14 DISSERTATION SECOND. 



[part ii. 



claims, instead of endeavouring Jo establish the priority of 

 his discoveries, by an appeal to facts and to dates that could 

 be accurately ascertained (in which he would have been 

 completely successful), undertook to prove, that the commu- 

 nications of Newton to Leibnitz, were sufficient to put the 

 latter in possession of the principles of the new analysis, after 

 which he had only to substitute the notion of differentials for 

 that of fluxions. In support of a charge which it would have 

 required the clearest and most irresistible evidence to justify, 

 he had, however, nothing to offer but equivocal facts and 

 overstrained arguments, such as could only convince those 

 who were already disposed to believe. They were, accord- 

 ingly, received as sound reasoning in England, rejected as 

 absurd in Germany, and read with no effect by the mathe- 

 maticians of France and Italy. 



Leibnitz complained of Keill's proceeding to the Royal 

 Society of London, which declined giving judgment, but ap- 

 pointed a commission of its members to draw up a full and 

 detailed report of all the communications which had passed 

 between Newton and Leibnitz, or their friends, on subjects 

 connected with the new analysis, from the time of Collins 

 and Oldenburgh to the date of Keill's letter to Sir Hans 

 Sloane in 171 1, the same that was now complained of. This 

 report forms what is called the Commercium Epistolkum ; 

 it was published by order of the Royal Society the year fol- 

 lowing, and contains an account of the facts, which, though 

 in the main fair and just, does not give that impression of the 

 impartiality of the reporters which the circumstances so im- 

 periously demanded. Leibnitz complained of this publica- 

 tion ; and alleged, that though nothing might be inserted that 

 was not contained in the original letters, yet certain passages 

 were suppressed which were favourable to his pretensions. 

 Me threatened an answer, which, however, never appeared. 

 Some notes were added to the Commercium, which contain 



