Sam Johnson. But there was a marked difference. It +was said of Johnson that if his pistol missed fire, he would knock you down +with the butt end of it: but Whewell, in like case, always acknowledged the +miss, and loaded again or not, as the case might be. He reminded me of +Dennis Brulgruddery, who says to Dan, Pacify me with a good reason, and +you'll find me a dutiful master. I knew him from the time when he was my +teacher at Cambridge, more than forty years. As a teacher, he was anything +but dictatorial, and he was perfectly accessible to proposal of objections. +He came in contact with me in his slashing way twice in our after joint +lives, and on both occasions he acknowledged himself overcome, by that +change of manner, and apologetic mode of continuance, which I had seen him +employ towards others under like circumstances. + +I had expressed my wish to have a _thermometer of probability_, with +impossibility at one end, as 2 and 2 make 5, and necessity at the other, as +2 and 2 make 4, and a graduated rise of examples between them. Down came a +blow: "What! put necessary and contingent propositions together! It's +absurd!" I pointed out that the two kinds of necessity are but such +extremes of probability as 0 and [infinity] are of number, and illustrated +by an urn with 1 white and _n_ black {247} balls, _n_ increasing without +limit. It was frankly seen, and the point yielded; a large company was +present. + +Again, in a large party, after dinner, and politics being the subject, I +was proceeding, in discussion with Mr. Whewell, with "I think"...--"Ugh! +_you_ think!" was the answer. I repeated my phrase, and gave as a reason +the words which Lord Grey[396] had used in the House of Lords the night +before (the celebrated advice to the Bishops to set their houses in order). +He had not heard of this, and his manner changed in an instant: he was the +rational discutient all the rest of the evening, having previously been +nothing but a disputant with all the distinctions strongly marked. + +I have said that Whewell was gentle with his pupils; it was the same with +all who wanted teaching: it was only on an armed enemy that he drew his +weapon. The letter which he wrote to Mr. J. Smith is an instance: and as it +applies with perfect fidelity to the efforts of unreasoning above +described, I give it here. Mr. James Smith is skilfully exposed, and felt +it; as is proved by "putting the writer in the stocks." + +"The Lodge, Cambridge, September 14th, 1862. + +"Sir,--I have received your explanation of your proposition that the +circumference of the circle is to its diameter as 25 to 8. I am afraid I +shall disappoint you by saying that I see no force in your proof: and I +should hope that you will see that there is no force in it if you consider +this: In the whole course of the proof, though the word cycle occurs, there +is no property of the circle employed. You may do this: you may put the +word _hexagon_ or _dodecagon_, or any other word describing a polygon in +the place of _Circle_ in your proof, and the proof would be just as good as +before. Does not this satisfy you that you cannot have proved a property of +that special figure--a circle? {248} + +"Or you may do this: calculate the side of a polygon of 24 sides inscribed +in a circle. I think you are a Mathematician enough to do this. You will +find that if the radius of the circle be one, the side of this polygon is +.264 etc. Now, the arc which this side subtends is according to your +proposition 3.125/12 = .2604, and therefore the chord is greater than its +arc, which you will allow is impossible. + +"I shall be glad if these arguments satisfy you, and + +"I am, Sir, your obedient Servant, + +"W. WHEWELL." + + + +AN M.P.'S ARITHMETIC. + +In the debate of May, 1866, on Electoral Qualifications, a question arose +about arithmetical capability. Mr. Gladstone asked how many members of the +House could divide 1330l. 7s. 6d. by 2l. 13s. 8d. Six hundred and +fifty-eight, answered one member; the thing cannot be done, answered +another. There is an old paradox to which this relates: it arises out of +the ignorance of the distinction between abstract and concrete arithmetic. +_Magnitude_ may be divided by _magnitude_; and the answer is number: how +often does 12d. contain 4d.; answer three times. _Magnitude_ may be divided +by _number_, and the answer is _magnitude_: 12d. is divided in four equal +parts, what is each part? Answer three _pence_. The honorable objector, +whose name I suppress, trusting that he has mended his ways, gave the +following utterance: + +"With regard to the division sum, it was quite possible to divide by a sum, +but not by money. How could any one divide money by 2l. 16s. 8d.? +(Laughter.) The question might be asked, 'How many times 2s. will go into +1l.?' but that was not dividing by money; it was simply dividing 20 by 2. +He might be asked, 'How many times will 6s. 8d. go into a pound?' but it +was only required to divide 240 by 80. If the right hon. gentleman were to +ask the hon. {249} member for Brighton (Professor Fawcett),[397] or any +other authority, he would receive the same answer--viz., that it was +possible to divide by a sum, but not by money. (Hear.)" + +I shall leave all comment for the second edition, if I publish one.[398] I +shall be sure to have something to laugh at. Anything said from a +respectable quarter, or supposed to be said, is sure to find defenders. Sam +Johnson, a sound arithmetician, comparing himself, and what he alone had +done in three years, with forty French Academicians and their forty years, +said it proved that an Englishman is to a Frenchman as 40 x 40 to 3, or as +1600 to 3. Boswell, who was no great hand at arithmetic, made him say that +an Englishman is to a Frenchman as 3 to 1600. When I pointed this out, the +supposed Johnson was defended through thick and thin in _Notes and +Queries_. + +I am now curious to see whether the following will find a palliator. It is +from "Tristram Shandy," book V. chapter 3. There are two curious idioms, +"for for" and "half in half"; but these have nothing to do with my point: + +"A blessing which tied up my father's tongue, and a misfortune which set it +loose with a good grace, were pretty equal: sometimes, indeed, the +misfortune was the better of the two; for, for instance, where the pleasure +of harangue was as _ten_, and the pain of the misfortune but as _five_, my +father gained half in half; and consequently was as well again off as if it +had never befallen him." + +This is a jolly confusion of ideas; and wants nothing but a defender to +make it perfect. A person who invests five {250} with a return of ten, and +one who loses five with one hand and gains ten with the other, both leave +off five richer than they began, no doubt. The first gains "half in half," +more properly "half _on_ half," that is, of the return, 10, the second 5 is +gain upon the first 5 invested. "Half _in_ half" is a queer way of saying +cent. per cent. If the 5l. invested be all the man had in the world, he +comes out, after the gain, twice as well off as he began, with reference to +his whole fortune. But it is very odd to say that balance of 5l. gain is +_twice_ as good as if nothing had befallen, either loss or gain. A +mathematician thinks 5 an infinite number of times as great as 0. The whole +confusion is not so apparent when money is in question: for money is money +whether gained or lost. But though pleasure and pain stand to one another +in the same algebraical relation as money gained and lost, yet there is +more than algebra can take account of in the difference. + +Next, Ri. Milward[399] (Richard, no doubt, but it cannot be proved) who +published Selden's[400] Table Talk, which he had collected while serving as +amanuensis, makes Selden say, "A subsidy was counted the fifth part of a +man's estate; and so fifty subsidies is five and forty times more than a +man is worth." For _times_ read _subsidies_, which seems part of the +confusion, and there remains the making all the subsidies equal to the +first, though the whole of which they are to be the fifths is perpetually +diminished. + +Thirdly, there is the confusion of the great misomath {251} of our own day, +who discovered two quantities which he avers to be identically the same, +but the greater the one the less the other. He had a truth in his mind, +which his notions of quantity were inadequate to clothe in language. This +erroneous phraseology has not found a defender; and I am almost inclined to +say, with Falstaff, The poor abuses of the time want countenance. + + + +ERRONEOUS ARITHMETICAL NOTIONS. + +"Shallow numerists," as Cocker[401] is made to call them, have long been at +work upon the question how to _multiply_ money by money. It is, I have +observed, a very common way of amusing the tedium of a sea voyage: I have +had more than one bet referred to me. Because an oblong of five inches by +four inches contains 5 x 4 or 20 _square_ inches, people say that five +inches multiplied by four inches _is_ twenty _square_ inches: and, thinking +that they have multiplied length by length, they stare when they are told +that money cannot be multiplied by money. One of my betters made it an +argument for the thing being impossible, that there is no _square money_: +what could I do but suggest that postage-stamps should be made legal +tender. Multiplication must be _repetition_: the repeating process must be +indicated by _number_ of times. I once had difficulty in persuading another +of my betters that if you repeat five shillings as often as there are hairs +in a horse's tail, you do not _multiply five shillings by a +horsetail_.[402] + +I am very sorry to say that these wrong notions have found support--I think +they do so no longer--in the University of Cambridge. In 1856 or 1857, an +examiner was displaced by a vote of the Senate. The pretext was that he was +too severe an examiner: but it was well known that {252} great +dissatisfaction had been expressed, far and wide through the Colleges, at +an absurd question which he had given. He actually proposed such a fraction +as + + 6s. 3d. + --------. + 17s. 4d. + +As common sense gained a hearing very soon, there is no occasion to say +more. In 1858, it was proposed at a college examination, to divide 22557 +days, 20 hours, 20 minutes, 48 seconds, by 57 minutes, 12 seconds, and also +to explain the fraction + + 32l. 18s. 8d. + -------------. + 62l. 12s. 9d. + +All paradoxy, in matters of demonstration, arises out of muddle about first +principles. Who can say how much of it is to be laid at the door of the +University of Cambridge, for not taking care of the elements of +arithmetical thought? + + + +ON LITERARY BARGAINS. + +The phenomena of the two ends of society, when brought together, give +interesting comparisons: I mean the early beginnings of thought and +literature, and our own high and finished state, as we think it. There is +one very remarkable point. In the early day, the letter was matter of the +closest adherence, and implied meanings were not admitted. + +The blessing of Isaac meant for Esau, went to false Jacob, in spite of the +imposition; and the writer of Genesis seems to intend to give the notion +that Isaac had no power to pronounce it null and void. And "Jacob's policy, +whereby he became rich"--as the chapter-heading puts it--in speckled and +spotted stock, is not considered as a violation of the agreement, which +contemplated natural proportions. In {253} the story of Lycurgus the +lawgiver is held to have behaved fairly when he bound the Spartans to obey +his laws until he returned--intimating a short absence--he intending never +to return. And Vishnoo, when he asked the usurper for three steps of +territory as a dwarf, and then enlarged himself until he could bring heaven +and earth under the bargain, was thought clever, certainly, but quite fair. + +There is nothing of this kind recognized in our day: so far good. But there +is a bad contrary: the age is apt, in interpretation, to upset the letter +in favor of the view--very often the after thought--of one side only. The +case of John Palmer,[403] the improver of the mail coach system, is +smothered. He was to have an office and a salary, and 2-1/2 per cent for +life on the increased _revenue_ of the Post-Office. His rights turned out +so large, that Government would not pay them. For misconduct, real or +pretended, they turned him out of his _office_: but his bargain as to the +percentage had nothing to do with his future conduct; it was payment for +his _plan_. I know nothing, except from the debates of 1808 in the two +Houses: if any one can redeem the credit of the nation, the field is open. +When I was young, the old stagers spoke of this transaction sparingly, and +dismissed it speedily. + +The government did not choose to remember what private persons must +remember, and are made to remember, if needful. When Dr. Lardner[404] made +his bargain with the {254} publishers for the _Cabinet Cyclopaedia_ he +proposed that he, as editor, should have a certain sum for every hundred +sold above a certain number: the publishers, who did not think there was +any chance of reaching the turning sale of this stipulation, readily +consented. But it turned out that Dr. Lardner saw further than they: the +returns under this stipulation gave him a very handsome addition to his +other receipts. The publishers stared; but they paid. They had no idea of +standing out that the amount was too much for an editor; they knew that, +though the editor had a percentage, they had all the rest; and they would +not have felt aggrieved if he had received ten times as much. But +governments, which cannot be brought to book before a sworn jury, are ruled +only by public opinion. John Palmer's day was also the day of Thomas Fyshe +Palmer,[405] and the governments, in their prosecutions for sedition, knew +that these would have a reflex action upon the minds of all who wrote about +public affairs. + + + +DECLARATION OF BELIEF + +1864-65.--It often happens that persons combine to maintain and enforce an +opinion; but it is, in our state of society, a paradox to unite for the +sole purpose of blaming the opposite side. To invite educated men to do +this, and above all, men of learning or science, is the next paradoxical +thing of all. But this was done by a small combination in 1864. They got +together and drew up a _declaration_, to be signed by "students of the +natural sciences," who were to express their "sincere regret that +researches into {255} scientific truth are perverted by some in our own +times into occasion for casting doubt upon the truth and authenticity of +the Holy Scriptures." In words of ambiguous sophistry, they proceeded to +request, in effect, that people would be pleased to adopt the views of +churches as to the _complete_ inspiration of all the canonical books. The +great question whether the Word of God is _in_ the Bible, or whether the +Word of God is _all_ the Bible, was quietly taken for granted in favor of +the second view; to the end that men of science might be induced to blame +those who took the first view. The first public attention was drawn to the +subject by Sir John Herschel,[406] who in refusing to sign the writ sent to +him, administered a rebuke in the _Athenaeum_, which would have opened most +eyes to see that the case was hopeless. The words of a man whose _suaviter +in modo_ makes his _fortiter in re_[407] cut blocks with a razor are worth +preserving: + +"I consider the act of calling upon me publicly to avow or disavow, to +approve or disapprove, in writing, any religious doctrine or statement, +however carefully or cautiously drawn up (in other words, to append my name +to a religious manifesto) to be an infringement of that social forbearance +which guards the freedom of religious opinion in this country with especial +sanctity.... I consider this movement simply mischievous, having a direct +tendency (by putting forward a new Shibboleth, a new verbal test of +religious partisanship) to add a fresh element of discord to the already +too discordant relations of the Christian world.... But no nicety of +wording, no artifice of human language, will suffice to discriminate the +hundredth part of the shades of meaning in which the most world-wide +differences of thought on such subjects may be involved; or prevent the +most gentle worded and apparently justifiable expression of regret, so +embodied, from grating on the {256} feelings of thousands of estimable and +well-intentioned men with all the harshness of controversial hostility." + +Other doses were administered by Sir J. Bowring,[408] Sir W. Rowan +Hamilton,[409] and myself. The signed declaration was promised for +Christmas, 1864: but nothing presentable was then ready; and it was near +Midsummer, 1865, before it was published. Persons often incautiously put +their names without seeing the _character_ of a document, because they +coincide in its _opinions_. In this way, probably, fifteen respectable +names were procured before printing; and these, when committed, were hawked +as part of an application to "solicit the favor" of other signatures. It is +likely enough no one of the fifteen saw that the declaration was, not +_maintenance_ of their own opinion, but _regret_ (a civil word for _blame_) +that others should _think differently_. + +When the list appeared, there were no fewer than 716 names! But analysis +showed that this roll was not a specimen of the mature science of the +country. The collection was very miscellaneous: 38 were designated as +"students of the College of Chemistry," meaning young men who attended +lectures in that college. But as all the Royal Society had been applied to, +a test results as follows. Of Fellows of the Royal Society, 600 in number, +62 gave their signatures; of writers in the _Philosophical Transactions_, +166 in number, 19 gave their signatures. Roughly speaking, then, only one +out of ten could be got to express disapprobation of the free comparison of +the results of science with the statements of the canonical books. And I am +satisfied that many of these thought they were signing only a declaration +of difference of opinion, not of blame for that difference. The number of +persons is not small who, when it comes to signing printed documents, would +put their names to a declaration that the coffee-pot ought to be taken +down-stairs, meaning that the teapot ought to be brought {257} up-stairs. +And many of them would defend it. Some would say that the two things are +not contradictory; which, with a snort or two of contempt, would be very +effective. Others would, in the candid and quiet tone, point out that it is +all one, because coffee is usually taken before tea, and it keeps the table +clear to send away the coffee-pot before the teapot is brought up. + +The original signatures were decently interred in the Bodleian Library: and +the advocates of scattering indefinite blame for indefinite sins of opinion +among indefinite persons are, I understand, divided in opinion about the +time at which the next attempt shall be made upon men of scientific +studies: some are for the Greek Calends, and others for the Roman +Olympiads. But, with their usual love of indefiniteness, they have +determined that the choice shall be argued upon the basis that which comes +first cannot be settled, and is of no consequence. + +I give the declaration entire, as a curiosity: and parallel with it I give +a substitute which was proposed in the _Athenaeum_, as worthy to be signed +both by students of theology, and by students of science, especially in +past time. When a new attempt is made, it will be worth while to look at +both: + +_Declaration._ _Proposed Substitute._ + +We, the undersigned Students We, the undersigned Students +of the Natural Sciences, of Theology and of Nature, +desire to express our sincere desire to express our sincere +regret, that researches into regret, that common notions of +scientific truth are perverted religious truth are perverted +by some in our own times into by some in our own times into +occasion for casting doubt occasion for casting reproach +upon the Truth and upon the advocates of +Authenticity of the Holy demonstrated or highly +Scriptures. probable scientific theories. + + {258} +We conceive that it is We conceive that it is +impossible for the Word of impossible for the Word of +God, as written in the book of God, as correctly read in the +nature, and God's Word written Book of Nature, and the Word +in Holy Scripture, to of God, as truly interpreted +contradict one another, out of the Holy Scripture, to +however much they may appear contradict one another, +to differ. however much they may appear + to differ. +We are not forgetful that We are not forgetful that +Physical Science is not neither theological +complete, but is only in a interpretation nor physical +condition of progress, and knowledge is yet complete, but +that at present our finite that both are in a condition +reason enables us only to see of progress; and that at +as through a glass darkly, present our finite reason + enables us only to see both + one and the other as through a + glass darkly [the writers of + the original declaration have + distinctively applied to + physical science the phrase by + which St. Paul denotes the + imperfections of theological + vision, which they tacitly + assume to be quite perfect], +and we confidently believe, and we confidently believe, +that a time will come when the that a time will come when the +two records will be seen to two records will be seen to +agree in every particular. We agree in every particular. We +cannot but deplore that cannot but deplore that +Natural Science should be Religion should be looked upon +looked upon with suspicion by with suspicion by some and +many who do not make a study Science by others, of the +of it, merely on account of students of either who do not +the unadvised manner in which make a study of the {259} +some are placing it in other, merely on account of +opposition to Holy Writ. the unadvised manner in which + some are placing Religion in + opposition to Science, and + some are placing Science in + opposition to Religion. +We believe that it is the duty We believe that it is the duty +of every Scientific Student to of every theological student +investigate nature simply for to investigate the Scripture, +the purpose of elucidating and of every scientific +truth, student to investigate Nature, + simply for the purpose of + elucidating truth. +and that if he finds that some And if either should find that +of his results appear to be in some of his results appear to +contradiction to the Written be in contradiction, whether +Word, or rather to his own to Scripture or to Nature, or +_interpretations_ of it, which rather to his own +may be erroneous, he should _interpretation_ of one or the +not presumptuously affirm that other, which may be erroneous, +his own conclusions must be he should not affirm as with +right, and the statements of certainty that his own +Scripture wrong; conclusion must be right, and + the other interpretation + wrong: +rather, leave the two side by but should leave the two side +side till it shall please God by side for further inquiry +to allow us to see the manner into both, until it shall +in which they may be please God to allow us to +reconciled; arrive at the manner in which + they may be reconciled. +and, instead of insisting upon In the mean while, instead of +the seeming differences insisting, and least of all +between Science and the with acrimony or injurious +Scriptures, it would be as {260} statements about others, +well to rest in faith upon the upon the seeming differences +points in which they agree. between Science and the + Scriptures, it would be a + thousand times better to rest + in faith as to our future + state, in hope as to our + coming knowledge, and in + charity as to our present + differences. + +The distinctness of the fallacies is creditable to the composers, and shows +that scientific habits tend to clearness, even to sophistry. Nowhere does +it so plainly stand out that the _Written Word_ means the sense in which +the accuser takes it, while the sense of the other side is _their +interpretation_. The infallible church on one side, arrayed against +heretical pravity on the other, is seen in all subjects in which men +differ. At school there were various games in which one or another +advantage was the right of those who first called for it. In adult argument +the same thing is often attempted: we often hear--I cried _Church_ first! + +I end with the answer which I myself gave to the application: its revival +may possibly save me from a repetition of the like. If there be anything I +hate more than another it is the proposal to place any persons, especially +those who allow freedom to me, under any abridgment of their liberty to +think, to infer, and to publish. If they break the law, take the law; but +do not make the law: [Greek: agoraioi agontai enkaleitosan allelois.][410] +I would rather be asked to take shares in an argyrosteretic company (with +limited liability) for breaking into houses by night on fork and spoon +errands. I should put aside this proposal with _nothing but laughter_. It +was a joke against Sam Rogers[411] that his appearance was very like that +of a corpse. The _John Bull_ {261} newspaper--suppose we now say Theodore +Hook[412]--averred that when he hailed a coach one night in St. Paul's +Churchyard, the jarvey said, "Ho! ho! my man; I'm not going to be taken in +that way: go back to your grave!" This is the answer I shall make for the +future to any relics of a former time who shall want to call me off the +stand for their own purposes. What obligation have I to admit that they +belong to our world? + + + +"SCRIPTURE AND SCIENCE. + +"_The Writ De Haeretico Commiserando._[413] + +Nov. 14, 1864. + +"This document was sent to me four days ago. It 'solicits the favor'--I +thought at first it was a grocer's supplication for tea and sugar +patronage--of my signature to expression of 'sincere regret' that some +persons unnamed--general warrants are illegal--differ from what I am +supposed--by persons whom it does not concern--to hold about Scripture and +Science in their real or alleged discrepancies. + +"No such favor from me: for three reasons. First, I agree with Sir. J. +Herschel that the solicitation is an intrusion to be publicly repelled. +Secondly, I do _not_ regret that others should differ from me, think what I +may: those others are as good as I, and as well able to think, and as much +entitled to their conclusions. Thirdly, even if I did regret, I should be +ashamed to put my name to bad chemistry made to do duty for good reasoning. +The declaration is an awkward attempt to saturate sophism with truism; but +the sophism is left largely in excess. + +{262} + +"I owe the inquisitors a grudge for taking down my conceit of myself. For +two months I have crowed in my own mind over my friend Sir J. Herschel, +fancying that the promoters instinctively knew better than to bring their +fallacies before a writer on logic. Ah! my dear Sir John! thought I, if you +had shown yourself to be well up in _Barbara Celarent_,[414] and had ever +and anon astonished the natives with the distinction between _simpliciter_ +and _secundum quid_, no autograph-hunters would have baited a trap with +_non sequitur_[415] to catch your signature. What can I say now? I hide my +diminished head, diminished by the horns which I have been compelled to +draw in. + +"Those who make personal solicitation for support to an opinion about +religion are bound to know their men. The king had a right to Brother +Neale's money, because Brother Neale offered it. Had he put his hand into +purse after purse by way of finding out all who were of Brother Neale's +mind, he would have been justly met by a rap on the knuckles whenever he +missed his mark. + +"The kind of test before me is the utmost our time will allow of that +inquisition into opinion which has been the curse of Christianity ever +since the State took Providence under its protection. The writ _de haeretico +commiserando_ is little more than the smell of the empty cask: and those +who issue it may represent the old woman with her + + "O suavis anima, quale in te dicam bonum + Antehac fuisse; tales cum sint reliquiae."[416] + +It is no excuse that the illegitimate bantling is a very little one. Its +parents may think themselves hardly treated when they are called lineal +successors of Tony Fire-the-faggot: {263} but, degenerate though they be, +such is their ancestry. Let every allowance be made for them: but their +unholy fire must be trodden out; so long as a spark is left, nothing but +fuel is wanted to make a blaze. If this cannot be done, let the flame be +confined to theology, though even there it burns with diminished vigor: and +let charity, candor, sense, and ridicule, be ready to play upon it whenever +there is any chance of its extending to literature and science. + +"What would be the consequence if this test-signing absurdity were to grow? +Deep would call unto deep; counter-declaration would answer declaration, +each stronger than the one before. The moves would go on like the dispute +of two German students, of whom each is bound to a sharper retort on a +graduated scale, until at last comes _dummer Junge_![417]--and then they +must fight. There is a gentleman in the upper fifteen of the signers of the +writ--the hawking of whose names appears to me very bad taste--whom I met +in cordial cooperation for many a year at a scientific board. All I knew +about his religion was that he, as a clergyman, must in some sense or other +receive the 39 Articles:--all that he could know about mine was that I was +some kind of heretic, or so reputed. If we had come to signing opposite +manifestoes, turn-about, we might have found ourselves in the lowest depths +of party discussion at our very council-table. I trust the list of +subscribers to the declaration, when it comes to be published, will show +that the bulk of those who have really added to our knowledge have seen the +thing in its true light. + +"The promoters--I say nothing about the subscribers--of the movement will, +I trust, not feel aggrieved at the course I have taken or the remarks I +have made. Walter Scott says that before we judge Napoleon by the +temptation to which he yielded, we ought to remember how much he may have +resisted: I invite them to apply this rule to myself; they can have no idea +of the feeling with which I {264} contemplate all attempts to repress +freedom of inquiry, nor of the loathing with which I recoil from the +proposal to be art and part. They have asked me to give a public opinion +upon a certain point. It is true that they have had the kindness to tender +both the opinion they wish me to form, and the shape in which they would +have it appear: I will let them draw me out, but I will not let them take +me in. If they will put an asterisk to my name, and this letter to the +asterisk, they are welcome to my signature. As I do not expect them to +relish this proposal, I will not solicit the favor of its adoption. But +they have given a right to think, for they have asked me to think; to +publish, for they have asked me to allow them to publish; to blame them, +for they have asked me to blame their betters. Should they venture to find +fault because my direction of disapproval, publicly given, is half a +revolution different from theirs, they will be known as having presented a +loaded document at the head of a traveler in the highway of discussion, +with--Your signature or your silence!" + + + +THE FLY-LEAF PARADOX. + +The paradox being the proposition of something which runs counter to what +would generally be thought likely, may present itself in many ways. There +is a _fly-leaf paradox_, which puzzled me for many years, until I found a +probable solution. I frequently saw, in the blank leaves of old books, +learned books, Bibles of a time when a Bible was very costly, etc., the +name of an owner who, by the handwriting and spelling, must have been an +illiterate person or a child, followed by the date of the book itself. +Accordingly, this uneducated person or young child seemed to be the first +owner, which in many cases was not credible. Looking one day at a +Barker's[418] Bible of 1599, I saw an {265} inscription in a child's +writing, which certainly belonged to a much later date. It was "Martha +Taylor, her book, giuen me by Granny Scott to keep for her sake." With this +the usual verses, followed by 1599, the date of the book. But it so chanced +that the blank page opposite the title, on which the above was written, was +a verso of the last leaf of a prayer book, which had been bound before the +Bible; and on the recto of this leaf was a colophon, with the date 1632. It +struck me immediately that uneducated persons and children, having seen +dates written under names, and not being quite up in chronology, did +frequently finish off with the date of the book, which stared them in the +face. + +Always write in your books. You may be a silly person--for though your +reading my book is rather a contrary presumption, yet it is not +conclusive--and your observations may be silly or irrelevant, but you +cannot tell what use they may be of long after you are gone where +Budgeteers cease from troubling. + +I picked up the following book, printed by J. Franklin[419] at Boston, +during the period in which his younger brother Benjamin was his apprentice. +And as Benjamin was apprenticed very early, and is recorded as having +learned the mechanical art very rapidly, there is some presumption that +part of it may be his work, though he was but thirteen at the time. As this +set of editions of Hodder[420] (by {266} Mose[421]) is not mentioned, to my +knowledge, I give the title in full: + + "Hodder's Arithmetick: or that necessary art made most easy: Being + explained in a way familiar to the capacity of any that desire to learn + it in a little time. By James Hodder, Writing-master. The Five and + twentieth edition, revised, augmented, and above a thousand faults + amended, by Henry Mose, late servant and successor to the author. + Boston: printed by J. Franklin, for S. Phillips, N. Buttolph, B. + Elliot, D. Henchman, G. Phillips, J. Elliot, and E. Negus, booksellers + in Boston, and sold at their shops. 1719." + +The book is a very small octavo, the type and execution are creditable, the +woodcut at the beginning is clumsy. It is a perfect copy, page for page, of +the English editions of Mose's Hodder, of which the one called seventeenth +is of London, 1690. There is not a syllable to show that the edition above +described might not be of Boston in England. Presumptions, but not very +strong ones, might be derived from the name of _Franklin_, and from the +large number of booksellers who combined in the undertaking. It chanced, +however, that a former owner had made the following note in my copy: + + "Wednessday, July y^e 14, 1796, att ten in y^e forenoon we sail^d from + Boston, came too twice, once in King Rode, and once in y^e Narrows. + Sail^d by y^e lighthouse in y^e even^g." + +{267} + +No ordinary map would decide these points: so I had to apply to my friend +Sir Francis Beaufort,[422] and the charts at the Admiralty decided +immediately for Massachusetts. + + + +PARADOXES OF ORTHOGRAPHY AND COMPUTATION. + +The French are able paradoxers in their spelling of foreign names. The Abbe +Sabatier de Castres,[423] in 1772, gives an account of an imaginary +dialogue between Swif, Adisson, Otwai, and Bolingbrocke. I had hoped that +this was a thing of former days, like the literal roasting of heretics; but +the charity which hopeth all things must hope for disappointments. Looking +at a recent work on the history of the popes, I found referred to, in the +matter of Urban VIII[424] and Galileo, references to the works of two +Englishmen, the Rev. Win Worewel and the Rev. Raden Powen. [Wm. Whewell and +Baden Powell].[425] + +I must not forget the "moderate computation" paradox. This is the way by +which large figures are usually obtained. Anything surprisingly great is +got by the "lowest computation," anything as surprisingly small by the +"utmost computation"; and these are the two great subdivisions of "moderate +computation." In this way we learn that 70,000 persons were executed in one +reign, and 150,000 persons {268} burned for witchcraft in one century. +Sometimes this computation is very close. By a card before me it appears +that all the Christians, including those dispersed in heathen countries, +those of Great Britain and Ireland excepted, are 198,728,000 people, and +pay their clergy 8,852,000l. But 6,400,000 people pay the clergy of the +Anglo-Irish Establishment 8,896,000l.; and 14,600,000 of other +denominations pay 1,024,000l. When I read moderate computations, I always +think of Voltaire and the "memoires du fameux eveque de Chiapa, par +lesquels il parait qu'il avait egorge, ou brule, ou noye dix millions +d'infideles en Amerique pour les convertir. Je crus que cet eveque +exaggerait; mais quand on reduisait ces sacrifices a cinq millions de +victimes, cela serait encore admirable."[426] + + + +CENTRIFUGAL FORCE. + +My Budget has been arranged by authors. This is the only plan, for much of +the remark is personal: the peculiarities of the paradoxer are a large part +of the interest of the paradox. As to subject-matter, there are points +which stand strongly out; the quadrature of the circle, for instance. But +there are others which cannot be drawn out so as to be conspicuous in a +review of writers: as one instance, I may take the _centrifugal force_. + +When I was about nine years old I was taken to hear a course of lectures, +given by an itinerant lecturer in a country town, to get as much as I could +of the second half of a good, sound, philosophical omniscience. The first +half (and sometimes more) comes by nature. To this end I smelt chemicals, +learned that they were different kinds of _gin_, saw young wags try to kiss +the girls under the excuse of what was called _laughing gas_--which I was +sure {269} was not to blame for more than five per cent of the requisite +assurance--and so forth. This was all well so far as it went; but there was +also the excessive notion of creative power exhibited in the millions of +miles of the solar system, of which power I wondered they did not give a +still grander idea by expressing the distances in inches. But even this was +nothing to the ingenious contrivance of the centrifugal force. "You have +heard what I have said of the wonderful centripetal force, by which Divine +Wisdom has retained the planets in their orbits round the Sun. But, ladies +and gentlemen, it must be clear to you that if there were no other force in +action, this centripetal force would draw our earth and the other planets +into the Sun, and universal ruin would ensue. To prevent such a +catastrophe, the same wisdom has implanted a centrifugal force of the same +amount, and directly opposite," etc. I had never heard of Alfonso X of +Castile,[427] but I ventured to think that if Divine Wisdom had just let +the planets alone it would come to the same thing, with equal and opposite +troubles saved. The paradoxers deal largely in speculation conducted upon +the above explanation. They provide external agents for what they call the +centrifugal force. Some make the sun's rays keep the planets off, without a +thought about what would become of our poor eyes if the _push_ of the light +which falls on the earth were a counterpoise to all its gravitation. The +true explanation cannot be given here, for want of room. + + + +CAMBRIDGE POETS. + +Sometimes a person who has a point to carry will assert a singular fact or +prediction for the sake of his point; and {270} this paradox has almost +obtained the sole use of the name. Persons who have reputation to care for +should beware how they adopt this plan, which now and then eventuates a +spanker, as the American editor said. Lord Byron, in "English Bards, etc." +(1809), ridiculing Cambridge poetry, wrote as follows: + + "But where fair Isis rolls her purer wave, + The partial muse delighted loves to lave; + On her green banks a greener wreath she wove, + To crown the bards that haunt her classic grove; + Where Richards[428] wakes a genuine poet's fires, + And modern Britons glory in their sires."[429] + +There is some account of the Rev. Geo. Richards, Fellow of Oriel and Vicar +of Bampton, (M.A. in 1791) in the _Living Authors_ by Watkins[430] and +Shoberl[431] (1816). In Rivers's _Living Authors_, of 1798, which is best +fitted for citation, as being published before Lord Byron wrote, he is +spoken of in high terms. The _Aboriginal Britons_ was an Oxford (special) +prize poem, of 1791. Charles Lamb mentions Richards as his school-fellow at +Christ's Hospital, "author of the _Aboriginal Britons_, the most spirited +of the Oxford Prize Poems: a pale, studious Grecian." + +As I never heard of Richards as a poet,[432] I conclude that his fame is +defunct, except in what may prove to be a very ambiguous kind of +immortality, conferred by Lord Byron. The awkwardness of a case which time +has broken down {271} is increased by the eulogist himself adding so +powerful a name to the list of Cambridge poets, that his college has placed +his statue in the library, more conspicuously than that of Newton in the +chapel; and this although the greatness of poetic fame had some serious +drawbacks in the moral character of some of his writings. And it will be +found on inquiry that Byron, to get his instance against Cambridge, had to +go back eighteen years, passing over seven intermediate productions, of +which he had either never heard, or which he would not cite as waking a +genuine poet's fires. + +The conclusion seems to be that the _Aboriginal Britons_ is a remarkable +youthful production, not equalled by subsequent efforts. + +To enhance the position in which the satirist placed himself, two things +should be remembered. First, the glowing and justifiable terms in which +Byron had spoken,--a hundred and odd lines before he found it convenient to +say no Cambridge poet could compare with Richards,--of a Cambridge poet who +died only three years before Byron wrote, and produced greatly admired +works while actually studying in the University. The fame of Kirke +White[433] still lives; and future literary critics may perhaps compare his +writings and those of Richards, simply by reason of the curious relation in +which they are here placed alongside of each other. And it is much to +Byron's credit that, in speaking of the deceased Cambridge poet, he forgot +his own argument and its exigencies, and proved himself only a paradoxer +_pro re nata_. + +Secondly, Byron was very unfortunate in another passage of the same poem: + +{272} + + "What varied wonders tempt us as they pass! + The cow-pox, tractors, galvanism, and gas. + In turns appear, to make the vulgar stare, + Till the swoln bubble bursts--and all is air!" + +Three of the bubbles have burst to mighty ends. The metallic tractors are +disused; but the force which, if anything, they put in action, is at this +day, under the name of mesmerism, used, prohibited, respected, scorned, +assailed, defended, asserted, denied, declared utterly obscure, and +universally known. It was hard lines to select for candidates for oblivion +not one of whom got in. I shall myself, I am assured, be some day cited for +laughing at the great discovery of ----: the blank is left for my reader to +fill up in his own way; but I think I shall not be so unlucky in four +different ways. + + + +FALSIFIED PREDICTION. + +The narration before the fact, as prophecy has been called, sometimes quite +as true as the narration after the fact, is very ridiculous when it is +wrong. Why, the pre-narrator could not know; the post-narrator might have +known. A good collection of unlucky predictions might be made: I hardly +know one so fit to go with Byron's as that of the Rev. Daniel Rivers, +already quoted, about Johnson's biographers. Peter Pindar[434] may be +excused, as personal satire was his object, for addressing Boswell and Mrs. +Piozzi[435] as follows: + + "Instead of adding splendor to his name, + Your books are downright gibbets to his fame; + You never with posterity can thrive, + 'Tis by the Rambler's death alone you live." + +But Rivers, in prose narrative, was not so excusable. He says: + +{273} + +"As admirers of the learning and moral excellence of their hero, we glow at +almost every page with indignation that his weaknesses and his failings +should be disclosed to public view.... Johnson, after the luster he had +reflected on the name of Thrale ... was to have his memory tortured and +abused by her detested itch for scribbling. More injury, we will venture to +affirm, has been done to the fame of Johnson by this Lady and her late +biographical helpmate, than his most avowed enemies have been able to +effect: and if his character becomes unpopular with some of his successors, +it is to those gossiping friends he is indebted for the favor." + +Poor dear old Sam! the best known dead man alive! clever, good-hearted, +logical, ugly bear! Where would he have been if it had not been for Boswell +and Thrale, and their imitators? What would biography have been if Boswell +had not shown how to write a life? + +Rivers is to be commended for not throwing a single Stone at Mrs. Thrale's +second marriage. This poor lady begins to receive a little justice. The +literary world seems to have found out that a blue-stocking dame who keeps +open house for a set among them has a right, if it so please her, to marry +again without taking measures to carry on the cake-shop. I was before my +age in this respect: as a boy-reader of Boswell, and a few other things +that fell in my way, I came to a clearness that the conduct of society +towards Mrs. Piozzi was _blackguard_. She wanted nothing but what was in +that day a woman's only efficient protection, a male relation with a brace +of pistols, and a competent notion of using them. + + + +BYRON AND WORDSWORTH. + +Byron's mistake about Hallam in the Pindar story may be worth placing among +absurdities. For elucidation, suppose that some poet were now to speak-- +{274} + + "Of man's first disobedience, and the fruit + Eve gave to Adam in his birthday suit--" + +and some critic were to call it nonsense, would that critic be laughing at +Milton? Payne Knight,[436] in his _Taste_, translated part of Gray's _Bard_ +into Greek. Some of his lines are + + [Greek: therma d' ho tengon dakrua stonachais] + [Greek: oulon melos phoberai] + [Greek: eeide phonai.] + +Literally thus: + + "Wetting warm tears with groans, + Continuous chant with fearful + Voice he sang." + +On which Hallam remarks: "The twelfth line [our first] is nonsense." And so +it is, a poet can no more wet his tears with his groans than wet his ale +with his whistle. Now this first line is from Pindar, but is only part of +the sense; in full it is: + + [Greek: therma de tengon dakrua stonachais] + [Greek: horthion phonase.] + +Pindar's [Greek: tengon] must be Englished by _shedding_, and he stands +alone in this use. He says, "shedding warm tears, he cried out loud, with +groans." Byron speaks of + + "Classic Hallam, much renowned for Greek:" + +and represents him as criticising _the Greek_ of all Payne's lines, and not +discovering that "the lines" were Pindar's {275} until after publication. +Byron was too much of a scholar to make this blunder himself: he either +accepted the facts from report, or else took satirical licence. And why +not? If you want to laugh at a person, and he will not give occasion, whose +fault is it that you are obliged to make it? Hallam did criticise some of +Payne Knight's Greek; but with the caution of his character, he remarked +that possibly some of these queer phrases might be "critic-traps" justified +by some one use of some one author. I remember well having a Latin essay to +write at Cambridge, in which I took care to insert a few monstrous and +unusual idioms from Cicero: a person with a Nizolius,[437] and without +scruples may get scores of them. So when my tutor raised his voice against +these oddities, I was up to him, for I came down upon him with Cicero, +chapter and verse, and got round him. And so my own solecisms, many of +them, passed unchallenged. + +Byron had more good in his nature than he was fond of letting out: whether +he was a soured misanthrope, or whether his _vein_ lay that way in poetry, +and he felt it necessary to fit his demeanor to it, are matters far beyond +me. Mr. Crabb Robinson[438] told me the following story more than once. He +was at Charles Lamb's chambers in the Temple when Wordsworth came in, with +the new _Edinburgh Review_ in his hand, and fume on his countenance. "These +reviewers," said he, "put me out of patience! Here is a young man--they say +he is a lord--who has written a volume of poetry; and these fellows, just +because he is a lord, set upon him, laugh at him, and sneer at his writing. +The young man will do something, if he goes on as he has begun. But these +reviewers seem to think {276} that nobody may write poetry, unless he lives +in a garret." Crabb Robinson told this long after to Lady Byron, who said, +"Ah! if Byron had known that, he would never have attacked Wordsworth. He +went one day to meet Wordsworth at dinner; when he came home I said, 'Well, +how did the young poet get on with the old one?' 