112 
to the Alcoran, or they are not. If the 
ormer, they ought to be burned, as ufe-. 
lefs ; if the latter, they are worthy of the 
flames, as deteftable.” 
36. For almoft a century and a half, 
the Arabians, the new followers of Ma- 
homet, were wholly occupied in projects 
of conqueft and aggrandizement. But, 
as their ferocity was but the tranifient ef- 
fe&t of their fanguinary religion, they 
were no fooner in quiet poffefhion of their 
-conquefts, than their natural tafte for the 
arts and fciences revived. The califs 
fhewed an example to their fubjects, which 
foon formed a great number of mathema- 
ticians, of whom feveral enjoyed well-me- 
rited reputation. To the Arabians we 
owe the fyftem of trigonometry, fuch as ‘it 
ftands at the prefent day. They fimpli- 
fied the practice of trigonometrical opera- 
tions, by fubftituting the fine* for the 
chord, which was before employed. 
37. Let us paufe a moment, and take a 
rapid furvey of the ftate of the mathema- 
tics among the other Eaffern nations. We 
fiiall fee them in a languifhing condition 
in India and China. But the Perfians, 
having been fubject, till about the middle 
of the 11th century, to the fame princes 
as the Arabians, afforded us, even after 
they had freed themfelves from the yoke 
* The fines, as every one knows, are the 
halves of. the chords, which in Latin are 
called infcripte. Thus the fines are the 
femiffes infcriptarum, which was probably writ- 
ten fhortly S. ins. and this, with equal proba-. 
bility, was corrupted into fixus, fines. 
Note by the Tranflator.—There feems, as is 
ufual in fimilar cafes,:to be more ingenuity 
than certainty in ourlearnedauthor’s etymon 
of the word fies. I never, knew any, one 
elfe go farther for its derivation than to finus, 
theLatin word for the bofom, or for the hollow 
or infide of any thing; a word very expref- 
five of the fituation of the fine with refpec& 
to the arch. .Moft of .the mathematical 
terms partake of the accuracy of the fcience. 
In particular, the lines and furfaces in and 
about the circle (as radius, diameter, Circum- 
ference ot periphery, arch, chord, verfed fine or 
legitta, fettor, quadrant, femicircle, fegment, 
Jfecant, tangent), do every one of them aptly 
indicate the things fignified. And why 
fhould we fuppofe that, the word fixe had a 
fortuitous and unmeaning origin, efpecially 
when we have a Latin word, which affords it 
as rational and fignificant an etymon as any 
of the reft! Surely the author .will.not 
fuppofe, that mankind had. no word for bo- 
fom, intide, éc. till they borrowed the word 
Jfimus from the mathematicians. The reverie 
was undeubtedly the true,as it is the natural, 
order of derivation. 
Account of Afby in Wefimoreland, 
[March 1, 
of the califs, fome eftimable geometri- 
cians. The moft celebrated are Nafir- 
Eddin, to whom Geometry is indebted for 
an excellent commentary on Euclid, and 
Maimon-Refchid, who had taken fuch a 
liking to one’ of the firlt propofitions of 
the Elements, that he wore the diagram 
belenging to it embroidered upon his 
cloak.* “The mathematics were held in 
honour by all the nations fubje&t to the 
dominion of the Arabians; but in Greece, 
they were on the decline. In vain did 
Leo the Wife found a {chool to fupport 
them... It only helped to retard their 
fall ; and till the r4th century, we find no 
other mathematician than Mofcopulus, to 
whom we owe the firft idea of the magic - 
{quares. The capture of Conftantinople, 
by Mahomet II. in 1453, was the epoch 
of the total ruin of the mathematics in 
Greece, 
38. During the fame period, the accu- 
rate {ciences, always negleéted by the Ro- 
mans, were {carcely known in the weftern 
empire, which was affailed in all quarters 
by ferocious conquerors. ‘The fcholaftic 
difputes contributed to eftablifh igno- 
‘rance: nor was it till the. 15th century, 
that the mathematics emerged from that 
ftate of languor in whieh they had been 
plunged. for a long feries of years, and 
that aleebra came to haften the progrefs 
of arithmetic and geometry. 
(Algebra in our next.) 
= 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
ACCOUNT Of asBY, in the COUNTY of 
WESTMORELAND. 
[Concluded from page 394, of Vol. XII] 
HE general rotation-of crops through- 
out the parifh, with only a very few 
exceptions, is, firt year oats, fecond year | 
oats, and: third year barley or fallow. 
The time of fowing wheat is from the 
2oth of September to the zoth of Ogtober-3. 
oats, peafe, and beans, from the zoth of 
_ March to the end of April; potatoes and. . 
barley, from the 2oth of April to the 
middle of May ; and turnips and rape from: 
the 2oth of June to the third of July. 
The harveft generally commences about,’ 
* The Perfians, fays Chardin, have given 
to every propofition in the Elementsa name | 
expreffive of fome of its ufes or of fome 
other. circumftance. The 47th of the fir 
bock of Euclid, namely, (Ina right angled . 
triangle, the fquare of the hypothenufe. is 
equal to the fum of the fquares of the two 
fides) is called The bride’s figure; and the 
48th, which is the converfe of the 47th, 
bears the name of ‘Lhe bride’s fifter, &c. 
¢ er 
