proper to do so, admitting or denying the truth of the hypothesis you assume," in extracting which passage from your letter, I merely make such substitutions as that of me for you, &c. I suppose that you might be more displeased by my remaining silent, than by the distinct expression of my dissent. I understand you to maintain, that if the diameter of a circle be represented by the number 8, the circumference of the same circle will then be represented, without any error, by the number 25. Now, Sir, I do not expect you to attach the slightest weight to any opinion of my own, on this or any other subject. But it will much surprise me, if you shall not find Mathematicians unanimous in their rejection of that result. That 8 circumferences of a circle exceed 25 diameters, is (I conceive) a theorem as completely certain and established in mathematics, as that the three angles of a plane triangle are together equal to two right angles. When you next publish, if you shall think it needful to mention the fact of my having been in the chair of the Section, I hope that you will be so good as to state, at the same time, that my opinion, or rather conviction upon the subject, is entirely opposed to your own. I have the honour to be, Sir, Your obedient servant, James Smith, Esq., WM. ROWAN HAMILTON. Barkeley House, Seaforth, near Liverpool. I addressed the following note to Mr. Airy, enclosing copy of my letter to Sir W. R. Hamilton : : Barkeley House, Seaforth, Sir, Liverpool, 14th Feby., 1860. I herewith enclose you a copy of a letter I have this day addressed to Sir Wm. R. Hamilton. As I have referred in it to a circumstance in which you are personally concerned, I consider it a matter of courtesy to make you acquainted with all I have said respecting you. I have this day received your letter of the 14th Inst., enclosing copy of one addressed to Sir W. R. Hamilton. As regards Sir W. R. Hamilton, I have no remark to offer. As regards myself, you will doubtless remark, that every person has a right to publish his own views, by any inoffensive method which he may think best, but that this gives him no command, as by right, of the most valuable possession of other persons, namely, their time. James Smith, Esq. I am, Sir Your obedient servant, Such are some of the obstacles I have had to contend against, in announcing the discovery of a glorious scientific truth; and such, for some time to come, may probably be the fate of others, whose views, however true and important, may happen to run in antagonism to the prejudices of the scientific world. But truth, spring from whence it may, will ultimately triumph in spite of all opposition. I am not a young man, and may not live to see it, but the day will arrive, when truth by her own inherent powers shall rise above the horizon, and shining forth in all her brightness, shall dispel the darkness which now reigns on this and kindred subjects; and shall, on the one hand, "reduce" to their natural and proper level, that "learned fraternity” who at present contrive, like the astrologers of old, to make a mystery of their craft, and to jealously guard it ; and shall, on the other hand, " induce" thousands of persons of both sexes to embrace the study of the sublime and glorious works of our Creator, as manifested in the wonderful evolutions of the heavenly bodies, who at present are intimidated into the belief, that the study of Astronomy is a something utterly beyond the capacity of the average intellect of mankind. I may, on a future occasion, direct public attention to the importance of this discovery, in its practical application to Astronomical, Nautical, and Mechanical Science. Barkeley House, Seaforth, Liverpool, 1st April, 1861. JAMES SMITH. |