manuscript on alchemy, and wrote a book entitled _Delights for Ladies to
adorne their Persons_ (1607), he was knighted for some serious work on the
chemistry of agriculture, fertilizing, brewing, and the preserving of
foods, published in _The Jewell House of Art and Nature_ (1594).
[262] "Those who wish to call a man a liar and deceiver speak of him a
writer of almanacs; but those who (would call him) a scoundrel and an
imposter (speak of him as) a chemist."
[263] "Trust your barque to the winds but not your body to a chemist; any
breeze is safer than the faith of a chemist."
[264] Probably the Jesuit, Pere Claude Francois Menestrier (1631-1705), a
well known historian.
[265] The author was Christopher Nesse (1621-1705), a belligerent
Calvinist, who wrote many controversial works and succeeded in getting
excommunicated four times. One of his most virulent works was _A Protestant
Antidote against the Poison of Popery_.
[266] John Case (c. 1660-1700) was a famous astrologer and physician. He
succeeded to Lilly's practice in London. In a darkened room, wherein he
kept an array of mystical apparatus, he pretended to show the credulous the
ghosts of their departed relatives. Besides his astrological works he wrote
one serious treatise, the _Compendium Anatomicum nova methodo institutum_
(1695), in which he defends Harvey's theories of embryology.
[267] Marcelis (1636-after 1714) was a soap maker of Amsterdam. It is to be
hoped that he made better soap than values of [pi].
[268] John Craig (died in 1731) was a Scotchman, but most of his life was
spent at Cambridge reading and writing on mathematics. He endeavored to
introduce the Leibnitz differential calculus into England. His mathematical
works include the _Methodus Figurarum ... Quadraturas determinandi_ (1685),
_Tractatus ... de Figurarum Curvilinearum Quadraturis et locis Geometricis_
(1693), and _De Calculo Fluentium libri duo_ (1718).
[269] As is well known, this subject owes much to the Bernoullis. Craig's
works on the calculus brought him into controversy with them. He also wrote
on other subjects in which they were interested, as in his memoir _On the
Curve of the quickest descent_ (1700), _On the Solid of least resistance_
(1700), and the _Solution of Bernoulli's problem on Curves_ (1704).
[270] This is Samuel Lee (1783-1852), the young prodigy in languages. He
was apprenticed to a carpenter at twelve and learned Greek while working at
the trade. Before he was twenty-five he knew Hebrew, Chaldee, Syriac,
Samaritan, Persian, and Hindustani. He later became Regius professor of
Hebrew at Cambridge.
[271] "Where the devil, Master Ludovico, did you pick up such a
collection?"
[272] Lord William Brounker (c. 1620-1684), the first president of the
Royal Society, is best known in mathematics for his contributions to
continued fractions.
[273] Horace Walpole (1717-1797) published his _Catalogue of the Royal and
Noble Authors of England_ in 1758. Since his time a number of worthy names
in the domain of science in general and of mathematics in particular might
be added from the peerage of England.
[274] It was written by Charles Hayes (1678-1760), a mathematician and
scholar of no mean attainments. He travelled extensively, and was deputy
governor of the Royal African Company. His _Treatise on Fluxions_ (London,
1704) was the first work in English to explain Newton's calculus. He wrote
a work entitled _The Moon_ (1723) to prove that our satellite shines by its
own as well as by reflected light. His _Chronographia Asiatica & Aegyptica_
(1758) gives the results of his travels.
[275] _Publick_ in the original.
[276] Whiston (1667-1752) succeeded Newton as Lucasian professor of
mathematics at Cambridge. In 1710 he turned Arian and was expelled from the
university. His work on _Primitive Christianity_ appeared the following
year. He wrote many works on astronomy and religion.
[277] Ditton (1675-1715) was, on Newton's recommendation, made Head of the
mathematical school at Christ's Hospital, London. He wrote a work on
fluxions (1706). His idea for finding longitude at sea was to place
stations in the Atlantic to fire off bombs at regular intervals, the time
between the sound and the flash giving the distance. He also corresponded
with Huyghens concerning the use of chronometers for the purpose.
[278] This was John Arbuthnot (c. 1658-1735), the mathematician, physician
and wit. He was intimate with Pope and Swift, and was Royal physician to
Queen Anne. Besides various satires he published a translation of
Huyghens's work on probabilities (1692) and a well-known treatise on
ancient coins, weights, and measures (1727).
[279] Greene (1678-1730) was a very eccentric individual and was generally
ridiculed by his contemporaries. In his will he directed that his body be
dissected and his skeleton hung in the library of King's College,
Cambridge. Unfortunately for his fame, this wish was never carried out.
[280] This was the historian, Robert Sanderson (1660-1741), who spent most
of his life at Cambridge.
[281] I presume this was William Jones (1675-1749) the friend of Newton and
Halley, vice-president of the Royal Society, in whose _Synopsis Palmariorum
Matheseos_ (1706) the symbol [pi] is first used for the circle ratio.
[282] This was the _Geometrica solidorum, sive materiae, seu de varia
compositione, progressione, rationeque velocitatum_, Cambridge, 1712. The
work was parodied in _A Taste of Philosophical Fanaticism ... by a
gentleman of the University of Gratz_.
[283] The antiquary and scientist (1690-1754), president of the Royal
Society, member of the Academie, friend of Newton, and authority on
numismatics.
[284] She was Catherine Barton, Newton's step-niece. She married John
Conduitt, master of the mint, who collected materials for a life of Newton.
_A propos_ of Mrs. Conduitt's life of her illustrious uncle, Sir George
Greenhill tells a very good story on Poincare, the well-known French
mathematician. At an address given by the latter at the International
Congress of Mathematicians held in Rome in 1908 he spoke of the story of
Newton and the apple as a mere fable. After the address Sir George asked
him why he had done so, saying that the story was first published by
Voltaire, who had heard it from Newton's niece, Mrs. Conduitt. Poincare
looked blank and said, "Newton, et la niece de Newton, et Voltaire,--non!
je ne vous comprends pas!" He had thought Sir George meant Professor
Volterra of Rome, whose name in French is Voltaire, and who could not
possibly have known a niece of Newton without bridging a century or so.
[285] This was the Edmund Turnor (1755-1829) who wrote the _Collections for
the Town and Soke of Grantham, containing authentic Memoirs of Sir Isaac
Newton, from Lord Portsmouth's Manuscripts_, London, 1806.
[286] It may be recalled to mind that Sir David (1781-1868) wrote a life of
Newton (1855).
[287] "They are in the country. We rejoice."
[288] "I am here, chatterbox, suck!"
[289] "I have been graduated! I decline!"
[290] Giovanni Castiglioni (Castillon, Castiglione), was born at
Castiglione, in Tuscany, in 1708, and died at Berlin in 1791. He was
professor of mathematics at Utrecht and at Berlin. He wrote on De Moivre's
equations (1762), Cardan's rule (1783), and Euclid's treatment of parallels
(1788-89).
[291] This was the _Isaaci Newtoni, equitis aurati, opuscula mathematica,
philosophica et philologica_, Lausannae & Genevae, 1744.
[292] At London, 4to.
[293] "All the English attribute it to Newton."
[294] Stephen Peter Rigaud (1774-1839), Savilian professor of geometry at
Oxford (1810-27) and later professor of astronomy and head of the Radcliffe
Observatory. He wrote _An historical Essay on first publication of Sir
Isaac Newton's Principia_, Oxford, 1838, and a two-volume work entitled
_Correspondence of Scientific Men of the 17th Century_, 1841.
[295] It is no longer considered by scholars as the work of Newton.
[296] J. Edleston, the author of the _Correspondence of Sir Isaac Newton
and Professor Cotes_, London, 1850.
[297] Palmer (1601-1647) was Master of Queen's College, Cambridge, a
Puritan but not a separatist. His work, _The Characters of a believing
Christian, in Paradoxes and seeming contradictions_, appeared in 1645.
[298] Grosart (1827-1899) was a Presbyterian clergyman. He was a great
bibliophile, and issued numerous reprints of rare books.
[299] This was the year after Palmer's death. The title was, _The Remaines
of ... Francis Lord Verulam....; being Essays and severall Letters to
severall great personages, and other pieces of various and high concernment
not heretofore published_, London, 1648, 4to.
[300] Shaw (1694-1763) was physician extraordinary to George II. He wrote
on chemistry and medicine, and his edition of the _Philosophical Works of
Francis Bacon_ appeared at London in 1733.
[301] John Locke (1632-1704), the philosopher. This particular work
appeared in 1695. There was an edition in 1834 (vol. 25 of the _Sacred
Classics_) and one in 1836 (vol. 2 of the _Christian Library_).
