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Edius Tn0 148.04.700

1857. April. 25. Gift of hus. N. A. Haven jr.,

of Portsmouth M. H.

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PREFA C E.

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T is a remarkable fact in the hiftory of fcience, that the oldest book of Elementary Geometry is ftill confidered as the beft, and that the writings of EUCLID, at the distance of two thousand years, continue to form the most approved introduction to the mathematical fciences. This remarkable diftinction the Greek geometer owes not only to the elegance and correctnefs of his demonftrations, but to an arrangement moft happily contrived for the purposes of inftruction; advantages which, when they reach a certain eminence, secure the works of an author against the injuries of time, more effectually than even originality of invention. The Elements of EUCLID, however, in paffing through the hands of the ancient editors, during the decline of fcience, had fuffered fome diminution of their excellence, and much skill and learning have been employed by the modern mathematicians to deliver them from blemishes, which certainly did not enter into their original compofition.

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