Dr. Bowditch, President of the American Academy. xiii 
who could even read it with any tolerable facility,* and not one who 
had then attempted to translate and explain it. Subsequently, in- 
deed, to Dr. Bowditch’s Translation being prepared for publication, 
there were printed in England two translations of the jirst: book 
only, or about one third of the first volume, with notes, by Mr. 
Toplis, and by Dr. Young ; but the latter extraordinary man, whom 
some of his countrymen place at the head both of “the letters and 
the science of England,” left the eighth chapter of his translation, 
(upon the Motion of Fluids,) without any annotations, though it is 
the most difficult, and is one which Dr. Bowditch advises young 
students to pass over on their first reading of the work. Another 
translation, by Mr. Harte, was also begun about the same time ; 
but no copy of it had been received in this part of our country, 
when Dr. Bowditch published his first volume. 
An able English writer observes, that at the period of these 
publications there was a very meagre supply of works, in our lan- 
guage, illustrative of the celestial mechanism, “ whether in the nature 
of express commentary and avowed illustration of the immortal 
work of La Place, or in the form of independent treatises, calcu- 
lated to bring the whole subject before the reader in a more com- 
pendious and explanatory manner than was compatible with La 
Place’s object.” 
The same writer, however, farther remarks, that these “ desid- 
erata” are now supplied; and “in a manner that leaves little to 
wish for” ; and he adds, that, “if any thing were wanting to put our 
geometers effectually upon their mettle,” it would be found in the 
extraordinary coincidence, that one of the works to supply the 
* Quarterly Review, for July, 1832, Vol. XLVII. p. 558 ; and Edinburgh 
Review for January, 1808, Vol. XI, p: 281, in an article written by Professor 
Playfair. 