[302] I use the word _Socinian_ because it was so much used in Locke's
time: it is used in our own day by the small fry, the unlearned clergy and
their immediate followers, as a term of reproach for _all_ Unitarians. I
suspect they have a kind of liking for the _word_; it sounds like _so
sinful_. The learned clergy and the higher laity know better: they know
that the bulk of the modern Unitarians go farther than Socinus, and are not
correctly named as his followers. The Unitarians themselves neither desire
nor deserve a name which puts them one point nearer to orthodoxy than they
put themselves. That point is the doctrine that direct prayer to Jesus
Christ is lawful and desirable: this Socinus held, and the modern
Unitarians do not hold. Socinus, in treating the subject in his own
_Institutio_, an imperfect catechism which he left, lays much more stress
on John xiv. 13 than on xv. 16 and xvi. 23. He is not disinclined to think
that _Patrem_ should be in the first citation, where some put it; but he
says that to ask the Father in the name of the Son is nothing but praying
to the Son in prayer to the Father. He labors the point with obvious wish
to secure a conclusive sanction. In the Racovian Catechism, of which
Faustus Socinus probably drew the first sketch, a clearer light is arrived
at. The translation says: "But wherein consists the divine honor due to
Christ? In adoration likewise and invocation. For we ought at all times to
adore Christ, and may in our necessities address our prayers to him as
often as we please; and there are many reasons to induce us to do this
freely." There are some who like accuracy, even in aspersion--A. De M.
Socinus, or Fausto Paolo Sozzini (1539-1604), was an antitrinitarian who
believed in prayer and homage to Christ. Leaving Italy after his views
became known, he repaired to Basel, but his opinions were too extreme even
for the Calvinists. He then tried Transylvania, attempting to convert to
his views the antitrinitarian Bishop David. The only result of his efforts
was the imprisonment of David and his own flight to Poland, in which
country he spent the rest of his life (1579-1604). His complete works
appeared first at Amsterdam in 1668, in the _Bibliotheca Fratres
Polonorum_. The _Racovian Catechism_ (1605) appeared after his death, but
it seems to have been planned by him.
[303] "As much of faith as is necessary to salvation is contained in this
article, Jesus is the Christ."
[304] Edwards (1637-1716) was a Cambridge fellow, strongly Calvinistic. He
published many theological works, attacking the Arminians and Socinians.
Locke and Whiston were special objects of attack.
[305] _Sir I. Newton's views on points of Trinitarian Doctrine; his
Articles of Faith, and the General Coincidence of his Opinions with those
of J. Locke; a Selection of Authorities, with Observations_, London, 1856.
[306] _A Confession of the Faith_, Bristol, 1752, 8vo.
[307] This was really very strange, because Laud (1573-1644), while he was
Archbishop of Canterbury, forced a good deal of High Church ritual on the
Puritan clergy, and even wished to compel the use of a prayer book in
Scotland. It was this intolerance that led to his impeachment and
execution.
[308] The name is Jonchere. He was a man of some merit, proposing (1718) an
important canal in Burgundy, and publishing a work on the _Decouverte des
longitudes estimees generalement impossible a trouver_, 1734 (or 1735).
[309] Locke invented a kind of an instrument for finding longitude, and it
is described in the appendix, but I can find nothing about the man. There
was published some years later (London, 1751) another work of his, _A new
Problem to discover the longitude at sea_.
[310] Baxter, concerning whom I know merely that he was a schoolmaster,
starts with the assumption of this value, and deduces from it some fourteen
properties relating to the circle.
[311] John, who died in 1780, was a well-known character in his way. He was
a bookseller on Fleet Street, and his shop was a general rendezvous for the
literary men of his time. He wrote the _Memoirs of the Life and Writings of
Mr. William Whiston_ (1749, with another edition in 1753). He was one of
the first to issue regular catalogues of books with prices affixed.
[312] The name appears both as Hulls and as Hull. He was born in
Gloucestershire in 1699. In 1754 he published _The Art of Measuring made
Easy by the help of a new Sliding Scale_.
[313] Thomas Newcomen (1663-1729) invented the first practical steam engine
about 1710. It was of about five and a half horse power, and was used for
pumping water from coal mines. Savery had described such an engine in 1702,
but Newcomen improved upon it and made it practical.
[314] The well-known benefactor of art (1787-1863).
[315] The tract was again reprinted in 1860.
[316] Hulls made his experiment on the Avon, at Evesham, in 1737, having
patented his machine in 1736. He had a Newcomen engine connected with six
paddles. This was placed in the front of a small tow boat. The experiment
was a failure.
[317] William Symington (1763-1831). In 1786 he constructed a working model
of a steam road carriage. The machinery was applied to a small boat in
1788, and with such success as to be tried on a larger boat in 1789. The
machinery was clumsy, however, and in 1801 he took out a new patent for the
style of engine still used on paddle wheel steamers. This engine was
successfully used in 1802, on the Charlotte Dundas. Fulton (1765-1815) was
on board, and so impressed Robert Livingston with the idea that the latter
furnished the money to build the Clermont (1807), the beginning of
successful river navigation.
[318] Louis Bertrand Castel (1688-1757), most of whose life was spent in
trying to perfect his _Clavecin oculaire_, an instrument on the order of
the harpsichord, intended to produce melodies and harmonies of color. He
also wrote _L'Optique des couleurs_ (1740) and _Sur le fond de la Musique_
(1754).
[319] Dr. Robinson (1680-1754) was professor of physic at Trinity College,
Dublin, and three times president of King and Queen's College of
Physicians. In his _Treatise on the Animal Economy_ (1732-3, with a third
edition in 1738) he anticipated the discoveries of Lavoisier and Priestley
on the nature of oxygen.
[320] There was another edition, published at London in 1747, 8vo.
[321] The author seems to have shot his only bolt in this work. I can find
nothing about him.
[322] _Quod Deus sit, mundusque ab ipso creatus fuerit in tempore, ejusque
providentia gubernetur. Selecta aliquot theoremata adversos atheos_, etc.,
Paris, 1635, 4to.
[323] The British Museum Catalogue mentions a copy of 1740, but this is
possibly a misprint.
[324] This was Johann II (1710-1790), son of Johann I, who succeeded his
father as professor of mathematics at Basel.
[325] Samuel Koenig (1712-1757), who studied under Johann Bernoulli I. He
became professor of mathematics at Franeker (1747) and professor of
philosophy at the Hague (1749).
[326] "In accordance with the hypotheses laid down in this memoir it is so
evident that t must = 34, y = 1, and z = 1, that there is no need of proof
or authority for it to be recognized by every one."
[327] "I subscribe to the judgment of Mr. Bernoulli as a result of these
hypotheses."
[328] "It clearly appears from my present analysis and demonstration that
they have already recognized and perfectly agreed to the fact that the
quadrature of the circle is mathematically demonstrated."
[329] Dr. Knight (died in 1772) made some worthy contributions to the
literature of the mariner's compass. As De Morgan states, he was librarian
of the British Museum.
[330] Sir Anthony Panizzi (1797-1879) fled from Italy under sentence of
death (1822). He became assistant (1831) and chief (1856) librarian of the
British Museum, and was knighted in 1869. He began the catalogue of printed
books of the Museum.
[331] Wright (1711-1786) was a physicist. He was offered the professorship
of mathematics at the Imperial Academy of St. Petersburg but declined to
accept it. This work is devoted chiefly to the theory of the Milky Way, the
_via lactea_ as he calls it after the manner of the older writers.
[332] Troughton (1753-1835) was one of the world's greatest instrument
makers. He was apprenticed to his brother John, and the two succeeded
(1770) Wright and Cole in Fleet Street. Airy called his method of
graduating circles the greatest improvement ever made in instrument making.
He constructed (1800) the first modern transit circle, and his instruments
were used in many of the chief observatories of the world.
[333] William Simms (1793-1860) was taken into partnership by Troughton
(1826) after the death of the latter's brother. The firm manufactured some
well-known instruments.
[334] This was George Horne (1730-1792), fellow of Magdalen College,
Oxford, vice-Chancellor of the University (1776), Dean of Canterbury
(1781), and Bishop of Norwich (1790). He was a great satirist, but most of
his pamphlets against men like Adam Smith, Swedenborg, and Hume, were
anonymous, as in the case of this one against Newton. He was so liberal in
his attitude towards the Methodists that he would not have John Wesley
forbidden to preach in his diocese. He was twenty-one when this tract
appeared.
[335] Martin (1704-1782) was by no means "old Benjamin Martin" when Horne
wrote this pamphlet in 1749. In fact he was then only forty-five. He was a
physicist and a well-known writer on scientific instruments. He also wrote
_Philosophia Britannica or a new and comprehensive system of the Newtonian
Philosophy_ (1759).
[336] Jean Theophile Desaguliers, or Des Aguliers (1683-1744) was the son
of a Protestant who left France after the revocation of the Edict of
Nantes. He became professor of physics at Oxford, and afterwards gave
lectures in London. Later he became chaplain to the Prince of Wales. He
published several works on physics.
[337] Charles Hutton (1737-1823), professor of mathematics at Woolwich
(1772-1807). His _Mathematical Tables_ (1785) and _Mathematical and
Philosophical Dictionary_ (1795-1796) are well known.
[338] James Epps (1773-1839) contributed a number of memoirs on the use and
corrections of instruments. He was assistant secretary of the Astronomical
Society.
[339] John Hutchinson (1674-1737) was one of the first to try to reconcile
the new science of geology with Genesis. He denied the Newtonian hypothesis
as dangerous to religion, and because it necessitated a vacuum. He was a
mystic in his interpretation of the Scriptures, and created a sect that
went under the name of Hutchinsonians.
[340] John Rowning, a Lincolnshire rector, died in 1771. He wrote on
physics, and published a memoir on _A machine for finding the roots of
equations universally_ (1770).
