116 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF ABERDEEN AND DISTRICT 
Part of his considerable wealth was bequeathed by Liddel for the 
foundation of a Chair of Mathematics at Marischal College, and part was 
left to the magistrates of Aberdeen for the education of poor scholars 
belonging to the city. His grave in the old Church of St. Nicholas is 
marked by a large tablet of brass, erected to his memory by the magistrates. 
As far as is known Liddel left no mathematical writings, but several MSS. 
on medical subjects written by him are now in possession of the University 
of Aberdeen. A Life of Liddel was written by Prof. Stuart of Aberdeen. 
ANDERSON, ALEXANDER.—From the mathematician’s point of view, 
Alexander Anderson was a more distinguished Aberdeen product than 
Dr. Liddel. By an unpardonable oversight or neglect he was never 
sufficiently well known in his native country, and he is now all but for- 
gotten. But Anderson was undoubtedly a big man in his day and was 
highly esteemed by his contemporaries on the Continent. Details of his 
life are scanty. In his writings he describes himself sometimes as ‘ Scotus’ 
and sometimes as ‘ Aberdonensis,’ and from this, as also from our know- 
ledge of his blood-relations, we may safely assume that he was a native of 
the Aberdeen district. But his birthplace cannot be definitely located. 
He was a first cousin of David Anderson of Finshaugh—from the versa- 
tility of his talents nicknamed ‘ Davie Do A’thing —whose daughter 
was the mother of James Gregory, the first of a distinguished line of 
mathematicians, of whom we shall have to speak later on. The date of 
Alexander Anderson’s birth is fixed by the inscription on a print in the 
Bibliotheque Nationale, which is as follows: ‘ Alexander Andersonus 
Scotus Anno Aetat XXXV Salut MDCXVII.’ From this it appears 
that he was born in 1582. As nothing is known of him after 1619 we 
may assume that he died about that time. 
We are quite in the dark as to Anderson’s early training in mathematics. 
There is no record of his attendance as a student either in Aberdeen or 
Paris, and the probability is that, like other young Scotsmen of that time, 
he pursued his studies in Holland or in Germany. At any rate the earliest 
definite information we possess regarding him is derived from the title- 
page of his first booklet, Supplementum Apollonii Redivivi, which was 
published in Paris in 1612. In the brief biographical notices that have 
appeared regarding him it is stated that he was a professor of mathe- 
matics in Paris, but it must not be understood that he ever held an official 
position in Paris. It can only mean that he taught mathematics privately, 
although in the prefaces to his many writings Anderson never alludes to 
teaching either in the university or in a private capacity. But he does 
refer on one or two occasions to the scanty returns he received for his 
labours. One blessing for which he is thankful, however, he does record, 
and that is that fate permitted him to live in a kindly climate and not ‘ on 
the shores of Britain where the bitter north wind blows.’ 
In the prefaces to his writings we occasionally get glimpses of his 
character, and from these we can gather that he was of a generous and 
peaceful disposition, possessing none of the jealous feeling which seems to 
have actuated some of his contemporaries towards their mathematical 
rivals. In the appendix to the De Aequationum Emendatione he writes 
