1802. J 
felf famous by the invention of the cauftic 
curves, and De Mcivre*, by whom the 
theory of feries was to dmch promoted, 
exerted them/elves to find a general folu- 
tion of equations. 
99: Cramert fimplified the art of re- 
ducing the equations of a problem to the 
final. a number poflible, and this impor- 
tanec fubjecét received a new degree of per-" 
geCtion trom the hand of Rezoutt. 
too. Clairaut§ and D’ Alembert|| ren-| 
dered themfelves immortal by 1 their appli- 
* Abraham De Moivre was bornin Cham- 
pagne in 1667, and died in 1754, in London, 
where the revocation of the edict of “Nantes 
had obliged him to feek anafylum. His 
merit procured him accefs into the Academy 
of Sciences'in Paris; and into the Royal So- 
ciety of London. (fo his mathematical ta. 
Jents, De ‘Moivre ‘Tom. a decided tafte for 
literature, 
+ Gabriel Cramer, born at Geneva, in 
1684, rendered iimfelf famous throughout 
Europe, by his pregrefs in the mathematics. 
Phat learned man, who pofiefled a fund of 
knowledge in phyfics and the belles lettres, was. 
the aps Hae of. a profound work, intitled, In- 
troduGion a la Theorie des Lignes Courbes, Cra- 
gier died in.1752. 
t Bezout, who prefented to the public 
two courfes of, the mathematics, which are 
juttly efteemed, and whom the accurate 
fciences loft in 1733, wrote a learned trea- 
tife, intitled Theorie. eo des Equations 
Slgebrigues. 
§ Alexis Claude Clairaut, who may be 
contidered at a prodigy, was born at Paris, in 
£715, and learned to read in the Elements of 
Euclid. ..At four. years of :age he could 
both read and write, and.at eleven he under- 
ftood L’Hofpital’s Analyfe des Infiniment Petits. 
At the age of fixteen, he publithed his Re- 
cherckes fur les Courbes (Refearches on. Curve 
Lines), a work worthy of the greateft geo- 
metricians.;, and every performance which he 
afterwards publifhed bore, the impreffion of 
his fublime talents. After an. indifpofition of 
fome days, Clairaut died, in 1765. .The 
Academy of Sciences had enrolled him among 
their members at the age of eighteen, arta 
din Englif Tranflation of. Clairaui’s sleds 
Geometry ts in the prefs, the plates 9 ee “~ 
Tranflator. 
il John le Rond D’Alembert was bores in 
Patis, in 1717, and finifhed his ‘brilliant ca- 
reer in-the’ fame city, in 3783.~ His genius 
was unfolded before he attained maturity, 
While: very young, D’Alembert gained the 
prize offered by the Academy cf Herlin for 
the beft account of the general caufe of the 
winds, and he dedicated his work to the 
Eflablifiment of the Knights of Malta in Bavaria: | 195 
cations of analyfis to the moft dificult 
problems in the phyfico mathematical fci- 
ences.—In this lait period, all the branches 
of the accurate f{ciences have made the 
moft rapid advances towards perfection. 
But here I mutt not allow myfeif to enu- 
merate the labours of ny cotemporary ge 
ometricians, mor to examine the influence 
which {choo!s, where the art of teaching 
has been reduced to fyftem by the greatett 
mafters in Europe, may have on the pros 
grels of the mathematics. 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
ESTABLISHMENT of the KNIGHTS of 
“ - MALTA i# BAVARIA. 
URING the laft three years the mis 
litary order of Malta has aéted fo 
fingular a part on the grand theatre of the 
world, and even fince the peace of Ante 
ens, hae given rife to fo much contention 
among the principal powers of Europes 
that accurate information relative to their 
prefent fiate cannot fail of being accepte 
able to our readers, many of whom proe 
bably do not know, that the Bayarian 
branch (or. /anguage, as it is called) of 
the order, owed the prolongation of its 
exiftence, merely to the threats of the late 
emperor Paul of Ruffia, The order of 
St. John of Jerufalem was firfk introduced 
into Bavaria by the late eleftor Charles 
Theodore, of whofe piety and eafy tem- 
per advantage was frequently taken by dee 
K.ng of Pruffia, in thefe three Latin hexae 
meties ¢ 
Hae ego de ventis, dum ventorum ocior alis 
Pailentes agit Aujtriacos Fredericus, et or bi, 
Infignis lauro, ramum pretendit olive. 
Of winds I treat, while, fwifter than theig 
Wings, 
Feroic Frederic drives pale Auftria’s bands, 
And, laurel-crown'd, prefents fhe olive branchg 
' The King of Proffia, who had juft termi 
nated his campaigos againft the Auftrians by 
a glorious peace, was sleated with this dedi 
cation, and offered the French philofopher 
the Prefidency uf the Academy of Berlin ;’ 
but D’Alembert declined the offer from ate 
tachment to his native country, where he en- 
. Joyed the higheft reputation.. His preliminas 
ry difcourfe to the Encyclopedia elevated 
him_to the rank of the firft writers in the | 
nation, wliile, from his mathematical works, 
he participated with Euler in the honour of 
being one o& the moft celebrated geometricians, 
of the age. *D’Alembert a€ted an important 
part, asa Member of the Acadeiny of Sci- 
encesy and as Secretary to the French Acae 
demy, 
figning 