[341] It is always difficult to sanction this spelling of the name of this
Jesuit father who is so often mentioned in the analytic treatment of
conics. He was born in Ragusa in 1711, and the original spelling was
Ru[=d]er Josip Bo[vs]kovi['c]. When he went to live in Italy, as professor
of mathematics at Rome (1740) and at Pavia, the name was spelled Ruggiero
Giuseppe Boscovich, although Boscovicci would seem to a foreigner more
natural. His astronomical work was notable, and in his _De maculis
solaribus_ (1736) there is the first determination of the equator of a
planet by observing the motion of spots on its surface. Boscovich came near
having some contact with America, for he was delegated to observe in
California the transit of Venus in 1755, being prevented by the dissolution
of his order just at that time. He died in 1787, at Milan.
[342] James Granger (1723-1776) who wrote the _Biographical History of
England_, London, 1769. His collection of prints was remarkable, numbering
some fourteen thousand.
[343] He was curator of experiments for the Royal Society. He wrote a large
number of books and monographs on physics. He died about 1713.
[344] Lee seems to have made no impression on biographers.
[345] This work appeared at London in 1852.
[346] Of course this is no longer true. The most scholarly work to-day is
that of Rudio, _Archimedes, Huygens, Lambert, Legendre, vier Abhandlungen
ueber die Kreismessung ... mit einer Uebersicht ueber die Geschichte des
Problems von der Quadratur des Zirkels, von den aeltesten Zeiten bis auf
unsere Tage_, Leipsic, 1892.
[347] Joseph Jerome le Francois de Lalande (1732-1807), professor of
astronomy in the College de France (1753) and director of the Paris
Observatory (1761). His writings on astronomy and his _Bibliographie
astronomique, avec l'histoire de l'astronomie depuis 1781 jusqu'en 1802_
(Paris, 1803) are well known.
[348] De Morgan refers to his _Histoire de l'Astronomie au 18e siecle_,
which appeared in 1827, five years after Delambre's death. Jean Baptiste
Joseph Delambre (1749-1822) was a pupil of and a collaborator with Lalande,
following his master as professor of astronomy in the College de France.
His work on the measurements for the metric system is well known, and his
four histories of astronomy, _ancienne_ (1817), _au moyen age_ (1819),
_moderne_ (1821), and _au 18e siecle_ (posthumous, 1827) are highly
esteemed.
[349] Jean-Joseph Rive (1730-1792), a priest who left his cure under grave
charges, and a quarrelsome character. His attack on Montucla was a case of
the pot calling the kettle black; for while he was a brilliant writer he
was a careless bibliographer.
[350] Isaac Barrow (1630-1677) was quite as well known as a theologian as
he was from his Lucasian professorship of mathematics at Cambridge.
[351] "Besides we can see by this that Barrow was a poor philosopher; for
he believed in the immortality of the soul and in a Divinity other than
universal nature."
[352] The _Recreations mathematiques et physiques_ (Paris, 1694) of Jacques
Ozanam (1640-1717) is a work that is still highly esteemed. Among various
other works he wrote a _Dictionnaire mathematique ou Idee generale des
mathematiques_ (1690) that was not without merit. The _Recreations_ went
through numerous editions (Paris, 1694, 1696, 1741, 1750, 1770, 1778, and
the Montucla edition of 1790; London, 1708, the Montucla-Hutton edition of
1803 and the Riddle edition of 1840; Dublin, 1790).
[353] Hendryk van Etten, the _nom de plume_ of Jean Leurechon (1591-1670),
rector of the Jesuit college at Bar, and professor of philosophy and
mathematics. He wrote on astronomy (1619) and horology (1616), and is known
for his _Selecta Propositiones in tota sparsim mathematica pulcherrime
propositae in solemni festo SS. Ignatii et Francesci Xaverii_, 1622. The
book to which De Morgan refers is his _Recreation mathematicque, composee
de plusieurs problemes plaisants et facetieux_, Lyons, 1627, with an
edition at Pont-a-Mousson, 1629. There were English editions published at
London in 1633, 1653, and 1674, and Dutch editions in 1662 and 1672.
I do not understand how De Morgan happened to miss owning the work by
Claude Gaspar Bachet de Meziriac (1581-1638), _Problemes plaisans et
delectables_, which appeared at Lyons in 1612, 8vo, with a second edition
in 1624. There was a fifth edition published at Paris in 1884.
[354] His title page closes with "Paris, Chez Ch. Ant. Jombert.... M DCC
LIV."
This was Charles-Antoine Jombert (1712-1784), a printer and bookseller with
some taste for painting and architecture. He wrote several works and edited
a number of early treatises.
[355] The late Professor Newcomb made the matter plain even to the
non-mathematical mind, when he said that "ten decimal places are sufficient
to give the circumference of the earth to the fraction of an inch, and
thirty decimal places would give the circumference of the whole visible
universe to a quantity imperceptible with the most powerful microscope."
[356] _Antinewtonianismi pars prima, in qua Newtoni de coloribus systema ex
propriis principiis geometrice evertitur, et nova de coloribus theoria
luculentissimis experimentis demonstrantur_.... Naples, 1754; _pars
secunda_, Naples, 1756.
[357] Celestino Cominale (1722-1785) was professor of medicine at the
University of Naples.
[358] The work appeared in the years from 1844 to 1849.
[359] There was a Vienna edition in 1758, 4to, and another in 1759, 4to.
This edition is described on the title page as _Editio Veneta prima ipso
auctore praesente, et corrigente_.
[360] The first edition was entitled _De solis ac lunae defectibus libri
V. P. Rogerii Josephi Boscovich ... cum ejusdem auctoris adnotationibus_,
London, 1760. It also appeared in Venice in 1761, and in French translation
by the Abbe de Baruel in 1779, and was a work of considerable influence.
[361] Paulian (1722-1802) was professor of physics at the Jesuit college at
Avignon. He wrote several works, the most popular of which, the
_Dictionnaire de physique_ (Avignon, 1761), went through nine editions by
1789.
[362] This is correct.
[363] Probably referring to the fact that Hill (1795-1879), who had done so
much for postal reform, was secretary to the postmaster general (1846), and
his name was a synonym for the post office directory.
[364] Richard Lovett (1692-1780) was a good deal of a charlatan. He claimed
to have studied electrical phenomena, and in 1758 advertised that he could
effect marvelous cures, especially of sore throat, by means of electricity.
Before publishing the works mentioned by De Morgan he had issued others of
similar character, including _The Subtile Medium proved_ (London, 1756) and
_The Reviewers Reviewed_ (London, 1760).
[365] Jean Sylvain Bailly (1736-1793), member of the _Academie francaise_
and of the _Academie des sciences_, first deputy elected to represent Paris
in the _Etats-generaux_ (1789), president of the first National Assembly,
and mayor of Paris (1789-1791). For his vigor as mayor in keeping the
peace, and for his manly defence of the Queen, he was guillotined. He was
an astronomer of ability, but is best known for his histories of the
science.
[366] These were the _Histoire de l'Astronomie ancienne_ (1775), _Histoire
de l'Astronomie moderne_ (1778-1783), _Histoire de l'Astronomie indienne et
orientale_ (1787), and _Lettres sur l'origine des peuples de l'Asie_
(1775).
[367] "The sick old man of Ferney, V., a boy of a hundred years." Voltaire
was born in 1694, and hence was eighty-three at this time.
[368] In Palmezeaux's _Vie de Bailly_, in Bailly's _Ouvrage Posthume_
(1810), M. de Sales is quoted as saying that the _Lettres sur l'Atlantide_
were sent to Voltaire and that the latter did not approve of the theory set
forth.
[369] The British Museum catalogue gives two editions, 1781 and 1782.
[370] A mystic and a spiritualist. His chief work was the one mentioned
here.
[371] Jacob Behmen, or Boehme (1575-1624), known as "the German
theosophist," was founder of the sect of Boehmists, a cult allied to the
Swedenborgians. He was given to the study of alchemy, and brought the
vocabulary of the science into his mystic writings. His sect was revived in
England in the eighteenth century through the efforts of William Law.
Saint-Martin translated into French two of his Latin works under the titles
_L'Aurore naissante, ou la Racine de la philosophie_ (1800), and _Les trois
principes de l'essence divine_ (1802). The originals had appeared nearly
two hundred years earlier,--_Aurora_ in 1612, and _De tribus principiis_ in
1619.
[372] "Unknown."
[373] "Skeptical."
[374] "Man, man, man."
[375] "Men, men, men."
[376] It is interesting to read De Morgan's argument against Saint-Martin's
authorship of this work. It is attributed to Saint-Martin both by the
_Biographie Universelle_ and by the _British Museum Catalogue_, and De
Morgan says by "various catalogues and biographies."
[377] "To explain things by man and not man by things. _On Errors and
Truth_, by a Ph.... Inc...."
[378] "If we would preserve ourselves from all illusions, and above all
from the allurements of pride, by which man is so often seduced, we should
never take man, but always God, for our term of comparison."
[379] "And here is found already an explanation of the numbers four and
nine which caused some perplexity in the work cited above. Man is lost in
passing from four to nine."
