The times., 1900-12-24
SQUARINlG THE HE !. CIRCLE
Another Claim Made TO the Solu-
tion of the Problem.
A Resident of Wurzburg, Germany,
Writes TO the Smithsoniap Institu-
ton That He Has Discovered the
Secret-No Probability of His De-
ductfons Proving of Any Value.

The Smithsonian Institution is in receipt
of communication from a resident Of
Wurzburg, Germany, who claims to have
discovered the long-sought secret Of the
squarin" Of the circle. 1t is stated, how
ever that the new formula will, in all
likelihood, be found impraeticable.
For two and half thousand years both
trained and unframed minds have striven
in vain to solve the problem known as
the squaring of the circle. and the prevail
Ing opinion among mathematician is that
it is an impossbilty. Indeed, the French
Academy was so bothered, at one time, by
supposed solutions, that, in the year 1875,
it passed resolution not to examine,
from that period, any communication re-
lating in any way to the obnoxious prob
lem
The fact is,'' said a scientist of the
Smithsonian Institution to the reporter,
that tho circle-squarer, in ninety-nine
cases out of a hundred, is a crank, and,
in the one remaining instance, he is prob
ably dangerous lunatic. They are mostly
imperfeetly educated persons, whose
mathematical knowledge does not exceed
that of a modern college freshman. 1t is
seldom they know accurately what the re-
quirements Of the problem are and what
is its nature. They never seem to know
the two and a half thousand years history
Of the problem, and they have no idea
whatever of the important Investigations
and results which have been made with
reference to the subject by real and great
mathematicians in every century down to
our own time.
Yet great as is the quSltum of igno-
rance that circle-squarers intermix with
their intellectual products, the lavish sup
ply of conceit and self consciousness with
which they season their performances is
still greater. | have not far to go to FUR
nish a verification of this. book printed
In Hamburg in the year 1910 is contained
in our library in which the author thanks
Almighty God at every second page that
he has selected him, and no one else, to
solve the problem phenomenal of Eathe-
matics, so long sought for, so ferventiy
desired, and attempted by millions After
the modest author has proclaimed himself
the unmasSei of Archimedes' deceit, he
says: 1t thus has pleased our mother ma
ture to withhold this mathematical jewel
from the eye of human investigation until
she thought it fitting to reveal truth to
simplicity
And the whole secret according 10 this
author, is this: square is inscribed in
circle, ard another square circun-
scribed about it. Then the author points
out that the inside square is made up of
four congruent triangles, whereas the cir
cumscrbed square is made up OF eight
such triangles; from which fact, seeing
that the circle is larger than the enc
square, and smaller than the other, he
draws the bold conclusion that the circle
is equal in area to six such triangles. IT is
hardly conceivable that a rational being
could infer that something which is
greater than four and less than eight must
necessarily be six. But then, with man
who attempts the squaring of the circle,
anything is possible"
The antiquity of the problem of the
squaring of the circle is one of its most
remarkable features. A quadrature was
attempted In Egypt 500 years before the
exodus of the Israelites. Among the
Greeks the subject never ceased to play a
part that greatly influenced the progress
of mathematics, and so thoroughout the
Middle Ages. II seems highly remarkable
that scientific bodies should today be
bothered with the opportunities of cranks