The Sun.
London, England, 1863-10-15 00:00:00

UNAPPRECIATED GENIUS.

(Professor De Morgan in the Atheneum.) 1
Of the class of discoverers who square the circle, upset 1
Newton, &c., I suspect I know more than any man in 1
Britain, I never kept any reckoning i but I know that one
year with another—and less of late years than in earlier
times —I have talked to more than five in each year, giving
more than 150 specimens. Of this lam sure, that it is my
own fault if they have not been 100. Nobody knows how
they swarm, except those to whom they naturally resort.
They are in all ranks and occupations, of all ages and char-
teThey are very earnest people, and their purpose is
char-
acters.
ide the dissemination of their paradoxes. A great
numy...-the mass indeed—are illiterate, and a great many
waste their means, and are in or approaching penury. But
I must say that never, in any one instance, has the quadra-
ture of
begging; even to be asked to purchase a book is of rare oc-
currence.
These discoverers despise one another; if there
were the concerts among them which there is among
a man who admitted one to a con-
ference mendicants,
ce wouldbeplagued to death. I once gave some-
thinge
in to
the a very genteel French applicant, who overtook
m
street, at my own door, saying he had picked
pmy handkerchief ; whether he picked it up in my
uy
came another Frenchman to my house, and that
d
pocket for an introduction, I know not. But that day
y ; both failed, and I had no
more trouble. The same thing happened with Poles. It is
wa‘Yek fortnight a French lad
not circle-squarers, &c,. ; they know nothing of each
sowith
will read this list, and will say I am right
enough,
generally
i speaking, but that there is an exception,
other.
if I could but see t. Ido not mean, by my confession of the
manner in which I have sinned against the 24 hours, to hold
myself out as accessible to personal explanation of new
plans. Quite the contrary : I consider myself as having made
my report, and being discharged from further attendance on
the subject. I will not, from henceforward, talk to any
souarer of the circle, trisector of the angle, duplicator of the
b
constructor of perpetual motion, subverter of gravita-
ctiuone,,stagnator of the earth, builder of the universe, &c. 1
will receive any writings or books which require no answer,
and read them when I please : I will certainly preserve
them; this list may be enlarged at some future time. There
are three subjects which I have hardly anything upon—as-
trology, mechanism, and the infallible way of winning at
play. I have never cared to preserve astrology. The me-
chanists make models, and not books. The infallible win-
ners—though I have seen a few—think their secret too
,
and prefer mutare quad? eta rotundis—to turn dice
dcoin—at a gaming-house; verily they have their re-
personal knowledge of those who think they
shall now select, to the mystic number seven, in-
ist ro .
I
havestances
in illustration of as many misconceptions,
1. Attempt by help of the old philosophy, the discoverer
notrot ene beingiina in possession of modern knowledge.—A poor
in rags, introduced himself to a scientific
d with whom I was talking, and announced that he had
found out the composition of the sun. " How was that
done 2 :
friend
hest e
rßy consideration of the four elements."—"What
are they?"—Of
course, fire, air, earth, and water."—Did
you not know that air, earth, and water have long been
"
known to be no elements at all, but compounds ?"--(, What
do you mean, sir ? Who ever heard of such a thing ?"
2. The notion that difficulties are enigmas, to be over-
come i
, a moment by a lucky thought.—A nobleman of
very high rank, now long dead, read an article by me on the
number of the Penny Magazine. He
oinsetan yscehaorollrecollections of geometry. He put
had, 1
to paper, drew a circle, and constructed what seemed
quadrature,
su suppose,
pencil
likely to answer, and,indeed, was—as he said—certain, if
1
only this bit were eqaa t
to that ; which of course it was not.
He forwarded his diagram to the Secretary of the Diffusion
Sooiety, to be handed to the author of the article, in case
the difficulty should happen to be therein overcome.
3. Discovery at all hazards, to get on in the world.—
Thirty years ago, an officer of rank, just home from foreign
service, and trying for a decoration from the Crown,
found that his claims were of doubtful amount, and was
told by a friend that so and so, who had got the order, had
the additional claim of scientific distinction. Now this offi-
cer, while abroad, had bethought himself one day that there
really could be no difficulty in finding the circumference of
a circle ; if a circle were rolled upon a straight line until the
undermost point came undermost again, there would be the
straight line, equal to the circle. He came to me, saying
that he did not feel equal to the statement of his claim in
this respect,
but that if some clever fellow would put the
thing ins, proper light, he thought his affair might be man-
aged. I was clever enough to put the thing in a proper light
to himself, to this extent at least, that though perhaps they
were wrong, the advisers of the Crown would never put the
letters K.C.B. to such a circle as his.
4. The notion that mathematicians cannot find the circle
for common purposes.—A working man measured the alti-
tude of a cylinder accurately, and--I think the process of
Archimedes was one of his proceedings—found its bulk.
He then calculated the ratio of the circumference to the
diameter, and found it answered very well on other modes
of trial. His result was about 3.14. He came to London,
and somebody sent him to me. 1 happened to have on the
table a proof-sheet of the Astronomical Memoirs, in which
were a large number of observed places of the planets com-
pared with prediction, and asked him whether it could be
possible that persons who did not know the circle better
than he had found it could make the calculations, of which
I gave him a notion, so accurately. He was perfectly
astonished, and took the titles of some books which he said
he would read.
5. Application for the reward from abroad.—Many years.
ago, about 28, I think, a Jesuit came from South America,
with a quadrature, and a cutting from a newspaP.er,Thg.
an-
nouncing that a reward was ready for the discovery ul.isE
.11g
Eng-
land. On this evidence he came over. After satisfying
him that nothing had ever been offered here, I discussedbet
ter when
quadrature, which was of no use. I succeeded
I told him of Richard White, also a Jesuit, and author of a
of " Chry-
quadrature published before 1648, under the
namehaving never
srespis," of which I can give no account,
quadrator who
seen it. This White (Albius) is thei only
Jesuit was shuck by
was ever convinced of his error.
read yore geometry—he was
the instance, and promised to
his book.
He
no Clavius before he published his.relapsed,
I saw his book advertised in afew dayo. I
however, for
may say, as sufficient proof of my being no collector, that I
had not the curiosity to buy this book ; and my friend the
Jesuit did not send me a copy,which he ought to have done,
after the hour I had given him.
6. Application for the reward at home.—An agricultural
labourer squared the circle, and brought the proceeds to
London. Ho left his papers with me, one of which was
the copy of a letter to the Lord Chancellor, desiring his
lordship to hand over forthwith £1,000,008, the amount
of the alleged offer of reward. I returned his papers, with a
note, stating that he had not the knowledge requisite to see
in what the problem consisted. I got for answer a letter in
which I was told that a person who could not see that he
had done the thing should "change his business, and ,ap-
propriate his time and attention to a Sunday school, to learn
what he could, and keep the title children from ducting
their close." 1 also recived a letter from a friend of the
quadrator, informing me that I know his friend had sue-
, ceeded, and had been heard to say eo, These letters were