Mountain Democrat. [volume] (Placerville, El Dorado Co., Cal.) 1854-1860, 1860-06-30
CHARLES XII AND HIS ARITHMETIC

CHARLES XII AND HIS ARITHMETIC
The renowned Swedish phil sopher. Emanuel
Swedenlorg. his met oiil concerning Charles
XII Of Sweden. as given to the world an imperfect
account q a new arithmetic invented by that Mon
arch which, for originality and ingenuity. merits the
attention q the curious reader HIS majesty argued
that the ordinary ari;hmeiir, universally received
and pra,iccd. was most probably derived from the
or nal meihsd e counting the fingers; that
il t,rate people # old, when they had run through
tie fingers both hands, repeated rev periods over
aud over nGh;p. and every time spread open both
hands which being done ten t,rts. they di'tin
gu;shcd each step by proper marks, as BY joining
two. three, or four fingers Afterwards, when this
method e nimcraii"n on tie dreers came 10 be ex-
pressed by proer characters, il snon became firmly
and universally cstabi' Shed, a'd sr;he drnaTy com
tntuS las been retained 10 his day. But surely,
he maintained, we. sol, re n.elrcian. thoroughly
verseI in the abstract nature and fundamentals Of
numbers 10 Set lis mind upon introducing n still
more useful compu;us into the world, instead Of ten,
hc would select such perfect square, cube num-
Der. by continued dissection, or halvinG. would at
length terminate in unity and be better adapted to
the subdivision Of measures, weights. coins etc.
His majesty, we are Informed in,eut on new
arithmetic, pitched upon tire number eight as most
Il fer the purpose, since il could not Only lie haved
continually down to unity, without fraction, but
contained within il the square Of two, and was itself
the cube thereof. and was also applicable 10 the re
eeived denennaiiD Of several sorts Ct wei hts and
coins, rising to sixteen and thirty.two. the double
and quadruple Of eight. Upon such frst consider
atoms, he commanded the philosopher Sw.derborg.
10 draw W IN essay on an octonary computus, viii D
was done with its application 10 tie received dvs-
ions Of coins. measures and weights disqusiiion
ca cubes and squares. and n"w ard easy way OF
extracting roots, all Illustrated with examples.
UFon presenting tits essay our defnnent saws
" His majasy having cast His eye twice or thricc
over it, and observing, perhaps from some hints in
the essay, that lie denary MI ils had several ad-
vantages rot always attended tn, did not at tha,
time seem absolutely toafrrove Of the oc,cnarv or.
it is likely, he night conceive, that though ii seemed
easy in theory, vet il N slt prove d!cnt 70 intro
due 70 pia:ticc." BE this as il will he insisted on
iSing upon somc ether tia, was bo;h a cube ard a
square number, rcfertiLle 10 eight and diyisLe
dow 10 unity BY b1'eci'n. This could lie no o;ber
than e., the cube of4 and square OF aud divisbe
down 10 unity without fraction.
Swedcnborg Immediately objected that such q
number would be too prollx, as i, arises through q
series Of entirely distinct aad different numbers W
to 64 and ihen gain 10 its duplicate 4t96 and on
to lis trpca;e 49, !44 before the fourth step com.
raeIces, ihat-ihc- difficulty If snch cGmlu:u.
would be incredible, NJ: only in addition and sub.
s'rac,on, but TO I SILL CHER degree in multiplied
tn and division. For the memory must ncctssa.
riy retain in the multiplication table $3.50 distinct
predicts Of the IL numbers Of the fret step r:ui;i-
piled into rue another; whereas only 40 neces.
4bary in the octonafy and bu, 81 are required in tn,
6anarr aFi.lme lei which ast-is titAieuItto here
niembered and applied in practice by sono cafaci-
ties. But the stronger the objections Of ;bc pboso.
pher the more resolutcly was the royal mind ben;
aPou after. ping such compu;us
distractions made him eager TO aspire
All TO Surniount aud LcbIy soar the hig her."
The alleged difficulties, IKE King contendtd, might
be overbA!anced by many advantages
Swcdcnborg still further relates that after a few
days, beng called again before his rrtjesty, ii wa.
demanded Of lin whether he had made trial, Tn
philosopher, still urging his former object rs, Ii,
king reached him paper, written With lis own
!
the rcrusal of which was gra7i4 uslv granted
wherein, to the phi'os"f hers great surprise wa
found, not only new characters and numbers she
one almost naturally expressive of the other in n
continued series to CT 50 ranged as easily to BIZ re-
mcmhered; but also new denominations ~ coutrivc-
b. pairs rs to be easily extended TO nyriads, by Il
continued variation Of the character and denomina
ton. And further casting his eye ON several new
methods ct lis for addition and multiplication b.,
the computns in question, either arttcial!y con
trved else inherent in The characters Of the mum
bers thenscivcs the philosopher could not refrain
from expressing his admiration and aniazcment a.
the force Of his mnjesiy's genius.
Swedenborg, in the same connection. promised
at convenient season to publish this wonderful ana
new method to the world, but 80 for as we are ap
priced that season never arrived. There is no doub
but the present mode Of computation might b.
greatly simp,ifed, and Efforts have been made BY
learned men, at different periods, to bring the deer
>Val system into general use wherever it could pos
SHY he spilled in connection with weights, meas
urcs, COINS, etc If such an object could be accom-.
plshcd what wear and tear Of the mental mach.
merry it would do away with How infinitely easier
for instance is it 10 count eagles dollars and dimes
than pounds, shiIiuGs and pence. And stll how
much more unnecessary completely and difficult!
would be avoided ia system could be adopted such
as the one above noticed, which, while possessing
all the advantages Of the decimal mode at the sam"
time would do away with the necessity Of fractions
and also greatly simplify the present tedious and
confusing method Of the extraction Of roots. Will
not sonic philunhropist, learned in the lore and
skilled in the science Of figures, taking the him
which we have thrown out TO him--wi,h an eye to
the convenience Of the calculating world, endeavor
to bring to light. from the dust Of centuries, this
almost lost ard apparently important invention Of
the ingenious Swedish monarch.
RECKLESS LYING.
Every man who has taken the trouble to inform him
self political subjects knows that some of the op
position prints, not long ago, charged Senator Gwin
with having stated in a speech in the United States