'Why, to tell you the +truth,' said he, 'I had but one feeling from the beginning of the visit to +the end, and that was--_reverence_!'" Lady Byron told my wife that her +husband had a very great respect for Wordsworth. I suppose he would have +said--as the Archangel said to his Satan--"Our difference is po[li = +e]tical." + +I suspect that Fielding would, if all were known, be ranked among the +unlucky railers at supposed paradox. In his _Miscellanies_ (1742, 8vo) he +wrote a satire on the Chrysippus or Guinea, an animal which multiplies +itself by division, like the polypus. This he supposes to have been drawn +up by Petrus Gualterus, meaning the famous usurer, Peter Walter. He calls +it a paper "proper to be read before the R----l Society": and next year, +1743, a quarto reprint was made to resemble a paper in the _Philosophical +Transactions_. So far as I can make out, one object is ridicule of what the +zoologists said about the polypus: a reprint in the form of the +_Transactions_ was certainly satire on the Society, not on Peter Walter and +his knack of multiplying guineas. + +Old poets have recognized the quadrature of the circle as a well-known +difficulty. Dante compares himself, when bewildered, to a geometer who +cannot find the principle on which the circle is to be measured: + + "Quale e 'l geometra che tutto s' affige + Per misurar lo cerchio, e non ritruova, + Pensando qual principio ond' egli indige."[439] + +{277} And Quarles[440] speaks as follows of the _summum bonum_: + + "Or is't a tart idea, to procure + An edge, and keep the practic soul in ure, + Like that dear chymic dust, or puzzling quadrature?" + +The poetic notion of the quadrature must not be forgotten. Aristophanes, in +the _Birds_, introduces a geometer who announces his intention to _make a +square circle_. Pope, in the _Dunciad_, delivers himself as follows, with a +Greek pronunciation rather strange in a translator of Homer. Probably Pope +recognized, as a general rule, the very common practice of throwing back +the accent in defiance of quantity, seen in o'rator, au'ditor, se'nator, +ca'tenary, etc. + + "Mad _Mathesis_ alone was unconfined, + Too mad for mere material chains to bind,-- + Now to pure space lifts her ecstatic stare, + Now, running round the circle, finds it square." + +The author's note explains that this "regards the wild and fruitless +attempts of squaring the circle." The poetic idea seems to be that the +geometers try to make a square circle. Disraeli quotes it as "finds _its_ +square," but the originals do not support this reading. + + + +DE BECOURT. + +I have come in the way of a work, entitled _The Grave of Human +Philosophies_ (1827), translated from the French of R. de Becourt[441] by +A. Dalmas. It supports, but I suspect not very accurately, the views of the +old Hindu books. {278} That the sun is only 450 miles from us, and only 40 +miles in diameter, may be passed over; my affair is with the state of mind +into which persons of M. Becourt's temperament are brought by a fancy. He +fully grants, as certain, four millions of years as the duration of the +Hindu race, and 1956 as that of the universe. It must be admitted he is not +wholly wrong in saying that our errors about the universe proceed from our +ignorance of its origin, antiquity, organization, laws, and final +destination. Living in an age of light, he "avails himself of that +opportunity" to remove this veil of darkness, etc. The system of the +Brahmins is the only true one: he adds that it has never before been +attempted, as it could not be obtained except by him. The author requests +us first, to lay aside prejudice; next, to read all he says in the order in +which he says it: we may then pronounce judgment upon a work which begins +by taking the Brahmins for granted. All the paradoxers make the same +requests. They do not see that compliance would bring thousands of systems +before the world every year: we have scores as it is. How is a poor candid +inquirer to choose. Fortunately, the mind has its grand jury as well as its +little one: and it will not put a book upon its trial without a _prima +facie_ case in its favor. And with most of those who really search for +themselves, that case is never made out without evidence of knowledge, +standing out clear and strong, in the book to be examined. + + + +BEQUEST OF A QUADRATURE. + +There is much private history which will never come to light, _caret quia +vate sacro_,[442] because no Budgeteer comes across it. Many years ago a +man of business, whose life was passed in banking, amused his leisure with +quadrature, was successful of course, and bequeathed the result in a sealed +book, which the legatee was enjoined not to sell {279} under a thousand +pounds. The true ratio was 3.1416: I have the anecdote from the legatee's +executor, who opened the book. That a banker should square the circle is +very credible: but how could a City man come by the notion that a thousand +pounds could be got for it? A friend of mine, one of the twins of my +zodiac, will spend a thousand pounds, if he have not done it already, in +black and white cyclometry: but I will answer for it that he, a man of +sound business notions, never entertained the idea of [pi] recouping him, +as they now say. I speak of individual success: of course if a company were +formed, especially if it were of unlimited lie-ability, the shares would be +taken. No offence; there is nothing but what a pun will either sanctify, +justify, or nullify: + + "It comes o'er the soul like the sweet South + That breathes upon a bank of _vile hits_." + +The shares would be at a premium of 3-1/8 on the day after issue. If they +presented me with the number of shares I deserve, for suggestion and +advertisement, I should stand up for the Archpriest of St. Vitus[443] and +3-1/5, with a view to a little more gold on the bridge. + +I now insert a couple of reviews, one about Cyclopaedias, one about +epistolary collections. Should any reader wish for explanation of this +insertion, I ask him to reflect a moment, and imagine me set to justify all +the additions now before him! In truth these reviews are the repositories +of many odds and ends: they were not made to the books; the materials were +in my notes, and the books came as to a ready-made clothes shop, and found +what would fit them. Many remember Curll's[444] bequest of some very good +titles {280} which only wanted treatises written to them. Well! here were +some tolerable reviews--as times go--which only wanted books fitted to +them. Accordingly, some tags were made to join on the books; and then as +the reader sees. + +I should find it hard to explain why the insertion is made in this place +rather than another. But again, suppose I were put to make such an +explanation throughout the volume. The improver who laid out grounds and +always studied what he called _unexpectedness_, was asked what name he gave +it for those who walked over his grounds a second time. He was silenced; +but I have an answer: It is that which is given by the very procedure of +taking up my book a second time. + + + +REVIEW OF CYCLOPAEDIAS. + + October 19, 1861. _The English Cyclopaedia._ Conducted by Charles + Knight.[445] 22 vols.: viz., _Geography_, 4 vols.; _Biography_, 6 + vols.; _Natural History_, 4 vols.; _Arts and Sciences_, 8 vols. + (Bradbury & Evans.) + + _The Encyclopaedia Britannica: a Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and + General Literature._ Eighth Edition. 21 vols. and Index. (Black.) + +The two editions above described are completed at the same time: and they +stand at the head of the two great branches into which pantological +undertakings are divided, as at once the largest and the best of their +classes. + +When the works are brought together, the first thing that strikes the eye +is the syllable of difference in the names. The word _Cyclopaedia_ is a bit +of modern purism. Though [Greek: enkuklopaideia][446] is not absolutely +Greek of Greece, we learn from both Pliny[447] and Quintilian[448] that the +circle {281} of the sciences was so called by the Greeks, and +Vitruvius[449] has thence naturalized _encyclium_ in Latin. Nevertheless we +admit that the initial _en_ would have euphonized but badly with the word +_Penny_: and the _English Cyclopaedia_ is the augmented, revised, and +distributed edition of the _Penny Cyclopaedia_. It has indeed been said that +Cyclopaedia should mean the education _of_ a circle, just as Cyropaedia is +the education _of_ Cyrus. But this is easily upset by Aristotle's word +[Greek: kuklophoria],[450] motion _in_ a circle, and by many other cases, +for which see the lexicon. + +The earliest printed Encyclopaedia of this kind was perhaps the famous +"myrrour of the worlde," which Caxton[451] translated from the French and +printed in 1480. The original Latin is of the thirteenth century, or +earlier. This is a collection of very short treatises. In or shortly after +1496 appeared the _Margarita Philosophica_ of Gregory Reisch,[452] the same +we must suppose, who was confessor to the Emperor Maximilian.[453] This is +again a collection of treatises, of much more pretension: and the +estimation formed of it is proved by the number of editions it went +through. In 1531 appeared the little collection of _works_ of +Ringelberg,[454] which is truly called an Encyclopaedia by {282} Morhof, +though the thumbs and fingers of the two hands will meet over the length of +its one volume. There are more small collections; but we pass on to the +first work to which the name of _Encyclopaedia_ is given. This is a +ponderous _Scientiarum Omnium Encyclopaedia_ of Alsted,[455] in four folio +volumes, commonly bound in two: published in 1629 and again in 1649; the +true parent of all the Encyclopaedias, or collections of treatises, or works +in which that character predominates. The first great _dictionary_ may +perhaps be taken to be Hofman's _Lexicon Universale_[456] (1677); but +Chambers's[457] (so called) _Dictionary_ (1728) has a better claim. And we +support our proposed nomenclature by observing that Alsted accidentally +called his work _En_cyclopaedia, and Chambers simply Cyclopaedia. + +We shall make one little extract from the _myrrour_, and one from +Ringelberg. Caxton's author makes a singular remark for his time; and one +well worthy of attention. The grammar rules of a language, he says, must +have been invented by foreigners: "And whan any suche tonge was perfytely +had and usyd amonge any people, than other people not used to the same +tonge caused rulys to be made wherby they myght lerne the same tonge ... +and suche rulys be called the gramer of that tonge." Ringelberg says that +if the right nostril bleed, the little finger of the right hand should be +crooked, and squeezed with great force; and the same for the left. + +{283} + +We pass on to _the_ Encyclopedie,[458] commenced in 1751; the work which +has, in many minds, connected the word _encyclopaedist_ with that of +_infidel_. Readers of our day are surprised when they look into this work, +and wonder what has become of all the irreligion. The truth is, that the +work--though denounced _ab ovo_[459] on account of the character of its +supporters--was neither adapted, nor intended, to excite any particular +remark on the subject: no work of which D'Alembert[460] was co-editor would +have been started on any such plan. For, first, he was a real _sceptic_: +that is, doubtful, with a mind not made up. Next, he valued his quiet more +than anything; and would as soon have gone to sleep over an hornet's nest +as have contemplated a systematic attack upon either religion or +government. As to Diderot[461]--of whose varied career of thought it is +difficult to fix the character of any one moment, but who is very +frequently taken among us for a pure atheist--we will quote one sentence +from the article "_Encyclopedie_," which he wrote himself:--"Dans le moral, +il n'y a que Dieu qui doit servir de modele a 1'homme; dans les art, que la +nature."[462] + +A great many readers in our country have but a very hazy idea of the +difference between the political Encyclopaedia, as we may call it, and the +_Encyclopedie Methodique_,[463] which we always take to be meant--whether +rightly or not we cannot tell--when we hear of the "great French +Encyclopaedia." This work, which takes much from its {284} predecessor, +professing to correct it, was begun in 1792, and finished in 1832. There +are 166 volumes of text, and 6439 plates, which are sometimes incorporated +with the text, sometimes make about 40 more volumes. This is still the +monster production of the kind; though probably the German Cyclopaedia of +Ersch and Gruber,[464] which was begun in 1818, and is still in progress, +will beat it in size. The great French work is a collection of +dictionaries; it consists of Cyclopaedias of all the separate branches of +knowledge. It is not a work, but a collection of works, one or another +department is to be bought from time to time; but we never heard of a +complete set for sale in one lot. As ships grow longer and longer, the +question arises what limit there is to the length. One answer is, that it +will never do to try such a length that the stern will be rotten before the +prow is finished. This wholesome rule has not been attended to in the +matter before us; the earlier parts of the great French work were +antiquated before the whole were completed: something of the kind will +happen to that of Ersch and Gruber. + +The production of a great dictionary of either of the kinds is far from an +easy task. There is one way of managing the _En_cyclopaedia which has been +largely resorted to; indeed, we may say that no such work has been free +from it. This plan is to throw all the attention upon the great treatises, +and to resort to paste and scissors, or some process of equally easy +character, for the smaller articles. However it may be done, it has been +the rule that the Encyclopaedia of treatises should have its supplemental +Dictionary of a very incomplete character. It is true that the treatises +are intended to do a good deal; and that the Index, if it be good, knits +the treatises and the dictionary into one whole of reference. Still there +are two stools, and between them a great deal will fall to the ground. The +dictionary portion of the _Britannica_ is not to be compared with its {285} +treatises; the part called Miscellaneous and Lexicographical in the +_Metropolitana_[465] is a great failure. The defect is incompleteness. The +biographical portion, for example, of the Britannica is very defective: of +many names of note in literature and science, which become known to the +reader from the treatises, there is no account whatever in the dictionary. +So that the reader who has learnt the results of a life in astronomy, for +example, must go to some other work to know when that life began and ended. +This defect has run through all the editions; it is in the casting of the +work. The reader must learn to take the results at their true value, which +is not small. He must accustom himself to regard the Britannica as a +splendid body of treatises on all that can be called heads of knowledge, +both greater and smaller; with help from the accompanying dictionary, but +not of the most complete character. Practically, we believe, this defect +cannot be avoided: two plans of essentially different structure cannot be +associated on the condition of each or either being allowed to abbreviate +the other. + +The defect of all others which it is most difficult to avoid is inequality +of performance. Take any dictionary you please, of any kind which requires +the association of a number of contributors, and this defect must result. +We do not merely mean that some will do their work better than others; this +of course: we mean that there will be structural differences of execution, +affecting the relative extent of the different parts of the whole, as well +as every other point by which a work can be judged. A wise editor will not +attempt any strong measures of correction: he will remember that if some +portions be below the rest, which is a disadvantage, it follows that some +portions must be above the rest, which is an advantage. The only practical +level, if {286} level there must be, is that of mediocrity, if not of +absolute worthlessness: any attempt to secure equality of strength will +result in equality of weakness. Efficient development may be cut down into +meager brevity, and in this way only can apparent equality of plan be +secured throughout. It is far preferable to count upon differences of +execution, and to proceed upon the acknowledged expectation that the +prominent merits of the work will be settled by the accidental character of +the contributors; it being held impossible that any editorial efforts can +secure a uniform standard of goodness. Wherever the greatest power is +found, it should be suffered to produce its natural effect. There are, +indeed, critics who think that the merit of a book, like the strength of a +chain, is that of its weakest part: but there are others who know that the +parallel does not hold, and who will remember that the union of many +writers must show exaggeration of the inequalities which almost always +exist in the production of one person. The true plan is to foster all the +good that can be got, and to give development in the directions in which +most resources are found: a Cyclopaedia, like a plant, should grow towards +the light. + +The _Penny Cyclopaedia_ had its share of this kind of defect or excellence, +according to the way in which the measure is taken. The circumstance is not +so much noticed as might be expected, and this because many a person is in +the habit of using such a dictionary chiefly with relation to one subject, +his own; and more still want it for the pure dictionary purpose, which does +not go much beyond the meaning of the word. But the person of full and +varied reference feels the differences; and criticism makes capital of +them. The Useful Knowledge Society was always odious to the organs of +religious bigotry; and one of them, adverting to the fact that geography +was treated with great ability, and most unusual fullness, in the _Penny +Cyclopaedia_, announced it by making it the sole merit of {287} the work +that, with sufficient addition, it would make a tolerably good gazetteer. + +Some of our readers may still have hanging about them the feelings derived +from this old repugnance of a class to all that did not associate direct +doctrinal teaching of religion with every attempt to communicate knowledge. +I will take one more instance, by way of pointing out the extent to which +stupidity can go. If there be an astronomical fact of the telescopic +character which, next after Saturn's ring and Jupiter's satellites, was +known to all the world, it was the existence of multitudes of double stars, +treble stars, etc. A respectable quarterly of the theological cast, which +in mercy we refrain from naming, was ignorant of this common +knowledge,--imagined that the mention of such systems was a blunder of one +of the writers in the _Penny Cyclopaedia_, and lashed the presumed ignorance +of the statement in the following words, delivered in April, 1837: + + "We have forgotten the name of that Sidrophel who lately discovered + that the fixed stars were not single stars, but appear in the heavens + like soles at Billingsgate, in pairs; while a second astronomer, under + the influence of that competition in trade which the political + economists tell us is so advantageous to the public, professes to show + us, through his superior telescope, that the apparently single stars + are really three. Before such wondrous mandarins of science, how + continually must _homunculi_ like ourselves keep in the background, + lest we come between the wind and their nobility." + +Certainly these little men ought to have kept in the background; but they +did not: and the growing reputation of the work which they assailed has +chronicled them in literary history; grubs in amber. + +This important matter of inequality, which has led us so far, is one to +which the _Encyclopaedia_ is as subject as the _Cyclopaedia_; but it is not +so easily recognized as a fault. {288} We receive the first book as mainly +a collection of treatises: we know their authors, and we treat them as +individuals. We see, for instance, the names of two leading writers on +Optics, Brewster[466] and Herschel.[467] It would not at all surprise us if +either of these writers should be found criticising the other by name, even +though the very view opposed should be contained in the same _Encyclopaedia_ +with the criticism. And in like manner, we should hold it no wonder if we +found some third writer not comparable to either of those we have named. It +is not so in the _Cyclopaedia_: here we do not know the author, except by +inference from a list of which we never think while consulting the work. We +do not dissent from this or that author: we blame the book. + +The _Encyclopaedia Britannica_ is an old friend. Though it holds a proud +place in our present literature, yet the time was when it stood by itself, +more complete and more clear than anything which was to be found elsewhere. +There must be studious men alive in plenty who remember when they were +studious boys, what a literary luxury it was to pass a few days in the +house of a friend who had a copy of this work. The present edition is a +worthy successor of those which went before. The last three editions, +terminating in 1824, 1842, and 1861, seem to show that a lunar cycle cannot +pass without an amended and augmented edition. Detailed criticism is out of +the question; but we may notice the effective continuance of the plan of +giving general historical dissertations on the progress of knowledge. Of +some of these dissertations we have had to take separate notice; and all +will be referred to in our ordinary treatment of current literature.[468] + +The literary excellence of these two extensive undertakings is of the same +high character. To many this will {289} need justification: they will not +easily concede to the cheap and recent work a right to stand on the same +shelf with the old and tried magazine, newly replenished with the best of +everything. Those who are cognizant by use of the kind of material which +fills the _Penny Cyclopaedia_ will need no further evidence: to others we +shall quote a very remarkable and certainly very complete testimony. The +_Cyclopaedia of the Physical Sciences_, published by Dr. Nichol[469] in 1857 +(noticed by us, April 4), is one of the most original of our special +dictionaries. The following is an extract from the editor's preface: + + "When I assented to Mr. Griffin's proposal that I should edit such a + Cyclopaedia, I had it in my mind that I might make the _scissors_ + eminently effective. Alas! on narrowly examining our best Cyclopaedias, + I found that the scissors had become blunted through too frequent and + vigorous use. One great exception exists: viz., the _Penny Cyclopaedia_ + of Charles Knight.[470] The cheapest and the least pretending, it is + really the most philosophical of our _scientific_ dictionaries. It is + not made up of a series of treatises, some good and many indifferent, + but is a thorough _Dictionary_, well proportioned and generally written + by the best men of the time. The more closely it is examined, the more + deeply will our obligation be felt to the intelligence and + conscientiousness of its projector and editor." + +After Dr. Nichol's candid and amusing announcement of his scissorial +purpose, it is but fair to state that nothing of the kind was ultimately +carried into effect, even upon the work in which he found so much to +praise. I quote this testimony because it is of a peculiar kind. + +{290} + +The success of the _Penny Magazine_ led Mr. Charles Knight in 1832 to +propose to the Useful Knowledge Society a Cyclopaedia in weekly penny +numbers. These two works stamp the name of the projector on the literature +of our day in very legible characters. Eight volumes of 480 pages each were +contemplated; and Mr. Long[471] and Mr. Knight were to take the joint +management. The plan embraced a popular account of Art and Science, with +very brief biographical and geographical information. The early numbers of +the work had some of the _Penny Magazine_ character: no one can look at the +pictures of the Abbot and Abbess in their robes without seeing this. By the +time the second volume was completed, it was clearly seen that the plan was +working out its own extension: a great development of design was submitted +to, and Mr. Long became sole editor. Contributors could not be found to +make articles of the requisite power in the assigned space. One of them +told us that when he heard of the eight volumes, happening to want a shelf +to be near at hand for containing the work as it went on, he ordered it to +be made to hold twenty-five volumes easily. But the inexorable logic of +facts beat him after all: for the complete work contained twenty-six +volumes and two thick volumes of Supplement. + +The penny issue was brought to an end by the state of the law, which +required, in 1833, that the first and last page of everything sold +separately should contain the name and address of the printer. The penny +numbers contained this imprint on the fold of the outer leaf: and _qui +tam_[472] informations were laid against the agents in various towns. {291} +It became necessary to call in the stock; and the penny issue was +abandoned. Monthly parts were substituted, which varied in bulk, as the +demands of the plan became more urgent, and in price from one sixpence to +three. The second volume of Supplement appeared in 1846, and during the +fourteen years of issue no one monthly part was ever behind its time. This +result is mainly due to the peculiar qualities of Mr. Long, who unites the +talents of the scholar and the editor in a degree which is altogether +unusual. If any one should imagine that a mixed mass of contributors is a +punctual piece of machinery, let him take to editing upon that hypothesis, +and he shall see what he shall see and learn what he shall learn. + +The _English_ contains about ten per cent more matter than the _Penny +Cyclopaedia_ and its supplements; including the third supplementary volume +of 1848, which we now mention for the first time. The literary work of the +two editions cost within 500l. and 50,000l.: that of the two editions of +the _Britannica_ cost 41,000l. But then it is to be remembered that the +_Britannica_ had matter to begin upon, which had been paid for in the +former editions. Roughly speaking, it is probable that the authorship of a +page of the same size would have cost nearly the same in one as in the +other. + +The longest articles in the _Penny Cyclopaedia_ were "Rome" in 98 columns +and "Yorkshire" in 86 columns. The only article which can be called a +treatise is the Astronomer Royal's "Gravitation," founded on the method of +Newton in the eleventh section, but carried to a much greater extent. In +the _English Cyclopaedia_, the longest article of geography is "Asia," in 45 +columns. In natural history the antelopes demand 36 columns. In biography, +"Wellington" uses up 42 columns, and his great military opponent 41 +columns. In the division of Arts and Sciences, which includes much of a +social and commercial character, the length of articles often depends upon +the state of the {292} times with regard to the subject. Our readers would +not hit the longest article of this department in twenty guesses: it is +"Deaf and Dumb" in 60 columns. As other specimens, we may cite Astronomy, +19; Banking, 36; Blind, 24; British Museum, 35; Cotton, 27; Drama, 26; +Gravitation, 50; Libraries, 50; Painting, 34; Railways, 18; Sculpture, 36; +Steam, etc., 37; Table, 40; Telegraph, 30; Welsh language and literature, +39; Wool, 21. These are the long articles of special subdivisions: the +words under which the _En_cyclopaedia gives treatises are not so prominent. +As in Algebra, 10; Chemistry, 12; Geometry, 8; Logic, 14; Mathematics, 5; +Music, 9. But the difference between the collection of treatises and the +dictionary may be illustrated thus: though "Mathematics" have only five +columns, "Mathematics, recent terminology of," has eight: and this article +we believe to be by Mr. Cayley,[473] who certainly ought to know his +subject, being himself a large manufacturer of the new terms which he +explains. Again, though "Music" _in genere_, as the schoolmen said, has +only nine columns, "Temperament and Tuning," has eight, and "Chord" alone +has two. And so on. + +In a dictionary of this kind it is difficult to make a total clearance of +_personality_: by which we mean that exhibition of peculiar opinion which +is offensive to taste when it is shifted from the individual on the +corporate book. The treatise of the known author may, as we have said, +carry that author's controversies on its own shoulders: and even his +crotchets, if we may use such a word. But {293} the dictionary should not +put itself into antagonism with general feeling, nor even with the feelings +of classes. We refer particularly to the ordinary and editorial teaching of +the article. If, indeed, the writer, being at issue with mankind, should +confess the difference, and give abstract of his full grounds, the case is +altered: the editor then, as it were, admits a correspondent to a statement +of his own individual views. The dictionary portion of the Britannica is +quite clear of any lapses on this point, so far as we know: the treatises +and dissertations rest upon their authors. The Penny Cyclopaedia was all but +clear: and great need was there that it should have been so. The Useful +Knowledge Society, starting on the principle of perfect neutrality in +politics and religion, was obliged to keep strict watch against the +entrance of all attempt even to look over the hedge. There were two--we +believe only two--instances of what we have called personality. The first +was in the article "Bunyan." It is worth while to extract all that is +said--in an article of thirty lines--about a writer who is all but +universally held to be the greatest master of allegory that ever wrote: + + "His works were collected in two volumes, folio, 1736-7: among them + 'The Pilgrim's Progress' has attained the greatest notoriety. If a + judgment is to be formed of the merits of a book by the number of times + it has been reprinted, and the many languages into which it has been + translated, no production in English literature is superior to this + coarse allegory. On a composition which has been extolled by Dr. + Johnson, and which in our own times has received a very high critical + opinion in its favor [probably Southey], it is hazardous to venture a + disapproval, and we, perhaps, speak the opinion of a small minority + when we confess that to us it appears to be mean, jejune and + wearisome." + +--If the unfortunate critic who thus individualized himself had been a +sedulous reader of Bunyan, his power over {294} English would not have been +so _jejune_ as to have needed that fearful word. This little bit of +criticism excited much amusement at the time of its publication: but it was +so thoroughly exceptional and individual that it was seldom or never +charged on the book. The second instance occurred in the article +"Socinians." It had been arranged that the head-words of Christian sects +should be intrusted to members of the sects themselves, on the +understanding that the articles should simply set forth the accounts which +the sects themselves give of their own doctrines. Thus the article on the +Roman Church was written by Dr. Wiseman.[474] But the Unitarians were not +allowed to come within the rule: as in other quarters, they were treated as +the gypsies of Christianity. Under the head "Socinians"--a name repudiated +by themselves--an opponent was allowed not merely to state their alleged +doctrines in his own way, but to apply strong terms, such as "audacious +unfairness," to some of their doings. The protests which were made against +this invasion of the understanding produced, in due time, the article +"Unitarians," written by one of that persuasion. We need not say that these +errors have been amended in the English Cyclopaedia: and our chief purpose +in mentioning them is to remark, that this is all we can find on the points +in question against twenty-eight large volumes produced by an editor whose +task was monthly, and whose issue was never delayed a single hour. How much +was arrested before publication none but himself can say. We have not +alluded to one or two remonstrances on questions of absolute fact, which +are beside the present purpose. + +Both kinds of encyclopaedic works have been fashioned upon predecessors, +from the very earliest which had a predecessor to be founded upon; and the +undertakings before us will be themselves the ancestors of a line of +successors. Those who write in such collections should be {295} careful +what they say, for no one can tell how long a mis-statement may live. On +this point we will give the history of a pair of epithets. When the +historian De Thou[475] died, and left the splendid library which was +catalogued by Bouillaud[476] and the brothers Dupuis[477] (Bullialdus and +Puteanus), there was a manuscript of De Thou's friend Vieta,[478] the +_Harmonicon Coeleste_, of which it is on record, under Bouillaud's hand, +that he himself lent it to Cosmo de' Medici,[479] to which must be added +that M. Libri[480] found it in the Magliabecchi Library at Florence in our +own day. Bouillaud, it seems, entirely forgot what he had done. Something, +probably, that Peter Dupuis said to Bouillaud, while they were at work on +the catalogue, remained on his memory, and was published by him in 1645, +long after; to the effect that Dupuis lent the manuscript to Mersenne,[481] +from whom it was procured by some intending plagiarist, who would not give +it back. This was repeated by Sherburne,[482] in 1675, who speaks of the +work, which "being communicated to Mersennus was, by some perfidious +acquaintance of that honest-minded person, surreptitiously taken from him, +and irrecoverably lost or suppressed, to the unspeakable detriment of the +lettered world." Now let the {296} reader look through the dictionaries of +the last century and the present, scientific or general, at the article, +"Vieta," and he will be amused with the constant recurrence of +"honest-minded" Mersenne, and his "surreptitious" acquaintance. We cannot +have seen less than thirty copies of these epithets. + + + +REVIEW OF MACCLESFIELD LETTERS. + + October 18, 1862. _Correspondence of Scientific Men of the Seventeenth + Century, in the Collection of the Earl of Macclesfield._[483] 2 vols. + (Oxford, University Press.) + +Though the title-page of this collection bears the date 1841, it is only +just completed by the publication of its Table of Contents and Index. +Without these, a work of the kind is useless for consultation, and cannot +make its way. The reason of the delay will appear: its effect is well known +to us. We have found inquirers into the history of science singularly +ignorant of things which this collection might have taught them. + +In the same year, 1841, the Historical Society of Science, which had but a +brief existence, published a collection of letters, eighty-three in number, +edited by Mr. Halliwell,[484] of English men of science, which dovetails +with the one before us, and is for the most part of a prior date. The two +should be bound up together. The smaller collection runs from 1562 to 1682; +the larger, from 1606 to past 1700. We shall speak of the two as the Museum +collection and the Macclesfield collection. And near them should be placed, +in every scientific library, the valuable collection published, by Mr. +Edleston,[485] for Trinity College, in 1850. + +{297} + +The history of these letters runs back to famous John Collins, the +attorney-general of the mathematics, as he has been called, who wrote to +everybody, heard from everybody, and sent copies of everybody's letter to +everybody else. He was in England what Mersenne[486] was in France: as +early as 1671, E. Bernard[487] addresses him as "the very Mersennus and +intelligence of this age." John Collins[488] was never more than accountant +to the Excise Office, to which he was promoted from teaching writing and +ciphering, at the Restoration: he died in 1682. We have had a man of the +same office in our own day, the late Prof. Schumacher,[489] who made the +little Danish Observatory of Altona the junction of all the lines by which +astronomical information was conveyed from one country to another. When the +collision took place between Denmark and the Duchies, the English +Government, moved by the Astronomical Society, instructed its diplomatic +agents to represent strongly to the Danish Government, when occasion should +arise, the great importance of the Observatory of Altona to the +astronomical communications of the whole world. But Schumacher had his own +celebrated journal, the _Astronomische Nachrichten_, by which to work out +part of his plan; private correspondence was his supplementary assistant. +Collins had only correspondence to rely on. Nothing is better known than +that it was Collins's collection which furnished the materials put forward +by the Committee of the Royal Society in 1712, as a defence of Newton +against the partisans of Leibnitz. The noted _Commercium Epistolicum_ is +but the abbreviation of a title which runs on with "D. Johannis Collins et +aliorum ..." + +The whole of this collection passed into the hands of {298} William +Jones,[490] the father of the Indian Judge of the same name, who died in +1749. Jones was originally a teacher, but was presented with a valuable +sinecure by the interest of George, second Earl of Macclesfield, the mover +of the bill for the change of style in Britain, who died President of the +Royal Society. This change of style may perhaps be traced to the union of +energies which were brought into concert by the accident of a common +teacher: Lord Macclesfield and Lord Chesterfield,[491] the mover and the +seconder, and Daval,[492] who drew the bill, were pupils of De Moivre.[493] +Jones, who was a respectable mathematician though not an inventor, +collected the largest mathematical library of his day, and became possessor +of the papers of Collins, which contained those of Oughtred[494] and +others. Some of these papers passed into the custody of the Royal Society: +but the bulk was either bequeathed to, or purchased by, Lord Macclesfield; +and thus they found their way to Shirburn Castle, where they still remain. + +A little before 1836, this collection attracted the attention of a +searching inquirer into points of mathematical history, the late Professor +Rigaud,[495] who died in 1839. He examined the whole collection of letters, +obtained Lord Macclesfield's consent to their publication, and induced the +Oxford Press to bear the expense. It must be particularly remembered that +there still remains at Shirburn Castle a {299} valuable mass of +non-epistolary manuscripts. So far as we can see, the best chance of a +further examination and publication lies in public encouragement of the +collection now before us: the Oxford Press might be induced to extend its +operations if it were found that the results were really of interest to the +literary and scientific world. Rigaud died before the work was completed, +and the publication was actually made by one of his sons, S. Jordan +Rigaud,[496] who died Bishop of Antigua. But this publication was little +noticed, for the reasons given. The completion now published consists of a +sufficient table of contents, of the briefest kind, by Professor De Morgan, +and an excellent index by the Rev. John Rigaud.[497] The work is now fairly +started on its career. + +If we were charged to write a volume with the title "Small things in their +connection with great," we could not do better than choose the small part +of this collection of letters as our basis. The names, as well as the +contents, are both great and small: the great names, those which are known +to every mathematician who has any infusion of the history of his pursuit, +are Briggs,[498] Oughtred, Charles Cavendish,[499] Gascoigne,[500] Seth +Ward,[501] Wallis,[502] {300} Hu[y]gens,[503] Collins,[504] William +Petty,[505] Hooke,[506] Boyle,[507] Pell,[508] Oldenburg,[509] +Brancker,[510] Slusius,[511] Bertit,[512] Bernard,[513] Borelli,[514] +Mouton,[515] Pardies,[516] Fermat,[517] Towneley,[518] Auzout,[519] {301} +D. Gregory,[520] Halley,[521] Machin,[522] Montmort,[523] Cotes,[524] +Jones,[525] Saunderson,[526] Reyneau,[527] Brook Taylor,[528] +Maupertuis,[529] Bouguer,[530] La Condamine,[531] Folkes,[532] +Macclesfield,[533] {302} Baker,[534] Barrow,[535] Flamsteed,[536] Lord +Brounker,[537] J. Gregory,[538] Newton[539] and Keill.[540] To these the +Museum collection adds the names of Thomas Digges,[541] Dee,[542] Tycho +Brahe,[543] Harriot,[544] Lydyat,[545] Briggs,[546] Warner,[547] Tarporley, +Pell,[548] Lilly,[549] Oldenburg,[550] Collins,[551] Morland.