This attempt of Pascal was followed by various others, with very little
improvement, and with no additional success. Polenus, a learned and
ingenious Italian, invented a machine by which multiplication was
performed, but which does not appear to have afforded any material
facilities, nor any more security against error than the common process
of the pen. A similar attempt was made by Sir Samuel Moreland, who is
described as having transferred to wheel-work the figures of _Napier's
bones_, and as having made some additions to the machine of Pascal.[19]
[Footnote 19: Equidem Morelandus in Anglia, tubæ stentoriæ author,
Rhabdologiam ex baculis in cylindrulos transtulit, et additiones
auxiliares peragit in adjuncta machina additionum Pascaliana.]
Grillet, a French mechanician, made a like attempt with as little
success. Another contrivance for mechanical calculation was made by
Saunderson. Mechanical contrivances for performing particular
arithmetical processes were also made about a century ago by Delepréne
and Boitissendeau; but they were merely modifications of Pascal's,
without varying or extending its objects. But one of the most remarkable
attempts of this kind which has been made since that of Pascal, was a
machine invented by Leibnitz, of which we are not aware that any
detailed or intelligible description was ever published. Leibnitz
described its mode of operation, and its results, in the Berlin
Miscellany,[20] but he appears to have declined any description of its
details. In a letter addressed by him to Bernoulli, in answer to a
request of the latter that he would afford a description of the
machinery, he says, 'Descriptionem ejus dare accuratam res non facilis
foret. De effectu ex eo judicaveris quod ad multiplicandum numerum sex
figurarum, _e.g._ rotam quamdam tantum sexies gyrari necesse est, nulla
alia opera mentis, nullis additionibus intervenientibus; quo facto,
integrum absolutumque productum oculis objicietur.'[21] He goes on to
say that the process of division is performed independently of a
succession of subtractions, such as that used by Pascal.
[Footnote 20: Tom. I., p. 317.]
[Footnote 21: _Com. Epist._ tom. I., p. 289.]
It appears that this machine was one of an extremely complicated nature,
which would be attended with considerable expense of construction, and
only fit to be used in cases where numerous and expensive calculations
were necessary.[22] Leibnitz observes to his correspondent, who required
whether it might not be brought into common use, 'Non est facta pro his
qui olera aut pisculos vendunt, sed pro observatoriis aut cameris
computorum, aut aliis, qui sumptus facile ferunt et multo calculo
egent.' Nevertheless, it does not appear that this contrivance, of which
the inventor states that he caused two models to be made, was ever
applied to any useful purpose; nor indeed do the mechanical details of
the invention appear ever to have been published.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account