tween argument and punishment
he has convinced me. He says (_Corr._, Jan. 27, 1866): "I tell him without
hesitation that he knows the true ratio of diameter to circumference as
well as I do, and if he be wise he will admit it." I should hope I do, and
better; but there is no occasion to admit what everybody knows.

I have often wished that we could have a slight glimpse of the reception
which was given to some of the old cyclometers: but we have nothing, except
the grave disapprobation of historians. I am resolved to give the New
Zealander a chance of knowing a little more than this about one of them at
least; and, by the fortunate entrance into life of the _Correspondent_, I
am able to do it. I omit sober mathematical answers, of which there were
several. The following letter is grave earnest:

"Sir,--I have watched Mr. James Smith's writings on this subject from the
first, and I did hope that, as the more {243} he departs from truth the
more easy it must be to refute him, [this by no means always true] some of
your correspondents would by this time have done so. I own that I am unable
to detect the fallacy of his argument; and I am quite certain that '[Pi]'
is wrong, in No. 23, where he declares that Mr. Smith is 'ignorant of the
very elements of mathematical truth.' I have observed an immense amount of
geometrical reasoning on his part, and I cannot see that it is either fair
or honest to deny this, which may be regarded as the 'elements' of
mathematical truth. Would it not be better for '[Pi]' to answer Mr. Smith,
to refute his arguments, to point out their fallacies, and to save learners
from error, than to plunge into gross insult and unmanly abuse? Would it
not be well, also, that Professor De Morgan should favour us with a little
reasoning?

"I have hitherto seen no attempt to overthrow Mr. Smith's arguments; I
trust that this will not continue, since the subject is one of immense
importance to science in general, especially to nautical science, and all
that thereto belongs.

Yours, etc.,

A CAPTAIN, R.N."

On looking at this homoeopathic treatment of the 3-1/8
quadrature--remember, homoeopathic, _similia similibus_,[390] not
infinitesimal--and at the imputation thrown upon it, I asked myself, what
_is_ vulgarity? No two agree, except in this, that every one sees vulgarity
in what is directed against himself. Mark the world, and see if anything be
so common as the description of the other side's remarks as