Abstract
IN the general theory of algebraical forms there are two modes of defining an Invariant or Reciprocant. In the one mode either of them is regarded as subject to satisfy a partial differential equation—in the other as subject to extinction under the action of a partial-differential operator. Of course the difference between these two modes is one of presentation merely, and not of substance. Nevertheless it was interesting to me to observe that the very same rival concepts of equality and extinction lie at the root of the admirable investigations simultaneously carried on by Prof. Pickering at Harvard (who works by equation of light), and Prof. Pritchard at Oxford (who works by the method of extinction), which have earned for each of them the distinction of the award of the gold medal of the Royal Astronomical Society. I say the gold medal, because the medal to each is to be regarded in a transcendental sense as only one to both.
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SYLVESTER, J. Note on Sonnet to Pritchard. Nature 33, 558 (1886). https://doi.org/10.1038/033558b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/033558b0
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