or [pi]^2 = 12,
whence [pi] = 2 [root]3.
But c = [pi]d, and twice the diagonal of a cube on the diameter is 2d
[root]3.
[563] There was a second edition in 1821.
[564] London, 1830.
[565] He was a resident of Chatham, and seems to have published no other
works.
[566] Richard Whately (1787-1863) was, as a child, a calculating prodigy
(see note 132, page 86), but lost the power as is usually the case with
well-balanced minds. He was a fellow of Oriel College, Oxford, and in 1825
became principal of St. Alban Hall. He was a friend of Newman, Keble, and
others who were interested in the religious questions of the day. He became
archbishop of Dublin in 1831. He was for a long time known to students
through his _Logic_ (1826) and _Rhetoric_ (1828).
[567] William King, D.C.L. (1663-1712), student at Christ Church, Oxford,
and celebrated as a wit and scholar. His _Dialogues of the Dead_ (1699) is
a satirical attack on Bentley.
[568] Thomas Ebrington (1760-1835) was a fellow of Trinity College, Dublin,
and taught divinity, mathematics, and natural philosophy there. He became
provost of the college in 1811, bishop of Limerick in 1820, and bishop of
Leighlin and Ferns in 1822. His edition of Euclid was reprinted a dozen
times. The _Reply to John Search's Considerations on the Law of Libel_
appeared at Dublin in 1834.
[569] Joseph Blanco White (1775-1841) was the son of an Irishman living in
Spain. He was born at Seville and studied for orders there, being ordained
priest in 1800. He lost his faith in the Roman Catholic Church, and gave up
the ministry, escaping to England at the time of the French invasion. At
London he edited _Espanol_, a patriotic journal extensively circulated in
Spain, and for this service he was pensioned after the expulsion of the
French. He then studied at Oriel College, Oxford, and became intimate with
men like Whately, Newman, and Keble. In 1835 he became a Unitarian. Among
his theological writings is his _Evidences against Catholicism_ (1825). The
"rejoinder" to which De Morgan refers consisted of two letters: _The law of
anti-religious Libel reconsidered_ (Dublin, 1834) and _An Answer to some
Friendly Remarks on "The Law of Anti-Religious Libel Reconsidered"_
(Dublin, 1834).
[570] The work was translated from the French.
[571] J. Hoene Wronski (1778-1853) served, while yet a mere boy, as an
artillery officer in Kosciusko's army (1791-1794). He was imprisoned after
the battle of Maciejowice. He afterwards lived in Germany, and (after 1810)
in Paris. For the bibliography of his works see S. Dickstein's article in
the _Bibliotheca Mathematica_, vol. VI (2), page 48.
[572] Perhaps referring to his _Introduction a la philosophie des
mathematiques_ (1811).
[573] Read "equation of the."
[574] Thomas Young (1773-1829), physician and physicist, sometimes called
the founder of physiological optics. He seems to have initiated the theory
of color blindness that was later developed by Helmholtz. The attack
referred to was because of his connection with the Board of Longitude, he
having been made (1818) superintendent of the Nautical Almanac and
secretary of the Board. He opposed introducing into the Nautical Almanac
anything not immediately useful to navigation, and this antagonized many
scientists.
[575] Isaac Milner (1750-1820) was professor of natural philosophy at
Cambridge (1783) and later became, as De Morgan states, president of
Queens' College (1788). In 1791 he became dean of Carlisle, and in 1798
Lucasian professor of mathematics. His chief interest was in chemistry and
physics, but he contributed nothing of importance to these sciences or to
mathematics.
[576] Thomas Perronet Thompson (1783-1869), fellow of Queens' College,
Cambridge, saw service in Spain and India, but after 1822 lived in England.
He became major general in 1854, and general in 1868. Besides some works on
economics and politics he wrote a _Geometry without Axioms_ (1830) that De
Morgan includes later on in his _Budget_. In it Thompson endeavored to
prove the parallel postulate.
[577] De Morgan's father-in-law. See note 441, page 196.
[578] Johann Friedrich Herbart (1776-1841), successor of Kant as professor
of philosophy at Koenigsberg (1809-1833), where he established a school of
pedagogy. From 1833 until his death he was professor of philosophy at
Goettingen. The title of the pamphlet is: _De Attentionis mensura causisque
primariis. Psychologiae principia statica et mechanica exemplo
illustraturus.... Regiomonti,... 1822_. The formulas in question are given
on pages 15 and 17, and De Morgan has omitted the preliminary steps, which
are, for the first one:
[beta] ([phi] - z) [delta]t = [delta]z
unde [beta]t= Const / ([phi] - z).
Pro t = 0 etiam z = 0; hinc [beta]t = log [phi]/([phi] - z).
z = [phi] (1 - [epsilon]^{-[beta]t});
et [delta]z/[delta]t = [beta][phi][epsilon]^{-[beta]t}
These are, however, quite elementary as compared with other portions of the
theory.
[579] See note 371, page 168.
[580] William Law (1686-1761) was a clergyman, a fellow of Emanuel College,
Cambridge, and in later life a convert to Behmen's philosophy. He was so
free in his charities that the village in which he lived became so infested
by beggars that he was urged by the citizens to leave. He wrote _A serious
call to a devout and holy life_ (1728).
[581] He was a curate at Cheshunt, and wrote the _Spiritual voice to the
Christian Church and to the Jews_ (London, 1760), _A second warning to the
world by the Spirit of Prophecy_ (London, 1760), and _Signs of the Times;
or a Voice to Babylon_ (London, 1773).
[582] His real name was Thomas Vaughan (1622-1666). He was a fellow of
Jesus College, Oxford, taking orders, but was deprived of his living on
account of drunkenness. He became a mystic philosopher and gave attention
to alchemy. His works had a large circulation, particularly on the
continent. He wrote _Magia Adamica_ (London, 1650), _Euphrates; or the
Waters of the East_ (London, 1655), and _The Chymist's key to shut, and to
open; or the True Doctrine of Corruption and Generation_ (London, 1657).
[583] Emanuel Swedenborg, or Svedberg (1688-1772) the mystic. It is not
commonly known to mathematicians that he was one of their guild, but he
wrote on both mathematics and chemistry. Among his works are the
_Regelkonst eller algebra_ (Upsala, 1718) and the _Methodus nova inveniendi
longitudines locorum, terra marique, ope lunae_ (Amsterdam, 1721, 1727, and
1766). After 1747 he devoted his attention to mystic philosophy.
[584] Pierre Simon Laplace (1749-1827), whose _Exposition du systeme du
monde_ (1796) and _Traite de mecanique celeste_ (1799) are well known.
[585] See note 117, page 76.
[586] John Dalton (1766-1844), who taught mathematics and physics at New
College, Manchester (1793-1799) and was the first to state the law of the
expansion of gases known by his name and that of Gay-Lussac. His _New
system of Chemical Philosophy_ (Vol. I, pt. i, 1808; pt. ii, 1810; vol. II,
1827) sets forth his atomic theory.