[380] Williams also took part in the preparation of some tables for the
government to assist in the determination of longitude. He had published a
work two years before the one here cited, on the same subject,--_An entire
new work and method to discover the variation of the Earth's Diameters_,
London, 1786.
[381] This is Gabriel Mouton (1618-1694), a vicar at Lyons, who suggested
as a basis for a natural system of measures the _mille_, a minute of a
degree of the meridian. This appeared in his _Observationes diametrorum
solis et lunae apparentium, meridianarumque aliquot altitudinum cum tabula
declinationum solis_.... Lyons, 1670.
[382] Jacques Cassini (1677-1756), one of the celebrated Cassini family of
astronomers. After the death of his father he became director of the
observatory at Paris. The basis for a metric unit was set forth by him in
his _Traite de la grandeur et de la figure de la terre_, Paris, 1720. He
was a prolific writer on astronomy.
[383] Alexis Jean Pierre Paucton (1732-1798). He was, for a time, professor
of mathematics at Strassburg, but later (1796) held office in Paris. His
leading contribution to metrology was his _Metrologie ou Traite des
mesures_, Paris, 1780.
[384] He was an obscure writer, born at Deptford.
[385] He was also a writer of no scientific merit, his chief contributions
being religious tracts. One of his productions, however, went through many
editions, even being translated into French; _Three dialogues between a
Minister and one of his Parishioners; on the true principles of Religion
and salvation for sinners by Jesus Christ_. The twentieth edition appeared
at Cambridge in 1786.
[386] This was the _Reflections on the Revolution in France, and on the
proceedings in certain societies in London relative to that event_ (London,
1790) by Edmund Burke (1729-1797). Eleven editions of the work appeared the
first year.
[387] Paine (1736-1809) was born in Norfolkshire, of Quaker parents. He
went to America at the beginning of the Revolution and published, in
January 1776, a violent pamphlet entitled _Common Sense_. He was a private
soldier under Washington, and on his return to England after the war he
published _The Rights of Man_. He was indicted for treason and was outlawed
to France. He was elected to represent Calais at the French convention, but
his plea for moderation led him perilously near the guillotine. His _Age of
Reason_ (1794) was dedicated to Washington. He returned to America in 1802
and remained there until his death.
[388] Part I appeared in 1791 and was so popular that eight editions
appeared in that year. It was followed in 1792 by Part II, of which nine
editions appeared in that year. Both parts were immediately republished in
Paris, and there have been several subsequent editions.
[389] Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797) was only thirty-three when this work
came out. She had already published _An historical and moral View of the
Origin and Progress of the French Revolution_ (1790), and _Original Stories
from Real Life_ (1791). She went to Paris in 1792 and remained during the
Reign of Terror.
[390] Samuel Parr (1747-1827) was for a time head assistant at Harrow
(1767-1771), afterwards headmaster in other schools. At the time this book
was written he was vicar of Hatton, where he took private pupils
(1785-1798) to the strictly limited number of seven. He was a violent Whig
and a caustic writer.
[391] On Mary Wollstonecraft's return from France she married (1797)
William Godwin (1756-1836). He had started as a strong Calvinistic
Nonconformist minister, but had become what would now be called an
anarchist, at least by conservatives. He had written an _Inquiry concerning
Political Justice_ (1793) and a novel entitled _Caleb Williams, or Things
as they are_ (1794), both of which were of a nature to attract his future
wife.
[392] This child was a daughter. She became Shelley's wife, and Godwin's
influence on Shelley was very marked.
[393] This was John Nichols (1745-1826), the publisher and antiquary. He
edited the _Gentleman's Magazine_ (1792-1826) and his works include the
_Literary Anecdotes of the Eighteenth Century_ (1812-1815), to which De
Morgan here refers.
[394] William Bellenden, a Scotch professor at the University of Paris, who
died about 1633. His textbooks are now forgotten, but Parr edited an
edition of his works in 1787. The Latin preface, _Praefatio ad Bellendum de
Statu_, was addressed to Burke, North, and Fox, and was a satire on their
political opponents.
[395] As we have seen, he had been head-master before he began taking "his
handful of private pupils."
[396] The story has evidently got mixed up in the telling, for Tom Sheridan
(1721-1788), the great actor, was old enough to have been Dr. Parr's
father. It was his son, Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751-1816), the
dramatist and politician, who was the pupil of Parr. He wrote _The Rivals_
(1775) and _The School for Scandal_ (1777) soon after Parr left Harrow.
[397] Horner (1785-1864) was a geologist and social reformer. He was very
influential in improving the conditions of child labor.
[398] William Cobbett (1762-1835), the journalist, was a character not
without interest to Americans. Born in Surrey, he went to America at the
age of thirty and remained there eight years. Most of this time he was
occupied as a bookseller in Philadelphia, and while thus engaged he was
fined for libel against the celebrated Dr. Rush. On his return to England
he edited the _Weekly Political Register_ (1802-1835), a popular journal
among the working classes. He was fined and imprisoned for two years
because of his attack (1810) on military flogging, and was also (1831)
prosecuted for sedition. He further showed his paradox nature by his
_History of the Protestant Reformation_ (1824-1827), an attack on the
prevailing Protestant opinion. He also wrote a _Life of Andrew Jackson_
(1834). After repeated attempts he succeeded in entering parliament, a
result of the Reform Bill.
[399] Robinson (1735-1790) was a Baptist minister who wrote several
theological works and a number of hymns. His work at Cambridge so offended
the students that they at one time broke up the services.
[400] This work had passed through twelve editions by 1823.
[401] Dyer (1755-1841), the poet and reformer, edited Robinson's
_Ecclesiastical Researches_ (1790). He was a life-long friend of Charles
Lamb, and in their boyhood they were schoolmates at Christ's Hospital. His
_Complaints of the Poor People of England_ (1793) made him a worthy
companion of the paradoxers above mentioned.
[402] These were John Thelwall (1764-1834) whose _Politics for the People
or Hogswash_ (1794) took its title from the fact that Burke called the
people the "swinish multitude." The book resulted in sending the author to
the Tower for sedition. In 1798 he gave up politics and started a school of
elocution which became very famous. Thomas Hardy (1752-1832), who kept a
bootmaker's shop in Piccadilly, was a fellow prisoner with Thelwall, being
arrested for high treason. He was founder (1792) of The London
Corresponding Society, a kind of clearing house for radical associations
throughout the country. Horne Tooke was really John Horne (1736-1812), he
having taken the name of his friend William Tooke in 1782. He was a radical
of the radicals, and organized a number of reform societies. Among these
was the Constitutional Society that voted money (1775) to assist the
American revolutionists, appointing him to give the contribution to
Franklin. For this he was imprisoned for a year. With his fellow rebels in
the Tower in 1794, however, he was acquitted. As a philologist he is known
for his early advocacy of the study of Anglo-Saxon and Gothic, and his
_Diversions of Purley_ (1786) is still known to readers.
[403] This was the admiral, Adam Viscount Duncan (1731-1804), who defeated
the Dutch off Camperdown in 1797.
[404] He was created Duke of Clarence and St. Andrews in 1789 and was
Admiral of the Fleet escorting Louis XVIII on his return to France in 1814.
He became Lord High Admiral in 1827, and reigned as William IV from 1830 to
1837.
[405] This was Charles Abbott (1762-1832) first Lord Tenterden. He
succeeded Lord Ellenborough as Chief Justice (1818) and was raised to the
peerage in 1827. He was a strong Tory and opposed the Catholic Relief Bill,
the Reform Bill, and the abolition of the death penalty for forgery.
[406] Edward Law (1750-1818), first Baron Ellenborough. He was chief
counsel for Warren Hastings, and his famous speech in defense of his client
is well known. He became Chief Justice and was raised to the peerage in
1802. He opposed all efforts to modernize the criminal code, insisting upon
the reactionary principle of new death penalties.
[407] Edmund Law (1703-1787), Bishop of Carlisle (1768), was a good deal
more liberal than his son. His _Considerations on the Propriety of
requiring subscription to the Articles of Faith_ (1774) was published
anonymously. In it he asserts that not even the clergy should be required
to subscribe to the thirty-nine articles.
[408] Joe Miller (1684-1738), the famous Drury Lane comedian, was so
illiterate that he could not have written the _Joe Miller's Jests, or the
Wit's Vade-Mecum_ that appeared the year after his death. It was often
reprinted and probably contained more or less of Miller's own jokes.
[409] The sixth duke (1766-1839) was much interested in parliamentary
reform. He was a member of the Society of Friends of the People. He was for
fourteen years a member of parliament (1788-1802) and was later Lord
Lieutenant of Ireland (1806-1807). He afterwards gave up politics and
became interested in agricultural matters.
[410] George Jeffreys (c. 1648-1689), the favorite of James II, who was
active in prosecuting the Rye House conspirators. He was raised to the
peerage in 1684 and held the famous "bloody assize" in the following year,
being made Lord Chancellor as a result. He was imprisoned in the Tower by
William III and died there.
[411] _The Every Day Book, forming a Complete History of the Year, Months,
and Seasons, and a perpetual Key to the Almanack_, 1826-1827.
[412] The first and second editions appeared in 1820. Two others followed
in 1821.
