Descartes : his life and times / by Elizabeth S. Haldane.

  • Elizabeth Haldane
Date:
1905
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Descartes : his life and times / by Elizabeth S. Haldane. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    1620] WOEK IN MATHEMATICS 68 questions, and added new ones on his own part, which he wished Faulhaber to solve. Descartes kindly- assisted him with these, and thereby added to his already considerable reputation as a mathematician. Other geometric wonders are reported of Descartes at this time, possibly without much foundation. His mathematical discoveries were, however, greatly occu- pying his attention, and as these were probably more especially the application of algebraic methods to geometric problems, no doubt he would be bent on applying them on every possible opportunity. But above all, he thought that, by similar means, he could apply mathematical methods to nature in all her aspects.^ No wonder he was in a state of mental excitement, never knowing what discovery might next be made, nor what far-reaching consequences might be derived from the discoveries already reached. We do not feel surprised that he left the army for a time to have a little quiet for consideration, both respecting his Method, which was being slowly but surely developed, and about another matter which was raising his curiosity to the highest pitch, and of which we will speak later. There was a treatise, too, for which, in February of 1620, he was thinking of seeking a publisher; but probably, on further consideration, he came to the conclusion it was immature. At any rate, his time must have been well occupied at this period when he was “seeing the world,” between thinking, writing, and generally observing what was taking place around him. For most men it would have been sufficient to have lived through a time of such turmoil and excitement without the added mental strain of working out abstruse mathematical problems. But it seems as though there are some to whom a life of constant outside interest has the effect of stimulating rather than exhausting the mental faculties. We can imagine the young student, after discussing the war in all its aspects, the qualities of its leaders, and the alternative policies, retiring from a world where strife * Baillet, vol. i., p. 68.