II. A List of Writings relating to the Method of Least 

 Squares, with historical and critical Notes. By Mansfield 

 Merriman. 



The following list contains the titles of 408 papers, books and 

 parts of books, relating to the Method of Least Squares and the 

 Theory of accidental Errors of Observation, chronologically arranged 

 according to their dates of publication. The first was issued in the 

 year 1722 and the last in 1876. Previous to 1805, the year of Le- 

 gendre's announcement of the principle of Least Squares, there are 

 22 titles; since 1805 there is a continual yearly increase in the num- 

 ber of titles, — thus : 



From 1805 to 1814 inclusive, there are 18 titles, 



30 " 



" 32 " 



45 " 



63 " 



-71 " 



95 " 



These books and memoirs are in eight languages, and classified 

 according to the place of publication, they fall under twelve countries. 

 It may be interesting to note the number belonging to each, viz: 



Countries. Languages. 



Germany 153 German ■_.. 167 



France 78 French 110 



Great Britain 56 Enghsh 90 



United States 34 Latin 16 



Belgium 19 Italian 9 



Russia .- 11") Dutch 7 



Italy 14 Danish 5 



Austria 10 Swedish 4 



Switzerland 9 



Holland 7 Total 408 



Sweden ,... 7 



Denmark 5 



Total 408 



The 408 titles may be roughly classified as 313 memoirs, 72 books 

 and 23 parts of books. They were written by 193 authors, 127 of 

 whom produced only one book or uaju'r each. 