[552] + +{303} + +The first who appears on the scene is the celebrated Oughtred, who is +related to have died of joy at the Restoration: but it should be added, by +way of excuse, that he was eighty-six years old. He is an animal of extinct +race, an Eton mathematician. Few Eton men, even of the minority which knows +what a sliding rule is, are aware that the inventor was of their own school +and college: but they may be excused, for Dr. Hutton,[553] so far as his +Dictionary bears witness, seems not to have known it any more than they. A +glance at one of his letters reminds us of a letter from the Astronomer +Royal on the discovery of Neptune, which we printed March 20, 1847. Mr. +Airy[554] there contends, and proves it both by Leverrier[555] and by +Adams,[556] that the limited publication of a private letter is more +efficient than the more general publication of a printed memoir. The same +may be true of a dead letter, as opposed to a dead book. Our eye was caught +by a letter of Oughtred (1629), containing systematic use of contractions +for the words _sine_, _cosine_, etc., prefixed to the symbol of the angle. +This is so very important a step, simple as it is, that Euler[557] is +justly held to have greatly advanced trigonometry by its introduction. +Nobody that we know of has noticed that Oughtred was master of the +improvement, and willing to have taught it, if people would have learnt. +After looking at his dead letter, we naturally turned to his dead book on +trigonometry, and there we found the abbreviations _s_, _sco_, _t_, _tco_, +_se_, _seco_, regularly established as part of the system of the work. But +not one of those who have investigated the contending claims of Euler and +Thomas {304} Simpson[558] has chanced to know of Oughtred's +"Trigonometrie": and the present revival is due to his letter, not to his +book. + +A casual reader, turning over the pages, would imagine that almost all the +letters had been printed, either in the General Dictionary, or in +Birch,[559] etc.: so often does the supplementary remark begin with "this +letter has been printed in ----." For ourselves we thought, until we +counted, that a large majority of the letters had been given, either in +whole or in part. But the positive strikes the mind more forcibly than the +negative: we find that all of which any portion has been in type makes up +very little more than a quarter; the cases in which the whole letter is +given being a minority of this quarter. The person who has been best +ransacked is Flamsteed: of 36 letters from him, 34 had been previously +given in whole or in part. Of 59 letters to and from Newton, only 17 have +been culled. + +The letters have been modernized in spelling, and, to some extent, in +algebraical notation; it also seems that conjectural methods of introducing +interpolations into the text have been necessary. For all this we are +sorry: the scientific value of the collection is little altered, but its +literary value is somewhat lowered. But it could not be helped: the +printers could not work from the originals, and Professor Rigaud had to +copy everything himself. A fac-simile must have been the work of more time +than he had to give: had he attempted it, his death would have cut short +the whole undertaking, instead of allowing him to prepare everything but a +preface, and to superintend the printing of one of the volumes. We may also +add, that we believe we have notices of _all_ the letters in the +Macclesfield collection. We judge this because several which are too +trivial to print are numbered and described; and those would certainly not +have been noticed if _any_ omissions had {305} been made. And we know that +every letter was removed from Shirburn Castle to Oxford. + +Two persons emerge from oblivion in this series of letters. The first is +Michael Dary,[560] an obscure mathematician, who was in correspondence with +Newton and other stars. He was a gauger at Bristol, by the interest of +Collins; afterwards a candidate for the mathematical school at Christ's +Hospital, with a certificate from Newton: he was then a gunner in the +Tower, and is lastly described by Wallis as "Mr. Dary, the tobacco-cutter, +a knowing man in algebra." In 1674, Dary writes to Newton at Cambridge, as +follows:--"Although I sent you three papers yesterday, I cannot refrain +from sending you this. I have had fresh thoughts this morning." Two months +afterwards poor Newton writes to Collins, "Mr. Dary is very solicitous +about mathematics": but in spite of the persecution, he subscribes himself +to Dary "your loving friend." Dary's _problem_ is that of finding the rate +of interest of an annuity of which the value and term are given. Dary's +_theorem_, which he seems to have invented specially for the solution of +his problem, though it is of wide range, can be exhibited to mathematical +readers even in our columns. In modern language, it is that the limit of +[phi]^{_n_}_x_, when _n_ increases without limit, is a solution of [phi]_x_ += _x_. We have mentioned the I. Newton to whom Dary looked up; we add a +word about the one on whom he looked down. Dr. John Newton,[561] a sedulous +publisher of logarithms, tables of interest, etc., who began his career +before Isaac Newton, sometimes puzzles those who do not know him, when +described as I. Newton. The scientific world was of opinion that all that +was valuable in one of his works was taken from Dary's private +communications. + +{306} + +The second character above alluded to is one who carried mathematical +researches a far greater length than Newton himself: the assistance which +he rendered in this respect, even to Newton, has never been acknowledged in +modern times: though the work before us shows that his contemporaries were +fully aware of it, and never thought of concealing it. In his theory of +gravitation, in which, so far as he went, we have every reason to believe +he was prior to Newton, he did not extend his calculations to the distance +of the moon; his views in this matter were purely terrestrial, and led him +to charge according to weight. He was John Stiles, the London and Cambridge +carrier: his name is a household word in the Macclesfield Letters, and is +even enshrined in the depths of Birch's quartos. Dary informs Newton--let +us do his memory this justice--that he had paid John Stiles for the +carriage. At the time when the railroad to Cambridge was opened, a +correspondent recommended the directors, in our columns, to call an engine +by the name of John Stiles, and never to let that name go off the road. We +do not know whether the advice was followed: if not, we repeat it. + +Little points of life and manners come out occasionally. Baker, the author +of a work on algebra much esteemed at the time, wrote to Collins that their +circumstances are alike, "having a just and equal number of chargeable +olive-branches, and being in the same predicament and blessed condemnation +with you, not more preaching than unpaid, and preaching the art of +contentment to others, am forced to practise it." But the last sentence of +his letter runs as follows: "I have sent by the bearer ... twenty +shillings, as a token to you; desiring you to accept of it, as a small +taste from Yours, Thos. Baker." In our day, men of a station to pay parish +taxes do not offer their friends hard money to buy liquor. But +Flamsteed[562] writes to Collins as follows: "Last week he sent us down the +counterpart, which {307} my father has scaled, and I return up to you by +the carrier, with 5l. to be paid to Mr. Leneve for the writing, I have +added 2s. 6d. over, which will pay the expenses and serve to drink, with +him." This would seem as odd to us as it would have seemed thirty years ago +that half-a-crown should pay carriage for a deed from Derby to London, and +leave margin for a bottle of wine: in our day, the Post-office and the +French treaty would just manage it between them. But Flamsteed does not +limit his friend to one bottle; he adds, "If you expend more than the +half-crown, I will make it good after Whitsuntide." Collins does not +remember exactly where he had met James Gregory, and mentions two equally +likely places thus: "Sir, it was once my good hap to meet with you in an +alehouse or in Sion College." There is a little proof how universally the +dinner-hour was twelve o'clock. Astronomers well know the method of finding +time by equal altitudes of the sun before and after noon: Huyghens calls it +"le moyen de deux egales hauteurs du soleil devant et apres _diner_."[563] + +There is one mention of "Mr. Cocker,[564] our famous English graver and +writer, now a schoolmaster at Northampton." This is the true Cocker: his +genuine works are specimens of writing, such as engraved copy-books, +including some on arithmetic, with copper-plate questions and space for the +working; also a book of forms for law-stationers, with specimens of legal +handwriting. It is recorded somewhere that Cocker and another, whose name +we forget, competed with the Italians in the beauty of their flourishes. +This was his real fame: and in these matters he was great. The eighth +edition of his book of law forms (1675), published shortly after Cocker's +death, has a preface signed "J. H." This was John Hawkins, who became +possessed of Cocker's papers--at least he said so--and {308} subsequently +forged the famous Arithmetic,[565] a second work on Decimal Arithmetic, and +an English dictionary, all attributed to Cocker. The proofs of this are set +out in De Morgan's _Arithmetical Books_. Among many other corroborative +circumstances, the clumsy forger, after declaring that Cocker to his dying +day resisted strong solicitation to publish his Arithmetic, makes him write +in the preface _Ille ego qui quondam_[566] of this kind: "I have been +instrumental to the benefit of many, by virtue of those useful arts, +writing and engraving; and do _now_, with the same _wonted alacrity_, cast +this my arithmetical mite into the public treasury." The book itself is not +comparable in merit to at least half-a-dozen others. How then comes Cocker +to be the impersonation of Arithmetic? Unless some one can show proof, +which we have never found, that he was so before 1756, the matter is to be +accounted for thus. + +Arthur Murphy,[567] the dramatist, was by taste a man of letters, and ended +by being the translator of Tacitus; though many do not know that the two +are one. His friends had tried to make him a man of business; and no doubt +he had been well plied with commercial arithmetic. His first dramatic +performance, the farce of "The Apprentice," produced in 1756, is about an +idle young man who must needs turn actor. Two of the best known books of +the day in arithmetic were those of Cocker and Wingate.[568] Murphy chooses +_Wingate_ to be the name of an old merchant who {309} delights in vulgar +fractions, and _Cocker_ to be his arithmetical catchword--"You read +Shakespeare! get Cocker's Arithmetic! you may buy it for a shilling on any +stall; best book that ever was wrote!" and so on. The farce became very +popular, and, as we believe, was the means of elevating Cocker to his +present pedestal, where Wingate would have been, if his name had had the +droller sound of the two to English ears. + +A notoriety of an older day turns up, Major-General Lambert.[569] The +common story is that he was banished to Guernsey, where he passed thirty +years in confinement, rearing and painting flowers. But Baker, in 1678, +represents him as a prisoner at Plymouth, sending equations for solution as +a challenge: probably his place of confinement was varied, and his +occupation also. + +[General Lambert was removed to Plymouth, probably about 1668. His daughter +captured the son of the Governor of Guernsey, who therefore probably was +reckoned an unsafe custodier thenceforward; though he assured the king that +he had turned the young couple out of doors, and had never given them a +penny. Great importance was attached to Lambert's safe detention: probably +the remaining republicans looked upon him as to be their next Cromwell, if +such a thing were to be. There were standing orders to shoot him at once on +the first appearance of any enemy before the island. See _Notes and +Queries_, 3d S. iv. 89.] + +Collins informs James Gregory that "some of the Royal Academy wrote over to +Mr. Oldenburg, who was desired to impart the same to the Council of the +Royal Society, that the French King was willing to allow pensions to one or +two learned Englishmen, but they never made any answer {310} to such a +proposal." This was written in 1671, and the thing probably happened +several years before. Mr. De Morgan communicated the account of the +proposal to Lord Macaulay, who replied that he did not think that any +Englishman _received_ a literary pension from Louis; but that there is a +curious letter, about 1664, from the French Ambassador, in which he says +that he has, by his master's orders, been making inquiries as to the state +of learning in England, and that he is sorry to find that the best writer +is _the infamous Miltonus_. On two such independent testimonies it may be +held proved that the French King had attempted to buy a little adherence +from English literature and science; and the silent contempt of the Royal +Society is an honorable fact in their history. + +Another little bit of politics is as follows. Oughtred is informed that +"Mr. Foster,[570] our Lecturer on Astronomy at Gresham College, is put out +because he will not kneel down at the communion-table. A Scotsman [Mungo +Murray], one that is _verbi bis minister_,[571] is now lecturer in Mr. +Foster's place." Ward in his work on the Gresham Professors,[572] +suppresses the reason, and the suppression lowers the character of his +book. Foster was expelled in 1636, and re-elected on a vacancy in 1641, +when Puritanism had gained strength. + +The correspondence of Newton would require deeper sifting than could be +given in such an article as the present. The first of the letters (1669) is +curious, as presenting the {311} appearance of forms belonging to the great +calculus which, in this paragraph, we ought to call that of fluxions. We +find, of the date February 18, 1669-70, what we believe is the earliest +manifestation of that morbid part of Newton's temperament which has been so +variously represented. He had solved a problem--being that which we have +called Dary's--on which he writes as follows: "The solution of the annuity +problem, if it will be of any use, you have my leave to insert into the +_Philosophical Transactions_, so it be without my name to it. For I see not +what there is desirable in public esteem, were I able to acquire and +maintain it. It would perhaps increase my acquaintance, the thing which I +chiefly study to decline." + +Three letters touch upon "the experiment of glass rubbed to cause various +motions in bits of paper underneath": they are supplements to the account +given by Newton to the Royal Society, and printed by Birch. It was Newton, +so far as appears, who added _glass_ to the substances known to be +electric. Soon afterwards we come to a little bit of the history of the +appointment to the Mint. It has appeared from the researches of late years +that Newton was long an aspirant for public employment: the only coolness +which is known to have taken place between him and Charles Montague[573] +[Halifax] arose out of his imagining that his friend was not in earnest +about getting him into the public service. March 14, 1696, Newton writes +thus to Halley: "And if the rumour of preferment for me in the Mint should +hereafter, upon the death of Mr. Hoar [the comptroller], or any other +occasion, be revived, I pray that you would {312} endeavour to obviate it +by acquainting your friends that I neither _put in_ for _any_ place in the +Mint, nor would meddle with _Mr. Hoar's place_, were it offered to me." +This means that Mr. Hoar's place had been suggested, which Newton seems to +have declined. Five days afterwards, Montague writes to Newton that he is +to have the _Wardenship_. It is fair to Newton to say that in all +probability this was not--or only in a smaller degree--a question of +personal dignity, or of salary. It must by this time have been clear to him +that the minister, though long bound to make him an object of patronage, +was actually seeking him for the Mint, because he wanted both Newton's name +and his talents for business--which he knew to be great--in the weighty and +dangerous operation of restoring the coinage. It may have been, and +probably was, the case that Newton had a tolerably accurate notion of what +he would have to do, and of what degree of power would be necessary to +enable him to do it in his own way. + +We have said that the non-epistolary manuscripts are still unexamined. +There is a chance that one of them may answer a question of two centuries' +standing, which is worth answering, because it has been so often asked. +About 1640, Warner,[574] afterwards assisted by Pell,[575] commenced a +table of _antilogarithms_, of the kind which Dodson[576] afterwards +constructed anew and published. In the Museum collection there is inquiry +after inquiry from Charles Cavendish,[577] first, as to when the +_Analogics_, as he called them, would be finished; next, when they would be +printed. Pell answers, in 1644, that Warner left his papers to a kinsman, +who had become bankrupt, and proceeds thus: + +"I am not a little afraid that all Mr. Warner's papers, {313} and no small +share of my labours therein, are seazed upon, and most unmathematically +divided between the sequestrators and creditors, who (not being able to +ballance the account where there appeare so many numbers, and much troubled +at the sight of so many crosses and circles in the superstitious Algebra +and that black art of Geometry) will, no doubt, determine once in their +lives to become figure-casters, and so vote them all to be throwen into the +fire, if some good body doe not reprieve them for pye-bottoms, for which +purposes you know analogicall numbers are incomparably apt, if they be +accurately calculated." + +Pell afterwards told Wallis[578] that the papers had fallen into the hands +of Dr. Busby,[579] and Collins[580] writes that they were left in the hands +of Dr. Thorndike,[581] a prebendary of Westminster; whence Rigaud[582] +seems to say that Thorndike had left them to Dr. Busby. Birch[583] says +that he procured for the Royal Society four boxes from Busby's trustees, +containing papers of Warner and Pell: but there is no other tradition of +such things in the Society. But in the Birch manuscripts at the British +Museum, there turns up, as printed in what we call the Museum collection, a +list of Warner's papers, with _Collins's_ receipt to Dr. Thorndike at the +bottom, and engagement to restore them on demand. The date is December 14, +1667; Wallis's statement being in 1693. It is possible that Busby may be a +mistake altogether: he was very unlikely to have had charge of any +mathematical papers: there may have been a confusion between the Prebendary +of Westminster and the Head Master of Westminster School. If so, in all +probability Thorndike handed {314} the cumbrous lot over to the notorious +collector of mathematical papers, blessing himself that he got rid of them +in a manner which would insure their return if he were called upon by the +owners to restore them. It is much against this hypothesis that Dodson, who +certainly recalculated, can say nothing more about Warner than a repetition +of Wallis's story: though, had Collins kept the papers, they would probably +have been in Jones's possession at the very time when Dodson, who was a +friend of Jones and a user of his library, was engaged on his own +computations. But even books, and still more manuscripts, are often +singularly overlooked; and it remains not very improbable that Warner's +table is now at Shirburn Castle, among the unexamined manuscripts. + + + +CYCLOMETRY AND STEEL PENS. + +_Redit labor actus in orbem._[584] Among the matters which have come to me +since the Budget opened, there is a pamphlet of quadrature of two pages and +a half from Professor Recalcati,[585] already mentioned. It ends with +"Quelque objection qu'on fasse touchant les raisonnements ci-dessus on +tombera toujours dans l'absurde."[586] A civil engineer--so he says--has +made the quadrature "no longer a problem, but an axiom." As follows: "Take +the quadrant of a circle whose circumference is given, square the quadrant +which gives the true square of the circle. Because 30 / 4 = 7.5 x 7.5 = +56.25 = the positive square of a circle whose circumference is 30." +Brevity, the soul of wit, is the "wings of mighty-winds" to quadrature, and +sends it "flying all abroad." A _surbodhicary_--something like M.A. or +LL.D., I understand--at Calcutta, published in 1863 the division of an +{315} angle into any odd number of parts, demonstration and all in--when +the diagram is omitted--one page, good-sized, well-leaded type, small +duodecimo. But in the Preface he acknowledges "sheer inability" to execute +his task. Mr. William Dean, of Todmorden, in 1863, announced 3-9/64 as +proved both practically and geometrically: he has been already mentioned +anonymously. Next I have the tract of Don Juan Larriva, published at Leiria +in 1856, and dedicated to Queen Victoria. Mr. W. Peters,[587] already +mentioned, who has for some months been circulating diagrams on a card, +publishes (August, 1865) _The Circle Squared_. He agrees with the +Archpriest of St. Vitus. He hints that a larger publication will depend +partly on the support he receives, and partly on the castigation, for which +last, of course, he looks to me. Cyclometers have their several styles of +wit; so have anticyclometers too, for that matter. Mr. Peters will not +allow me any extra-journal being: I am essentially a quotation from the +_Athenaeum_; "A. De Morgan" _et praeterea nihil_.[588] If he had to pay for +keeping me set up, he would find out his mistake, and would be glad to +compound handsomely for a stereotype. Next comes a magnificent sheet of +pasteboard, printed on both sides. Having glanced at it and detected +quadrature, I began methodically at the beginning--"By Royal Command," with +the lion and unicorn, and all that comes between. Mercy on us! thought I to +myself: has Her Majesty referred the question to the Judicial Committee of +the Privy Council, where all the great difficulties go now-a-days, and is +this proclamation the result? On reading further I was relieved by finding +that the first side is entirely an advertisement of Joseph Gillott's[589] +steel pens, with engraving of his {316} premises, and notice of novel +application of his unrivalled machinery. The second side begins with "the +circle rectified" by W. E. Walker,[590] who finds [pi] = +3.141594789624155.... This is an off-shoot from an accurate geometrical +rectification, on which is to be presumed Mr. Gillott's new machinery is +founded. I have no doubt that Mr. Walker's error, which is only in the +sixth place of decimals, will not hurt the pens, unless it be by the +slightest possible increase of the tendency to open at the points. This +arises from Mr. Walker having rectified above proof by .000002136034362.... + +Lastly, I, even I myself, who have long felt that I was a quadrature below +par, have solved the problem by means which, in the present state of the +law of libel, I dare not divulge. But the result is permitted; and it goes +far to explain all the discordances. The ratio of the circumference to the +diameter is not always the same! Not that it varies with the radius; the +geometers are right enough on that point: but it varies with the time, in a +manner depending upon the difference of the true longitudes of the Sun and +Moon. A friend of mine--at least until he misbehaved--insisted on the mean +right ascensions: but I served him as Abraham served his guest in +Franklin's parable. The true formula is, A and a being the Sun's and Moon's +longitudes, + + [pi] = 3-13/80 + 3/80 cos(A - a). + +Mr. James Smith obtained his quadrature at full moon; the Archpriest of St. +Vitus and some others at new moon. Until I can venture to publish the +demonstration, I recommend the reader to do as I do, which is to adopt +3.14159..., and to think of the matter only at the two points of the lunar +month at which it is correct. The _Nautical Almanac_ will no doubt give +these points in a short time: I am in correspondence with the Admiralty, +with nothing {317} to get over except what I must call a perverse notion on +the part of the Superintendent of the _Almanac_, who suspects one +correction depending on the Moon's latitude; and the Astronomer Royal leans +towards another depending on the date of the Queen's accession. I have no +patience with these men: what can the Moon's node of the Queen's reign +possibly have to do with the ratio in question? But this is the way with +all the regular men of science; Newton is to them etc. etc. etc. etc. + +The following method of finding the circumference of a circle (taken from a +paper by Mr. S. Drach[591] in the _Phil. Mag._, Jan. 1863, Suppl.) is as +accurate as the use of 3.14159265. From three diameters deduct +8-thousandths and 7-millionths of a diameter; to the result add five per +cent. We have then not quite enough; but the shortcoming is at the rate of +about an inch and a sixtieth of an inch in 14,000 miles. + + + +JACOB BEHMEN. + +Though I have met with nothing but a little tract from the school of Jacob +Behmen[592] (or Boehme; I keep to the old English version of his name), yet +there has been more, and of a more recent date. I am told of an +"Introduction to Theosophy [_Theo_ private, I suppose, as in theological]; +or, the Science of the Mystery of Christ," published in 1854, mostly from +the writings of William Law[593]: and also of a volume of 688 pages, of the +same year, printed for private circulation, containing notes for a +biography of William Law. The editor of the first work wishes to grow "a +{318} generation of perfect Christians" by founding a Theosophic College, +for which he requests the public to raise a hundred thousand pounds. There +is a good account of Jacob Behmen in the _Penny Cyclopaedia_. The author +mentions inaccurate accounts, one of which he quotes, as follows: "He +derived all his mystical and rapturous doctrine from Wood's[594] _Athenae +Oxonienses_, Vol. I, p. 610, and _Hist. et Antiq. Acad. Oxon._, Vol. II, p. +308." On which the author remarks that Wood was born after Behmen's death. +There must have been a few words which slipped out: what is meant is that +Behmen "derived his doctrine from _Robert Fludd_,[595] _for whom see_ +Wood's etc. etc." Even this is absurd enough: for Behmen began to publish +in 1610, and Fludd in 1616. Fludd was a Rosicrucian, and a mystic of a +different type from Behmen. I have some of his works, and could produce out +of them paradoxes enough, according to our ways of thinking, to fit out a +host. But the Rosicrucian system was a recognized school of its day, and +Fludd, a man of great learning, had abettors enough in all which he +advanced, and predecessors in most of it. + +[A Correspondent has recently sent a short summary of the claims of Jacob +Behmen to rank higher than I have placed him. I shall gladly insert this +summary in the book I contemplate, as a statement of what is said of Behmen +far less liable to suspicion of exaggeration than anything I could write. I +shall add a few extracts from Behmen himself, in support of his right to be +in my list.] + +"_Jacob Behmen._--That Prof. De Morgan classes Jacob Behmen among +paradoxers can only be attributed to the fact of his being avowedly +unacquainted with the writings {319} of that author. Perhaps you may think +a few words from one who knows them well of sufficient interest to the +learned Professor, and your readers in general, to be worthy of space in +your columns. The metaphysical system of Behmen--the most perfect and only +true one--still awaits a qualified commentator. Behmen's countryman, +Dionysius Andreas Freher,[596] who spent the greater part of his life in +this country, and whose exposition of Behmen exists only in MS., filling +many volumes, written in English, with the exception of two, written in +German, with numerous beautiful, highly ingenious, and elaborate +illustrations,--copies of some of which are in the British Museum, but all +the originals of which are in the possession of the gentleman who is the +editor of the two works alluded to by Professor De Morgan,--this Freher was +the first to philosophically expound Behmen's system, which was afterwards, +with the help of these MSS., as it were, popularized by William Law; but +both Freher and Law confined themselves chiefly to its theological aspect. +In Behmen, however, is to be found, not only the true ground of all +theology, but also that of all physical science. He demonstrated with a +fullness, accuracy, completeness and certainty that leave nothing to be +desired, the innermost ground of Deity and Nature; and, confining myself to +the latter, I can from my own knowledge assert, that in Behmen's writings +is to be found the true and clear demonstration of every physical fact that +has been discovered since his day. Thus, the science of electricity, which +was not yet in existence when he wrote, is there anticipated; and not only +does Behmen describe all the now known phenomena of that force, but he even +gives us the origin, generation and birth of electricity itself. Again, +positive evidence can be adduced that Newton derived all his knowledge of +gravitation and its {320} laws from Behmen, with whom gravitation or +attraction is, and very properly so, as he shows us, the first of the seven +properties of Nature. The theory defended by Mr. Grove,[597] at the +Nottingham meeting of last year, that all the apparently distinct causes of +moral and physical phenomena are but so many manifestations of one central +force, and that Continuity is the law of nature, is clearly laid down, and +its truth demonstrated, by Behmen, as well as the distinction between +spirit and matter, and that the moral and material world is pervaded by a +sublime unity. And though all this was not admitted in Behmen's days, +because science was not then sufficiently advanced to understand the deep +sense of our author, many of his passages, then unintelligible, or +apparently absurd, read by the light of the present age, are found to +contain the positive enunciation of principles at whose discovery and +establishment science has only just arrived by wearisome and painful +investigations. Every new scientific discovery goes to prove his profound +and intuitive insight into the most secret workings of nature; and if +scientific men, instead of sharing the prejudice arising from ignorance of +Behmen's system, would place themselves on the vantage ground it affords, +they would at once find themselves on an eminence whence they could behold +all the arcana of nature. Behmen's system, in fact, shows us the _inside_ +of things, while modern physical science is content with looking at the +_outside_. Behmen traces back every outward manifestation or development to +its one central root,--to that one central energy which, as yet, is only +suspected; every link in the chain of his demonstration is perfect, and +there is not one link wanting. He carries us from the out-births of the +circumference, along the radius to the center, {321} or point, and beyond +that even to the zero, demonstrating the constitution of the zero, or +nothing, with mathematical precision. C. W. H." + +And so Behmen is no subject for the Budget! I waited until I should chance +to light on one of his volumes, knowing that any volume would do, and +almost any page. My first hap was on the second volume of the edition of +1664 (4to, published by M. Richardson) and opening near the beginning, a +turn or two brought me to page 13, where I saw about _sulphur_ and +_mercurius_ as follows: + + + +"Thus SUL is the soul, in an herb it is the oil, and in man also, according +to the spirit of _this_ world in the third principle, which is continually +generated out of the anguish of the will in the mind, and the +Brimstone-worm is the Spirit, which hath the fire and _burneth_: PHUR is +the sour wheel in itself which causeth that. + +"_Mercurius_ comprehendeth all the four forms, even as the life springeth +up, and yet hath not its dark beginning in the Center as the PHUR hath, but +after the flash of fire, when the sour dark form is terrified, where the +hardness is turned into pliant sharpness, and where the second will (_viz._ +the will of nature, which is called the Anguish) ariseth, there Mercurius +hath its original. For MER is the shivering wheel, very horrible, sharp, +venomous, and hostile; which assimulateth it thus in the sourness in the +flash of fire, where the sour wrathful life _ariseth_. The syllable CU is +the pressing out, of the _Anxious_ will of the mind, from Nature: which is +climbing up, and _willeth_ to be out aloft. RI is the comprehension of the +flash of fire, which in MER giveth a clear sound and tune. For the flash +maketh the tune, and it is the Salt-Spirit which _soundeth_, and its form +(or quality) is gritty like sand, and herein arise noises, sounds and +voices, and thus CU comprehendeth the flash, and so the pressure is as a +_wind_ which thrusteth, and giveth a spirit to the flash, so that it liveth +and burneth. Thus the {322} syllable US is called the burning fire, which +with the spirit continually driveth itself forth: and the syllable CU +presseth continually upon the flash." + + + +Shades of Tauler[598] and Paracelsus,[599] how strangely you do mix! Well +may Hallam call Germany the native soil of Mysticism. Had Behmen been the +least of a scholar, he would not have divided _sulph-ur_ and _merc-ur-i-us_ +as he has done: and the inflexion _us_, that boy of all work, would have +been rejected. I think it will be held that a writer from whom hundreds of +pages like the above could be brought together, is fit for the Budget. If +Sampson Arnold Mackay[600] had tied his etymologies to a mystical +Christology, instead of a mystical infidelity, he might have had a school +of followers. The nonsense about Newton borrowing gravitation from Behmen +passes only with those who know neither what Newton did, nor what was done +before him. + +The above reminds me of a class of paradoxers whom I wonder that I forgot; +they are without exception the greatest bores of all, because they can put +the small end of their paradox into any literary conversation whatever. I +mean the people who have heard the local pronunciation of celebrated names, +and attempt not only to imitate it, but to impose on others their broken +German or Arabic, or what not. They also learn the vernacular names of +those who are generally spoken of in their Latin forms; at least, they +learn a few cases, and hawk them as evidences of erudition. They are +miserably mistaken: scholarship, as a rule, {323} always accepts the +vernacular form of a name which has vernacular celebrity. Hallam writes +Behmen: his index-maker, rather superfluously, gives "_Behmen_ or Boehm." +And he retains Melanchthon,[601] the name given by Reuchlin[602] to his +little kinsman Schwartzerd, because the world has adopted it: but he will +none of Capnio, the name which Reuchlin fitted on to himself, because the +world has not adopted it. He calls the old forms pedantry: but he sees that +the rejection of well-established results of pedantry would be greater +pedantry still. The paradoxers assume the question that it is more +_correct_ to sound a man by lame imitation of his own countrymen than as +usual in the country in which the sound is to be made. Against them are, +first, the world at large; next, an overpowering majority of those who know +something about surnames and their history. Some thirty years ago--a +fact--there appeared at the police-office a complainant who found his own +law. In the course of his argument, he asked, "What does Kitty +say?"--"Who's Kitty?" said the magistrate, "your wife, or your +nurse?"--"Sir! I mean Kitty, the celebrated lawyer."--"Oh!" said the +magistrate, "I suspect you mean Mr. Chitty,[603] the author of the great +work on pleading."--"I do sir! But Chitty is an Italian name, and ought to +be pronounced _Kitty_." This man was a full-blown flower: but there is many +a modest bud; and all ought either to blush when seen or to waste their +pronunciation on the desert air. + +{324} + + + +A PLEA FOR KING CUSTOM. + +I stand up for King Custom, or _Usus_, as Horace called him, with whom is +_arbitrium_ the decision, and _jus_ the right, and _norma_ the way of +deciding, simply because he has _potestas_ the power. He may admit one and +another principle to advise: but Custom is not a constitutional king; he +may listen to his cabinet, but he decides for himself: and if the ministry +should resign, he blesses his stars and does without them. We have a +glorious liberty in England of owning neither dictionary, grammar, nor +spelling-book: as many as choose write by either of the three, and decide +all disputed points their own way, those following them who please. + +Throughout this book I have called people by the names which denote them in +their books, or by our vernacular names. This is the intelligible way of +proceeding. I might, for instance (Vol. I, p. 44), have spoken of Charles +de Bovelles,[604] of Lefevre d'Etaples,[605] of Pelerin,[606] and of +Etienne.[607] But I prefer the old plan. Those who like another plan +better, are welcome to substitute with a pen, when they know what to write; +when they do not, it is clear that they would not have understood me if I +had given modern names. + +The principal advisers of King Custom are as follows. First, there is +Etymology, the _chiffonnier_, or general rag-merchant, who has made such a +fortune of late years in his own business that he begins to be considered +highly respectable. He gives advice which is more thought of than followed, +partly on account of the fearful extremes into which he runs. He lately +asked some boys of sixteen, at a matriculation examination in _English_, to +what branch of {325} the Indo-Germanic family they felt inclined to refer +the Pushto language, and what changes in the force of the letters took +place in passing from Greek into Moeso-Gothic. Because all syllables were +once words, he is a little inclined to insist that they shall be so still. +He would gladly rule English with a Saxon rod, which might be permitted +with a certain discretion which he has never attained: and when opposed, he +defends himself with analogies of the Aryan family until those who hear him +long for the discovery of an Athanasyus. He will transport a word beyond +seas--he is recorder of Rhematopolis--on circumstantial evidence which +looks like mystery gone mad; but, strange to say, something very often +comes to light after sentence is passed which proves the soundness of the +conviction. + +The next adviser is Logic, a swearing old justice of peace, quorum, and +rotulorum, whose excesses brought on such a fit of the gout that for many +years he was unable to move. He is now mending, and his friends say he has +sown his wild oats. He has some influence with the educated subjects of +Custom, and will have more, if he can learn the line at which interference +ought to stop: with them he has succeeded in making an affirmative of two +negatives; but the vulgar won't never have nothing to say to him. He has +always railed at Milton for writing that Eve was the fairest of her +daughters; but has never satisfactorily shown what Milton ought to have +said instead. + +The third adviser has more influence with the mass of the subjects of King +Custom than the other two put together; his name is Fiddlefaddle, the +toy-shop keeper; and the other two put him forward to do their worst work. +In return, he often uses their names without authority. He took Etymology +to witness that _means_ to an end must be plural: and he would have any one +method to be a _mean_. But Etymology proved him wrong, King Custom referred +him to his Catechism, in which is "a means whereby we receive the same," +and Analogy--a subordinate of {326} Etymology--asked whether he thought it +a great _new_ to hear that he was wrong. It was either this Fiddlefaddle, +or Lindley Murray[608] his traveler, who persuaded the Miss Slipslops, of +the Ladies Seminary, to put "The Misses Slipslop" over the gate. Sixty +years ago, this bagman called at all the girls' schools, and got many of +the teachers to insist on the pupils saying "Is it not" and "Can I not" for +"Isn't it" and "Can't I": of which it came that the poor girls were +dreadfully laughed at by their irreverent brothers when they went home for +the holidays. Had this bad adviser not been severely checked, he might by +this time have proposed our saying "The Queen's of England son," declaring, +in the name of Logic, that the prince was the Queen's son, not England's. + +Lastly, there is Typography the metallurgist, an executive officer who is +always at work in secret, and whose lawless mode of advising is often done +by carrying his notions into effect without leave given. He it is who never +ceases suggesting that the same word is not to occur in a second place +within sight of the first. When the Authorized Version was first printed, +he began this trick at the passage, "Let there be light, and there was +light;" he drew a line on the proof under the second _light_, and wrote +"_luminosity?_" opposite. He is strongest in the punctuations and other +signs; he has a pepper-box full of commas always by his side. He puts +everything under marks of quotation which he has ever heard before. An +earnest preacher, in a very moving sermon, used the phrase Alas! and alack +a day! Typography stuck up the inverted commas because he had read the old +Anglo-Indian toast, "A lass and a lac a day!" If any one should have the +sense to leave out of his Greek {327} the unmeaning scratches which they +call accents, he goes to a lexicon and puts them in. He is powerful in +routine; but when two routines interlace or overlap, he frequently takes +the wrong one. + +Subject to bad advice, and sometimes misled for a season, King Custom goes +on his quiet way and is sure to be right at last. + + "Treason does never prosper: what's the reason? + Why, when it prospers, none dare call it treason." + +Language is in constant fermentation, and all that is thrown in, so far as +it is not fit to assimilate, is thrown off; and this without any obvious +struggle. In the meanwhile every one who has read good authors, from +Shakspeare downward, knows what is and what is not English; and knows, +also, that our language is not one and indivisible. Two very different +turns of phrase may both be equally good, and as good as can be: we may be +relieved of the consequences of contempt of one court by _habeas corpus_ +issuing out of another. + + + +TEST OF LANGUAGE. + +Hallam remarks that the Authorized Version of the Bible is not in the +language of the time of James the First: that it is not the English of +Raleigh or of Bacon. Here arises the question whether Raleigh and Bacon are +the true expositors of the language of their time; and whether they were +not rather the incipient promoters of a change which was successfully +resisted by--among other things--the Authorized Version of the Testaments. +I am not prepared to concede that I should have given to the English which +would have been fashioned upon that of Bacon by imitators, such as they +usually are, the admiration which is forced from me by Bacon's English from +Bacon's pen. On this point we have a notable parallel. Samuel Johnson {328} +commands our admiration, at least in his matured style: but we nauseate his +followers. It is an opinion of mine that the works of the leading writers +of an age are seldom the proper specimens of the language of their day, +when that language is in its state of progression. I judge of a language by +the colloquial idiom of educated men: that is, I take this to be the best +medium between the extreme cases of one who is ignorant of grammar and one +who is perched upon a style. Dialogue is what I want to judge by, and plain +dialogue: so I choose Robert Recorde[609] and his pupil in the _Castle of +Knowledge_, written before 1556. When Dr. Robert gets into his altitudes of +instruction, he differs from his own common phraseology as much as probably +did Bacon when he wrote morals and philosophy. But every now and then I +come to a little plain talk about a common thing, of which I propose to +show a specimen. Anything can be made to look old by such changes as +_makes_ into _maketh_, with a little old spelling. I shall invert these +changes, using the newer form of inflexion, and the modern spelling: with +no other variation whatever. + +"_Scholar._ Yet the reason of that is easy enough to be conceived, for when +the day is at the longest the Sun must needs shine the more time, and so +must it needs shine the less time when the day is at the shortest: this +reason I have heard many men declare. + +_Master._ That may be called a crabbed reason, for it {329} goes backward +like a crab. The day makes not the Sun to shine, but the Sun shining makes +the day. And so the length of the day makes not the Sun to shine long, +neither the shortness of the day causes not [_sic_] the Sun to shine the +lesser time, but contrariwise the long shining of the Sun makes the long +day, and the short shining of the Sun makes the lesser day: else answer me +what makes the days long or short? + +_Scholar._ I have heard wise men say that Summer makes the long days, and +Winter makes the long nights. + +_Master._ They might have said more wisely, that long days make summer and +short days make winter. + +_Scholar._ Why, all that seems one thing to me. + +_Master._ Is it all one to say, God made the earth, and the earth made God? +Covetousness overcomes all men, and all men overcome covetousness? + +_Scholar._ No, not so; for here the effect is turned to be the cause, and +the agent is made the patient. + +_Master._ So is it to say Summer makes long days, when you should say: Long +days make summer. + +_Scholar._ I perceive it now: but I was so blinded with the vulgar error, +that if you had demanded of me further what did make the summer, I had been +like to have answered that green leaves do make summer; and the sooner by +remembrance of an old saying that a year should come in which the summer +should not be known but by the green leaves. + +_Master._ Yet this saying does not import that green leaves do make summer, +but that they betoken summer; so are they the sign and not the cause of +summer." + +I have taken a whole page of our author, without omission, that the reader +may see that I do not pick out sentences convenient for my purpose. I have +done nothing but alter the third person of the verb and the spelling: but +great is the effect thereof. We say "the Sun shining makes the day"; +Recorde, "the Sonne shynynge maketh the daye." {330} These points apart, we +see a resemblance between our English and that of three hundred years ago, +in the common talk of educated persons, which will allow us to affirm that +the language of the authorized Bible must have been very close to that of +its time. For I cannot admit that much change can have taken place in fifty +years: and the language of the version represents both our common English +and that of Recorde with very close approximation. Take sentences from +Bacon and Raleigh, and it will be apparent that these writers will be held +to differ from all three, Recorde, the version, and ourselves, by +differences of the same character. But we speak of Recorde's conversation, +and of our own. We conclude that it is the plain and almost colloquial +character of the Authorized Version which distinguishes it from the English +of Bacon and Raleigh, by approximating it to the common idiom of the time. +If any one will cast an eye upon the letters of instruction written by +Cecil[610] and the Bishop of London to the translators themselves, or to +the general directions sent to them in the King's name, he will find that +these plain business compositions differ from the English of Bacon and +Raleigh by the same sort of differences which distinguish the version +itself. + + + +PRONUNCIATION. + +The foreign word, or the word of a district, or class of people, passes +into the general vernacular; but it is long before the specially learned +will acknowledge the right of those with whom they come in contact to +follow general usage. The rule is simple: so long as a word is technical or +local, those who know its technical or local pronunciation may reasonably +employ it. But when the word has become general, the specialist is not very +wise if he refuse to follow {331} the mass, and perfectly foolish if he +insist on others following him. There have been a few who demanded that +Euler should be pronounced in the German fashion:[611] Euler has long been +the property of the world at large; what does it matter how his own +countrymen pronounce the letters? Shall we insist on the French pronouncing +_Newton_ without that final _tong_ which they never fail to give him? They +would be wise enough to laugh at us if we did. We remember that a pedant +who was insisting on all the pronunciations being retained, was met by a +maxim in contradiction, invented at the moment, and fathered upon +Kaen-foo-tzee,[612] an authority which he was challenged to dispute. Whom +did you speak of? said the bewildered man of accuracy. Learn your own +system, was the answer, before you impose it on others; Confucius says that +too.