AND OTHER 9TJBD EQUATIONS. 235 



who has bestowed on it that degree of attention which its 

 importance demands. 



In concluding this paper, the author would adopt the 

 language of the elegant writer last referred to in treating of 

 the same subject : — " I hope that these investigations will 

 not prove to be barren of results. At any rate, I trust that 

 any efforts, however humble, to throw light on an anoma- 

 lous — ^perhaps I may say mysterious — difficulty in algebra, 

 will be regarded with toleration, if not with indulgence." 