[413] _The three trials of W. H., for publishing three parodies; viz the
late John Wilkes' Catechism, the Political Litany, and the Sinecurists
Creed; on three ex-officio informations, at Guildhall, London, ... Dec. 18,
19, & 20, 1817_,... London, 1818.
[414] The _Political Litany_ appeared in 1817.
[415] That is, Castlereagh's.
[416] The well-known caricaturist (1792-1878), then only twenty-nine years
old.
[417] Robert Stewart (1769-1822) was second Marquis of Londonderry and
Viscount Castlereagh. As Chief Secretary for Ireland he was largely
instrumental in bringing about the union of Ireland and Great Britain. He
was at the head of the war department during most of the Napoleonic wars,
and was to a great extent responsible for the European coalition against
the Emperor. He suicided in 1822.
[418] John Murray (1778-1843), the well-known London publisher. He refused
to finish the publication of Don Juan, after the first five cantos, because
of his Tory principles.
[419] Only the first two cantos appeared in 1819.
[420] Proclus (412-485), one of the greatest of the neo-Platonists, studied
at Alexandria and taught philosophy at Athens. He left commentaries on
Plato and on part of Euclid's _Elements_.
[421] Thomas Taylor (1758-1835), called "the Platonist," had a liking for
mathematics, and was probably led by his interest in number mysticism to a
study of neo-Platonism. He translated a number of works from the Latin and
Greek, and wrote two works on theoretical arithmetic (1816, 1823).
[422] There was an earlier edition, 1788-89.
[423] Georgius Gemistus, or Georgius Pletho (Plethon), lived in the
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. He was a native of Constantinople, but
spent most of his time in Greece. He devoted much time to the propagation
of the Platonic philosophy, but also wrote on divinity, geography, and
history.
[424] Hannah More (1745-1833), was, in her younger days, a friend of Burke,
Reynolds, Dr. Johnson, and Garrick. At this time she wrote a number of
poems and aspired to become a dramatist. Her _Percy_ (1777), with a
prologue and epilogue by Garrick, had a long run at Covent Garden. Somewhat
later she came to believe that the playhouse was a grave public evil, and
refused to attend the revival of her own play with Mrs. Siddons in the
leading part. After 1789 she and her sisters devoted themselves to starting
schools for poor children, teaching them religion and housework, but
leaving them illiterate.
[425] These were issued at the rate of three each month,--a story, a
ballad, and a Sunday tract. They were collected and published in one volume
in 1795. It is said that two million copies were sold the first year. There
were also editions in 1798, 1819, 1827, and 1836-37.
[426] That is, Dr. Johnson (1709-1784). The _Rambler_ was published in
1750-1752, and was an imitation of Addison's _Spectator_.
[427] Dr. Moore, referred to below.
[428] Dr. John Moore (1729-1802), physician and novelist, is now best known
for his _Journal during a Residence in France from the beginning of August
to the middle of December, 1792_, a work quoted frequently by Carlyle in
his _French Revolution_.
[429] Sir John Moore (1761-1809), Lieutenant General in the Napoleonic
wars. He was killed in the battle of Corunna. The poem by Charles Wolfe
(1791-1823), _The Burial of Sir John Moore_ (1817), is well known.
[430] Referring to the novels of Thomas Love Peacock (1785-1866), who
succeeded James Mill as chief examiner of the East India Company, and was
in turn succeeded by John Stuart Mill.
[431] Frances Burney, Madame d'Arblay (1752-1840), married General
d'Arblay, a French officer and companion of Lafayette, in 1793. She was
only twenty-five when she acquired fame by her _Evelina, or a Young Lady's
Entrance into the World_. Her _Letters and Diaries_ appeared posthumously
(1842-45).
[432] Henry Peter, Baron Brougham and Vaux (1778-1868), well known in
politics, science, and letters. He was one of the founders of the
_Edinburgh Review_, became Lord Chancellor in 1830, and took part with men
like William Frend, De Morgan's father-in-law, in the establishing of
London University. He was also one of the founders of the Society for the
Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. He was always friendly to De Morgan, who
entered the faculty of London University, whose work on geometry was
published by the Society mentioned, and who was offered the degree of
doctor of laws by the University of Edinburgh while Lord Brougham was Lord
Rector. The Edinburgh honor was refused by De Morgan who said he "did not
feel like an LL.D."
[433] Maria Edgeworth (1767-1849).
[434] Sydney Owenson (c. 1783-1859) married Sir Thomas Morgan, a well-known
surgeon, in 1812. Her Irish stories were very popular with the patriots but
were attacked by the _Quarterly Review_. _The Wild Irish Girl_ (1806) went
through seven editions in two years.
[435] 1775-1817.
[436] 1771-1832.
[437] The famous preacher (1732-1808). He was the first chairman of the
Religious Tract Society. He is also known as one of the earliest advocates
of vaccination, in his _Cow-pock Inoculation vindicated and recommended
from matters of fact_, 1806.
[438] Sir Rowland Hill (1795-1879), the father of penny postage.
[439] Beilby Porteus (1731-1808), Bishop of Chester (1776) and Bishop of
London (1787). He encouraged the Sunday-school movement and the
dissemination of Hannah More's tracts. He was an active opponent of
slavery, but also of Catholic emancipation.
[440] Henrietta Maria Bowdler (1754-1830), generally known as Mrs. Harriet
Bowdler. She was the author of many religious tracts and poems. Her _Poems
and Essays_ (1786) were often reprinted. The story goes that on the
appearance of her _Sermons on the Doctrines and duties of Christianity_
(published anonymously), Bishop Porteus offered the author a living under
the impression that it was written by a man.
[441] William Frend (1757-1841), whose daughter Sophia Elizabeth became De
Morgan's wife (1837), was at one time a clergyman of the Established
Church, but was converted to Unitarianism (1787). He came under De Morgan's
definition of a true paradoxer, carrying on a zealous warfare for what he
thought right. As a result of his _Address to the Inhabitants of Cambridge_
(1787), and his efforts to have abrogated the requirement that candidates
for the M.A. must subscribe to the thirty-nine articles, he was deprived of
his tutorship in 1788. A little later he was banished (see De Morgan's
statement in the text) from Cambridge because of his denunciation of the
abuses of the Church and his condemnation of the liturgy. His eccentricity
is seen in his declining to use negative quantities in the operations of
algebra. He finally became an actuary at London and was prominent in
radical associations. He was a mathematician of ability, having been second
wrangler and having nearly attained the first place, and he was also an
excellent scholar in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew.
[442] George Peacock (1791-1858), Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge,
Lowndean professor of astronomy, and Dean of Ely Cathedral (1839). His tomb
may be seen at Ely where he spent the latter part of his life. He was one
of the group that introduced the modern continental notation of the
calculus into England, replacing the cumbersome notation of Newton, passing
from "the _dot_age of fluxions to the _de_ism of the calculus."
[443] Robert Simson (1687-1768); professor of mathematics at Glasgow. His
restoration of Apollonius (1749) and his translation and restoration of
Euclid (1756, and 1776--posthumous) are well known.
[444] Francis Maseres (1731-1824), a prominent lawyer. His mathematical
works had some merit.
[445] These appeared annually from 1804 to 1822.
[446] Henry Gunning (1768-1854) was senior esquire bedell of Cambridge. The
_Reminiscences_ appeared in two volumes in 1854.
[447] John Singleton Copley, Baron Lyndhurst (1772-1863), the son of John
Singleton Copley the portrait painter, was born in Boston. He was educated
at Trinity College, Cambridge, and became a lawyer. He was made Lord
Chancellor in 1827.
[448] Sir William Rough (c. 1772-1838), a lawyer and poet, became Chief
Justice of Ceylon in 1836. He was knighted in 1837.
[449] Herbert Marsh, afterwards Bishop of Peterborough, a relation of my
father.--S. E. De M.
He was born in 1757 and died in 1839. On the trial of Frend he publicly
protested against testifying against a personal confidant, and was excused.
He was one of the first of the English clergy to study modern higher
criticism of the Bible, and amid much opposition he wrote numerous works on
the subject. He was professor of theology at Cambridge (1707), Bishop of
Llandaff (1816), and Bishop of Peterborough.
[450] George Butler (1774-1853), Headmaster of Harrow (1805-1829),
Chancellor of Peterborough (1836), and Dean of Peterborough (1842).
[451] James Tate (1771-1843), Headmaster of Richmond School (1796-1833) and
Canon of St. Paul's Cathedral (1833). He left several works on the
classics.
[452] Francis Place (1771-1854), at first a journeyman breeches maker, and
later a master tailor. He was a hundred years ahead of his time as a strike
leader, but was not so successful as an agitator as he was as a tailor,
since his shop in Charing Cross made him wealthy. He was a well-known
radical, and it was largely due to his efforts that the law against the
combinations of workmen was repealed in 1824. His chief work was _The
Principles of Population_ (1822).
[453] Speed (1552-1629) was a tailor until Grevil (Greville) made him
independent of his trade. He was not only an historian of some merit, but a
skilful cartographer. His maps of the counties were collected in the
_Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine_, 1611. About this same time he
also published _Genealogies recorded in Sacred Scripture_, a work that had
passed through thirty-two editions by 1640.
[454] _The history of Great Britaine under the conquests of ye Romans,
Saxons, Danes, and Normans...._ London, 1611, folio. The second edition
appeared in 1623; the third, to which De Morgan here refers, posthumously
in 1632; and the fourth in 1650.