[587] Howison was a poet and philosopher. He lived in Edinburgh and was a
friend of Sir Walter Scott. This work appeared in 1822.
[588] He was a shoemaker, born about 1765 at Haddiscoe, and his
"astro-historical" lectures at Norwich attracted a good deal of attention
at one time. He traced all geologic changes to differences in the
inclination of the earth's axis to the plane of its orbit. Of the works
mentioned by De Morgan the first appeared at Norwich in 1822-1823, and
there was a second edition in 1824. The second appeared in 1824-1825. The
fourth was _Urania's Key to the Revelation; or the analyzation of the
writings of the Jews..._, and was first published at Norwich in 1823, there
being a second edition at London in 1833. His books were evidently not a
financial success, for Mackey died in an almshouse at Norwich.
[589] Godfrey Higgins (1773-1833), the archeologist, was interested in the
history of religious beliefs and in practical sociology. He wrote _Horae
Sabbaticae_ (1826), _The Celtic Druids_ (1827 and 1829), and _Anacalypsis,
an attempt to draw aside the veil of the Saitic Isis; or an Inquiry into
the Origin of Languages, Nations, and Religions_ (posthumously published,
1836), and other works. See also page 274, _infra_.
[590] The work also appeared in French. Wirgman wrote, or at least began,
two other works: _Divarication of the New Testament into Doctrine and
History; part I, The Four Gospels_ (London, 1830), and _Mental Philosophy;
part I, Grammar of the five senses; being the first step to infant
education_ (London, 1838).
[591] He was born at Shandrum, County Limerick, and supported himself by
teaching writing and arithmetic. He died in an almshouse at Cork.
[592] George Boole (1815-1864), professor of mathematics at Queens'
College, Cork. His _Laws of Thought_ (1854) was the first work on the
algebra of logic.
[593] Oratio Grassi (1582-1654), the Jesuit who became famous for his
controversy with Galileo over the theory of comets. Galileo ridiculed him
in _Il Saggiatore_, although according to the modern view Grassi was the
more nearly right. It is said that the latter's resentment led to the
persecution of Galileo.
[594] De Morgan might have found much else for his satire in the letters of
Walsh. He sought, in his _Theory of Partial Functions_, to substitute
"partial equations" for the differential calculus. In his diary there is an
entry: "Discovered the general solution of numerical equations of the fifth
degree at 114 Evergreen Street, at the Cross of Evergreen, Cork, at nine
o'clock in the forenoon of July 7th, 1844; exactly twenty-two years after
the invention of the Geometry of Partial Equations, and the expulsion of
the differential calculus from Mathematical Science."
[595] "It has been ordered, sir, it has been ordered."
[596] Bartholomew Prescot was a Liverpool accountant. De Morgan gives this
correct spelling on page 278. He died after 1849. His _Inverted Scheme of
Copernicus_ appeared in Liverpool in 1822.
[597] Robert Taylor (1784-1844) had many more ups and downs than De Morgan
mentions. He was a priest of the Church of England, but resigned his parish
in 1818 after preaching against Christianity. He soon recanted and took
another parish, but was dismissed by the Bishop almost immediately on the
ground of heresy. As stated in the text, he was convicted of blasphemy in
1827 and was sentenced to a year's imprisonment, and again for two years on
the same charge in 1831. He then married a woman who was rich in money and
in years, and was thereupon sued for breach of promise by another woman. To
escape paying the judgment that was rendered against him he fled to Tours
where he took up surgery.
[598] Herbert Marsh, Bishop of Peterborough. See note 449 on page 199.
[599] "Argument from the prison."
[600] Richard Carlile (1790-1843), one of the leading radicals of his time.
He published Hone's parodies (see note 250, page 124) after they had been
suppressed, and an edition of Thomas Paine (1818). He was repeatedly
imprisoned, serving nine years in all. His continued conflict with the
authorities proved a good advertisement for his bookshop.
[601] Wilhelm Ludwig Christmann (1780-1835) was a protestant clergyman and
teacher of mathematics. For a while he taught under Pestalozzi.
Disappointed in his ambition to be professor of mathematics at Tubingen, he
became a confirmed misanthrope and is said never to have left his house
during the last ten years of his life. He wrote several works: _Ein Wort
ueber Pestalozzi und Pestalozzismus_ (1812); _Ars cossae promota_ (1814);
_Philosophia cossica_ (1815); _Aetas argentea cossae_ (1819); _Ueber
Tradition und Schrift, Logos und Kabbala_ (1829), besides the one mentioned
above. The word _coss_ in the above titles was a German name for algebra,
from the Italian _cosa_ (thing), the name for the unknown quantity. It
appears in English in the early name for algebra, "the cossic art."
[602] See note 174, page 101.
[603] See note 589, page 257.
[604] He seems to have written nothing else.
[605] See note 596 on page 270. The name is here spelled correctly.
[606] Joseph Jacotot (1770-1840), the father of this Fortune Jacotot, was
an infant prodigy. At nineteen he was made professor of the humanities at
Dijon. He served in the army, and then became professor of mathematics at
Dijon. He continued in his chair until the restoration of the Bourbons, and
then fled to Louvain. It was here that he developed the method with which
his name is usually connected. He wrote a _Mathematiques_ in 1827, which
went through four editions. The _Epitome_ is by his son, Fortune.
[607] He wrote on educational topics and a _Sacred History_ that went
through several editions.
[608] "All is in all."
[609] "Know one thing and refer everything else to it," as it is often
translated.
[610] A writer of no reputation.
[611] Sir John Lubbock (1803-1865), banker, scientist, publicist,
astronomer, one of the versatile men of his time.
[612] See note 165, page 99.
[613] "Those about to die salute you."
[614] Georges Louis Leclerc Buffon (1707-1788), the well-known biologist.
He also experimented with burning mirrors, his results appearing in his
_Invention des miroirs ardens pour bruler a une grande distance_ (1747).
The reference here may be to his _Resolution des problemes qui regardent le
jeu du franc carreau_ (1733). The prominence of his _Histoire naturelle_
(36 volumes, 1749-1788) has overshadowed the credit due to him for his
translation of Newton's work on Fluxions.
[615] See page 285. This article was a supplement to No. 14 in the
_Athenaeum_ Budget.--A. De M.
[616] There are many similar series and products. Among the more
interesting are the following:
[pi] 2.2.4.4.6.6.8...
---- = ----------------,
2 1.3.3.5.5.7.7...
[pi]-3 = 1 1 1
------ = ----- - ----- + ----- - ...,
4 2.3.4 4.5.6 6.7.8
[pi] 1 1 1 1 1
---- = sqrt - . (1 - --- + ----- - ----- + ----- - ...),
6 3 3.3 3^2.5 3^3.7 3^4.9
[pi] 1 1 1 1
---- = 4 ( - - ----- + ----- - ----- + ...)
4 5 3.5^3 5.5^5 7.5^7
1 1 1
- ( --- - ------- + ------- - ...).
