CHAPTER XII 



MATHEMATICAL MEMORIES: NEWTON'S BI- 

 NOMIAL THEOREM. 



THE Spider's web is a glorious mathemati- 

 cal problem. I should enjoy working it 

 out in all its details, were I not afraid of 

 wearying the reader's attention. Perhaps I 

 have even gone too far in the little that I 

 have said/ in which case I owe him some com- 

 pensation : 



'Would you like me,' I will ask him, 

 Vould you like me to tell you how I acquired 

 sufficient algebra to master the logarithmic 

 systems and how I became a surveyor of 

 Spiders' webs? Would you? It will give us 

 a rest from natural history.' 



I seem to catch a sign of acquiescence. The 

 story of my village-school, visited by the 

 chicks and the porkers, has been received with 

 some indulgence; why should not my harsh 

 school of solitude possess its interest as well? 



^Cf. The Life of the Spider: chaps, ix to xii and 

 appendix. — Translator's Note. 

 276 



