Euclid and His Modern Rivals (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from Euclid and His Modern Rivals<br><br>In one respect this book is an experiment and may chance to prove a failure 3 I mean that I have not thought it necessary to maintain throughout the gravity of style which scientific writers usually affect and which has some how come to be regarded as an ''inseparable accident'' of scientific teaching. I never could quite see the reason ableness of this immemorial law: subjects there are no doubt which are in their essence too serious to admit of any lightness of treatment - but I cannot recognise Geo metry as one of them. Nevertheless it will I trust be found that I have permitted myself a glimpse of the comic side of things only at fitting seasons when the tired reader might well crave a moment''s breathing-space and not on any occasion where it could endanger the continuity of a line of argument.<br><br>Pitying friends have warned me of the fate upon which I am rushing: they have predicted that in thus abandon ing the dignity of a scientific writer I shall alienate the sympathies of all true scientific readers who will regard the book as a mere jozo d''esprit and will not trouble them selves to look for any serious argument in it. But it must be borne in mind that if there is a Scylla before me there is also a Charybdis - and that in my fear of being read as a jest I may incur the darker destiny of not being read at all.<br><br>In furtherance of the great cause which I have at heart -the vindication of Euclid'' s masterpiece - I am content to run some risk; thinking it far better that the purchaser of this little book should read it though it be with a smile.<br><br>About the Publisher<br><br>Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com<br><br>This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases an imperfection in the original such as a blemish or missing page may be replicated in our edition. We do however repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.