M O N T U C L A. 
750 
his Studies, he went to Paris, cultivated an acquaintance 
with the moft distinguished literary characters, and at¬ 
tended all the meetings at which fcientific men were 
accuftomed to affemble, to promote the interefts of know¬ 
ledge. At thefe meetings he formed an intimacy with 
Diderot, d’Alembert, Lalande, Blondel, Cochin, le 
Blonde, &c. and it was by his intetcourfe with them 
that he was ftimulated to the grand undertaking of 
drawing up a complete hiftory of the mathematical fci- 
ences, from the earlieft ages to modern times, and of 
appreciating the merits of the diftinguifhed characters 
who have immortalized their names by difcoveries or 
improvements. 
Before Montucla engaged in the compofition of this 
great work, he employed himfelf in giving new editions, 
with improvements, of various mathematical works which 
were already held in eftimation. The firft of thefe was, 
Ozanam’s Mathematical Recreations, of which he made 
an entirely new work by the number of his additions, 
curtailments, and fubftitutions; and at the fame time he 
fo ftudioufly concealed the circumftance of his having 
any hand in it, that it was fent to him for examination in 
the capacity of cenfor of mathematical works for the 
book-trade. In the fame manner he edited feveral fmaller 
pieces, and fuperintended the revival of ancient treatises; 
with this difference only, that to all the works which he 
edited after Ozanam’s, he gave the initials of his name. 
While he was thus occupied, he alfo contributed his 
affiftance for fome years to The French Gazette. In 1755, 
the Royal Academy of Sciences at Berlin eleCted him a 
member of their body. In the year 1756, when the ex¬ 
periment of inoculation for the fmall-pox was about to be 
tried on the firffc prince of the blood, Montucla tranflated 
from the Engiifh an account of all the recent cafes of that 
praCtice, which had been imported into England from 
Constantinople, by lady Wortley Montague, in 1721. 
This tranllation, confiiting of a collection of pieces in 
defence of inoculation, he added to the memoir of la C011- 
damine on the 1'ubjeCt. But, before the appearance of the 
laft-mentioned work, Montucla had come forward in the 
character of an original author. In 1754, he publilhed 
his “ Hiftory of Enquiries relative to the Quadrature of 
the Circle a very interefting work, not only on account 
of the great number of fpeculative men who have be¬ 
wildered tliemfelves in the purfuit of that imaginary ob- 
jeCt, but rendered fo, likewife, by the curious truths 
which it difplays. The favourable reception which this 
work met with, afforded him no little encouragement to 
apply with ardour to his grand defign of drawing up a 
hiftory of the mathematics. The talk which he had pro- 
pofed to himfelf was a moft comprehenlive and laborious 
one, requiring the aid of profound erudition, as well as a 
perfect acquaintance with the mathematical fciences. For 
he had to trace the progrefs of the human mind from age 
to age, from nation to nation, from one tranfcendent 
genius to another; to mark the gradual development 
of important truths, and their dependence on each other; 
to pal’s in review all the celebrated characters who have 
adorned the annals of fcience, to appreciate their merits 
to compare their refpeCtive pretenfions, to give an im¬ 
partial relation of their literary quarrels, and to refer dif¬ 
coveries to their real authors ; to illuftrate the niceft 
theories, the moft profound fyftems, and the moft abftraCt 
analyfes ; to extraCt materials from an infinitude of books, 
in a great variety of languages, ancient and modern; and 
to amalgamate the whole into a narrative ftyle, which 
Ihould at the fame time intereft the reader by its historic 
form, and infenfibly initiate him into all the myfteries 
of the mathematics. Montucla profecuted his labours 
with fuch extraordinary diligence, that, in the year 
175S, he was enabled to prelent to the world his 
“ Hiftory of the Mathematics,” in 2 vols. 4-to. terminat¬ 
ing with the clofe of the feventeenth century. This 
valuable work railed the author 4 o a high rank in the 
learned world; his fame became widely diffufed; and 
he was prefled from all quarters to proceed with the 
mathematical hiftory of the eighteenth century, which he 
had announced for the SubjeCt of a third volume, and for 
which he had made confiderable preparations; but he was 
diverted from an immediate application to his defign, 
by receiving the appointment of fecretary to the intend¬ 
ance at Grenoble. Here he fpent his leifure hours chiefly 
in retirement and Study ; and, having formed an attach¬ 
ment to an amiable young lady, his marriage with her, 
in 1763, contributed greatly to the happinefs of his 
future life. 