[455] William Nicolson (1655-1727) became Bishop of Carlisle in 1702, and
Bishop of Derry in 1718. His chief work was the _Historical Library_
(1696-1724), in the form of a collection of documents and chronicles. It
was reprinted in 1736 and in 1776.
[456] Sir Fulk Grevil, or Fulke Greville (1554-1628), was a favorite of
Queen Elizabeth, Chancellor of the Exchequer under James I, a patron of
literature, and a friend of Sir Philip Sidney.
[457] See note 443 on page 197.
[458] See note 444 on page 197.
[459] See note 439 on page 193.
[460] Edward Waring (1736-1796) was Lucasian professor of mathematics at
Cambridge. He published several works on analysis and curves. The work
referred to was the _Miscellanea Analytica de aequationibus algebraicis et
curvarum proprietatibus_, Cambridge, 1762.
[461] _A Dissertation on the use of the Negative Sign in Algebra...; to
which is added, Machin's Quadrature of the Circle_, London, 1758.
[462] The paper was probably one on complex numbers, or possibly one on
quaternions, in which direction as well as absolute value is involved.
[463] De Morgan quotes from one of the Latin editions. Descartes wrote in
French, the title of his first edition being: _Discours de la methode pour
bien conduire sa raison et chercher la verite dans les sciences, plus la
dioptrique, les meteores et la geometrie qui sont des essais de cette
methode_, Leyden, 1637, 4to.
[464] "I have observed that algebra indeed, as it is usually taught, is so
restricted by definite rules and formulas of calculation, that it seems
rather a confused kind of an art, by the practice of which the mind is in a
certain manner disturbed and obscured, than a science by which it is
cultivated and made acute."
[465] It appeared in 93 volumes, from 1758 to 1851.
[466] _The principles of the doctrine of life-annuities; explained in a
familiar manner ... with a variety of new tables_ ..., London, 1783.
[467] I suppose the one who wrote _Conjectures on the physical causes of
Earthquakes and Volcanoes_, Dublin, 1820.
[468] _Scriptores Logarithmici; or, a Collection of several curious_
_tracts on the nature and construction of Logarithms ... together with same
tracts on the Binomial Theorem_ ..., 6 vols., London, 1791-1807.
[469] Charles Babbage (1792-1871), whose work on the calculating machine is
well known. Maseres was, it is true, ninety-two at this time, but Babbage
was thirty-one instead of twenty-nine. He had already translated Lacroix's
_Treatise on the differential and integral calculus_ (1816), in
collaboration with Herschel and Peacock. He was Lucasian professor of
mathematics at Cambridge from 1828 to 1839.
[470] _The great and new Art of weighing Vanity, or a discovery of the
ignorance of the great and new artist in his pseudo-philosophical
writings._ The "great and new artist" was Sinclair.
[471] George Sinclair, probably a native of East Lothian, who died in 1696.
He was professor of philosophy and mathematics at Glasgow, and was one of
the first to use the barometer in measuring altitudes. The work to which De
Morgan refers is his _Hydrostaticks_ (1672). He was a firm believer in evil
spirits, his work on the subject going through four editions: _Satan's
Invisible World Discovered; or, a choice collection of modern relations,
proving evidently against the Saducees and Athiests of this present age,
that there are Devils, Spirits, Witches, and Apparitions_, Edinburgh, 1685.
[472] This was probably William Sanders, Regent of St. Leonard's College,
whose _Theses philosophicae_ appeared in 1674, and whose _Elementa
geometriae_ came out a dozen years later.
[473] _Ars nova et magna gravitatis et levitatis; sive dialogorum
philosophicorum libri sex de aeris vera ac reali gravitate_, Rotterdam,
1669, 4to.
[474] Volume I, Nos. 1 and 2, appeared in 1803.
[475] His daughter, Mrs. De Morgan, says in her _Memoir_ of her husband:
"My father had been second wrangler in a year in which the two highest were
close together, and was, as his son-in-law afterwards described him, an
exceedingly clear thinker. It is possible, as Mr. De Morgan said, that this
mental clearness and directness may have caused his mathematical heresy,
the rejection of the use of negative quantities in algebraical operations;
and it is probable that he thus deprived himself of an instrument of work,
the use of which might have led him to greater eminence in the higher
branches." _Memoir of Augustus De Morgan_, London, 1882, p. 19.
[476] "If it is not true it is a good invention." A well-known Italian
proverb.
[477] See page 86, note 132.
[478] He was born at Paris in 1713, and died there in 1765.
[479] _Recherches sur les courbes a double courbure_, Paris, 1731. Clairaut
was then only eighteen, and was in the same year made a member of the
Academie des sciences. His _Elemens de geometrie_ appeared in 1741.
Meantime he had taken part in the measurement of a degree in Lapland
(1736-1737). His _Traite de la figure de la terre_ was published in 1741.
The Academy of St. Petersburg awarded him a prize for his _Theorie de la
lune_ (1750). His various works on comets are well known, particularly his
_Theorie du mouvement des cometes_ (1760) in which he applied the "problem
of three bodies" to Halley's comet as retarded by Jupiter and Saturn.
[480] Joseph Privat, Abbe de Molieres (1677-1742), was a priest of the
Congregation of the Oratorium. In 1723 he became a professor in the College
de France. He was well known as an astronomer and a mathematician, and
wrote in defense of Descartes's theory of vortices (1728, 1729). He also
contributed to the methods of finding prime numbers (1705).
[481] "Deserves not only to be printed, but to be admired as a marvel of
imagination, of understanding, and of ability."
[482] Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), the well-known French philosopher and
mathematician. He lived for some time with the Port Royalists, and defended
them against the Jesuits in his _Provincial Letters_. Among his works are
the following: _Essai pour les coniques_ (1640); _Recit de la grande
experience de l'equilibre des liqueurs_ (1648), describing his experiment
in finding altitudes by barometric readings; _Histoire de la roulette_
(1658); _Traite du triangle arithmetique_ (1665); _Aleae geometria_ (1654).
[483] This proposition shows that if a hexagon is inscribed in a conic (in
particular a circle) and the opposite sides are produced to meet, the three
points determined by their intersections will be in the same straight line.
[484] Jacques Curabelle, _Examen des Oeuvres du Sr. Desargues_, Paris,
1644. He also published without date a work entitled: _Foiblesse pitoyable
du Sr. G. Desargues employee contre l'examen fait de ses oeuvres_.
[485] See page 119, note 233.
[486] Until "this great proposition called Pascal's should see the light."
[487] The story is that his father, Etienne Pascal, did not wish him to
study geometry until he was thoroughly grounded in Latin and Greek. Having
heard the nature of the subject, however, he began at the age of twelve to
construct figures by himself, drawing them on the floor with a piece of
charcoal. When his father discovered what he was doing he was attempting to
demonstrate that the sum of the angles of a triangle equals two right
angles. The story is given by his sister, Mme. Perier.
[488] Sir John Wilson (1741-1793) was knighted in 1786 and became
Commissioner of the Great Seal in 1792. He was a lawyer and jurist of
recognized merit. He stated his theorem without proof, the first
demonstration having been given by Lagrange in the Memoirs of the Berlin
Academy for 1771,--_Demonstration d'un theoreme nouveau concernant les
nombres premiers_. Euler also gave a proof in his _Miscellanea Analytica_
(1773). Fermat's works should be consulted in connection with the early
history of this theorem.
[489] He wrote, in 1760, a tract in defense of Waring, a point of whose
algebra had been assailed by a Dr. Powell. Waring wrote another tract of
the same date.--A. De M.
William Samuel Powell (1717-1775) was at this time a fellow of St. John's
College, Cambridge. In 1765 he became Vice Chancellor of the University.
Waring was a Magdalene man, and while candidate for the Lucasian
professorship he circulated privately his _Miscellanea Analytica_. Powell
attacked this in his _Observations on the First Chapter of a Book called
Miscellanea_ (1760). This attack was probably in the interest of another
candidate, a man of his own college (St. John's), William Ludlam.
[490] William Paley (1743-1805) was afterwards a tutor at Christ's College,
Cambridge. He never contributed anything to mathematics, but his _Evidences
of Christianity_ (1794) was long considered somewhat of a classic. He also
wrote _Principles of Morality and Politics_ (1785), and _Natural Theology_
(1802).
[491] Edward, first Baron Thurlow (1731-1806) is known to Americans because
of his strong support of the Royal prerogative during the Revolution. He
was a favorite of George III, and became Lord Chancellor in 1778.
[492] George Wilson Meadley (1774-1818) published his _Memoirs of ...
Paley_ in 1809. He also published _Memoirs of Algernon Sidney_ in 1813. He
was a merchant and banker, and had traveled extensively in Europe and the
East. He was a convert to unitarianism, to which sect Paley had a strong
leaning.
[493] Watson (1737-1816) was a strange kind of man for a bishopric. He was
professor of chemistry at Cambridge (1764) at the age of twenty-seven. It
was his experiments that led to the invention of the black-bulb
thermometer. He is said to have saved the government L100,000 a year by his
advice on the manufacture of gunpowder. Even after he became professor of
divinity at Cambridge (1771) he published four volumes of _Chemical Essays_
(vol. I, 1781). He became Bishop of Llandaff in 1782.
