Some Criticisms of Robert Simson by Sir T. L. Heath

Extract

Sir T. L. Heath's translation of The Thirteen Books of Euclid's Elements, with its Introduction and Commentary, is not merely a worthy tribute to the lasting merits of Euclid's work, but is at the same time a most valuable history of elementary geometry; the language in which he describes the character of Camerer's edition of Euclid's first six books is even more applicable to his own: “No words of praise would be too warm for this veritable encyclopaedia of information.” There may, however, be room for difference of opinion on matters of detail, and I propose in this note to call attention to one or two passages in which I think he is in error in his criticism of Simson, whose edition of Euclid formed the basis of so many English text-books and kept alive the traditions of Greek geometry in this country long after Euclid's Elements had disappeared as a text-book on the Continent.