A History of the Mathematical Theories of Attraction and the Figure of the Earth from the time of Newton to that of Laplace

Abstract

I.

THE late Prof. de Morgan, in his “References for the History of the Mathematical Sciences,“divides the written histories into two classes, those which are written on the plan of Montucla, Bossut, &c., in which a general account is framed out of the writer's notes or remembrances of miscellaneous reading; or in that of Delambre, Woodhouse, &c., in which the successive writings of eminent men are examined and described one after the other, so that each chapter or section is a description of the progress of Science in the hands of some one person, and is complete in itself. This latter plan is the one he considers the most favourable to accuracy and the most interesting to students who are desirous of being the critics of the historians, and of amending their works, if need be. The admirable two volumes before us would certainly be placed under this head. As to the utility of such works, our author remarks: “A familiarity with what has been already accomplished or attempted in any subject is conducive to a wise economy of labour; for it may often prevent a writer from investigating afresh what has been already settled; or it may warn him, by the failure of his predecessors, that he should not too lightly undertake a labour of well-recognised difficulty.” Mr. Todhunter is no novice in this style of writing; his “History of the Calculus of Variations” appeared in 1861, and at once placed him in the foremost rank of mathematical historians; this work was followed, in 1865, by the “History of the Theory of Probability.” The principles upon which these earlier works were written have been adopted in the work under consideration. Experience has improved his already first-rate powers of analysis and of graphic representation of the contents of the works he considers; all that he wants is leisure; possibly a time may come when the University of Cambridge will appoint an historian (or historians) to fill up the painfully patent void which now exists in this department of literature. The acknowledged high merits of his published histories would suggest Mr. Todhunter as a most fitting first occupant of such a chair; the liberality of the syndics of the University Press in defraying the expenses of the printing of this last work affords evidence that the work is appreciated. In his recent volume of “Essays”(p. 151), our author mentions his taste for the history of Mathematics; we heartily hope that the union of such taste and mathematical powers will result in the begetting a numerous progeny all equally comely with, and of as good disposition as, the elder members of the family.

A History of the Mathematical Theories of Attraction and the Figure of the Earth from the time of Newton to that of Laplace.

By I. Todhunter Two vols. (London: Macmillan, 1874.)