XXIX 



Some time after his marriage he was elected to be an Honorary 

 Fellow of his college. This was a distinction which he evidently 

 prized so much that he sometimes placed this title by itself after his 

 name, joined solely to the letters M.A. or F.R.S. Later on in his life 

 he was chosen as an Elector to three University Professorships, viz., 

 the Knightbridge Professorship of Moral Philosophy, the Plumian 

 Professorship of Astronomy and Experimental Philosophy, and the 

 Professorship of Mental Philosophy and Logic. Lastly, when the 

 University of Cambridge established its new degree of Doctor of 

 Science, restricted to those who have made original contributions to 

 the advancement of science or learning, he was one of those whose 

 application was granted within the first few months. 



The great work of Dr. Todhunter's life lies in the part he has 

 taken in the education of this generation. There are few of us who 

 have not studied some of his books. Many have made their first 

 acquaintance with mathematics through his aid; and not their first 

 acquaintance only, for his books conduct the student through a 

 vast range of mathematical learning. Writing to his wife in 1878, 

 when he was Examiner for the Indian Civil Service, he says : " There 

 is a library of mathematical books provided by the Civil Service 

 Commissioners for the use of the Examiners. It consists of fourteen 

 volumes, ten of which are by myself. Thus you see I am able to do 

 much of that labour which Matthew Arnold thinks distasteful, namely, 

 that of perusing your own books." 



A detailed account of the numerous educational books he has 

 written would be too long for so slight a sketch of his life as the 

 present. A simple list of these books is a history of the labours of 

 his life, as the dates run on we see his time filled up with correcting 

 one edition after another. 



In writing, his first care was to be accurate. He once told the 

 writer of this notice that, with the assistance of two of bis pupils in 

 correcting the press, the first misprint in his " Integral Calculus " did 

 not occur till past the seventieth page. It might have been thought 

 that he would have stereotyped his elementary books, but this was not 

 done until many editions had been issued. Though at pecuniary loss, 

 and with great labour, he yet preferred to correct edition after edition 

 in hopes of eliminating all errors. 



In constructing his books, he seems to have discovered that, for the 

 teaching of boys, novelties would be out of place. What was wanted 

 in any subject was a short and accurate account of the things then 

 known. The object was to put the reader as quickly as possible in 

 possession of all the knowledge which was most likely to be useful to 

 him afterwards. Accordingly he gives in his books a clear statement 

 of the well-known principles of each subject, arranged in a logical 

 order. Each step in the argument is explained at length in clear 



