Miscellanies. 185 



danger to which they are most exposed, and of which we have lately 

 had some unpleasant instances, that of becoming the arena of unfor- 

 tunate disputes, is a strong proof of the interest which they excite. 

 From all such dangers we trust that the " Miscellany," will be pre- 

 served by the energetic management of its enlightened editor; and 

 our confidence in his abilities, is not a little strengthened by the pe- 

 rusal of the excellent dissertations which accompany the present 

 number. The " Illustrations of Lagrange," are highly to be com- 

 mended to the student, who is just beginning to apply the formulas 

 of the most profound and accomplished of all mathematicians. The 

 treatise on Spherical Geometry, is a lucid and an almost entirely origi- 

 nal dissertation on the method of applying algebra to the surface of 

 the sphere, in the same v/ay as it is applied to the plane. The ad- 

 vantages are the same in both cases ; and the mathematician is 

 equally well enabled to give an algebraic dress to any enquiry, with- 

 out perplexing his mind with geometrical considerations. But the 

 chief source of interest will probably be found in the questions which 

 are proposed to be solved in the succeeding number ; and, after a 

 careful examination of them, we feel authorized in recommending 

 them as skillfully selected, with a proper regard to variety and diffi- 

 culty, and we add as the result of our experience, that a better ac- 

 quaintance with any mathematical subject, may be derived from the 

 solution of a single problem, than from reacting a volume upon it, 

 and it is only by the continual solution of problems, that the use of 

 mathematical tools can be acquired, and the inventive powers be 

 matured. We are too prone to consider the mere reader of mathe- 

 matics as a mathematician, whereas he does not much more deserve 

 the name, than the reader of poetry deserves that of poet. There 

 are indeed exceptions to this remark, and there are works which 

 none but a bona fide mathematician could read: Thus Laplace did 

 little more than give the results of his calculations to the world ; sa 

 that the thorough reading of the Mecanique Celeste, in the original, 

 involves the frequent solution of the most difficult problems, and 

 none but a mathematician of the highest genius, could have achieved 

 the finished translation with the splendid commentary upon it, which 

 only our country has been able to produce. 



9. Boston Journal of Natural History. — The 3d No. of Part I. 

 of this important publication has recently appeared. A large part 

 of the number is occupied by the first portion of a paper of the late 



Vol. XXXL— No. 1. 24 



