Abstract
THE fact that the letters attributed to Bacon, Shakespeare, Napier, Henry Briggs, and Guy Fawkes have dates attached to them about the years 1904 and 1905 should convince most readers that the book ought to “be regarded in the light of a practical joke, in fact, a “take off” of the antique. As another example we may take the “Notes to Henry Briggs's letter,” in particular the supposed proof (p. 75) that Napier's true base is the reciprocal of e and not e itself. As the difference depends entirely on whether log sin 45° has a plus or minus sign attached to it, it is interesting to speculate on how many readers will be deceived by what is, after all, a somewhat clever hoax.
Letters from the Dead to the Dead.
By Oliver Lector. Pp. 101. (London: Bernard Quaritch, 1905.) Price 6s. net.
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Letters from the Dead to the Dead . Nature 74, 102 (1906). https://doi.org/10.1038/074102b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/074102b0