190 Mr. T. T. Wilkinson on Mathematics and Mathematicians : 



when a medical man of Ilooke's acquaintance accidentally called 

 upon him, he found him absolutely dying of want ; and on his 

 leaving the house he gave an old woman who waited upon Hooke 

 some money to buy him a fowl and some wine. Hooke happened 

 to see him do it ; and when the gentleman was gone, he took 

 the money from the woman and would not buy anything 

 with it.'' 



Mr. James Dodson was also a Master of the Mathematical 

 School in Christ's Hospital, and published his Autilogarithmic 

 Canon, "a work unique of its kind/' in 1742; — the Mathema- 

 tical Repository is comprised in three volumes, which were 

 issued in 1748, 1753, and 1755 respectively. The first volume 

 is almost wholly composed of algebraical questions, most of which 

 have since found their way into our regular treatises ; the volume 

 of Geometrical Problems was abandoned, owing probably to the 

 fact that Dodson had not paid much attention to the geometrical 

 analysis of the ancients. There is enough of originality and 

 ability, however, on the Doctrines of Series and Annuities in 

 the second and third volumes, to maintain his character as an 

 "ingenious and very industrious mathematician." After Mr. 

 Jones's death most of his papers fell into the hands of Mr. Ro- 

 bertson, so that he had, no doubt, good authority for his state- 

 ments respecting the History of Logarithms. Dr. Hooke's 

 penurious habits have been noticed by Hutton ; but since he was 

 some years in a 'Svasting condition," owing to "increasing 

 illness," his repugnance to proper diet may have arisen from this 

 cause rather than from a desire to amass wealth. 



" August 24. Mr. Brown had most of his Tables home, and 



he paid me three guineas in part I called at the Swan's 



Nest, where Keech, Sanderson and myself had a dispute about 

 my questions on Maxima and Minima! 



"August 25. Mr. Robertson sent for me to ask if I would 

 undertake to calculate an Eclipse mentioned by Herodotus, 

 which happened about the time of the Expedition of Xerxes to 

 Greece, while he was at Sardis. It was for Dr. Priestley, but 

 as Mr. Robertson was leaving town he had not time to do it, so 

 I imdei-took it. Kepler mentions it in page 291 of his Astro- 

 nomia pars Opticce, but seems doubtful whether there was an 

 Eclipse or not. 



" Mr. Robertson told me that as Nourse wanted a new edition 

 of Simpson's Fluxions, he would recommend me to con-ect the 

 proof sheets. Mem. There is an error about a series in the 

 second volume that Mr. Todd has corrected, and there are also 

 some few errors mentioned in the Miscellaneous Tracts to be 

 corrected. Also, if Nourse will allow any notes to be added, 

 there is in the London Magazine a few general Theorems of 



