TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION. xxv 



at once, unflinchingly, that their discovery 

 marked an epoch in human thought so momen- 

 tous as to be unsurpassed by anything re- 

 corded in the history of philosophy or of 

 science, demonstrating as had never been 

 proven before the supremacy of pure reason 

 at the very moment of overthrowing what 

 had forever seemed its surest possession, the 

 axioms of geometry. 



On the 9th of March, 1832, Bolyai Farkas 

 was made corresponding member in the math- 

 ematics section of the Magyar Academy. 



As professor he exercised a powerful in- 

 fluence in his country. 



In his private life he was a type of true 

 originality. He wore roomy black Hungarian 

 pants, a white flannel jacket, high boots, and 

 a broad hat like an old-time planter's. The 

 smoke-stained wall of his antique domicile 

 was adorned by pictures of his friend Gauss, 

 of Schiller, and of Shakespeare, whom he 

 loved to call the child of nature. His violin 

 was his constant solace. 



He died November 20th, 1856. It was his 

 wish that his grave should bear no mark. 



The mother of Bolyai Janos, nee Arkosi 

 Benka Zsuzsanna, was beautiful, fascinating, 



