On the Study and Difficulties of Mathematics

No apology is needed for the publication of the present new edition of The Study and Difficulties of Mathematics,— a characteristic production of one of the most eminent and luminous of English mathematical writers of the present century. De Morgan, though taking higher rank as an original inquirer than either Huxley or Tyndall, was the peer and lineal precursor of these great expositors of science, and he applied to his lifelong task an historical equipment and a psychological insight which have not yet borne their full educational fruit. And nowhere have these distinguished qual-ities been displayed to greater advantage than in the present work, which was conceived and written with the full natural freedom, and with all the fire, of youthful genius. For the contents and purpose of the book the reader may be referred to the ’s Preface. The work still contains points (notable among them is its insistence on the study of logic), which are insufficiently emphasised, or slurred, by elementary treatises; while the freshness and naturalness of its point of view contrasts strongly with the mechanical character of the common text-books. Elementary instructors and students cannot fail to profit by the general loftiness of its tone and the sound tenor of its instructions.