[494] James Adair (died in 1798) was counsel for the defense in the trial
of the publishers of the _Letters of Junius_ (1771). As King's Serjeant he
assisted in prosecuting Hardy and Horne Tooke.
[495] Morgan (1750-1833) was actuary of the Equitable Assurance Society of
London (1774-1830), and it was to his great abilities that the success of
that company was due at a time when other corporations of similar kind were
meeting with disaster. The Royal Society awarded him a medal (1783) for a
paper on _Probability of Survivorship_. He wrote several important works on
insurance and finance.
[496] Dr. Price (1723-1791) was a non-conformist minister and a writer on
ethics, economics, politics, and insurance. He was a defender of the
American Revolution and a personal friend of Franklin. In 1778 Congress
invited him to America to assist in the financial administration of the new
republic, but he declined. His famous sermon on the French Revolution is
said to have inspired Burke's _Reflections on the Revolution in France_.
[497] Elizabeth Gurney (1780-1845), a Quaker, who married Joseph Fry
(1800), a London merchant. She was the prime mover in the Association for
the Improvement of the Female Prisoners in Newgate, founded in 1817. Her
influence in prison reform extended throughout Europe, and she visited the
prisons of many countries in her efforts to improve the conditions of penal
servitude. The friendship of Mrs. Fry with the De Morgans began in 1837.
Her scheme for a female benefit society proved worthless from the actuarial
standpoint, and would have been disastrous to all concerned if it had been
carried out, and it was therefore fortunate that De Morgan was consulted in
time. Mrs. De Morgan speaks of the consultation in these words: "My
husband, who was very sensitive on such points, was charmed with Mrs. Fry's
voice and manner as much as by the simple self-forgetfulness with which she
entered into this business; her own very uncomfortable share of it not
being felt as an element in the question, as long as she could be useful in
promoting good or preventing mischief. I can see her now as she came into
our room, took off her little round Quaker cap, and laying it down, went at
once into the matter. 'I have followed thy advice, and I think nothing
further can be done in this case; but all harm is prevented.' In the
following year I had an opportunity of seeing the effect of her most
musical tones. I visited her at Stratford, taking my little baby and nurse
with me, to consult her on some articles on prison discipline, which I had
written for a periodical. The baby--three months old--was restless, and the
nurse could not quiet her, neither could I entirely, until Mrs. Fry began
to read something connected with the subject of my visit, when the infant,
fixing her large eyes on the reader, lay listening till she fell asleep."
_Memoirs_, p. 91.
[498] Mrs. Fry certainly believed that the writer was the old actuary of
the Equitable, when she first consulted him upon the benevolent Assurance
project; but we were introduced to her by our old and dear friend Lady Noel
Byron, by whom she had been long known and venerated, and who referred her
to Mr. De Morgan for advice. An unusual degree of confidence in, and
appreciation of each other, arose on their first meeting between the two,
who had so much that was externally different, and so much that was
essentially alike, in their natures.--S. E. De M.
Anne Isabella Milbanke (1792-1860) married Lord Byron in 1815, when both
took the additional name of Noel, her mother's name. They were separated in
1816.
[499] An obscure writer not mentioned in the ordinary biographies.
[500] Not mentioned in the ordinary biographies, and for obvious reasons.
[501] "Before" and "after."
[502] On Bishop Wilkins see note 171 on page 100.
[503] Provision for a journey.
[504] See note 179 on page 103.
[505] Thomas Bradwardine (1290-1349), known as _Doctor Profundus_, proctor
and professor of theology at Oxford, and afterwards Chancellor of St.
Paul's and confessor to Edward III. The English ascribed their success at
Crecy to his prayers.
[506] He was consecrated Archbishop of Canterbury by the Pope at Avignon,
July 13, 1349, and died of the plague at London in the same year.
[507] "One paltry little year."
[508] The title is carelessly copied, as is so frequently the case in
catalogues, even of the Libri class. It should read: _Arithmetica thome
brauardini_ || _Olivier Senant_ || _Venum exponuntur ab Oliuiario senant in
vico diui Jacobi sub signo beate Barbare sedente_. The colophon reads:
_Explicit arithmetica speculatiua th[=o]e brauardini b[=n] reuisa et
correcta a Petro sanchez Ciruelo aragonensi mathematicas leg[=e]te
Parisius, [=i]pressa per Thom[=a] anguelart_. There were Paris editions of
1495, 1496, 1498, s. a. (c. 1500), 1502, 1504, 1505, s. a. (c. 1510), 1512,
1530, a Valencia edition of 1503, two Wittenberg editions of 1534 and 1536,
and doubtless several others. The work is not "very rare," although of
course no works of that period are common. See the editor's _Rara
Arithmetica_, page 61.
[509] This is his _Tractatus de proportionibus_, Paris, 1495; Venice, 1505;
Vienna, 1515, with other editions.
[510] The colophon of the 1495 edition reads: _Et sic explicit Geometria
Thome brauardini c[=u] tractatulo de quadratura circuli bene reuisa a Petro
sanchez ciruelo: operaqz Guidonis mercatoris dilig[=e]tissime impresse
parisi^o in c[=a]po gaillardi. Anno d[=n]i. 1495. die. 20, maij._
This Petro Ciruelo was born in Arragon, and died in 1560 at Salamanca. He
studied mathematics and philosophy at Paris, and took the doctor's degree
there. He taught at the University of Alcala and became canon of the
Cathedral at Salamanca. Besides his editions of Bradwardine he wrote
several works, among them the _Liber arithmeticae practicae qui dicitur
algorithmus_ (Paris, 1495) and the _Cursus quatuor mathematicarum artium
liberalium_ (Alcala, 1516).
[511] Star polygons, a subject of considerable study in the later Middle
Ages. See note 35 on page 44.
[512] "A new theory that adds lustre to the fourteenth century."
[513] There is nothing in the edition of 1495 that leads to this
conclusion.
[514] The full title is: _Nouvelle theorie des paralleles, avec un
appendice contenant la maniere de perfectionner la theorie des paralleles
de A. M. Legendre_. The author had no standing as a scientist.
[515] Adrien Marie Legendre (1752-1833) was one of the great mathematicians
of the opening of the nineteenth century. His _Elements de geometrie_
(1794) had great influence on the geometry of the United States. His _Essai
sur la theorie des nombres_ (1798) is one of the classics upon the subject.
The work to which Kircher refers is the _Nouvelle theorie des paralleles_
(1803), in which the attempt is made to avoid using Euclid's postulate of
parallels, the result being merely the substitution of another assumption
that was even more unsatisfactory. The best presentations of the general
theory are W. B. Frankland's _Theories of Parallelism_, Cambridge, 1910,
and Engel and Staeckel's _Die Theorie der Parallellinien von Euclid bis auf
Gauss_, Leipsic, 1895. Legendre published a second work on the theory the
year of his death, _Reflexions sur ... la theorie des paralleles_ (1833).
His other works include the _Nouvelles methodes pour la determination des
orbites des cometes_ (1805), in which he uses the method of least squares;
the _Traite des fonctions elliptiques et des integrales_ (1827-1832), and
the _Exercises de calcul integral_ (1811, 1816, 1817).
[516] Johann Joseph Ignatz von Hoffmann (1777-1866), professor of
mathematics at Aschaffenburg, published his _Theorie der Parallellinien_ in
1801. He supplemented this by his _Kritik der Parallelen-Theorie_ in 1807,
and his _Das eilfte Axiom der Elemente des Euclidis neu bewiesen_ in 1859.
He wrote other works on mathematics, but none of his contributions was of
any importance.
[517] Johann Karl Friedrich Hauff (1766-1846) was successively professor of
mathematics at Marburg, director of the polytechnic school at Augsburg,
professor at the Gymnasium at Cologne, and professor of mathematics and
physics at Ghent. The work to which Kircher refers is his memoirs on the
Euclidean _Theorie der Parallelen_ in Hindenburg's _Archiv_, vol. III
(1799), an article of no merit in the general theory.
[518] Wenceslaus Johann Gustav Karsten (1732-1787) was professor of logic
at Rostock (1758) and Butzow (1760), and later became professor of
mathematics and physics at Halle. His work on parallels is the _Versuch
einer voellig berichtigten Theorie der Parallellinien_ (1779). He also wrote
a work entitled _Anfangsgruende der mathematischen Wissenschaften_ (1780),
but neither of these works was more than mediocre.
[519] Johann Christoph Schwab (not Schwal) was born in 1743 and died in
1821. He was professor at the Karlsschule at Stuttgart. De Morgan's wish
was met, for the catalogues give "c. fig. 8," so that it evidently had
eight illustrations instead of eight volumes. He wrote several other works
on the principles of geometry, none of any importance.
[520] Gaetano Rossi of Catanzaro. This was the libretto writer (1772-1855),
and hence the imperfections of the work can better be condoned. De Morgan
should have given a little more of the title: _Solusione esatta e regolare
... del ... problema della quadratura del circolo_. There was a second
edition, London, 1805.
[521] This identifies Rossi, for Josephine Grassini (1773-1850) was a
well-known contralto, _prima donna_ at Napoleon's court opera.
