=940.= I cannot find anything showing early aptitude for acquiring languages; but that he [Clifford] had it and was fond of exercising it in later life is certain. One practical reason for it was the desire of being able to read mathematical papers in foreign journals; but this would not account for his taking up Spanish, of which he acquired a competent knowledge in the course of a tour to the Pyrenees. When he was at Algiers in 1876 he began Arabic, and made progress enough to follow in a general way a course of lessons given in that language. He read modern Greek fluently, and at one time he was furious about Sanskrit. He even spent some time on hieroglyphics. A new language is a riddle before it is conquered, a power in the hand afterwards: to Clifford every riddle was a challenge, and every chance of new power a divine opportunity to be seized. Hence he was likewise interested in the various modes of conveying and expressing language invented for special purposes, such as the Morse alphabet and shorthand.... I have forgotten to mention his command of French and German, the former of which he knew very well, and the latter quite sufficiently;....--POLLOCK, F. _Clifford’s Lectures and Essays (New York, 1901), Vol. 1, Introduction, pp. 11-12._ =941.= The most remarkable thing was his [Clifford’s] great strength as compared with his weight, as shown in some exercises. At one time he could pull up on the bar with either hand, which is well known to be one of the greatest feats of strength. His nerve at dangerous heights was extraordinary. I am appalled now to think that he climbed up and sat on the cross bars of the weathercock on a church tower, and when by way of doing something worse I went up and hung by my toes to the bars he did the same. _Quoted from a letter by one of Clifford’s friends to Pollock, F.: Clifford’s Lectures and Essays (New York, 1901), Vol. 1, Introduction, p. 8._ =942.= [Comte] may truly be said to have created the philosophy of higher mathematics.--MILL, J. S. _System of Logic (New York, 1846), p. 369._ =943.= These specimens, which I could easily multiply, may suffice to justify a profound distrust of Auguste Comte, wherever he may venture to speak as a mathematician. But his vast _general_ ability, and that personal intimacy with the great Fourier, which I most willingly take his own word for having enjoyed, must always give an interest to his _views_ on any subject of pure or applied mathematics.--HAMILTON, W. R. _Graves’ Life of W. R. Hamilton (New York, 1882-1889), Vol. 3, p. 475._