239 3.239^3 5.239^5
[617] "To a privateer, a privateer and a half."
[618] Joshua Milne (1776-1851) was actuary of the Sun Life Assurance
Society. He wrote _A Treatise on the Valuation of Annuities and Assurances
on Lives and Survivorships; on the Construction of tables of mortality; and
on the Probabilities and Expectations of Life_, London, 1815. Upon the
basis of the Carlisle bills of mortality of Dr. Heysham he reconstructed
the mortality tables then in use and which were based upon the Northampton
table of Dr. Price. His work revolutionized the actuarial science of the
time. In later years he devoted his attention to natural history.
[619] See note 576, page 252. He also wrote the _Theory of Parallels. The
proof of Euclid's axiom looked for in the properties of the equiangular
spiral_ (London, 1840), which went through four editions, and the _Theory
of Parallels. The proof that the three angles of a triangle are equal to
two right angles looked for in the inflation of the sphere_ (London, 1853),
of which there were three editions.
[620] For the latest summary, see W. B. Frankland, _Theories of
Parallelism, an historical critique_, Cambridge, 1910.
[621] Joseph Louis Lagrange (1736-1813), author of the _Mecanique
analytique_ (1788), _Theorie des functions analytiques_ (1797), _Traite de
la resolution des equations numeriques de tous degres_ (1798), _Lecons sur
le calcul des fonctions_ (1806), and many memoirs. Although born in Turin
and spending twenty of his best years in Germany, he is commonly looked
upon as the great leader of French mathematicians. The last twenty-seven
years of his life were spent in Paris, and his remarkable productivity
continued to the time of his death. His genius in the theory of numbers was
probably never excelled except by Fermat. He received very high honors at
the hands of Napoleon and was on the first staff of the Ecole polytechnique
(1797).
[622] "I shall have to think it over again."
[623] Henry Goulburn (1784-1856) held various government posts. He was
under-secretary for war and the colonies (1813), commissioner to negotiate
peace with America (1814), chief secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of
Ireland (1821), and several times Chancellor of the Exchequer. On the
occasion mentioned by De Morgan he was standing for parliament, and was
successful.
[624] On Drinkwater Bethune see note 165, page 99.
[625] Charles Henry Cooper (1808-1866) was a biographer and antiquary. He
was town clerk of Cambridge (1849-1866) and wrote the _Annals of Cambridge_
(1842-1853). His _Memorials of Cambridge_ (1874) appeared after his death.
Thompson Cooper was his son, and the two collaborated in the _Athenae
Cantabrigiensis_ (1858).
[626] William Yates Peel (1789-1858) was a brother of Sir Robert Peel, he
whose name degenerated into the familiar title of the London "Bobby" or
"Peeler." Yates Peel was a member of parliament almost continuously from
1817 to 1852. He represented Cambridge at Westminster from 1831 to 1835.
[627] Henry John Temple, third Viscount of Palmerston (1784-1865), was
member for Cambridge in 1811, 1818, 1820, 1826 (defeating Goulburn), and
1830. He failed of reelection in 1831 because of his advocacy of reform.
This must have been the time when Goulburn defeated him. He was Foreign
Secretary (1827) and Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (1830-1841, and
1846-1851). It is said of him that he "created Belgium, saved Portugal and
Spain from absolutism, rescued Turkey from Russia and the highway to India
from France." He was Prime Minister almost continuously from 1855 to 1865,
a period covering the Indian Mutiny and the American Civil War.
[628] William Cavendish, seventh Duke of Devonshire (1808-1891). He was
member for Cambridge from 1829 to 1831, but was defeated in 1831 because he
had favored parliamentary reform. He became Earl of Burlington in 1834, and
Duke of Devonshire in 1858. He was much interested in the promotion of
railroads and in the iron and steel industries.
[629] Richard Sheepshanks (1794-1855) was a brother of John Sheepshanks the
benefactor of art. (See note 314, p. 147.) He was a fellow of Trinity
College, Cambridge, a fellow of the Royal Society and secretary of the
Astronomical Society. Babbage (See note 469, p. 207) suspected him of
advising against the government support of his calculating machine and
attacked him severely in his _Exposition of 1851_, in the chapter on _The
Intrigues of Science_. Babbage also showed that Sheepshanks got an
astronomical instrument of French make through the custom house by having
Troughton's (See note 332, page 152) name engraved on it. Sheepshanks
admitted this second charge, but wrote a _Letter in Reply to the Calumnies
of Mr. Babbage_, which was published in 1854. He had a highly controversial
nature.
[630] See note 469, page 207. The work referred to is _Passages from the
Life of a Philosopher_, London, 1864.
[631] Drinkwater Bethune. See note 165, page 99.
[632] Simeon-Denis Poisson (1781-1840) was professor of calculus and
mechanics at the Ecole polytechnique. He was made a baron by Napoleon, and
was raised to the peerage in 1837. His chief works are the _Traite de
mecanique_ (1811) and the _Traite mathematique de la chaleur_ (1835).
[633] "As to M. Poisson, I really wish I had a thousandth part of his
mathematical knowledge that I might prove my system to the incredulous."
[634] This list includes most of the works of Antoine-Louis-Guenard
Demonville. There was also the _Nouveau systeme du monde ... et hypotheses
conformes aux experiences sur les vents, sur la lumiere et sur le fluide
electro-magnetique_, Paris, 1830.
[635] Paris, 1835.
[636] Paris, 1833.
[637] The second part appeared in 1837. There were also editions in 1850
and 1852, and one edition appeared without date.
[638] Paris, 1842.
[639] Parsey also wrote _The Art of Miniature Painting on Ivory_ (1831),
_Perspective Rectified_ (1836), and _The Science of Vision_ (1840), the
third being a revision of the second.
[640] William Ritchie (1790-1837) was a physicist who had studied at Paris
under Biot and Gay-Lussac. He contributed several papers on electricity,
heat, and elasticity, and was looked upon as a good experimenter. Besides
the geometry he wrote the _Principles of the Differential and Integral
Calculus_ (1836).
[641] Alfred Day (1810-1849) was a man who was about fifty years ahead of
his time in his attempt to get at the logical foundations of geometry. It
is true that he laid himself open to criticism, but his work was by no
means bad. He also wrote _A Treatise on Harmony_ (1849, second edition
1885), _The Rotation of the Pendulum_ (1851), and several works on Greek
and Latin Grammar.
[642] Walter Forman wrote a number of controversial tracts. His first seems
to have been _A plan for improving the Revenue without adding to the
burdens of the people_, a letter to Canning in 1813. He also wrote _A New
Theory of the Tides_ (1822). His _Letter to Lord John Russell, on Lord
Brougham's most extraordinary conduct; and another to Sir J. Herschel, on
the application of Kepler's third law_ appeared in 1832.
[643] Lord John Russell (1792-1878) first Earl Russell, was one of the
strongest supporters of the reform measures of the early Victorian period.
He became prime minister in 1847, and again in 1865.
