Abstract
THOUGH I did not miss the passage in his Life of Tait to which Dr. Knott refers in NATURE of July 20 (p. 77), I forgot about it when I wrote my review. The point as to Hamilton's activity in quaternionic work is not of very great importance, but my statement is borne out by Graves's Life of Hamilton, which I read long ago, and have again referred to, as well as by the published correspondence. Tait's introduction to Hamilton took place in 1858; Graves states (vol. iii., p. 97) that Hamilton allowed himself to be diverted in 1857 from quaternions—the task, he says, of writing the “Elements”—by the subject of definite integrals. According to Dr. Knott, Hamilton did not begin the composition of the “Elements” until a good deal later, and this view would appear from Dr. Knott's statement, and from Hamilton's own language in his letters, to be correct.
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G., A. Hamilton and Tait. Nature 87, 111 (1911). https://doi.org/10.1038/087111b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/087111b0
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