188 MB. T. T. WlLXraSON ON 



Several of the earliest of Mr. Wolfenden's contributions to 

 Mathematical Science may be found in Burrow'' s Diary ibr 1781 , 

 and in the Gentleman's Diary for 1783. In both of these publi- 

 cations his aptitude for geometrical investigations appears con- 

 spicuous, and although particular circumstances subsequently 

 led him to enter more fully into mixed Mathematics than the 

 majority of his contemporaries, yet even in his mechanical 

 and bydrostatical inquiries vee find evident traces of a mind 

 strongly biased in favour of the forms of pure Geometry. 

 His contributions to the Mathematical Companion are prin- 

 cipally on mechanical subjects, the most remarkable of which 

 relate to the noted question respecting the "Exciseman's 

 Staff," and kindred problems which had been erroneously 

 treated in the Gentleman's Diary.* His later practice was 

 to attempt only those problems in which others had dither 

 met with difficulties or had arrived at erroneous results, and 

 hence many of his solutions partake of a correctional character, 

 not always pleasing to the editors of periodicals and the writers 

 assailed. His favourite authors were Newton, Simpson, and 

 Emerson ; the Select Exercises, he ever maintained, were 

 "worth their weight in gold," and the influence of the 

 Principia may be inferred from the fact that most of his geo- 

 metrical inquiries in Whiting's Delights, and elsewhere, are 

 based upon the Method of Prime and Ultimate Ratios. To 

 the Liverpool Student, partly edited by his former pupil, Mr, 

 William Hilton, he was a constant contributor ; and for many 

 years supplied the "Tide Tables for the Port of Liverpool" 

 in Lang's Original Liverpool Almanack, Under the signature 

 " Senex," lie occasionally appears in Ley bourn's Repository, 

 and the reproposal Qof uestion 400 in the Mathematical 

 Companion, under this assumed name, led to the production 

 of a solution by liis friend and former pupil, Mr. Butterworth, 



* ¥oT a most Interesting discussion of this question, when friction is taken 

 hito consideration, reference may be made to Vols. 56 and 57 of the Mechaniis* 

 MagazvM for 1852. 



