Some Cranks and their Crotchets 407 



motion" formed a section under Physics, while 

 crazy interpretations of the book of Daniel were 

 grouped along with works of solid Biblical scholar- 

 ship by such eminent writers as Reuss and Kuenen 

 and Cheyne. Clearly, here was a case for reform. 

 The principle of classification was faulty. In one 

 sense, the treatment of the quadrature of the circle 

 may be regarded as a section under the general 

 head of mathematics ; as, for example, when Lin- 

 demann, in 1882, showed that Pi cannot be repre- 

 sented as the root of any algebraic equation with 

 rational coefficients. But our circle-squaring liter- 

 ature is very different. It is usually written by 

 persons whose mathematical horizon scarcely ex- 

 tends beyond long division : just as the writers on 

 perpetual motion know nothing of physics ; just as 

 so many expositors have dealt with the ten-horned 

 beast in blissful ignorance alike of ancient history 

 and of the principles of literary criticism. What 

 all such books illustrate, however various may be 

 their ostensible themes, is the pathology of the 

 human mind. They are specimens of Insane Liter- 

 ature. As such they have a certain sort of inter- 

 est ; and to any rational being it is the only sort 

 they can have. 



So I culled from many a little drawer the cards 

 appertaining to divers printed products of morbid 



