no 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



Now about the work of your son. If I begin by saying that I dare not 

 praise it, you will doubtless be startled for a moment. But I can not do other- 

 wise. To praise it would be to praise myself, for the entire contents of the 

 paper, the path which your son has pursued and the results which he has reached 

 agree almost throughout with my own meditations, entertained by me in part 

 since 30-35 years. By this I am surprised to the highest degree. It was my 

 intention, during my lifetime to publish nothing of my own work, of which but 

 little has thus far been put down on paper. Most people do not have the proper 

 appreciation of the subject in hand and I have found only a few people who 



The Statde of Gadss on the Potsdamer Bridge in Berlin. 



receive with interest the things I tell them. To be able to do so, one must have 

 felt vividly what has been wanting, and on this point most people are quite in 

 the dark. But it was my intention, some time to write down everything, so that 

 it would not eventually perish with me. I am greatly surprised that I am saved 

 this trouble and it is most pleasing to me that it is the son of my old friend 

 who has anticipated me in such a remarkable way. 



Would that all men of science could show the generosity toward 

 rivals in matters of priority that Gauss showed toward John Bolyai. 

 Gauss recognized the genius of Bolyai, gave him full credit for what he 

 had done and gave up his own plans of preparing a paper on the new 

 geometry. 



