July 28. 1855.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



!^t 



LONDON. SATURDAY, JULY iS. 1855. 

 ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE. 



A few days ago I stumbled again upon the follow- 

 ing letters. They will show many of your readers 

 a world with which they are wholly unacquainted ; 

 and their publication may be useful in more re- 

 spects than one. Many a poor working man is 

 possessed by the notion that he has squared the 

 circle or found the longitude, and imagines that 

 he is the only person who is trying it. I could 

 cite some sad instances of the manner in which 

 such persons have left their work and injured 

 their families, to employ themselves in making 

 their fortunes by help of the circle. The present 

 instance is that of a worthy man from an agri- 

 cultural district, who sent me his quadrature of 

 the circle, accompanied by the copy of a letter he 

 had written to the Lord Chancellor, desiring him 

 to hand over forthwith one hundred thousand 

 pounds, the reward offered by parliament for the 

 discovery. I returned the papers with a short 

 letter, telling him that parliament had never 

 offered any reward, and that, as to the problem, 

 he had not enough of mathematical knowledge to 

 see in what the difficulty consisted. The follow- 

 ing letters from the discoverer and a friend were 

 the consequence ; of course I did not reply. 



Doctor Morgan Sir. Permit me to address you 

 Brute Creation may perhaps enjoy the faculty of 

 beholding visible things with a more penitrating eye 

 than ourselves. But Spiritual objects are as far out of 

 their reach as though they had no being 



Nearest therefore to the brute Creation are those men 

 who Suffer themselves to be so far governed by external 

 objects as to belie\ e nothing but what they See and feel 

 And Can accomedate to their Shallow understanding 

 and Imaginations 



My Dear Sir Let us all Consult ourselves by the wise 

 proverb. . 



I believe that evry man' merit and ability ought to 

 be appreciated and valued In proportion to its worth and 

 utility 



In whatever State or Circumstances they may fortu- 

 nately or onfortunately be placed 



And happy it is for evry man to know his worth and 

 place 



When a Gentleman of your Standing in Society Clad 

 with those honors Can not understand or Solve a problem 

 That is explicitly explained by words and Letters and 

 mathematacally operated by figuers He had better 

 Consult the wise proverb 



Do that which thou Canst understand and Comprehend 

 for thy good 



I would recommend that Such Gentleman Change his 

 business 



And appropriate his time and attention to a Sunday 

 School to Learn what he Could and keep the Litle Chil- 

 dren from durting their Close 



With Sincere feelings of Gratitude for your weakness 

 and Inability I am Sir your Superior In Mathematics 



1849 June th 29 



No. 300.] 



Dor Morgin Sir 



I wrote and Sent my work to Professor of 



United States 



I am now in possesion of the facts that he highly ap-' 

 proves of my work And Says he will Insure me Reward 

 in the States 



I write this that you may understand that I have know- 

 ledge of the unfair way that I am treated In my own*^ 

 nate County 



I am told and have reasons to believe that it is the 

 Clergy that treat me so unjust 



I am not Desirous of heaping Disonors upon my own"" 

 nation. But if I have to Leave this kingdom without my 

 Just Dues. The World Shall know how I am and have 

 been treated • 



1 am Sir Desirous of my Just Dues 



1849 July 3 — ' 



July 7th, 1849 ' 

 Sir. I have been given to understand that a friend of' 

 mine one whom I shall never be ashamed to acknowledge- 

 as such tho' lowly his origine ; nay not only not ashamed/ 

 but proud of doing so for I am one of those who esteem 

 and respect a man according to his ability and probity, 

 deeming with D"' Watts " that the mind is the standard 

 of the man." has laid before you and asked your opinion 

 of his extraordinary performance viz the quadrature of 

 the circle, he did this with the firmest belief that you 

 would not only treat the matter in a straightforward; 

 manner but with the conviction that from your known or, 

 supposed knowledge of mathematicks would have givea 

 an upright and honorable decision upon the subject; but" 

 the question is have you done so? Could I say so I 

 would with the greatest of pleasure and have congratu- 

 lated you upon your decision whatever it might have 

 been but I am very sorry that I cannot your letter is a 

 paltry evasion, you say " that it is a great pity that you 



(Mr ) should have attempted this (the quadrature of 



the circle) for your mathematical knowledge is not sulfi- 

 cient to make you know in what the problem consists,"! 

 you don't say in what it does consist according to your 

 ideas, ah ! no nothing of the sort, you enter into no dis- 

 quisition upon the subject in order to show where you 



think Mr is wrong and why you have not is simply 



— - because you cannot — you know that he has done it and 

 what is if I am not wrongly informed yoii have been heard 

 to say so. He has done what you nor any other mathe- 

 matician or those who call themselves such have done. 

 And what is the reason that you will not acknowledge to 

 him as you have to others that he has squared the circle 

 shall I tell you? it is because he has performed the feat 

 to obtain the glory of which mathematicians have battled 

 from time immemorial that they might encircle their 

 brows with a wreath of laurels far more glorious than ever 

 conqueror wore it is simply this that it is a poor man a 

 humble artisan who has gained that victory that you 

 don't like to acknowledge it you don't like to be beaten 

 and worse to acknowledge that j'ou have miscalculated, 

 you have in short too small a soul to acknowledge that he 

 is right. 



I was asked my opinion, and / gave it unhesitatingly 

 in the affirmative and I am backed in my opinion not 

 only by Mr — — a mathematician and watchmaker re- 

 siding in the of but by no less an au- 

 thority than the Professor of mathematics of ■ 



United States Mr and I presume that he at least is 



your equal as an authority and Mr says that the 



government of the U. S. will recompense Mr for the 



discovery he has made if so what a reflection upon Old 



