July 2, 1909] 



SCIENCE 



11 



accorded to the Swiss Society of Natural Sciences, 

 as desired at the congress in Rome. 



At its annual meeting, on August 30, 1908, the 

 Swiss Society of Natural Sciences passed the 

 following resolution, proposed by the Central 

 Committee : 



§ 1. The Swiss Society of Natural Sciences is 

 willing to publish a complete edition of Leonhard 

 Euler's works, on condition that this undertaking 

 be adequately supported by the government au- 

 thorities of the Swiss Confederation and of the 

 cantons, as well as by learned bodies and scien- 

 tists, both at home and abroad, and that the 

 scientific cooperation required for its accomplish- 

 ment be forthcoming. 



§ 2. The Swiss Society of Natural Sciences en- 

 trusts to the Buler Committee in cooperation with 

 the Central Committee the execution of all pre- 

 liminary work. 



§ 3. On the conclusion of the preliminary work 

 a further resolution on the part of the society will 

 be necessary before proceeding to publication. 



To § 2 some special remarks were added, the 

 last of which demanded " the creation of a fund, 

 by means of private contributions and subscrip- 

 tions, for the eventual publication of Euler's 

 works." 



The Central Committee and the Euler Com- 

 mittee of the Swiss Society of Natural Sciences 

 h8ve always regarded it as a matter of course 

 that the collection of voluntary contributions 

 should begin in Euler's native land. And we are 

 pleased to be able to announce that this idea has 

 been cordially seconded in all parts of Switzer- 

 land. The list is not yet closed, but the subscrip- 

 tion will most probably reach the amount of 

 100,000 francs ($20,000). We accordingly con- 

 sider ourselves justified in turning now to other 

 countries for their support. 



Two distinguished scientific bodies have already 

 set a praiseworthy example in this direction. 



In September, 1908, the German Association of 

 Mathematicians decided at their annual meeting 

 at Cologne to hand over 5,000 francs to the Swiss 

 Society of Natural Sciences for the publication of 

 Euler's works. This amount is of great signifi- 

 cance when we add that the German Association 

 of Mathematicians was thus devoting one third 

 of all its available funds to the object in question. 



The resolution unanimously proposed by the 

 managing committee and warmly recommended by 

 the chairman. Professor Dr. Felix Klein, was ac- 

 cepted by the Cologne meeting in a spirit of noble 

 enthusiasm, unanimously and without discussion. 



The wording of the reasons given for the motion 

 deserves special notice : " In consideration of the 

 great importance of Euler's ever-fresh works to 

 the whole field of mathematical science, the 

 German Association of Mathematicians hereby 

 declares its readiness to actively support the 

 publication of Euler's works as proposed by the 

 Swiss Society of Natural Sciences and the asso- 

 ciation places at the disposal of the above-named 

 society the sum of 5,000 francs to be taken from 

 the funds of the association." 



Further, in January last, the Paris Academy 

 resolved to subscribe for 40 copies of the Euler 

 edition (payable on receipt of each volume), on 

 condition that it should appear in the original 

 languages. This condition has been recently de- 

 clared agreed to by the Swiss Euler Conimittee. 



The entire cost of the Euler edition as planned 

 has been estimated, after careful calculation and 

 information received from competent firms, at 

 400,000 francs ($80,000), against which we may 

 place at least 150,000 francs receipts from the 

 sale of the books. If, as we confidently hope, the 

 example of the Paris Academy is followed, and 

 subscriptions come in in sufficient number, the 

 financial effect would, of course, be more favorable. 



We therefore now appeal to the mathematicians 

 in every quarter of the globe and to all friends of 

 the mathematical sciences for support and coopera- 

 tion. We request them earnestly to procure for us 

 as quickly as possible the subscriptions necessary 

 for carrying out the enterprise, urging especially 

 scientific libraries to become subscribers. The 

 Euler edition will consist of about 40 volumes, and 

 the price per volume will not exceed 25 francs ( $5 ) . 

 The yearly expenditure will be thus comparatively 

 insignificant, even if several volumes should ap- 

 pear in the course of the twelvemonth. And 

 surely every mathematician will in future all the 

 more insist on finding Euler's works in any library 

 to which he has recourse, as at present these 

 works are rarely to be met with, particularly in 

 newer libraries, for example in America. 



We further appeal to all the great mathemat- 

 ical associations to follow the example of the 

 German Mathematical Association. At the same 

 time, we beg their members to arrange the collec- 

 tion of voluntary contributions. As in Switzer- 

 land, so surely in other countries, the insurance 

 companies, the more important technical societies, 

 especially those of civil engineers, and such ex- 

 tensive industrial concerns as are based on mathe- 

 matical-technical science, will be ready to coop- 

 erate for the success of our undertaking. For are 



