PARADOXES AND PARADOXISTS. 279 



I never saw this answer given, though I have seen 

 and heard the remarks of artists on Mr. Parsey's 

 work. ... In June, 1831, reading an article on squar- 

 ing the circle, and finding that there was a difficulty, he 

 set to work, got a light, denied to all the mathematicians, 

 ui- some would say through a crack, and advertised 

 in the Times that he had done the trick. Perspective 

 has not had many paradoxes. The only other one I 

 remember is that of a writer on perspective, whose 

 name I forget, and whose four pages I do not possess. 

 He denies that the stereographic projection is a case of 

 perspective, the reason being that the whole hemi- 

 sphere makes too large a picture for the eye con- 

 veniently to grasp at once that is to say, there is no 

 perspective because there is too much perspective.' 



De Morgan includes among the paradoxes Bacon's 

 theory that knowledge of Nature was to be obtained by 

 ' the collection of enormous masses of facts, and then 

 digested processes of arrangement and elimination, so 

 artistically contrived that a man of common intel- 

 ligence, without any unusual sagacity, should be able 

 to announce the truth sought for.' Bacon's theory is 

 undoubtedly opposed by all experience. His own de- 

 scription of his * way of discovering sciences,' as one that 

 * goes far to level men's wits and leaves but little to 

 individual excellence, because it performs everything 

 by the surest rules and demonstrations,' reads as an 

 absurdity in the presence of the history of the last two 

 centuries. ' What are large collections of facts for ? ' 

 says De Morgan. ' " To make theories from," says 



