A Budget of Paradoxes, Volume IIDe Morgan, Augustus
Philosophy
A Budget of Paradoxes, Volume II
De Morgan, Augustus
Circle-squaring; Perpetual motion; Science -- Miscellanea; Trisection of angle
There are better reviews than I have noticed; which, though entirely
dissenting, are unassailable on their own principles. What I have given
represents five-sixths of the whole. But it must be confessed that the
fraction of fairness and moderation and suspended opinion which the
doctrine of _Spirit Manifestations_ has met with--even in the lower
reviews--is strikingly large compared to what would have been the case
fifty years ago. It is to be hoped that our popular and periodical
literatures are giving us one thinker created for twenty geese
double-feathered: if this hope be realized, we shall do! Seeing all that I
see, I am not prepared to go the length of a friend of mine who, after
reading a good specimen of the lower reviewing, exclaimed--Oh! if all the
fools in the world could be rolled up into one fool, what a reviewer he
would make!
Calendrier Universel et Perpetuel; par le Commandeur P. J. Arson.[352]
Publie par ses Enfans (Oeuvre posthume). Nice, 1863, 4to.
I shall not give any account of this curious calendar, with all its changes
and symbols. But there is one proposal, which, could we alter the general
notions of time--a thing of very dubious possibility--would be convenient.
The week is made to wax and wane, culminating on the Sunday, {208} which
comes in the middle. Thursday, Friday, Saturday, are ascending or waxing
days; Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, are descending or waning days. Our six
days, lumped together after the great distinguishing day, Sunday, are too
many to be distinctly thought of together: a division of three preceding
and three following the day of most note would be much more easily used.
But all this comes too late. It may be, nevertheless, that some individuals
may be able to adjust their affairs with advantage by referring Thursday,
Friday, Saturday, to the following Sunday, and Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,
to the preceding Sunday. But M. Arson's proposal to alter the names of the
days is no more necessary than it is practicable.
CYCLOMETRY.
I am not to enter anything I do not possess. The reader therefore will not
learn from me the feats of many a man-at-arms in these subjects. He must be
content, unless he will bestir himself for himself, not to know how Mr.
Patrick Cody trisects the angle at Mullinavat, or Professor Recalcati
squares the circle at Milan. But this last is to be done by subscription,
at five francs a head: a banker is named who guarantees restitution if the
solution be not perfectly rigorous; the banker himself, I suppose, is the
judge. I have heard of a man of business who settled the circle in this
way: if it can be reduced to a debtor and creditor account, it can
certainly be done; if not, it is not worth doing. Montucla will give the
accounts of the lawsuits which wagers on the problem have produced in
France.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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