ANNALS 



OF 



PHILOSOPHY. 



JULY, 1814. 



Article I. 



Remarks on the Biographical Account of M. Lagrange by M. 

 Dclambre, with some Additions. By L. B. M. D. G.* 



TOWARDS the commencement of the account of M. Lagrange, 

 Halley is named as the author of a paper written on purpose to 

 demonstrate the superiority of the modern analysis, and which 

 induced Lagrange to abandon the exclusive study of ancient 

 geometry. But^ admitting the fact, is it likely that the. paper in 

 questiou was really written by Halley. f Not having it in my power 

 to consult the Philosophical Transactions, I cannot venture to con- 

 tradict the statement. Yet 1 have my doubts respecting its truth ; 

 hecause Halley devoted a considerable part of his life m restoring 

 the works of Apollonius, one of the most famous of the ancient 

 mathematicians ; because in his numerous writings he constantly 

 panegyrized them, and exhorted geometricians to study them ; and 

 because he entertained the same prejudice with his friend Sir Isaac 

 Newton in favour of pure geometry, and contributed very much to 



♦ Translated from ll.e Monileur of Feb. 26, 1814. Some of the additional 

 facts which (his paper contains are too valuable to be withheld from the BntisH 



public. — T. .. e 



+ The anecdote respecting Halley was related by M. Lagrange at a meet.n; of 

 the Board of Longitude. The memoir in question is that in winch l>r. Ha ey 

 gives the resolution of the problem of finding the toci of opl.c gl«iCS. Halley 

 wa, an admirer of ancient geometry, but did not dispute the superiority ol modem 



analytic. Tliui with respect igarithmi he deduced from the binomial theorem, 



and the calcalui of Suxitns, eipressions much preferable to the laborious methods 

 of the first inventors. Ste by the Editor of the MonUeUr. 



I have had the curiosity to loofc at Dr. Halley's memoir ItU in I Ml.T/Mt. 

 vol xvii p 960| and 'entitled, " An Instance of the Excellence of Modern 

 Algebra, In the resolution of the problem of finding the toe. of optic giruses 

 uninrsallv." It begins with the panegyric iu (itiolioJ.— T. 



Voi. IV. N°I. A 



