Shooter's Hill, March 5.
[1] The best account, because the most consistent and
intelligible, of the Greek arithmetic, is that by Delambre, affixed to
Peyraud's edition of Archimedes.
[2] At a period of leisure I may be tempted to send you a few
extracts, somewhat curious, from some of the papers of Mr. Strachey in
my possession.
_Arabic Numerals_.--I had replied to "E.V." (No. 15. p. 230.), when
I saw by your "Notice to Correspondents," that the question was
answered. I therefore waited the publication of the replies, which I
find do not embrace any one of the points to which I would call the
attention of "E.V."--Diophantus of Alexandria, who flourished about
150 years after Christ, and who wrote thirteen books of algebra or
arithmetic in the Greek language, is generally supposed to be the
oldest writer on the subject that has come down to our time; but it
was not from him that we received the knowledge of algebra in Europe.
It appears certain that the first knowledge of this science in
England was from Italy or Spain, after the Moors settled in the latter
country; and the Arabians and Persians appear to have derived their
arithmetical method of computing by ten characters from the Indians:
who, in their turn, have most probably borrowed from the Chinese, and
improved on their method by the adoption of a zero, which was one of
the most important improvements effected by the Hindoos. In China,
the words ancient and modern are almost synonymous; their usages
and customs being so unchangeable, as appears by their instrument
of computation, the _swanpan_, which is still used in all their
calculations. The Oriental scholar will find much curious and
interesting information connected with this subject in the Sanscrit
_Vija Ganita_ and _Lilivati_ of Bhaskara Acharya: the former
was translated into Persian at Agra, or Delhi, in 1634, and the
latter by Fyzee in 1587; but there are also English translations,
all of which are in the library of the Royal Asiatic Society. The
_Khalasah-ul-Hisah_ is another work of repute in India. Mr. Strachey
wrote and printed in India, for the _Asiatic Researches_, a valuable
paper, which contains most conclusive evidence of the Indian (if not
Chinese) origin of our numerals. See also _Astronomie Indienne_,
of M. Bailly; 2d vol. _Asiatic Researches_, "On the Astronomical
Computations of the Hindoos," by Saml. Davis; "Two Dissertations on
Indian Astronomy and Trigonometry," by Professor Playfair, in the 2d
and 4th vols. of the _Edinburgh Philosophical Transactions_. And many
others might be referred to; but all tending to prove that our numbers
came originally from China and India, through Persia, Arabia, Africa,
Spain, and Italy, by gradual and successive changes in form, several
of them still retaining a close resemblance to the ancient and modern
Sanscrit, Chinese, Arabic, Persian, and Hindoo numerals.
Henry Wilkinson.
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