; 
- 
| 
‘ 
7 
7 
; 
G. B. Grant—New Calculating Machine. 277 
uct of two residuals is about *007 in horizontal diameter, and 
1’5 in vertical diameter. In the number of products a 
up, the accidental accumulations of products of one sign might 
very well amount to 15 times this mean, while the sums for the 
individual years are not, on the whole, materially greater than 
would arise from chance accumulation. Were it not so, th 
more than 10 times in 512=2° trials. This, if not accidental, 
would indicate that during some years, 1864 and 1870, for 
instance, there was a tendency to a ten hour vibration of the 
solar diameter. From what has been said, we are not author- 
ized to attribute this correspondence to anything but chance. 
Art. XXIV.—A New Calculating Machine; by GEorcE B. 
GRANT. 
“Since the dawn of mathematical science in Europe, the 
attempt to construct a machine, capable of satisfactorily per- 
forming arithmetical operations, has occupied the attention of a 
great number of ingenious men, several of whom have been 
among the most celebrated of their time for originality of 
Sylvester II. He is credited with the introduction into Europe 
of the arabic numerals, and endeavored to construct a mechan- 
ism to facilitate their use. But of his results we have no pub- 
lished account. j Se 
The first successful device was the invention of John Napier, 
celebrated for his invention of logarithms. His err 
nes, 
3 mechanism, and they are too well known to need 
which he had spent several years. 
* President Barnard of Columbia College, in the U.S. Reports of the Exposition 
of 1867, «The Industrial Arts and Exact Sciences.” Harper & Brothers. New 
ork. 1867. 