[644] Lauder seems never to have written anything else.
[645] See note 22, page 40.
[646] The names of Alphonso Cano de Molina, Yvon, and Robert Sara have no
standing in the history of the subject beyond what would be inferred from
De Morgan's remark.
[647] Claude Mydorge (1585-1647), an intimate friend of Descartes, was a
dilletante in mathematics who read much but accomplished little. His
_Recreations mathematiques_ is his chief work. Boncompagni published the
"Problemes de Mydorge" in his _Bulletino_.
[648] Claude Hardy was born towards the end of the 16th century and died at
Paris in 1678. In 1625 he edited the _Data Euclidis_, publishing the Greek
text with a Latin translation. He was a friend of Mydorge and Descartes,
but an opponent of Fermat.
[649] That is, in the _Bibliotheca Realis_ of Martin Lipen, or Lipenius
(1630-1692), which appeared in six folio volumes, at Frankfort, 1675-1685.
[650] See note 29, page 43.
[651] Baldassare Boncompagni (1821-1894) was the greatest general collector
of mathematical works that ever lived, possibly excepting Libri. His
magnificent library was dispersed at his death. His _Bulletino_ (1868-1887)
is one of the greatest source books on the history of mathematics that we
have. He also edited the works of Leonardo of Pisa.
[652] He seems to have attracted no attention since De Morgan's search, for
he is not mentioned in recent bibliographies.
[653] Joseph-Louis Vincens de Mouleon de Causans was born about the
beginning of the l8th century. He was a Knight of Malta, colonel in the
infantry, prince of Conti, and governor of the principality of Orange. His
works on geometry are the _Prospectus apologetique pour la quadrature du
cercle_ (1753), and _La vraie geometrie transcendante_ (1754).
[654] See note 119, page 80.
[655] See note 120, page 81.
[656] Lieut. William Samuel Stratford (1791-1853), was in active service
during the Napoleonic wars but retired from the army in 1815. He was first
secretary of the Astronomical Society (1820) and became superintendent of
the Nautical Almanac in 1831. With Francis Baily he compiled a star
catalogue, and wrote on Halley's (1835-1836) and Encke's (1838) comets.
[657] See Sir J. Herschel's _Astronomy_, p. 369.--A. De M.
[658] Captain Ross had just stuck a bit of brass there.--A. De M.
Sir James Clark Ross (1800-1862) was a rear admiral in the British navy and
an arctic and antarctic explorer of prominence. De Morgan's reference is to
Ross's discovery of the magnetic pole on June 1, 1831. In 1838 he was
employed by the Admiralty on a magnetic survey of the United Kingdom. He
was awarded the gold medal of the geographical societies of London and
Paris in 1842.
[659] John Partridge (1644-1715), the well-known astrologer and almanac
maker. Although bound to a shoemaker in his early boyhood, he had acquired
enough Latin at the age of eighteen to read the works of the astrologers.
He then mastered Greek and Hebrew and studied medicine. In 1680 he began
the publication of his almanac, the _Merlinus Liberatus_, a book that
acquired literary celebrity largely through the witty comments upon it by
such writers as Swift and Steele.
[660] See note 642 on page 296.
[661] William Woodley also published several almanacs (1838, 1839, 1840)
after his rejection by the Astronomical Society in 1834.
[662] It appeared at London.
[663] The first edition appeared in 1830, also at London.
[664] See note 441, page 196.
[665] Thomas Kerigan wrote _The Young Navigator's Guide to the siderial and
planetary parts of Nautical Astronomy_ (London, 1821, second edition 1828),
a work on eclipses (London, 1844), and the work on tides (London, 1847) to
which De Morgan refers.
[666] Jean Sylvain Bailly, who was guillotined. See note 365, page 166.
[667] See note 670, page 309.
[668] Laurent seems to have had faint glimpses of the modern theory of
matter. He is, however, unknown.
[669] See note 133, page 87.
[670] Francis Baily (1774-1844) was a London stockbroker. His interest in
science in general and in astronomy in particular led to his membership in
the Royal Society and to his presidency of the Astronomical Society. He
wrote on interest and annuities (1808), but his chief works were on
astronomy.
[671] If the story is correctly told Baily must have enjoyed his statement
that Gauss was "the oldest mathematician now living." As a matter of fact
he was then only 58, three years the junior of Baily himself. Gauss was
born in 1777 and died in 1855, and Baily was quite right in saying that he
was "generally thought to be the greatest" mathematician then living.
[672] Margaret Cooke, who married Flamsteed in 1692.
[673] John Brinkley (1763-1835), senior wrangler, first Smith's prize-man
(1788), Andrews professor of astronomy at Dublin, first Astronomer Royal
for Ireland (1792), F.R.S. (1803), Copley medallist, president of the Royal
Society and Bishop of Cloyne. His _Elements of Astronomy_ appeared in 1808.
[674] See note 248, page 124.
[675] See note 276, page 133.
[676] See note 352, page 161.
[677] "It becomes the doctors of the Sorbonne to dispute, the Pope to
decree, and the mathematician to go to Paradise on a perpendicular line."
[678] See note 124, page 83.
[679] See note 621, page 288.
[680] Sylvain van de Weyer, who was born at Louvain in 1802. He was a
jurist and statesman, holding the portfolio for foreign affairs
(1831-1833), and being at one time ambassador to England.
[681] Henry Crabb Robinson (1775-1867), correspondent of the _Times_ at
Altona and in the Peninsula, and later foreign editor. He was one of the
founders of the Athenaeum Club and of University College, London. He seems
to have known pretty much every one of his day, and his posthumous _Diary_
attracted attention when it appeared.
[682] Was this Whewell, who was at Trinity from 1812 to 1816 and became a
fellow in 1817?
[683] Tom Cribb (1781-1848) the champion pugilist. He had worked as a coal
porter and hence received his nickname, the Black Diamond.
[684] John Finleyson, or Finlayson, was born in Scotland in 1770 and died
in London in 1854. He published a number of pamphlets that made a pretense
to being scientific. Among his striking phrases and sentences are the
statements that the stars were made "to amuse us in observing them"; that
the earth is "not shaped like a garden turnip as the Newtonians make it,"
and that the stars are "oval-shaped immense masses of frozen water." The
first edition of the work here mentioned appeared at London in 1830.
[685] Richard Brothers (1757-1824) was a native of Newfoundland. He went to
London when he was about 30, and a little later set forth his claim to
being a descendant of David, prince of the Hebrews, and ruler of the world.
He was confined as a criminal lunatic in 1795 but was released in 1806.
[686] Charles Grey (1764-1845), second Earl Grey, Viscount Howick, was then
Prime Minister. The Reform Bill was introduced and defeated in 1831. The
following year, with the Royal guarantees to allow him to create peers, he
finally carried the bill in spite of "the number of the beast."
[687] The letters of obscure men, the _Epistolae obscurorum virorum ad
venerabilem virum Magistrum Ortuinum Gratium Dauentriensem_, by Joannes
Crotus, Ulrich von Hutten, and others appeared at Venice about 1516.