In the year 1764, the chevalier Turgot being appointed 
by the duke de Choifeul to eftablifn a colony at Cayenne, 
he took Montucla with him, in the character of his firft 
fecretary, to which was added the title of aftronomer to 
the king. The misfortunes, however, that attended this 
expedition, prevented him from making aftronotnical 
obfervations, and determined him to return to France 
after an abfence of fifteen months. But his voyage to 
Cayenne was not wholly unproductive of benefit to the 
interefts of fcience, as it afforded him the opportunity of 
collecting valuable tropical plants, with which he enriched 
the king’s hot-houfes at Verfailles. He now retired to 
his family at Grenoble; but he was foon called again 
into aCtive life, through the inftrumentality of his friend 
Cochin. That artilt enjoyed the confidence of the mar¬ 
quis de Marigny, direCtor-general of a department fimi- 
lar to our board of works, and ufed his intereft fo fuc- 
cefsfuliy with him, that he obtained for Montucla the 
appointment of chief clerk in that office. To the im¬ 
mediate bufinefs of this appointment he afliduoufly de¬ 
voted himfelf for more than five and twenty years, till 
the place itfelf was aboiilhed in 1792; and the revolution, 
which deprived him of his place, reduced him to con¬ 
fiderable pecuniary embarraffments. 
In thefe circumftances, Montucla was induced by 
Lalande to employ himfelf in preparing a fecond edition 
of his Hiftory of the Mathematics. This fecond edition 
demanded the greateft ffiare of his attention, fince his 
objeft was not only to render it more correCt than the 
firft, but to prefent it to the public in a greatly-enlarged 
form; and in the contemplation of this defign, during the 
intervals of forty years of his life, he had furniftied him¬ 
felf with ample materials. He had alfo to carry on his 
plan through the whole of the eighteenth century, 
adorned with a long lift of iliuftrious names, and teeming 
with important difcoveries and improvements in the 
abftraCt mathematical fciences and the various branches 
of natural philofophy. After being occupied on this 
work for the greateft part of feven years, he publilhed 
the two firft volumes in 1799, in quarto. In this edition 
we are prefented with many important improvements of 
the original work; many faCts, which were barely an¬ 
nounced in the firft, are largely detailed and illuftrated 
in the fecond; much greater precision will be found in 
all the citations; and the additions amount to a moiety 
of the whole. After the publication of thefe volumes, 
the author proceeded with the impreffion of the third ; 
but the illnefs which proved fatal to him, brought his 
labours to a clofe when he had arrived at the 336th page. 
The remainder of the volume, and the whole of the 
fourth, were printed in 1802, under the infpeCtion of 
Lalande. This great work, like moft other extenfive 
undertakings, which require a variety of talents and 
acquirements, mull be acknowledged to have many de¬ 
fers ; but, when we confider the difficulties which the 
author had to encounter, in fo new and hazardous an 
enterprise, every candid and liberal mind will readily 
make allowance for imperfections of this kind ; more 
elpecially when it is well known, that few men poffels 
the requisites necellary to the more complete execution 
of this*plan, which, befides a very considerable acquaint¬ 
ance with the various branches of fcience, requires a 
knowledge of moft of the ancient and modern languages, 
and*an unwearied fpirit of refearch, which nothing but a 
ftrong 
