Life and Character of Nathaniel Bowditch. 21 



idea of undertaking a translation of the whole ' Mecanique Ce. 

 leste,' accompanied throughout with a copious running commen- 

 tary, is one which savors, at fir^t sight, of the gigantesque, and 

 is certainly one which, from what we have hitherto had reason to 

 conceive of the popularity and diffusion of mathematical knowl- 

 edge on the opposite shores of the Atlantic, we should never have 

 expected to have foimd originated — or, at least, carried into exe- 

 cution, in that quarter. The first volume only has as yet reached 

 us ; and when we consider the great difficulty of printing works 

 of this nature, to say nothing of the heavy and probably unre- 

 munerated expense, we are not surprised at the delay of the sec- 

 ond. Meanwhile the part actually completed (which contains 

 the first two books of La Place's work) is, with few and slight 

 exceptions, just what we could have wished to see — an exact and 

 careful translation into very good English — exceedingly well 

 printed, and accompanied with notes appended to each page, 

 which leave no step in the text of moment unsupplied, and hardly 

 any material difficulty either of conception or reasoning uneluci- 

 dated. To the student of ' Celestial Mechanism,' such a work 

 must be invaluable, and we sincerely hope that the success of this 

 volume, which seems thrown out to try the feeling of the public, 

 both American and British, will be such as to induce the speedy 

 appearance of the sequel. Should this unfortunately not be the 

 case, we shall deeply lament that the liberal offer of the Ameri- 

 can Academy of Arts and Sciences, to print the whole at their 

 expense, was not accepted. Be that as it may, it is impossible to 

 regard the appearance of such a work, even in its present incom- 

 plete state, as otherwise than highly creditable to American sci- 

 ence, and as the harbinger of future achievements in the loftiest 

 fields of intellectual prowess." 



The first volume of the work was published in the year 1829, 

 the second in 1832, and the third in 1834, each volume contain- 

 ing about a thousand quarto pages. The fourth voluine was near- 

 ly completed at the time of his decease. He persevered to the 

 last in his labors upon it, preparing the copy and reading the proof- 

 sheets in the intervals when he was free from pain. The last 

 time I saw him, a few days previous to his death, a proof-sheet 

 was lying on his table, which he said he hoped to be able to read 

 over and correct. 



