226 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



A UNIQUE COLLECTION OF AEITHMETICS 



By De. LOUIS C. KARPINSKI 



UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN 



RECENT visitors to the Metropolitan Museum of Art have been 

 impressed by the wealth of the loan collections standing in names 

 comparatively unknown to the general public. A two-million-dollar 

 sale of works of art lately excited only passing comment — in spite of 

 the fact that many priceless treasures were forever lost to America. 

 The existence of this private gallery was made widely known only 

 through the dispersal of its paintings — and the unfortunate story of its 

 loss to New York City. There are many other storehouses of those 

 things which we human beings prize in this great city. Fortunately not 

 all of them need to be destroyed as collections before their significance 

 and charm receive adequate recognition. So the Morgan library in its 

 own somewhat permanent home is now numbered among the city's 

 choicest possessions. 



The existence in the metropolis of an absolutely unrivaled collection 

 of fifteenth and sixteenth century arithmetics has been brought to the 

 attention of the scientific world by the publication of David Eugene 

 Smith's " Kara Arithmetical' "While the work purports to be a mere 

 descriptive catalogue of the arithmetical books of the period mentioned 

 which are in the library of G. A. Plimpton, it is in fact a comparatively 

 complete bibliography of the subject, since this library contains prac- 

 tically all the arithmetic books published in the first hundred and fifty 

 years of printing. As the third, and by far the most complete, col- 

 lection of arithmetical works of international fame the Plimpton books 

 take a high place among modern private libraries. 



George A. Plimpton's interest in arithmetics grew out of his busi- 

 ness as a publisher of text-books. The historical development of the 

 school curriculum is exhibited by his library. Included are geographies 

 from the invention of printing up to modern times, spellers, writing 

 books with wonderful specimens of writing from all the world, geo- 

 metries, reading books and representatives of the other subjects of the 

 ordinary school program. But the gems of the collection are doubtless 

 the mathematical works, for in these Mr. Plimpton's interest has been 

 stimulated by Professor David Eugene Smith, himself an enthusiastic 

 bibliophile. The bookshops of all the world have yielded their trea- 

 sures to these indefatigable searchers. Professor Smith's recent trip 