[522] William Spence (1783-1860) was an entomologist and economist of some
standing, a fellow of the Royal Society, and one of the founders of the
Entomological Society of London. The work here mentioned was a popular one,
the first edition appearing in 1807, and four editions being justified in a
single year. He also wrote _Agriculture the Source of Britain's Wealth_
(1808) and _Objections against the Corn Bill refuted_ (1815), besides a
work in four volumes on entomology (1815-1826) in collaboration with
William Kirby.
[523] "That used to be so, but we have changed all that."
[524] "Meet the coming disease."
[525] George Douglas (or Douglass) was a Scotch writer. He got out an
edition of the _Elements of Euclid_ in 1776, with an appendix on
trigonometry and a set of tables. His work on _Mathematical Tables_
appeared in 1809, and his _Art of Drawing in Perspective, from mathematical
principles_, in 1810.
[526] See note 443, on page 197.
[527] John Playfair (1748-1848) was professor of mathematics (1785) and
natural philosophy (1805) at the University of Edinburgh. His _Elements of
Geometry_ went through many editions.
[528] "Tell Apella" was an expression current in classical Rome to indicate
incredulity and to show the contempt in which the Jew was held. Horace
says: _Credat Judaeus Apella_, "Let Apella the Jew believe it." Our "Tell it
to the marines," is a similar phrase.
[529] As De Morgan says two lines later, "No mistake is more common than
the natural one of imagining that the"--University of Virginia is at
Richmond. The fact is that it is not there, and that it did not exist in
1810. It was not chartered until 1819, and was not opened until 1825, and
then at Charlottesville. The act establishing the Central College, from
which the University of Virginia developed, was passed in 1816. The Jean
Wood to whom De Morgan refers was one John Wood who was born about 1775 in
Scotland and who emigrated to the United States in 1800. He published a
_History of the Administration of J. Adams_ (New York, 1802) that was
suppressed by Aaron Burr. This act called forth two works, a _Narrative of
the Suppression, by Col. Burr, of the 'History of the Administration of
John Adams'_ (1802), in which Wood was sustained; and the _Antidote to John
Wood's Poison_ (1802), in which he was attacked. The work referred to in
the "printed circular" may have been the _New theory of the diurnal
rotation of the earth_ (Richmond, Va., 1809). Wood spent the last years of
his life in Richmond, Va., making county maps. He died there in 1822. A
careful search through works relating to the University of Virginia fails
to show that Wood had any connection with it.
[530] There seems to be nothing to add to Dobson's biography beyond what De
Morgan has so deliciously set forth.
[531] "Give to each man his due."
[532] Hester Lynch Salusbury (1741-1821), the friend of Dr. Johnson,
married Henry Thrale (1763), a brewer, who died in 1781. She then married
Gabriel Piozzi (1784), an Italian musician. Her _Anecdotes of the late
Samuel Johnson_ (1786) and _Letters to and from Samuel Johnson_ (1788) are
well known. She also wrote numerous essays and poems.
[533] Samuel Pike (c. 1717-1773) was an independent minister, with a chapel
in London and a theological school in his house. He later became a disciple
of Robert Sandeman and left the Independents for the Sandemanian church
(1765). The _Philosophia Sacra_ was first published at London in 1753. De
Morgan here cites the second edition.
[534] Pike had been dead over forty years when Kittle published this second
edition. Kittle had already published a couple of works: _King Solomon's
portraiture of Old Age_ (Edinburgh, 1813), and _Critical and Practical
Lectures on the Apocalyptical Epistles to the Seven Churches of Asia Minor_
(London, 1814).
[535] See note 334, on page 152.
[536] William Stukely (1687-1765) was a fellow of the Royal Society and of
the College of Physicians and Surgeons. He afterwards (1729) entered the
Church. He was prominent as an antiquary, especially in the study of the
Roman and Druidic remains of Great Britain. He was the author of numerous
works, chiefly on paleography.
[537] William Jones (1726-1800), who should not be confused with his
namesake who is mentioned in note 281 on page 135. He was a lifelong friend
of Bishop Horne, and his vicarage at Nayland was a meeting place of an
influential group of High Churchmen. Besides the _Physiological
Disquisitions_ (1781) he wrote _The Catholic Doctrine of the Trinity_
(1756) and _The Grand Analogy_ (1793).
[538] Robert Spearman (1703-1761) was a pupil of John Hutchinson, and not
only edited his works but wrote his life. He wrote a work against the
Newtonian physics, entitled _An Enquiry after Philosophy and Theology_
(Edinburgh, 1755), besides the _Letters to a Friend concerning the
Septuagint Translation_ (Edinburgh, 1759) to which De Morgan refers.
[539] A writer of no importance, at least in the minds of British
biographers.
[540] Alexander Catcott (1725-1779), a theologian and geologist, wrote not
only a work on the creation (1756) but a _Treatise on the Deluge_ (1761,
with a second edition in 1768). Sir Charles Lyell considered the latter
work a valuable contribution to geology.
[541] James Robertson (1714-1795), professor of Hebrew at the University of
Edinburgh. Probably De Morgan refers to his _Grammatica Linguae Hebraeae_
(Edinburgh, 1758; with a second edition in 1783). He also wrote _Clavis
Pentateuchi_ (1770).
[542] Benjamin Holloway (c. 1691-1759), a geologist and theologian. He
translated Woodward's _Naturalis Historia Telluris_, and was introduced by
Woodward to Hutchinson. The work referred to by De Morgan appeared at
Oxford in two volumes in 1754.
[543] His work was _The Christian plan exhibited in the interpretation of
Elohim: with observations upon a few other matters relative to the same
subject_, Oxford, 1752, with a second edition in 1755.
[544] Duncan Forbes (1685-1747) studied Oriental languages and Civil law at
Leyden. He was Lord President of the Court of Sessions (1737). He wrote a
number of theological works.
[545] Should be 1756.
[546] Edward Henry Bickersteth (1825-1906), bishop of Exeter (1885-1900);
published _The Rock of Ages; or scripture testimony to the one Eternal
Godhead of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost_ at Hampstead
in 1859. A second edition appeared at London in 1860.
[547] Thomas Sadler (1822-1891) took his Ph.D. at Erlangen in 1844, and
became a Unitarian minister at Hampstead, where Bickersteth's work was
published. Besides writing the _Gloria Patri_ (1859), he edited Crabb
Robinson's Diaries.
[548] This was his _Virgil's Bucolics and the two first Satyrs of Juvenal_,
1634.
[549] Possibly in his _Twelve Questions or Arguments drawn out of
Scripture, wherein the commonly received Opinion touching the Deity of the
Holy Spirit is clearly and fully refuted_, 1647. This was his first
heretical work, and it was followed by a number of others that were written
during the intervals in which the Puritan parliament allowed him out of
prison. It was burned by the hangman as blasphemous. Biddle finally died in
prison, unrepentant to the last.
[550] The first edition of the anonymous [Greek: Haireseon anastasis] (by
Vicars?) appeared in 1805.
[551] Possibly by Thomas Pearne (c. 1753-1827), a fellow of St. Peter's
College, Cambridge, and a Unitarian minister.
[552] Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford, was borne in London in 1593, and
was executed there in 1641. He was privy councilor to Charles I, and was
Lord Deputy of Ireland. On account of his repressive measures to uphold the
absolute power of the king he was impeached by the Long Parliament and was
executed for treason. The essence of his defence is in the sentence quoted
by De Morgan, to which Pym replied that taken as a whole, the acts tended
to show an intention to change the government, and this was in itself
treason.
[553] The name assumed by a writer who professed to give a mathematical
explanation of the Trinity, see farther on.--S. E. De M.
[554] Sabellius (fl. 230 A.D.) was an early Christian of Libyan origin. He
taught that Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were different names for the same
person.
[555] Sir Richard Phillips was born in London in 1767 (not 1768 as stated
above), and died there in 1840. He was a bookseller and printer in
Leicester, where he also edited a radical newspaper. He went to London to
live in 1795 and started the _Monthly Magazine_ there in 1796. Besides the
works mentioned by De Morgan he wrote on law and economics.
[556] It was really eighteen months.
[557] While he was made sheriff in 1807 he was not knighted until the
following year.
[558] James Mitchell (c. 1786-1844) was a London actuary, or rather a
Scotch actuary living a good part of his life in London. Besides the work
mentioned he compiled a _Dictionary of Chemistry, Mineralogy, and Geology_
(1823), and wrote _On the Plurality of Worlds_ (1813) and _The Elements of
Astronomy_ (1820).
[559] Richarda Smith, wife of Sir George Biddell Airy (see note 129, page
85) the astronomer. In 1835 Sir Robert Peel offered a pension of L300 a
year to Airy, who requested that it be settled on his wife.
[560] Mary Fairfax (1780-1872) married as her second husband Dr. William
Somerville. In 1826 she presented to the Royal Society a paper on _The
Magnetic Properties of the Violet Rays of the Solar Spectrum_, which
attracted much attention. It was for her _Mechanism of the Heavens_ (1831),
a popular translation of Laplace's _Mecanique Celeste_, that she was
pensioned.
[561] Dominique Francois Jean Arago (1786-1853) the celebrated French
astronomer and physicist.
[562] For there is a well-known series