ON MATHEMATICAL TABLES. 



11 



otherwise in ordinary roman type : thus we should write " the table was 

 copied from ' Bkiggs's ' Arithmctica ' of 1624," because an account of Eriggs's 

 work is given in the Eeport ; but we should write " the sines were taken from 

 Vieta s ' Canon ' 1579," because Vieta's work is not described. _ This rule is 

 attended to always whenever an author's name is mentioned in juxtaposition 

 with his work, and it wiU be found to save unnecessary trouble in searching 

 for works not noticed in the Eeport. Of course all rules are sometimes diffi- 

 cult to carry out ; and in cases such as when the author's name and work are 

 separated from one another, or the name occurs frequently in a paragraph by 

 itself, but really in connexion with some work not expressly named each time, 

 &c., we have attempted to carry out the spirit of the rule and no more. An 

 author's name is enclosed in square brackets (thus [Pell] or [Pell]) when 

 his name does not occur on the titlepage of the work of his referred to. 



Art, 9. The words 8vo, 4to, &c. are used in § 5 to signify works of 

 octavo, quarto, &c. size, without reference to the number of pages to the sheet. 

 They are merely intended to give a rough idea of the size and shape of the work, 

 which is better done by using them in a general sense than by attaching to 

 them their technical meanings. The words " large " or "small " have been 

 prefixed when the size was markedly different from what is usual. It must 

 be remembered that two hundred years ago all the sizes were much smaller 

 thau at present, so that the usual quarto page of 1650 is smaller than an 

 octavo page of our day, though the shape is of course more square. Old works 

 are generally described as they would have been at the time ; but it sometimes 

 may have happened that a true quarto of old date is here given as octavo, &c. : 

 this caution is necessary for those who might use §5 bibliographically. 

 Whenever, in transcribing portions of works in § 5, words have been omitted 

 from the titlepage, dots have been inserted to mark the omissions. We may 

 mention that we have used the word reprint in its proper sense ; viz. we have 

 not spoken of a reprint except when the type was reset. 



Art. 10. In the preparation of this Eeport extensive use has been made of the 

 libraries of the British Museum, the Eoyal Society, the University of Cam- 

 bridge, the Eoyal Observatory, Trinity CoUege (Cambridge), and the Eoyal 

 Astronomical Society, in one or other of which the majority of the works 

 noticed are contained. We have also, through the kindness of Professor 

 Henrici, been enabled to consult the Graves Library at University College, 

 London, which contains an almost imrivalled collection of old mathematical 

 works ; but as they are not yet arranged, it is not possible to find any par- 

 ticular work without great expenditure of time and labour. The De-Morgan 

 library at the London University is also still in process of arrangement, and is 

 therefore inaccessible for the present. By the kindness of Mr. Tucker, who 

 forwarded us an early copy of the sale-catalogue of the late Mr. Babbagc's 

 library, we have been enabled to extract several titles from it, and identify 

 works of the titles of which we had only imperfect descriptions ; but we have 

 not been able to see any of the books themselves. It must not be understood 

 that the Eeport contains notices of all the books of mathematical tables 

 contained in the libraries mentioned at the beginning of this article. Por in- 

 stance, the Eoyal Society's catalogue contains the titles of several works that 

 should be included but which we have not yet examined ; and of course no 

 one can know what tables there are in such Ebraries as those of the British 

 Museum or the Cambridge University, where there is no catalogue of subjects. 

 For the omissions we could have rectified we must plead in excuse the 

 already great extent of the Eeport, and consequent necessity of drawing the 

 line somewhere. Of coiu'sc many of the works noticed o,xq either in our own 



