416 A Century of Science 



And what is the reason that you will not candidly 

 acknowledge to him . . . that he has squared the 

 circle shall I tell you ? it is because he has per- 

 formed the feat to obtain the glory of which mathe- 

 maticians have battled from time immemorial that 

 they might encircle their brows with a wreath of 

 laurels far more glorious than ever conqueror won 

 it is simply this that it is a poor man a humble 

 artisan who has gained that victory that you don't 

 like to acknowledge it you don't like to be beaten 

 and worse to acknowledge that you have miscalcu- 

 lated, you have in short too small a soul to acknow- 

 ledge that he is right. ... I am backed in my 

 opinion not only by Mr. Q. a mathematician and 

 watchmaker residing in the boro of Southwark but 

 by no less an authority than the Professor of mathe- 

 matics of ... College United States Mr. Q and 

 I presume that he at least is your equal as an 

 authority and Mr. Q says that the government of 

 the U. S. will recompense X. Y. for the discovery 

 he has made if so what a reflection upon Old eng- 

 land the boasted land of freedom the nursery of 

 the arts and sciences that her sons are obliged to 

 go to a foreign country to obtain that recompense 

 to which they are justly entitled." 1 



Ordinarily, the aim of the paradoxers is to achieve 

 i Budget of Paradoxes, pp. 9, 178, 259, 260, 336. 