[688] The lamentations of obscure men, the _Lamentationes obscurorum
virorum, non prohibete per sedem Apostolicam. Epistola D. Erasmi
Roterodami: quid de obscuris sentiat_, by G. Ortwinus, appeared at Cologne
in 1518.
[689] The criticism was timely when De Morgan wrote it. At present it would
have but little force with respect to the better class of algebras.
[690] Thomas Ignatius Maria Forster (1789-1860) was more of a man than one
would infer from this satire upon his theory. He was a naturalist,
astronomer, and physiologist. In 1812 he published his _Researches about
Atmospheric Phenomena_, and seven years later (July 3, 1819) he discovered
a comet. With Sir Richard Phillips he founded a Meteorological Society, but
it was short lived. He declined a fellowship in the Royal Society because
he disapproved of certain of its rules, so that he had a recognized
standing in his day. The work mentioned by De Morgan is the second edition,
the first having appeared at Frankfort on the Main in 1835 under the title,
_Recueil des ouvrages et des pensees d'un physicien et metaphysicien_.
[691] Zadkiel, whose real name was Richard James Morrison (1795-1874), was
in his early years an officer in the navy. In 1831 he began the publication
of the _Herald of Astrology_, which was continued as _Zadkiel's Almanac_.
His name became familiar throughout Great Britain as a result.
[692] See note 566, page 246.
[693] Sumner (1780-1862) was an Eton boy. He went to King's College,
Cambridge, and was elected fellow in 1801. He took many honors, and in 1807
became M.A. He was successively Canon of Durham (1820), Bishop of Chester
(1828), and Archbishop of Canterbury (1848). Although he voted for the
Catholic Relief Bill (1829) and the Reform Bill (1832), he opposed the
removal of Jewish disabilities.
[694] Charles Richard Sumner (1790-1874) was not only Bishop of Winchester
(1827), but also Bishop of Llandaff and Dean of St. Paul's, London (1826).
He lost the king's favor by voting for the Catholic Relief Bill.
[695] John Bird Sumner, brother of Charles Richard.
[696] Thomas Musgrave (1788-1860) became Fellow of Trinity in 1812, and
senior proctor in 1831. He was also Dean of Bristol.
[697] Charles Thomas Longley (1794-1868) was educated at Westminster School
and at Christ Church, Oxford. He became M.A. in 1818 and D.D. in 1829.
Besides the bishoprics mentioned he was Bishop of Ripon (1836-1856), and
before that was headmaster of Harrow (1829-1836).
[698] Thomson (1819-1890) was scholar and fellow of Queen's College,
Oxford. He became chaplain to the Queen in 1859.
[699] This is worthy of the statistical psychologists of the present day.
[700] The famous Moon Hoax was written by Richard Adams Locke, who was born
in New York in 1800 and died in Staten Island in 1871. He was at one time
editor of the _Sun_, and the Hoax appeared in that journal in 1835. It was
reprinted in London (1836) and Germany, and was accepted seriously by most
readers. It was published in book form in New York in 1852 under the title
_The Moon Hoax_. Locke also wrote another hoax, the _Lost Manuscript of
Mungo Park_, but it attracted relatively little attention.
[701] It is true that Jean-Nicolas Nicollet (1756-1843) was at that time in
the United States, but there does not seem to be any very tangible evidence
to connect him with the story. He was secretary and librarian of the Paris
observatory (1817), member of the Bureau of Longitudes (1822), and teacher
of mathematics in the Lycee Louis-le-Grand. Having lost his money through
speculations he left France for the United States in 1831 and became
connected with the government survey of the Mississippi Valley.
[702] This was Alexis Bouvard (1767-1843), who made most of the
computations for Laplace's _Mecanique celeste_ (1793). He discovered eight
new comets and calculated their orbits. In his tables of Uranus (1821) he
attributed certain perturbations to the presence of an undiscovered planet,
but unlike Leverrier and Adams he did not follow up this clue and thus
discover Neptune.
[703] Patrick Murphy (1782-1847) awoke to find himself famous because of
his natural guess that there would be very cold weather on January 20,
although that is generally the season of lowest temperature. It turned out
that his forecasts were partly right on 168 days and very wrong on 197
days.
[704] He seems to have written nothing else. If one wishes to enter into
the subject of the mathematics of the Great Pyramid there is an extensive
literature awaiting him. Richard William Howard Vyse (1784-1853) published
in 1840 his _Operations carried on at the Pyramids of Gizeh in 1837_, and
in this he made a beginning of a scientific metrical study of the subject.
Charles Piazzi Smyth (1819-1900), astronomer Royal for Scotland (1845-1888)
was much carried away with the number mysticism of the Great Pyramid, so
much so that he published in 1864 a work entitled _Our Inheritance in the
Great Pyramid_, in which his vagaries were set forth. Although he was then
a Fellow of the Royal Society (1857), his work was so ill received that
when he offered a paper on the subject it was rejected (1874) and he
resigned in consequence of this action. The latest and perhaps the most
scholarly of all investigators of the subject is William Matthew Flinders
Petrie (born in 1853), Edwards professor of Egyptology at University
College, London, whose _Pyramids and Temples of Gizeh_ (1883) and
subsequent works are justly esteemed as authorities.
[705] As De Morgan subsequently found, this name reversed becomes Oliver
B...e, for Oliver Byrne, one of the odd characters among the minor
mathematical writers of the middle of the last century. One of his most
curious works is _The first six Books of the Elements of Euclid; in which
coloured diagrams and symbols are used instead of letters_ (1847). There is
some merit in speaking of the red triangle instead of the triangle ABC, but
not enough to give the method any standing. His _Dual Arithmetic_
(1863-1867) was also a curious work.
[706] Brenan also wrote on English composition (1829), a work that went
through fourteen editions by 1865; a work entitled _The Foreigner's English
Conjugator_ (1831), and a work on the national debt.
[707] See note 211, page 112.
[708] See note 592, page 261.
[709] Sir William Rowan Hamilton (1805-1865), the discoverer of quaternions
(1852), was an infant prodigy, competing with Zerah Colburn as a child. He
was a linguist of remarkable powers, being able, at thirteen years of age,
to boast that he knew as many languages as he had lived years. When only
sixteen he found an error in Laplace's _Mecanique celeste_. When only
twenty-two he was appointed Andrews professor of astronomy, and he soon
after became Astronomer Royal of Ireland. He was knighted in 1835. His
earlier work was on optics, his _Theory of Systems of Rays_ appearing in
1823. In 1827 he published a paper on the principle of _Varying Action_. He
also wrote on dynamics.
[710] "Let him not leave the kingdom,"--a legal phrase.
[711] Probably De Morgan is referring to Johann Bernoulli III (1744-1807),
who edited Lambert's _Logische und philosophische Abhandlungen_, Berlin,
1782. He was astronomer of the Academy of Sciences at Berlin.
[712] Jacob Bernoulli (1654-1705) was one of the two brothers who founded
the famous Bernoulli family of mathematicians, the other being Johann I.
