298 LIGHT SCIENCE FOR LEISURE HOURS. 



the problem of the quadrature of the circle can be 

 readily solved. There is a curve, for instance, in- 

 vented by Dinostratus which can readily be described 

 mechanically, and has been called the quadratrix of 

 Dinostratus, because it has the property of thus 

 solving the problem we are dealing with. 



As such curves can be described with quite as 

 much accuracy as the circle for, be it remembered, 

 an absolutely perfect circle has never yet been drawn 

 we see that it is only the limitations which geo- 

 meters have themselves invented that give this pro- 

 blem its difficulty. Its solution has, as we have said, 

 no value ; and no mathematician would ever think of 

 wasting a moment over the problem for this reason, 

 simply, that it has long since been demonstrated to 

 be insoluble by simple geometrical methods. So that, 

 when a man says he has squared the circle (and many 

 will say so, if one will only give them a hearing), he 

 shows that either he wholly misunderstands the nature 

 of the problem, or that his ignorance of mathematics 

 has led him to mistake a faulty for a true solution. 



(From Chambers's Journal, January 16, 1869.) 



