Abstract
THE quaint words addressed “to the great variety of readers” by the editors of the folio Shakespeare of 1623 are equally applicable to the useful compendium of mathematical history which is the subject of our review. “It is now public; and you will stand for your privileges, we know—to read and censure. Do so, but buy it first: that doth best commend a book, the stationer says. Then how odd soever your brains be or your wisdoms, make your licence the same, spare not.” But, as goods are usually “bought by judgment of the eye, not uttered by base sale of chapmen's tongues,” we produce our samples in the open market by making a few extracts from Mr. Ball's book.
A Short Account of the History of Mathematics.
By W. W. Rouse Ball. (London and New York: Macmillan and Co., 1888.)
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The History of Mathematics . Nature 39, 265–268 (1889). https://doi.org/10.1038/039265a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/039265a0