His _Ars conjectandi_ (1713), published posthumously, was the first
distinct treatise on probabilities.
[713] Johann Heinrich Lambert (1728-1777) was one of the most learned men
of his time. Although interested chiefly in mathematics, he wrote also on
science, logic, and philosophy.
[714] Joseph Diez Gergonne (1771-1859), a soldier under Napoleon, and
founder of the _Annales de mathematiques_ (1810).
[715] Gottfried Ploucquet (1716-1790) was at first a clergyman, but
afterwards became professor of logic at Tuebingen.
[716] "In the premises let the middle term be omitted; what remains
indicates the conclusion."
[717] Probably Sir William Edmond Logan (1789-1875), who became so
interested in geology as to be placed at the head of the geological survey
of Canada (1842). The University of Montreal conferred the title LL.D. upon
him, and Napoleon III gave him the cross of the Legion of Honor.
[718] "So strike that he may think himself to die."
[719] "Witticism or piece of stupidity."
[720] A very truculently unjust assertion: for Sir W. was as great a setter
up of some as he was a puller down of others. His writings are a congeries
of praises and blames, both _cruel smart_, as they say in the States. But
the combined instigation of prose, rhyme, and retort would send Aristides
himself to Tartarus, if it were not pretty certain that Minos would grant a
_stet processus_ under the circumstances. The first two verses are
exaggerations standing on a basis of truth. The fourth verse is quite true:
Sir W. H. was an Edinburgh Aristotle, with the difference of ancient and
modern Athens well marked, especially the _perfervidum ingenium
Scotorum_.--A. De M.
[721] See note 576, p. 252. There was also a _Theory of Parallels_ that
differed from these, London, 1853, second edition 1856, third edition 1856.
[722] The work was written by Robert Chambers (1802-1871), the Edinburgh
publisher, a friend of Scott and of many of his contemporaries in the
literary field. He published the _Vestiges of the Natural History of
Creation_ in 1844, not 1840.
[723] Everett (1784-1872) was at that time a good Wesleyan, but was
expelled from the ministry in 1849 for having written _Wesleyan Takings_
and as under suspicion for having started the _Fly Sheets_ in 1845. In 1857
he established the United Methodist Free Church.
[724] Smith was a Primitive Methodist preacher. He also wrote an _Earnest
Address to the Methodists_ (1841) and _The Wealth Question_ (1840?).
[725] He wrote the _Nouveau traite de Balistique_, Paris, 1837.
[726] Joseph Denison, known to fame only through De Morgan. See also page
353.
[727] The radical (1784?-1858), advocate of the founding of London
university (1826), of medical reform (1827-1834), and of the repeal of the
duties on newspapers and corn, and an ardent champion of penny postage.
[728] I. e., Roman Catholic Priest.
[729] Murphy (1806-1843) showed extraordinary powers in mathematics even
before the age of thirteen. He became a fellow of Caius College, Cambridge,
in 1829, dean in 1831, and examiner in mathematics in London University in
1838.
[730] See note 442, page 196.
[731] Sir John Bowring (1792-1872), the linguist, writer, and traveler,
member of many learned societies and a writer of high reputation in his
time. His works were not, however, of genuine merit.
[732] Joseph Hume (1777-1855) served as a surgeon with the British army in
India early in the nineteenth century. He returned to England in 1808 and
entered parliament as a radical in 1812. He was much interested in all
reform movements.
[733] Sir Robert Harry Inglis (1786-1855), a strong Tory, known for his
numerous addresses in the House of Commons rather than for any real
ability.
[734] Sir Robert Peel (1788-1850) began his parliamentary career in 1809
and was twice prime minister. He was prominent in most of the great reforms
of his time.
[735] See note 627, page 290.
[736] John Taylor (1781-1864) was a publisher, and published several
pamphlets opposed to Peel's currency measures. De Morgan refers to his work
on the Junius question. This was done early in his career, and resulted in
_A Discovery of the author of the Letters of Junius_ (1813), and _The
Identity of Junius with a distinguished living character established_
(1816), this being Sir Philip Francis.
[737] See note 665, page 308.
[738] See page 348.
[739] See note 348, page 160.
[740] Sir Nicholas Harris Nicolas (1799-1848) was a reformer in various
lines,--the Record Commission, the Society of Antiquaries, and the British
Museum,--and his work was not without good results.
[741] See note 98, page 69.
[742] In the _Companion to the Almanac_ for 1845 is a paper by Prof. De
Morgan, "On the Ecclesiastical Calendar," the statements of which, so far
as concerns the Gregorian Calendar, are taken direct from the work of
Clavius, the principal agent in the arrangement of the reformed reckoning.
This was followed, in the _Companion to the Almanac_ for 1846, by a second
paper, by the same author, headed "On the Earliest Printed Almanacs," much
of which is written in direct supplement to the former article.--S. E. De
Morgan.
[743] It may be necessary to remind some English readers that in Latin and
its derived European languages, what we call Easter is called the passover
(_pascha_). The Quartadecimans had the _name_ on their side: a possession
which often is, in this world, nine points of the law.--A. De M.
[744] Socrates Scholasticus was born at Constantinople c. 379, and died
after 439. His _Historia Ecclesiastica_ (in Greek) covers the period from
Constantine the Great to about 439, and includes the Council of Nicaea. The
work was printed in Paris 1544.
[745] Theodoretus or Theodoritus was born at Antioch and died about 457. He
was one of the greatest divines of the fifth century, a man of learning,
piety, and judicial mind, and a champion of freedom of opinion in all
religious matters.
[746] He died in 417. He was a man of great energy and of high attainments.
[747] He died in 461, having reigned as pope for twenty-one years. It was
he who induced Attila to spare Rome in 452.
[748] He succeeded Leo as pope in 461, and reigned for seven years.
[749] Victorinus or Victorius Marianus seems to have been born at Limoges.
He was a mathematician and astronomer, and the cycle mentioned by De Morgan
is one of 532 years, a combination of the Metonic cycle of 19 years with
the solar cycle of 28 years. His canon was published at Antwerp in 1633 or
1634, _De doctrina temporum sive commentarius in Victorii Aquitani et
aliorum canones paschales_.
[750] He went to Rome about 497, and died there in 540. He wrote his _Liber
de paschate_ in 525, and it was in this work that the Christian era was
first used for calendar purposes.
[751] See note 259, page 126.
[752] Johannes de Sacrobosco (Holy wood), or John of Holywood. The name was
often written, without regard to its etymology, Sacrobusto. He was educated
at Oxford and taught in Paris until his death (1256). He did much to make
the Hindu-Arabic numerals known to European scholars.
[753] See note 36, page 44.
[754] See note 45, page 48.
[755] The Julian year is a year of the Julian Calendar, in which there is
leap year every fourth year. Its average length is therefore 365 days and a
quarter.--A. De M.
[756] Ugo Buoncompagno (1502-1585) was elected pope in 1572.
