SAMUEL CLARK. 323 



such connexion, especiallysvLen abbreviated, as in the Catalogues 

 of Booksellers. 



The first dissertation is on the influence of chance in inven- 

 tions, and the second on the influence of the celestial bodies on 

 men, animals, and plants. The first dissertation recognises the 

 influence of chance in inventions, and gives various examples ; the 

 second dissertation is intended to shew that there is no influence 

 produced by the celestial bodies on men, animals, or plants, in the 

 sense in which astrologers understood such influence. 



The author seems to have been of a sanguine temperament ; 

 for he obviously had hopes that the squaring of the circle would 

 be eventually obtained ; see his pages 31, 40, 85. 



On the other hand his confidence is not great in the Newtonian 

 theory of gravitation ; he thinks it may one day follow its prede- 

 cessor, the theory of vortices, into oblivion ; see his pages 45, 172. 



The following is one of his arguments against Lunar influence. 

 If there be such influence we must conceive it to arise from exhala- 

 tions from the Moon, and if the matter of these exhalations be 

 supposed of appreciable density it will obstruct the motions of the 

 planets, so that it will be necessary from time to time to clean up 

 the celestial paths, just as the streets of London and Paris are 

 cleaned from dust and dirt. See his page 164. 



The author is not very accurate in his statements. Take the 

 following specimen from his page 74 : Jacopo III. Re d'Inghilterra 

 alia vista d'una spada ignuda, come riferisce il Cavaliere d'Igby, 

 sempre era compreso d'un freddo, e ferale spavento. This of 

 course refers to James I. Again ; we have on his page 81 : ...ci5 

 che disse in lode d'Aristotile il Berni : II gran Maestro de color 

 die sanno. It is not often that an Italian ascribes to any inferior 

 name the honour due to Dante. 



596. We have next to notice a work by Samuel Clark en- 

 titled TheLaius of Chance : or, a Mathematical Investigation of the 

 Prohabilities arising from amj proposed Circumstance of Play. 

 London, 1758. 



This is in octavo ; there is a Preface of 2 pages, and 204 

 pages of text. The book may be described as a treatise based on 

 those of De Moivre and Simpson; the abstruse problems are 



21—2 



