his soul do not early drop off, nor do its pores become clogged with the earthy particles blown from the dusty highways of vulgar life.--SYLVESTER, J. J. _Presidential Address to the British Association; Collected Mathematical Papers, Vol. 2 (1908), p. 658._ =840.= The game of chess has always fascinated mathematicians, and there is reason to suppose that the possession of great powers of playing that game is in many features very much like the possession of great mathematical ability. There are the different pieces to learn, the pawns, the knights, the bishops, the castles, and the queen and king. The board possesses certain possible combinations of squares, as in rows, diagonals, etc. The pieces are subject to certain rules by which their motions are governed, and there are other rules governing the players.... One has only to increase the number of pieces, to enlarge the field of the board, and to produce new rules which are to govern either the pieces or the player, to have a pretty good idea of what mathematics consists.--SHAW, J. B. _What is Mathematics? Bulletin American Mathematical Society Vol. 18 (1912), pp. 386-387._ =841.= Every man is ready to join in the approval or condemnation of a philosopher or a statesman, a poet or an orator, an artist or an architect. But who can judge of a mathematician? Who will write a review of Hamilton’s Quaternions, and show us wherein it is superior to Newton’s Fluxions?--HILL, THOMAS. _Imagination in Mathematics; North American Review, Vol. 85, p. 224._ =842.= The pursuit of mathematical science makes its votary appear singularly indifferent to the ordinary interests and cares of men. Seeking eternal truths, and finding his pleasures in the realities of form and number, he has little interest in the disputes and contentions of the passing hour. His views on social and political questions partake of the grandeur of his favorite contemplations, and, while careful to throw his mite of influence on the side of right and truth, he is content to abide the workings of those general laws by which he doubts not that the fluctuations of human history are as unerringly guided as are the perturbations of the planetary hosts.--HILL, THOMAS. _Imagination in Mathematics; North American Review, Vol. 85, p. 227._