[757] He was a Calabrian, and as early as 1552 was professor of medicine at
Perugia. In 1576 his manuscript on the reform of the calendar was presented
to the Roman Curia by his brother, Antonius. The manuscript was not printed
and it has not been preserved.
[758] The title of this work, which is the authority on all points of the
new Calendar, is _Kalendarium Gregorianum Perpetuum. Cum Privilegio Summi
Pontificis Et Aliorum Principum. Romae, Ex Officina Dominici Basae. MDLXXXII.
Cum Licentia Superiorum_ (quarto, pp. 60).--A. De M.
[759] _Manuels-Roret. Theorie du Calendrier et collection de tous les
Calendriers des Annees passees et futures_.... Par L. B. Francoeur,...
Paris, a la librairie encyclopedique de Roret, rue Hautefeuille, 10 bis.
1842. (12mo.) In this valuable manual, the 35 possible almanacs are given
at length, with such preliminary tables as will enable any one to find, by
mere inspection, which almanac he is to choose for any year, whether of old
or new style. [1866. I may now refer to my own _Book of Almanacs_, for the
same purpose].--A. De M.
Louis Benjamin Francoeur (1773-1849), after holding positions in the Ecole
polytechnique (1804) and the Lycee Charlemagne (1805), became professor of
higher algebra in the University of Paris (1809). His _Cours complet des
mathematiques pures_ was well received, and he also wrote on mechanics,
astronomy, and geodesy.
[760] Albertus Pighius, or Albert Pigghe, was born at Kempen c. 1490 and
died at Utrecht in 1542. He was a mathematician and a firm defender of the
faith, asserting the supremacy of the Pope and attacking both Luther and
Calvin. He spent some time in Rome. His greatest work was his _Hierarchiae
ecclesiasticae assertio_ (1538).
[761] This was A. F. Vogel. The work was his translation from the German
edition which appeared at Leipsic the same year, _Entdeckung einer
numerischen General-Aufloesung aller hoeheren endlichen Gleichungen von jeder
beliebigen algebraischen und transcendenten Form_.
[762] The latest edition of Burnside and Panton's _Theory of Equations_ has
this brief summary of the present status of the problem: "Demonstrations
have been given by Abel and Wantzel (see Serret's _Cours d'Algebre
Superieure_, Art. 516) of the impossibility of resolving algebraically
equations unrestricted in form, of a degree higher than the fourth. A
transcendental solution, however, of the quintic has been given by M.
Hermite, in a form involving elliptic integrals."
[763] There was a second edition of this work in 1846. The author's
_Astronomy Simplified_ was published in 1838, and the _Thoughts on Physical
Astronomy_ in 1840, with a second edition in 1842.
[764] This was _The Science of the Weather, by several authors... edited by
B._, Glasgow, 1867.
[765] This was Y. Ramachandra, son of Sundara L[=a]la. He was a teacher of
science in Delhi College, and the work to which De Morgan refers is _A
Treatise on problems of Maxima and Minima solved by Algebra_, which
appeared at Calcutta in 1850. De Morgan's edition was published at London
nine years later.
[766] Abraham de Moivre (1667-1754), French refugee in London, poor,
studying under difficulties, was a man with tastes in some respects like
those of De Morgan. For one thing, he was a lover of books, and he had a
good deal of interest in the theory of probabilities to which De Morgan
also gave much thought. His introduction of imaginary quantities into
trigonometry was an event of importance in the history of mathematics, and
the theorem that bears his name, (cos [phi] + i sin [phi])^{n} = cos n[phi]
+ i sin n[phi], is one of the most important ones in all analysis.
[767] John Dolland (1706-1761), the silk weaver who became the greatest
maker of optical instruments in his time.
[768] Thomas Simpson (1710-1761), also a weaver, taking his leisure from
his loom at Spitalfields to teach mathematics. His _New Treatise on
Fluxions_ (1737) was written only two years after he began working in
London, and six years later he was appointed professor of mathematics at
Woolwich. He wrote many works on mathematics and Simpson's Formulas for
computing trigonometric tables are still given in the text-books.
[769] Nicholas Saunderson (1682-1739), the blind mathematician. He lost his
eyesight through smallpox when only a year old. At the age of 25 he began
lecturing at Cambridge on the principles of the Newtonian philosophy. His
_Algebra_, in two large volumes, was long the standard treatise on the
subject.
[770] He was not in the class with the others mentioned.
[771] Not known in the literature of mathematics.
[772] Probably J. Butler Williams whose _Practical Geodesy_ appeared in
1842, with a third edition in 1855.
[773] Benjamin Gompertz (1779-1865) was debarred as a Jew from a university
education. He studied mathematics privately and became president of the
Mathematical Society. De Morgan knew him professionally through the fact
that he was prominent in actuarial work.
[774] Referring to the contributions of Archimedes (287-212 B.C.) to the
mensuration of the sphere.
[775] The famous Alexandrian astronomer (c. 87-c. 165 A.D.), author of the
_Almagest_, a treatise founded on the works of Hipparchus.
[776] Dr. Whewell, when I communicated this song to him, started the
opinion, which I had before him, that this was a very good idea, of which
too little was made.--A. De M.
[777] See note 117, page 76.
[778] The common epithet of rank: _nobilis Tycho_, as he was a nobleman.
The writer had been at history.--A. De M.
See note 117, page 76.
[779] He lost it in a duel, with Manderupius Pasbergius. A contemporary,
T. B. Laurus, insinuates that they fought to settle which was the best
mathematician! This seems odd, but it must be remembered they fought in the
dark, "_in tenebris densis_"; and it is a nice problem to shave off a nose
in the dark, without any other harm.--A. De M.
Was this T. B. Laurus Joannes Baptista Laurus or Giovanni Battista Lauro
(1581-1621), the poet and writer?
[780] See note 117, page 76.
[781] Referring to Kepler's celebrated law of planetary motion. He had
previously wasted his time on analogies between the planetary orbits and
the polyhedrons.--A. De M.
[782] See note 117, page 76.
[783] "It does move though."
[784] As great a lie as ever was told: but in 1800 a compliment to Newton
without a fling at Descartes would have been held a lopsided structure.--A.
De M.
[785] Jean-le-Rond D'Alembert (1717-1783), the foundling who was left on
the steps of Jean-le-Rond in Paris, and who became one of the greatest
mathematical physicists and astronomers of his century.
[786] Leonhard Euler (1707-1783), friend of the Bernoullis, the greatest of
Swiss mathematicians, prominent in the theory of numbers, and known for
discoveries in all lines of mathematics as then studied.
[787] See notes 478, 479, page 219.
[788] See note 621, page 288.
[789] See note 584, page 255.
[790] The _siderial_ day is about four minutes short of the solar; there
are 366 sidereal days in the year.--A. De M.
[791] The founding of the London Mathematical Society is discussed by Mrs.
