538 



admiration of his pupils, he succeeded to an extraordinary degree in 

 winning their personal attachment by the uniform kindliness of his 

 temper and disposition, the practical good sense of his advice and 

 admonitions, and the absence of all moroseriess, austerity, or need- 

 less interference with their conduct. " His inspection of his pupils," 

 says one of them, " was not minute, far less vexatious ; but it was 

 always effectual, and at all critical points of their career, keen and 

 searching. His insight into character was remarkable." 



It was impossible for any one, at the epoch of his undergraduacy, 

 and for several years preceding that epoch, drawn on to read exten- 

 sively in mathematics for the sake of the science itself, and thus 

 becoming aware of the progress made on the continent in that depart- 

 ment of knowledge, while at the same time subjected to the course 

 of reading then pursued for the Senate-house examinations, not to 

 become at the same time unpleasingly sensible to what we must now 

 consider the discreditable state of Cambridge mathematics then pre- 

 valent. Peacock, in common with many other students of his own 

 standing, was profoundly impressed with this, and resolved, so far as 

 in him lay, to contribute towards remedying the evil. Accordingly 

 we find him, so soon as relieved from the pressure of examinations, 

 exerting himself vigorously in the cause of mathematical improve- 

 ment. As a preliminary step towards introducing the continental 

 methods and the spirit of the higher analysis, he joined with two 

 fellow-students of his own year (Messrs. Babbage and Herschel) in 

 the task, more useful than brilliant, of translating the smaller work 

 of Lacroix on the differential and integral calculus. This transla- 

 tion, published at Cambridge in 1816, was followed by a copious 

 collection of examples in 1820; and, the sale of both being rapid, 

 contributed no doubt materially to further the object in view. His 

 position as Moderator for 1817 supplied him with a powerful lever 

 for urging forward this movement, and he was not backward in avail- 

 ing himself of it. In his questions for the Senate-house examina- 

 tion for that year, the differential notation of the continental analysts 

 was for the first time officially employed in Cambridge ; an innova- 

 tion which passed not altogether without censure. How little this 

 affected him will appear from the following extract of a letter to a 

 friend, which we have before us, dated March 17, 1817. 



" I assure you, my dear , that I shall never cease to exert 



