PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS^ 031 



collecting the various writings of mathematicians, it seems to me more advise- 

 able to select only the best and most deserving of them. Beginning first with 

 those ancient authors whose works are still in being; as Euclid, Apollonius, 

 Archimedes, Theodosius, Pappus, Ptolemy, with their other fragments and 

 manuscripts which have not yet seen the light ; some of which are in the cus- 

 tody of Golius at Leyden, and some are preserved at Rome. Then to these 

 might be added the more modern, as Victa for algebra, Clavius's 3 volumes, 

 Herigon in 5 volumes. In like manner, among the opticians, should be chosen 

 Vitellio, Kepler, Aquilon, De Villes. Among arithmeticians, after Diophantus, 

 the best are Cardan, Tartaglea, and your countryman Nepair. For spherical 

 triangles, and their computation by logarithms, you have Briggs, Gordan, Pi* 

 tiscus, Snell, and our Morinus. For astronomical matters, after Ptolomy 

 and some Arabians, those should be procured who have composed tables ; as 

 Alphonsus, John Regiomontanus, Kepler, and our Duret. And, in short, for 

 fortification and music, eight or ten authors might be selected, who have most 

 excelled in the practice. In like manner, for mechanical subjects, forces of mo- 

 tion, machines, and water- works, about 10 or 12 authors might be abridged, 

 for such as are curious in those matters. And if 12 men of good judgment, 

 having a friendly correspondence with each other, would undertake this business, 

 so that each of them might compose a treatise on a science, in one clear and 

 convenient volume ; such things being supplied as are wanting in others, and 

 unnecessary things being omitted; we might doubtless have in 12 volumes, in 

 a short and nervous manner, all that could be desired in this matter. And in 

 my opinion, whatever belongs to mathematics, either pure or mixed, might be 

 comprehended in those 12 volumes. So likewise we might give all the neater 

 parts of philosophy in three books; and all the liberal arts, or the mechanic 

 arts, in three more; so that learning might be obtained at a small expence. 

 And as to mathematical instruments, it would be of little consequence to have 

 an apparatus consisting of all that have hitherto been invented. It might be 

 sufficient to have four or five of the best of their kind, and those of the most 

 convenient and useful sorts. 



Germany, and the Netherlands, where he was greatly respected. He afterwards settled at Paris, 

 where he died l648^ at 60 years of age. — Father Mersenne was of a humble disposition, mild, 

 peaceable, virtuous, and of engaging manners. In mathematics and philosophy he presided long as 

 the principal judge and controller. He was author of many excellent works ; the principal of which 

 are, 1. Quaestiones celeberrimae in Genesim, l623, fol. 2. Traite de I'Harmonie universelle, 1636 

 and 1637, 2 tom. fol. 3. Cogitata Physico-Mathematica, l644, &c. 2 vols, 4to. j being an excellent 

 work, consisting of a compendious body of mathematics, ancient and modern, historical and theo- 

 retical. 4. La Verite des Sciences, in 12mo. 5. Les Questions inouies, in 4to. 6. L'Optique et 

 la Catoptrique, in Niceron's perspective, &c. 



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