De Morgan in her _Memoir_ (p. 281). The idea came from a conversation
between her brilliant son, George Campbell De Morgan, and his friend Arthur
Cowper Ranyard in 1864. The meeting of organization was held on Nov. 7,
1864, with Professor De Morgan in the chair, and the first regular meeting
on January 16, 1865.
[792] See note 33, page 43.
[793] See note 119, page 80.
[794] John Russell Hind (b. 1823), the astronomer. Between 1847 and 1854 he
discovered ten planetoids.
[795] Sir Roderick Impey Murchison (1792-1871), the great geologist. He was
knighted in 1846 and devoted the latter part of his life to the work of the
Royal Geographical Society and to the geology of Scotland.
[796] Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel (1784-1846), the astronomer and physicist.
He was professor of astronomy at Koenigsberg.
[797] This was the _Reduction of the Observations of Planets made ... from
1750 to 1830: computed ... under the superintendence of George Biddell
Airy_ (1848). See note 129, page 85.
[798] The expense of this magnificent work was defrayed by Government
grants, obtained, at the instance of the British Association, in 1833--A.
De M.
[799] See note 32, page 43.
[800] Franz Friedrich Ernst Bruennow (1821-1891) was at that time or shortly
before director of the observatory at Dusseldorf. He then went to Berlin
and thence (1854) to Ann Arbor, Michigan. He then went to Dublin and
finally became Royal Astronomer of Ireland.
[801] Johann Gottfried Galle (1812-1910), at that time connected with the
Berlin observatory, and later professor of astronomy at Breslau.
[802] George Bishop (1785-1861), in whose observatory in Regent's Park
important observations were made by Dawes, Hind, and Marth.
[803] James Challis (1803-1882), director of the Cambridge observatory, and
successor of Airy as Plumian professor of astronomy.
[804] On Leverrier and Arago see note 33, page 43, and note 561, page 243.
[805] Robert Grant's (1814-1892) _History of Physical Astronomy from the
Earliest Ages to the Middle of the Nineteenth Century_ appeared in 1852. He
was professor of astronomy and director of the observatory at Glasgow.
[806] John Debenham was more interested in religion than in astronomy. He
wrote _The Strait Gate; or, the true scripture doctrine of salvation
clearly explained_, London, 1843, and _Tractatus de magis et Bethlehemae
stella et Christi in deserto tentatione_, privately printed at London in
1845.
[807] More properly the Sydney Smirke reading room, since it was built from
his designs.
[808] The Antinomians were followers of Johannes Agricola (1494-1566). They
believed that Christians as such were released from all obligations to the
Old Testament. Some went so far as to assert that, since all Christians
were sanctified, they could not lose this sanctity even though they
disobeyed God. The sect was prominent in England in the seventeenth
century, and was transferred to New England. Here it suffered a check in
the condemnation of Mrs. Ann Hutchinson (1636) by the Newton Synod.
[809] Aside from this work and his publications on Reeve and Muggleton he
wrote nothing. With Joseph Frost he published _A list_ _of Books and
general index to J. Reeve and L. Muggleton's works_ (1846), _Divine Songs
of the Muggletonians_ (1829), and the work mentioned on page 396. _The
works of J. Reeve and L. Muggleton_ (1832).
[810] About 1650 he and his cousin John Reeve (1608-1658) began to have
visions. As part of their creed they taught that astronomy was opposed by
the Bible. They asserted that the sun moves about the earth, and Reeve
figured out that heaven was exactly six miles away. Both Muggleton and
Reeve were imprisoned for their unitarian views. Muggleton wrote a
_Transcendant Spirituall Treatise_ (1652). I have before me _A true
Interpretation of All the Chief Texts ... of the whole Book of the
Revelation of St. John.... By Lodowick Muggleton, one of the two last
Commissioned Witnesses & Prophets of the onely high, immortal, glorious
God, Christ Jesus_ (1665), in which the interpretation of the "number of
the beast" occupies four pages without arriving anywhere.
[811] In 1652 he was, in a vision, named as the Lord's "last messenger,"
with Muggleton as his "mouth," and died six years later, probably of
nervous tension resulting from his divine "illumination." He was the more
spiritual of the two.
[812] William Guthrie (1708-1770) was a historian and political writer. His
_History of England_ (1744-1751) was the first attempt to base history on
parliamentary records. He also wrote a _General History of Scotland_ in 10
volumes (1767). The work to which Frost refers is the _Geographical,
Historical, and Commercial Grammar_ (1770) which contained an astronomical
part by J. Ferguson. By 1827 it had passed through 24 editions.
[813] George Fox (1624-1691), founder of the Society of Friends; a mystic
and a disciple of Boehme. He was eight times imprisoned for heresy.
[814] If they were friends they were literary antagonists, for Muggleton
wrote against Fox _The Neck of the Quakers Broken_ (1663), and Fox replied
in 1667. Muggleton also wrote _A Looking Glass for George Fox_.
[815] John Conduitt (1688-1737), who married (1717) Newton's half niece,
Mrs. Katherine Barton. See note 284, page 136.
[816] Probably Peter Mark Roget's (1779-1869) _Thesaurus of English Words_
(1852) is not much used at present, but it went through 28 editions in his
lifetime. Few who use the valuable work are aware that Roget was a
professor of physiology at the Royal Institution (London), that he achieved
his title of F. R. S. because of his work in perfecting the slide rule, and
that he followed Sir John Herschel as secretary of the Royal Society.
[817] See note 703, page 327. This work went into a second edition in the
year of its first publication.
[818] See note 398, page 177.
[819] See note 528, page 233.
[820] George Jacob Holyoake (1817-1906) entered into a controversial life
at an early age. In 1841 he was imprisoned for six months for blasphemy. He
founded and edited _The Reasoner_ (Vols. 1-26, 1846-1861). In his later
life he did much to promote cooperation among the working class.
[821] See note 176, page 102.
[822] William Thomas Lowndes (1798-1843), whose _Bibliographer's Manual of
English Literature_, 4 vols., London, 1834 (also 1857-1864, and 1869) is a
classic in its line.
[823] Jacques Charles Brunet (1780-1867), the author of the great French
bibliography, the _Manuel du Libraire_ (1810).
* * * * *
Corrections made to printed original.
Page 5, "direct acquaintance with the whole of his mental ancestry":
'acquantance' in original.
Page 100, "The error is at the rate": 'it' (for 'is') in original.
Page 192, "the lineal successor of the Repository association":
'successsor' in original.
Page 211, "the doctors had finished their compliments": 'docters' in
original.
Page 302, "causing mutual perturbations": 'peturbations' in original.
Page 344, "The work itself is described": 'decribed' in original.
Page 370, The entry for 1852 is printed as 19, it appears that the correct
value should be 9.
Page 392, "Sir John Herschel's previous communication": 'pervious' in
original.
Note 317, "he constructed a working model of a steam road carriage":
'contructed' in original.
Note 380, "the variation of the Earth's Diameters": 'Diaameters' in
original.
Note 550, "The first edition of the anonymous [Greek]": 'anonynous' in
original.