The Mathematical and Physical Sciences

Abstract

M. MARIE's great work advances rapidly towards completion. The first three volumes appeared in 1883; the concluding three are in the press; we have now before us nine volumes, bringing down the narrative from the time of Thales to the time of Laplace. The undertaking is a vast one; and we are not surprised to hear that it has cost forty years of preparation. The learned world is to be congratulated that it has fallen into such able hands. M. Marie combines, in a rare degree, scientific with literary qualifications. A certain grace and poignancy of style set off his wide erudition and practical acquaintance with methods of teaching. He can be vivacious even over processes of integration. The accumulated mass of his materials nowhere hinders the lightness of his tread. Keen touches of sarcasm enliven his most abstruse expositions, and agreeably remind his readers that a sense of humour may subsist concurrently with a thorough mastery of the higher analysis.

Histoire des Sciences Mathématiques et Physiques.

Par M. Maximilien Marie. Tomes I.–IX. (Paris: Gauthier-Villars, 1883–86.)