[613] + +The old English has _fote_, _fode_, _loke_, _coke_, _roke_, etc., for +_foot_, etc. And _above_ rhymes in Chaucer to _remove_. Suspecting that the +broader sounds are the older, we may surmise that _remove_ and _food_ have +retained their old sounds, and that _cook_, once _coke_, would have rhymed +to our _Luke_, the vowel being brought a little nearer, perhaps, to the _o_ +in our present _coke_, the fuel, probably so called as used by cooks. If +this be so, the Chief Justice _Cook_[614] of our lawyers, and the _Coke_ +(pronounced like the fuel) of the greater part of the world, are equally +wrong. The lawyer has no right whatever to fasten his pronunciation upon +us: even leaving aside the general custom, he cannot prove himself right, +and is probably wrong. Those who {332} know the village of Rokeby +(pronounced Rookby) despise the world for not knowing how to name Walter +Scott's poem: that same world never asked a question about the matter, and +the reception of the parody of _Jokeby_, which soon appeared, was a +sufficient indication of their notion. Those who would fasten the hodiernal +sound upon us may be reminded that the question is, not what they call it +now, but what it was called in Cromwell's time. Throw away general usage as +a lawgiver, and this is the point which emerges. Probably _R[=u]ke-by_ +would be right, with a little turning of the Italian [=u] towards [=o] of +modern English. + +[Some of the above is from an old review. I do not always notice such +insertions: I take nothing but my own writings. A friend once said to me, +"Ah! you got that out of the _Athenaeum_!" "Excuse me," said I. "the +_Athenaeum_ got that out of me!"] + + + +APOLOGIES TO CLUVIER. + +It is part of my function to do justice to any cyclometers whose methods +have been wrongly described by any orthodox sneerers (myself included). In +this character I must notice _Dethlevus Cluverius_,[615] as the Leipzig +Acts call him (probably Dethleu Cluvier), grandson of the celebrated +geographer, Philip Cluvier. The grandson was a Fellow of the Royal Society, +elected on the same day as Halley,[616] November 30, 1678: I suppose he +lived in England. This {333} man is quizzed in the Leipzig Acts for 1686; +and, if Montucla insinuate rightly, by Leibnitz, who is further suspected +of wanting to embroil Cluvier with his own opponent Nieuwentiit,[617] on +the matter of infinitesimals. So far good: I have nothing against Leibnitz, +who though he was ironical, told us what he laughed at. But Montucla has +behaved very unfairly: he represents Cluvier as placing the essence of his +method in the solution of the problem _construere mundum divinae menti +analogum_, to construct a world corresponding to the divine mind. Nothing +to begin with: no way of proceeding. Now, it ought to have been _ex data +linea construere_,[618] etc.: there is a given line, which is something to +go on. Further, there is a way of proceeding: it is to find the product of +1, 2, 3, 4, etc. for ever. Moreover, Montucla charges Cluvier with +_unsquaring_ the parabola, which Archimedes had squared as tight as a +glove. But he never mentions how very nearly Cluvier agrees with the Greek: +they only differ by 1 divided by 3n^2, where n is the infinite number of +parts of which a parabola is composed. This must have been the conceit that +tickled Leibnitz, and made him wish that Cluvier and Nieuwentiit should +fight it out. Cluvier, was admitted, on terms of irony, into the Leipzig +Acts: he appeared on a more serious footing in London. It is very rare for +one cyclometer to refute another: _les corsaires ne se battent pas_.[619] +The only instance I recall is that of M. Cluvier, who (_Phil. Trans._, +1686, No. 185) refuted M. Mallemont de Messange,[620] who {334} published +at Paris in 1686. He does it in a very serious style, and shows himself a +mathematician. And yet in the year in which, in the _Phil. Trans._, he was +a geometer, and one who rebukes his squarer for quoting Matthew xi. 25, in +that very year he was the visionary who, in the Leipzig Acts, professed to +build a world resembling the divine mind by multiplying together 1, 2, 3, +4, etc. up to infinity. + + + +THE RAINBOW PARADOX. + +There is a very pretty opening for a paradox which has never found its +paradoxer in print. The philosophers teach that the rainbow is not +material: it comes from rain-drops, but those rain-drops do not _take_ +color. They only _give_ it, as lenses and mirrors; and each one drop gives +_all_ the colors, but throws them in different directions. Accordingly, the +same drop which furnishes red light to one spectator will furnish violet to +another, properly placed. Enter the paradoxer whom I have to invent. The +philosopher has gulled you nicely. Look into the water, and you will see +the reflected rainbow: take a looking-glass held sideways, and you see +another reflection. How could this be, if there were nothing colored to +reflect? The paradoxer's facts are true: and what are called the reflected +rainbows are _other_ rainbows, caused by those _other_ drops which are +placed so as to give the colors to the eye after reflection, at the water +or the looking-glass. A few years ago an artist exhibited a picture with a +rainbow and its apparent reflection: he simply copied what he had seen. +When his picture was examined, some started the idea that there could be no +reflection of a rainbow; they were right: they inferred that the artist had +made a mistake; they were wrong. When it was explained, some agreed and +some dissented. Wanted, {335} immediately, an able paradoxer: testimonials +to be forwarded to either end of the rainbow, No. 1. No circle-squarer need +apply, His Variegatedness having been pleased to adopt 3.14159... from Noah +downwards. + + + +TYCHO BRAHE REVIVED. + +The system of Tycho Brahe,[621] with some alteration and addition, has been +revived and contended for in our own day by a Dane, W. Zytphen,[622] who +has published _The Motion of the Sun in the Universe_, (second edition) +Copenhagen, 1865, 8vo, and _Le Mouvement Sideral_, 1865, 8vo. I make an +extract. + +"How can one explain Copernically that the velocity of the Moon must be +added to the velocity of the Earth on the one place in the Earth's orbit, +to learn how far the Moon has advanced from one fixed star to another; but +in another place in the orbit these velocities must be subtracted (the +movements taking place in opposite directions) to attain the same result? +In the Copernican and other systems, it is well known that the Moon, +abstracting from the insignificant excentricity of the orbit, always in +twenty-four hours performs an equally long distance. Why has Copernicus +never been denominated Fundamentus or Fundator? Because he has never +convinced anybody so thoroughly that this otherwise so natural epithet has +occurred to the mind." + +Really the second question is more effective against Newton than against +Copernicus; for it upsets gravity: the first is of great depth. + +{336} + + + +JAMES SMITH WILL NOT DOWN. + +The _Correspondent_ journal makes a little episode in the history of my +Budget (born May, 1865, died April, 1866). It consisted entirely of letters +written by correspondents. In August, a correspondent who signed "Fair +Play"--and who I was afterwards told was a lady--thought it would be a good +joke to bring in the Cyclometers. Accordingly a letter was written, +complaining that though Mr. Sylvester's[623] demonstration of Newton's +theorem--then attracting public attention--was duly lauded, the possibly +greater discovery of the quadrature seemed to be blushing unseen, and +wasting etc. It went on as follows: + +"Prof. De Morgan, who, from his position in the scientific world, might +fairly afford to look favourably on less practised efforts than his own, +seems to delight in ridiculing the discoverer. Science is, of course, a +very respectable person when he comes out and makes himself useful in the +world [it must have been a lady; each sex gives science to the other]: but +when, like a monk of the Middle Ages, he shuts himself up [it must have +been a lady; they always snub the bachelors] in his cloistered cell, +repeating his mumpsimus from day to day, and despising the labourers on the +outside, we begin to think of Galileo,[624] Jenner,[625] Harvey,[626] and +other glorious trios, who have been contemned ..." + +The writer then called upon Mr. James Smith[627] to come {337} forward. The +irony was not seen; and that day fortnight appeared the first of more than +thirty letters from his pen. Mr. Smith was followed by Mr. Reddie,[628] +Zadkiel,[629] and others, on their several subjects. To some of the letters +I have referred; to others I shall come. The _Correspondent_ was to become +a first-class scientific journal; the time had arrived at which truth had +an organ: and I received formal notice that I could not stifle it by +silence, nor convert it into falsehood by ridicule. When my reader sees my +extracts, he will readily believe my declaration that I should have been +the last to stifle a publication which was every week what James Mill[630] +would call a dose of capital for my Budget. A few anti-paradoxers brought +in common sense: but to the mass of the readers of the journal it all +seemed to be the difference between Tweedledum and Tweedledee. Some said +that the influx of scientific paradoxes killed the journal: but my belief +is that they made it last longer than it otherwise would have done. Twenty +years ago I recommended the paradoxers to combine and publish their views +in a common journal: with a catholic editor, who had no pet theory, but a +stern determination not to exclude anything merely for absurdity. I suspect +it would answer very well. A strong title, or motto, would be wanted: not +so coarse as was roared out in a Cambridge mob when I was an +undergraduate--"No King! No Church! No House of Lords! No nothing, blast +me!"--but something on that _principle_. + +At the end of 1867 I addressed the following letter to the _Athenaeum_: + +PSEUDOMATH, PHILOMATH, AND GRAPHOMATH. + +_December 31, 1867_ + +Many thanks for the present of Mr. James Smith's letters {338} of Sept. 28 +and of Oct. 10 and 12. He asks where you will be if you read and digest his +letters: you probably will be somewhere first. He afterwards asks what the +WE of the _Athenaeum_ will be if, finding it impossible to controvert, it +should refuse to print. I answer for you, that We-We of the _Athenaeum_, not +being Wa-Wa the wild goose, so conspicuous in "Hiawatha," will leave what +controverts itself to print itself, if it please. + +_Philomath_ is a good old word, easier to write and speak than +_mathematician_. It wants the words between which I have placed it. They +are not well formed: _pseudomathete_ and _graphomathete_ would be better: +but they will do. I give an instance of each. + +The _pseudomath_ is a person who handles mathematics as the monkey handled +the razor. The creature tried to shave himself as he had seen his master +do; but, not having any notion of the angle at which the razor was to be +held, he cut his own throat. He never tried a second time, poor animal! but +the pseudomath keeps on at his work, proclaims himself clean-shaved, and +all the rest of the world hairy. So great is the difference between moral +and physical phenomena! Mr. James Smith is, beyond doubt, the great +pseudomath of our time. His 3-1/8 is the least of a wonderful chain of +discoveries. His books, like Whitbread's barrels, will one day reach from +Simpkin & Marshall's to Kew, placed upright, or to Windsor laid +length-ways. The Queen will run away on their near approach, as Bishop +Hatto did from the rats: but Mr. James Smith will follow her were it to +John o' Groats. + +The _philomath_, for my present purpose, must be exhibited as giving a +lesson to presumption. The following anecdote is found in Thiebault's[631] +_Souvenirs de vingt ans de sejours a Berlin_, published in 1804. The book +itself got a high character for truth. In 1807 Marshal Mollendorff[632] +{339} answered an inquiry of the Duc de Bassano,[633] by saying that it was +the most veracious of books, written by the most honest of men. Thiebault +does not claim personal knowledge of the anecdote, but he vouches for its +being received as true all over the north of Europe.[634] + +Diderot[635] paid a visit to Russia at the invitation of Catherine the +Second. At that time he was an atheist, or at least talked atheism: it +would be easy to prove him either one thing or the other from his writings. +His lively sallies on this subject much amused the Empress, and all the +younger part of her Court. But some of the older courtiers suggested that +it was hardly prudent to allow such unreserved exhibitions. The Empress +thought so too, but did not like to muzzle her guest by an express +prohibition: so a plot was contrived. The scorner was informed that an +eminent mathematician had an algebraical proof of the existence of God, +which he would communicate before the whole Court, if agreeable. Diderot +gladly consented. The mathematician, who is not named, was Euler.[636] He +came to Diderot with the gravest air, and in a tone of perfect conviction +said, "_Monsieur!_ + + (a + b^n)/n = x + +_donc Dieu existe; repondez!_"[637] Diderot, to whom algebra was Hebrew, +though this is expressed in a very roundabout way by Thiebault--and whom we +may suppose to have expected some verbal argument of alleged algebraical +closeness, was disconcerted; while peals of laughter sounded on all sides. +Next day he asked permission to return to France, which was granted. An +algebraist would have {340} turned the tables completely, by saying, +"Monsieur! vous savez bien que votre raisonnement demande le developpement +de x suivant les puissances entieres de n".[638] Goldsmith could not have +seen the anecdote, or he might have been supposed to have drawn from it a +hint as to the way in which the Squire demolished poor Moses. + +The _graphomath_ is a person who, having no mathematics, attempts to +describe a mathematician. Novelists perform in this way: even Walter Scott +now and then burns his fingers. His dreaming calculator, Davy Ramsay, +swears "by the bones of the immortal Napier." Scott thought that the the +philomaths worshiped relics: so they do, in one sense. Look into +Hutton's[639] Dictionary for _Napier's Bones_, and you shall learn all +about the little knick-knacks by which he did multiplication and division. +But never a bone of his own did he contribute; he preferred elephants' +tusks. The author of _Headlong Hall_[640] makes a grand error, which is +quite high science: he says that Laplace proved the precession of the +equinoxes to be a periodical inequality. He should have said the variation +of the obliquity. But the finest instance is the following: Mr. +Warren,[641] in his well-wrought tale of the martyr-philosopher, was +incautious enough to invent the symbols by which his _savant_ satisfied +himself Laplace[642] was right on a doubtful point. And this is what he put +together-- + + [sqrt]-3a^2, [rectangle]y^2 / z^2 + 9 - n = 9, n x log e. + +Now, to Diderot and the mass of mankind this might be Laplace all over: +and, in a forged note of Pascal, would {341} prove him quite up to +gravitation. But I know of nothing like it, except in the lately received +story of the American orator, who was called on for some Latin, and +perorated thus: "Committing the destiny of the country to your hands, +Gentlemen, I may without fear declare, in the language of the noble Roman +poet, + + E pluribus unum, + Multum in parvo, + Ultima Thule, + Sine qua non."[643] + +But the American got nearer to Horace than the martyr-philosopher to +Laplace. For all the words are in Horace, except _Thule_, which might have +been there. But [rectangle] is not a symbol wanted by Laplace; nor can we +see how it could have been; in fact, it is not recognized in algebra. As to +the junctions, etc., Laplace and Horace are about equally well imitated. + +Further thanks for Mr. Smith's letters to you of Oct. 15, 18, 19, 28, and +Nov. 4, 15. The last of these letters has two curious discoveries. First, +Mr. Smith declares that he has _seen_ the editor of the _Athenaeum_: in +several previous letters he mentions a name. If he knew a little of +journalism he would be aware that editors are a peculiar race, obtained by +natural selection. They are never seen, even by their officials; only heard +down a pipe. Secondly, "an ellipse or oval" is composed of four arcs of +circles. Mr. Smith has got hold of the construction I was taught, when a +boy, for a pretty four-arc oval. But my teachers knew better than to call +it an ellipse: Mr. Smith does not; but he produces from it such +confirmation of 3-1/8 as would convince any _honest_ editor. + +Surely the cyclometer is a Darwinite development of a spider, who is always +at circles, and always begins again when his web is brushed away. He +informs you that he {342} has been privileged to discover truths unknown to +the scientific world. This we know; but he proceeds to show that he is +equally fortunate in art. He goes on to say that he will make use of you to +bring those truths to light, "just as an artist makes use of a dummy for +the purpose of arranging his drapery." The painter's lay-figure is for +flowing robes; the hairdresser's dummy is for curly locks. Mr. James Smith +should read Sam Weller's pathetic story of the "four wax dummies." As to +_his_ use of a dummy, it is quite correct. When I was at University +College, I walked one day into a room in which my Latin colleague was +examining. One of the questions was, "Give the lives and fates of Sp. +Maelius,[644] and Sp. Cassius."[645] Umph! said I, surely all know that +Spurius Maelius was whipped for adulterating flour, and that Spurius Cassius +was hanged for passing bad money. Now, a robe arranged on a dummy would +look just like the toga of Cassius on the gallows. Accordingly, Mr. Smith +is right in the drapery-hanger which he has chosen: he has been detected in +the attempt to pass bad circles. He complains bitterly that his geometry, +instead of being read and understood by you, is handed over to me to be +treated after my scurrilous fashion. It is clear enough that he would +rather be handled in this way than not handled at all, or why does he go on +writing? He must know by this time that it is a part of the institution +that his "untruthful and absurd trash" shall be distilled into mine at the +rate of about 3-1/8 pages of the first to one column of the second. Your +readers will never know how much they gain by the process, until Mr. James +Smith publishes it all in a big book, or until they get hold of what he has +already published. I have six pounds avoirdupois of pamphlets and letters; +and there is more than half a pound of letters {343} written to you in the +last two months. Your compositor must feel aggrieved by the rejection of +these clearly written documents, without erasures, and on one side only. +Your correspondent has all the makings of a good contributor, except the +knowledge of his subject and the sense to get it. He is, in fact, only a +mask: of whom the fox + + "O quanta species, inquit, cerebrum non habet."[646] + +I do not despair of Mr. Smith on any question which does not involve that +unfortunate two-stick wicket at which he persists in bowling. He has +published many papers; he has forwarded them to mathematicians: and he +cannot get answers; perhaps not even readers. Does he think that he would +get more notice if you were to print him in your journal? Who would study +his columns? Not the mathematician, we know; and he knows. Would others? +His balls are aimed too wide to be blocked by any one who is near the +wicket. He has long ceased to be worth the answer which a new invader may +get. Rowan Hamilton,[647] years ago, completely knocked him over; and he +has never attempted to point out any error in the short and easy method by +which that powerful investigator condescended to show that, be right who +may, he must be wrong. There are some persons who feel inclined to think +that Mr. Smith should be argued with: let those persons understand that he +has been argued with, refuted, and has never attempted to stick a pen into +the refutation. He stated that it was a remarkable paradox, easily +explicable; and that is all. After this evasion, Mr. James Smith is below +the necessity of being told that he is unworthy of answer. His friends +complain that I do nothing but _chaff_ him. Absurd! I winnow him; and if +nothing but chaff results, whose fault is that? I am usefully employed: for +he is the type of a class which ought to be known, and which I have done +much to make known. + +{344} + +Nothing came of this until July 1869, when I received a reprint of the +above letter, with a comment, described as Appendix D of a work in course +of publication on the geometry of the circle. The _Athenaeum_ journal +received the same: but the Editor, in his private capacity, received the +whole work, being _The Geometry of the Circle and Mathematics as applied to +Geometry by Mathematicians, shown to be a mockery, delusion, and a snare_, +Liverpool, 8vo, 1869. Mr. J. S. here appears in deep fight with Professor +Whitworth,[648] and Mr. Wilson,[649] the author of the alleged amendment of +Euclid. How these accomplished mathematicians could be inveigled into +continued discussion is inexplicable. Mr. Whitworth began by complaining of +Mr. Smith's attacks upon mathematicians, continued to correspond after he +was convinced that J. S. proved an arc and its chord to be equal, and only +retreated when J. S. charged him with believing in 3-1/8, and refusing +acknowledgment. Mr. Wilson was introduced to J. S. by a volunteer defense +of his geometry from the assaults of the _Athenaeum_. This the editor would +not publish; so J. S. sent a copy to Mr. Wilson himself. Some +correspondence ensued, but Mr. Wilson soon found out his man, and withdrew. + +There is a little derision of the _Athenaeum_ and a merited punishment for +"that unscrupulous critic and contemptible mathematical twaddler, De +Morgan." + + + +MR. REDDIE'S ASTRONOMY. + +At p. 183 I mentioned Mr. Reddie,[650] the author of _Vis Inertiae Victa_ +and of _Victoria toto coelo_,[651] which last is not {345} an address to +the whole heaven, either from a Roman Goddess or a British Queen, whatever +a scholar may suppose. Between these Mr. Reddie has published _The +Mechanics of the Heavens_, 8vo, 1862: this I never saw until he sent it to +me, with an invitation to notice it, he very well knowing that it would +catch. His speculations do battle with common notions of mathematics and of +mechanics, which, to use a feminine idiom, he blasphemes so you can't +think! and I suspect that if you do not blaspheme them too, _you_ can't +think. He appeals to the "truly scientific," and would be glad to have +readers who have read what he controverts, i.e., Newton's _Principia_: I +wish he may get them; I mean I hope he may obtain them. To none but these +would an account of his speculations be intelligible: I accordingly +disposed of him in a very short paragraph of description. Now many +paradoxers desire notice, even though it be disparaging. I have letters +from more than one--besides what have been sent to the Editor of the +_Athenaeum_--complaining that they are not laughed at; although they deserve +it, they tell me, as much as some whom I have inserted. Mr. Reddie informs +me that I have not said a single word against his books, though I have +given nearly a column to sixteen-string arithmetic, and as much to +animalcule universes. What need to say anything to readers of Newton +against a book from which I quoted that revolution by gravitation is +_demonstrably_ impossible? It would be as useless as evidence against a man +who has pleaded guilty. Mr. Reddie derisively thanks me for "small +mercies"; he wrote me private letters; he published them, and more, in the +_Correspondent_. He gave me, _pro viribus suis_,[652] such a dressing you +can't think, both for my Budget non-notice, and for reviews which he +assumed me to have written. He outlawed himself by declaring +(_Correspondent_, Nov. 11, 1856) that I--in a review--had made a quotation +which was "garbled, evidently on purpose {346} to make it appear that" he +"was advocating solely a geocentric hypothesis, which is not true." In +fact, he did his best to get larger "mercy." And he shall have it; and at a +length which shall content him, unless his mecometer be an insatiable +apparatus. But I fear that in other respects I shall no more satisfy him +than the Irish drummer satisfied the poor culprit when, after several times +changing the direction of the stroke at earnest entreaty, he was at last +provoked to call out, "Bad cess to ye, ye spalpeen! strike where one will, +there's no _plasing_ ye!" + +Mr. Reddie attaches much force to Berkeley's[653] old arguments against the +doctrine of fluxions, and advances objections to Newton's second section, +which he takes to be new. To me they appear "such as have been often made," +to copy a description given in a review: though I have no doubt Mr. Reddie +got them out of himself. But the whole matter comes to this: Mr. Reddie +challenged answer, especially from the British Association, and got none. +He presumes that this is because he is right, and cannot be answered: the +Association is willing to risk itself upon the counter-notion that he is +wrong, and need not be answered; because so wrong that none who could +understand an answer would be likely to want one. + +Mr. Reddie demands my attention to a point which had already particularly +struck me, as giving the means of showing to _all_ readers the kind of +confusion into which paradoxers are apt to fall, in spite of the clearest +instruction. It is a very honest blunder, and requires notice: it may +otherwise mislead some, who may suppose that no one able to read could be +mistaken about so simple a matter, {347} let him be ever so wrong about +Newton. According to his own mis-statement, in less than five months he +made the Astronomer Royal abandon the theory of the solar motion in space. +The announcement is made in August, 1865, as follows: the italics are not +mine: + + "The third (_Victoria ..._), although only published in September, + 1863, has already had its triumph. _It is the book that forced the + Astronomer Royal of England, after publicly teaching the contrary for + years, to come to the conclusion, "strange as it may appear," that "the + whole question of solar motion in space is at the present time in doubt + and abeyance."_ This admission is made in the Annual Report of the + Council of the Royal Astronomical Society, published in the Society's + _Monthly Notices_ for February, 1864." + +It is added that solar motion is "full of self-contradiction, which "the +astronomers" simply overlooked, but which they dare not now deny after +being once pointed out." + +The following is another of his accounts of the matter, given in the +_Correspondent_, No. 18, 1865: + + "... You ought, when you came to put me in the 'Budget,' to have been + aware of the Report of the Council of the Royal Astronomical Society, + where it appears that Professor Airy,[654] with a better appreciation + of my demonstrations, had admitted--'strange,' say the Council, 'as it + may appear,'--that 'the whole question of solar motion in space [and + here Mr. Reddie omits some words] is now in _doubt and abeyance_.' You + were culpable as a public teacher of no little pretensions, if you were + 'unaware' of this. If aware of it, you ought not to have suppressed + such an important testimony to my really having been 'very successful' + in drawing the teeth of the pegtops, though you thought them so firmly + fixed. And if you still suppress {348} it, in your Appendix, or when + you reprint your 'Budget,' you will then be guilty of a _suppressio + veri_, also of further injury to me, who have never injured you...." + +Mr. Reddie must have been very well satisfied in his own mind before he +ventured such a challenge, with an answer from me looming in the distance. +The following is the passage of the Report of the Council, etc., from which +he quotes: + + "And yet, strange to say, notwithstanding the near coincidence of all + the results of the before-mentioned independent methods of + investigation, the inevitable logical inference deduced by Mr. Airy is, + that the whole question of solar motion in space, _so far at least as + accounting for the proper motion of the stars is concerned_, [I have + put in italics the words omitted by Mr. Reddie] appears to remain at + this moment in doubt and abeyance." + +Mr. Reddie has forked me, as he thinks, on a dilemma: if unaware, culpable +ignorance; if aware, suppressive intention. But the thing is a _trilemma_, +and the third horn, on which I elect to be placed, is surmounted by a +doubly-stuffed seat. First, Mr. Airy has not changed his opinion about the +_fact_ of solar motion in space, but only suspends it as to the sufficiency +of present means to give the amount and direction of the motion. Secondly, +all that is alluded to in the Astronomical Report was said and printed +before the Victoria proclamation appeared. So that the author, instead of +drawing the tooth of the Astronomer Royal's pegtop, has burnt his own +doll's nose. + +William Herschel,[655] and after him about six other astronomers, had aimed +at determining, by the proper motions of the stars, the point of the +heavens towards which the solar system is moving: their results were +tolerably accordant. Mr. Airy, in 1859, proposed an improved method, and, +applying it to stars of large proper motion, produced {349} much the same +result as Herschel. Mr. E. Dunkin,[656] one of Mr. Airy's staff at +Greenwich, applied Mr. Airy's method to a very large number of stars, and +produced, again, nearly the same result as before. This paper was read to +the Astronomical Society in _March_, 1863, was printed in abstract in the +_Notice_ of that month, was printed in full in the volume then current, and +was referred to in the Annual Report of the Council in _February_, 1864, +under the name of "the Astronomer Royal's elaborate investigation, as +exhibited by Mr. Dunkin." Both Mr. Airy and Mr. Dunkin express grave doubts +as to the sufficiency of the data: and, regarding the coincidence of all +the results as highly curious, feel it necessary to wait for calculations +made on better data. The report of the Council states these doubts. Mr. +Reddie, who only published in _September_, 1863, happened to see the Report +of February, 1864, assumes that the doubts were then first expressed, and +declares that his book of September had the triumph of forcing the +Astronomer Royal to abandon the _fact_ of motion of the solar system by the +February following. Had Mr. Reddie, when he saw that the Council were +avowedly describing a memoir presented some time before, taken the +precaution to find out _when_ that memoir was presented, he would perhaps +have seen that doubts of the results obtained, expressed by one astronomer +in March, 1863, and by another in 1859, could not have been due to his +publication of September, 1863. And any one else would have learnt that +neither astronomer doubts the _solar motion_, though both doubt the +sufficiency of present means to determine its _amount_ and _direction_. +This is implied in the omitted words, which Mr. Reddie--whose omission +would have been dishonest if he had seen their meaning--no doubt took for +pleonasm, superfluity, overmuchness. The rashness which pushed him headlong +{350} into the quillet that _his_ thunderbolt had stopped the chariot of +the Sun and knocked the Greenwich Phaeton off the box, is the same which +betrayed him into yet grander error--which deserves the full word, +_quidlibet_--about the _Principia_ of Newton. There has been no change of +opinion at all. When a person undertakes a long investigation, his opinion +is that, at a certain date, there is _prima facie_ ground for thinking a +sound result may be obtained. Should it happen that the investigation ends +in doubt upon the sufficiency of the grounds, the investigator is not put +in the wrong. He knew beforehand that there was an alternative: and he +takes the horn of the alternative indicated by his calculations. The two +sides of this case present an instructive contrast. Eight astronomers +produce nearly the same result, and yet the last two doubt the sufficiency +of their means: compare them with the what's-his-name who rushes in where +thing-em-bobs fear to tread. + +I was not aware, until I had written what precedes, that Mr. Airy had given +a sufficient answer on the point. Mr. Reddie says (_Correspondent_, Jan. +20, 1866): + + "I claim to have forced Professor Airy to give up the notion of 'solar + motion in space' altogether, for he admits it to be 'at present in + doubt and abeyance.' I first made that claim in a letter addressed to + the Astronomer Royal himself in June, 1864, and in replying, very + courteously, to other portions of my letter, he did not gainsay that + part of it." + +Mr. Reddie is not ready at reading satire, or he never would have so missed +the meaning of the courteous reply on one point, and the total silence upon +another. Mr. Airy must be one of those peculiar persons who, when they do +not think an assertion worth notice, let it alone, without noticing it by a +notification of non-notice. He would never commit the bull of "Sir! I will +not say a word on that subject." He would put it thus, "Sir! I will only +say ten words on that subject,"--and, having thus said them, would {351} +proceed to something else. He assumed, as a matter of form, that Mr. Reddie +would draw the proper inference from his silence: and this because he did +not care whether or no the assumption was correct. + +The _Mechanics of the Heavens_, which Mr. Reddie sends to be noticed, shall +be noticed, so far as an extract goes: + + + +"My connection with this subject is, indeed, very simply explained. In +endeavoring to understand the laws of physical astronomy as generally +taught, I happened to entertain some doubt whether gravitating bodies could +revolve, and having afterwards imbibed some vague idea that the laws of the +universe were chemical and physical rather than mechanical, and somehow +connected with electricity and magnetism as opposing correlative +forces--most probably suggested to my mind, as to many others, by the +transcendent discoveries made in electro-magnetism by Professor +Faraday[657]--my former doubts about gravitation were revived, and I was +led very naturally to try and discover whether a gravitating body really +could revolve; and I became convinced it could not, before I had ever +presumed to look into the demonstrations of the _Principia_." + + + +This is enough against the book, without a word from me: I insert it only +to show those who know the subject what manner of writer Mr. Reddie is. It +is clear that "presumed" is a slip of the pen; it should have been +_condescended_. + +Mr. Reddie represents me as dreaming over paltry paradoxes. He is right; +many of my paradoxes are paltry: he is wrong; I am wide awake to them. A +single moth, beetle, or butterfly, may be a paltry thing; but when a +cabinet is arranged by genus and species, we then begin to admire the {352} +infinite variety of a system constructed on a wonderful sameness of leading +characteristics. And why should paradoxes be denied that collective +importance, paltry as many of them may individually be, which is accorded +to moths, beetles, or butterflies? Mr. Reddie himself sees that "there is a +method in" my "mode of dealing with paradoxes." I hope I have atoned for +the scantiness of my former article, and put the demonstrated impossibility +of gravitation on that level with Hubongramillposanfy arithmetic and +inhabited atoms which the demonstrator--not quite without reason--claims +for it. + +In the Introduction to a collected edition of the three works, Mr. Reddie +describes his _Mechanism of the Heavens_, from which I have just quoted, +as-- + + + +"a public challenge offered to the British Association and the +mathematicians at Cambridge, in August, 1862, calling upon them to point to +a single demonstration in the _Principia_ or elsewhere, which even attempts +to prove that Universal Gravitation is possible, or to show that a +gravitating body could possibly revolve about a center of attraction. The +challenge was not accepted, and never will be. No such demonstration +exists. And the public must judge for themselves as to the character of a +so-called "certain science," which thus shrinks from rigid examination, and +dares not defend itself when publicly attacked: also of the character of +its teachers, who can be content to remain dumb under such circumstances." + + + +ON PARADOXERS IN GENERAL. + +The above is the commonplace talk of the class, of which I proceed to speak +without more application to this paradoxer than to that. It reminds one of +the funny young rascals who used, in times not yet quite forgotten, to +abuse the passengers, as long as they could keep up with the {353} stage +coach; dropping off at last with "Why don't you get down and thrash us? +You're afraid, you're afraid!" They will allow the public to judge for +themselves, but with somewhat of the feeling of the worthy uncle in _Tom +Jones_, who, though he would let young people choose for themselves, would +_have them_ choose wisely. They try to be so awfully moral and so ghastly +satirical that they must be answered: and they are best answered in their +own division. We have all heard of the way in which sailors cat's-pawed the +monkeys: they taunted the dwellers in the trees with stones, and the +monkeys taunted them with cocoa-nuts in return. But these were silly +dendrobats: had they belonged to the British Association they would have +said--No! No! dear friends; it is not in the itinerary: if you want nuts, +you must climb, as we do. The public has referred the question to Time: the +procedure of this great king I venture to describe, from precedents, by an +adaptation of some smart anapaestic tetrameters--your anapaest is the foot +for satire to halt on, both in Greek and English--which I read about twenty +years ago, and with the point of which I was much tickled. Poetasters were +laughed at; but Mr. Slum, whom I employed--Mr. Charles Dickens obliged me +with his address--converted the idea into that of a hit at +mathematicasters, as easily as he turned the Warren acrostic into Jarley. +As he observed, when I settled his little account, it is cheaper than any +prose, though the broom was not stolen quite ready made: + + _Forty stripes save one for the smaller Paradoxers._ + + Hark to the wisdom the sages preach + Who never have learnt what they try to teach. + We are the lights of the age, they say! + We are the men, and the thinkers we! + So we build up guess-work the livelong day, + In a topsy-turvy sort of way, + Some with and some wanting _a_ plus b. + Let the British Association fuss; + What are theirs to the feats to be wrought by us? + {354} + Shall the earth stand still? Will the round come square? + Must Isaac's book be the nest of a mare? + Ought the moon to be taught by the laws of space + To turn half round without right-about-face? + Our whimsey crotchets will manage it all; + Deep! Deep! posterity will them call! + Though the world, for the present, lets them fall + Down! Down! to the twopenny box of the stall! + + Thus they--But the marplot Time stands by, + With a knowing wink in his funny old eye. + He grasps by the top an immense fool's cap, + Which he calls a philosophaster-trap: + And rightly enough, for while these little men + Croak loud as a concert of frogs in a fen, + He first singles out one, and then another, + Down goes the cap--lo! a moment's pother, + A spirit like that which a rushlight utters + As just at the last it kicks and gutters: + When the cruel smotherer is raised again + Only snuff, and but little of that, will remain. + + But though _uno avulso_ thus comes every day + _Non deficit alter_ is also in play: + For the vacant parts are, one and all, + Soon taken by puppets just as small; + Who chirp, chirp, chirp, with a grasshopper's glee, + We're the lamps of the Universe, We! We! We! + But Time, whose speech is never long,-- + He hasn't time for it--stops the song + And says--Lilliput lamps! leave the twopenny boxes, + And shine in the Budget of Paradoxes! + +When a paradoxer parades capital letters and diagrams which are as good as +Newton's to all who know nothing about it, some persons wonder why science +does not rise and triturate the whole thing. This is why: all who are fit +to read the refutation are satisfied already, and can, if they please, +detect the paradoxer for themselves. Those who are not fit to do this would +not know the difference between the true answer and the new capitals and +diagrams on which the delighted paradoxer would declare {355} that he had +crumbled the philosophers, and not they him. Trust him for having the last +word: and what matters it whether he crow the unanswerable sooner or later? +There are but two courses to take. One is to wait until he has committed +himself in something which all can understand, as Mr. Reddie has done in +his fancy about the Astronomer Royal's change of opinion: he can then be +put in his true place. The other is to construct a Budget of Paradoxes, +that the world may see how the thing is always going on, and that the +picture I have concocted by cribbing and spoiling a bit of poetry is drawn +from life. He who wonders at there being no answer has seen one or two: he +does not know that there are always fifty with equal claims, each of whom +regards his being ranked with the rest as forty-nine distinct and several +slanders upon himself, the great Mully Ully Gue. And the fifty would soon +be five hundred if any notice were taken of them. They call mankind to +witness that science _will not_ defend itself, though publicly attacked in +terms which might sting a pickpocket into standing up for his character: +science, in return, allows mankind to witness or not, at pleasure, that it +_does not_ defend itself, and yet receives no injury from centuries of +assault. Demonstrative reason never raises the cry of _Church in Danger_! +and it cannot have any Dictionary of Heresies except a Budget of Paradoxes. +Mistaken claimants are left to Time and his extinguisher, with the +approbation of all thinking non-claimants: there is no need of a succession +of exposures. Time gets through the job in his own workmanlike manner as +already described. + +On looking back more than twenty years, I find among my cuttings the +following passage, relating to a person who had signalized himself by an +effort to teach comets to the conductor of the _Nautical Almanac_: + + + +"Our brethren of the literary class have not the least idea of the small +amount of appearance of knowledge {356} which sets up the scientific +charlatan. Their world is large, and there are many who have that moderate +knowledge, and perception of what is knowledge, before which extreme +ignorance is detected in its first prank. There is a public of moderate +cultivation, for the most part sound in its judgment, always ready in its +decisions. Accordingly, all their successful pretenders have _some +pretension_. It is not so in science. Those who have a right to judge are +fewer and farther between. The consequence is, that many scientific +pretenders have _nothing but pretension_." + + + +This is nearly as applicable now as then. It is impossible to make those +who have not studied for themselves fully aware of the truth of what I have +quoted. The best chance is collection of cases; in fact, a Budget of +Paradoxes. Those who have no knowledge of the subject can thus argue from +the seen to the unseen. All can feel the impracticability of the +Hubongramillposanfy numeration, and the absurdity of the equality of +contour of a regular pentagon and hexagon in one and the same circle. Many +may accordingly be satisfied, on the assurance of those who have studied, +that there is as much of impracticability, or as much of absurdity, in +things which are hidden under + + "Sines, tangents, secants, radius, cosines + Subtangents, segments and all those signs; + Enough to prove that he who read 'em + Was just as mad as he who made 'em." + +Not that I mean to be disrespectful to mathematical terms: they are short +and easily explained, and compete favorably with those of most other +subjects: for instance, with + + "Horse-pleas, traverses, demurrers, + Jeofails, imparlances, and errors, + Averments, bars, and protestandos, + And puis d'arreign continuandos." + +{357} + +From which it appears that, taking the selections made by satirists for our +samples, there are, one with another, four letters more in a law term than +in one of mathematics. But pleading has been simplified of late years. + +All paradoxers can publish; and any one who likes may read. But this is not +enough; they find that they cannot publish, or those who can find they are +_not_ read, and they lay their plans athwart the noses of those who, they +think, ought to read. To recommend them to be content with publication, +like other authors, is an affront: of this I will give the reader an +amusing instance. My good nature, of which I keep a stock, though I do not +use it all up in this Budget, prompts me to conceal the name. + +I received the following letter, accompanied by a prospectus of a work on +metaphysics, physics, astronomy, etc. The author is evidently one whom I +should delight to honor: + +"Sir,--A friend of mine has mentioned your name in terms of panigeric +[_sic_], as being of high standing in mathematics, and of greatly original +thought. I send you the enclosed without comment; and, assuming that the +bent of your mind is in free inquiry, shall feel a pleasure in showing you +my portfolio, which, as a mathematician, you will acknowledge to be deeply +interesting, even in an educational point of view. The work is complete, +and the system so far perfected as to place it above criticism; and, so far +as regards astronomy, as will Ptolemy beyond rivalry [_sic_: no doubt some +words omitted]. Believe me to be, Sir, with the profoundest respect, etc. +The work is the result of thirty-five years' travel and observation, labor, +expense, and self-abnegation." + +I replied to the effect that my time was fully occupied, and that I was +obliged to decline discussion with many persons who have views of their +own; that the proper way is to publish, so that those who choose may read +when they can find leisure. I added that I should advise a precursor in the +shape of a small pamphlet, as two octavo volumes {358} would be too much +for most persons. This was sound advice; but it is not the first, second, +or third time that it has proved very unpalatable. I received the following +answer, to which I take the liberty of prefixing a bit of leonine wisdom: + + "Si doceas stultum, laetum non dat tibi vultum; + Odit te multum; vellet te scire sepultum.