1668. In this year James Gregory, in his _Vera Circuli et Hyperbolae
Quadratura_,[231] held himself to have proved that {119} the _geometrical_
quadrature of the circle is impossible. Few mathematicians read this very
abstruse speculation, and opinion is somewhat divided. The regular
circle-squarers attempt the _arithmetical_ quadrature, which has long been
proved to be impossible. Very few attempt the geometrical quadrature. One
of the last is Malacarne, an Italian, who published his _Solution
Geometrique_, at Paris, in 1825. His method would make the circumference
less than three times the diameter.