128 



MR. T. T. WILKIKSON ON 



tinguished cultivators of ancient Geometry in modern times. 

 "A cursory glance at some of our mathematical periodicals will 

 readily furnish the names of Ainsworth, whose elegant produc- 

 tions in pure Geometry adorn the pages of the Gentleman's and 

 Burrow's Diaries; — Taylor, the distinguished tutor and friend 

 of Wolfenden ; — Fletcher, whose investigations in the Gentle- 

 mans Diary and the Mathematical Companion entitle him 

 to the highest praise; — Wolfenden, acknowledged by all as 

 one of the most skilful cultivators of plane geometry of the 

 last century; — Hilton, afterwards the talented Editor of ' that 

 work of rare merit' the Liverpool Student; — and last, but 

 not least, the distinguished Butterworth, whose elegant and 

 extensive correspondence occupies so conspicuous a place in 

 the Student^ the Mathematical Repository, the Companion, 

 the Enquirer, the Leeds Correspondent, the Diaries, and the 

 York Courant. Besides these, who resided in the immediate 

 neighbourhood of Oldham, we find the names of Mabbott, 

 Wood, Holt, ( Mancuniensis ) Dr. Clarke, ( Salfordoniensis ) 

 subsequently of the Royal Military College at Sandhurst, 

 and author of Perspective, Rationale of Numbers, &c.; as 

 then resident at Manchester, and in constant communication 

 with Crakelt, Hutton, Lawson, Wildbore, and other editors 

 of Mathematical periodicals ; nor can it be doubted, from 

 the evidence of existing documents, that the predilection 

 evinced for the study of the ancient Geometry by these active 

 members of the Lancashire School, exercised considerable 

 influence upon the pursuits of such able proficients in other 

 localities as Campbell, Cunlifte, Dalton, Davies, Gough, 

 Lowt-y, Ryley, Whitley, Shepherd, and Swale." (Notes 

 and Queries, No. 34.) 



But it was not Lancashire alone that witnessed the revival 

 of the ancient forms of geometrical investigation : — Scotland 

 produced her Play fair, Leslie, and Wallace, whilst the Mathe- 

 matical Society of London furnished its quota of pioneers in 

 preparing the way for the phalanx of explorers who occupied 

 these fields of research towards the clostj of the last and the 



