228 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 
served largely to spread the knowledge of the numerals which we now 
employ. This “ Algorism” was first published at Strassburg in 1488 
and at least thirteen other editions followed before fifty years had 
elapsed. In the first edition it appeared with a computus, the title ap- 
plied to works on the arithmetic of the church calendar. The Latin 
version of our rhyme “ Thirty days hath September,” etc., appears in 
this “ Compotus Manualis” (in verse) and was written by Anianus, a 
Strassburg astronomer and poet. The name algorism was applied for 
some five hundred years to the arithmetic which explained the method 
of reckoning with the Hindu-Arabic numerals. The word is a cor- 
ruption from the name of Mohammed ben Musa, al- Khowarazmi, whose 
Arabic work on this subject was translated into Latin in the early 
twelfth century. Early manuscripts of Sacrobosco’s classic are found 
in the Columbia Library as well as in the Plimpton collection. 
Many theologians and churchmen, among the earliest of these may 
be mentioned the Venerable Bede (c. A.D. 700), and Cassiodorus (c. 
A.D. 550), amused themselves by writing arithmetics, but this was in- 
evitable in the period when learning was so largely confined to church 
institutions. Thomas Bradwardin (c. 1290-1349), who was professor 
of theology at Oxford and later archbishop of Canterbury, wrote ex- 
tensively on mathematics. His name suffered, as did many others, at 
the hands of transcribers, being found as Bragwardine, Brandnardinus, 
Bredwardyn, Bradwardyn, de Bradwardina and de Bredwardina. 
Another of these professors of theology was Christian Ursinus (also 
known as Allassiderus, Allassisiderus, Wursteisen or Urstis) who pub- 
lished in 1579 at Basel an arithmetic entitled “ Elementa Arith- 
metice.” 
The surnames, as noted above, were rather shabbily treated from the 
modern point of view, since the first names were regarded as the im- 
portant ones. It was common, too, for scholars to Latinize their 
names, or more rarely to give the Greek equivalent. The reformer 
Melanchthon, who appears as a writer on the nature and value of mathe- 
matics, was baptized Schwarzerd. Schreiber (c. 1525) became as a 
writer of school texts Grammateus, but was also known as Scriptor. 
Melanchthon’s friend, Camerarius, who was also a classical scholar, was 
born as Liebhard. Camerarius wrote a commentary on the arithmetic 
of Nicomachus. Conrad Dasypodius, whose family name was originally 
Rauchfuss or Hasenfuss, wrote two works which should have been in- 
cluded in this catalogue. Copies of these rare books, both published at 
Strassburg in 1567-1570 and 1593-1596, respectively, are found in the 
Astor Library. The older one is entitled “ First and Simplest Mathe- 
matics,” and is partly in Greek and partly in Latin, treating of geom- 
etry, logistic (a Greek name for practical arithmetic), astronomy and 
geography. The writer was professor of mathematics at Strassburg 
