210 Notices respecting New Buoks. 



One of the general questions to which these researches give 

 rise is, supposing the law of any series to be known, to find 

 what figure will occur in the /tth place of the nth term. That 

 the mere consideration of a mechanical engine should have 

 suggested these inquiries is of itself sufficiently remarkable ; 

 but it is still more singular, that amongst researches of so very 

 abstract a nature I should have met with and overcome a dif- 

 ficulty which had presented itself in the form of an equation 

 of differences, and which had impeded my progress several 

 years since in attempting the solution of a problem connected 

 with the game of chess. 



XXXVI. Notices respecting Nexv Books. 



Appendix to Euclid's Elements : containing original Proposi- 

 tions in Geometry, designed for the yotcng Student as Exer- 

 cises under the various Propositions in Euclid's Elements 

 and Data. By I. Newton : printed for the Author by 

 N. Walker, Wisbech, 1825. 

 "DESPECTING the merit of Euclid's production we have 

 -*•*- had many different opinions : — some considering it de- 

 fective in definition, arrangement and demonstration; while 

 others contend that it forms the most perfect code of elemen- 

 tary instruction that has ever appeared ; and were we allowed 

 to give our opinion on the subject, we should say with the lat- 

 ter, that the work has no equal. — But although Euclid has done 

 much as an elementary writer, he has not done all ; a wide 

 field is open for others to traverse, and accordingly we find 

 that in this as well as in the last age, geometers have attempted 

 both to enlarge and improve the labours of the Grecian sage. 

 Among these we again find the name of Isaac Newton. This 

 gentleman has for some time been a respectable contributor to 

 the different periodical publications of the day. The number 

 of valuable and curious questions he has proposed, and the 

 neat and elegant solutions he has given, indicate how well his 

 mind is fitted for those studies which one of his name (whose 

 stupendous imagination comprehended the world) pursued 

 with the most splendid success. 



The publication of Mr. Newton professes to be an Appen- 

 dix to Euclid's Elements. The author in his preface judiciously 

 remarks, that in order to become a geometer, it is not enough 

 merely to read the writings of the illustrious Greek; some- 

 thing more is wanted to rouse the curiosity of the student and 

 stimulate him to active exertion. For this purpose Mr. New- 

 ton has drawn up a series of choice propositions, and arranged 



them 