[658]" + +"Sir,--I pray you pardon the error I unintentionally have fallen into; +deceived by the F.R.S. [I am not F.R.S.] I took you to be a man of science +[_omnis homo est animal, Sortes est homo, ergo Sortes est animal_][659] +instead of the mere mathematician, or human calculating-machine. Believe +me, Sir, you also have mistaken your mission, as I have mine. I wrote to +you as I would to any other man well up in mathematics, with the intent to +call your attention to a singular fact of omission by Euclid, and other +great mathematicians: and, in selecting you, I did you an honor which, from +what I have just now heard, was entirely out of place. I think, considering +the nature of the work set forth in the prospectus, you are guilty of both +folly and presumption, in assuming the character of a patron; for your own +sense ought to have assured you that was such my object I should not have +sought him in a De Morgan, who exists only by patronage of others. On the +other hand, I deem it to be an unpardonable piece of presumption in +offering your advice upon a subject the magnitude, importance, and real +utility of which you know nothing about: by doing so you have offered me a +direct insult. The system is a manual of Philosophy, a one inseparable +whole of metaphysics and physic; embracing points the most interesting, +laws the most important, {359} doctrines the most essential to advance man +in accordance with the spirit of the times. I may not live to see it in +print; for, at ----, life at best is uncertain: but, live or die, be +assured Sir, it is not my intention to debase the work by seeking +patronage, or pandering to the public taste. Your advice was the less +needed, seeing I am an old-established ----. I remain, etc.--P.S. You will +oblige me by returning the prospectus of my work." + + + +My reader will, I am sure, not take this transition from the "profoundest +respect" to the loftiest insolence for an _apocraphical_ correspondence, to +use a word I find in the Prospectus: on my honor it is genuine. He will be +better employed in discovering whether I exist by patronizing others, or by +being patronized by them. I make any one who can find it out a fair offer: +I will give him my patronage if I turn out to be Bufo, on condition he +gives me his, if I turn out to be Bavius.[660] I need hardly say that I +considered the last letter to be one of those to which no answer is so good +as no answer. + +These letters remind me in one respect of the correspondents of the +newspapers. My other party wrote because a friend had pointed me out: but +he would not have written if he had known what another friend told him just +in time for the second letter. The man who sends his complaint to the +newspaper very often says, in effect, "Don't imagine, Sir, that I read your +columns; but a friend who sometimes does has told me ..." It is worded +thus: "My attention {360} has been directed to an article in your paper of +..." Many thanks to my friend's friends for not mentioning the Budget: had +my friend's attention been directed to it I might have lost a striking +example of the paradoxer in search of a patron. That my Friend was on this +scent in the first letter is revealed in the second. Language was given to +man to conceal his thoughts; but it is not every one who can do it. + +Among the most valuable information which my readers will get from me is +comparison of the reactions of paradoxers, when not admitted to argument, +or when laughed at. Of course, they are misrepresented; and at this they +are angry, or which is the same thing, take great pains to assure the +reader that they are not. So far natural, and so far good; anything short +of concession of a case which must be seriously met by counter-reasons is +sure to be misrepresentation. My friend Mr. James Smith and my friend Mr. +Reddie are both terribly misrepresented: they resent it by some +insinuations in which it is not easy to detect whether I am a conscious +smotherer of truth, or only muddle-headed and ignorant. [This was written +before I received my last communication from Mr. James Smith. He tells me +that I am wrong in saying that his work in which I stand in the pillory is +all reprint: I have no doubt I confounded some of it with some of the +manuscript or slips which I had received from my much not-agreed-with +correspondent. He adds that my mistake was intentional, and that my reason +is obvious to the reader. This _is_ information, as the sea-serpent said +when he read in the newspaper that he had a mane and tusks.] + + + +THE DOUBLE VAHU PROCESS. + +My friend Dr. Thorn[661] sees deeper into my mystery. By the way, he still +sends an occasional touch at the old {361} subject; and he wants me +particularly to tell my readers that the Latin numeral letters, if M be +left out, give 666. And so they do: witness DCLXVI. A person who thinks of +the origin of symbols will soon see that 666 is our number because we have +five fingers on each hand: had we had but four, our mystic number would +have been expressed by 555, and would have stood for our present 365. Had n +been the number on each hand, the great number would have been + + (n + 1) (4n^2 + 2n + 1) + +With no finger on each hand, the number would have been 1: with one finger +less than none at all on each hand, it would have been 0. But what does +this mean? Here is a question for an algebraical paradoxer! So soon as we +have found out how many fingers the inhabitants of any one planet have on +each hand, we have the means of knowing their number of the Beast, and +thence all about them. Very much struck with this hint of discovery, I +turned my attention to the means of developing it. The first point was to +clear my vision of all the old cataracts. I propose the following +experiment, subject of course to the consent of parties. Let Dr. Thorn +Double-Vahu Mr. James Smith, and Thau Mr. Reddie: if either be deparadoxed +by the treatment, I will consent to undergo it myself. Provided always that +the temperature required be not so high as the Doctor hints at: if the +Turkish Baths will do for this world, I am content. + +The three paradoxers last named and myself have a pentasyllable convention, +under which, though we go far beyond civility, we keep within civilization. +Though Mr. James Smith pronounced that I must be dishonest if I did not see +his argument, which he knew I should not do [to say nothing of recent +accusation]; though Dr. Thorn declared me a competitor for fire and +brimstone--and my wife, too, which doubles the joke: though Mr. Reddie +{362} was certain I had garbled him, evidently on purpose to make falsehood +appear truth; yet all three profess respect for me as to everything but +power to see truth, or candor to admit it. And on the other hand, though +these were the modes of opening communication with me, and though I have no +doubt that all three are proper persons of whom to inquire whether I should +go up-stairs or down-stairs, etc., yet I am satisfied they are thoroughly +respectable men, as to everything but reasoning. And I dare say our several +professions are far more true in extent than in many which are made under +more parliamentary form. We find excuses for each other: they make +allowances for my being hoodwinked by Aristotle, by Newton, by the Devil; +and I permit them to feel, for I know they cannot get on without it, that +their reasons are such as none but a knave or a sinner can resist. But +_they_ are content with cutting a slice each out of my character: neither +of them is more than an uncle, a Bone-a-part; I now come to a dreadful +nephew, Bone-the-whole. + +I will not give the name of the poor fellow who has fallen so far below +both the _honestum_ and the _utile_, to say nothing of the _decorum_ or the +_dulce_.[662] He is the fourth who has taken elaborate notice of me; and my +advice to him would be, _Nec quarta loqui persona laboret_.[663] According +to him, I scorn humanity, scandalize learning, and disgrace the press; it +admits of no manner of doubt that my object is to mislead the public and +silence truth, at the expense of the interests of science, the wealth of +the nation, and the lives of my fellow men. The only thing left to be +settled is, whether this is due to ignorance, natural distaste for truth, +personal malice, a wish to curry favor with the Astronomer Royal, or mere +toadyism. The only accusation which has truth in it is, that I have made +myself a "public scavenger of science": the assertion, which is the {363} +most false of all is, that the results of my broom and spade are "shot +right in between the columns of" the _Athenaeum_. I declare I never in my +life inserted a word between the columns of the _Athenaeum_: I feel huffed +and miffed at the very supposition. I _have_ made myself a public +scavenger; and why not? Is the mud never to be collected into a heap? I +look down upon the other scavengers, of whom there have been a few--mere +historical drudges; Montucla, Hutton, etc.--as not fit to compete with me. +I say of them what one crossing-sweeper said of the rest: "They are well +enough for the common thing; but put them to a bit of fancy-work, such as +sweeping round a post, and see what a mess they make of it!" Who can touch +me at sweeping round a paradoxer? If I complete my design of publishing a +separate work, an old copy will be fished up from a stall two hundred years +hence by the coming man, and will be described in an article which will end +by his comparing our century with his own, and sighing out in the best New +Zealand pronunciation-- + + "Dans ces tems-la + C'etait deja comme ca!"[664] + + + +ORTHODOX PARADOXERS. + +And pray, Sir! I have been asked by more than one--do your orthodox never +fall into mistake, nor rise into absurdity? They not only do both, but they +admit it of each other very freely; individually, they are convinced of +sin, but not of any particular sin. There is not a syndoxer among them all +but draws his line in such a way as to include among paradoxers a great +many whom I should exclude altogether from this work. My worst specimens +are but exaggerations of what may be found, occasionally, in the thoughts +of sagacious investigators. At the end of the {364} glorious dream, we +learn that there is a way to Hell from the gates of Heaven, as well as from +the City of Destruction: and that this is true of other things besides +Christian pilgrimage is affirmed at the end of the Budget of Paradoxes. If +D'Alembert[665] had produced _enough_ of a quality to match his celebrated +mistake on the chance of throwing head in two throws, he would have been in +my list. If Newton had produced _enough_ to match his reception of the +story that Nausicaa, Homer's Phaeacian princess, invented the celestial +sphere, followed by his serious surmise that she got it from the +Argonauts,--then Newton himself would have had an appearance entered for +him, in spite of the _Principia_. In illustration, I may cite a few words +from _Tristram Shandy_: + + + +"'A soldier,' cried my uncle Toby, interrupting the Corporal, 'is no more +exempt from saying a foolish thing, Trim, than a man of letters.'--'But not +so often, an' please your honor,' replied the Corporal. My uncle Toby gave +a nod." + + + +I now proceed to die out. Some prefatory remarks will follow in time.[666] +I shall have occasion to insist that all is not barren: I think I shall +find, on casting up, that two out of five of my paradoxers are not to be +utterly condemned. Among the better lot will be found all gradations of +merit; at the same time, as was remarked on quite a different subject, +there may be little to choose between the last of the saved and the first +of the lost. The higher and better class is worthy of blame; the lower and +worse class is worthy of praise. The higher men are to be reproved for not +taking up things in which they could do some good: the lower men are to be +commended for taking up things in which they can do no great harm. The +circle problem is like Peter Peebles's lawsuit: + +{365} + + + +"'But, Sir, I should really spoil any cause thrust on me so hastily.'--'Ye +cannot spoil it, Alan,' said my father, 'that is the very cream of the +business, man,--... the case is come to that pass that Stair or Arniston +could not mend it, and I don't think even you, Alan, can do it much harm.'" + + + +I am strongly reminded of the monks in the darker part of the Middle Ages. +To a certain proportion of them, perhaps two out of five, we are indebted +for the preservation of literature, and their contemporaries for good +teaching and mitigation of socials evils. But the remaining three were the +fleas and flies and thistles and briars with whom the satirist lumps them, +about a century before the Reformation: + + "Flen, flyys, and freris, populum domini male caedunt; + Thystlis and breris crescentia gramina laedunt. + Christe nolens guerras qui cuncta pace tueris, + Destrue per terras breris, flen, flyys, and freris. + Flen, flyys, and freris, foul falle hem thys fyften yeris, + For non that her is lovit flen, flyys ne freris."[667] + +I should not be quite so savage with my second class. Taken together, they +may be made to give useful warning to those who are engaged in learning +under better auspices: aye, even useful hints; for bad things are very +often only good things spoiled or misused. My plan is that of a predecessor +in the time of Edward the Second: + + "Meum est propositum genti imperitae + Artes frugi reddere melioris vitae."[668] + +To this end I have spoken with freedom of books as books, of opinions as +opinions, of ignorance as ignorance, of {366} presumption as presumption; +and of writers as I judge may be fairly inferred from what they have +written. Some--to whom I am therefore under great obligation--have +permitted me to enlarge my plan by assaults to which I have alluded; +assaults which allow a privilege of retort, of which I have often availed +myself; assaults which give my readers a right of partnership in the +amusement which I myself have received. + +For the present I cut and run: a Catiline, pursued by a chorus of Ciceros, +with _Quousque tandem? Quamdiu nos? Nihil ne te?_[669] ending with, _In te +conferri pestem istam jam pridem oportebat, quam tu in nos omnes jamdiu +machinaris!_ I carry with me the reflection that I have furnished to those +who need it such a magazine of warnings as they will not find elsewhere; _a +signatis cavetote_:[670] and I throw back at my pursuers--_Valete, doctores +sine doctrina; facite ut proxima congressu vos salvos corporibus et sanos +mentibus videamus._[671] Here ends the Budget of Paradoxes. + +{367} + + * * * * * + + +APPENDIX. + +I think it right to give the proof that the ratio of the circumference to +the diameter is incommensurable. This method of proof was given by +Lambert,[672] in the _Berlin Memoirs_ for 1761, and has been also given in +the notes to Legendre's[673] Geometry, and to the English translation of +the same. Though not elementary algebra, it is within the reach of a +student of ordinary books.[674] + +Let a continued fraction, such as + + a + ----- + b + c + ----- + d + e + - + f + etc., + +be abbreviated into a/b+ c/d+ e/f+ etc.: each fraction being understood as +falling down to the side of the preceding sign +. In every such fraction we +may suppose b, d, f, etc. {368} positive; a, c, e, &c. being as required: +and all are supposed integers. If this succession be continued ad +infinitum, and if a/b, c/d, e/f, etc. all lie between -1 and +1, exclusive, +the limit of the fraction must be incommensurable with unity; that is, +cannot be A/B, where A and B are integers. + +First, whatever this limit may be, it lies between -1 and +1. This is +obviously the case with any fraction p/(q + [omega]), where [omega] is +between +-1: for, p/q, being < 1, and p and q integer, cannot be brought up +to 1, by the value of [omega]. Hence, if we take any of the fractions + + a/b, a/b+ c/d, a/b+ c/d+ e/f, etc. + +say a/b+ c/d+ e/f+ g/h we have, g/h being between +-1, so is e/f+ g/h, so +therefore is c/d+ e/f+ g/h; and so therefore is a/b+ c/d+ e/f+ g/h. + +Now, if possible, let a/b+ c/d+ etc. be A/B at the limit; A and B being +integers. Let + + P = A c/d+ e/f+ etc., Q = P e/f+ g/h+ etc., R = Q g/h + i/k + etc. + +P, Q, R, etc. being integer or fractional, as may be. It is easily shown +that all must be integer: for + +{369} + + A/B = a/b+ P/A, or, P = aB - bA + + P/A = c/d+ Q/P, or, Q = cA - dP + + Q/P = e/f+ R/Q, or, R = eP - fQ + +etc., etc. Now, since a, B, b, A, are integers, so also is P; and thence Q; +and thence R, etc. But since A/B, P/A, Q/P, R/Q, etc. are all between -1 +and +1, it follows that the unlimited succession of integers P, Q, R, are +each less in numerical value than the preceding. Now there can be no such +_unlimited_ succession of _descending_ integers: consequently, it is +impossible that a/b+ c/d+, etc. can have a commensurable limit. + +It easily follows that the continued fraction is incommensurable if a/b, +c/d, etc., being at first greater than unity, become and continue less than +unity after some one point. Say that i/k, l/m,... are all less than unity. +Then the fraction i/k+ l/m+ ... is incommensurable, as proved: let it be +[kappa]. Then g/(h + [kappa]) is incommensurable, say [lambda]; e/(f + +[lambda]) is the same, say [mu]; also c/(d + [mu]), say [nu], and a/(b + +[nu]), say [rho]. But [rho] is the fraction a/b+ c/d+ ... itself; which is +therefore incommensurable. + +Let [phi]z represent + + a a^2 a^3 + 1 + - + ------- + -------------- + .... + z 2z(z+1) 2.3.z(z+1)(z+2) + +{370} Let z be positive: this series is convergent for all values of a, and +approaches without limit to unity as z increases without limit. Change z +into z + 1, and form [phi]z - [phi](z+1): the following equation will +result-- + + a + [phi]z-[phi](z+1) = ------([phi](z+2)) + z(z+1) + + a [phi](z+1) a [phi](z+1) a [phi](z+2) + or a = - ---------- . z + - ---------- . --- ---------- + z [phi]z z [phi]z z+1 [phi](z+1) + + a = [psi]z(z+[psi](z+1)) + +[psi]z being (a/z)([phi](z+1)/[phi]z); of which observe that it diminishes +without limit as z increases without limit. Accordingly, we have + + [psi]z = a/z+ [psi](z+1) = a/z+ a/(z+1)+ [psi](z+2) + = a/z+ a/(z+1)+ a/(z+2)+ [psi](z+3), etc. + +And, [psi](z + n) diminishing without limit, we have + + a/z . [phi](z+1)/[phi]z = (a/z+) (a/(z+1)+) (a/(z+2)+) (a/((z+3)+ ...)) + +Let z = 1/2; and let 4a = -x^2. Then (a/z)[phi](z+1) is -(x^2/2) ( 1 - +x^2/(2.3) + x^4/(2.3.4.5...)) or -(x/2) sin x. Again [phi]z is 1 - x^2/2 + +x^4/(2.3.4) or cos x: and the continued fraction is + + (1/4)x^2/(1/2)+ (1/4)x^2/(3/2)+ (1/4)x^2/(5/2)+ ... + or -x/2 x/1+ -x^2/3+ -x^2/5+ + ... + +{371} whence tan x = x/1+ -x^2/3+ -x^2/5+ -x^2/7+ ... + +Or, as written in the usual way, + + tan x = x + ------- + 1 - x^2 + ------- + 3 - x^2 + ------- + 5 - x^2 + ------- + 7 - ... + +This result may be proved in various ways: it may also be verified by +calculation. To do this, remember that if + + a_1/b_1+ a_2/b_2+ a_3/b_3+ ... a_n/b_n = P_n/Q_n; then + + P_1=a_1, P_2=b_2 P_1, P_3=b_3 P_2+a_3 P_1, P_4=b_4 P_3+a_4 P_2, etc. + Q_1=b_1, Q_2=b_2 Q_1+a_2, Q_3=b_3 Q_2+a_3 Q_1, Q_4=b_4 Q_3+a_4 Q_2, etc. + +in the case before us we have + + a_1=x, a_2=-x^2, a_3=-x^2, a_4=-x^2, a_5=-x^2, etc. + b_1=1, b_2=3, b_3=5, b_4=7, b_5=9, etc. + + P_1=x Q_1=1 + P_2=3x Q_2=3-x^2 + P_3=15x-x^3 Q_3=15-6x^2 + P_4=105x-10x^3 Q_4=105-45x^2+x^4 + P_5=945x-105x^3+x^5 Q_5=945-420x^2+15x^4 + P_6=10395x-1260x^3+21x^5 Q_6=10395-4725x^2+210x^4-x^6 + +We can use this algebraically, or arithmetically. If we divide P_n by Q_n, +we shall find a series agreeing with the known series for tan x, _as far +as_ n _terms_. That series is + + x + x^3/3 + 2x^5/15 + 17x^7/315 + 62x^9/2835 + ... + +{372} Take P_5, and divide it by Q_5 in the common way, and the first five +terms will be as here written. Now take _x_ = .1, which means that the +angle is to be one tenth of the actual unit, or, in degrees 5 deg..729578. +We find that when x = .1, P_6 = 1038.24021, Q_6 = 10347.770999; whence P_6 +divided by Q_6 gives .1003346711. Now 5 deg..729578 is 5 deg.43'46-1/2"; +and from the old tables of Rheticus[675]--no modern tables carry the +tangents so far--the tangent of this angle is .1003347670. + +Now let x = (1/4)[pi]; in which case tan x = 1. If (1/4)[pi] be +commensurable with the unit, let it be (m/n), m and n being integers: +we know that (1/4)[pi] < 1. We have then + + 1=(m/n)/1- (m^2/n^2)/3- (m^2/n^2)/5- ... = m/n- m^2/3n- m^2/5n- m^2/7n- + ... + +Now it is clear that m^2/3n, m^2/5n, m^2/7n, etc. must at last become and +continue severally less than unity. The continued fraction is therefore +incommensurable, and cannot be unity. Consequently [pi]^2 cannot be +commensurable: that is, [pi] is an incommensurable quantity, and so also +is [pi]^2. + + + +I thought I should end with a grave bit of appendix, deeply mathematical: +but paradox follows me wherever I go. The foregoing is--in my own +language--from Dr. (now Sir David) Brewster's[676] English edition of +Legendre's Geometry, (Edinburgh, 1824, 8vo.) translated by some one who is +not named. I picked up a notion, which others had at Cambridge in 1825, +that the translator was the late Mr. Galbraith,[677] then known at +Edinburgh as a writer and teacher. + +{373} But it turns out that it was by a very different person, and one +destined to shine in quite another walk; it was a young man named Thomas +Carlyle.[678] He prefixed, from his own pen, a thoughtful and ingenious +essay on Proportion, as good a substitute for the fifth Book of Euclid as +could have been given in the space; and quite enough to show that he would +have been a distinguished teacher and thinker on first principles. But he +left the field immediately. + + * * * * * + +(The following is the passage referred to at Vol. II, page 54.) + +Michael Stifelius[679] edited, in 1554, a second edition of the Algebra +(_Die Coss._), of Christopher Rudolff.[680] This is one of the earliest +works in which + and - are used. + +Stifelius was a queer man. He has introduced into this very work of Rudolff +his own interpretation of the number of the Beast. He determined to fix the +character of Pope Leo: so he picked the numeral letters from LEODECIMVS, +and by taking in X from LEO X. and striking out M as standing for +_mysterium_, he hit the number exactly. This discovery completed his +conversion to Luther, and his determination to throw off his monastic vows. +Luther dealt with him as straight-forwardly as with Melanchthon about his +astrology: he accepted the conclusions, but told him to clear his mind of +all the premises about the Beast. Stifelius {374} did not take the advice, +and proceeded to settle the end of the world out of the prophet Daniel: he +fixed on October, 1533. The parishioners of some cure which he held, having +full faith, began to spend their savings in all kinds of good eating and +drinking; we may charitably hope this was not the way of preparing for the +event which their pastor pointed out. They succeeded in making themselves +as fit for Heaven as Lazarus, so far as beggary went: but when the time +came, and the world lasted on, they wanted to kill their deceiver, and +would have done so but for the interference of Luther. {375} + + * * * * * + + +INDEX. + +Pages denoted by numerals of this kind (_287_) refer to biographical notes, +chiefly by the editor. Numerals like 426 refer to books discussed by De +Morgan, or to leading topics in the text. Numerals like 126 indicate minor +references. + + Abbott, Justice, I, _181_. + Abernethy, J., II, _219_. + Aboriginal Britons, a poem, II, 270. + Academy of Sciences, French, I, 163. + Adair, J., I, _223_. + Adam, M., I, _65_. + Adams, J. C., I, _43_, 82, 385, 388; II, 131, 135, 140, 303. + Ady, Joseph, II, 42, _42_. + Agnew, H. C., I, 328. + Agricola, J., I, 394. + Agricultural Laborer's letter, II, 16. + Agrippa, H. C., I, _48_, 48. + Ainsworth, W. H., II, _132_. + Airy, I, _85_, 88, 152, 242; II, 85, 140, 150, 303, 347. + Alchemy, I, 125. + Alfonso X (El Sabio), II, _269_. + Alford, H., II, _221_. + Alfred, King, Ballad of, II, 22. + Algebra, I, 121. + Algebraic symbols, I, 121. + Almanac, I, 300; II, 147, 148, 207. + (_See Easter._) + Aloysius Lilius, I, 362. + Alsted, J. H., II, _282_. + Ameen Bey, II, 15. + Amicable Society, I, 347. + Ampere, I, 86. + Amphisbaena serpent, I, 31. + Anagrams, De Morgan, I, 138. + Anaxagoras, II, _59_. + Anghera, II, 60, _60_, 61, 279. + Annuities, Fallacies of, I, 157. + Antichrist, I, 130. + Antimony, I, 125. + Antinewtonism, I, 162. + Antinomians, I, 394. + Antiphon, II, _59_. + Antonie, F., I, _126_, 126. + Apollonius, I, 41, 107. + Apparitions, II, 47. + Arago, I, _243_, 390. + Aratus, II, _167_. + Arbuthnot, I, _133_, 134. + Archer, H., II, 90. + Archimedes, I, 5, 11, 42, 83, 107. + Archytas, I, _53_. + Argoli, I, _104_. + Aristocrat, as a scientist, I, 131. + Aristotle, I, 5, 331. + Arnobius, II, _73_. + Arson, P. J., II, _207_. + Ashton, R., II, _99_. + Astrology, I, 118, 127, 128, 350; II, 43. + Astronomer's Drinking Song, I, 380. + Astronomical Aphorisms, I, 398. + Paradox, I, 394. + Police Report, I, 390. + Society. (_See Royal Astronomical Society._) + Astronomy, Bailly's exaggerated view of, I, 166. + Astunica, Didacas, I, 90. + Athanasian Creed, I, 371. + Atheists, Philosophical, I, 1. + Atoms, II, 191. + {376} + Attraction, I, 136, 151, 155. + Augustine, St., II, _23_. + Aurora borealis, I, 134. + Austen, Jane, I, 191. + Auzout, A., II, _300_. + Aviation, Early ideas of, II, 8. + + Babbage, C., I, _207_, 290, 291; II, 181. + Bachet, de Meziriac, I, _161_. + Bacon, F., I, 5, _75_, 75, 76, 79, 89, 145, 331. + Bacon, R., I, 5, _126_, 126, 360; II, 94. + Baconian controversy, I, 141. + Baden Powell, II, _267_. + Bailly, J. S., I, 166, _166_, 308. + Baily, F., I, 308, _309_; II, 16, 143, 188. + Baily, R., II, 16. + Baker, T., II, _302_. + Bakewell, F. C., II, 156, _156_. + Banks, J., I, 28. + Barberini, M., II, _267_. + Barker, C., II, _262_. + Baronius, I, 33, 35; II, _62_. + Barreme, I, _42_. + Barrett, G., II, _188_. + Barrow, I., I, _160_; II, 302. + Baruel, de, I, 165. + Bassano, Duc de, II, 3, 339. + Baxter, T., I, 146. + Bayle, P., II, _73_. + Beaufort, F., II, _267_. + Beaugrand, I, 119, _121_. + Beaulieu, I, _119_, 119, 121. + Beaune, de, II, _59_. + Becourt, R., II, 277. + Bedford, Duke of, (6th), I, _182_. + Behmen, I, _168_, 254; II, 317. + Bellenden, W., I, _175_. + Bentley, I, _110_. + Berkeley, G., II, 346. + Bernard, E., II, _297_, 300. + Bernardus Trevisanus, I, _126_, 126. + Bernoullis, I, 130, _150_, _335_, 336. + Bertius, P., II, _300_. + Bese, I, _66_. + Bessel, I, _384_; II, 2. + Bethune, I, _99_, 279, 291. + Bettesworth, I, 19. + Beza. (_See Bese._) + Bickersteth, E. H., I, _238_. + Bidder, I, _86_. + Biden, J., II, 158, _160_. + Bidle, (Biddle), I, 239. + Biot, I, _85_. + Birch, T., I, _108_; II, 304, 313. + Birks, T. R., II, 158, _158_. + Bishop, G., I, _386_. + Bishops as Paradoxers, I, 226. + Boccaccio, I, 38. + Boethius, I, _42_, 45. + Boehme. (_See Behmen._) + Boncompagni, I, _298_. + Boniface, St., I, 32. + Bonnycastle, J., II, _16_. + Booker, I, 115. + Boole, G., I, _261_, 332; II, 75, 79. + --A tribute to, II, 79. + Borelli, G. A., II, _300_. + Borello, I, _69_. + Boreman, I, 113. + Borron, Mrs., II, 7. + Boscovich, I, _156_, 164. + Bouguer, II, _301_. + Bouillaud, I, _87_; II, 295. + Bouvard, A., I, _327_. + Bovillus, I, _44_; II, 324. + --Epitome of, I, 44. + Bowdler, H. M., I, _194_. + Bowring, J., I, _352_; II, 256. + Boyle, R., I, 24, _125_; II, 300. + Bradley, I, 24. + Bradwardine, I, _227_, 228, 229. + Brahe. (_See Tycho B._) + Brancker, I, 107; II, _300_. + Brenan, J., I, 330, _330_. + Brewster, D., I, 39, _137_, 140; II, 214, 288, 372. + Briggs, I, _69_; II, 299, 302. + Bright, J., II, _235_. + Brinkley, J., I, _311_. + Britannicus, D., II, 8. + British Museum library, I, 151. + Brothers, R., I, _315_; II, 97. + Brougham, Henry, Lord, I, _191_. + Brouncker (Brounker), I, _132_; II, 302. + Brown, W., II, _168_. + Browne, T., I, 31. + Brucker, I, _61_. + Brunet, I, _402_. + Bruennow, I, _386_. + Bruno, I, _59_, 59. + Bryson, II, _59_. + Buergi, I, 52. + Buffon, I, _282_. + Bulstrode, II, 84. + Bungus, I, _55_, 55, 57. + Buoncompagno, U., I, _362_. + {377} + Burgon, J. W., II, _30_. + Buridan, I, _37_. + --Questiones morales, I, 37. + Buridan's Ass, I, 37. + Burke, E., I, _173_. + Burlesque, Frend's, I, 208. + Burnet, G., I, _107_. + Burney, Frances, I, _190_. + Burton, Frances B., I, 374. + Busby, R., II, _313_. + Buteo, I, _51_. + Butler, G., I, _199_. + Butler, S., II, _218_. + Buxton, J., I, _86_. + Byrgius. (_See Buergi._) + Byrne, O., I, _329_; II, 186, 190. + Byron, I, 186; II, 270, 273. + + Cabbala, I, 272. + Calculating Boys, I, 86. + Calculus, I, 129. + Calendar. (_See Easter._) + Cambridge Poets, II, 269. + Campanus, I, 42, _43_. + Canning, Geo., II, _145_. + Carcavi, I, _106_. + Cardanus, II, _59_. + Carlile, R., I, _271_. + Carlyle, T., II, _373_. + Carnot, I, 107. + Caroline tables, I, 124. + Casaubon, I, _111_. + Case, J., I, _128_, 128. + Cassini, J., I, _172_. + Castel, I, _148_, 148. + Castiglioni, I, _139_. + Castlereagh, I, 185, _186_. + Cataldi, I, _69_, 69. + Catcott, A., I, _237_. + Causans, de, I, _298_. + Cavalieri, I, _106_. + Cavendish, C., I, _106_; II, 299, 312. + Cavendish, W., I, _290_. + Caxton, W., II, _281_. + Cayley, A., II, _292_. + Cecil, R. (1st Earl of Salisbury), II, _330_. + Centrifugal force, II, 268. + Ceulen. (_See Van Ceulen._) + Challis, J., I, _390_; II, 141. + Chalmers, I, _102_; II, 219. + Chambers, E., II, _282_. + Chambers, R., I, _344_, 344. + Charles IX, II, 94. + Charles X, II, 1. + Chasles, I, _39_, 229. + Chesterfield, Earl of (4th), II, _298_. + Chiffinch, W., II, _50_. + Ch'in Chiu-shang, II, 66. + Chitty, J., II, _323_. + Chiu-chang, Suan-shu, II, 67. + Christian Evidence Society, I, 270. + Christie, I, 27. + Christmann, I, 272, _272_. + Church question, I, 62. + Church, The word, II, 30. + Circle squarers. (_See Squaring the Circle._) + Circulating media of mathematics, I, 107. + Ciruelo. (_See Sanchez._) + Clairaut, I, _219_, 382. + Clarence, Duke of, I, 179. + Clarke, R., I, _255_. + Clavius, I, 11, _69_, 111, 112, 335, 362, 363, 372; II, + 59. + Clayton., Geo., II, _98_. + Cluvier, D., II, 332, _332_. + Cobb, Mary, II, 117. + Cobbett, W., I, _177_, 200, 399. + Cobden, R., II, 217. + Cocker, I, _42_; II, 64, 173, 251, 307. + Cody, P., II, 208. + Coke, E., II, _331_. + Colburn, Z., I, _86_. + Colenso, I, _63_, 247; II, 191. + Collins, J., I, _107_; II, 297, 300, 302, 313. + Colvill, W. H., II, 68. + Cometic astrology, I, 128. + Comets, I, 128; II, 68, 83. + Cominale, C., I, _162_, 162. + Compton, S. J. A., II, _19_. + Computation, Paradoxes of, II, 251, 267. + Condamine, C. M. de la, II, _301_. + Conduitt, John, I, _397_. + Conduitt, Mrs., I, _136_. + Congregation of the Index, I, 90. + Converse propositions, I, 295. + Convocation at Oxford, I, 96. + Cooke, Margaret, I, _310_. + Cooper, A. A. (Shaftsbury), II, _181_. + Copernicus, I, 5, 6, _76_, 90, 121, 172, 380; II, 165, 335. + Copley, J. S., I, _198_. + Cormouls, I, 225. + Cosmology, I, 172. + {378} + Cotes, R., II, _301_. + Cottle, Mrs., II, 97, _97_, 161. + Craig, J., I, _129_, 129. + Creed, Mathematics of a, I, 329. + Cribb, T., I, _314_. + Crotus, J., I, 318. + Cruickshank, G., I, _186_. + Cube, Duplication of, I, 349. + Cumyns, Eliza, I, 299. + Cunningham, I, 172, _172_. + Curabelle, I, _221_. + Curious Calculations, II, 66. + Curll, E., II, _279_. + Cusa, I, _44_, 47, 360. + Custom, II, 324. + Cyclometry, II, 208. (_See Squaring of the Circle._) + Cyclopaedias, Review of, II, 280. + + D'Alembert, I, _382_; II, 283, 364. + Dalgarno, I, 116, _117_. + Dalton, J., I, _255_. + D'Arblay, Mme., I, _190_. + Darwin, E., II, _8_. + Darwinism, Primitive, I, 344. + Dary, M., II, _305_. + Daval, P., II, _298_. + Davies, T. S., II, 151, _151_, 188. + Day, A., I, 295, _295_. + De Baruel, I, 165. + De Beaune. (_See Beaune._) + De Becourt, II, 277, _277_. + Debenham, J., I, _393_. + De Causans. (_See Causans._) + Dechales. (_See de Challes._) + De Challes, I, _45_. + Decimal coinage, II, 80, 168, 169. + Decimals run riot, II, 80. + Dee, J., II, _302_. + De Faure, I, 149. + De la Leu, I, _297_. + Delambre, I, _160_, 167, 354; II, 165. + Democritus, II, _34_. + De Moivre, I, 24, _376_; II, 298. + De Molieres, I, _220_. + De Molina, I, _297_. + Demonville, I, 291, 293. + De Morgan, A., I, 191, 383; II, 194. + --Refusal of LL. D., I, 191. + De Morgan, G. C., I, 383. + De Morgan, Mrs., I, _196_; II, 194. + Denison, J., I, 348, 353. + Desaguliers, I, _153_, 156, 157. + Desargues, I, _119_, 221. + Descartes, I, 5, 59, 105, 132, 165, 204, 220; II, 94. + De Serres, II, _60_. + De Sluse. (_See Sluse._) + De Thou, I, 51, _111_, 113; II, 295. + De Vausenville, I, 12. + Devonshire, Duke of (7th), I, _290_. + Diamandi, I, 86. + Didacus Astunica, I, 90. + Diderot, II, _4_, 283, 339. + Digby, K., I, _108_. + Digges, T., and L., II, _302_. + Dionysius Exiguus, I, _360_. + Dircks, H., II, 138, _138_. + Discoverers and discoveries, II, 206. + Discovery, Basis of, I, 85. + D'Israeli, I., I, _115_, 118, 136, 188, 227. + Ditton, I, _133_, 133. + Division, Nature of, II, 248. + Dobson, J., I, _234_, 234. + Dodson, J., II, _312_. + Dodt, I, _52_. + Doggerel verse, I, 341. + Dolland, I, _377_. + Double Vahu Process, II, 360. + Douglas, G., I, _232_. + Drach, S. M., II, _317_. + Drayson, G. A. W., II, _132_, 132. + Dryden, II, _71_. + Dual arithmetic, II, 186. + Duchesne, I, _52_. + Dumortier, I, 313. + Duncan, A., I, _179_. + Dunkin, E., II, _349_. + Duodecimal scale, II, 68. + Duplication Problem, I, 349. + Dupuy, J. and P., II, _295_. + Dutens, L., II, _90_. + Dyer, G., I, _178_. + + Earth, Figure of, II, 54. + Easter, I, 359. + Easter Day Paradoxes, I, 353. + Ebrington, Thos., I, _247_. + Edgeworth, Maria, I, _191_. + Editorial System, I, 15. + Edleston, I, _140_; II, 296. + Edwards, J., I, _144_. + Edwards, T., I, _112_. + Eirenaeus Philalethes, I, _125_, 125, 126. + Eldon, Lord (1st), II, _197_. + Elephant story, I, 58. + Elizabeth, Queen, I, 128. + Ellenborough, Baron, I, _181_. + {379} + Ellicot, I, 24. + Ellis, I, _76_, 82. + Engel, I, 230. + English language, Origin of, I, 215. + Enriques, F., II, _367_. + Epps, J., I, _153_; II, 143. + Equation of fifth degree, I, 250, 373. + Erasmus, I, 110. + Erastus, I, _65_. + Erichsen, I, 163. + Ersch, II, _193_, 282. + Erskine, T., II, _127_. + Esperanto, Forerunner of, I, 116. + Euclid, I, 5, 43; II, 118, 151. + --Without Axioms, I, 287. + Eudoxus, II, _164_. + Euler, I, 221, _382_; II, 3, 4, 303, 331, 339. + Eusebius, II, _220_. + Eustace, J. C., II, _46_. + Eutocius, I, _41_; II, 60. + Evelyn, J., I, _108_. + Everett, J., I, _346_. + Evidence, I, 57, 58. + + Faber. (_See Stapulensis._) + Fairfax, Mary, I, _242_. + Falco, I, 53. + Faraday, M., II, _351_. + Faure, de, I, 149; II, 238. + Fawcett, H., II, _249_. + Ferguson, J., II, _20_. + Fermat, I, 122, 221; II, _300_. + Ferrari, S., II, 68. + Fiction, New era in, I, 189. + Fienus, I, _74_, 74. + Filopanti, Q. B., II, _93_. + Finaeus, I, _50_, 50, 113. + Finleyson, J., I, 314, _314_. + Flamsteed, I, _87_, 309; II, 45, 143, 302, 306. + Fletcher, I, 378. + Fludd, II, _318_. + Fly-leaf Paradox, II, 264. + Folkes, M., I, _136_; II, 301. + Fontenelle, I, _103_. + Forbes, D., I, _237_. + Forman, W., I, 296, _296_, 306. + Forster, T. I. M., I, 320, _320_. + Foscarini, I, _90_. + Foster, S., II, _310_. + Fourier, II, _66_. + Fox, G., I, _397_. + Francis, P., II, _96_. + Francoeur, I, _365_. + Frankland, W. B., I, 230, 287. + Franklin, J., II, _265_. + Freedom of opinion, Growth of, I, 265. + Freher, A., II, 319. + French academy on circle squaring, I, 163. + Frend, W., I, _196_, 196, 206, 208, 252. + Fresnel, II, _48_. + Fromondus, I, _74_, 74, 99. + Frost, I. and J., I, 394. + Fry, Elizabeth, I, 224. + Fuller, T., I, _86_. + Fulton, R., I, _148_. + + Gadbury, J., I, _115_, 115. + Galbraith, J. A., II, 372. + Galileo, I, 5, 6, 32, _76_, 82, 83, 96, 122, 381. + Galle, J. G., I, _386_; II, 7. + Galloway, I, _56_, 57; II, 143. + Gamblers, I, 280. + Garrick, I, 21. + Gascoigne, W., II, _299_. + Gassendi, I, _107_. + Gauss, I, 86, 107, 310. + Gemistus, G., I, _188_. + Gentleman's Monthly, Miscellany, I, 208. + Gephryander. (_See Salicetus._) + Gergonne, I, _336_. + Ghetaldi, I, _83_; II, 59. + Ghost paradox, II, 47. + Giddy (Gilbert), II, _174_. + Gilbert, Davies, II, 66, _174_. + Gilbert, William, I, 6, _68_, 68, 76. + Gillot, II, _315_. + Glazier (Glazion), II, 7. + Godwin, F., I, _103_. + Godwin, W., I, _174_. + Golius, I, _106_. + Gompertz, B., I, _378_. + Goulburn, I, _288_. + Goulden, S., II, 88. + Graham, I, 24. + Grandamicus, I, _104_, 104. + Granger, J., I, _156_. + Grant, A. R., II, 131. + Grant, R., I, _392_; II, 131. + Grassi, O., I, _262_. + Grassini, I, _231_. + Graunt, J., I, 113, _114_, 154. + Gravity, I, 151, 244, 348, 353. + {380} + --Newton's apple, I, 136. + Greek numerals, II, _77_. + Greene, R., I, _135_, 135. + Greenhill, Sir G., I, 136. + Greenwich observatory, I, 87. + Gregg, T. D., II, 75, _75_. + Gregorian Calendar, I, 363. + Gregory, D., I, _66_; II, 301. + Gregory, J., I, _118_, 118, 207; II, 302. + Gregory O., II, _71_. + Gregory, Pope, I, 362. + Grevil, I, _202_. + Grey, C., (2d Earl), I, _315_; II, 247. + Grosart, I, _141_, 141, 145. + Grove, W. R., II, _320_. + Gruber, II, _193_, 282. + Gruenberger, I, _70_. + Grynaeus, I, _66_. + Guaricus, I, _43_. + Guillim, J., II, _28_. + Guldin, I, _83_. + Gumpach, Von, II, 137, _137_. + Gunning, H., I, _198_. + Gurney. (_See Fry, E._) + Guthrie, W., I, _395_. + + Hailes, J. D., II, 135, _135_. + Hailesean system of astronomy, II, 135. + Hale, M., I, _123_, 123. + Hales, S., I, _123_. + Hall, B., II, _181_. + Hallam, I, 159. + Halley, I, 24, _124_, 311; II, 301, 332. + Halliwell-Phillips, II, _148_, 296. + Hamilton, W., I, _112_, 117, 331, 335, 339, 341, 342; II, + 52, 53, 111. + Hamilton, W. Rowan, I, _332_; II, 104, 256, 343. + Hanover, King of, I, 201. + Hardy, C., I, _298_. + Hardy, T., I, _178_. + Harriot, T., II, _302_. + Harvey, I, _76_, 78; II, 201. + Hauff, I, _230_. + Haughton, S., II, 372. + Hauksbee, F., I, _156_. + Hayes, C., I, _132_, 132. + Heath, D. D., I, _76_. + Heinfetter, H., II, 94, _94_. + Helmont, J. B. van, I, _125_. + Henson, II, 8. + Heraclitus, II, _34_. + Herbart, J. F., I, 253, _253_; II, 78. + Herigone, II, _59_. + Herschel, J., I, _80_, 299, 326, 383, 386; II, 88, 95, 181, + 255, 261, 262. + Herschel, W., I, _81_, 151, 192, 225, 233, 299; II, 288, 348. + Heywood, F., II, _49_. + Hicks, J. P., II, _67_. + Higgins, G., I, _257_, 274. + Hilarius, Pope, I, _359_. + Hill, J., I, 21, 22, 23, 24. + Hill, Rev. R., I, _192_. + Hill, Sir R., I, _165_, 232. + Hind, J. R., I, _384_. + Hippocrates, II, _59_. + Hoax, An interesting, I, 163. + --Lunar Caustic, I, 288. + --Moon (Herschel), I, 326; II, 131. + Hobbes, I, _105_, 109, 143, 144; II, 80. + Hobhouse, J. C., II, _126_. + Hodder, J., II, _265_. + Hodge, C. B., I, 114. + Hodges, W., I, 237. + Hoffmann, J. J., II, _282_. + Hoffmann, J. J. I. von, I, _230_. + Holloway, B., I, _237_. + Holmes, O. W., I, 109. + Holyoake, G. J., I, _399_, 399. + Hone, W., I, 124, 180, 184, 185. + Hook, T. E., II, _261_. + Hooke, I, _77_; II, 300. + Hooker, R., II, _201_. + Hopkins, J., II, 41. + Horace, I, 40. + Horne, G., I, _152_, 152, 154, 155, 236. + Horne, J., I, _178_. + Horner, L., I, _176_. + Horner, W. G., II, _66_, 151, 187. + Houlston, W., II, 156, _156_. + Howard, E., I, 131. + Howison, W., I, 256, _256_. + Howitt, W., II, 193, _193_. + Howley, I, 63. + Hulls, I, _147_, 147; II, 8. + Hume, J., I, _352_; II, 174. + Husain Rifki, II, 16. + Hussein Effendi, II, 15. + Hutchinson, J., I, 154, _154_. + Hutton, C., I, _153_, 161; II, 303, 340. + Huyghens, I, _100_, 133; II, 300. + + Imaginary numbers, II, 186. + Impalement by request, II, 133. + Inaudi, I, 86. + Index