JAMES BERNOULLI. 57 



ribus retro annis hujusmodi speciilatlonibus magnopere delectari, ut vix 

 piitem, quemquani plura super his meclitatum esse. Animus etiam 

 erat, Tractatum quendam conscribendi de hac materia ; sed saepe per 

 integros annos seposui, quia naturalis meus torjoor, quem accessoria vale- 

 tiidinis meae infirmitas immane quantum auxit, facit ut aegerrime ad 

 Bcribendum accedam ; et saepe mihi optarem amanuensem, qui cogitata 

 mea leviter sibi indicata plene divinare, scriptisque consignare posset. 

 Absolvi tamen jam maximam Libri partem, sed deest adliuc praecipua, 

 qua artis conjee tandi principia etiam ad civilia, moralia et oeconomia 

 applicare doceo... 



James Bernoulli then proceeds to speak of the celebrated 

 theorem which is now called by his name. 



Leibnitz in his next letter brings some objections against the 

 theorem ; see page 83 : and Bernoulli replies ; see page 87. Leib- 

 nitz returns to the subject; see page 9-i: and Bernoulli briefly 

 replies, page 97, 



Quod Yerisimilitudines spectat, et earum augmentum pro aucto soil, 

 observationum numero, res omnino se habet ut scripsi, et certus sum 

 Tibi placituram demonstration em, cum publicavero. 



94. The last letter from James Bernoulli to Leibnitz is dated 

 3rd June, 1705. It closes in a most painful manner. We here see 

 him, who was perhaps the most famous of all who have borne 

 his famous name, suffering under the combined sorrow arising from 

 illness, from the ingratitude of his brother John who had been 

 his pupil, and from the unjust suspicions of Leibnitz who may 

 be considered to have been his master : 



Si inimor vere narrat, redibit cei'te frater meus Basileam, non tamen 

 Graecam (cum ipse sit dva\<jidf3-r]Tos) sed meam potius stationem (quara 

 brevi cum vita me derelicturum, forte non vane, existimat) occupatunis. 

 De iniquis suspicionibus, quibus me immerentem onerasti in Tuis pe- 

 nultimis, alias, ubi plus otii nactus fuero. Nimc vale et fave etc. 



95. Tlie Ars Conjectandi was not published until eight years 

 after the death of its author. The volume of the Hist, de 

 r A cad.... Pains for 1705, published in 1706, contains Fontenelle's 

 Eloge of James Bernoulli. Fontenelle here gave a brief notice, 

 derived from Hermann, of the contents of the Ars Conjectandi 

 then unpublished. A brief notice is also give in another Eloge of 



