the Differential and Integral Calculus. 35 



they advertise their books for sale ; the celebrity that so justly 

 attaches to the University and its members induces lovers of 

 science who are at a distance from theUniversity, and who are 

 not acquainted with its advantages, to purchase their works; 

 they cannot attend the lecture-room, nor is a private tutor at 

 hand ; the explanation, therefore, that a Cambridge man can 

 obtain on the spot should form part of the work ; without it, 

 the book at first appears to be a mathematical enigma, the so- 

 lution of which wastes the student's time without at all adding 

 to his knowledge. It is considered very prudent and discreet 

 in men who have nothing to say, to say nothing, but this is 

 not the case with the Cambridge authors to whom I allude. 

 They are quite capable of writing to the purpose, and might 

 in few words clearly explain a difficulty; in my opinion their 

 doing so would double the value of their labours, and trebly 

 enhance their utility; besides, it is only a matter of common 

 justice to their general readers. 



It seems to have become the fashion with many writers to 

 eschew all introductory or explanatory matter: the reader, 

 without preamble or preface, is at once pitched into the midst 

 of a difficult subject entirely in a new dress, and he may make 

 progress if he can. Works thus written under the notion that 

 readers intuitively know everything without being told any- 

 thing, may have more matter compressed into them, but their 

 authors lock it up and keep the key. To explain myself more 

 clearly, I will give an example : let any one who knows nothing 

 of the suffix notation, but who can read, for instance, a treatise 

 on dynamics in the old, take a treatise on that subject written 

 in the suffix language, containing no explanation whatever ; 

 let him move on as fast as he can, and tell me how he likes it. 



If the reader has never met with a sudden change from one 

 notation to another, he may find a specimen in the treatise on 

 Mechanics in the Encyclopaedia Metropolitana : up to Art. 56, 

 the differential and integral calculus are employed; subse- 

 quently the ftuxional: thus within a few lines in writing on pre- 

 cisely the same subject, the symbols and language are com- 

 pletely changed. The author of the treatise referred to is 

 deserving of great respect, but I wish he had taken the trouble 

 to write the article all in the same language. By way of 

 parenthesis it may be observed that the expense of these books 

 is considerable, and judging from their authors' celebrity, 

 their purchasers have a right to expect the articles to be of a 

 high order, and not mere scraps indifferently cooked and sent 

 into the world scarce half-made up; however, many of the 

 treatises are worthy of their authors, and are a credit to the 

 seat of learning from which they emanate. 



D2 