Expurgatorius, I, 90. + {381} + Infant prodigies, I, 86. + Inglis, J. B., II, _52_. + Inglis, R. H., I, _352_. + Ingliz Selim Effendi, II, 15. + Innocent I., I, _359_. + Irving, E., II, _54_. + Ivory, J., II, 142, _142_. + + Jabir ben Aflah, II, _59_. + Jack, R., I, 149. + Jacotot, J., I, 278, _278_. + Jameson, Mrs., II, _63_. + Jeffreys, G., I, _183_. + Jenner, E., II, _205_. + Jesuit contributions, I, 164. + Johnson, H. C., I, 350. + Johnson, S., I, 20, _190_, 259; II, 117. + Johnston, W. H., II, 67. + Jombert, I, _161_. + Jonchere, I, _146_, 146. + Jones, W., I, _135_; II, 298, 301. + Jones, Rev. W., I, _237_. + Jonson, B., I, 13. + Journals, Three classes of, II, 144. + + Kantesian Jeweler, I, 258. + Karsten, I, _230_. + Kaestner, I, _43_, 110, 112. + Kater, I, 11. + Keckermann, I, 3. + Keill, J., II, _302_. + Kepler, I, 52, _76_, 82, 381; II, 166. + Kerigan, T., I, _308_, 353. + Keroualle, De, II, 50. + Kersey, I, 107. + King, Wm., I, _246_. + Kircher, Adolphe, I, 229. + Kircher, Athanasius, I, _103_. + Kirkringius, T., I, 125, _125_. + Kittle, I, 236. + Klein, F., II, 367. + Knight, C., II, _109_, 280, 289. + Knight, G., I, 151, _151_. + Knight, R. P., II, _274_. + Knight, Wm., I, _97_. + Koenig, S., I, _150_. + + Lacomme, I, 46. + La Condamine, II, _301_. + Lacroix, I, 41, 159, 207. + Lactantius, I, 33, _96_. + Lagrange, I, 221, _288_, 313, 382; II, 86. + Laing, F. H., II, _186_, 186. + Lalande, I, _159_. + Lamb, C., I, 178; II, 270. + Lambert, J. H., I, _336_; II, 214, 367. + Lambert, John, II, _309_. + Language, Test of, II, 327. + Lansbergius, I, _70_, 70. + Laplace, I, 24, _255_, 382; II, 1, 340. + Lardner, D., II, _253_. + Lardner, N., I, 14; II, _221_. + Laud, I, _145_. + Lauder, W., I, 297. + Laurent, P., I, _309_, 309. + Laurie, J., II, 4. + Laurie, P., II, _42_. + Laurus, I, 381. + Law, Edmund, I, _181_. + Law, Edward, I, _181_. + Law, W., I, 168, _254_; II, 317. + Le Coq, I, _86_. + Lee, R., I, _66_. + Lee, S., I, _131_. + Lee, W., I, 157. + Legate, I, _59_. + Legendre, I, _229_; II, 215, 367. + Legh, P., II, _68_, 83. + Leibnitz, I, 5, 7; II, 46. + Leo, St., I, _359_. + Leverrier, I, _43_, 82, 383, 386, 388, 390; II, 7, 135, 140, + 303. + Lewis, G. C., II, 162, _162_. + Libri, I, _40_, 62; II, 295. + Lilius, Aloysius, I, 362. + Lilly, I, _115_; II, 302. + Lipen, M., I, _298_. + Little, J., I, 206. + Livingston, R., I, _148_. + Locke, J., I, _142_, 142, 144; + --and Socinianism, I, 142. + Locke, R., I, 146. + Locke, R. A., I, _326_; II, 86, 131. + Logan, W. E., I, _337_. + Logic, Formal, I, 158; II, 75. + --Has no paradoxes, I, 330. + London Mathematical Society, I, 383. + London, University of, I, 259; II, 71. + Long, G., II, _290_. + Long, J. St. J., II. _38_, 205. + Longitude problems, I, 132, 146, 249. + Longley, C. T., I, _325_. + Longomontanus, I, _105_, 105. + Lottery, I. 281. + Lovett, R., I, 165, _166_. + Lowe, R., II, _169_. + Lowndes, W. T., I. _402_. + Lubbock, J., I, _279_; II, 148. + {382} + Lucas, F., II, _28_. + Lucian, I, _102_. + Lunar Caustic Joke, I, 288. + Lunn, J. R., II, _66_. + Lydiat, T., II, _302_. + Lyndhurst, I, _198_. + + Macclesfield, Earls of, I, 7; II, _296_, 301. + Macclesfield, Letters, II, 296. + MacElshender, II, 87. + Machin, J., II, _301_. + Mackey, John, I, 349. + Mackey, S. A., I, _256_. + Maclear, T., II, _181_. + Macleod, H. D., II, 184, _184_. + Magic, I, 118. + Magna Charta, I, 25. + Magnus, I, 42. + Maitland, S., I, _63_, 163. + Malacarne, I, 119. + Malden, H., II, _162_. + Malius, II, _342_. + Mallemens, II, _333_. + Mankind gullible, I, 115. + Manning, H. E., (Card.), II, _233_. + Mansel, H. L., II, _162_. + Marcelis, J., I, _129_, 129. + Maret, II, _3_. + Margarita Philosophica. (_See Reisch._) + Marryat, Capt., II, _87_. + Marsh, H., I, _199_, 271. + Martin, B., I, _152_, 153. + Martin, R., II, _236_. + Maseres, F., I, _197_, 203. + Mason, M., II, _132_. + Mathematical Illustrations of Doctrine, II, 70; + --Psychology, I, 253; + --Society, I, 374, 376, 382; + --Theology, I, 149. + Mathematics, Condensed history of, II, 58. + Matter to Spirit, II, 194. + Maty, I, 23. + Maupertuis, II, _301_. + Maurice, F. D., II, _101_. + Maurolycus, I, _121_. + Maxwell, A., I, _102_. + Meadley, G. W., I, _223_. + Mechanics Magazine, II, 141, 145. + Medici, Cosmo de, II, _295_. + Medicine, Status of, I, 266. + Melanchthon, II, _323_. + Menestrier, I, _127_, 127. + Mercator, G., II, _92_. + Mercator's projection, I, 84. + Mersenne, I, _106_, 107; II, 295, 297. + Meslier, J., II, _195_. + Meteorologist, An early, I, 320. + Meteorology, I, 327. + Metius, A. and P., I, _52_, _99_, 99. + Meton, II, 167. + Metric System, Forerunner of, I, 171. + Meziriac, I, 161. + Milbanke, A. I., I, 225. + Mill, Jas., I, 260. + Miller, Joe, I, _182_. + Miller, S., I, 167. + Mills, Elizabeth, W., II, 7. + Milne, J., I, _286_. + Milner, I., I, _251_, 251. + Milner, J., II, _23_. + Milner's lamp, I, 252. + Milward, II, _250_. + Miracles _vs_. Nature, II, 6. + Mitchell, J., I, _242_. + Moliere, I, _232_. + Molina, A. C. de, I, _297_. + Mollendorff, von, II, _3_, 338. + Mondeux, I, 86. + Montague, C., II, _311_. + Montmort, P. R. de, II, _301_. + Montucla, I, 40, 45, 54, 65, 117, 120, 159, 163; II, 60. + Moon Hoax, I, 326; II, 131. + Moon, Nature of, II, 84; + --Rotation of, II, 4, 19, 84, 87. + More, Hannah, I, _189_, 192. + More, Henry, I, 123. + Moore, Dr. John, I, _190_. + Moore, Sir John, I, _190_. + Morgan, S., I, 6. + Morgan, T., I, 191. + Morgan, W., I, _223_, 224. + Morhof, I, _61_. + Morin, I, _99_, 99. + Morinus, J. B., I, 149. + Morland, S., II, _302_. + Mormonism, II, 69. + Morrison, R. J., I, _321_; II, 43. + Mose, H., II, _266_. + Mottelay, I, 68. + Motti, II, 60. + Mouton, I, _172_; II, 300. + Muggleton, I, 394, _395_. + Multiplication, Nature of, II, 251. + Murchison, R. I., I, _384_. + Murhard, I, _43_, 298. + {383} + Murphy, A., II, _308_. + Murphy, J. L., II, 54, _54_. + Murphy, P., I, _327_, 398. + Murphy, R., I, 349, _349_. + Murray, J., I, _186_; II, 145. + Murray, L., II, _326_. + Murray, Mungo, II, 310. + Musgrave, T., I, _324_. + Mydorge, I, _298_. + Mystrom, J. W., II, 182. + Mythological paradoxes, I, 256. + + Names of Religious Bodies, II, 22. + Napier, J., I, 5, 66, _67_, 82. + Napoleon, Doubts as to, I, 246. + Nautical Almanac, I, 300; II, 147. + Neal, I, _98_. + Negative numbers, I, 196, 203. + Neile, W., II, _190_. + Neptune, Discovery of, I, 387; II, 140. (_See Adams, Leverrier._) + Nesse, C, I, _128_, 128. + Newcomb, S., I, 162. + Newcomen, T., I, _147_. + Newton, Sir Isaac, I, 5, 6, 8, 24, 39, 84, 88, 130, + 136, 139, 144, 145, 148, 152, 154, 155, 162, 165, + 167, 197, 225, 237, 242, 257, 282, 296, 297, 309, + 311, 382, 394, 395, 396, 397; II, 2, 70, 184, 297, _302_, + 305. + Newton, John, II, _305_. + Nicene Creed, I, 371. + Nichol, J. P., II, _289_. + Nicholas. (_See Cusa._) + Nichols, J., I, _175_. + Nicolas, N. H., I, _354_. + Nicollet, I, _326_; II, 131. + Nicolson, W., I, _201_. + Nieuwentijt, II, _333_. + Nizzoli, M., II, 275. + Non-Euclidean geometry, II, 83. + Northampton, Marquis of (2d), II, _19_. + Novum Organum Moralium, II, 74. + Number, Mystery of, I, 55, 56, 169. + Number of the Beast (666), I, 55, 130, 272, 298, 352; II, 77, + 159, 217, 218, 361, 373. + Numeral system, II, 68. + Nursery rhymes, II, 150. + + Occam, Wm. of, II, _40_. + Odgers, N., II, 191, _191_. + Oinopides of Chios, II, _59_. + Oldenburgh, H., II, _300_, 302. + Orthodox Paradoxes, II, 363. + Orthography, Paradoxes of, II, 267. + Ortwinus, I, 319. + Oughtred, W., II, _298_, 303. + Owenson, I, _191_. + Ozanam, I, _161_, 312. + + Pagi, I, 32. + Paine, T., I, 173, _173_, 271. + Paley, W., I, _222_; II, 226. + Palmer, C., I, 225. + Palmer, H., I, _141_, 141, 145. + Palmer, J., II, _253_. + Palmer, T. F., II, _254_. + Palmer, W., II, _37_. + Palmerston, Viscount (3d), I, _290_, 352. + Palmezeaux, I, 167. + Panizzi, A., I, _151_. + Papist, II, 26. + Paracelsus, II, 322. + Paradox defined, I, 2, 31. + Paradox, religious, I, 236. + Paradoxers in general, II, 352. + Parallels, Theory of, I, 229, 344. + Pardies, I. G., II, _300_. + Park, Mungo, II, _91_, 132. + Parker, F., II, _94_. + Parker, G. (Earl of Macclesfield), II, _296_. + Parr, S., I, 173, _173_, 175, 176, 184. + Parsey, I, 293, _293_. + Partridge, J., I, _305_. + Pasbergius, I, 381. + Pascal, I, 39, 119, 122, _220_, _221_; II, 73. + Pascal's Hexagram, I, 221. + Passot, I, 279, _279_. + Passover, I, 358, 372. + Patriotic paradox, I, 231. + Paucton, I, _172_. + Paulian, I, 165, _165_. + Peacock, Geo., I, _196_, 350. + Peacock, T. L., I, _190_, 340. + Pearce, A. J., II, 43. + Pearne, T., I, _239_. + Peel, Sir R., I, 290, _352_. + Peel, W. Y., I, _290_. + Pelerin, J., II, _324_. + Pell, J., I, _105_, 105, 107; II, 300, 302, 312. + Pepys, I, _113_, 114. + Perigal, H., II, 19, _20_. + {384} + Perpetual motion, I, 118, 348; II, 55, 138. + Perspective, New theory of, I, 293. + Peters, W., II, 11, 315. + Petitioning Comet, I, 127. + Petrie, W. M. F., I, _328_. + Petty, I, _114_; II, 300. + Philalethes, Eirenaeus, I, _125_, 125, 126. + Philalethes, Eugenius, I, _255_. + Phillips, R., I, 242, _242_, 245. + Philo of Gadara, I, 40, _40_. + Philosopher's stone, I, 118, 125. + Philosophical atheists, II, 1. + Philosophy and Religion, II, 37. + Phonetic spelling, II, 81. + [pi], values of, I, 11, 43, 45, 46, 52, 69, 100, 110, + 129, 135, 146, 245, 283, 284, 294, 347, 348, 349, + 350; II, 60, 63, 105, 110, 118, 135, 156, 209, 279, 315, 316. + Pighius, I, _372_. + Pike, S., I, 236, _236_. + Pindar, P., II, _272_. + Piozzi, Mrs., I, _235_; II, 272. + Piscator, B., II, 25. + Pitman, F., II, 81, _81_. + Place, F., I, _199_. + Planets inhabitable, I, 100, 102. + Plato, I, 5. + Platt, H., I, _126_, 126. + Playfair, J., I, _233_. + Pletho, G., I, _188_. + Pliny, II, 280. + Ploucquet, I, _336_, 337. + Poe, E. A., II, 132. + Poincare, I, 136. + Poisson, I, _292_; II, 2. + Pollock, J. F., II, _174_. + Pons, II, _45_. + Pope, Wm., I, 277, _277_. + Porta, I, _68_, 68, 83. + Porteus, B., I, _193_, 203. + Porteus, H. F. A., II, 157, _157_. + Porus, I, 44. + Powell, Baden, II, _267_. + Powell, W. S., I, _222_. + Pratt, H. F. A., II, 157, _157_. + Pratt, O., II, _69_. + Predaval, Count de, I, _348_. + Prescot, B., I, 270, _270_, 278. + Prester John, I, 70, _71_, 152. + Price, R., I, _223_. + Probability, Discourse on, I, 279. + Proclus, I, 188, _188_. + Prodigies, Youthful, I, 219, 332. + Pronunciation, II, 330. + Protestant and Papal Christendom, II, 33. + Protimalethes, II, 6. + Ptolemy, I, 5, 33, _380_. + Pullicino, II, 61, _61_. + Pusey, I, _64_. + Pyramids, The, I, 328; II, 95, 136. + Pythagoras, II, _59_. + + Quadrature problem. (_See Squaring the circle._) + Quarles, F., II, _277_. + Quintilian, II, 280. + Quotem, C., I, 399. + + Rabelais, I, _102_. + Rainbow Paradox, II, 334. + Ramachandra, Y., I, _374_. + Ramchundra, I, 374. + Ramus, I, 5. + Recalcati, II, 208, 314. + Recorde, R., II, _328_. + Reddie, Jas., II, 183, _183_, 344, 360. + Reeve, J., I, _395_. + Regiomontanus, I, _48_, 360. + Reisch, I, _45_; II, 281. + Religion and Philosophy, II, 37. + Religious bodies, Names of, II, 22; + --customs, Attacks on, I, 177; + --Insurance, I, 345; + --Paradox, I, 236; + --Tract society, I, 192. + Remigius, I, _50_. + Reuchlin, J., II, _323_. + Revelations, Napier on, I, 66. + Revilo, (O. Byrne), I, 241, 329, _329_. + Reyneau, C. R., II, _301_. + Rheticus, I, _69_; II, 372. + Rhonius, II, 300. + Ribadeneira, P. de, II, _62_. + Riccioli, I, _96_. + Richards, G., II, _270_. + Rigaud, J., II, _299_. + Rigaud, S. J., II, _299_. + Rigaud, S. P., I, _140_; II, 298, 313. + Ringelbergh, J. S., II, _281_. + Ripley, G., I, _126_, 126. + Ritchie, W., I, 295, _295_. + Ritterhusius, I, _60_. + Rive, J.-J., I, _160_. + Robertson, Jas., I, _237_. + Roberval, I, _105_, 122. + {385} + Robinson, B., I, _148_, 148. + Robinson, H. C., I, _314_; II, 52, 275. + Robinson, R., I, _177_. + Robinson, T. R., II, _181_. + Roblin, J., II, 136. + Rogers, S., II, _260_. + Roget, P. M., I, _398_. + Roomen, A. van, I, _110_. + Ross, J. C., I, _303_. + Rosse, I, 26. + Rossi, G., I, 231, _231_. + Rotation of the Moon, II, 4, 19. + Rough, W., I, 198. + Rowning, J., I, _155_. + Royal Astronomical Society, I, 27; + --Forerunner of, I, 374. + Royal Society, I, 21, 22, 24-30, 56, 57, 136, 153, 163, + 164, 165. + Rudio, I, 159; II, 367. + Rudolff, C., II, 373. + Russell, Earl (1st), I, _296_. + Rutherford, W., II, _109_. + + Sabatier, A., II, _267_. + Sabellius, I, _241_. + Sacrobosco, I, _360_. + Sadler, T., I, _238_, 241. + Saint-Martin, I, 167, _168_, 206. + St.-Mesmin, M. de., I, 280. + St. Vincent, G. de., I, _110_, 117. + St. Vitus, Patron of Cyclometers, II, 60. + Sales, de, I, 167. + Salicetus, I, 64. + Salisbury, Earl of (1st), II, _330_. + Salmasius, Claudius, II, _168_. + Salusbury, Hester, I, _235_. + Sanchez, Petro, I, 229, _229_. + Sanders, W., I, 207. + Sanderson, R., I, _135_. + Sara, R., I, _297_. + Saunderson, N., I, _377_; II, 301. + Scaliger, I, _44_, 110, 111, 112, 113; II, 238. + Scevole de St. Marthe, I, 113. + Schooten, Van, II, _59_. + Schopp, I, _60_. + Schott, I, _64_; II, 64. + Schumacher, H. C., I, _107_; II, 297. + Schwab, I, _230_. + Scientific paradoxes, I, 232. + Scott, Michael, I, _38_. + Scott's Devils, I, 38. + Scott, W., I, 20, 27, 38, 39, 155, _191_. + Scripture and Science, II, 261. + Search, John, I, 247. + Selden, J., II, _250_. + Senarmont, II, _48_. + Serres, De, II, _60_. + Shaftesbury, Earl of, II, _181_. + Shakespeare, I, 13. + Shanks, II, _63_, 65, 109. + Shaw, P., I, _142_. + Sheepshanks, J., I, _147_. + Sheepshanks, R., I, _290_. + Shelley, I, 174. + Shepherd, S., I, _124_. + Sherburne, E., II, _295_. + Sheridan, R. B., I, _175_. + Sheridan, T., I, _175_. + Shoberl, F., II, _270_. + Shrewsbury, I, _108_. + Siddons, Mrs., I, 189. + Simms, W., I, _152_. + Simplicius, II, _164_. + Simpson, T., I, 377; II, 304. + Simson, R., I, _197_, 202, 233. + Sinclair, G., I, _207_. + Slander Paradoxes, II, 138. + Sloane, I, 24. + Sluse, R. de, I, _118_, 118; II, 300. + Smith, Adam, II, _112_. + Smith, Jas., I, _46_; II, 103, _103_, 154, 236, 237, 238, 241, 336, + 360. + Smith, Jas., II, _217_. + Smith, Jas. (Shepherd), II, _55_, 193. + Smith, Joseph, II, _69_. + Smith, Richarda, I, _242_. + Smith, Thomas, I, 346, _346_. + Smith, Wm., II, _152_. + Smyth, C. P., I, _328_; II, 65. + Snell, I, _75_, 75. + Socinianism, I, 142, 143. + Socinus, I, 3, _143_. + Socrates Scholasticus, I, _358_. + Sohncke, L. A., II, _131_. + Somerville, Mrs., I, _242_. + South, J., II, _181_. + Southcott, Joanna, II, _58_, 97, 239. + Spearman, R., I, _237_. + Speculative thought in England, I, 374. + Spedding, I, _76_, 82, 142. + Speed, J., I, _201_. + Speke, I, _70_. + Spelling, phonetic, II, 81. + Spence, W., I, _231_, 231. + Spencer, Earl (3d), II, _9_. + {386} + Spinoza, I, 3, _37_. + Spiritualism, II, 47, 55, 207. + Spurius Cassius Viscellinus, II, _342_. + Spurius Maelius, II, _342_. + Squaring the circle, I, 8, 42, 44, 46, 47, 50, 52, 53, + 69, 70, 75, 109, 117, 119, 129, 135, 146, 149, + 159, 163, 164, 347, 348, 374; II, 10, 11, 60, 105, 154, + 156, 208, 278, 314. + Staeckel, I, 230. + Stanhope, P. D., (Earl of Chesterfield), II, _298_. + Stapulensis, I, _44_; II, 324. + Star polygons, I, 229. + Starkie, G., I, _126_, 126. + Statter, D., II, 80. + Steamship suggested, I, 147. + Steel, Jas., II, 68. + Stenography, II, 81. + Stephens, I, _44_; II, 324. + Stephenson, G., II, _138_. + Stephenson, R., II, _138_. + Stevin, I, _83_, 313; II, 59. + Stewart, D., II, _53_. + Stewart, R., I, _186_. + Stifel, M., II, _373_. + Strafford, Earl of, I, _240_. + Stratford, W. S., I, _300_. + Street, T., I, _124_. + Stukely, W., I, _236_. + Suffield, G., II, _66_. + Suidas, II, _29_. + Sumner, C. R., I, _324_. + Sumner, J. B., I, _324_. + Sun as an electric space, II, 41. + Supernatural, The, II, 193. + Suvaroff, II, _85_. + Swastika, II, 231. + Swedenborg, E., I, _255_. + Swift, I, 19, 133. + Sylvester, J. J., II, _336_. + Symington, W., I, _148_. + Symons, II, 4, 5, 20, 84, 85. + Sympathetic powder, I, 108. + Synesius, I, 125. + + Talbot, G., I, _22_, _108_. + Talbot's powder, I, 108. + Tartaglia, II, 59. + Tasse, I, _106_. + Tate, J., I, _199_. + Tauler, J., II, _322_. + Taylor, Brook, II, _301_. + Taylor, John, I, _352_; II, 95. + Taylor, Robt., I, _270_. + Taylor, T., I, 188, _188_. + Teissier, I, _113_. + Temple, H. J., I, 290. + Tenterden, Chief Justice, I, _181_. + Thales, II, _59_, 83. + Theism independent of Revelation, I, 399. + Thelwall, J., I, _178_. + Theodoretus, I, _358_. + Theological Paradoxes, I, 316. + Theology, Mathematical, I, 129, 149. + Theophrastus, II, _167_. + Thiebault, II, _3_, 338. + Thom, D., II, _226_, 240. + Thom, J. H., II, _226_. + Thompson, P., I, _7_. + Thompson, T. P., I, _252_, 287, 344; II, 83, 185. + Thomson, Dr., I, 21. + Thomson, W., I, _325_. + Thorn, W., II, 158, _158_, 360. + Thorndike, H., II, _313_. + Thrale, Mrs., I, _235_. + Thurlow, Baron, I, _222_. + Thyraeus, I, 50. + Tides, New theory of, I, 393. + Tombstones of mathematicians, I, 106. + Tonal System, II, 182. + Tooke, H., I, _178_. + Torriano, E., I, 250. + Towneley, II, 300. + Townley, C., II, _300_. + Trisection problem, I, 118; II, 10, 12, 13, 15. + Troughton, I, _152_. + Turnor, E., I, _137_. + Tycho Brahe, I, 5, _76_, 381; II, 302, 335. + + Upton, W., II, 12, _12_, 15. + Ursus, I, _52_. + + Valentine, B., I, _125_, 125. + Van Ceulen, I, 52, 70, 100. + Van de Weyer, I, _313_. + Van Etten, I, _161_. + Van Helmont, I, _125_, 125. + Van Roomen, I, _110_. + Van Schooten, II, _59_. + Vaughan, T., I, _255_. + Victorinus, I, _359_. + Viete, I, _51_; II, 210, 295. + Virgil, St., I, 32, _33_, 34, 99. + {387} + Virginia, University of, I, 233. + Viscellinus, II, _342_. + Vitruvius, II, _281_. + Vivian, T., I, 172, _172_. + Vogel, A. F., I, 373. + Voltaire, I, 103, 165, 166, 167, 168, 248; II, 268. + Von Gumpach, II, 137, _137_. + Von Hutten, I, 318. + Von Wolzogen. (_See Wolzogen._) + Vyse, R. W. H., I, _328_. + + Walker, W. E., II, _316_. + Walkingame, F., II, _173_. + Wallich, N., II, _14_. + Wallis, J., I, 107, 109, 110; II, 299, 313. + Walpole, I, _23_, 131. + Walsh, John, I, 260, _260_; II, 157. + Wapshare, J., II, _230_. + Warburton, H., I, _349_. + Warburton, Wm., I, _55_, 112; II, 174. + Ward, S., II, _299_. + Waring, E., I, _203_, 222. + Warner, W., II, _302_, 312. + Warren, S., II, _340_. + Watkins, J., II, _270_. + Watson, Bp., I, _223_. + Watt, R., I, _102_, 402. + Watts, I., II, 18. + Weddle, T., II, _187_. + Wentworth, Thos., I, _240_. + Wharton, I, 115. + Whately, R., I, 246, _246_, 324. + Whately's Paradox, I, 246. + Whewell, I, _101_, 101, 273, 314, 380; II, 104, 246, 247. + Whigs, II, 22. + Whiston, J., I, _147_. + Whiston, W., I, 133, _133_, 146, 156, 311. + White, H. K., II, _271_. + White, J. B., I, 248. + White, R., I, 11. + Whitford, I, 105. + Whitworth, W. A., II, _344_. + Whizgig, On the, I, 254. + Wightman, I, 59. + Wilberforce, W., II, _236_. + Wilkins, J., I, 96, _100_, 116, 226. + Williams, J. B., I, _378_. + Williams, T., I, 171, _171_. + Wilson, Sir J., I, _221_. + Wilson, J. M., II, _344_. + Wilson, R., II, 7, _7_. + Wilson's Theorem, I, _222_. + Wingate, E., II, _308_. + Winter, I, 46. + Wirgman, T., I, 258, _258_. + Wiseman, N. P. S., II, _26_, 61, 294. + Wolcot, J. (Peter Pindar), II, _272_. + Wollstonecraft, I, 173, _173_. + Wolzogen, I, _106_. + Wood, A., I, _98_. + Wood, John, I, _233_. + Wood, Wm., I, 246, _246_. + Woodley, W., I, 307, _307_. + Wordsworth, II, 273. + Wright, E., I, 84. + Wright, T., I, 151, _151_, 152, 153. + Wright, W., II, 9. + Wronski, I, 249, _250_. + Wrottesley, J. (Baron), II, _181_. + + Young, B., II, _69_. + Young, J. W. A., II, 367. + Young, T., I, 24, 30, _250_. + Youthful Prodigies, I, 219. + Yvon, I, _297_. + + Zach, von, II, _45_, 196. + Zachary, Pope, I, 32, 34. + Zadkiel, I, _321_; II, 43. + Zetetic Astronomy, II, 88. + Zodiac, II, 136. + Zytphen, II, _335_. + + * * * * * + + +Notes + +Transcriber's note: References to Notes in Volume I are shown as in the +printed book, with the resequenced footnote numbers in the Project +Gutenberg Edition (EText-No. 23100) added thus {123}. + +[1] See Vol. I, page 255, note 6 {584}. + +[2] "I have no need for this hypothesis." + +[3] "Ah, it is a beautiful hypothesis; it explains many things." + +[4] "What we know is very slight; what we don't know is immense." + +[5] Brewster relates (_Life of Sir Isaac Newton_, Vol. II, p. 407) that, a +short time before his death, Newton remarked: "I do not know what I may +appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy +playing on the seashore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a +smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean +of truth lay all undiscovered before me." + +[6] See Vol. I, p. 292, note 1 {632}. + +[7] "What is all that!" + +[8] "I have some good news to tell you: at the Bureau of Longitudes they +have just received a letter from Germany announcing that M. Bessel has +verified by observation your theoretical discoveries on the satellites of +Jupiter." + +[9] "Man follows only phantoms." + +[10] See Vol. I, page 382, note 13 {786}. + +[11] Dieudonne Thiebault (1733-1807) was a Jesuit in his early life, but he +left the order and took up the study of law. In 1765 he went to Prussia and +became a favorite of Frederick the Great. He returned to France in 1785 and +became head of the Lycee at Versailles. + +[12] _Memories of Twenty Years of Residence in Berlin._ There was a second +French and an English edition in 1805. + +[13] Richard Joachim Heinrich von Mollendorff (1724-1816) began his career +as a page of Frederick the Great (1740) and became field marshal (1793) and +commander of the Prussian army on the Rhine (1794). + +[14] Hugues Bernard Maret (1763-1839) was not Duc de Bassano in 1807, this +title not being conferred upon him until 1809. He was ambassador to England +in 1792 and to Naples in 1793. Napoleon made him head of the cabinet and +his special confidant. The Bourbons exiled him in 1816. + +[15] Denis Diderot (1713-1784), whose _Lettre sur les aveugles_ (1749) +introduced him to the world as a philosopher, and whose work on the +_Encyclopedie_ is so well known. + +[16] "Sir, (a + b^{n}) / n = x, whence God exists; answer!" + +[17] This was one James Laurie of Musselburgh. + +[18] Jelinger Cookson Symons (1809-1860) was an office-holder with a +decided leaning towards the improvement of education and social conditions. +He wrote _A Plea for Schools_ (1847), _The Industrial Capacities of South +Wales_ (1855), and _Lunar Motion_ (1856), to which last work the critic +probably refers. + +[19] "Protimalethes" followed this by another work along the same line the +following year, _The Independence of the Testimony of St. Matthew and St. +John tested and vindicated by the theory of chances_. + +[20] Wilson had already taken up the lance against science in his +_Strictures on Geology and Astronomy, in reference to a supposed want of +harmony between these sciences and some parts of Divine Revelation_, +Glasgow, 1843. He had also ventured upon poetry in his _Pleasures of +Piety_, Glasgow, 1837. + +[21] Mrs. Borron was Elizabeth Willesford Mills before her marriage. She +made an attempt at literature in her _Sibyl's Leaves_, London (printed at +Devonport), 1826. + +[22] See Vol. I, page 386, note 10 {801}. + +[23] See Vol. I, page 43, notes 7 {32} and 8 {33}. + +[24] His flying machine, designed in 1843, was one of the earliest attempts +at aviation on any extensive scale. + +[25] Erasmus Darwin (1731-1802) was the grandfather of Charles Darwin. The +work here mentioned had great influence, being translated into French, +Portuguese, and Italian. Canning parodied it in his _Loves of the +Triangles_. + +[26] See Vol. I, page 147, note 1 {312}. + +[27] The notes on this page were written on the day of the funeral of +Wilbur Wright, June 1, 1912, the man who realized all of these prophecies, +and then died a victim of municipal crime,--of typhoid fever. + +[28] John Charles, third Earl Spencer (1782-1845), to whose efforts the +Reform Bill was greatly indebted for its final success. + +[29] This was published in London in 1851 instead of 1848. + +[30] This appeared in 1846. + +[31] This was done in _The Circle Squared_, published at Brighton in 1865. + +[32] It first appeared in 1847, under the title, _The Scriptural Calendar +and Chronological Reformer, 1848. Including a review of tracts by Dr. +Wardlaw and others on the Sabbath question. By W. H. Black._ The one above +mentioned, for 1849, was printed in 1848, and was also by Black +(1808-1872). He was pastor of the Seventh Day Baptists and was interested +in archeology and in books. He catalogued the manuscripts of the Ashmolean +Museum at Oxford. + +[33] William Upton, a Trinity College man, Dublin. He also wrote _Upton's +Physioglyphics_, London, 1844; _Pars prima. Geometria vindicata; +antiquorumque Problematum, ad hoc tempus desperatorum, Trisectionis Anguli, +Circulique Quadraturae, Solutio, per Eucliden effecta, London_ (printed at +Southampton), 1847; _The Uptonian Trisection_, London, 1866; and _The +Circle Squared_, London, 1872. + +[34] For example, if [theta] = 90 deg. we should have 3 cos 30 deg. = 1 ++ [root](4 - sin^2 90 deg.), or 3. 1/2 [root]3 = 1 + [root]3, or +1/2 [root]3 = 1. + +[35] Nathaniel Wallich (1786-1854) was surgeon at the Danish settlement at +Serampore when the East India Company took over the control in 1807. He +entered the British medical service and was invalided to England in 1828. +His _Plantae Asiaticae Rariores_ (3 vols., London, 1830-1832) was +recognized as a standard. He became vice-president of the Linnean Society, +F. R. S., and fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society. + +[36] But if [theta] = 90 deg. this asserts that + + cos 30 deg. = (sin 270 deg. . cos 225 deg. + sin^2 90 deg. + . sin 225 deg.) / [root](sin^2 + 270 deg. . cos^2 225 deg. + sin^{4} 90 deg. + sin 270 deg. + . sin 450 deg. . sin^2 90 deg.), + +or that + + 1/2 [root]3 = (-1 . (-1 /[root]2) + 1 . (-1/[root]2) / [root]1 + . 1/2 + 1 - 1 . 1 . 1) = 0 / [root](1/2), + +so that De Morgan must have made some error in copying. + +[37] John Bonnycastle (died in 1821) was professor of mathematics at +Woolwich. His edition of Bossut's _History of Mathematics_ (1803), and his +works on elementary mathematics were well known. + +[38] The bibliographies give Husain Rifki as the translator, a practical +geometry as the work, and 1802 as the date. + +[39] See Vol. I, page 309, note 2 {670}. + +[40] Probably in _The Improvement of the Mind_ which Isaac Watts +(1674-1748) published in 1741. His _Horae Lyricae_ appeared in 1706, and +the _Hymns_, by which he is still well known, in 1707. + +[41] Spencer Joshua Alwyne Compton, second Marquis of Northampton +(1790-1851), was a poet, a scientist, and a statesman. He was president of +the Royal Society from 1838 to 1849. + +[42] Besides the writings here mentioned Perigal published a work on +_Geometric Maps_ (London, 1853), and _Graphic Demonstrations of Geometric +Problems_ (1891). + +[43] See Vol. II, page 5, note 18. + +[44] James Ferguson (1710-1776) was a portrait painter, an astronomer, and +a popular writer and lecturer on various subjects. + +[45] In the old ballad of King Alfred and the Shepherd, when the latter is +tempting the disguised king into his service, he says: + + "Of whig and whey we have good store, + And keep good pease-straw fire." + +_Whig_ is then a preparation of milk. But another commonly cited derivation +may be suspected from the word _whiggamor_ being used before _whig_, as +applied to the political party; _whig_ may be a contraction. Perhaps both +derivations conspired: the word _whiggamor_, said to be a word of command +to the horses, might contract into _whig_, and the contraction might be +welcomed for its own native meaning.--A. De M. + +[46] This was p. 147 in the first edition. + +[47] St. Augustine (354-430) was bishop of Hippo. His _Confessiones_, in +13 books, was written in 397, and his _De Civitate Dei_ in 426. + +[48] "He was wont to indulge in certain Punic subtleties lest he should +weary the reader by much speaking." + +[49] John Milner (1751-1826), bishop of Castabala, a well-known +antiquarian. + +[50] It will be said that when the final happiness is spoken of in "sure +and certain hope," it is _the_ Resurrection, generally; but when afterwards +application is made to the individual, simple "hope" is all that is +predicated which merely means "wish?" I know it: but just before the +general declaration, it is declared that it _has_ pleased God of his great +mercy to _take unto Himself_, the soul of our dear brother: and between the +"hopes" hearty thanks are given that it _has_ pleased God to deliver our +dear brother out of the miseries of this wicked world, with an additional +prayer that the number of the elect may shortly be accomplished. All which +means, that our dear brother is declared to be taken to God, to be in a +place not so miserable as this world--a description which excludes the +"wicked place"--and to be of the elect. Yes, but it will be said again! do +you not know that when this Liturgy was framed, all who were not in the +road to Heaven were excommunicated burial service read over them. Supposing +the fact to have been true in old time, which is a very spicy supposition, +how does that excuse the present practice? Have you a right _always_ to say +what you believe _cannot always_ be true, because you think it was once +_always_ true? Yes, but, choose whom you please, you cannot be _certain_ He +is _not_ gone to Heaven. True, and choose which Bishop you please, you +cannot be demonstratively _certain_, he is _not_ a concealed unbeliever: +may I therefore say of the whole bench, _singulatim et seriatim_, that they +_are_ unbelievers? No! No! The voice of common sense, of which common logic +is a part, is slowly opening the eyes of the multitude to the unprincipled +reasoning of theologians. Remember 1819. What chance had Parliamentary +Reform when the House of Commons thanked the Manchester sabre-men? If you +do not reform your Liturgy, it will be reformed for you, and sooner than +you think! The dishonest interpretations, by defence of which even the +minds of children are corrupted, and which throw their shoots into +literature and commerce, will be sent to the place whence they came: and +over the door of the established organization for teaching religion will be +posted the following notice: + + "Shift and Subterfuge, Shuffle and Dodge, + No longer here allowed to lodge!" + +All this ought to be written by some one who belongs to the Establishment: +in him, it would be quite prudent and proper; in me, it is kind and +charitable.--A. De M. + +[51] But few do have access to it, for the work is not at all common, and +this Piscator is rarely mentioned. + +[52] This derivation has been omitted.--S. E. De M. + +[53] A blow for a blow. Roland and Oliver were two of the paladins of +Charlemagne whose exploits were so alike that each was constantly receiving +credit for what the other did. Finally they met and fought for five days on +an island in the Rhine, but even at the end of that period it was merely a +drawn battle. + +[54] "In the name of the church." + +[55] "From the chair," officially. + +[56] Nicholas Patrick Stephen Wiseman (1802-1865), whose elevation to the +archbishopric of Westminster and the cardinalate (1850) led to the act +prohibiting Roman Catholics from assuming episcopal titles in England, a +law that was never enforced. + +[57] He was born in 1812 and was converted to Catholicism in 1839. He +founded the _Tablet_ in London in 1840, removing its office to Dublin in +1849. He became M. P. in 1852, and at the time of his death (1855) he was +preparing a memorial to the Pope asking him to annul the proclamation of an +Irish bishop prohibiting his priests from taking part in politics. + +[58] John Guillim (1565-1621) was the first to systematize and illustrate +the whole science of heraldry. He published _A display of Heraldrie: +manifesting a more easie accesse to the knowledge thereof_ in 1610. + +[59] "Faith." + +[60] "Faithful." + +[61] "For the faith vindicated." + +[62] The words are of the same root, and hence our word _fiddle_. Some +suppose this root means a _rope_, which, as that to which you trust, +becomes, in one divergence, confidence itself--just as a _rock_, and other +words, come to mean reliance--and in another, a little string.--A. De M. + +[63] The Greek lexicographer, a Christian, living after 1000 A. D. His +lexicon was first printed at Milan in 1499. + +[64] _Skindapsos._ + +[65] This was John William Burgon (1813-1888), Gresham professor of +theology (1867) and dean of Chichester. He was an ultra-conservative, +opposing the revised version of the New Testament, and saying of the +admission of women to the university examinations that it was "a thing +inexpedient and immodest." + +[66] _Ekklesia_, or _ecclesia_. + +[67] _Ennomos ekklesia._ + +[68] "Without doubt I shall perish forever." + +[69] "Every man is an animal." "Sortes is a man." "Sortes is an animal." + +[70] "For a special purpose." + +[71] Heraclitus of Ephesus, the weeping philosopher, 6th century B. C. + +[72] Democritus, the laughing philosopher, founder of the atomistic theory, +5th century B. C. + +[73] "Ends to which." + +[74] "Ends from which." + +[75] "In just as many syllables," "With just as many letters," "In just as +many words." + +[76] "I shall make a way," "I shall find a way." + +[77] The notion that the Evil Spirit is a functionary liable to be +dismissed for not attending to his duty, is, so far as my reading goes, +utterly unknown in theology. My first wrinkle on the subject was the remark +of the Somersetshire farmer upon Palmer the poisoner-- "Well! if the Devil +don't take he, he didn't ought to be allowed to be devil no longer."--A. De +M. + +William Palmer (1824-1856) was a member of the Royal College of Surgeons +and practised medicine at London. He was hanged in 1856 for having poisoned +a friend and was also suspected of having poisoned his wife and brother for +their insurance money, besides being guilty of numerous other murders. His +trial was very much in the public attention at the time. + +[78] Advantages and dangers. + +[79] The old priory of St. Mary of Bethlehem in London, was used as an +asylum for the insane. The name was corrupted to Bedlam. + +[80] Referring to the common English pronunciation of St. John, almost +Sinjin. John St. John Long (1798-1834), an Irishman by birth, practised +medicine in London. He claimed to have found a specific for rheumatism and +tuberculosis, but upon the death of one of his patients in 1830 he was +tried for manslaughter. He died of tuberculosis four years later, refusing +to take his own treatment. + +[81] William of Occam (d. 1349), so called from his birthplace, Ockham, in +Surrey. He was a Franciscan, and lectured on philosophy in the Sorbonne. + +[82] He signs himself "James Hopkins, schoolmaster," and this seems to have +been his only published effort. + +[83] Joseph Ady (1770-1852) was a famous swindler. One of his best-known +schemes was to send out letters informing the recipients that they would +learn something to their advantage on payment of a certain sum. He spent +some time in prison. + +[84] Sir Peter Laurie (c. 1779-1861) was worth referring to, for he was +prominent as a magistrate and was honored because of his interest in all +social reforms. He made a fortune as a contractor, became sheriff of London +in 1823, and was knighted in the following year. He became Lord Mayor of +London in 1832. + +[85] See Vol. I, page 321, note 2 {691}. The _Astronomy in a nutshell_ +appeared in 1860. _The Herald of Astrology_ was first published in London +in 1831, "by Zadkiel the Seer." It was continued as _The Astrological +Almanac_ (London, 1834), as _Zadkiel's Almanac and Herald of Astrology_ +(_ibid._, 1835, edited by R. J. Morrison, and subsequently by A. J. +Pearce), and as _Raphael's Prophetic Almanac_ (1840-1855). + +[86] See Vol. I, page 172, note 3 {382}. + +[87] See Vol. I, page 87, note 4 {133}. + +[88] Franz Xaver, Freiherr von Zach (1754-1832) was director of the +observatory at Seeberge near Gotha. He wrote the _Tabulae speciales +aberrationis et mutationis_ (1806-7), _Novae et correctae tabulae solis_ +(1792), and _L'attraction des montagnes et ses effets sur le fil a plomb_ +(1814). + +[89] Jean Louis Pons (1761-1831) was connected with the observatory at +Marseilles for thirty years (1789-1819). He later became director of the +observatory at Marlia, near Lucca, and subsequently filled the same office +at Florence. He was an indefatigable searcher for comets, discovering 37 +between 1801 and 1827, among them being the one that bears Encke's name. + +[90] This hypothesis has now become an established fact. + +[91] John Chetwode Eustace (c. 1762-1815) was born in Ireland. Although a +Roman Catholic priest he lived for a time at Cambridge where he did some +tutoring. His _Classical Tour_ appeared in 1813 and went through several +editions. + +[92] "Crimes should be exposed when they are punished, but disgraceful acts +should be hidden." + +[93] Henri Hureau de Senarmont (1808-1862) was professor of mineralogy at +the _Ecole des mines_ and examiner at the _Ecole polytechnique_ at Paris. + +[94] Augustin Jean Fresnel (1788-1827), "Ingenieur des ponts et chaussees," +gave the first experimental proofs of the wave theory of light. He studied +the questions of interference and polarization, and determined the +approximate velocity of light. + +[95] "As is my custom." + +[96] Francis Heywood (1796-1858) made the first English translation of +Kant's _Critick of Pure Reason_ (1838, reprinted in 1848). The _Analysis_ +came out, as here stated, in 1844. + +[97] Louise Renee de Keroualle, Duchess of Portsmouth and Aubigny +(1649-1734), was a favorite of Charles II. She used her influence to keep +him under the control of Louis XIV. + +[98] William Chiffinch (c. 1602-1688) was page of the king's bed-chamber +and keeper of the private closet to Charles II. He was one of the king's +intimates and was an unscrupulous henchman. + +[99] "Well devised." + +[100] "John Bellingham Inglis. His _Philobiblion_ "translated from the +first edition (of Ricardus d'Aungervile, Bishop of Durham), 1473," appeared +at London in 1832. It was republished in America (Albany, N. Y.) in 1864. + +[101] "What are you laughing at?" + +[102] See Vol. I, page 314, note 4 {681}. + +[103] See Vol. I, page 112, note 7 {211}. + +[104] Referring to Hamilton's edition of the _Collected Works of Dugald +Stewart_, 10 volumes, Edinburgh, 1854-58. It is not commonly remembered +that Stewart (1753-1828) taught mathematics at the University of Edinburgh +before he took up philosophy. + +[105] This was Hamilton's edition of the _Works of Thomas Reid_ (2 vols., +Edinburgh, 1846-1863). Reid (1710-1796) included mathematics in his work in +philosophy at Aberdeen. In 1764 he succeeded Adam Smith at Glasgow. + +[106] Edward Irving (1792-1834), the famous preacher. At first he assisted +Dr. Chalmers at Glasgow, but in 1822 he went to London where he met with +great success. A few years later he became mentally unbalanced and was +finally expelled from his church (1832) for heresy. He was a great friend +of Carlyle. + +[107] He also wrote a number of other paradoxes, including _An Essay +towards a Science of Consciousness_ (1838), _Instinctive Natural Religion_ +(1858), _Popular Treatise on the structure, diseases, and treatment of the +human teeth_ (1837), and _On Headache_ (1859). + +[108] James Smith (1801-1857), known as Shepherd Smith, was a socialist and +a mystic, with a philosophy that was wittily described as "Oriental +pantheism translated into Scotch." He was editor of several journals. + +[109] Joanna Southcott (1750-1814) was known for her rhyming prophecies in +which she announced herself as the woman spoken of in Revelations xii. She +had at one time as many as 100,000 disciples, and she established a sect +that long survived her. + +[110] Thales, c. 640-548 B. C. + +[111] Pythagoras, 580-501 B. C. + +[112] Anaxagoras, 499-428 B. C., the last of the Ionian school, teacher of +Euripides and Pericles. Plutarch speaks of him as having squared the +circle. + +[113] Oinopides of Chios, contemporary of Anaxagoras. Proclus tells us that +Oinopides was the first to show how to let fall a perpendicular to a line +from an external point. + +[114] Bryson and Antiphon, contemporaries of Socrates, invented the +so-called method of exhaustions, one of the forerunners of the calculus. + +[115] He wrote, c. 440 B. C., the first elementary textbook on mathematics +in the Greek language. The "lunes of Hippocrates" are well known in +geometry. + +[116] Jabir ben Aflah. He lived c. 1085, at Seville, and wrote on astronomy +and spherical trigonometry. The _Gebri filii Affla Hispalensis de +astronomia libri_ IX was published at Nuremberg in 1533. + +[117] Hieronymus Cardanus, or Girolamo Cardano (1501-1576), the great +algebraist. His _Artis magnae sive de regulis Algebrae_ was published at +Nuremberg in 1545. + +[118] Nicolo Tartaglia (c. 1500-1557), the great rival of Cardan. + +[119] See note 5 {98}, Vol. I, page 69. + +[120] See note 10 {124}, Vol. I., page 83. + +[121] See note 9 {123}, Vol. I, page 83. + +[122] Pierre Herigone lived in Paris the first half of the 17th century. +His _Cours mathematique_ (6 vols., 1634-1644) had some standing but was not +at all original. + +[123] Franciscus van Schooten (died in 1661) was professor of mathematics +at Leyden. He edited Descartes's _La Geometrie_. + +[124] Florimond de Beaune (1601-1652) was the first Frenchman to write a +commentary on Descartes's _La Geometrie_. He did some noteworthy work in +the theory of curves. + +[125] See note 3 {23}, Vol. I, page 41. + +[126] Olivier de Serres (b. in 1539) was a writer on agriculture. Montucla +speaks of him in his _Quadrature du cercle_ (page 227) as having asserted +that the circle is twice the inscribed equilateral triangle, although, as +De Morgan points out, this did not fairly interpret his position. + +[127] Anghera wrote not only the three works here mentioned, but also the +_Problemi del piu alto interesse scientifico, geometricamente risoluti e +dimostrati_, Naples, 1861. His quadrature was defended by Giovanni Motti in +a work entitled _Matematica Vera. Falsita del sistema ciclometrico +d'Archimede, quadratura del cerchio d'Anghera, ricerca algebraica dei lati +di qualunque poligono regolare inscritto in un circolo_, Voghera, 1877. The +_Problemi_ of 1861 contains Anghera's portrait, and states that he lived at +Malta from 1849 to 1861. It further states that the Malta publications are +in part reproduced in this work. + +[128] This was his friend Paolo Pullicino whose _Elogio_ was pronounced by +L. Farrugia at Malta in 1890. He wrote a work _La Santa Effegie della Blata +Vergine Maria_, published at Valetta in 1868. + +[129] St. Vitus, St. Modestus, and St. Crescentia were all martyred the +same day, being torn limb from limb after lions and molten lead had proved +of no avail. At least so the story runs. + +[130] The reference is to Cardinal Wiseman. See Vol. II, page 26, note 56. + +[131] "Worthy of esteem." + +[132] Pedro de Ribadeneira (Ribadeneyra, Rivadeneira), was born at Toledo +in 1526 and died in 1611. He held high position in the Jesuit order. The +work referred to is the _Flos Sanctorum o libro de las vidas de los +santos_, of which there was an edition at Barcelona in 1643. His life of +Loyola (1572) and _Historia ecclesiastica del Cisma del reino de +Inglaterra_ were well known. + +[133] Caesar Baronius (1538-1607) was made a cardinal in 1595 and became +librarian at the Vatican in 1597. The work referred to appeared at Rome in +1589. + +[134] Mrs. Jameson's (1794-1860) works were very popular half a century +ago, and still have some circulation among art lovers. The first edition of +the work mentioned appeared in 1848. + +[135] The barnyard cock. + +[136] Shanks did nothing but computing. The title should, of course, read +"to 607 Places of _Decimals_." He later carried the computation to 707 +decimal places. (_Proc. Roy. Society_, XXI, p. 319.) He also prepared a +table of prime numbers up to 60,000. (_Proc. Roy. Society_, XXII, p. 200.) + +[137] See Vol. I, page 42, note 4 {24}. + +[138] See Vol. I, page 64, note 1 {78}. + +[139] See Vol. I, page 328, note 1 {704}. + +[140] George Suffield published _Synthetic Division in Arithmetic_, to +which reference is made, in 1863. + +[141] John Robert Lunn wrote chiefly on Church matters, although he +published a work on motion in 1859. + +[142] Jean Baptiste Joseph, Baron Fourier (1768-1830), sometime professor +in the Military School at Paris, and later at the _Ecole polytechnique_. He +is best known by his _Theorie analytique de la chaleur_ (Paris, 1822), in +which the Fourier series is used. The work here referred to is the _Analyse +des equations determinees_ (Paris, 1831). + +[143] William George Horner (1786-1837) acquired a name for himself in +mathematics in a curious manner. He was not a university man nor was he a +mathematician of any standing. He taught school near Bristol and at Bath, +and seems to have stumbled upon his ingenious method for finding the +approximate roots of numerical higher equations, including as a special +case the extracting of the various roots of numbers. Davies Gilbert +presented the method to the Royal Society in 1819, and it was reprinted in +the _Ladies' Diary_ for 1838, and in the _Mathematician_ in 1843. The +method was original as far as Horner was concerned, but it is practically +identical with the one used by the Chinese algebraist Ch'in Chiu-shang, in +his _Su-shu Chiu-chang_ of 1247. But even Ch'in Chiu-shang can hardly be +called the discoverer of the method since it is merely the extension of a +process for root extracting that appeared in the _Chiu-chang Suan-shu_ of +the second century B. C. + +[144] He afterwards edited Loftus's _Inland Revenue Officers' Manual_ +(London, 1865). The two equations mentioned were x^3 - 2x = 5 and y^3 - +90y^2 + 2500y - 16,000 = 0, in which y = 30 - 10x. Hence each place of y is +the complement of the following place of x with respect to 9. + +[145] Probably the John Power Hicks who wrote a memoir on T. H. Key, +London, 1893. + +[146] Possibly the one who wrote on the quadrature of the circle in 1881. + +[147] As it is. But what a pity that we have not 12 fingers, with +duodecimal fractions instead of decimals! We should then have 0.6 for 1/2, +0.4 for 1/3, 0.8 for 2/3, 0.3 for 1/4, 0.9 for 3/4, and 0.16 for 1/8, +instead of 0.5, 0.333+, 0.666+, 0.25, 0.75, and 0.125 as we now have +with our decimal system. In other words, the most frequently used +fractions in business would be much more easily represented on the +duodecimal scale than on the decimal scale that we now use. + +[148] He wrote Hints for an _Essay on Anemology and Ombrology_ (London, +1839-40) and _The Music of the Eye_ (London, 1831). + +[149] Brigham Young (1801-1877) was born at Whitingham, Vermont, and +entered the Mormon church in 1832. In 1840 he was sent as a missionary to +England. After the death of Joseph Smith he became president of the Mormons +(1847), leading the church to Salt Lake City (1848). + +[150] Joseph Smith (1805-1844) was also born in Vermont, and was four years +the junior of Brigham Young. The _Book of Mormon_ appeared in 1827, and the +church was founded in 1830. He was murdered in 1844. + +[151] Orson Pratt (1811-1881) was one of the twelve apostles of the Mormon +Church (1835), and made several missionary journeys to England. He was +professor of mathematics in the University of Deseret (the Mormon name for +Utah). Besides the paper mentioned Pratt wrote the _Divine Authenticity of +the Book of Mormon_ (1849), _Cubic and Biquadratic Equations_ (1866), and a +_Key to the Universe_ (1866). + +[152] "It does not follow." + +[153] Dryden (1631-1700) published his _Religio Laici_ in 1682. The use of +the word "proportion" in the sense of ratio was common before his time, but +he uses it in the sense of having four terms; that is, that price is to +price as offence is to offence. + +[154] Olinthus Gilbert Gregory (1774-1841) succeeded Hutton as professor of +mathematics at Woolwich. He was, with De Morgan, much interested in +founding the University of London. He wrote on astronomy (1793), mechanics +(1806), practical mathematics (1825), and Christian evidences (1811). + +[155] See Vol. I, page 220, note 6 {482}. The _Pensees_ appeared +posthumously in 1670. + +[156] "The right thing to do is not to wager at all." "Yes, but you ought +to wager; you have started out; and not to wager at all that God exists is +to wager that he does not exist." + +[157] He lived about 300 A.D., in Africa, and wrote _Libri septem adversus +Gentes_. This was printed at Rome in 1542-3. + +[158] Pierre Bayle (1647-1706) was professor of philosophy at the +Prostestant University at Sedan from 1675 until its dissolution in 1681. He +then became professor at Rotterdam (1681-1693). In 1684 he began the +publication of his journal of literary criticism _Nouvelles de la +Republique des Lettres_. He is best known for his erudite _Dictionnaire +historique et critique_ (1697). + +[159] "But Christ himself does not prove what he promises. It is true. For, +as I have said, there cannot be any absolute proof of future events. +Therefore since it is a condition of future events that they cannot be +grasped or comprehended by any efforts of anticipation, is it not more +reasonable, out of two alternatives that are uncertain and that are hanging +in doubtful expectation, to give credence to the one that gives some hope +rather than to the one that offers none at all? For in the former case +there is no danger if, as is said to threaten, it becomes empty and void; +while in the latter case the danger is greatest, that is, the loss of +salvation, if when the time comes it is found that it was not a falsehood." + +[160] Gregg wrote several other paradoxes, including the following: _The +Authentic Report of the extraordinary case of Tresham Dames Gregg ... his +committal to Bridewell for refusing to give his recognizance_ (Dublin, +1841), _An Appeal to Public Opinion upon a Case of Injury and Wrong ... in +the case of a question of prerogative that arose between_ [R. Whately] _... +Archbishop of Dublin and the author_ (London, 1861), _The Cosmology of Sir +Isaac Newton proved to be in accordance with the Bible_ (London, 1871), +_The Steam Locomotive as revealed in the Bible_ (London 1863) and _On the +Sacred Law of 1866, conferring perpetual life with immunity from decay and +disease. A cento of decisive scriptural oracles strangely discovered_ +(London and Dublin, 1875). These titles will help the reader to understand +the man whom De Morgan so pleasantly satirizes. + +[161] See Vol. I, page 261, note 2 {592}. + +[162] "They have found it." + +[163] The late Greeks used the letters of their alphabet as numerals, +adding three early alphabetic characters. The letter [chi] represented 600, +[xi] represented 60, and [digamma] stood for 6. This gives 666, the number +of the Beast given in the Revelation. + +[164] "Allowing for necessary exceptions." + +[165] Mr. Gregg is not alone in his efforts to use the calculus in original +lines, as any one who has read Herbart's application of the subject to +psychology will recall. + +[166] See Vol. I, page 105, note 4 {188}; page 109, note 1 {197}. + +[167] The full title shows the plan,--_The Decimal System as a whole, in +its relation to time, measure, weight, capacity, and money, in unison with +each other._ But why is this so much worse than the French plan of which we +have only the metric system and the decimal division of the angle left? + +[168] One of the brothers of Sir Isaac Pitman (1813-1897), the inventor of +modern stenography. Of these brothers, Benjamin taught the art in America, +Jacob in Australia, and Joseph, Henry, and Frederick in England. + +[169] For example, _The Phonographic Lecturer_ (London, 1871 etc.), _The +Phonographic Student_ (1867, etc.), and _The Shorthand Magazine_ (1866, +etc.). + +[170] See Vol. II, page 68, note 148. + +[171] It involves the theory of non-Euclidean geometry, Euclid's postulate +of parallels being used in proving this theorem. + +[172] Referring to the fact that none of the works of Thales is extant. + +[173] The author was one B. Bulstrode. Parts 4 and 5 were printed at +Calcutta. + +[174] See Vol. II, page 5, note 18. + +[175] See Vol. I, page 85, note 2 {129}. + +[176] Alexander Vasilievich Suvaroff (1729-1800), a Russian general who +fought against the Turks, in the Polish wars, and in the early Napoleonic +campaigns. When he took Ismail in 1790 he sent this couplet to Empress +Catherine. + +[177] "Newton hath determined rightly," "Newton hath not determined +rightly." + +[178] See Vol. I, page 288, note 3 {621}. + +[179] See Vol. I, page 326, note 1 {700}. + +[180] "With great honor." + +[181] Apparently unknown to biographers. He seems to have written nothing +else. + +[182] Captain Marryat (1792-1848) published _Snarley-yow, or the Dog Fiend_ +in 1837. + +[183] He is not known to biographers, and published nothing else under this +name. + +[184] See Vol. I, page 80, note 5 {119}. + +[185] He published a _Family and Commercial Illustrated Almanack and Year +Book ... for 1861_ (Bath, 1860). + +[186] Louis Dutens (1730-1812) was born at Tours, but went to England as a +young man. He made the first collection of the works of Leibnitz, against +the advice of Voltaire, who wrote to him: "Les ecrits de Leibnitz sont +epars comme les feuilles de la Sybille, et aussi obscurs que les ecrits de +cette vieille." The work appeared at Geneva, in six volumes, in 1769. + +[187] Mungo Park (1771-1806), the first European to explore the Niger +(1795-6). His _Travels in the Interior of Africa_ appeared in 1799. He died +in Africa. + +[188] Gerhard Mercator (1512-1594) the well-known map maker of Louvain. The +"Mercator's Projection" was probably made as early as 1550, but the +principle of its construction was first set forth by Edward Wright (London, +1599). + +[189] Quirico Barilli Filopanti wrote a number of works and monographs. He +succeeded in getting his _Cesare al Rubicone_ and _Degli_ _usi idraulici +della Tela_ in the _Memoria letta ... all' Accademia delle Scienze in +Bologna_ (1847, 1866). He also wrote _Dio esiste_ (1881), _Dio Liberale_ +(1880), and _Sunto della memoria sulle geuranie ossia di alcune singolari +relazioni cosmiche della terra e del cielo_ (1862). + +[190] The periods of disembodiment may be interesting. They will be seen +from the following dates: Descartes (1596-1650), William III (1650-1702); +Roger Bacon (1214 to c. 1294), Boccaccio (1313-1375). Charles IX was born +in 1550 and died in 1574. + +[191] His real name was Frederick Parker, and he wrote several works on the +Greek language and on religion. Among these were a translation of the New +Testament from the Vatican MS. (1864), _The Revealed History of Man_ +(1854), _An Enquiry respecting the Punctuation of Ancient Greek_ (1841), +and _Rules for Ascertaining the sense conveyed in Ancient Greek +Manuscripts_ (1848, the seventh edition appearing in 1862). + +[192] See Vol. I, page 352, second note 1 {736}. + +The literature on the subject of the Great Pyramid, considered from the +standpoint of metrology, is extensive. + +[193] See Vol. I, page 80, note 5 {119}. + +[194] Sir Philip Francis (1740-1818) was a Whig politician. The evidence +that he was the author of the _Letters of Junius_ (1769-1772) is purely +circumstantial. He was clerk in the war office at the time of their +publication. In 1774 he was made a member of the Supreme Council of Bengal, +and was a vigorous opponent of Warren Hastings, the two fighting a duel in +1780. He entered parliament in 1784 and was among the leaders in the +agitation for parliamentary reform. + +[195] Mrs. Cottle published a number of letters that attracted attention at +the time. Among these were letters to the emperor of France and king of +Sardinia (1859) relating to the prophecies of the war between France and +Austria; to G. C. Lavis and Her Majesty's Ministers (1859) relating to her +claims as a prophetess; and to the "Crowned Heads" at St. James, the King +of Prussia, and others (1860), relating to certain passages of Scripture. +She also wrote _The Lamb's Book of Life for the New Jerusalem Church and +Kingdom, interpreted for all nations_ (1861). + +[196] See Vol. I, page 315, note 2 {685}, and Vol. II, page 58, note 109. + +[197] A Congregational minister, who published a number of sermons, chiefly +obituaries, between 1804 and 1851. His _Frailty of Human Life_, two sermons +delivered on the occasion of the death of Princess Charlotte, went through +at least three editions. + +[198] He was secretary of the Congregational Board and editor of the +_Congregational Year Book_ (from 1846) and the _Congregational Manual_. + +[199] Frederick Denison Maurice (1805-1872) began his preaching as a +Unitarian but entered the Established Church in 1831, being ordained in +1834. He was professor of English and History at King's College, London, +from 1840 to 1853. He was one of the founders of Queen's College for women, +and was the first principal of the Working Men's College, London. The +subject referred to by De Morgan is his expression of opinion in his +_Theological Essays_ (1853) that future punishment is not eternal. As a +result of this expression he lost his professorship at King's College. In +1866 he was made Knightbridge Professor of Casuistry, Moral Theology, and +Moral Philosophy at Cambridge. + +[200] See Vol. I, page 46, note 1 {42}. Besides the books mentioned in +this list he wrote _The Ratio between Diameter and Circumference +demonstrated by angles, and Euclid's Theorem, Proposition 32, Book I, +proved to be fallacious_ (Liverpool, 1870). This is the theorem which +asserts that the exterior angle of a triangle is equal to the sum of the +two opposite interior angles, and that the sum of the interior angles +equals two right angles. He also published his _Curiosities of Mathematics_ +in 1870, a work containing an extensive correspondence with every one who +would pay any attention to him. De Morgan was then too feeble to show any +interest in the final effort of the subject of some of his keenest satire. + +[201] See Vol. I, page 332, note 4 {709}. + +[202] See Vol. I, page 101, note 4 {174}. + +[203] "The circle-squaring disease"; literally, "the circle-measuring +disease." + +[204] See Vol. II, page 63, note 136. + +[205] William Rutherford (c. 1798-1871), teacher of mathematics at +Woolwich, secretary of the Royal Astronomical Society, editor of _The +Mathematician_, and author of various textbooks. _The Extension of [pi] to +440 places_, appeared in the _Proceedings_ of the Royal Society in 1853 (p. +274). + +[206] Charles Knight (1791-1873) was associated with De Morgan for many +years. After 1828 he superintended the publications of the Society for the +Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, to which De Morgan contributed, and he +edited the _Penny Cyclopedia_ (1833-1844) for which De Morgan wrote the +articles on mathematics. + +[207] Sir William Hamilton. See Vol. I, page 112, note 7 {211}. + +[208] Adam Smith (1723-1790) was not only known for his _Wealth of Nations_ +(1776), but for his _Theory of Moral Sentiments_ (1759), published while he +was professor of moral philosophy at Glasgow (1752-1764). He was Lord +Rector of the university in 1787. + +[209] See Vol. I, page 332, note 4 {709}. + +[210] "Whip." + +[211] "Terrible lash." + +[212] "An accomplished fact [an accomplished fault]." + +[213] See _Extracts from the Diary and Letters of Mrs. Mary Cobb_, London, +1805. + +[214] "Gentle in manner." + +[215] "Brave in action." The motto of Earl Newborough was "Suaviter in +modo, fortiter in re." + +[216] "Reduction to an absurdity," a method of proof occasionally used in +geometry and in logic. + +[217] "He has lost the right of being moved (struck) by evidence." + +[218] For _radix quadratus_. The usual root sign is supposed to be derived +from _r_ (for radix), and at one time _q_ was commonly used for square, as +in Viete's style of writing Aq for A^2. + +[219] The Garde Douloureuse was a castle in the marches of Wales and +received its name because of its exposure to attacks by the Welsh. + +[220] "Out of the fight." + +[221] "Hidden." + +[222] John Cam Hobhouse (1786-1869), Baron Broughton, was committed to +Newgate for two months in 1819 for his anonymous pamphlet, _A Trifling +Mistake_. This was a great advertisement for him, and upon his release he +was at once elected to parliament for Westminster. He was a strong +supporter of all reform measures, and was Secretary for War in 1832. He was +created Baron Broughton de Gyfford in 1851. + +[223] Thomas Erskine (1750-1823), the famous orator. He became Lord +Chancellor in 1806, but sat in the House of Commons most of his life. + +[224] The above is explained in the MS. by a paragraph referring to some +anagrams, in one of which, by help of the orthography suggested, a +designation for this cyclometer was obtained from the letters of his +name.--S. E. De M. + +[225] "A personal verb agrees with its subject." + +[226] See Vol. I, page 326, note 1 {700}. + +[227] See Vol. I, page 326, note 2 {701}. + +[228] Apparently unknown to biographers. + +[229] The _Bibliotheca Mathematica_ of Ludwig Adolph Sohncke (1807-1853), +professor of mathematics at Koenigsberg and Halle, covered the period from +1830 to 1854, being completed by W. Engelmann. It appeared in 1854. + +[230] See Vol. I, page 392, note 2 {805}. + +[231] See Vol. I, page 43, note 7 {32}. + +[232] See Vol. II, page 91, note 187. + +[233] Mason made a notable balloon trip from London to Weilburg, in the +Duchy of Nassau, in November, 1836, covering 500 miles in 18 hours. He +published an account of this trip in 1837, and a work entitled +_Aeronautica_ in 1838. + +[234] William Harrison Ainsworth (1805-1885) the novelist. + +[235] On this question see Vol. I, page 326, note 2 {701}. + +[236] Major General Alfred Wilks Drayson, author of various works on +geology, astronomy, military surveying, and adventure. + +[237] Hailes also wrote several other paradoxes on astronomy and circle +squaring during the period 1843-1872. + +[238] See Vol. I, page 43, note 8 {33}. + +[239] See Vol. I, page 43, note 7 {32}. + +[240] "Very small errors are not to be condemned." + +[241] He seems to have written nothing else. + +[242] Besides the paradoxes here mentioned by De Morgan he wrote several +other works, including the following: _Abriss der Babylonisch-Assyrischen +Geschichte_ (Mannheim, 1854), _A Popular Inquiry into the Moon's rotation +on her axis_ (London, 1856), _Practical Tables for the reduction of the +Mahometan dates to the Christian kalendar_ (London, 1856), _Grundzuege einer +neuen Weltlehre_ (Munich, 1860), and _On the historical Antiquity of the +People of Egypt_ (London, 1863). + +[243] Dircks (1806-1873) was a civil engineer of prominence, and a member +of the British Association and the Royal Society of Edinburgh. He wrote +(1863) on "Pepper's Ghost," an ingenious optical illusion invented by him. +There was a second edition of the _Perpetuum Mobile_ in 1870. + +[244] George Stephenson (1781-1848), the inventor of the first successful +steam locomotive. His first engine was tried in 1814. + +[245] Robert Stephenson (1803-1859), the only son of George. Most of the +early improvements in locomotive manufacture were due to him. He was also +well known for his construction of great bridges. + +[246] "In its proper place." + +[247] "A fool always finds a bigger fool to admire him." + +[248] See Vol. I, page 43, note 7 {32}. + +[249] See Vol. I, page 43, note 8 {33}. + +[250] See Vol. I, page 85, note 2 {129}. + +[251] See Vol. I, page 390, note 1 {390}. + +[252] From 1823 to 1852 it was edited by I. C. Robertson; from 1852 to 1857 +by R. A. Brooman; and from 1857 to 1863 by Brooman and E. J. Reed. + +[253] Sir James Ivory (1765-1842) was, as a young man, manager of a flax +mill in Scotland. In 1804 he was made professor of mathematics at the Royal +Military College, then at Marlow and later at Sandhurst. He was deeply +interested in mathematical physics, and there is a theorem on the +attraction of ellipsoids that bears his name. He was awarded three medals +of the Royal Society, and was knighted together with Herschel and Brewster, +in 1831. + +[254] See Vol. I, page 56, note 1 {64}. + +[255] See Vol. I, page 153, note 5 {338}. + +[256] See Vol. I, page 309, note 2 {670}. + +[257] See Vol. I, page 87, note 4 {133}. + +[258] George Canning (1770-1857), the Tory statesman and friend of Scott, +was much interested in founding the _Quarterly Review_ (1808) and was a +contributor to its pages. + +[259] See Vol. I, page 186, note 14 {418}. + +[260] See Vol. II, page 141, note 252. + +[261] De Morgan had a number of excellent articles in this publication. + +[262] See Vol. I, page 279, note 1 {611}. + +[263] James Orchard Halliwell (1820-1889), afterwards Halliwell-Phillips, +came into prominence as a writer at an early age. When he was seventeen he +wrote a series of lives of mathematicians for the _Parthenon_. His _Rara +Mathematica_ appeared when he was but nineteen. He was a great bibliophile +and an enthusiastic student of Shakespeare. + +[264] This was written at the age of twenty-two. + +[265] The subject of this criticism is of long past date, and as it has +only been introduced by the author as an instance of faulty editorship, I +have omitted the name of the writer of the libel, and a few lines of +further detail.--S. E. De M. + +[266] "Condemned souls." + +[267] The editor of the _Mechanics' Magazine_ died soon after the above was +written.--S. E. De M. + +[268] Thomas Stephens Davies (1795-1851) was mathematical master at +Woolwich and F. R. S. He contributed a series of "Geometrical Notes" to the +_Mechanics' Magazine_ and edited the _Mathematician_. He also published a +number of text-books. + +[269] See Vol. II, page 66, note 143. + +[270] The _Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography_ (1849), edited by Sir +William Smith (1813-1893), whose other dictionaries on classical and +biblical matters are well known. + +[271] "O J. S.! This is the worst! the greatest possible injury!" + +[272] See Vol. I, page 44, note 9 {34} and page 110, note 5 {201}. + +[273] + + "If there's a man whom the judge's pitiless sentence awaiteth, + His head condemned to penalties and tribulations, + Let neither penitentiaries tire him with laborer's burdens + Nor let his stiffened hands be harrassed by work in the mines. + He must square the circle! For what else do I care?--all + Known punishments this one task hath surely included." + +[274] Houlston was in the customs service. He also published _Inklings of +Areal Autometry_, London, 1874. + +[275] This is Frederick C. Bakewell. He had already published _Natural +Evidence of a Future Life_ (London, 1835), _Philosophical Conversations_ +(London, 1833, with other editions), and _Electric Science_ (London, 1853, +with other editions). + +[276] Henry F. A. Pratt had already published _A Dissertation on the power +of the intercepted pressure of the Atmosphere_ (London, 1844) and _The +Genealogy of Creation_ (1861). Later he published a work _On Orbital +Motion_ (1863), and _Astronomical Investigations_ (1865). + +[277] See Vol. I, page 260, note 1 {591}. + +[278] Thomas Rawson Birks (1810-1883), a theologian and controversialist, +fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, and (1872) professor of moral +philosophy in that university. He wrote _Modern Rationalism_ (1853), _The +Bible and Modern Thought_ (1861), _The First Principles of Moral Science_ +(1873), and _Modern Physical Fatalism and the Doctrine of Evolution_ +(1876), the last being an attack on Herbert Spencer's _First Principles_. + +[279] Pseudonym for William Thorn. In the following year (1863) he +published a second work, _The Thorn-Tree: being a History of Thorn +Worship_, a reply to Bishop Colenso's work entitled _The Pentateuch and the +Book of Joshua critically examined_. + +[280] Besides _The Pestilence_ (1866) he published _The True Church_ +(1851), _The Church and her destinies_ (1855), _Religious reformation +imperatively demanded_ (1864), and _The Bible plan unfolded_ (second +edition, 1872). + +[281] See Vol. II, page 97, note 195. + +[282] Sir George Cornewall Lewis (1806-1863) also wrote an _Essay on the +Origin and Formation of the Romance Languages_ (1835), an _Essay on the +Government of Dependencies_ (1841), and an _Essay on Foreign Jurisdiction +and the Extradition of Criminals_ (1859). He was Chancellor of the +Exchequer in 1855 and Home Secretary in 1859. + +[283] Henry Malden (1800-1876), a classical scholar, fellow of Trinity +College, Cambridge, and professor of Greek at University College +(1831-1876), then (1831) the University of London. He wrote a _History of +Rome to 390 B. C._ (1830), and _On the Origin of Universities and +Academical Degrees_ (1835). + +[284] Henry Longueville Mansel (1820-1871), theologian and metaphysician, +reader in theology at Magdalen College, Oxford (1855), and professor of +ecclesiastical history and Dean of St. Paul's (1866). He wrote on +metaphysics, and his Bampton Lectures (1858) were reprinted several times. + +[285] "Hejus gave freely, gave freely. God is propitious, God is favorable +to him who gives freely. God is honored with a banquet of eggs at the cross +roads, the god of the world. God, with benignant spirit, desired in +sacrifice a goat, a bull to be carried within the precincts of the holy +place. God, twice propitiated, blesses the pit of the sacred libation." + +[286] Eudoxus of Cnidus (408-355 B. C.) had much to do with the early +scientific astronomy of the Greeks. The fifth book of Euclid is generally +attributed to him. His astronomical works are known chiefly through the +poetical version of Aratus mentioned in note 13, page 167. + +[287] Simplicius, a native of Cilicia, lived in the 6th century of our era. +He was driven from Athens by Justinian and went to Persia (531), but he +returned later and had some fame as a teacher. + +[288] See Vol. I, page 160, note 3 {348}. + +[289] See Vol. I, page 76, note 3 {112}. + +[290] "Through right and wrong." + +[291] "It is therefore to arrive at this parallelism, or to preserve it, +that Copernicus feared to be obliged to have recourse to this equal and +opposite movement which destroys the effect which he attributed so freely +to the first, of deranging the parallelism." + +[292] A contemporary of Plato and a disciple of Aristotle. + +[293] Meton's solstice, the beginning of the Metonic cycles, has been +placed at 432 B. C. Ptolemy states that he made the length of the year +365-1/4 + 1/72 days. + +[294] Aratus lived about 270 B. C., at the court of Antigonus of Macedonia, +and probably practiced medicine there. He was the author of two +astronomical poems, the [Greek: Phainomena], apparently based on the lost +work of Eudoxus, and the [Greek: Dioseeia] based on Aristotle's +_Meteorologica_ and _De Signis Ventorum_ of Theophrastus. + +[295] "The nineteen (-year) cycle of the shining sun." + +[296] Claudius Salmasius (1588-1653), or Claude Saumaise, was a +distinguished classicist, and professor at the University of Leyden. The +word [Greek: eleioio] means Elian, thus making the phrase refer to the +brilliant one of Elis. + +[297] Sir William Brown (1784-1864). In 1800 the family moved to Baltimore, +and there the father, Alexander Brown, became prominent in the linen trade. +William went to Liverpool where he acquired great wealth as a merchant and +banker. He was made a baronet in 1863. + +[298] Robert Lowe (1811-1892), viscount Sherbrooke, was a fellow of +Magdalen College, Oxford (1835). He went to Australia in 1842 and was very +successful at the bar. He returned to England in 1850 and became leader +writer on the _Times_. He was many years in parliament, and in 1880 was +raised to the peerage. + +[299] See Vol. I, page 42, note 4 {24}. + +[300] Francis Walkingame (fl. about 1751-1785), whose _Tutor's Assistant_ +went through many editions from 1751-1854. + +[301] Davies Gilbert (1767-1839). His family name was Giddy, but he assumed +his wife's name. He sat in parliament from 1806 to 1832. In 1819 he secured +the establishment of the Cape of Good Hope observatory. He was Treasurer +(1820-1827) and President (1827-1830) of the Royal Society. + +[302] See Vol. I, page 55, note 2 {63}. + +[303] Sir Jonathan Frederick Pollock (1783-1870) entered parliament in 1831 +and was knighted in 1834. + +[304] Joseph Hume (1777-1855) entered parliament in 1812 and for thirty +years was leader of the Radical party. + +[305] "What! when I say, 'Nicole, bring me my slippers,' is that prose?" + +[306] Captain Basil Hall (1788-1844), a naval officer, carried on a series +of pendulum observations in 1820-1822, while on a cruise of the west coast +of North America. The results were published in 1823 in the _Philosophical +Transactions_. He also wrote two popular works on travel that went through +numerous editions. + +[307] Anthony Ashley Cooper (1801-1885), Earl of Shaftesbury. His name is +connected with philanthropic work and factory legislation. + +[308] See Vol. I, page 207, note 12 {469}. + +[309] See Vol. I, page 80, note 5 {119}. + +[310] Sir Thomas Maclear (1794-1879), an Irishman by birth, became +Astronomer Royal at the Cape of Good Hope in 1833. He was an indefatigable +observer. He was knighted in 1860. + +[311] Thomas Romney Robinson (1792-1882), another Irish astronomer of +prominence. He was a deputy professor at Trinity College, Dublin, but took +charge of the Armagh observatory in 1823 and remained there until his +death. + +[312] Sir James South (1785-1867) was in early life a surgeon, but gave up +his practice in 1816 and fitted up a private observatory. He contributed to +the science of astronomy, particularly with respect to the study of double +stars. + +[313] Sir John Wrottesley (1798-1867), second Baron Wrottesley. Like Sir +James South, he took up the study of astronomy after a professional +career,--in his case in law. He built a private observatory in 1829 and +made a long series of observations, publishing three star catalogues. He +was president of the Astronomical Society from 1841 to 1843, and of the +Royal Society from 1854 to 1857. + +[314] He seems to have written nothing else. + +[315] See Vol. II, page 68, note 147. + +[316] "The wills are free, and I wish neither the one nor the other." + +[317] "The force of inertia conquered." + +[318] Reddie also wrote _The Mechanics of the Heavens_, referred to later +in this work. He must not be confused with Judge James Reddie (1773-1852), +of Glasgow, who wrote on international law, although this is done in the +printed edition of the British Museum catalogue, for he is mentioned by De +Morgan somewhat later as alive in 1862. + +[319] Henry Dunning Macleod (1821-1902), a lawyer and writer on political +economy, was a Scotchman by birth. He wrote on economical questions, and +lectured on banking at Cambridge (1877) and at King's College, London +(1878). He was a free lance in his field, and was not considered orthodox +by the majority of economists of his time. He was an unsuccessful candidate +for the chairs of political economy at Cambridge (1863), Edinburgh (1871), +and Oxford (1888). + +[320] See Vol. I, page 252, note 2 {576}. + +[321] Francis Henry Laing (1816-1889) was a graduate of Queen's College, +Cambridge, and a clergyman in the Church of England until 1846, when he +entered the Church of Rome. He taught in various Jesuit colleges until +1862, when his eccentricity was too marked to warrant the Church in +allowing him to continue. He published various controversial writings +during his later years. Of course if he had known the works of Wessel, +Gaus, Buee, Argand, and others, he would not have made such a sorry +exhibition of his ignorance of mathematics. + +[322] See Vol. I, page 329, note 1 {705}. The book went into a second +edition in 1864. + +[323] Thomas Weddle (1817-1853) was, at the time of publishing this paper, +a teacher in a private school. In 1851 he became professor of mathematics +at Sandhurst. He contributed several papers to the _Cambridge and Dublin +Mathematical Journal_, chiefly on geometry. + +[324] See Vol. II, page 109, note 205. + +[325] See Vol. II, page 66, note 143. + +[326] See Vol. II, page 151, note 268. + +[327] George Barrett (1752-1821) worked from 1786 to 1811 on a set of life +insurance and annuity tables. He invented a plan known as the "columnar +method" for the construction of such tables, and as De Morgan states, this +was published by Francis Baily, appearing in the appendix to his work on +annuities, in the edition of 1813. Some of his tables were used in +Babbage's _Comparative View of the various Institutions for the Assurance +of Lives_ (1826). + +[328] See Vol. I, page 309, note 2 {670}. + +[329] This was his _Practical short and direct Method of Calculating the +Logarithm of any given Number, and the Number corresponding to any given +Logarithm_ (1849). + +[330] This is William Neile (1637-1670), grandson of Richard Neile (not +Neal), Archbishop of York. At the age of 19, in 1657, he gave the first +rectification of the semicubical parabola. Although he communicated it to +Brouncker, Wren, and others, it was not published until 1639, when it +appeared in John Wallis's _De Cycloide_. + +[331] I myself "was a considerable part." + +[332] He also wrote _A Glance at the Universe_ ("2d thousand" in 1862), and +_The Resurrection Body_ (1869). + +[333] See Vol. I, page 63, note 1 {74}. + +[334] As Swift gave it in his _Poetry. A Rhapsody_, it is as follows: + + "So, naturalists observe, a flea + Has smaller fleas that on him prey; + And these have smaller still to bite 'em. + And so proceed _ad infinitum_." + +[335] Perhaps 1,600,000,000 years, if Boltwood's recent computations based +on radium disintegration stand the test. This would mean, according to +MacCurdy's estimate, 60,000,000 years since life first appeared on the +earth. + +[336] De Morgan wrote better than he knew, for this work, the _Allgemeine +Encyclopaedie der Wissenschaften und Kuenste_, begun at Leipsic in 1818, is +still (1913) unfinished. Section I, A-G, consists of 99 parts in 56 +volumes; Section II, H-N, consists of 43 volumes and is not yet completed; +and Section III, O-Z, consists of 25 volumes thus far, with most of the +work still to be done. Johann Samuel Ersch (1766-1828), the founder, was +head librarian at Halle. Johann Gottfried Gruber (1774-1851), his +associate, was professor of philosophy at the same university. + +[337] William Howitt (1792-1879) was a poet, a spiritualist, and a +miscellaneous writer. He and his wife became spiritualists about 1850. He +wrote numerous popular works on travel, nature and history. + +[338] See Vol. II, page 55, note 108. + +[339] As will be inferred from the text, C. D. was Mrs. De Morgan, and +A. B. was De Morgan. + +[340] Jean Meslier (1678-1733), cure of Estrepigny, in Champagne, was a +skeptic, but preached only strict orthodoxy to his people. It was only in +his manuscript, _Mon Testament_, that was published after his death, and +that caused a great sensation in France, that his antagonism to +Christianity became known. + +[341] Baron Zach relates that a friend of his, in a writing intended for +publication, said _Un esprit doit se frotter contre un autre_. The censors +struck it out. The Austrian police have a keen eye for consequences.--A. De +M. + +"One mind must rub against another." On Baron Zach, see Vol. II, page 45, +note 4. + +[342] Referring to the first Lord Eldon (1751-1838), who was Lord +Chancellor from 1799 to 1827, with the exception of one year. + +[343] "Sleeping power." + +[344] "Causes sleep." + +[345] Richard Hooker (c. 1554-1600), a theologian, "the ablest living +advocate of the Church of England as by law established." + +[346] See Vol. I, page 76, note 3 {112}. + +[347] "Other I,"--other self. + +[348] This "utter rejection" has been repeated (1872) by the same +writer.--S. E. De M. + +[349] Edward Jenner (1749-1823) was a physician and biologist. His first +experiments in vaccination were made in 1796, and his discovery was +published in 1798. + +[350] See Vol. II, page 38, note 80. + +[351] "You will go most safely in the middle (way)." + +[352] Pierre Joseph Arson was known early in the 19th century for his +controversy with Hoene Wronski the mathematician, whom he attacked in his +_Document pour l'histoire des grands fourbes qui ont figure sur la terre_ +(1817-1818). + +[353] "We enter the course by night and are consumed by fire." + +[354] See Vol. I, page 51, note 3 {51}. + +[355] See Vol. I, page 336, note 8 {713}. + +[356] See Vol. I, page 137, note 8 {286}. + +[357] See Vol. I, page 229, note 2 {515}. + +[358] Richard Cobden (1804-1865), the cotton manufacturer and statesman who +was prominent in his advocacy of the repeal of the Corn Laws. + +[359] James Smith (1775-1839), solicitor to the Board of Ordnance. With his +brother Horatio he wrote numerous satires. His _Horace in London_ (1813) +imitated the Roman poet. His works were collected and published in 1840. + +[360] Samuel Butler (1612-1680), the poet and satirist, author of +_Hudibras_ (1663-1678). + +[361] "Is it not fine to be sure of one's action when entering in a combat +with another? There, push me a little in order to see. NICOLE. Well! what's +the matter? M. JOURDAIN. Slowly. Ho there! Ho! gently. Deuce take the +rascal! NICOLE. You told me to push. M. JOURDAIN. Yes, but you pushed me +_en tierce_, before you pushed _en quarte_, and you did not give me time to +parry." + +[362] John Abernethy (1764-1831), the famous physician and surgeon. + +[363] See Vol. I, page 102, note 5 {175}. + +[364] "With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again." + +[365] Eusebius of Caesarea (c. 260-340), leader of the moderate party at the +Council of Nicaea, and author of a _History of the Christian Church_ in ten +books (c. 324 A. D.). + +[366] Nathaniel Lardner (1684-1768), a non-conformist minister and one of +the first to advocate the scientific study of early Christian literature. + +[367] Henry Alford (1810-1871) Dean of Canterbury (1857-1871) and editor of +the Greek Testament (1849-1861). + +[368] The work was _The Number and Names of the Apocalyptic Beasts: with an +explanation and application. Part I._ London, 1848, as mentioned below. +Thom also wrote _The Assurance of Faith, or Calvinism identified with +Universalism_ (London, 1833), and various other religious works. + +[369] See Vol. I, page 222, note 14 {490}. + +[370] John Hamilton Thom (1808-1894) was converted to Unitarianism and was +long a minister in that church, preaching in the Renshaw Street Chapel from +1831 to 1866. De Morgan refers to the Liverpool Unitarian controversy +conducted by James Martineau and Henry Giles in response to a challenge by +thirteen Anglican Clergy. In 1839 Thom contributed four lectures and a +letter to this controversy. Among his religious works were a _Life of +Blanco White_ (1845) and _Hymns, Chants, and Anthems_ (1854). + +[371] The spelling of these names is occasionally changed to meet the +condition that the numerical value of the letters shall be 666, "the number +of the beast" of Revelations. The names include Julius Caesar; Valerius +Jovius Diocletianus (249-313), emperor from 287 to 305, persecutor of the +Christians; Louis, presumably Louis XIV; Gerbert (940-1003), who reigned as +Pope Sylvester II from 999 to 1003, known to mathematicians for his abacus +and his interest in geometry, and accused by his opponents as being in +league with the devil; Linus, the second Bishop of Rome, the successor of +Peter; Camillo Borghese (1552-1621), who reigned as Pope Paul V from 1605 +to 1621, and who excommunicated all Venice in 1606 for its claim to try +ecclesiastics before lay tribunals, thus taking a position which he was +forced to abandon; Luther, Calvin; Laud (see Vol. I, page 145, note 7 +{307}); Genseric (c. 406-477), king of the Vandals, who sacked Rome in 455 +and persecuted the orthodox Christians in Africa; Boniface III, who was +pope for nine months in 606; Beza (see Vol. I, page 66, note 6 {83}); +Mohammed; [Greek: braski], who was Giovanni Angelo Braschi (1717-1799), and +who reigned as Pope Pius VI from 1775 to 1799, dying in captivity because +he declined to resign his temporal power to Napoleon; Bonaparte; and, under +[Greek: Ion Paune], possibly Pope John XIV, who reigned in 983 and 984 +during the absence of Boniface VII in Constantinople. + +[372] The Greek words and names are also occasionally misspelled so as to +fit them to the number 666. They are [Greek: Lateinos] (Latin), [Greek: he +latine basileia] (the Latin kingdom), [Greek: ekklesia italika] (the +Italian Church), [Greek: euanthas] (blooming), [Greek: teitan] (Titan), +[Greek: arnoume] (renounce), [Greek: lampetis] (the lustrous), [Greek: ho +niketes] (conqueror), [Greek: kakos hodegos] (bad guide), [Greek: alethes +blaberos] (truthful harmful one), [Greek: palai baskanos] (a slanderer of +old), [Greek: amnos adikos] (unmanageable lamb), [Greek: antemos] +(Antemos), [Greek: genserikos] (Genseric), [Greek: euinas] (with stout +fibers), [Greek: Benediktos] (Benedict), [Greek: Bonibazios g. papa x. e. +e. e. a.] (Boniface III, pope 68, bishop of bishops I), [Greek: oulpios] +(baneful), [Greek: dios eimi he heras] (I, a god, am the), [Greek: he missa +he papike] (the papal brief), [Greek: loutherana] (Lutheran), [Greek: +saxoneios] (Saxon), [Greek: Bezza antitheos] (Beza antigod), [Greek: he +alazoneia biou] (the illusion of life), [Greek: Maometis] (Mahomet); +[Greek: Maometes b.] (Mahomet II), [Greek: theos eimi epi gaies] (I am lord +over the earth), [Greek: iapetos] (Iapetos, father of Atlas), [Greek: +papeiskos] (Papeiskos), [Greek: dioklasianos] (Diocletian), [Greek: cheina] +(Cheina = Cain? China?), [Greek: braski] (Braschi, as explained in note +10), [Greek: Ion Paune] (Paunian violet, but see note 10), [Greek: koupoks] +(cowpox), [Greek: Bonneparte] (Bonneparte), [Greek: N. Boneparte] (N. +Boneparte), [Greek: euporia] (facility), [Greek: paradosis] (surrender), +[Greek: to megatherion] (the megathereum, the beast). + +[373] James Wapshare, whose _Harmony of the Word of God in Spirit and in +Truth_ appeared in 1849. + +[374] The literature relating to the _Swastika_ is too extended to permit +of any adequate summary in these notes. + +[375] Henry Edward Manning (1808-1892), at first an Anglican clergyman, he +became a Roman Catholic priest in 1851, and became Cardinal in 1875. He +succeeded Cardinal Wiseman as Archbishop of Westminster in 1865. He wrote a +number of religious works. + +[376] John Bright (1811-1889), Quaker, cotton manufacturer, and statesman. +He worked with Cobden for free trade, peace, and reform of the electorate. + +[377] "The fallacy of many questions." + +[378] William Wilberforce (1759-1833), best known for his long fight for +the abolition of the slave trade. + +[379] Richard Martin (1754-1834), high sheriff of County Galway and owner +of a large estate in Connemara. Curiously enough, he was known both for his +readiness in duelling and for his love for animals. He was known as +"Humanity Martin," and in 1822 secured the passage of an act "to prevent +the cruel and improper treatment of cattle." He was one of the founders +(1824) of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. He is +usually considered the original of Godfrey O'Malley in Lever's novel, +_Charles O'Malley_. + +[380] See Vol. I, page 149, note 1 {323}, also text on same page. + +[381] See Vol. I, page 44, note 9 {34}, also text, Vol. I, page 110. + +[382] "Penitential seat." + +[383] "Well placed upon the cushion." + +[384] See Vol. II, page 58, note 109. + +[385] "He has lost the right of being influenced by evidence." + +[386] "Hung up." + +[387] "A few things to the wise, nothing to the unlettered." + +[388] The fallacy results from dividing both members of an equation by 0, x +- 1 being the same as 1 - 1, and calling the quotients finite. + +[389] "If you order him to the sky he will go." + +[390] _Similia similibus curanter_, "Like cures like," the homeopathic +motto. + +[391] "Without harm to the proprieties." + +[392] "What are you doing? I am standing here." + +[393] Lors feist l'Anglois tel signe. La main gausche toute ouverte il leva +hault en l'aer, puis ferma au poing les quatres doigtz d'icelle et le +poulce estendu assit sus la pinne du nez. Soubdain apres leva la dextre +toute ouverte, et toute ouverte la baissa, joignant la poulce au lieu que +fermait le petit doigt de la gausche, et les quatre doigtz d'icelle mouvoit +lentement en l'aer. Puis au rebours feit de la dextre ce qu'il avoit faict +de la gausche, et de la gausche ce que avoit faict de la dextre.