Notices respecting New Books. 46 1 



Information requested respecting the JVrilers of the Ma- 

 l/n-malrcfd Questions, and their Answers, in The Ladies' 

 Diary. 



The annual publication called The Ladies' Diary, or IFo- 

 man s Jlmanac, has every year for upwards ot a century 

 conlained a certani number of nialhematical problems to 

 be ans-.\ ered hi the Diary of the followino- year. The pub 

 Jication ot ihese has ausvyered several valuable purposes • in 

 particular it has axvakened theaiteniion of many to the study 

 oHhe n.athemat.cal sciences, who would not otherwise have 

 ihouoht oJ them. The (juestions have served to exercise 

 ihe ingenuity and call forth the exertions of youno- mathe- 

 n.aticians, some of whom have in time arrived "at sreat 

 cmmcnce, as cultivators of mathematical ledrmn<r • and 

 fstiv the work lias served as a lepository for the pTeserva- 

 non of many curious mathematical disquisilir.ns, which but 

 tor th,s mode of publication, would never have been known 

 10 the world. 



The beneficial influence which The Ladies' Diary has ex- 

 erted upon the state of mathematical science in this'countrv 

 has been long elt and acknowledged, and has been parti- 

 cularly noticed by the writer of the very valuable analysis 

 of the M,cann,ue Cdestc, given in the Edinburgh Review 

 bpeakmg^ol the comparative sta-e of mathematical know- 

 ledge m England and un the continent, he says- "A cer 

 tarn degree of mathematical science, and indeed no incon- 

 siderable degree, ,s perhaps more widely difiused in En<r- 

 Jand thanin any other country in the world. The Ladies' 

 Z>w>y, vy.th several oiher periodical and popular publica- 

 .01 ot the same kind, are the best proof, of this aLer.ion. 

 \ll\tT\ T'HT"'''' i"-°^'^^"'-S not of the highest order 

 indeed but Ml 1 havmg a considerable deaTee ordirticully 

 and tar beyond the .ncre.elcmemsof scienJe, are often to be 

 ;ne, with: and the great number of ingenious met. who 

 take a share m proposing and answenn| these questior^s 

 whom one has never heard of any where^else, is not a lilt e 

 urpnsmg. Nothmg of the sauie kind, we bd.eve, is ,0 be 

 ouiid ,n any other country. The geometrical part has al- 

 way, neen conducted in a superior styl^- the problems pro- 

 posed have tended to awaken curiosity, and the solmfons 

 to convey instruction, in a much better manner than is al- 

 ways to be found ,n more splendid publ,cations."-(Seft 

 Jbitin. Rev. vn|. xi. p. 282.) 



A collection of all the mathematical questions as well as 

 oher parts of the Diary, fnnn Us beginning to the yea 

 1/72, was published about that period by its presentTn- 



genious 