--A. De M. + +[394] _Suaviter in modo, fortiter in re_, "Gentle in manners, firm in +action." + +[395] See Vol. I, page 101, note 4 {174}. + +[396] See Vol. I, page 315, note 3 {686}. + +[397] Henry Fawcett (1833-1884) became totally blind in 1858, but in spite +of this handicap he became professor of political economy at Cambridge and +sat in parliament for a number of years. He championed the cause of reform +and in particular he was prominent in the protection of the native +interests of India. The establishing of the parcels post (1882) took place +while he was postmaster general (1880-1884). + +[398] Of course the whole thing depends upon what definition of division is +taken. We can multiply 2 ft. by 3 ft. if we define multiplication so as to +allow it, or 2 ft. by 3 lb, getting foot-pounds, as is done in physics. + +[399] Richard Milward (1609-1680), for so the name is usually given, was +rector of Great Braxted (Essex) and canon of Windsor. He was long the +amanuensis of John Selden, and the _Table Talk_ was published nine years +after Milward's death, from notes that he left. Some doubt has been cast +upon the authenticity of the work owing to many of the opinions that it +ascribes to Selden. + +[400] John Selden (1584-1654) was a jurist, legal antiquary, and Oriental +scholar. He sat in the Long Parliament, and while an advocate of reform he +was not an extremist. He was sent to the Tower for his support of the +resolution against "tonnage and poundage," in 1629. His _History of Tythes_ +(1618) was suppressed at the demand of the bishops. His _De Diis Syriis_ +(1617) is still esteemed a classic on Semitic mythology. + +[401] See Vol. I, page 42, note 4 {24}. + +[402] See Vol. II, page 249, note 398. + +[403] John Palmer (1742-1818) was a theatrical manager. In 1782 he set +forth a plan for forwarding the mails by stage coaches instead of by +postmen. Pitt adopted the plan in 1784. Palmer was made comptroller-general +of the post office in 1786 and was dismissed six years later for +arbitrarily suspending a deputy. He had been verbally promised 2-1/2% on +the increased revenue, but Pitt gave him only a pension of L3000. In 1813 +he was awarded L50,000 in addition to his pension. + +[404] Dionysius Lardner (1793-1859), professor of natural philosophy in +London University (now University College). His _Cabinet Cyclopaedia_ +(1829-1849) contained 133 volumes. De Morgan wrote on probabilities, and +Lardner on various branches of mathematics, and there were many other +well-known contributors. Lardner is said to have made $200,000 on a lecture +tour in America. + +[405] Thomas Fysche Palmer (1747-1802) joined the Unitarians in 1783, and +in 1785 took a charge in Dundee. He was arrested for sedition because of an +address that it was falsely alleged that he gave before a society known as +the "Friends of Liberty." As a matter of fact the address was given by an +uneducated weaver, and Palmer was merely asked to revise it, declining to +do even this. Nevertheless he was sentenced to Botany Bay (1794) for seven +years. The trial aroused great indignation. + +[406] See Vol. I, page 80, note 5 {119}. + +[407] See Vol. II, page 244, note 394. + +[408] See Vol. I, page 352, note 1 {731}. + +[409] See Vol. I, page 332, note 4 {709}. + +[410] "The lawyers are brought into court; let them accuse each other." + +[411] Samuel Rogers (1763-1855), the poet and art connoisseur. He declined +the laureateship on the death of Wordsworth (1850). Byron, his pretended +friend, wrote a lampoon (1818) ridiculing his cadaverous appearance. + +[412] Theodore Edward Hook (1788-1841), the well-known wit. He is satirized +as Mr. Wagg in _Vanity Fair_. The _John Bull_ was founded in 1820 and Hook +was made editor. + +[413] "On pitying the heretic." + +[414] A term of medieval logic. Barbara: All M is P, all S is M, hence all +S is P. Celarent: No M is P, all S is M, hence no S is P. + +[415] "Simply," "According to which," "It does not follow." + +[416] + + "O sweet soul, what good shall I declare + That heretofore was thine, since such are thy remains!" + +[417] "Stupid fellow!" + +[418] Christopher Barker (c. 1529-1599), also called Barkar, was the +Queen's printer. He began to publish books in 1569, but did no actual +printing until 1576. In 1575 the Geneva Bible was first printed in England, +the work being done for Barker. He published 38 partial or complete +editions of the Bible from 1575 to 1588, and 34 were published by his +deputies (1588-1599). + +[419] James Franklin (1697-1735) was born in Boston, Mass., and was sent to +London to learn the printer's trade. He returned in 1717 and started a +printing house. Benjamin, his brother, was apprenticed to him but ran away +(1723). James published the _New England Courant_ (1721-1727), and Benjamin +is said to have begun his literary career by writing for it. + +[420] James Hodder was a writing master in Tokenhouse Yard, Lothbury, in +1661, and later kept a boarding school in Bromley-by-Bow. His famous +arithmetic appeared at London in 1661 and went through many editions. It +was the basis of Cocker's work. (See Vol. I, page 42, note 4 {24}.) It was +long thought to have been the first arithmetic published in America, and it +was the first English one. There was, however, an arithmetic published much +earlier than this, in Mexico, the _Sumario compendioso ... con algunas +reglas tocantes al Aritmetica_, by "Juan Diaz Freyle," in 1556. + +[421] Henry Mose, Hodder's successor, kept a school in Sherborne Lane, +London. + +[422] Rear Admiral Sir Francis Beaufort (1774-1857), F.R.S., was +hydrographer to the Navy from 1829 to 1855. He prepared an atlas that was +printed by the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. + +[423] Antoine Sabatier (1742-1817), born at Castres, was known as the Abbe +but was really nothing more than a "clerc tonsure." He lived at Court and +was pensioned to write against the philosophers of the Voltaire group. He +posed as the defender of morality, a commodity of which he seems to have +possessed not the slightest trace. + +[424] Maffeo Barberini was pope, as Urban VIII, from 1623 to 1644. It was +during his ambitious reign that Galileo was summoned to Rome to make his +recantation (1633), the exact nature of which is still a matter of dispute. + +[425] This Baden Powell (1796-1860) was the Savilian professor of geometry +(1827-1860) at Oxford. + +[426] "Memoirs of the famous bishop of Chiapa, by which it appears that he +had butchered or burned or drowned ten million infidels in America in order +to convert them. I believe that this bishop exaggerated; but if we should +reduce these sacrifices to five million victims, this would still be +admirable." + +[427] Alfonso X (1221-1284), known as El Sabio (the Wise), was interested +in astronomy and caused the Alphonsine Tables to be prepared. These table +were used by astronomers for a long time. It is said that when the +Ptolemaic system of the universe was explained to him he remarked that if +he had been present at the Creation he could have shown how to arrange +things in a much simpler fashion. + +[428] George Richards (c. 1767-1837), fellow of Oriel (1790-1796), Bampton +lecturer (1800), Vicar of St. Martin's-in-the-Fields, Westminster (1824), +and a poet of no mean ability. + +[429] The "Aboriginal Britons," an excellent poem, by Richards. (Note by +Byron.)--A. De M. + +[430] John Watkins (d. after 1831), a teacher and miscellaneous writer. + +[431] Frederic Shoberl (1775-1853), a miscellaneous writer. + +[432] He wrote, besides the _Aboriginal Britons_, _Songs of the Aboriginal +Bards_ (1792), _Modern France: a Poem_ (1793), _Odin, a drama_ (1804), +_Emma, a drama on the model of the Greek theatre_ (1804), _Poems_ (2 +volumes, 1804), and a _Monody on the Death of Lord Nelson_ (1806). + +[433] Henry Kirke White (1785-1806), published his first volume of poems at +the age of 18. Southey and William Wilberforce became interested in him and +procured for him a sizarship at St. John's College, Cambridge. He at once +showed great brilliancy, but he died of tuberculosis at the age of 21. + +[434] John Wolcot, known as Peter Pindar (1738-1819), was a London +physician. He wrote numerous satirical poems. His _Bozzy and Piozzi, or the +British Biographers_, appeared in 1786, and reached the 9th edition in +1788. + +[435] See Vol. I, page 235, note 8 {532}. + +[436] Richard Payne Knight (1750-1824) was a collector of bronzes, gems, +and coins, many of his pieces being now in the British Museum. He sat in +parliament for twenty-six years (1780-1806), but took no active part in +legislation. He opposed the acquisition of the Elgin Marbles, holding them +to be of little importance. His _Analytical Inquiry into the Principles of +Taste_ appeared in 1808. + +[437] Mario Nizzoli (1498-1566), a well-known student of Cicero, was for a +time professor at the University of Parma. His _Observationes in M. Tullium +Ciceronem_ appeared at Pratalboino in 1535. It was revised by his nephew +under the title _Thesaurus Ciceronianus_ (Venice, 1570). + +[438] See Vol. I, page 314, note 4 {681}. + +[439] + + "Like the geometer, who bends all his powers + To measure the circle, and does not succeed, + Thinking what principle he needs." + +[440] Francis Quarles (1592-1644), a religious poet. He wrote paraphrases +of the Bible and numerous elegies. In the early days of the revolutionary +struggle he sided with the Royalists. One of his most popular works was the +_Emblems_ (1635), with illustrations by William Marshall. + +[441] Regnault de Becourt wrote _La Creation du monde, ou Systeme +d'organisation primitive suivi de l'interpretation des principaux +phenomenes et accidents que se sont operes dans la nature depuis l'origine +de univers jusqu'a nos jours_ (1816). This may be the work translated by +Dalmas. + +[442] "Because it lacks a holy prophet." + +[443] Anghera. See Vol. II, page 60, note 127. + +[444] Edmund Curll (1675-1747), a well-known bookseller, publisher, and +pamphleteer. He was for a time at "The Peacock without Temple Bar," and +later at "The Dial and Bible against St. Dunstan's Church." He was fined +repeatedly for publishing immoral works, and once stood in the pillory for +it. He is ridiculed in the _Dunciad_ for having been tossed in a blanket by +the boys of Westminster School because of an oration that displeased them. + +[445] See Vol. II, page 109, note 206. + +[446] Encyclopaedia. + +[447] Author of the _Historia Naturalis_ (77 A.D.) + +[448] Author of the _De Institutione Oratorio Libri_ XII (c. 91 A.D.) + +[449] His _De Architectures Libri_ X was not merely a work on architecture +and building, but on the education of the architect. + +[450] Cyclophoria. + +[451] William Caxton (c. 1422-c.1492), sometime Governor of the Company of +Merchant Adventurers in Bruges (between 1449 and 1470). He learned the art +of printing either at Bruges or Cologne, and between 1471 and 1477 set up a +press at Westminster. Tradition says that the first book printed in England +was his _Game and Playe of Chesse_ (1474). The _Myrrour of the Worlde and +th'ymage of the same_ appeared in 1480. It contains a brief statement on +arithmetic, the first mathematics to appear in print in England. + +[452] See Vol. I, page 45, note 6 {40}. De Morgan is wrong as to the date +of the _Margarita Philosophica_. The first edition appeared at Freiburg in +1503. + +[453] Reisch was confessor to Maximilian I (1459-1519), King of the Romans +(1486) and Emperor (1493-1519). + +[454] Joachim Sterck Ringelbergh (c. 1499-c. 1536), teacher of philosophy +and mathematics in various cities of France and Germany. His _Institutionum +astronomicarum libri III_ appeared at Basel in 1528, his _Cosmographia_ at +Paris in 1529, and his _Opera_ at Leyden in 1531. + +[455] Johannes Heinrich Alsted (1588-1638) was professor of philosophy and +theology at his birthplace, Herborn, in Nassau, and later at Weissenberg. +He published several works, including the _Elementale mathematicum_ (1611), +_Systema physicae harmonicae_ (1612), _Methodus admirandorum +mathematicorum_ (1613), _Encyclopaedia septem tomis distincta_ (1630), and +the work mentioned above. + +[456] Johann Jakob Hoffmann (1635-1706), professor of Greek and history at +his birthplace, Basel. He also wrote the _Epitome metrica historiae +universalis civilis et sacrae ab orbe condito_ (1686). + +[457] Ephraim Chambers (c. 1680-1740), a crotchety, penurious, but +kind-hearted freethinker. His _Cyclopaedia, or an Universal Dictionary_ was +translated into French and is said to have suggested the great +_Encyclopedie_. + +[458] _Encyclopedie, ou Dictionnaire raisonne des sciences, des arts et des +metiers, par un societe de gens de lettres. Mis en ordre et publie par M. +Diderot, et quant a la partie mathematique, par M. d'Alembert._ Paris, +1751-1780, 35 volumes. + +[459] "From the egg" (state). + +[460] See Vol. I, page 382, note 12 {785}. + +[461] See Vol. II, page 4, note 15. + +[462] "In morals nothing should serve man as a model but God; in the arts, +nothing but nature." + +[463] _Encyclopedie Methodique, ou par ordre de matieres._ Paris, +1782-1832, 166-1/2 volumes. + +[464] See Vol. II, page 193, note 336. + +[465] _Encyclopaedia Metropolitana; or, Universal Dictionary of Knowledge._ +London, 1845, 29 volumes. A second edition came out in 1848-1858 in 40 +volumes. + +[466] See Vol. I, page 137, note 8 {286}. + +[467] See Vol. I, page 80, note 5 {119}. + +[468] De Morgan should be alive to satirize some of the statements on the +history of mathematics in the eleventh edition. + +[469] John Pringle Nichol (1804-1859), Regius professor of astronomy at +Glasgow and a popular lecturer on the subject. He lectured in the United +States in 1848-1849. His _Views of the Architecture of the Heavens_ (1838) +was a very popular work, and his _Planetary System_ (1848, 1850) contains +the first suggestion for the study of sun spots by the aid of photography. + +[470] See Vol. II, page 109, note 206. + +[471] George Long (1800-1879), a native of Poulton, in Lancashire, was +called to the University of Virginia when he was only twenty-four years old +as professor of ancient languages. He returned to England in 1828 to become +professor of Greek at London University. From 1833 to 1849 he edited the +twenty-nine volumes of the _Penny Cyclopaedia_. He was an authority on Roman +law. + +[472] A legal phrase, "Qui tam pro domina regina, quam pro se ipso +sequitur,"--"Who sues as much on the Queen's account as on his own." + +[473] Arthur Cayley (1821-1895) was a fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge +(1842-1846) and was afterwards a lawyer (1849-1863). During his fourteen +years at the bar he published some two hundred mathematical papers. In 1863 +he became professor of mathematics at Cambridge, and so remained until his +death. His collected papers, nine hundred in number, were published by the +Cambridge Press in 13 volumes (1889-1898). He contributed extensively to +the theory of invariants and covariants. De Morgan's reference to his +coining of new names is justified, although his contemporary, Professor +Sylvester, so far surpassed him in this respect as to have been dubbed "the +mathematical Adam." + +[474] See Vol. II, page 26, note 56. + +[475] See Vol. I, page 111, note 3 {207}. + +[476] See Vol. I, page 87, note 6 {135}. + +[477] Pierre Dupuy (1582-1651) was a friend and relative of De Thou. With +the collaboration of his brother and Nicolas Rigault he published the 1620 +and 1626 editions of De Thou's History. He also wrote on law and history. +His younger brother, Jacques (died in 1656), edited his works. The two had +a valuable collection of books and manuscripts which they bequeathed to the +Royal Library at Paris. + +[478] See Vol. I, page 51, note 3 {51}. + +[479] It was Cosmo de' Medici (1590-1621) who was the patron of Galileo. + +[480] See Vol. I, page 40, note 4 {20}. + +[481] See Vol. I, page 106, note 4 {188}. + +[482] Sir Edward Sherburne (1618-1702), a scholar of considerable +reputation. The reference by De Morgan is to _The Sphere of Marcus +Manilius_, in the appendix to which is a _Catalogue of Astronomers, ancient +and modern_. + +[483] George Parker, second Earl of Macclesfield (1697-1764). He erected an +observatory at Shirburn Castle, Oxfordshire, in 1739, and fitted it out +with the best equipment then available. He was President of the Royal +Society in 1752. + +[484] See Vol. II, page 148, note 263. + +[485] See Vol. I, page 140, note 7 {296}. + +[486] See Vol. I, page 106, note 4 {188}. + +[487] Edward Bernard (1638-1696), although Savilian professor of astronomy +at Oxford, was chiefly interested in archeology. + +[488] See Vol. I, page 107, note 1 {190}. + +[489] See Vol. I, page 107, note 1 {190}. + +[490] See Vol. I, page 135, note 3 {281}. + +[491] Philip Dormer Stanhope, fourth Earl of Chesterfield (1694-1773), well +known for the letters written to his son which were published posthumously +(1774). + +[492] Peter Daval (died in 1763), Vice-President of the Royal Society, and +an astronomer of some ability. + +[493] See Vol. I, page 376, note 1 {766}. + +[494] William Oughtred (c. 1573-1660), a fellow of King's College, +Cambridge, and afterwards vicar of Aldbury, Surrey, wrote the best-known +arithmetic and trigonometry of his time. His _Arithmeticae in Numero & +Speciebus Institutio ... quasi Clavis Mathematicae est_ (1631) went through +many editions and appeared in English as _The Key to the Mathematicks new +forged and filed_ in 1647. + +[495] See Vol. I, page 140, note 5 {294}. + +[496] Stephen Jordan Rigaud (1816-1859) was senior assistant master of +Westminster School (1846) and head master of Queen Elizabeth's School at +Ipswich (1850). He was made Bishop of Antigua in 1858 and died of yellow +fever the following year. + +[497] He also wrote a memoir of his father, privately printed at Oxford in +1883. + +[498] See Vol. I, page 69, note 3 {96}. + +[499] See Vol. I, page 106, note 4 {188}. + +[500] William Gascoigne was born at Middleton before 1612 and was killed in +the battle of Marston Moor in 1644. He was an astronomer and invented the +micrometer with movable threads (before 1639). + +[501] Seth Ward (1617-1689) was deprived of his fellowship at Cambridge for +refusing to sign the covenant. He became professor of astronomy at Oxford +(1649), Bishop of Exeter (1662), Bishop of Salisbury (1667), and Chancellor +of the Garter (1671). He is best known for his solution of Kepler's problem +to approximate a planet's orbit, which appeared in his _Astronomia +geometrica_ in 1656. + +[502] See Vol. I, page 110, note 2 {198}. + +[503] See Vol. I, page 100, note 2 {172}. + +[504] See Vol. I, page 107, note 1 {190}. + +[505] See Vol. I page 114, note 6 {220}. + +[506] See Vol. I, page 77, note 4 {118}. + +[507] See Vol. I, page 125, note 3 {253}. + +[508] See Vol. I, page 105, note 2 {186}. + +[509] Heinrich Oldenburgh (1626-1678) was consul in England for the City +of Bremen, his birthplace, and afterwards became a private teacher in +London. He became secretary of the Royal Society and contributed on +physics and astronomy to the _Philosophical Transactions_. + +[510] Thomas Brancker, or Branker (1636-1676) wrote the _Doctrinae +sphaericae adumbratio et usus globorum artificialium_ (1662) and +translated the algebra of Rhonius with the help of Pell. The latter work +appeared under the title of _An Introduction to Algebra_ (1668), and +is noteworthy as having brought before English mathematicians the +symbol / for division. The symbol never had any standing on the +Continent for this purpose, but thereafter became so popular in England +that it is still used in all the English-speaking world. + +[511] See Vol. I, page 118, note 1 {230}. + +[512] Pierre Bertius (1565-1629) was a native of Flanders and was educated +at London and Leyden. He became a professor at Leyden, and later held the +chair of mathematics at the College de France. He wrote chiefly on +geography. + +[513] See Vol. II, page 297, note 487. + +[514] Giovanni Alphonso Borelli (1608-1679) was professor of mathematics at +Messina (1646-1656) and at Pisa (1656-1657), after which he taught in Rome +at the Convent of St. Panteleon. He wrote several works on geometry, +astronomy, and physics. + +[515] See Vol. I, page 172, note 2 {381}. + +[516] Ignace Gaston Pardies (c. 1636-1673), a Jesuit, professor of ancient +languages and later of mathematics and physics at the College of Pau, and +afterwards professor of rhetoric at the College Louis-le-Grand at Paris. He +wrote on geometry, astronomy and physics. + +[517] Pierre Fermat was born in 1608 (or possibly in 1595) near Toulouse, +and died in 1665. Although connected with the parliament of Toulouse, his +significant work was in mathematics. He was one of the world's geniuses in +the theory of numbers, and was one of the founders of the theory of +probabilities and of analytic geometry. After his death his son published +his edition of Diophantus (1670) and his _Varia opera mathematica_ (1679). + +[518] This may be Christopher Townley (1603-1674) the antiquary, or his +nephew, Richard, who improved the micrometer already invented by Gascoigne. + +[519] Adrien Auzout a native of Rouen, who died at Rome in 1691. He +invented a screw micrometer with movable threads (1666) and made many +improvements in astronomical instruments. + +[520] See Vol. I, page 66, note 9 {86}. + +[521] See Vol. I, page 124, note 7 {248}. + +[522] John Machin (d. 1751) was professor of astronomy at Gresham College +(1713-1751) and secretary of the Royal Society. He translated Newton's +_Principia_ into English. His computation of [pi] to 100 places is given in +William Jones's _Synopsis palmariorum matheseos_ (1706). + +[523] Pierre Remond de Montmort (1678-1719) was canon of Notre Dame until +his marriage. He was a gentleman of leisure and devoted himself to the +study of mathematics, especially of probabilities. + +[524] Roger Cotes (1682-1716), first Plumian professor of astronomy and +physics at Cambridge, and editor of the second edition of Newton's +_Principia_. His posthumous _Harmonia Mensurarum_ (1722) contains "Cotes's +Theorem" on the binomial equation. Newton said of him, "If Mr. Cotes had +lived we had known something." + +[525] See Vol. I, page 135, note 3 {281}. + +[526] See Vol. I, page 377, note 4 {769}. + +[527] Charles Rene Reyneau (1656-1728) was professor of mathematics at +Angers. His _Analyse demontree, ou Maniere de resoudre les problemes de +mathematiques_ (1708) was a successful attempt to popularize the theories +of men like Descartes, Newton, Leibnitz, and the Bernoullis. + +[528] Brook Taylor (1685-1731), secretary of the Royal Society, and student +of mathematics and physics. His _Methodus incrementorum directa et inversa_ +(1715) was the first treatise on the calculus of finite differences. It +contained the well-known theorem that bears his name. + +[529] Pierre Louis Moreau de Maupertuis (1698-1759) was sent with Clairaut +(1735) to measure an arc of a meridian in Lapland. He was head of the +physics department in the Berlin Academy from 1745 until 1753. He wrote +_Sur la figure de la terre_ (1738) and on geography and astronomy. + +[530] Pierre Bouguer (1698-1758) was professor of hydrography at Paris, and +was one of those sent by the Academy of Sciences to measure an arc of a +meridian in Peru (1735). The object of this and the work of Maupertuis was +to determine the shape of the earth and see if Newton's theory was +supported. + +[531] Charles Marie de la Condamine (1701-1774) was a member of the Paris +Academy of Sciences and was sent with Bouguer to Peru, for the purpose +mentioned in the preceding note. He wrote on the figure of the earth, but +was not a scientist of high rank. + +[532] See Vol. I, page 136, note 5 {283}. + +[533] See Vol. II, page 296, note 483. + +[534] Thomas Baker (c. 1625-1689) gave a geometric solution of the +biquadratic in his _Geometrical Key, or Gate of Equations unlocked_ (1684). + +[535] See Vol. I, page 160, note 5 {350}. + +[536] See Vol. I, page 87, note 4 {133}. + +[537] See Vol. I, page 132, note 2 {272}. + +[538] See Vol. I, page 118, second note 1 {231}. + +[539] The name of Newton is so well known that no note seems necessary. He +was born at Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire, in 1642, and died at Kensington in +1727. + +[540] John Keill (1671-1721), professor of astronomy at Oxford from 1710, +is said to have been the first to teach the Newtonian physics by direct +experiment, the apparatus being invented by him for the purpose. He wrote +on astronomy and physics. His _Epistola de legibus virium centripetarum_, +in the Philosophical Transactions for 1708, accused Leibnitz of having +obtained his ideas of the calculus from Newton, thus starting the priority +controversy. + +[541] Thomas Digges (d. in 1595) wrote _An Arithmeticall Militare Treatise, +named Stratioticos_ (1579), and completed _A geometrical practise, named +Pantometria_ (1571) that had been begun by his father, Leonard Digges. + +[542] John Dee (1527-1608), the most famous astrologer of his day, and +something of a mathematician, wrote a preface to Billingsley's translation +of Euclid into English (1570). + +[543] See Vol. I, page 76, note 3 {112}. + +[544] Thomas Harriot (1560-1621) was tutor in mathematics to Sir Walter +Raleigh, who sent him to survey Virginia (1585). He was one of the best +English algebraists of his time, but his _Artis Analyticae Praxis ad +Aequationes Algebraicas resolvendas_ (1631) did not appear until ten years +after his death. + +[545] Thomas Lydiat (1572-1626), rector of Alkerton, devoted his life +chiefly to the study of chronology, writing upon the subject and taking +issue with Scaliger (1601). + +[546] See Vol. I, page 69, note 3 {96}. + +[547] Walter Warner edited Harriot's _Artis Analyticae Praxis_ (1631). +Tarporley is not known in mathematics. + +[548] See Vol. I, page 105, note 2 {186}. + +[549] See Vol. I, page 115, note 3 {224}. + +[550] See Vol. II, page 300, note 509. + +[551] See Vol. I, page 107, note 1 {190}. + +[552] Sir Samuel Morland (1625-1695) was a diplomat and inventor. For some +years he was assistant to John Pell, then ambassador to Switzerland. He +wrote on arithmetical instruments invented by him (1673), on hydrostatics +(1697) and on church history (1658). + +[553] See Vol. I, page 153, note 4 {337}. + +[554] See Vol. I, page 85, note 2 {129}. + +[555] See Vol. I, page 43, note 8 {33}. + +[556] See Vol. I, page 43, note 7 {32}. + +[557] See Vol. I, page 382, note 13 {786}. The history of the subject may +be followed in Braunmuehl's _Geschichte der Trigonometrie_. + +[558] See Vol. I, page 377, note 3 {768}. + +[559] See Vol. I, page 108, note 2 {192}. + +[560] Michael Dary wrote _Dary's Miscellanies_ (1669), _Gauging epitomised_ +(1669), and _The general Doctrine of Equation_ (1664). + +[561] John Newton (1622-1678), canon of Hereford (1673), educational +reformer, and writer on elementary mathematics and astronomy. + +[562] See Vol. I, page 87, note 4 {133}. + +[563] "The average of the two equal altitudes of the sun before and after +dinner." + +[564] See Vol. I, page 42, note 4 {24}. + +[565] London, 1678. It went though many editions. + +[566] "This I who once ..." + +[567] Arthur Murphy (1727-1805) worked in a banking house until 1754. He +then went on the stage and met with some success at Covent Garden. His +first comedy, _The Apprentice_ (1756) was so successful that he left the +stage and took to play writing. His translation of Tacitus appeared in +1793, in four volumes. + +[568] Edmund Wingate (1596-1656) went to Paris in 1624 as tutor to Princess +Henrietta Maria and remained there several years. He wrote _L'usage de la +regle de proportion_ (Paris, 1624, with an English translation in 1626), +_Arithmetique Logarithmetique_ (Paris, 1626, with an English translation in +1635), and _Of Natural and Artificial Arithmetick_ (London, 1630, revised +in 1650-1652), part I of which was one of the most popular textbooks ever +produced in England. + +[569] John Lambert (1619-1694) was Major-General during the Revolution and +helped to draw up the request for Cromwell to assume the protectorate. He +was imprisoned in the Tower by the Rump Parliament. He was confined in +Guernsey until the clandestine marriage of his daughter Mary to Charles +Hatton, son of the governor, after which he was removed (1667) to St. +Nicholas in Plymouth Sound. + +[570] Samuel Foster (d. in 1652) was made professor of astronomy at Gresham +College in March, 1636, but resigned in November of that year, being +succeeded by Mungo Murray. Murray vacated his chair by marriage in 1641 and +Foster succeeded him. He wrote on dialling and made a number of +improvements in geometric instruments. + +[571] "Twice of the word a minister," that is, twice a minister of the +Gospel. + +[572] This is _The Lives of the Professors of Gresham College to which is +prefixed the Life of the Founder, Sir Thomas Gresham_, London, 1740. It was +written by John Ward (c. 1679-1758), professor of rhetoric (1720) at +Gresham College and vice-president (1752) of the Royal Society. + +[573] Charles Montagu (1661-1715), first Earl of Halifax, was Lord of the +Treasury in 1692, and was created Baron Halifax in 1700 and Viscount +Sunbury and Earl of Halifax in 1714. He introduced the bill establishing +the Bank of England, the bill becoming a law in 1694. He had troubles of +his own, without considering Newton, for he was impeached in 1701, and was +the subject of a damaging resolution of censure as auditor of the exchequer +in 1703. Although nothing came of either of these attacks, he was out of +office during much of Queen Anne's reign. + +[574] See Vol. II, page 302, note 547. + +[575] See Vol. I, page 105, note 2 {186}. + +[576] James Dodson (d. 1757) was master of the Royal Mathematical School, +Christ's Hospital. He was De Morgan's great-grandfather. The +_Anti-Logarithmic Canon_ was published in 1742. + +[577] See Vol. I, page 106, note 4 {188}. + +[578] See Vol. I, page 110, note 2 {198}. + +[579] Richard Busby, (1606-1695), master of Westminster School (1640) had +among his pupils Dryden and Locke. + +[580] See Vol. I, page 107, note 1 {190}. + +[581] Herbert Thorndike (1598-1672), fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge +(1620-1646), and Prebend of Westminster (1661), was a well-known +theological writer of the time. + +[582] See Vol. I, page 140, note 5 {294}. + +[583] See Vol. I, page 108, note 2 {192}. + +[584] "Labor performed returns in a circle." + +[585] See Vol. II, page 208. + +[586] "Whatever objections one may make to the above arguments, one always +falls into an absurdity." + +[587] See Vol. II. page 11, note 29. _The Circle Squared; and the solution +of the problem adapted to explain the difference between square and +superficial measurement_ appeared at Brighton in 1865. + +[588] "And beyond that nothing." + +[589] Gillott (1759-1873) was the pioneer maker of steel pens by machinery, +reducing the price from 1s. each to 4d. a gross. He was a great collector +of paintings and old violins. + +[590] William Edward Walker wrote five works on circle squaring (1853, +1854, 1857, 1862, 1864), mostly and perhaps all published at Birmingham. + +[591] Solomon M. Drach wrote _An easy Rule for formulizing all Epicyclical +Curves_ (London, 1849), _On the Circle area and Heptagon-chord_ (London, +1864), _An easy general Rule for filling up all Magic Squares_ (London, +1873), and _Hebrew Almanack-Signs_ (London, 1877), besides numerous +articles in journals. + +[592] See Vol. I, page 168, note 3 {371}. + +[593] See Vol. I, page 254, note 2 {580}. + +[594] See Vol. I, page 98, note 6 {163}. + +[595] Robert Fludd or Flud (1574-1637) was a physician with a large London +practice. He denied the diurnal rotation of the earth, and was attacked by +Kepler and Mersenne, and accused of magic by Gassendi. His _Apologia +Compendiania, Fraternitatem de Rosea Cruce suspicionis ... maculis +aspersam, veritatis quasi Fluctibus abluens_ (Leyden, 1616) is one of a +large number of works of the mystic type. + +[596] Consult _To the Christianity of the Age. Notes ... comprising an +elucidation of the scope and contents of the writings ... of Dionysius +Andreas Freher_ (1854). + +[597] Sir William Robert Grove (1811-1896), although called to the bar +(1835) and to the bench (1853), is best known for his work as a physicist. +He was professor of experimental philosophy (1840-1847) at the London +Institution, and invented a battery (1839) known by his name. His +_Correlation of Physical Forces_ (1846) went through six editions and was +translated into French. + +[598] Johann Tauler (c. 1300-1361), a Dominican monk of Strassburg, a +mystic, closely in touch with the Gottesfreunde of Basel. His _Sermons_ +first appeared in print at Leipsic in 1498. + +[599] Paracelsus (c. 1490-1541). His real name was Theophrastes Bombast von +Hohenheim, and he took the name by which he is generally known because he +held himself superior to Celsus. He was a famous physician and pharmacist, +but was also a mystic and neo-Platonist. He lectured in German on medicine +at Basel, but lost his position through the opposition of the orthodox +physicians and apothecaries. + +[600] See Vol. I, page 256, note 2 {588}. + +[601] Philip Schwarzerd (1497-1560) was professor of Greek at Wittenberg. +He helped Luther with his translation of the Bible. + +[602] Johann Reuchlin (1455-1522), the first great German humanist, was +very influential in establishing the study of Greek and Hebrew in Germany. +His lectures were mostly delivered privately in Heidelberg and Stuttgart. +Unlike Melanchthon, he remained in the Catholic Church. + +[603] Joseph Chitty (1776-1841) published his _Precedents of Pleading_ in +1808 and his _Reports of Cases on Practice and Pleading_ in 1820-23 (2 +volumes). + +[604] See Vol. I, page 44, note 1 {35}. + +[605] See Vol. I, page 44, note 4 {38}. + +[606] Jean Pelerin, also known as Viator, who wrote on perspective. His +work appeared in 1505, with editions in 1509 and 1521. + +[607] Henry Stephens. See Vol. I, page 44, note 3 {37}. + +[608] The well-known grammarian (1745-1826). He was born at Swatara, in +Pennsylvania, and practised law in New York until 1784, after which he +resided in England. His grammar (1795) went through 50 editions, and the +abridgment (1818) through 120 editions. Murray's friend Dalton, the +chemist, said that "of all the contrivances invented by human ingenuity for +puzzling the brains of the young, Lindley Murray's grammar was the worst." + +[609] Robert Recorde (c. 1510-1558) read and probably taught mathematics +and medicine at Cambridge up to 1545. After that he taught mathematics at +Oxford and practised medicine in London. His _Grounde of Artes_, published +about 1540, was the first arithmetic published in English that had any +influence. It went through many editions. The _Castle of Knowledge_ +appeared in 1551. It was a textbook on astronomy and the first to set forth +the Copernican theory in England. Like Recorde's other works it was written +on the catechism plan. His _Whetstone of Witte ... containying thextraction +of Rootes: The Cosike practise, with the rule of Equation: and the woorkes +of Surde Nombres_ appeared in 1557, and it is in this work that the modern +sign of equality first appears in print. The word "Cosike" is an adjective +that was used for a long time in Germany as equivalent to algebraic, being +derived from the Italian _cosa_, which stood for the unknown quantity. + +[610] Robert Cecil (c. 1563-1612), first Earl of Salisbury, Secretary of +State under Elizabeth (1596-1603) and under James I (1603-1612). + +[611] In America the German pronunciation is at present universal among +mathematicians, as in the case of most other German names. This is due, no +doubt, to the great influence that Germany has had on American education in +the last fifty years. + +[612] The latest transliteration is substantially K'ung-fu-tz[vu]. + +[613] The tendency seems to be, however, to adopt the forms used of +individuals or places as rapidly as the mass of people comes to be prepared +for it. Thus the spelling Leipzig, instead of Leipsic, is coming to be very +common in America. + +[614] Sir Edward Coke (1552-1634), the celebrated jurist. + +[615] Dethlef Cluvier or Cluever (d. 1708 at Hamburg) was a nephew, not a +grandson, of Philippe Cluvier, or Philipp Cluever (1580-c. 1623). Dethlef +traveled in France and Italy and then taught mathematics in London. He +wrote on astronomy and philosophy and also published in the _Acta +Eruditorum_ (1686) his _Schediasma geometricum de nova infinitorum +scientia_. _Quadratura circuli infinitis modis demonstrata_, and his +_Monitum ad geometras_ (1687). Philippe was geographer of the Academy of +Leyden. His _Introductionis in universam geographiam tam veterem quam novam +libri sex_ appeared at Leyden in 1624, about the time of his death. + +[616] See Vol. I, page 124, note 7 {248}. + +[617] Bernard Nieuwentijt (1654-1718), a physician and burgomaster at +Purmerend. His _Considerationes circa Analyseos ad quantitates infinite +parvas applicatae Principia et Calculi Differentialis usum_ (Amsterdam, +1694) was attacked by Leibnitz. He replied in his _Considerationes secundae_ +(1694), and also wrote the _Analysis Infinitorum, seu Curvilineorum +Proprietates ex Polygonorum Natura deductae_ (1695). His most famous work +was on the existence of God, _Het Regt Gebruik der Werelt Beschouwingen_ +(1718). + +[618] "From a given line to construct" etc. + +[619] "Pirates do not fight one another." + +[620] Claude Mallemens (Mallement) de Messanges (1653-1723) was professor +of philosophy at the College du Plessis, in Paris, for 34 years. The work +to which De Morgan refers is probably the _Fameux Probleme de la quadrature +du cercle, resolu geometriquement par le cercle et a ligne droite_ that +appeared in 1683. + +[621] On Tycho Brahe see Vol. I, page 76, note 3 {112}. + +[622] Wilhelm Frederik von Zytphen also published the _Tidens Stroem_, a +chronological table, in 1840. The work to which De Morgan refers, the +_Solens Bevaegelse i Verdensrummet_, appeared first in 1861. De Morgan seems +to have missed his _Nogl Ord om Cirkelens Quadratur_ which appeared in +1865, at Copenhagen. + +[623] James Joseph Sylvester (1814-1897), professor of natural philosophy +at University College, London (1837-1841), professor of mathematics at the +University of Virginia (1841-1845), actuary in London (1845-1855), +professor of mathematics at Woolwich (1877-1884) and at Johns Hopkins +University, Baltimore (1877-1884), and Savilian professor of geometry at +Oxford (1884-1894). + +[624] See Vol. I, page 76, note 3 {112}. + +[625] See Vol. II, page 205, note 349. + +[626] See Vol. I, page 76, note 3 {112}. + +[627] See Vol. I, page 46, note 1 {42}. + +[628] See Vol. II, page 183, note 318. + +[629] See Vol. I, page 321, note 2 {691}. + +[630] James Mill, born 1773, died 1836. + +[631] See Vol. II, page 3, note 11. + +[632] See Vol. II, page 3, note 13. + +[633] See Vol. II, page 3, note 14. + +[634] This anecdote is printed at page 4 (Vol. II); but as it is used in +illustration here, and is given more in detail, I have not omitted +it.--S.E. De M. + +[635] See Vol. II, page 4, note 15. + +[636] See Vol. I, page 382, note 13 {786}. + +[637] "Monsieur, (a + b^{n})/n = x, whence God exists; answer that!" + +[638] "Monsieur, you know very well that your argument requires the +development of x according to integral powers of n." + +[639] See Vol. I, page 153, note 4 {337}. + +[640] Thomas Love Peacock (1785-1866) an English novelist and poet. + +[641] Perhaps Dr. Samuel Warren (1807-1877), the author of _Ten Thousand a +Year_ (serially in Blackwood's in 1839; London, 1841). + +[642] See Vol. I, page 255, note 6 {584}. + +[643] "From many, one; much in little; Ultima Thule (the most remote +region); without which not." + +[644] Spurius Maelius (fl. 440 B. C.), who distributed corn freely among the +poor in the famine of 440 B. C. and was assassinated by the patricians. + +[645] Spurius Cassius Viscellinus, Roman consul in 502, 493, and 486 B. C. +Put to death in 485. + +[646] "O what a fine bearing, he said, that has no brain." + +[647] Sir William Rowan Hamilton. See Vol. I, page 332, note 4 {709}. + +[648] William Allen Whitworth, the author of the well-known _Choice and +Chance_ (Cambridge, 1867), and other works. + +[649] James Maurice Wilson, whose _Elementary Geometry_ appeared in 1868 +and went through several editions. + +[650] See Vol. II, page 183, note 315. + +[651] "Force of inertia conquered," and "Victory in the whole heavens." + +[652] "With all his might." + +[653] George Berkeley (1685-1753), Bishop of Cloyne, the idealistic +philosopher and author of the _Principles of Human Knowledge_ (1710), _The +Analyst, or a Discourse addressed to an Infidel Mathematician_ (1734), and +_A Defense of Freethinking in Mathematics_ (1735). He asserted that space +involves the idea of movement without the sensation of resistance. Space +sensation less than the "minima sensibilia" is, therefore, impossible. From +this he argues that infinitesimals are impossible concepts. + +[654] See Vol. I, page 85, note 2 {129}. + +[655] See Vol. I, page 81, note 6 {120}. + +[656] Edwin Dunkin revised Lardner's _Handbook of Astronomy_ (1869) and +Milner's _The Heavens and the Earth_ (1873) and wrote _The Midnight Sky_ +(1869). + +[657] Michael Faraday (1791-1867) the celebrated physicist and chemist. He +was an assistant to Sir Humphrey Davy (1813) and became professor of +chemistry at the Royal Institution, London, in 1827. + +[658] "If you teach a fool he shows no joyous countenance; he cordially +hates you; he wishes you buried." + +[659] "Every man is an animal, Sortes is a man, therefore Sortes is an +animal." + +[660] + + "May some choice patron bless each grey goose quill; + May every Bavius have his Bufo still."--POPE, _Prologue to the Satires._ + +Bavius has become proverbial as a bad poet from the lines in Vergil's +_Eclogues_ (III, 90): + + "Qui Bavium non odit, amet tua carmina, Maevi, + Atque idem jungat vulpes, et mulgeat hircos." + +"He who does not hate Bavius shall love thy verses, O Maevius; and the same +shall yoke foxes and shall milk he-goats." + +Bavius and Maevius were the worst of Latin poets, condemned by Horace as +well as Vergil. + +[661] See Vol. II, page 158, note 279. + +[662] "Honest," "useful," "handsome," "sweet." + +[663] "Let not the fourth man attempt to speak." + +[664] + + "In those old times,--ah + 'Twas just like this, ah!" + +[665] See Vol. I, page 382, note 12 {785}. + +[666] These remarks were never written.--S. E. De M. + +[667] + + "Fleas, flies, and friars, are masters who sadly the people abuse, + And thistles and briars are sure growing grains to abuse. + O Christ, who hatest strife and slayst all things in peace, + Destroy where'er are rife, briars, friars, flies and fleas. + Fleas, flies, and friars foul fall them these fifteen years + For none that there is loveth fleas, flies, nor freres." + +[668] "It is my plan to restore to an unskilled race the worthy arts of a +better life." + +[669] The first sentences of the first oration of Cicero against Catiline: +"Quo usque tandem abutere, Catilina, patientia nostra?" (How long, O +Catiline, will you abuse our patience?) "Quamdiu etiam furor iste tuus nos +eludet?" (How long will this your madness baffle us?) "Nihilne te nocturnum +praesidium Palati, ... nihil horum ora voltusque moverunt?" (Does the night +watch of the Palatium, ... do the faces and expressions of all these men +fail to move you?) "In te conferri ..." (This plague should have been +inflicted upon you long ago, which you have plotted against us so long.) + +[670] "Beware of the things that are marked." + +[671] "Farewell, ye teachers without learning! See to it that at our next +meeting we may find you strong in body and sound in mind." + +[672] See Vol. I, page 336, note 8 {713}. + +[673] See Vol. I, page 229, note 2 {515}. + +[674] This proof, although capable of improvement, is left as in the +original. Those who may be interested in the mathematics of the question, +may consult F. Enriques, _Fragen der Elementargeometrie_ (German by +Fleischer), Leipsic, 1907, Part II, p. 267; F. Rudio, _Archimedes_, +_Huygens_, _Lambert_, _Legendre_. _Vier Abhandlungen ueber die +Kreismessung_, Leipsic, 1892; F. Klein, _Famous Problems of Elementary +Geometry_ (English by Beman and Smith), Boston, 1895; J. W. A. Young, +_Monographs on Modern Mathematics_, New York, 1911, Chap. IX (by the editor +of the present edition of De Morgan.) + +[675] See Vol. I, page 69, note 2 {95}. + +[676] See Vol. I, page 137, note 8 {286}. + +[677] Joseph Allen Galbraith who, with Samuel Haughton, wrote the Galbraith +and Haughton's _Scientific Manuals_. (Euclid, 1856; Algebra, 1860; +Trigonometry, 1854; Optics, 1854, and others.) + +[678] This note on Carlyle (1795-1881) is interesting. The translation of +Legendre appeared in the same year (1824) as his translation of Goethe's +_Wilhelm Meister_. + +[679] Michael Stifel (1487-1567), also known as Stiefel, Styfel, and +Stifelius, was an Augustine monk but became a convert to Lutheranism. He +was professor of mathematics at Jena (1559-1567). His edition of the _Coss_ +appeared at Koenigsberg in 1553, the first edition having been published in +1525. The + and - signs first appeared in print in Widman's arithmetic of +1489, but for purposes of algebra this book was one of the first to make +them known. + +[680] Christoff Rudolff was born about 1500 and died between 1540 and 1552. +_Die Coss_ appeared in 1525 and his arithmetic in 1526. + + * * * * * + + +Corrections made to printed original. + +Page 9, "long-fostered prejudice": 'perjudice' in original. + +Page 73, "Pensees, ch. 7": 'Pansees' in original. + +Page 127, "and pulled out a plum": 'und' in original. + +Page 147, "did not come forward": 'forword' in original. + +Page 172, "come into general circulation": 'circulalation' in original. + +Ibid., "the more difficult fractions which we have got": 'he have got' in +original. + +Page 192, "it has been stated": 'started' in original. + +Page 216, "the obsolete word tetch of the same meaning": 'meaing' in +original. + +Page 228, "[Greek: dioklasianos]": 'dioklalasianos' in original. + +Page 233. After `Henry E. Manning' were printed two paragraphs `Shilling +versus Franc.' and `Teutonic Long Hundred 120 versus 100 or the Decimal +question.' These appear to have been set in error, there is no applicable +context. + +Page 316, "in a manner depending upon the difference": 'maner' in original. + +Page 322, "neither what Newton did, nor what was done before him.": 'not' +(for 'nor') in original. + +Page 344, "Victoria toto coelo": 'tolo' in original. + +Page 368, "cannot be brought up to 1": 'up to +-' in original. + +Page 371, "Q_2=b_2 Q_1+a_2": 'Q_2=b_2 Q_1-a_2' in original. + +Note 50, "all who were not in the road to Heaven were excommunicated": +'excomunicated' in original. + +Note 372, "[Greek: he alazoneia biou]": 'alaxoneia' in original. + +Ibid., "Iapetos": 'Ispetos' in original. + +Ibid., "Papeiskos": 'Paspeisoks' in original. + +Ibid., "[Greek: dioklasianos]": 'dioklalasianos' in original. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A BUDGET OF PARADOXES, VOLUME II (OF +II)*** + + +******* This file should be named 26408.txt or 26408.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/6/4/0/26408 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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